Only Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi were left in the room. Huan took Lu Lingqi back to the room to talk. Zhen Mi lay diagonally in Yuan Xi's arms, smiling, "Husband, don't you want to go see Madam Wu?"
Yuan Xi placed his hand on Zhen Mi's belly, as if he could feel the heartbeat of the little life inside, and said, "Stay with Madam for a while longer."
He said awkwardly, "Mr. Yuanhua kept his promise to his wife. He didn't tell me that his wife was pregnant until the matter in Huaicheng was settled. He was really honest."
Zhen Mi chuckled and said, "Mr. Yuanhua did a great job."
"I am just afraid that my husband will be too concerned and distracted, and will delay important matters."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that this was indeed the case. If he knew that Zhen Mi was pregnant, he would be thinking about finishing the matter as quickly as possible and rushing back, which might affect his decision-making in Huaicheng. If he made a mistake in his haste, it would be a big trouble.
He put his arm around Zhen Mi's shoulders and said, "I've been gone for half a year. I didn't expect time to pass so quickly. I've done a lot of things during this time, but the sense of accomplishment after accomplishing them is not as great as the surprise that Madam is pregnant."
"Even my father... Lord Benchu was very happy when he heard the news that my wife was pregnant."
Now, among the three sons of the Yuan family, Yuan Tan has a daughter who is not yet married, and Yuan Shang has no children. The issue of their offspring also troubles Yuan Shao.
Now that Zhen Mi is pregnant, Yuan Shao couldn't hide his surprise when he learned about it. However, this may change the situation of the Yuan family in the future.
It is strange that although the children of aristocratic families have relatively good living conditions, being able to give birth to a boy and raise him to adulthood depends largely on luck. Many children of aristocratic families have many concubines but no male heirs, leading to the problem of heirs, which has long plagued the major families.
Not to mention that disasters and wars are frequent and epidemics are rampant in the world today. Even in a peaceful world, accidents happen frequently, not to mention the difficulty of surviving in troubled times. It is common for scholars to die suddenly, not to mention their descendants.
This is also the reason why widows who have given birth to boys are extremely popular and can easily remarry. After all, for a large family, the inheritance of the incense is the most important thing.
Zhen Mi smiled, "It's not certain whether it's a boy or a girl."
"And there's more than just me. There's also Madam Wu."
Yuan Xi touched his nose awkwardly, speechless. He didn't dare to let outsiders know about Mrs. Wu's identity yet. If it were to be spread out too early, it might not be a good thing for him and Mrs. Wu.
Seeing this, Zhen Mi pushed Yuan Xi and said with a smile, "Go and see your Madam Wu quickly. Don't let people think that I am the one who is causing trouble."
Yuan Xi got up reluctantly, walked out of the house, and knocked on Mrs. Wu's door.
After a while, the door slowly opened. Yuan Xi looked up and saw that there was no one in front of him. He almost thought it was haunted. When he looked down, he laughed out loud.
Sun Shangxiang, with two pigtails standing upright, was seen struggling to open the door. She raised her head and looked at him timidly. Her two big black eyes were flashing very brightly. It seemed that she was still confused and did not recognize Yuan Xilai.
Yuan Xi laughed, lifted Sun Shangxiang up high, and spun her around twice. Sun Shangxiang felt the familiar movement and recognized Yuan Xi. She stretched out her arms and giggled.
Yuan Xi carried Sun Shangxiang on his shoulders and walked into the room. He saw Madam Wu sitting on the couch with a blanket covering her knees. She turned around with some difficulty and said to Yuan Xi, "I'm sorry that I can't stand up. I'm sorry."
Yuan Xi put Sun Shangxiang down and sat on the couch. He naturally took Madam Wu's hand and said, "I heard that Madam is ill. Have you seen a doctor?"
Madam Wu blushed, but this time she did not withdraw her hand as she did before. She just let Yuan Xi hold her hand and said softly, "I checked and he said he has a cold. You should go back, lest you infect him."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I have been through battles and marches in rainstorms these days. How can I be that fragile? Madam, don't worry."
Madam Wu also heard that Yuan Xi had done a lot of great things that shocked the world in the past six months, and whispered, "Young Master, you have worked hard, it's good that you are back."
Yuan Xi saw that Madam Wu looked a little depressed, so he consoled her, "It is Madam who is suffering."
"Madam, you are worried all day long. I'm afraid it's hard to find someone you want to talk to, right?"
"And Madam must miss her hometown often, right?"
Mrs. Wu's eyes reddened and she nodded slightly.
Yuan Xi was also upset and sighed, "Madam, don't worry. I have already made peace with Bo Fu. This secret is only known to a few people in the mansion. It will definitely not damage Madam's reputation."
"After the Chinese New Year, I'll see if I can find an opportunity to secretly send my wife back."
After hearing this, Mrs. Wu showed some joy, but she found that somehow she seemed to feel a little lost in her heart?
She suddenly became alert. This kind of warmth seemed something she had never experienced in the past twenty years. It seemed to have erased the ten-year age gap between her and the man in front of her.
She even had a guilty thought. The age difference was only twelve or thirteen, which shouldn't be too big, right?
The two felt the warmth in their palms at that time, and sat there silently, letting time pass by little by little.
Sun Shangxiang sucked her fingers and looked at the two of them curiously, first at Yuan Xi and then at Mrs. Wu, her eyes full of curiosity.
Mrs. Wu suddenly realized the existence of Sun Shangxiang, the light bulb, and hurriedly retracted her finger and turned her head away.
