Chapter 48: Feng Qizhou, I Will Never Let You Down in This Life
At this critical juncture, Xue Yu couldn’t possibly pull a stunt like “the wife on the battlefield suddenly comes home to surprise her husband.”
If she went back without a word, it would be bad if she scared Feng Qizhou and the baby in his belly.
Before entering the water, Xue Yu called Zhou Siyan and told him that she was going back. It wasn’t a discussion, but a firm statement that she had to go back to be present for the birth.
Zhou Siyan heard her determination and did not stop her.
He knew Xue Yu too well. She seemed like a soft bun on the surface, but when she really encountered something, her stubbornness was immovable.
He just asked her how she was going to get back.
Xue Yu said, “Mo Li said there’s an underground river under Pinglan Lake. If I swim through the underground river, I can reach the Fenna River, and I can swim all the way to the moat of the White Tower.”
“And the time?” Zhou Siyan asked again.
Xue Yu: “It will take four hours. I’ll go over and accompany Feng Qizhou for the birth and then come back. I’ll be back before nine tomorrow morning.”
Zhou Siyan: “It will take a total of eight hours to swim back and forth. Is it worth it?”
Xue Yu: “It’s worth it. I have to go back.”
“Okay.”
Time was tight. After a simple farewell to Mo Li, Xue Yu jumped into the lake.
She didn’t bring much equipment, only a helmet and a pistol in the holster on her waist.
Underwater, she turned on the smart headlight on her helmet to illuminate the way.
Among the large limestone rocks at the bottom of the lake, there were many water caves formed by karst action.
Following Mo Li’s instructions, Xue Yu found a cave entrance with a serrated rock formation on the side. The entrance was narrow, and Xue Yu had to squeeze her body to get in.
She was also very scared to be drilling through such a dark cave underwater alone in the middle of the night.
All sorts of tomb-raiding horror novels popped into her mind. She was very worried that a water monkey or an old woman with long, flowing hair would suddenly appear in front of her.
Xue Yu kept giving herself psychological suggestions.
Your man is having a baby at home. You can’t be afraid.
With so many men and so many children, you are the pillar of the family. You can’t be a coward!
Blueberry sensed Xue Yu’s emotions and came out of her spiritual landscape on its own.
It swam in front of Xue Yu, its scales emitting a faint blue light, like a blue guiding light.
Xue Yu reached out and touched Blueberry’s caudal fin. “It’s a good thing I have you, Blueberry. We are the closest relatives in the world! I will never hit you again.”
Blueberry arrogantly swept Xue Yu’s face with its caudal fin.
The underground river was long and narrow.
The current was swift, and the rocks on both sides of the wall were steep. A slight carelessness could lead to a collision.
But the swift current also had an advantage. She didn’t have to spend a lot of effort to swim. As long as the current flowed down, she just had to pay attention to the steep rocks on the side.
After swimming for forty minutes, the long, narrow underground river finally came to an end.
Xue Yu was washed out of the tight water cave. The exit was a fierce waterfall.
Although Mo Li had told her that there was a waterfall here and asked her to be prepared, when she was washed out, she was caught off guard and was thrown down a ten-meter-high waterfall with Blueberry.
Xue Yu’s head was almost dizzy from the rapids. She rolled to the wide river surface below the waterfall and rested for a few minutes before she could surface.
Looking around, she didn’t see Blueberry and didn’t know where it had been washed to.
“Blueberry, where are you!”
She and Blueberry had a telepathic connection and could sense Blueberry’s direction.
Following the telepathic connection, she swam east and found Blueberry in a clump of water weeds.
It had probably been knocked out by the fierce current. Blueberry’s eyes were half-open, and it weakly blew a few bubbles.
Xue Yu scooped it out of the water weeds and held it in her arms, surfacing to check if it was injured. “Blueberry! Wake up! Don’t you dare die on me! I only have you! Blueberry!”
Blueberry’s beautiful, large, round eyes slowly opened, and its scales also emitted a blue light.
Xue Yu was so happy she was on the verge of tears. She held it and pressed her face against its. “Blueberry, my good Blueberry, you scared me to death. I will never hit you again.”
Blueberry mischievously blew a stream of water at her face, broke free from her embrace, and ran away playfully.
Xue Yu wiped her face and immediately chased after it. “You stinky seahorse! When I catch you, I’ll beat you to death!”
After entering the Fenna River, the current slowed down a lot.
