Chapter 164: She’s Pregnant

Chapter 164: A Happy Discovery

"Do I have to go?"

Yin Hongxue felt at a loss upon hearing about the meeting request, sitting on the couch in the study, watching Gu Chaoning deal with official business.

Gu Chaoning looked up at him too.

"It's not about whether you should go—it's whether you want to. Xue Geer, do you want to go?"

That put things in perspective.

Yin Hongxue buried his face in his arms, his voice a bit muffled: "Honestly, not really."

To be honest, he had no clue how to face Yin Song.

"Then we'll skip it."

Seeing how troubled he was, Gu Chaoning came out from behind the desk, bent down, and gently rubbed Yin Hongxue's scalp.

It felt so good that when Gu Chaoning pulled back, Yin Hongxue instinctively stretched his neck to follow.

Gu Chaoning found it funny and took the chance to run his other hand along Yin Hongxue's neck and jaw.

Yin Hongxue's neck was especially sensitive to his touch. He yelped, and his stretched neck instantly scrunched back, trapping Gu Chaoning's fingers.

"Gu Chaoning! What are you doing!"

Having his fingers stuck between Yin Hongxue's neck and chin was uncomfortable for Gu Chaoning too. He tried to pull his hand back, and after a couple of tugs, Yin Hongxue loosened up a bit, letting him free.

Gu Chaoning laughed out loud: "Yin Hongxue, what's up with you? Calling me by my full name now?"

As he spoke, he made as if to reach for Yin Hongxue's now-relaxed neck again, and Yin Hongxue angrily grabbed Gu Chaoning's hand and shoved it away.

He yelled: "Gu Chaoning, Gu Chaoning! I'll call you whatever I want! What are you gonna do if I call you Gu the Bastard?"

Even though he was the one lying on the couch while Gu Chaoning stood over him, his words somehow turned the tables and made him the one looking down.

Gu Chaoning covered his face and let out a couple of soft chuckles before looking at him again. He crouched down, pressed his cheek against Yin Hongxue's palm, and looked at him as he spoke: "That's right, Yin Hongxue can say whatever he wants, Yin Hongxue can do whatever he wants."

The words had a deeper meaning, and Yin Hongxue understood, looking back at him.

In the end, he didn't go see Yin Song, and Yin Song didn't ask again either, just occasionally having Xu Xiaoshui or others send over little gifts.

For example, the little golden goat Yin Hongxue loved as a kid—when Xu Xiaoshui met him, he brought a whole little chest full of them.

Inside were little golden goats in all sorts of shapes, each one cuter than the last, plus tiny golden goats made like golden melon seeds, meant for tipping servants, and those were the most plentiful.

One day, Yin Hongxue went out with Xu Xiaoshui again, but when Gu Chaoning got home from work, Yin Hongxue mysteriously pulled him into the bedroom.

"Gu Chaoning, guess what I found out?"

Ever since that day when they'd messed around and Gu Chaoning said he could say and do whatever he wanted, Yin Hongxue had stopped calling him Chaoning Ge and just called him Gu Chaoning.

It was nonstop: Gu Chaoning, you're back; Gu Chaoning, pick me up some lotus cake on your way home; Gu Chaoning, I want a new pouch to go with my outfit; Gu Chaoning here, Gu Chaoning there, Gu Chaoning come, Gu Chaoning go...

Today, as he was being dragged inside, Gu Chaoning followed along out of habit and asked: "What did you find?"

He distinctly remembered Yin Hongxue had gone out with Xu Xiaoshui and Xu Chunmiao today. What could he possibly have found?

But Yin Hongxue's mysterious, sneaky vibe was seriously, seriously rare.

Gu Chaoning let himself be pulled along, the smile at the corner of his mouth impossible to hold back no matter what.

Yin Hongxue dragged him all the way into the room, shooed everyone out, and then looked at him all mysterious: "I found out that Shui Geer and Miao Geer are together."

"Mm-hm, so they're together..."

"Gu Chaoning, are you even listening to me!"

Yin Hongxue yanked hard on Gu Chaoning's collar, pulling him off balance.

