When the carriage arrived at Heir Pei’s mansion, Qi Qingyao leaped down from the carriage. Upon her entrance, she said excitedly, “Babies, your father—no, your mother—is back!”
Behind her was Heir Pei. When he heard what Qi Qingyao called herself, he almost tripped.
The children were already tired after playing for a long time. They were rubbing their eyes blearily, and tears were already running down from their eyes. They were already quite tired, but they did not want to take a nap. They were still skipping rope with Si Jin when they heard their mother’s voice, and they dashed out from their house. Dabao was running very fast; he even tripped once. He got up quickly and he did not even bother to pat the dust on his clothes before dashing to the entrance. The children’s eyes were all bright as they looked at Qi Qingyao.
“Mother!” Their voices were youthful and cute.
Heir Pei ordered, “Li Qing, go prepare the next meal.”
Qi Qingyao caught Dabao and gestured for him to stop running around. She first dusted his clothes before pulling him inside the house and washing off the dust on his hands for him. Dabao stuck his tongue out, feeling embarrassed. Although Erniu and Xiaobao did not get dust on them, they stuck their hands out as well so that their mother could help wash them. Qi Qingyao did that with a smile on her face.
Then she brought the kids to sit on the bed beside the brazier, and covered the kids with a thin blanket.
Jiang Yeqian walked over calmly and closed the door.
It was only after that when he sat aside and asked, “Why did you come back so early?”
Qi Qingyao smiled and said nothing.
Si Jin did not dare speak; he scrutinized Qi Qingyao’s expression carefully.
Noticing that she did not speak, Jiang Yeqian said again, “You didn’t eat before coming back? Is it because something has happened?”
Qi Qingyao caressed her chin and said with a grin on her face, “Something happened, yes. However, I didn’t stay because I was afraid that other people would be jealous of me.”
“What? Something really happened?” Jiang Yeqian picked up a jug of water from the stove beside them, and sprinkled some tea leaves into a teapot, making some tea.
Qi Qingyao picked up a piece of osmanthus cake from the white plate on the table and ate it happily. She said gleefully, “I’ll tell you guys properly about something big that has happened just now.”
Jiang Yeqian noticed her gleeful expression and suddenly had a bad premonition.
“Everything started from the moment Lu Yan arrived,” Qi Qingyao said as she ate, telling the story vividly and excitedly, exaggerating more than the storytellers under the bridge. Jiang Yeqian’s face was already darkening when only half of the story was told. However, he resisted and did not lash out. When Qi Qingyao finished, the kids had already collapsed beside her, cuddling one another as they slept. Dabao and Erniu hugged the blanket and slept soundly, while Xiaobao hugged Qi Qingyao’s thigh and did not let go.
The corner of Jiang Yeqian’s lips was twitching. A long time after she finished telling the story, he summarized, “You won against Lu Yan and the big mansion by the street is yours now.”
“Yes.” Qi Qingyao was gleeful when she nodded.
Jiang Yeqian stared at her, his eyes like knives. His voice was somewhat twisted as he said, “And he wanted to sleep with you if he won the bet.”
“…” Was there anything wrong with that? Qi Qingyao blinked. She felt like there was fury in his voice. Was she seeing things?
Jiang Yeqian’s face was so dark it was enough to make people catch their breaths. “And you think there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I can’t achieve anything if I’m not willing to give something up. What’s the big deal? Look at how agitated you are now!” Qi Qingyao gestured for him to calm down.