Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing were thoroughly defeated, speechless beyond words.
At first they really couldn't tell, but once Guaizai said it, it was vivid—yet they hadn't thought of it because they'd simply never seen it.
Dandan pouted and kissed Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing, very suddenly. Qin Hengxuan asked in surprise why he suddenly wanted to kiss them.
Dandan, milky-voiced, puffing out his chubby belly, sighed: "Father said, we must care for the mentally challenged. Pretty Uncle and Handsome Grandpa, being so inexperienced, how will you manage! Sigh~ Brothers, you guys come over and love them too. If everyone gives a little love, the world will become a beautiful paradise."
Meng Ruqing: "..."
Qin Hengxuan: "..."
His hands felt a bit itchy. He inexplicably wanted to hit someone.
These little brats.
Qin Hengxuan gnashed his teeth, unwilling to concede. He challenged Guaizai, Gungun, and Dandan, saying it was his turn to imitate and for them to guess.
He used magic to defeat magic—he imitated animals that Guaizai, Gungun, and Dandan didn't know. The children thought he was cheating and pounced on him, clamoring and "wrestling" with Qin Hengxuan.
"Handsome Grandpa is a cheating snake, why don't you howl when you imitate a wolf?"
"Exactly."
"You didn't make a sound when you imitated a bug either!"
"Ah! How can that be!"
"Dandan doesn't want to hear Grandpa talk nonsense, bugs don't make sounds."
"Then Grandpa is trying to trick Dandan? Tricking people is wrong, Dandan is going to use his ultimate move, take a Dandan punch."
"Stinky brat, are you tickling me? Oh my god, Guaizai don't sit on my face! You didn't even wash your bottom tonight. Qing Ger, come save me, these kids are going to crush me to death, save me quickly or you'll be widowed."
Guaizai giggled happily, and the few of them rolled into a tangled heap.
Meng Ruqing found it amusing, watching them make a fuss from the side, his expression gentle.
The noise here was loud enough that even Old General Qin heard it. He felt a pang of jealousy: "The children still aren't asleep?" He called to Old Madam Qin: "Then you go bring the children over, I want to see them again."
Old Madam Qin laughed in exasperation: "Look at the time. Qing Ger hasn't been in good spirits lately. Let the children spend more time with him." She lowered her eyes and said: "It's been a long time since I've heard our eldest son laugh like this."
"Yes. But these children really are adorable. Now I have no regrets at all. No, that's not right." Old General Qin stopped mid-sentence and sighed softly, "I still want to meet that Fang boy. That child — I've never even seen him."
The three children only thought about sleeping after they'd tired themselves out. Gungun hugged Meng Ruqing's arm as if he were hugging Fang Zichen, pressing close to him. Meng Ruqing gently patted his back. Zhao Ger used to coax him to sleep like this too, and he immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Meng Ruqing tucked them in, and by the dim yellow lamplight, his gaze lingered almost greedily on the three children's flushed little faces.
Qin Hengxuan kissed Guaizai once, then gently sat up and grabbed the cloak from the table beside him, handing it to Meng Ruqing. "Let's go."
The two went to Old General Qin's tent. The two elders hadn't slept yet. Old Madam Qin hadn't even removed the hairpin from her hair—it seemed they had been waiting specifically for them to come.
Old Madam Qin asked, "Are the children asleep?"
Meng Ruqing replied, "All asleep."
"Did they make a fuss?" Gungun and Dandan were still little. During the day they were fine while playing, but Old Madam Qin worried they might cry at night looking for Zhao Ger.
Meng Ruqing smiled. "No, they were all very good."
Old Madam Qin stood up, still uneasy. "The frontier is cold. I'll go take a look."
Qin Hengxuan had played with the children for half a shichen and now felt quite tired, though his mind was still wired. He didn't stop her. The tent had a charcoal fire burning and the children had two layers of blankets—they definitely wouldn't be cold. But he knew Old Madam Qin doted on the children. Unless she saw them with her own eyes, she absolutely wouldn't feel at ease.