Gu Chaoning snapped out of it, rubbed his nose a bit sheepishly, and said, with rare guilt: "Xue Geer, could you repeat that once more?"

Yin Hongxue: "..."

Yin Hongxue was about to explode, but the news was too shocking, so he held back his anger and repeated it.

Gu Chaoning took a moment to process it, then looked totally confused: "Huh?"

What did he mean, Shui Geer and Miao Geer were together?

Seeing the reaction he wanted on Gu Chaoning's face, Yin Hongxue was finally satisfied.

"Yeah, they're together. Today we went to get clothes made, and there was this one outfit Miao Geer really liked and it happened to fit, so the shopkeeper said to try it on."

Yin Hongxue grabbed Gu Chaoning's hand excitedly, held back his excitement, and went on.

"Then I saw that when Miao Geer took off his outer robe in the back room, Shui Geer gently kissed the scar on the back of his neck."

At the time, Yin Hongxue was shocked and flustered, not daring to make a sound. He forced himself to stay calm and pretend he hadn't seen anything, held it in all day until Gu Chaoning got home, when he finally couldn't take it anymore.

Gu Chaoning was a bit dazed too.

Yin Hongxue kept going: "No wonder Shui Geer is closer to Miao Geer now than to me," he said excitedly, eyes full of joy and smiles. "If they're a couple, of course they'd be closer than friends!"

Gu Chaoning had still been dazed at first, but hearing Yin Hongxue's last words, he broke into a smile.

He reached up, pinched Yin Hongxue's ear, and said softly: "Well, aren't you generous."

"Of course," Yin Hongxue pulled his ear back from Gu Chaoning's fingers and looked at him matter-of-factly. "After all, my thing with you is better than my thing with Shui Geer."

Gu Chaoning: "..."

How can anyone say something so sweet with such a calm, matter-of-fact face?

...

Once February rolled around, Gu Chaoning could clearly feel the days getting warmer with each ride to work.

One day after work, seeing that the flower shop had winter jasmine in stock, he bought a pot.

On his way out, he unexpectedly ran into Xu Xiaoshui and Xu Chunmiao, the two walking ahead with their backs to him.

Xu Chunmiao leaned close to Xu Xiaoshui's ear and said something, and Xu Xiaoshui's ears and neck turned red, while Xu Chunmiao laughed, totally unrestrained and delighted.

Gu Chaoning: "..."

He didn't call out to them, pretending he hadn't seen anything. When he got home, he showed the winter jasmine to Yin Hongxue to admire, then they planted it together in the yard, and he told Yin Hongxue about seeing Xu Chunmiao and Xu Xiaoshui.

I'd thought we'd at least get a smile or a flicker of excitement from Yin Hongxue, but instead, this guy looked totally unbothered, slapping the ground with his mud-caked hands.

"That's nothing. When I play with Shui Geer and Miao Geer, I've seen Miao Geer make Shui Geer's face turn bright red with just one look."

Gu Chaoning: "..." Well, okay.

In mid-February, the border army that had been camped in the capital for over a month was about to head back to the frontier city.

Although the Great Qi had launched an all-out attack on the barbarian king's capital, the barbarians were a nation made up of many tribes. This time, they'd hit them hard, but to properly take over, they'd still need to fight a few more battles.

The newly minted General Who Guards the State, Yin Song, along with Loyal Martial General Yin Shui and He Feiguang, who'd also been made a sixth-rank general, were all heading back this time.

Two days before the army's departure, Yin Hongxue tossed and turned, couldn't sleep a wink. He went to see Yin Song the day before the army left.

"You really look a lot like your dad."

Hearing this, Yin Hongxue's eyes instinctively went to Yin Song's face, looking for the resemblance between them.

Sitting face to face like this, with time to really look at each other, Yin Hongxue noticed that his nose and mouth looked a lot like Yin Song's.

Yin Song was thrilled that Yin Hongxue had agreed to see him. He couldn't stop smiling, and when he smiled, he looked the most like Yin Hongxue.

Yin Hongxue froze, then slowly looked away, and of course didn't say anything to Yin Song either.

Yin Song wasn't upset by that either. Being able to sit face to face with Yin Hongxue like this before leaving was already more than he'd hoped for.

