"Child..." Jiang Zhiqing looked at the "child" in Li Zhao's arms, her eyes full of confusion as she murmured, "Child..."
She dropped her hands, sat up straight, and leaned towards Li Zhao, her face showing a childish curiosity.
Li Zhao sat down on the couch, getting closer to her, and offered the "pillow" in his arms.
"Yes, look. This is our child. It's just been born by you, Yingniang. Her eyes, nose, and mouth are all so much like yours."
She stared at him with wide eyes, then at the pillow wrapped in a cassock. The face that had been full of fear just now now showed a shy smile.
"It's the child of Yingniang and my husband."
"Does she look like me?"
Remembering Ye Wanmian's appearance he saw just now, Li Zhao nodded, his voice even softer. "Yes, she looks a lot like you."
Jiang Zhiqing reached out her hand towards Li Zhao. "Let me hold her."
Li Zhao carefully placed the "child" in her arms. The moment Jiang Zhiqing held the pillow, her whole being softened. She skillfully held the "child" and cooed.
"Ooh, baby, be good. Mother is here."
As she cooed, she looked up at Li Zhao again and whispered, "The child also looks like my husband."
She looked up at Li Zhao, her eyes full of attachment that made Li Zhao's heart tremble. He reached out his hand and gently stroked her aging eyebrows and eyes. "Naturally. She's our child. Yingniang, how about the child taking your surname from now on?"
"Take my surname?" Jiang Zhiqing tilted her head slightly and repeated what Li Zhao had just said. Apparently, she didn't understand what he meant.
Facing such Jiang Zhiqing, Li Zhao had endless patience.
After all, this was his beloved who had been separated from him for many years and was finally found again.
"Yes, just like you, with the surname Jiang." Li Zhao said with a smile. "Let's name her Jiang Mian, with the courtesy name Mujin. What do you think?"
"Jiang Mian?" Jiang Zhiqing repeated the name over and over again. Gradually, she nestled into Li Zhao's arms. She gently pinched the pillow with her finger. "The child of Yingniang and my husband, Jiang Mian."
Ye Wanmian stared blankly at all this, her cheeks already wet with tears. Li Zhao looked up in the direction where she was hiding. His gaze was as gentle as when he had looked at Jiang Zhiqing just now.
Ye Wanmian bit her lip hard to keep from crying out on the spot.
Someone gently pressed on her shoulder. She turned around. Xiao Jingcheng looked down at her and said, "Did you hear that? From now on, you're truly Jiang Mian."
Her father and mother were both alive, and they were together again. Although her mother hadn't regained consciousness yet, her body's reaction didn't lie. Her mother clearly still had feelings and attachment for her father, which meant that she hadn't been abandoned or betrayed but was forced to do so.
Combined with the disaster that the Li family had suffered back then, there must be other reasons for their separation.
And now, she finally had a home of her own.
She was the child born to Li Zhao, a member of the Li family in Luozhou, and Jiang Zhiqing. Her name was Jiang Mian.
She reached out to wipe the tears from her face and said in a muffled voice, "Mother must be hungry. I'll go cook something."
She turned around and left. After a moment of hesitation, Xiao Jingcheng followed her.
Xiao Jingcheng was afraid that she was feeling sad and wanted to find a place to cry. He didn't expect that she really entered the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast. However, after looking around, she frowned.
"The rain is too heavy. The kitchen is leaking, and the accumulated water has wet most of the firewood."
Xiao Jingcheng stepped forward to take a look. It was indeed the case.
Once the firewood got wet, it was extremely difficult to burn. As a result, food became a problem. Moreover, this firewood was bought by Xiao Jingcheng himself. It had only been stored for less than two days and was already ruined by the rain.
Noticing that there was still a small part of the firewood that could be used, Xiao Jingcheng said, "It doesn't matter. I'll cut off the dry part. We'll just make do with it for these few days."
There was no other choice.
He rolled up his sleeves, pulled out the firewood, and used an axe to chop it. Soon, there were many dry firewood pieces on the ground. Jiang Mian skillfully started a fire. Soon, there was a flame in the stove.
Now that both Jiang Zhiqing and Li Zhao were in poor health and couldn't eat meat, Jiang Mian cooked a pot of porridge. Then she took out some vegetables she had bought before and made a refreshing side dish.
Her eyes were still red and swollen, but there was a glimmer of light in them. She was no longer as gloomy as she had been yesterday.
While Jiang Mian was busy in the kitchen, Xiao Jingcheng helped watch the fire beside her. Dahuang also followed them in and leaned against the stove to dry its fur.
Looking at Xiao Jingcheng sitting on a small wooden stool, expressionlessly poking the burning firewood with a pair of tongs, Jiang Mian felt curious.
She never thought that the former high - and - mighty Crown Prince, who could decide a person's life or death with a single word, would now be crowded into a small kitchen with her, doing such rough work as starting a fire and cooking.
"By the way." Jiang Mian remembered that Jiang Zhiqing had been poisoned. She asked Xiao Jingcheng, "Where are the two people who tried to harm my mother now?"
Xiao Jingcheng said, "They're at the Zhao family's place."
Seeing her looking a bit confused, Xiao Jingcheng said, "It's Zhao Hu, the owner of the Flying Tiger Bank. You saw him at the gambling house that night."
When he mentioned the gambling house again today, Jiang Mian wasn't as angry as before. She frowned tightly. "Can that person be trusted? How can you be so relieved to leave those two people in his hands?"
Xiao Jingcheng said, "This person is greedy for money, insidious, and cunning. He's very good at judging the situation. For the sake of interests, he won't be our enemy for now. It's actually safer to leave those two people with him."
Jiang Mian wasn't unfamiliar with those two people. They were her mother's younger brother and sister - in - law!
Just thinking that they had the heart to harm her mother made her want to grab a knife and rush to the Zhao family immediately to cut them into pieces!
However, she still kept a bit of calm in her heart.
Her mother had been locked in the yard by those two people for more than ten years. For these more than ten years, although they had beaten and scolded her and regarded her as a burden, they had never taken her life. Why did they suddenly have the intention to harm her now?
Moreover, if they really wanted to kill her mother, why didn't they do it for all these years but waited until now?
She was very clear that there must be a reason, and this reason had prompted them to take such a cruel move.
Although she really wanted to know the reason from those two people, Li Zhao hated them no less than she did. She couldn't leave Li Zhao and go to find out by herself. She could only wait until Li Zhao got better and then interrogate those two people properly.
Soon, the sound of boiling porridge came from the pot, and the air was filled with the fragrance of rice.
She asked Xiao Jingcheng to turn down the fire. Jiang Mian lifted the lid, scooped out the porridge one by one, and left the kitchen with it in her hands.
When she returned to the room where Jiang Zhiqing was, she raised her hand and knocked on the door. Soon, Li Zhao came to answer the door. The two of them faced each other.
Jiang Mian moved her lips, but she still couldn't utter that address. She forced herself to hand over the porridge in her hands.
"I cooked some porridge. You... and mother should eat some."