Old General Qin was in good spirits, but not seeing the children made his heart feel like a big piece was missing. At night he'd wanted to coax the children to sleep on his side, but Gungun and Dandan wanted to sleep with Meng Ruqing, and he couldn't bring himself to compete with Meng Ruqing for them. Now, looking at Qin Hengxuan, he said, "Is Fang Zichen your flesh and blood?"
Qin Hengxuan sat down beside him. "He should be."
"What do you mean, 'should be'?" Old General Qin was displeased, glaring at him with a gaze that was almost piercing. "He is! If he weren't, how could he look like Qing Ger? How could Dandan look like you? When are you going to bring him back? I want to see him. Right now."
"Father." Qin Hengxuan said helplessly. "Right now it's only our guess." Although the guess was almost certainly correct, it was the only explanation that made sense.
But the age didn't match up, so Qin Hengxuan didn't dare say it with certainty.
Old General Qin sighed and said no more.
The Qin family felt as though they were wrapped in layer upon layer of thick fog. Every time they tried to break free, something else pulled them back. The more they thought about it, the less they could make sense of it.
When the child had been thrown from a place like Donghuan Ridge, reason told them he couldn't possibly have survived. But it was so high—the moment the child was thrown, the Qin family soldiers immediately went down to search, yet found no one. Even if some creature had carried him off, or if he'd been smashed to a pulp, there should have been at least some bloodstains—but there was nothing. The surrounding area was searched thoroughly, dug three feet deep, and not a single trace was found.
The child had simply vanished.
In their hearts, the Qin family privately felt the child was still alive, but when reason took over, it seemed impossible — a cliff ten thousand zhang high, even a grown man would be shattered to pieces instantly. How could a newborn baby have survived?
Fang Zichen was twenty-three. If the child hadn't been thrown down back then, he should be twenty now. Fang Zichen was a full three years older, and he'd come from overseas. Even if the child hadn't died, he couldn't have ended up overseas! Who would have carried him there?
Back then, the area had been immediately sealed off by Qin family soldiers. No one could get near...
But what about Dandan?
One mystery after another, bewildering and impossible to explain.
"Whether or not that child is Fang Zichen, I've already accepted him as my grandson. These three children—I loved them the moment I saw them. I feel it in my bones that they're my great-grandchildren." Old General Qin spoke with certainty, yet it was as if he was trying to convince himself. He said, "It's fine if we can't figure these things out. Once we see Fang Zichen, we'll understand. He'll definitely know. He's definitely our Qin family's blood. Xuan'er, go bring him back."
Here we go again.
"Father, he's currently serving at Hezhou." Qin Hengxuan rubbed the space between his brows, speaking with a headache. "He's so protective of Guaizai, yet this time he let Guaizai come alone without coming along himself. He must have had urgent business to attend to. And I really can't get away either."
It wasn't that he didn't want to see the child. The moment he saw Dandan, he couldn't sit still for even a moment—he wanted to go find Fang Zichen immediately. That might be the son he'd longed for these twenty years! But could he go?
If he left, what would happen to the rear? Who would hold things down here? Deputy General Lu had followed the Qin family for decades, yet he'd defected just like that. The Lin and Feng families were now stationed at both ends of the border, not in the rear. He trusted the others even less. Did he dare leave?
Could he abandon his duties here for personal reasons? If something happened during that time, he couldn't bear the responsibility.
Meng Ruqing lowered his eyelids, half-concealing eyes that surged with emotion. He said nothing. He wanted to see the child more than anyone. Thinking of Fang Zichen made his heart pound uncontrollably against his ribs.
But he also knew that at this critical juncture, neither he nor Qin Hengxuan could leave.
He had been willful once and suffered for twenty whole years. He absolutely could not make that mistake a second time.
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