Your Majesty, We’re Counting on You to Ruin the Country! 86

Chapter 86: [Shu & Huang] Never Forgotten

Since entering the Fengtian Temple, this was the first time Qin Zhaohuang had returned to the Qin family. Even on his wedding day, he had been escorted out from the Fengtian Temple by Feng Qi and the elders of the temple, having no dealings with the Qin family. With the Emperor personally escorting him, no one dared to say it was against etiquette. After all, the Son of Heaven was the truth of this world.

So, after receiving a letter from the Qin family, saying that at least his parents should see their little grandchild, he had hesitated for a long time.

In the end, it was Yu Qianshou who had let him go.

This night, the carriage rumbled towards the south of the city.

The Qin family had been merchants for generations. Although they were not as rich as the country, they were still one of the wealthiest in the region, so the Qin Residence was naturally grand and luxurious. Yu Qianshou held Qin Zhaohuang’s hand and carefully stepped into the carved gate under the welcome of the Qin family.

“Huang’er.” Seeing him, both Madam Qin and Master Qin’s expressions were incredibly complicated, a mix of guilt, joy, and awkwardness.

Madam Qin looked at his large belly and the girl held by Yu Qianshou and smiled. “What is the child’s name?”

She had originally been seriously ill, looking like a piece of dead wood, her face pale. But thanks to Qin Zhaohuang’s good luck and Yu Qianshou’s medical skills, she was still healthy and beautiful even now. Although she was over fifty, she still had her charm. Master Qin sat beside her, looking at the two of them without a word, but Yu Qianshou carefully noticed that his hands were nervously clenched into fists, tightly gripping the hem of his clothes.

Yu Qianshou said politely, “My daughter is three years old this year, named Chen Xi. As for the child in Huang’er’s belly, we still don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, so the name has not yet been decided.”

Chen Xi was lovely and cute, having inherited Qin Zhaohuang’s stunning looks, with a hint of Yu Qianshou’s coolness in her eyes. Her beauty was already evident. Madam Qin was fond of her, and her heart was filled with affection. She beckoned to her and said kindly, “Come here.”

Chen Xi shrank behind Yu Qianshou, only revealing a pair of large eyes as she looked at her.

Madam Qin awkwardly withdrew her hand.

Qin Zhaohuang lowered his head. “Xi’er has always been shy.”

“It’s alright,” Madam Qin smiled. “Come and have dinner with us. I’ve had someone prepare a feast.”

Qin Zhaohuang was a little inconvenienced now, and Yu Qianshou supported him all the way, also pulling out a chair for him and helping him sit down gently. Seeing that Yu Qianshou was indeed as the rumors said, Master and Madam Qin were also very relieved.

They had ultimately mistreated him. They knew very well how he had lived when he was young. And if he had Yu Qianshou to love and protect him for the rest of his life, they were naturally much more at ease.

The Qin family was indeed a large family. A feast was truly a feast, all of the finest delicacies. Yu Qianshou kept serving food to Qin Zhaohuang and Chen Xi. The other relatives of the Qin family were also present, and with many people talking, the atmosphere at the dinner table was not awkward.

Qin Zhaohuang concentrated on eating, not talking much, nor did he make eye contact with his parents. After the long meal was finally over, Madam Qin took him away.

Yu Qianshou watched their retreating figures, thought for a moment, but in the end, did not stop them.

“Your name is… Chen Shu?”

Yu Qianshou was stunned for a moment, then nodded at him. “Yes.”

“The Physician Chen who treated my wife back then?” Master Qin was a little uncertain. After all, Yu Qianshou was wearing a veil, and his face could not be seen clearly.

“Yes.”

Master Qin smiled. “Physician Chen is truly a blessing to my Qin family, curing my wife and also having a good marriage with Huang’er.”

Yu Qianshou didn’t know how to respond, so he just nodded slightly.

“The Chen family back then…” Master Qin shook his head, feeling a sense of pity.

The Chen family was originally a scholarly family, producing many great talents and scholars, and had a certain power in the court. It was just a pity that in the later struggle for the throne, they had chosen the wrong prince and had become a sacrifice in the political struggle, the entire family slaughtered overnight.

Yu Qianshou was the only survivor. If he hadn’t happened to be at the Qin Residence, he would not be alive and sitting here now. He still remembered it clearly. That year, when he returned to the Chen Residence, he had seen the house littered with corpses, and the blood of his closest relatives had stained the entire residence red.

He had been blinded by hatred and, in his impulsiveness, had entered the Poison Sect to practice hard for revenge, making himself neither human nor ghost. From then on, Chen Shu had become Yu Qianshou. He had also successfully killed those treacherous villains who had harmed his entire family, but now…

“The Chen family was innocent and died in vain back then. It was truly hateful. But I am living very well now. There is no need to be attached to the past.”

Hearing his words, Master Qin nodded in appreciation.

Yu Qianshou couldn’t help but smile. “The reason I was able to survive that disaster back then was because on the night of the incident, Huang’er kept holding on to me, not willing to let me leave, saying he wanted me to tell him a story.”