With that, he turned his attention to Gu Chaoning, who had only spoken during the initial greeting and then acted like he wasn't there.

"So this is Lord Gu. Quite the handsome fellow."

Gu Chaoning: "..."

What the heck? Hadn't they already met a bunch of times?

Gu Chaoning forced a polite smile: "You flatter me, General Yin."

Yin Song also forced a polite smile. In truth, ever since he'd found out where Yin Hongxue was and what was going on, he'd already dug up everything there was to know about Gu Chaoning.

The two traded veiled barbs, and when Yin Hongxue showed interest, they naturally steered the conversation back to him.

This meeting wasn't as awkward as Yin Hongxue had imagined. Both Gu Chaoning and Yin Song were doting on him, even a little careful about what they said, and he naturally relaxed.

The next day, the army left, and the emperor came to see them off.

The army made better time on the way back than on the way there. By mid-April, word came from the frontier city that they'd won a complete victory in the first battle against the remaining barbarian forces.

By early June, the remaining troublesome tribes of the barbarians had all been beaten into submission. The emperor sent officials to take over, and the ones who'd earned merit naturally got rewarded.

That of course included Xu Xiaoshui and He Feiguang. The two had hit it off immediately and fought so well together that the barbarians called them the Twin Terrors.

This time, Xu Xiaoshui got a post and stayed in the frontier city, while He Feiguang was to return to the capital and stay there for good.

After all, if he didn't come back soon, his elder brother, parents, and Meng Chengyi would all lose their minds. Before the rewards were announced, Lord He had sent in petition after petition and even worked behind the scenes with the Ministry of Personnel. Young Master He, who was already in the capital, had gone to see the emperor himself.

Qi Jianwei happened to have his own plans, so he readily agreed and transferred He Feiguang back.

He Feiguang returned at the end of June. Gu Chaoning happened to have the day off and went with Yin Hongxue to pick him up. They only exchanged quick greetings before He Feiguang had to head to the palace to see the emperor, so he made plans with Yin Hongxue and Gu Chaoning to have dinner later.

After seeing He Feiguang off, Yin Hongxue and Gu Chaoning wandered along the street, planning to look around a bit before finding a good place to eat lunch.

In early June, all kinds of food were in season, and the mix of smells along the way made Yin Hongxue's mouth water.

"I smell fried dough twists. Should we grab some on the way back? Oh, and I smell roasted lamb—ugh—"

Gu Chaoning had been listening to Yin Hongxue chatter and looking where he pointed, when he suddenly heard him gag and jumped.

"What's the matter?"

Yin Hongxue couldn't talk, covering his nose with one hand and tugging Gu Chaoning away with the other.

But just as they got past the lamb smell, they came across a stall selling raw fish, with the vendor calling out: "Raw fish! Great raw fish for hotpot and stir-fry!"

The stall was actually pretty clean, but Yin Hongxue's face immediately turned green again.

"Hurry, let's go, ugh..."

Gu Chaoning was startled, pressed his sleeve over Yin Hongxue's nose, and pulled him along.

It wasn't until they'd left that street and had a bowl of tea that Yin Hongxue finally felt better.

Gu Chaoning looked around: "There's a clinic right here. Let's go see if it's heatstroke."

Yin Hongxue didn't feel sick, but seeing how worried Gu Chaoning was and still shaken by the nausea, he nodded and followed him to the clinic.

The clinic was pretty busy, with lots of people buying medicine for the heat. When the pharmacy apprentice heard they wanted their pulses checked, he led them to wait in line for the doctor.

The smell of herbs calmed them both down.

The line moved fast, and soon it was their turn. The doctor's furrowed brow smoothed out as he took his hand off Yin Hongxue's wrist.

He said with a smile: "Congratulations, you two. Your husband is pregnant—about a month along, going by the pulse."

Yin Hongxue smiled too and looked at Gu Chaoning: "So it's not heatstroke, it's... pregnant?"

He gaped at Gu Chaoning, then turned to look at the doctor. The doctor could tell at a glance they were a newly married couple, and seeing the look on Yin Hongxue's face, he nodded with a smile.

This time, they were both completely stunned.