After Marrying The Paranoid God of War (Rebirth) - Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Calling by Nickname
Ruan An had just woken up, her expression and demeanor still slightly weak. The pale cheeks of the young lady bore faint red marks from the pressure of a book, and she rubbed her eyes with her small hands.
Huo Pingxiao watched her shuffle towards him in her lotus-embroidered shoes.
Years had passed, yet Ruan An’s appearance and temperament had not changed since their time in Xinghua Village.
Her gaze was still clear, even somewhat naive.
For some reason, Huo Pingxiao felt a sharp pain in his heart when he looked into the girl’s eyes again.
Ruan An approached him, sensing his unusual emotions. She looked up at him with a slightly bewildered expression, observing his face closely.
Huo Pingxiao quickly looked down, avoiding her gaze.
He had faced formidable armies alone, unflinching even as an enemy’s blade shimmered coldly near his ear.
Huo Pingxiao had once arrogantly claimed that there was nothing in this world he feared.
Yet now, he found himself hesitant to meet a young girl’s eyes.
Her familiar, sweet scent only added to the confusion in his already troubled mind.
“Husband, why have you returned so suddenly?”
As soon as Ruan An spoke, she felt a warm, slightly coarse touch pressing towards her eyes, plunging her vision into darkness.
It was Huo Pingxiao covering her eyes with his hand.
Ruan An did not struggle. She just felt his deep voice tremble slightly.
Huo Pingxiao’s tone, suppressing some emotions, calmly replied, “I met with Li Yifang today. He told me about what happened between you two. I misunderstood you before.”
“I’m sorry.”
Huo Pingxiao repeated these words solemnly, his large hand still covering Ruan An’s eyes.
“It’s okay, just remember to let me finish speaking next time.”
After Ruan An softly finished speaking, she tried to break free from his hand covering her eyes. As her fingertips just touched his warm wrist, the man pulled her into his embrace.
The girl, not understanding the situation, struggled slightly. Huo Pingxiao used his hand to press her head against his chest, seemingly not wanting her to look up at him.
Ruan An, resigned, brushed her small face against the complex embroidery on his garment. Huo Pingxiao’s other hand covered her waist, hugging her even tighter than before.
Surrounded by his familiar warmth, Ruan An couldn’t understand what was going on with Huo Pingxiao today or what he intended to do.
Just as she was about to ask, the man’s mood was indecipherable. His deep and resonant voice came from above her head—
“Have you been deceiving me all this time?”
The subject abruptly changed. Huo Pingxiao could clearly feel the girl’s slender back stiffen in his arms, like a frightened rabbit. This time, he didn’t need to press her head down; Ruan An buried her face in his chest on her own.
His suspicions were gradually confirmed, and suppressing the fury in his heart, he asked in a low voice, “Why did you lie to me?”
Remembering the past, Huo Pingxiao felt immense regret.
That night in the cave, a ridiculous thought had flashed through his mind.
He wanted this girl to follow him.
Since being saved by Ruan An, Huo Pingxiao had always been curious about how such a delicate and innocent girl had survived in those mountains.
He heard from Sun Ye that Ruan An would risk her life to gather herbs on steep cliffs.
And when she went down the mountain to treat people, if she forgot to conceal her face, she would attract dangerous attention.
He couldn’t bear to leave his benefactor alone in the mountains.
Then he thought, the girl had a fiancé and was somewhat afraid of him; he really shouldn’t have harbored such thoughts.
In the end, before going off to war, he asked the local officials to take good care of her. He even had bridges built near the mountains where she often gathered herbs, hoping to keep her safe.
If Ruan An had told him the truth then, he would have taken responsibility.
He wouldn’t have let her suffer alone, pregnant with a child.
Thinking of this, Huo Pingxiao gently pushed the girl in his arms away and bent down to look her in the eyes. But when he met Ruan An’s gaze, tears were streaming down her face.
“Don’t cry.”
Huo Pingxiao, taken aback by Ruan An’s tears, looked slightly panicked. While wiping her tears with his long fingers, he comforted her gently, “It’s all my fault.”
With her deepest secrets about to be revealed, Ruan An was filled with fear and shook her head with a choked voice.
In her previous life, she had doubted her feelings for Huo Pingxiao, thinking it was just a memorable experience from her youth, or perhaps an infatuation with the feeling of admiring the blazing sun.
Her love for Huo Pingxiao, or perhaps her obsession with a false fantasy, was baseless and boundless.
But living again, whenever she heard his voice, or even heard someone mention his name, her heart would still flutter endlessly.
Ruan An finally understood that as long as she lived and was conscious, she would never forget him.
She asked herself, if the same events had involved another man, she might not have had his child.