Master Qin was stunned. He thought to himself that the fate between Qin Zhaohuang and Yu Qianshou had begun many years ago. From the companionship of the past to the happy union of today, it was quite a perfect ending.

“Father…” Chen Xi tugged at his sleeve.

Seeing her aggrieved and watery-eyed look, Yu Qianshou smiled and served her her favorite dish.

Tsk, tsk, this way of acting cute and wronged, I wonder who she got it from.

And on the other side, incense curled up in the room.

Madam Qin pulled him to sit at the table and, trying to make her tone as kind as possible, said, “Huang’er, we were foolish back then. Don’t blame your mother, okay?”

“Ah.” Qin Zhaohuang felt a little uncomfortable and forced a smile.

“Huang’er, come back often in the future. This is your home.”

“Alright.”

“Huang’er, this…” Madam Qin took out some jewelry she had prepared from a drawer and stuffed it into his hand. “It’s my dowry, a family heirloom, for Xi’er.”

“Thank you.”

She reached out and touched his face. “Xi’er will definitely be a beauty in the future, perhaps like you, the most beautiful in the world.”

The two of them chatted for a long while, and he gradually became less distant.

“I heard that you and Boss Chen have opened an opera house, and it’s always full. If you’re busy in the future, you can also leave Xi’er with us. We’ll help take care of her. Anyway, we have nothing to do at home. Xi’er is very well-behaved. Your father and I like her very much.”

Qin Zhaohuang lowered his head. “Alright…”

After he and Madam Qin returned to the main hall, they saw that many of the Qin family’s relatives had already dispersed. Master Qin and Yu Qianshou were playing chess together, and Chen Xi was nestled in Yu Qianshou’s arms, already asleep.

After bidding farewell to the two masters of the Qin family, they left.

Qin Zhaohuang was originally about to get on the carriage, but Yu Qianshou stopped him.

“What’s wrong?”

Yu Qianshou, holding the sleeping Chen Xi, asked in a low voice, “Want to take a walk around here with me?”

Qin Zhaohuang was stunned, a little puzzled. What was there to see around here? But before he could ask, Yu Qianshou took his hand and led him around the Qin Residence to a small forest behind it.

Looking at the lush greenery around them, he was startled and blinked at him. “Ah Shu, you’re not serious, are you? You want to have a romp in the wild with me, to have a taste of the outside?”

Yu Qianshou’s whole body stiffened. He shook his head. “Stop fooling around. You’re already the father of two children, yet you’re still so shameless.”

Qin Zhaohuang stood on his tiptoes and said in a low and hoarse voice in his ear, “I have two children, and isn’t it because my husband is too fierce?”

Yu Qianshou kept inhaling and exhaling, not daring to speak anymore.

If he continued to talk to this person, he was really afraid he would lose control. Xi’er was still here.

Qin Zhaohuang couldn’t help but chuckle.

After walking for a while, the gurgling of a stream came to their ears. He was stunned. A crystal clear stream suddenly appeared before him. The stream was so clear that the stones at the bottom could be seen, and on the surface of the water… were thousands of lotus lanterns.

“You…” He blinked, a little uncertain. “You put them there?”

“Mmm.” Yu Qianshou turned his head away, his earlobes slightly red.

Qin Zhaohuang looked at the lights before him. The candlelight from the lotus lanterns illuminated the surface of the water in an orange-yellow, and also lit up this dark forest. Thousands of lotus lanterns floated slowly on the stream, swaying with the current.

He still remembered when he was young, in the small courtyard, he had pulled at Yu Qianshou’s sleeve and acted spoiled, “I want to release flower lanterns.”

“Why do you suddenly have this thought?”

He had held up the book in his hand. “Flower lanterns must be very beautiful. I really want to see them. I heard there is a small stream outside the residence. If only I could go there…”

It was just a pity that at that time, he was locked in the courtyard and could not go out, so the matter was left unresolved.

And now, Yu Qianshou bent down and picked up one of the flower lanterns, handing it to him. “Make a wish.”

Qin Zhaohuang took the flickering flower, his eyes slightly red.

Yu Qianshou was a man of few words, but he had never forgotten a single word he had said. His likes, his wishes, his habits—he knew them all like the back of his hand.

What he liked to eat, what he disliked doing, what he liked to do at what time, even his requests when he was young—he had never said, but he had done them one by one.

“I wish… that my husband will be well for a lifetime, and that we will stay together until we are old, returning to the earth together. I wish that our children will grow up healthy and without worries.” He held the flower lantern in his hands, feeling a warmth in his heart.

Yu Qianshou smiled and placed the flower lantern back in the stream.

“Ah Shu, you are so good.” Qin Zhaohuang stood on his tiptoes and wrapped his arms around his neck, rubbing against him gently. Afraid that he would fall, he immediately reached out and held his waist.

In the forest, by the stream, the two of them leaned against each other, watching the wishes blooming on the surface of the water, with a little girl in their arms. The lotus lanterns beside them cast a faint, warm light on everything.

Besides the chirping of cicadas, the surroundings were quiet.