Xiao Qiao held her breath and quietly retreated.

In the room Philip was still sleeping.

Xiao Qiao blew the lamp, climbed into the bed and lay down again.

She closed her eyes.

Slowly, something moist from the corner of the eye overflowed.

Before it could flow down, she was quickly wiped away.

After a long time, Xiao Qiao finally heard the sound of him returning to the room lightly.

He passed by the cot and stopped for a moment.

Through the hazy night, Xiao Qiao saw him stretch out his hand and seemed to touch Philip's face. Then there was a slight rustling of undressing, and the bed beside him sank slightly, and he slowly lay back.

Knowing that he didn't want to wake him up, Xiao Qiao closed her eyes and didn't move.

…

Sometimes, people probably need time and opportunity to let go.

For example, herself, why not?

She said what she had to say.

She will do what she has to do.

She is willing to wait.

…

The fourth day is Zhu's birthday.

Since the death of Wei Shao's father, the Zhu family has refused to celebrate his birthday for more than ten years.

Every year on this day, Mrs. Xu will ask people to go to Jinlong Temple to donate sesame oil to burn merit incense in the name of Zhu's family, and then send a bowl of longevity noodles to the East House.

It's been that way for decades.

This year, Zhu's birthday is approaching. Wei Shao happened to be back at home in the past few days, and Feifei was added to the family. Mrs. Xu proposed to buy a table of birthday wine for Zhu's family. Come here, let's have some fun.

In Zhu Shi's opinion, the husband is gone, and he has cut off all the entertainment that is floating on the table, which is the embodiment of mourning for her husband.

I have been insisting on it for more than ten years. If I make an exception to celebrate my birthday this year, the previous mourning will be like a waste.

So she doesn't want to.

Naturally, it was rare that Mrs. Xu had the interest to bring it up this year. At first she shied away, but she did not dare to be too disobedient, and finally agreed with reluctance.

That's why Wei Shao stayed at home for a few more days, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, and left when Zhu's birthday was over.

In the blink of an eye, it was the fourth day of the first year, and the Wei family held a few tables of birthday wine that day. Mrs. Xu, Mrs. Zhu, Wei Liang's mother, and several other elders of the clan were at a table, and the rest of the people were divided into the rest of the banquet.

Xiao Qiao was of low rank and could not have been at the main table. Because Philip was by her side, and everyone liked to tease and hug her, they sat at the end of the table with Philip.

Zhu Shi wore a new cluster of clothes with a peacock blue background and dark gold blessing pattern, and sat beside Mrs. Xu.

There was laughter and laughter during the banquet, and everyone toasted her in congratulations. The smile on her face floated a little, and Philip gave a symbolic hug.

Only when Wei Shao presented her a birthday wine toast, did he look at his son with joy in his eyes.

In fact, after the poisoning the year before, Mrs. Xu did not punish her much. It took some time for him to face the wall, and he didn't reveal a word to the outside world.

But Zhu's spirit, since then, still seems to have lost his support. For a period of time, the whole person is very sluggish, and his temperament has become more withdrawn.

It was only in the last six months that things gradually improved, and he changed his rites to Buddha, and showed his face in front of Mrs. Xu every three or five years.

However, the Wei family has also heard some rumors, so seeing her like this tonight, they didn't think it was too much. They knew that Mrs. Xu wanted to be lively, and they all joined in the fun.

Philip gradually became impatient and was amused by being carried to and fro, and began to cry. Mrs. Xu asked Xiao Qiao to take Philip back to resettle first.

Xiao Qiao resigned and returned to the Westinghouse in the company of Chunniang and her wet nurse.

The weather was getting hotter, so after returning, I helped Philip take a bath first, then Chunniang took her out first, and Xiao Qiao took a bath.

After she took a bath and put on her clothes, she came out. Chunniang and the wet nurse were no longer in the room.

Wei Shao didn't know when he came back, he was lying on his back on the couch with his legs crossed, hugging Feifei and sitting on his stomach, teasing her to play.

Philip was four or five months old and just learned to sit on his own. In the past few days, he gradually became familiar with this father. Sitting on his belly, Wei Shao shook his hands from side to side, giggling excitedly. .

Then he climbed up along his abdomen, climbed onto Wei Shao's chest, and stretched out a small hand to touch the bridge of his nose.

Wei Shao opened his mouth, made an "ah woo" sound, and grabbed her hand.

Philip giggled even louder.

Wei Shao, with white teeth, grabbed her daughter's finger and laughed along.

Philip and his father had a great time playing, and when they saw Xiao Qiao come out, they turned their heads and babbled at her.

Wei Shao loosened his teeth, sat up with Feifei in his arms, and cleared his throat: "I'm sweating on my body, go take a shower."

Little Joe took Philip. "The clothes are all ready, and they're inside."

Wei Shao glanced at her, turned over and got off the bed.

At this time, Philip was already asleep. After Wei Shao left, she was held by Xiao Qiao in her arms, took a few mouthfuls of breast milk, and gradually got sleepy and closed her eyes.

When Wei Shao came out, Xiao Qiao had just coaxed Fei Fei to sleep, and when he heard his footsteps coming out, he put his finger to his mouth and shrugged lightly.

Wei Shao lightly stepped and approached slowly.

Xiao Qiao hugged Philip, gently put her on the cot, and covered her with the quilt.

Wei Shao was beside him, and he lowered his head as if scrutinizing Feifei's sleeping face. Finally, he straightened up and said, "I will leave tomorrow morning, can I rest?"

Xiao Qiao smiled: "Okay. Rest early."

…

The lights in the room went out, and the eyes fell into darkness.

Wei Shao's hand reached out and hugged her.

His powerful palms squeezed her waist tightly.

Afraid of waking up Philip, he almost finished this long love in a repressed and silent state.

