After Marrying The Paranoid God of War (Rebirth) - Chapter 34
During dinner, the Eight Immortals table had more dishes than before, including a plate of lychees.
Ruan An only then learned that the Emperor had bestowed baskets of lychees to the Prime Minister’s residence and the Marquis of Dingbei’s house. In total, there were twenty baskets, and the Huo family alone received four, a testament to the Emperor’s reliance on them.
Huo Xi was eating lychees voraciously. Worried about him getting a sore throat, Ruan An pushed the plate of lychees towards Huo Pingxiao.
Huo Pingxiao glanced over indifferently and said nothing.
Ruan An asked gently, “Xi’er, didn’t you eat lychees at the Prime Minister’s residence?”
Looking pitiful, Huo Xi shook his head, his lips stained with lychee juice, and softly replied, “No, I was worried about grandfather, who wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t eat.”
Ruan An took a soft cloth from Ze Lan and carefully wiped Huo Xi’s mouth, praising him patiently, “Xi’er is so filial. But you’ve already eaten ten lychees today. If you eat more, you might get blisters on your lips tomorrow.”
Hearing the word “blisters,” Huo Xi opened his mouth, seemingly recalling a frightening memory, and then closed his eyes, shivering slightly, and said, “Then I won’t eat anymore…”
After the maids cleared the table, Ruan An left the father and son to handle the overdue household affairs.
Huo Xi, still not used to being alone with Huo Pingxiao, was about to leave the side hall.
Huo Pingxiao stopped him, “Little guy, come here. I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
Huo Xi paused, looking puzzled at the upright man.
“You seemed so scared when your mother mentioned blisters from eating too many lychees. Why?”
Hearing “blisters” again, Huo Xi shivered. Huo Pingxiao looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern.
Huo Xi replied truthfully, “I had smallpox before, and it was all over my body. It looked terrible.”
Huo Pingxiao was incredulous, “You had smallpox?”
Huo Xi nodded, blinking his long lashes, and added, “Yes, Uncle Sun said I rarely get sick, but when I did, it was severe. My mother was so worried. I was unconscious, but I could still hear her crying.”
Hearing this, Huo Pingxiao’s expression turned solemn.
For a child as young as Huo Xi, smallpox could have been life-threatening.
Ruan An had never mentioned her experience of raising Huo Xi alone. Just the fact that Huo Xi had smallpox was enough to show the difficulties and hardships she faced as a single mother.
Seeing Huo Pingxiao’s increasingly gloomy expression, Huo Xi pouted.
The boy tilted his head, looking puzzled.
The man, who claimed to be his father, was already intimidating, and now he looked even more frightening.
Sensing Huo Xi’s gaze, Huo Pingxiao softened his tone and asked, “Was it your mother who cured your smallpox?”
“Yes, she cured it. She even wrote the treatment into a medical record.”
Realizing the dangerous aura around Huo Pingxiao was dissipating, Huo Xi walked a few steps towards him.
Huo Pingxiao looked down at the little one, his curiosity piqued about Ruan An’s medical records.
Knowing Huo Xi could read, he asked softly, “Have you ever seen your mother’s medical records?”
“I have seen it.”
Huo Xi, speaking in a childlike voice, nodded and then said, “Brother Sun also said that my mother gave birth to me just to write the medical records. She even wrote down all the symptoms she experienced while carrying me. However, my mother said those were women’s illnesses and forbade me from seeing them, so I don’t know what illnesses she had at that time.”
Huo Pingxiao’s expression suddenly turned sharp, and he asked in a deep voice, “Your mother fell ill while carrying you?”
Why did he suddenly become fierce again?
Huo Xi didn’t answer him, feeling that this man, who claimed to be his father, had an unpredictable temperament. He wondered how his mother tolerated him on a daily basis.
It seemed he had to work harder to make this fearsome man release his wife sooner.
Taking advantage of Huo Pingxiao’s momentary distraction, Huo Xi quickly escaped from under his watchful eye and had his wet nurse take him back to his own courtyard.
The next day, the Taiji Hall held its routine grand court meeting.
After the court session, Huo Pingxiao planned to go directly to the military camp for training.
Just as he stepped through the Chentian Gate of the forbidden court, he saw Li Yifang standing outside the palace gate, bowing towards him, and said in a calm voice, “I just want to say a few words, and I hope the Duke of Dingbei will grant me this favor.”
Dressed in the robe of a first-class military officer, Huo Pingxiao, tall and imposing, with a double sword belt around his waist, had a defiant look in his dark eyes and asked unhappily, “You really are persistent. If this is about the Lady Ruan’s matter, I have nothing to discuss with you.”
Li Yifang stood up straight, his tone calm as he replied, “It’s not convenient to talk here, please accompany me to a quieter place.”
Although Huo Pingxiao coldly glanced at Li Yifang, he followed his suggestion and found a quiet teahouse to sit down in.
After the tea was served, Li Yifang began, “I hope that today, I can clear up any misunderstandings between myself and Lord Huo.”
Huo Pingxiao, silent, just lifted his distinctively jointed long hand, signaling him to continue.