In this life, Ruan An became his wife, and she didn’t expect Huo Pingxiao to be such a considerate and reliable husband.
Despite their adjustments, she couldn’t deny that she liked him more and more each day.
Watching him sleep at night, she felt that her years of infatuation with him had a foundation.
Ruan An never regretted having loved him so deeply.
Huo Pingxiao deserved her affection.
But even as his wife, she still felt timid as a mouse in front of him.
She had long admired and loved him.
This confession, she dared to make only at the brink of death.
Ruan An hated her own weakness and cowardice. Even given a second chance by heaven, she still didn’t dare to confess her feelings to him.
Her tears, like unceasing rain, extinguished the little bravery she had painstakingly gathered, bit by bit.
She still couldn’t say it. She just couldn’t.
“If you don’t wish to answer, then don’t,” he said.
Huo Pingxiao embraced the tearful girl again, kissing the wet corners of her eyes, and asked softly, “Just answer one question for me. Did you refuse to tell me the truth back then because you despised me?”
Of course not.
Ruan An shook her head vigorously, revealing half the truth in a choked voice, “It’s not because I despise you… You know, our statuses are worlds apart. You are a marquis… I am but a village girl who doesn’t even know her own parents… I didn’t dare to reveal the truth to you… I was afraid…”
Status?
Huo Pingxiao’s brows furrowed slightly, realizing it was because of this.
He was about to assure her that he was not someone who cared about such things, but then he felt that, from his position, it would be hard for Ruan An to easily believe him.
“Don’t think that way, A’ Mi,” he said with a warm, deep voice.
As he spoke, Ruan An’s tearful eyelashes trembled.
It had been a long time since anyone had called her by her nickname. Hearing it again, Ruan An felt as if she was in a different world.
For a moment, she even wondered if she had heard wrong.
The official robe on the man was a bright red, making his eyes and brows appear even more strikingly handsome.
Huo Pingxiao, seeing Ruan An’s puzzled gaze, asked again in a low voice, “Did I call you wrongly? A’ Mi.”
At that moment, Ruan An finally confirmed that Huo Pingxiao had indeed called her A’ Mi.
Sun also used to call her A’ Mi in the village, and Chen Yunzhong must have called her by her nickname when he was with Huo Pingxiao, so he knew and remembered her nickname.
She had not anticipated the magic of these two words, which so quickly soothed her emotions.
“You didn’t call it wrong…”
Ruan An shook her head, her voice soft and a bit hoarse from crying.
Just then, a black-feathered swift flew past the window.
Following Huo Pingxiao’s gesture, Ruan An turned to look at the swift’s petite silhouette.
Suddenly feeling the man’s warm breath by her ear, she heard him recite a line of poetry in a low voice, “The swallows once under the eaves of princes and dukes, now fly into the homes of the common folk.”
Huo Pingxiao’s tone was persuasive and patient as he said: “Look at the capital city of Chang’an in the Western capital. On the surface, it is bustling and prosperous, inhabited by royal families and noble clans whose status seems unshakeable. However, every dynasty has its rise and fall.”
“Even the magnificent Afang Palace of the Qin Dynasty, with its thousands of rooms, eventually turned to dust. No one can remain in power forever.”
“Humans are the same. When dust returns to dust, and earth returns to earth, what difference is there between princes, dukes, and the common people?”
The swallows once flew over the halls of the kings and the Xie families, but now they fly into the homes of the ordinary people.
Ruan An silently recited this poem in her heart.
She was someone who had lived again, and had experienced a palace coup in her previous life. She felt very moved by Huo Pingxiao’s comforting words and deeply understood the meaning behind them.
Remembering her past life, Huo Pingxiao was the one who usurped the throne.
“When the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked.”*
For someone as meritorious as him, if he didn’t want to end up like Han Xin, perhaps at this moment, he already harbored certain thoughts in his heart.
Lost in thought, Ruan An came back to her senses only when Huo Pingxiao suddenly came close to her face and tenderly kissed her soft lips, bringing her gaze back.
“A’ Mi.”
Huo Pingxiao called her by her nickname again, his eyes dark as ink as he gazed at her and promised solemnly, “But, whatever status I hold in this Chang’an City, you will hold the same.”
“I will protect you and never let you suffer any grievances again.”
Han Xin was a prominent military general during the early Han Dynasty in ancient China. He played a crucial role in the founding of the Han Dynasty by helping Liu Bang, the first Emperor of Han.
Despite his exceptional military talent and significant contributions to Liu Bang’s victories, Han Xin’s life ended tragically. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, he fell victim to court intrigues and was eventually accused of treason. Han Xin was executed by Emperor Liu Bang, reflecting a common theme in Chinese history where capable but potentially threatening generals were often eliminated after their usefulness had passed.