Chapter 101

Yong Ge gazed at the bubbling white noodle soup in the large pot. The finely cut noodles had turned semi-transparent, rising and falling with the soup's motion. His lips trembled; he wanted to clarify, but he feared hearing a definite answer. Cheng Duo's silence seemed to confirm his fears, and a wordless silence flowed between them. In the simple kitchen, only the crackling sound of firewood in the stove remained.

Yong Ge understood. He was not young when he got married, and now, more than three years had passed. He was already twenty-two, while Cheng Duo was nearing thirty. In their village, boys married at fifteen or sixteen and became fathers at seventeen or eighteen; there were countless examples.

Cheng Duo gave him time, but after waiting for so many years, it seemed that Cheng Duo had fulfilled his duty to the fullest. Yong Ge had no grievances. On the contrary, these past few years of marriage had been the happiest days of his life. Cheng Duo cherished him deeply, but he had selfishly turned a blind eye to Cheng Duo's kindness. If others hadn't exposed the truth, how much longer would he have pretended to be oblivious?

"Cheng Duo," Yong Ge felt his voice tremble a bit and quickly steadied his emotions by pinching his palm. He spoke hesitatingly, "What kind of child do you like? Or… do you prefer a girl? My father and the others, you don't need to worry about them. You've done enough for the Wei family, and I will find an opportunity to convince them."

Cheng Duo was taken aback, "What child, boy, or girl? Wait, Yong Ge, do you think I want to take a concubine?"

Yong Ge blinked and forced a smile, looking even more unsightly than crying, "Cheng Duo, I won't blame you. It's my own fault."

Cheng Duo looked at the redness at the corners of Yong Ge's eyes and the uncontrollable tears welling up, unable to resist wiping his face, "Yong Ge, listen to me, it's not your fault that we can't have children…"

"I know, having children cannot be forced. I've tried already," Yong Ge tried to console himself at this moment and sniffled. The tears he had held back for a long time finally rolled down.

Cheng Duo couldn't bear to watch and opened his arms, pulling Yong Ge into his lap. The two clung tightly together, and Cheng Duo whispered into his ear, "Yong Ge, you've really misunderstood. I didn't mean to take a concubine. Do you remember my abilities? The price of gaining abilities might be…"

He had also devoured Cheng Zhao's crystal core, possessing two abilities. Although both were low-level abilities not exceeding level three, being an ability user itself was already defying fate.

Yong Ge was already stunned, and he even forgot to cry, "Your, your meaning is that if you have abilities, you can't have children anymore?"

Cheng Duo's eyes flickered, "Probably. From the ability users I've seen, the higher the ability, the lower the probability of offspring, but it's not entirely impossible…"

Yong Ge nodded blankly, seeming to understand after a while, and then asked, "So when you asked me just now if I wanted to have my own child, what did you mean by that?"

Since they both find it difficult to have children, how can he have them himself?

"Uh…" Now it was Cheng Duo's turn to be at a loss for words. "What I meant is… in case you want to have your own child, we can wait a bit longer. Who knows, maybe a miracle might happen, right?"

Yong Ge suddenly gritted his teeth and sneered, "Back then, I almost died, but someone was heartless enough to push me away. If I hadn't risked my life to jump off the cliff with him, who knows what situation we would be in now!"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. Yong Ge hammered Cheng Duo's arm and struggled to get off his lap, saying, "You're not thinking of pulling the same trick again, asking me to have a child with someone else? We're already married, who do you want me to be with?!"

"No, that's not what I meant." Exposed by Yong Ge, Cheng Duo felt a bit guilty. After all, he couldn't completely deny that he hadn't thought about it at all.

Though it was just a fleeting thought, he quickly brushed it away. But from the moment he asked that question, he knew he couldn't hide it.

However…

Cheng Duo tightened his grip on Yong Ge's arm. "Yong Ge, be fair to me. Weren't you just thinking about taking a concubine for me?"

In his hurry to explain earlier, he didn't feel it, but now, thinking back, Cheng Duo found it quite distasteful. "You little trickster, you said before that you'd lock me up if I even touched someone else. But now you're so generous? If I agree, would you just watch me sleep with someone else and let them carry my child in their belly?"

As Yong Ge followed Cheng Duo's words, he felt like a knife had been stabbed into his chest, almost making him spit out blood. If such a day came, he would lose control and become murderous!

Yong Ge turned his head to look at Cheng Duo, his eyes red, full of grievances. "You know I'm doing this for your own good…"

Cheng Ge still deliberately provoked him.

Cheng Duo's heart softened, quickly pulling Yong Ge into his arms. "I'm sorry, I spoke without thinking just now… We're both doing this for each other, let's not bring it up again, okay?"

Yong Ge sniffed and rested his head on Cheng Duo's shoulder. "Okay."

Cheng Duo sighed inwardly. He had wanted to keep it a secret, but now… it might be better to clarify things. He didn't want to let go of Yong Ge, and Yong Ge didn't want to leave him. If it came to it, he would try to live a little longer than Yong Ge and take care of him until old age.

Speaking of which, the lifespan of ability users was indeed about twenty years longer than that of ordinary people. He was seven or eight years older than Yong Ge, which was just about right…

The two embraced in silence for a while. Suddenly, they smelled the scent of something burning in the pot. Yong Ge jumped up, "Oh no, I forgot about the noodles in the pot!"

In the end, the noodles had turned into a lump, and they shared the big bowl, looking at each other and still feeling quite happy.

