They finally reached the courtyard where Wei Qinghan was recuperating.
The door was wide open, and Nuannuan caught sight of the figure leaning against the headboard at a single glance.
“Mother!” she cried out with a sob. Struggling out of Fufeng’s arms, she scrambled to the floor and stumbled headlong into Wei Qinghan’s open embrace.
“Nuannuan, Mother’s Nuannuan.” The moment she saw the girl, Wei Qinghan’s frantic heart finally found peace, and her tears began to pour.
The decisiveness of jumping off the cliff, the sheer terror of falling—all the emotions she had suppressed suddenly surged and enveloped her.
She hardly dared to imagine how they, mother and daughter, had survived a leap from such a height.
Nuannuan was held so tightly she could barely breathe, but she felt her mother’s tears falling against her neck, tickling her skin.
She looked up, stretching out her thin little hands to wipe away the tears on Wei Qinghan’s face bit by bit. “Don’t cry, Mother. It doesn’t hurt. Blow… blow, and the pain goes away.”
Wei Qinghan loosened her embrace slightly and lowered her head to stroke her daughter’s thin face. Her voice was choked and trembling. “Alright, Mother won’t cry. Now that Mother has seen Nuannuan, nothing hurts anymore.”
Xiao Yunshu had been standing quietly outside the door ever since Wei Qinghan woke up.
She didn’t know how to explain everything that had happened over the last three years to this sister-in-law she had never met before.
Or rather, she didn’t dare to face her alone.
Only now, hearing the mother and daughter weeping in each other’s arms, did she take a deep breath and step lightly into the room.
Wei Qinghan raised her tear-blurred face. Seeing the young woman with features as beautiful as a painting, she immediately realized that this must be their savior.
She struggled to get out of bed to pay her respects. “This humble woman thanks you, Miss, for saving our lives.”
Xiao Yunshu hurried forward and reached out to steady her, her tone sincere. “Sister-in-law, please do not stand on ceremony. You are still weak, please lie down and rest.”
The way she naturally called her “Sister-in-law” left Wei Qinghan completely stunned.
Seeing her aunt, Nuannuan immediately tugged at her mother’s sleeve in excitement. “Mother, Nuannuan found Daddy! Daddy! Auntie is here, and Daddy is here too.”
Wei Qinghan’s face instantly turned pale.
She instinctively covered Nuannuan’s mouth. “Nuannuan, don’t talk nonsense.”
Seeing this, Xiao Yunshu did not want the misunderstanding to deepen. She sat on the embroidered stool by the bed and looked at Wei Qinghan with clear, honest eyes.
“Sister-in-law, Nuannuan is right. Nuannuan is my elder brother’s child.”
Fearing she might startle Wei Qinghan, Xiao Yunshu softened her voice as much as possible. “Though I do not know what happened between you and my brother, Nuannuan… that jade thumb ring around her neck is something my brother always carried with him. There can be no mistake.”
Wei Qinghan looked at Nuannuan’s neck in shock as a memory crashed into her mind.
That night, before he left, he had pressed this ring into her hand.
She remembered his words clearly: “Wait for me. Once I have finished the matters at hand, I will surely return for you.”
She had cherished this ring ever since.
Later, after Nuannuan was born, she hung the ring around the girl’s neck, keeping it as a memento.
Until… after waiting for so long with no word, her heart had grown cold.
Thinking of how she had raised Nuannuan over the years, enduring countless cold stares and scorn, the grievances she had bottled up suddenly exploded.
Wei Qinghan picked Nuannuan up and stood, her expression turning frostily distant. “Thank you for the rescue, Miss. However, I am of low status and cannot aspire to a connection with your brother. I shall take Nuannuan and leave immediately.”
“Sister-in-law, please wait!” Xiao Yunshu stood up quickly to stop her, her voice urgent. “You must have misunderstood my brother. He is by no means a man who would abandon his word.”
“Brother went to war three years ago. When he returned, he was gravely injured and has remained unconscious ever since.”
“It isn’t that he didn’t want to find you—he couldn’t!”