“I never took Miss Ruan as a concubine. The house in Guangde Square was where I lived while preparing for my exams. A few months ago, she came to Chang’an alone with her child. The governor of Jianyang, who had been treated by her, wrote me a letter before she arrived, asking me to look after her.”
“The governor asked you to look after her?”
Huo Pingxiao’s brows furrowed slightly, puzzled, he asked again, “She came to Chang’an to find you, didn’t she?”
Li Yifang sighed helplessly, realizing there was indeed a misunderstanding.
“Of course she didn’t come looking for me. Before the governor sent me the letter, I didn’t even know she existed.”
Huo Pingxiao’s gaze became more scrutinizing as he asked in confusion, “Weren’t you her former fiancé?”
“Fiancé?”
Li Yifang looked surprised, and after a moment, said, “I don’t know what happened between Miss Ruan and Lord Huo, but I can assure you, I was definitely not her former fiancé. As for who her fiancé really is, I have no idea.”
“I’m even curious why she came to Chang’an with her child, and why she suddenly decided to return to Jiazhou with Ruan Xi overnight.”
After hearing Li Yifang’s explanation, Huo Pingxiao’s expression grew even darker, convinced that Li Yifang was telling the truth.
Ruan An’s fiancé was not him.
So who was her fiancé?
Or, were all the things she told him in the past lies?
And this fiancé, was it a figment of her imagination?
But why did she deceive him?
Huo Pingxiao’s heart was filled with doubts. Knowing that today was not Ruan An’s day to sit in the clinic, he decided to immediately return to the Marquis’ residence to ask her about it in detail.
Although he learned that Ruan An and Li Yifang had no prior relationship, Huo Pingxiao still warned Li Yifang with a hint of threat before leaving, “Even if you are not her former fiancé, don’t think about pursuing her.”
Li Yifang’s tone became heavier as he questioned, “Lord Marquis, won’t your actions hurt your legal wife?”
Huo Pingxiao snorted lightly, unwilling to talk more with Li Yifang.
With a loud ‘clang,’ the man was quite generous, leaving a whole ingot of snowflake-patterned silver on the tea table.
The servant’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the silver, repeatedly thanking, “Thank you, sir, thank you for your generosity.”
After the servant collected the silver, Li Yifang heard the man’s cold voice again, “There’s no need for you to worry. Both of them are my women, and I will take good care of them.”
After Huo Pingxiao returned to the Marquis’ residence, he went straight to Ruan An’s study.
Upon lifting the bamboo curtain, he saw the girl lying on the desk, sleeping soundly with even breaths.
Although Ruan An had been busy with the clinic, she had not neglected her studies of the mansion’s affairs with Wei Yuan, and she seemed to have trouble sleeping at night, needing to make up for it during the day.
Seeing that the girl’s clothes were somewhat thin, Huo Pingxiao draped the cloak hanging on the pear wood rack over her slender back, planning to apologize when his little wife woke up.
In the clinic earlier, Ruan An must have wanted to explain her relationship with Li Yifang, but he didn’t let her speak.
Huo Pingxiao looked at the medical records spread out on the desk, recalling what Huo Xi had said that day, and became curious about the contents.
Especially the records of her pregnancy.
Thinking of this, Huo Pingxiao carefully took the scroll from under the girl’s arm. He quickly flipped through the pages of medical records she had written diligently, admiring her improved handwriting.
Unbeknownst to him, while looking at her crooked writing, a soft smile appeared in his eyes.
Finally seeing the words ‘pregnancy records,’ Huo Pingxiao’s finger flipping through the pages slowed down.
The smile in his eyes faded and disappeared in an instant.
Ruan An’s writing, like her philosophy in medicine, was simple and unadorned yet extremely meticulous.
Huo Pingxiao flipped through the pages, his gaze passing over words like morning sickness, leg cramps, back pain, pregnancy tinnitus…
Each word struck his heart.
And at the end of these pregnancy records, the patient was listed as: Jiazhou, Miss Ruan.
Upon seeing the words ‘difficult labor,’ the man’s eyes suddenly changed.
This page, with its not very neat handwriting, recorded –
Signs of hemorrhage now evident, fortunately took old ginseng, mother and child both safe and sound.
In such a situation, one must have the courage of a mother.
With courage, the energy is right. Once fear arises, the energy reverses, the mother weakens, the child dies.
Blood, collapse…
Mother, neglect, child, death…
These six words, each word like a heart-piercing blade.
The man silently recited them in his heart, his fingers turning white as he gripped the pages of the book, trembling, and his eyelids slowly and heavily closed as he closed the medical record.
When he opened his eyes again, Huo Pingxiao’s temples were bulging with veins.
The low-hanging crow’s lashes of the man hid the faint cold melancholy in his eyes, and the scar that stretched from his neck to his shoulder seemed to bulge outwards. His aura was both sharp and heavy.
In the other room, Ruan An did not sleep soundly, naturally hearing the rustling sound of Huo Pingxiao flipping through the book.
Why did he suddenly return to the mansion?
Feeling the low pressure around him, Ruan An was quite puzzled, but still, after getting up, she smiled brightly at him and called out warmly, “Husband, you’re back.”