"""

Tan Yulou was awakened by a sharp pain in his waist. He struggled to open his heavy eyes and realized that he was lying on the bed, with a head resting at his side.

Perhaps, worried that he might move in his sleep and hurt his injured arm, the owner of the head held his hand tightly and slept soundly.

"General Wei…"

Tan Yulou blushed and was about to pull his hand back and sit up. However, he realized that every time he moved, Wei Ling became more alert and tightened his grip on his hand.

Helplessly, Tan Yulou could only continue lying down. But his gaze slipped to the blood-stained clothes hanging on the bamboo chair behind Wei Ling. That was his outer robe, right? And the hint of white exposed underneath seemed to be his inner garment?

Then, what was he currently wearing?

Tan Yulou subconsciously lowered his head and found that his clothes seemed to have been changed. Now, he was only wearing an inner garment, which lightly touched his skin.

No, it couldn't be…

Tan Yulou widened his eyes in embarrassment and suddenly knelt up from the bed, "Ah!"

Due to the sudden movement, he accidentally pulled at the wound around his waist, causing a piercing pain.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ling was also woken up by his abrupt action. Seeing him holding onto the wound with his hand, he asked with concern, "Did you hurt the wound when you got up? Let me take a look."

Before Tan Yulou could object, Wei Ling had already lifted his inner garment.

Tan Yulou gritted his teeth, watching Wei Ling's skilled movements, and asked with a muffled voice, "When was my clothes… changed?"

He didn't mind the clothes, but there were even pants! Fortunately, his undergarments were his own; otherwise, he would have been too embarrassed to show his face!

Wei Ling sensed that there was more to Tan Yulou's words and quickly explained, "Yong Ge helped you change them last night. Your clothes were too dirty, covered in blood. Don't worry, this inner garment on you is the one I had someone rush to buy in the city. No one has worn it before."

Originally, he had thought about having someone fetch the clothes from the Tan family, but later he worried that Tan Yulou's family would be concerned, so he gave up the idea.

Tan Yulou was relieved, "Oh, thank you, Little Master Wei. Also, thank you, General…"

"Tan Yulou, no need to be polite." Wei Ling finished checking and adjusted his clothing. "There was some blood on the cloth, but the wound shouldn't have reopened. Do you need to use the outhouse? Shall I assist you?"

Tan Yulou hurriedly declined, "I can go by myself. No need to trouble you, General."

If General Wei hadn't mentioned it, he wouldn't have realized it, but now that he brought it up, Tan Yulou felt a bit urgent.

Wei Ling reasoned with him, "If the wound accidentally reopens, you'll suffer again. Besides Cheng Duo, I'm the only one here who can help you mend the wound."

Tan Yulou didn't want to trouble Yong Ge to attend to him, so he reluctantly agreed, "Okay."

This rural outhouse was undoubtedly quite primitive. Tan Yulou stood inside, and when he looked up, he could see Wei Ling waiting outside through the cracks, making it difficult for him to proceed.

Wei Ling was concerned and stood there for a long time without hearing any call for assistance. Unable to bear it, he raised his voice, "Tan Yulou, are you alright?"

Maybe he had finished his business but felt embarrassed to call for him?

After coming out of the outhouse, Tan Yulou's face was already red, and Wei Ling also felt a bit awkward. Especially from his angle, he could see Tan Yulou's ears and cheeks turning red. Tan Yulou's skin was not fair, but rather a light wheat color, and he had delicate ears, cheeks, and the back of his neck even had a layer of fine fuzz that seemed to move with his breath just now.

Tan Yulou's light-colored pupils widened, "Ge-General Wei…"

"Sorry, I accidentally stepped on an empty space and couldn't stabilize myself." Wei Ling felt embarrassed to admit that he had zoned out before.

He hadn't noticed it before, but upon closer inspection, he found that Tan Yulou resembled a young man in many ways. Why was he so careless before?

Because Tan Yulou insisted on returning, and it was indeed not a good place to recover here, Wei Ling arranged for a carriage from the city. The group returned to the city the next afternoon.

"General Wei, I can go in by myself. Thank you so much this time." Tan Yulou got off the carriage at the entrance of the Tan residence, supported by the servants of the Tan family, and thanked Wei Ling.

Since someone was taking care of him, Wei Ling didn't insist on going in and nodded. Just as he was about to take his leave, unexpectedly, a slim middle-aged woman came out from inside. "Yulou, I heard you got injured. Are you okay?"

She appeared very worried and carefully examined Tan Yulou from head to toe, as if trying to determine the extent of his injury.

Tan Yulou clearly understood her concern and immediately said, "I'm fine, Mother. It's just a minor injury."

They exchanged a silent glance, and Tan's mother felt relieved. Without immediately going to support her son, she saw Wei Ling, who brought him back, and suddenly frowned, "Who is this…"

"He is General Wei, who knows I got injured and kindly sent me back." Out of Tan's mother's sight, Tan Yulou smiled apologetically at Wei Ling, knowing that Wei Ling understood that he was apologizing for not telling the truth earlier.

"So you are General Wei. Thank you for bringing my son back. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" After learning about Wei Ling's identity, Tan's mother's attitude improved, but her smile still appeared somewhat perfunctory.

"Young Master Tan is injured, so it's not convenient. Maybe another time." After Wei Ling finished speaking, he noticed that Tan Yulou's eyes flickered as he lowered his head, and also noticed Tan's mother's strange attitude, and he instantly understood.

Tan's mother simply didn't want Tan Yulou to have too much contact with him or… she didn't want any man to get too close to Tan Yulou.