Wei Qinghan’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. “What did you say? He… he has been in a coma for three years?”
Could she be lying?
“It is the absolute truth!” Xiao Yunshu nodded heavily. “My brother is a man of great loyalty and integrity. If he were able to move, he would have crawled to find you.”
She took a deep breath, her voice filled with sorrow. “My brother, Xiao Yunheng, is the commander of the Cangyun Army. The Cangyun Army is famous for its strict discipline, and as their commander, my brother’s word is as good as gold.”
“The Cangyun Army?” Wei Qinghan murmured the words, her body swaying. “The Cangyun Army led by the heir to Wu’an Wang?”
Though a commoner, she had heard of the Cangyun Army’s prestigious name.
She knew they were a formidable force led by the Wu’an Wangfu, and she knew that the house of Wu’an Wang was a family of paragons and martyrs.
Who among the people of the Yan Kingdom did not feel grateful toward the Wu’an Wangfu?
But the man she had saved, Nuannuan’s father…
Seeing her reaction, Xiao Yunshu realized she hadn’t known her brother’s identity.
She nodded solemnly. “Sister-in-law, my brother is indeed the heir to Wu’an Wang.”
Wei Qinghan’s face turned as pale as paper as she froze on the spot.
Nuannuan tugged hard on her mother’s hand, her large eyes full of longing. “Mother, don’t go.”
“Auntie is good. Grandfather is good. Nuannuan wants Daddy to get better.”
Seeing that Wei Qinghan was moved, Xiao Yunshu stepped forward and took her cold hand. “Sister-in-law, if Brother wakes up, he would surely want to see you and Nuannuan first. Please… won’t you both stay?”
Looking at her daughter’s pure eyes and then at Xiao Yunshu’s earnest gaze, Wei Qinghan’s tears began to fall silently once more.
But this time, there was no resentment in her eyes. “It was… it was I who misunderstood him.”
Nuannuan’s father was actually that hero who stood tall between heaven and earth—Xiao Yunheng.
He hadn’t been unfaithful; he had been gravely injured for the sake of the country.
Seeing that she had let go of her resentment, Xiao Yunshu’s face broke into a relieved smile. “Sister-in-law, don’t say that. It is we who should apologize to you. You and Nuannuan have suffered.”
“My Lady,” Zhu Yue arrived in a hurry just as Xiao Yunshu finished speaking. “My Lady, the gatekeeper reports that Miss Su from the Zuoxiang Fu and Young Master Duan have arrived.”
The moment Nuannuan heard those two names, she jumped out of her mother’s arms and rushed to the door in a huff.
“Bad people! Big bad people!”
“Auntie, drive them away! Drive them away!”
Xiao Yunshu’s expression also turned cold. She gave a chilling snort. “Those two have certainly found a way to get together again.”
Zhu Yue quickly shook her head. “My Lady, they didn’t come together.”
“Young Master Duan says he is here on the orders of the Imperial Eldest Grandson to offer an apology to you. He is currently outside the gates.”
“Miss Su sent in a visiting card, saying she heard that Miss… Miss Wei had woken up and came specifically to visit.”
Zhu Yue looked toward Wei Qinghan with a somewhat hesitant gaze.
While everyone in the household knew this was the Heir’s woman and the young lady’s biological mother, she had no formal title yet. They weren’t quite sure how to address her properly.
A flash of severity crossed Xiao Yunshu’s eyes, but her expression softened considerably when she turned back to Wei Qinghan. “Sister-in-law, you’ve just woken up. Please rest in peace; I will handle the matters outside.”
As she spoke, she straightened her back, and her usual heroic aura returned to her brow.
The Wu’an Wangfu was never afraid of trouble.
Since they dared to come today, if she, Xiao Yunshu, avoided them, it would make the Wu’an Wangfu look petty.
She wanted to see what other tricks Duan Chenlang and Su Wanying could possibly have up their sleeves.
Nuannuan imitated Xiao Yunshu, puffing out her little chest. She turned back to Wei Qinghan. “Mother rest. Nuannuan and Auntie go hit the bad people.”
She looked as though she were truly about to march onto a battlefield.