Chapter 510: IF Line 9: Until a Pregnancy Is Confirmed

Ji Qingwu returned with a box she’d put together, filled with medicinal powders and ointments. She moved around behind him.

“Let’s apply the medicine first.”

When she got a clear look at the wound on his back, Ji Qingwu almost dropped the medicine box.

The scar ran diagonally from his shoulder down to his waist. It had already scabbed over, but after being soaked in water, it had started to turn red and swell again.

Zhao Mingyan said nonchalantly, “It’s nothing. I’ve already applied medicine, and it was healing.”

Ji Qingwu wanted to touch it with her fingers, but she frowned and pulled her hand back.

‘No matter how powerful he was, he was still a man, not a god. He could get injured in battle, and he would certainly feel pain, yet he acted as if it were routine.’

During the days she spent waiting with the soldiers in the camp, only she knew how agonizing it was.

An increasingly intense emotion surged within Ji Qingwu, nearly overwhelming her.

She quickly lowered her head.

Sensing her distress, Zhao Mingyan said, “Why are you still holding that medicine box? Put it down.”

She didn’t move, so he reached out to take it. Suddenly, a single, hot tear fell onto his hand, soaking into the lines of skin between his thumb and forefinger.

Zhao Mingyan’s gaze fell on the top of her head.

He couldn’t remember the last person who had cried over him being injured.

In the Marquis Yong’an Mansion, only his eldest sister genuinely cared about him, but the two siblings had similar personalities and never expressed this concern.

A corner of his heart he had thought was unbreachable began to loosen when he saw her again in the military camp. Now, struck by this single tear, it was collapsing.

After staring for a long moment, Zhao Mingyan sighed softly and placed the medicine box on a nearby chair.

“What are you crying for? Getting injured in war is unavoidable.”

Ji Qingwu looked up, the corners of her eyes red. In a stuffy voice, she said, “Let me get a good look. Go sit over there.”

Zhao Mingyan didn’t move. Instead, he cupped her face and used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the tear tracks from the corners of her eyes. The faint dampness seemed to seep through his skin and into the bottom of his heart.

“This wound isn’t important. Right now, I’d rather look at you.”

Ji Qingwu’s face instantly flushed red. She awkwardly turned her head away, only for him to gently but firmly turn it back.

Even though there were no more tears on her face, he continued to caress it again and again.

She felt her whole body grow warm, and her emotions began to calm down.

Zhao Mingyan said in a low voice, “I thought you didn’t cry anymore.”

Ji Qingwu’s eyes seemed to ripple like water. “When have you ever seen me cry before?” she asked doubtfully.

Zhao Mingyan didn’t answer, asking instead, “First, tell me why you were crying.”

Ji Qingwu said, “This wound… it’s too frightening.”

Zhao Mingyan clearly didn’t believe her. “That woman died at your feet with her face covered in blood, and you weren’t afraid. You’re telling me you’re afraid of a wound that’s already scabbed over?”

“Tell me the truth.”

His gaze was so scorching that Ji Qingwu’s throat tightened. “I was afraid because you were hurt.”

A hint of a smile appeared in Zhao Mingyan’s eyes as he asked persuasively.

“Why were you afraid?”

The softer his voice became, the more flustered Ji Qingwu felt. She shook her head. “I don’t know why I was afraid of that either.”

But her heart was pounding, telling her that it knew.

Before he returned, Ji Qingwu had been terrified, but she could rationalize it to herself. She was afraid he’d meet with disaster and not come back, causing her to fail her mission and, indirectly, lose her own life.

But now that he was back, bearing a gruesome scar on his back, Ji Qingwu was still afraid. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the life-and-death struggle he must have endured and how perilous the situation must have been.

She bit her lip, then released it, only to bite it again.

Zhao Mingyan didn’t want to press her too hard. He ruffled the top of her head and said, “Alright, I won’t ask anymore.”

The second half of his sentence was spoken softly, tinged with a tease. “I couldn’t even bear to bite you.”

Ji Qingwu’s face turned crimson as she answered softly, “Because… I care.”

‘It’s not because he’s the target for the childbirth system, but because I’m thinking of him, because he’s in my heart…’

Once Ji Qingwu understood this, her eyes instantly sparkled.

“Right, because I like you!”

Zhao Mingyan froze for a moment. He stared intently at her expression, confirming that she wasn’t lying or trying to coax him, before clearing his throat.

Under Ji Qingwu’s expectant gaze, he nodded and grunted an “Mm.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to have anything more to say, Ji Qingwu pressed, “I’ve said my piece. Does the General have nothing else to say?”

Zhao Mingyan coughed and walked into the inner room.

Ji Qingwu followed him closely. She saw him take something out of a small box and then pull her by the hand.

A string of cool beads appeared on her wrist, their red jade like blood. She tapped the largest of them—a Lotus Pearl—and it actually began to glow.

“How magical!”

Ji Qingwu said in surprise, “It’s glowing!”

Although Zhao Mingyan had long suspected it, seeing it confirmed now still made him sigh in relief.

“It’s glowing because of you.”

Ji Qingwu asked, confused, “What does that mean?”

Zhao Mingyan held her wrist. “This bracelet was given to me by an enlightened master. It can verify your identity.”

‘Her identity…’

Ji Qingwu stammered, “M-my… what… what kind of identity could I have?”

Zhao Mingyan pulled her hand to his chest. “The master said that a woman of destiny would break the curse on my bloodline.”

Ji Qingwu asked, “So the bead lighting up means you’ve found the right person?”

Zhao Mingyan said, “Correct. Did you approach me because you also received some kind of instruction?”

Ji Qingwu knew he was extraordinarily intelligent, but she never expected him to be so perceptive he could practically see the future. He had already deduced why she was here.

But now, there was one thing that bothered her.

“You suspected all along that I was the woman of destiny the master spoke of? Is that why you allowed me into your tent, why you were special to me?”

Zhao Mingyan said profoundly, “Yes, and no.”

‘Such an ambiguous answer.’

Ji Qingwu didn’t want to guess, and she couldn’t be bothered to try. She frowned. “I don’t understand. Explain it in more detail.”

Zhao Mingyan said, “It wasn’t suspicion. It was hope.”

Ji Qingwu said, “Hope… that I was that person?”

‘Just like how she had prayed that it would be him.’

Zhao Mingyan said, “If you were only the person the master spoke of.”

He paused, his gaze deep and profound.

“If I was?” Ji Qingwu followed his line of thought for half a sentence before catching herself. “No, wait. I *am*.”

Zhao Mingyan murmured, “Yes, you are. What am I still waiting for?”

Then, his hand moved up from her wrist, slid to her back, and his right arm scooped her up by the knees, lifting her into a princess carry.

Ji Qingwu’s feet were suddenly off the ground. She grabbed his shoulders uneasily.

“I’m not asking anymore! Your wound doesn’t look like a big deal, I should just go back, wash up, and go to bed.”

Zhao Mingyan gave her a little bounce in his arms and said with a smile, “If you were just the person the master spoke of and you entered my tent,”

He placed her on the bed and leaned over her.

“…you wouldn’t have gotten out so easily.”

Ji Qingwu’s gaze wavered. “What would you have done?”

Zhao Mingyan desperately wanted to make the shimmering moisture in her eyes overflow. He rubbed her earlobe with the pad of his thumb.

“Until a doctor confirmed that you were with child.”