After the two separated, Xiao Qiao was soaked all over, and Wei Shao lay on her back beside her, gasping for breath.

The room was dimly lit, but Xiao Qiao could still see the outline of his chest rising and falling violently.

Later, the two went to the bathroom to cleanse themselves, and then came back and lay down again.

Wei Shao seemed to fall asleep quickly and never saw him move again.

Xiao Qiao couldn't sleep. She opened her eyes and listened to the breathing of the man beside her and Philip on the cot not far away, unable to fall asleep.

After that night, the relationship between Xiao Qiao and Wei Shao has always been the same as tonight.

Can't say bad.

But when there are no other people around, and only the two of them are left, even if they do things like just now, they will never be able to go back to the intimate time they used to be.

In the past few days, the most talked about topic is about Philip.

Other than that, Wei Shao seemed to avoid it on purpose, and had no desire to talk to her.

Tomorrow morning, he is leaving again.

This time away from home, I don't know how long it will take for him to come back.

In the more than three years after marrying him, she has changed from a fourteen-year-old girl to Philip's mother, but she has been with him more and more.

Perhaps this state of affairs will continue.

…

In the middle of the night, Xiao Qiao was finally tired. When she was about to fall asleep in a daze, suddenly, the door was slammed.

Probably afraid of waking Philip, the knock on the door was very soft.

But Xiao Qiao woke up immediately and raised her shoulders.

Wei Shao seemed to wake up immediately, went down by himself, and opened the door.

The person who called the door was the old woman on duty tonight, slightly frightened, and said in a low voice: "Men, Madam Huang came to call the door just now, saying that soon after Madam returned from the birthday wine, the person disappeared, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Afraid of disturbing the old lady, I have no choice but to look for the man."

Wei Shao was slightly startled, and immediately went back to the house.

Xiao Qiao heard it too, got out of bed in his clothes, and turned on the light.

Wei Shao quickly put on his clothes and left in a hurry to the east room. No one in the room slept. Seeing Wei Shao coming, his face was terrified.

Wei Shao entered Madam Zhu's house and took a look.

The quilt was unfolded, and it seemed that someone had already got into bed, and then got up and left in the middle.

Huang Li knelt down: "Xu Zhongshou wine dissipated, Madam seemed a little drunk when she came back, so I served her and fell asleep. Madam has the habit of waking up in the middle of the night to drink warm water, so I came in to add water, but unexpectedly Madam disappeared. I just took people to search everywhere, but I didn't see the lady. I was afraid that it would be inappropriate to alert the old lady, so I told the male gentleman. It was all the negligence of the maid, and the male gentleman forgives the sin..."

Wei Shao asked a few places, and Huang Hao shook his head, saying that he had already looked for it.

Wei Shao's brows were slightly wrinkled, and he was absent-minded for a moment. Suddenly, as if he had remembered something, he turned around and left quickly.

…

Wei Shao pushed open the half-opened red-painted door.

In the ancestral hall, incense candles are offered day and night, and special personnel are guarded.

It's just that usually, only the left and right incense candles are offered in front of the offering table.

In the middle of the night, and the interior of the ancestral hall is wide and deep, the candles swaying in the night wind, not only can't dispel the shadow, but add a bit of seclusion.

Wei Shaoji stepped inside and saw his mother kneeling in front of the lotus group behind the offering table, mourning there.

"...Husband, as soon as you let go, this Wei family is no longer the original Wei family... Why did your mother marry the daughter of the Qiao family who killed you and Dalang at the beginning... That Qiao daughter is a disaster, always One day, even my son will be killed by her..."

She whimpered intermittently, her voice whirling around the empty, dark temple roof, making it creepy. Suddenly, as if he had noticed something, he turned around abruptly, and saw Wei Shao standing outside the threshold. After eating a few glasses of wine, this is nonsense, don't blame me, I don't hate Qiao girl long ago..."

Wei Shao looked at his mother, who was afraid of blaming him, and a complex and unspeakable emotion slowly emerged in his heart.

Stepping in, he said, "Before mother comes out, you should tell the next person. In the middle of the night, my son will take you back."

…

In the second half of the night, Philip woke up once, and after falling back asleep, Wei Shao still did not return.

Xiao Qiao sent Lin Nuo to the east room to ask, and came back to say that the gentleman found his wife in the temple at home. The lady seemed to be drunk, and the man was with him.

Xiao Qiao didn't wait for him anymore, and sent everyone back to their rooms to sleep. She stared at her daughter's sleeping face for a moment, leaned down, kissed her on the forehead lightly, and went to bed with the lights off.

She felt a little tired, closed her eyes, and fell asleep slowly, but she slept very restlessly and kept dreaming.

The dream was blurry at first, but gradually, the scene became clearer.

Gu Fengjuan hit the window, a young man in a dragon robe, with a distorted face, frantic and desperate eyes, holding a long sword dripping with blood in his hand, pressing towards her step by step.

She was terrified, curled up on the ground, and kept backing away, but there was no way to retreat.

Suddenly, the strange gaze of the young Concubine Liu who was still staring at her after her death seemed to overlap with Zhang Pu's severed head.

The blood column spurted towards her, engulfing her whole body in an instant. She could barely breathe, kept shaking, crying, and kept telling herself it was just a nightmare, wake up soon.

But no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't wake up.

The tip of the sword had already pierced into her chest.

She seemed to feel the terrifying experience of a warm heart being pierced by a cold blade again.

She had experienced it countless times in her dream, and she never wanted to do it all over again.

"don't want-"

She shouted loudly, and when tears were streaming down her face, an anxious voice suddenly came from her ear: "Manman! Manman!"

Then, she seemed to be hugged tightly by a pair of solid and powerful arms, and in an instant, the nightmare was completely blocked and dissipated.