When Yuan Xi saw this, he couldn't help laughing. He pulled Sun Shangxiang into his arms and started teasing her.
Mrs. Wu listened to Yuan Xi telling Sun Shangxiang about what he saw and heard in Black Mountain. In his words, the scene was completely different from the water town in the south of the Yangtze River.
Unlike the land full of rivers, the mountains there are towering and the forests are lush and green, ranging from piled up dark green to even accumulated into dark black, like the mouth of a ferocious beast, swallowing up anyone who rashly enters.
In the mountains and forests, there are not only man-eating tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves, but also annoying mosquitoes and poisonous ants. If you are not careful, your life will be in danger.
Yuan Xi led the army, under the guidance of the local guide of Montenegro, in pursuit of the Montenegro general. After trekking for a long time, when everyone thought they had lost their way, they suddenly saw the end of the road and walked out of the mountains and came to a valley between the majestic mountains.
On the other side of the valley is an endless plain with grasslands, rivers, and running wild horses. The world seems suddenly vast.
Sun Shangxiang and Madam Wu were both listening intently. Sun Shangxiang asked in a baby voice, "Can I go and see it someday?"
Yuan Xi laughed, hugged Sun Shangxiang and said, "If you want, you can do it."
Sun Shangxiang bit her finger and said, "But if mother gives me another brother or sister, I'm afraid Xiangxiang won't be brought along."
Yuan Xi and Madam Wu looked at each other awkwardly and said, "No, mother loves you so much."
Ah Xiang nodded with satisfaction, "Then I'm going to go out and play. You two can chat in private!"
After saying that, she turned around, skipped a few steps, and walked out of the door, closing the door behind her.
Mrs. Wu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She said, "This child is getting more and more naughty."
Yuan Xi was amazed to see that Sun Shangxiang was only four or five years old, but she was very agile and nimble. He said, "This child has the potential to practice martial arts."
Madam Wu smiled and said, "Why should a girl practice martial arts? However, this child is quite talented in the Five Animals Exercises. Mr. Yuanhua even praised her."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "That's it. To succeed, talent, hard work and opportunity are all necessary. This child is blessed with natural talent. Who knows what will happen in the future?"
"And there are also outstanding women. The daughter of Marquis Wen and the Black Mountain Captain Yang Feng are both outstanding among them. I'm afraid there are only a handful of men in the world who can defeat them."
When he talked about Yang Feng, his heart was moved, and he asked Madam Wu, "Madam, what do you think of Sun?"
Mrs. Wu didn't react for a moment, and sighed: "What else can I see? I am Sun's person, and now I have lost my chastity. Now I am just living a miserable life."
Seeing that Mrs. Wu was quite troubled, Yuan Xi thought, why not give her a strong dose of medicine?
He said, "I heard that Madam was forced to get married?"
Mrs. Wu rolled her eyes at Yuan Xi after hearing this and said, "Don't mention the past anymore. You're not much better than me."
Yuan Xi was sweating profusely and said, "I really didn't mean it!"
Mrs. Wu asked, "What if you were awake at that time?"
Yuan Xi thought about it and said, "Maybe it's not like this now."
Mrs. Wu lowered her head and rubbed the blanket with her hands. She didn't know what she was thinking, but she heard Yuan Xi say, "But I think this is the best outcome."
"Madam, you are still young. It is not too late."
After hearing this, Madam Wu had a smile on her face that she herself didn't even notice, "I am already an old lady, so you don't have to go against your conscience to comfort me."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that I was telling the truth. In later generations, there were a lot of unmarried women at the age of thirty-four or thirty-five.
He smiled and said, "Time will tell. Madam will understand my feelings sooner or later."
"Actually, what I asked just now is, Madam, how far do you think the Sun family can go under Bo Fu's leadership?"
"Madam, how far do you think the Sun family can go in the end?"
"The lord of a county, a vassal of a region, a king or a duke, or is it?"
Mrs. Wu was startled and quickly put her finger to her mouth, "Shut up!"
"Is that something you can say?"
"The Sun family doesn't want to be wiped out!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Madam, do you think that what you think is what Bofu thinks?"
Mrs. Wu was speechless. She turned to Yuan Xi and said, "What about you?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi turned his head and reached out to open the window beside him.
The bird outside the window was startled and jumped down from the branch. It turned slightly and flew into the sky, turned into a small dot, and then disappeared.
Yuan Xi looked up at the sky and said, "The ground has its own scenery, the branches have their own scenery, and the sky has its own scenery."
"I want to see the scenery from a high place."
Mrs. Wu was silent for a while, then said softly, "If you fly too high, you will not only face the warm spring sun, but also violent storms."
Yuan Xi nodded and said, "That's right. The higher you fly, the more things you have to do and the greater the risks."
"But every day, countless birds still fly up to the sky, trying to compete with the sky for height."
Madam Wu sighed softly, "I knew that you had lofty ambitions."
"But this road is not easy to walk on."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "That's why I am hesitating. If I fall, many people will be implicated."
"But if I can climb to a high place, so high that no one dares to criticize me, then Madam will never be able to escape from my grasp."
Madam Wu's pretty face turned slightly red, and she snorted, "Young Master is so shameless."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Madam, it's good for you to go back. Maybe one day, when I come to greet you again, no one in the world will dare to criticize us anymore."
Mrs. Wu's heart trembled, but she slowly turned sideways. Yuan Xi understood and gently hugged Mrs. Wu in his arms.
Mrs. Wu felt relaxed. No matter if it was a lie, a dream, or a delusion that would never bear fruit, at least the arms that were hugging her were warm.