An An Xin stayed in Xie Jing's embrace the whole time and refused to come out. Xie Jing coughed twice, and An An unwillingly stuck her head out to look at the woman beside Xie Jing.
He had a face the size of a palm and exquisite facial features. He was extremely beautiful and had an extraordinary temperament.
Ye Zichen blinked and exclaimed curiously, "Elder sister, you are so beautiful."
Xie Qingrong crouched down, standing at the same position as An An. In her hand, she took out a dagger from her boots, which was the dagger Black Tortoise had given to her to use to protect her life.
Now she gave it to Anthea as a greeting.
An An Xin's large eyes flickered with surprise and happiness, but there was also a trace of apprehension. Very clearly, he didn't dare to extend his hand to receive it without Xie Jing's permission.
Xie Qingrong sighed at An An's good upbringing, and patted An An's head, saying with a gentle smile: "This is elder sister's greeting gift to An An."
An An Qing pursed her lips, but didn't move for a long time.
Xie Jing let out a light sigh, and said: "An An, this is sister's gift to you, take it."
An An immediately received the dagger from Xie Qingrong's hand happily, and lovingly played with it.
The reason why Xie Qingrong had chosen to give the dagger to An An was because she had noticed An An's longing and love for the wooden sword when she carved it.
When he saw An An An's wild joy, he couldn't help but feel a bit more joyous as he pinched An An An's small face.
Even though his hands were stained with blood, he was still very fond of this innocent and kind child. Otherwise, he wouldn't have used such a precious dagger as a greeting gift so easily.
At this time, the woman on the river bank, carrying the infant in her arms, walked over with light footsteps to Xie Jing's side, telling him repeatedly, "An An An, have you forgotten what mother has taught you?"
It was only then that An'an remembered that her mother had told her that someone had given her a gift. She scratched her head in embarrassment, thanking him softly. "Thank you elder sister. An'an really likes elder sister's gift."
Xie Qingrong smiled gently.
Xie Jing hugged the woman's waist, and introduced her to Xie Qingrong: "Madam, this is the daughter of a good friend that I told you about, Xie Qingrong."
He then introduced his wife and children to Xie Qingrong, "This is my wife, Lady Xie Liu. This is my eldest son, Xie Cheng. The one my wife is holding is my youngest son, Xie Nuo. As for my nickname, I haven't even named him yet. How about I give my youngest son a nickname? "
Xie Qingrong happily agreed, and carefully observed the infant in Xie Liu's hands. He bit her finger, and her round eyes widened, looking extremely cute.
"Why don't we call it Yuan Yuan? I hope that you will be able to get what you want in your entire life, and that you will be able to achieve your goal. " Xie Qingrong said softly, her words carrying anticipation and blessings.
Madame Xie Liu smiled tenderly. "Many thanks to the young lady for naming my son."
Xie Qingrong curled her lips, did not say a word, and walked to the side.
Seeing Xie Qingrong's actions, Xie Jing quickly reacted and whispered into Mrs Liu's ears. Mrs Liu nodded her head and brought An An to walk towards the tent.
Only Xie Qingrong and Xie Jing were left on the riverbank.
Xie Qingrong raised her eyebrows and slowly said: "General Xie can now tell me the truth, right?"
Xie Jing was a little conflicted, he did not know how to begin to talk about it. He thought for a while before speaking, "Back then, I owed your mother a favor for Shang Huaiyue, and it was at the time when I did not know how to repay your mother's kindness. Your mother came to your door, hoping that my general's house would let her hide for a year or so. "
"That is before I am married, so it is not a big deal to think about it. Moreover, your mother and Queen Zhangsun are good sisters, and Queen Zhangsun's husband, Emperor Xuanyuan, had a lifelong friendship with me. No matter what, I will not decline. "
"I didn't expect that when your mother came to find me for help that day, she was already pregnant for a month. Your mother gave birth to you, and it was with great difficulty that she gave birth to your sister. But unfortunately, your sister died young, and the imperial physician said that she won't live past two months at most. "
"Only that night, your mother and your sister, who died early, disappeared too. Emperor Xuanyuan and I searched for a long time, but were unable to find any trace of your mother's disappearance.
After hearing what Xie Jing had said, Xie Qingrong fell into deep thought. It was difficult for one's mother to give birth to a baby, so her body was extremely weak. She definitely did not have the strength to bring Shang Zhiqing along and disappear without a trace.
Then there was only one possibility, and that was that someone had taken Shang Huaiyue and Shang Zhiqing away.
Was it related to the mysterious power behind Shang Zhiqing?
"Did my mother ever mention who my real father was?" Xie Qingrong asked.
Xie Jing searched through the memories that were deeply hidden in his mind again before shaking his head, "I've never mentioned it before."
Actually, he and Shang Huaiyue had very little conversation, and the only few times that they spoke were to settle the matter of the womb. The more they spoke, the more Shang Huaiyue would come to her door and beg him to take them in.
At that time, he was still puzzled as to why the famous Shang Huaiyue did not have a chance to seek help. However, when he saw how familiar the Queen Zhangsun was with her, he immediately understood.
Although he admired and admired Shang Huaiyue, he did not have any feelings for her.
In the five years that Xie Qingrong was born in the beginning, he would still occasionally return to the General's Estate to bring Xie Qingrong some little toys that children liked.
Later, when he met his wife, he realized that the relationship between a man and a woman should be like that between him and his wife.
Later on, he entrusted the Emperor Xuanyuan to look after Xie Qingrong, while he chose to guard the Mo Bei for the rest of his life.
If Xie Qingrong had not discovered it herself, he would have kept this secret forever. Until his death, he would never take the initiative to tell Xie Qingrong.
A few drops of disappointment flashed across Xie Qingrong's eyes. So it turned out that even Xie Jing didn't know who his father was. However, Shang Zhiqing should know, but she wouldn't tell him.
Even if he took the initiative to ask her, Shang Zhiqing would definitely not say it.
From the moment Shang Zhiqing had appeared, she had an intuition that there must have been some sort of close relationship between her and Shang Zhiqing. It was as if Shang Zhiqing was guiding her step by step into a huge conspiracy.
And all of them were the pawns in this plot, no one could avoid them.
Thinking about the letter Shang Huaiyue had left for him, about how the world was in chaos, did it mean that this chess game would be played by the world, with no country immune to it?
She pursed her lips and bid farewell to Xie Jing: "Thank you, General Xie, for telling me all this. I will take my leave first.
Xie Jing looked at the slim back of Xie Qingrong, and paused, before calling out to Xie Qingrong: "Back then when your mother begged for help, there must have been someone behind her back who had their eyes on your mother, your mother has disappeared for so many years, be careful of those people who have their eyes on you."