Xue Yu did not dare to relax for a moment and swam with all her might.
She was worried that Blueberry would get tired and wanted to retract it into her spiritual landscape. But Blueberry was unwilling and kept swimming with her.
During this time, Blueberry even found a meteorite crystal in the water. It didn’t eat it but gave it to Xue Yu and asked her to keep it for it.
***
After leaving the Fenna River and entering the moat, Blueberry swam even faster than Xue Yu, as if it were in a hurry to go back and do something.
For a full four hours, Xue Yu swam for four hours and finally returned to the White Tower.
She climbed up the stone wall on the side of the river. Zhou Siyan was waiting for her on the shore and pulled her up.
“How is Feng Qizhou? Is he about to give birth?” Xue Yu asked impatiently.
Zhou Siyan held her hand tightly and led her down a small path, saying, “He should be.”
Xue Yu: “Then how is he now?”
Zhou Siyan: “I don’t know. He gave Xue Xiaobei to me and then went into the operating room by himself, saying that he could handle it and told me not to worry.”
The two of them ran through the crisscrossing alleys and paths at top speed, rushing back to the Manster Building.
When Zhou Siyan checked the surveillance on his watch, he found that both Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei were crying.
Xue Yu said, “You go and see the children. I’ll go to the operating room first. Feng Qizhou needs me now.”
“Okay.”
Xue Yu took the elevator to the operating room floor by herself. There were rows of operating rooms here, and she didn’t know which one Feng Qizhou was in.
She tried to call him, but no one answered. Xue Yu was even more anxious.
A few minutes later, Zhou Siyan also came up.
Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei were both crying and could not be comforted. He had no choice but to put both children in the safe and bring them up.
“Where is Feng Qizhou?” Xue Yu ran over and asked.
Zhou Siyan: “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He told me not to worry, that he could give birth by himself.”
Xue Yu was frantic. “Let’s look for him. By the way, will the surveillance here capture us?”
Zhou Siyan reassured her, “I turned off the surveillance in this corridor when I came up just now.”
The child was fussing in the box. Zhou Siyan held the box to his chest and opened a corner of the lid. Xue Xiaohai’s small hand reached out impatiently, her fleshy hand grabbing the edge of the box, wanting to climb out. She was very strong.
Xue Yu held the child’s hand and pressed her face close to the lid to see the situation inside.
“Xiaohai, it’s Mommy. Be good. Play with your sister in here.”
“Mommy, Mommy!” Xue Xiaohai called out happily.
“You’re so hyper in the middle of the night. You must have slept all day again.”
Xue Yu reached in and touched her face, and also touched Xue Xiaobei, who was sleeping soundly, hugging her sister’s leg.
“Xiaohai, be good. Mommy has something to do now and can’t play with you,” Xue Yu said again.
Xue Xiaohai seemed to understand her mother’s words. She no longer tried to climb out but sat in the box with her head down, hugging her little seahorse and pretending to sleep.
Xue Yu searched one operating room after another. She could sense the child’s presence.
Two minutes later, she stopped at the second-to-last operating room at the end of the corridor. She sensed that her third child was inside.
Zhou Siyan also came to the front of the operating room with the child.
Xue Yu told him with certainty, “He’s in there. Feng Qizhou is in there.”
Neither of them could decide whether to knock.
If Feng Qizhou was in the middle of surgery, knocking might disturb him and cause even more trouble.
Zhou Siyan comforted Xue Yu, “Don’t worry too much. Feng Qizhou’s medical skills are very good, and he has had the experience of performing a C-section on himself once before.”
Xue Yu’s eyes were sore and dry. She bit her lip to keep from crying.
She was not only heartbroken for Feng Qizhou, but also for the unborn child. As long as it was her child, she would love them all the same, just like she loved Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei.
Finally, Zhou Siyan’s watch rang. It was a call from Feng Qizhou.
Zhou Siyan answered.
Feng Qizhou’s pained voice came through, “Is Xue Yu back?”
Zhou Siyan: “Yes, she’s back. We’re right outside your operating room.”
Feng Qizhou let out a soft, pained groan and said with difficulty, “I’ll open the door for you. After you come in, go to the disinfection room on the right first, put on isolation gowns, and disinfect yourselves completely before you come in.”
“Okay.”
Xue Yu did not dare to make a sound on the side, afraid that Feng Qizhou would be too excited and cut the wrong organ.
Soon, the operating room door opened automatically.
Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan quickly went in. As soon as they entered, the operating room door closed automatically again.
Following Feng Qizhou’s instructions, the two of them entered the disinfection room on the right and put on green isolation gowns. Zhou Siyan also found an isolation cloth and wrapped the safe in it.
After leaving the disinfection room, the two of them entered another ultraviolet disinfection door and finally came to the operating room inside.
As soon as she saw Feng Qizhou on the operating table, Xue Yu wanted to cry. She clenched her fists and forced herself not to cry, afraid of affecting Feng Qizhou.
Feng Qizhou was wearing a surgical gown, half-sitting, half-lying on the operating table. His belly was already half-cut open, a bloody mess.
He was holding a scalpel in his right hand and a pair of tissue forceps in his left.
In front of him was a huge smart visual mirror. He was performing the surgery on himself by relying on the reflection in the mirror and the mechanical instruments on the side.
“You’re back.”
He temporarily stopped what he was doing and looked at Xue Yu. His forehead was covered in fine sweat, and his face and lips were exceptionally pale.
He really wanted to tease Xue Yu and say a few dirty love words, but he really didn’t have the strength.
He licked his dry lips, his breath very weak. “I’m sorry. Am I very ugly and scary right now? Did I scare you?”
“How could you? You’re amazing, Feng Qizhou,” Xue Yu walked to his side and glanced at his cut-open abdomen. “You’re pouring your heart out to me like this. I’m so touched.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” Feng Qizhou’s lips were pressed into a straight line, a flowing light rippling in the corner of his eye.
Zhou Siyan placed the safe containing Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei on the instrument table on the side and walked over to ask Feng Qizhou, “How is it? Do you want me to help you take out the child?”
Feng Qizhou said resolutely, “No need. I’ll do it myself. I’m afraid you won’t be steady and will cut the child. After I take it out, you can just help me suture.”
Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan stood on either side of the operating table, both consciously not speaking.
The two of them stood silently, following Feng Qizhou’s instructions, occasionally helping him pass surgical instruments and medicine, or helping him wipe his sweat.
Feng Qizhou cut the wound a little more, then put down the scalpel and tore the muscle layer to the sides with his bare hands.
Xue Yu was so scared she didn’t dare to breathe.
When she had accompanied Zhou Siyan to give birth to Xue Xiaohai in the South Continent, the doctor had also made a small incision and then tore it open with his bare hands.
This surgical method was called blunt dissection and was a common procedure for C-sections.
Tearing the incision could prevent damage to blood vessels and nerves, which was conducive to the healing of the wound after surgery.
Feng Qizhou had no experience with C-sections, but his superb medical skills still allowed him to quickly take out the child. He also cut the child’s umbilical cord himself and then handed the child to Zhou Siyan.
He didn’t have time to suture the wound and instead urged Zhou Siyan, “There’s a scale over there. Hurry up and weigh the child.”
Zhou Siyan held the crying baby in both hands, placed it on the medical electronic scale, and turned his head to say, “3.75 kilograms, exactly seven and a half jin.”
Feng Qizhou’s face was full of disappointment. “Only seven and a half jin? Not ten jin? Zero out the data and weigh it again.”
Zhou Siyan weighed it again. “It’s seven and a half jin.”
“Why was Xue Xiaohai ten jin at birth!” Feng Qizhou was very unwilling.
Xue Yu wiped his sweat and comforted him, “Seven and a half jin is very impressive. She’s not a big fatty, but she’s a little fatty.”
She couldn’t help but look at Feng Qizhou’s bloody abdomen. She didn’t dare to rush him, but she was very anxious in her heart. Don’t you say too much. Hurry up and sew up your belly. I’m anxious for you.
Zhou Siyan quickly washed the baby with warm water. After checking that there were no foreign objects in the baby’s nose and mouth, he wrapped the baby in the small cotton blanket that Feng Qizhou had prepared himself and handed it to Xue Yu.
“You hold the baby. I’ll suture him.”
Xue Yu took the baby. She looked exactly like Xue Xiaobei.
The baby’s cry was very loud. It was clear that she was a big, strong baby like Xue Xiaohai.
After crying for a few times, when she saw that the person holding her was Xue Yu, the baby suddenly smiled and struggled to pull out her small hand that was wrapped in the cotton blanket, wanting to touch Xue Yu’s face.
Xue Yu lowered her head and let her touch. “Xue Xiaonan, Mommy is here. It’s Mommy.”
The baby touched Xue Yu’s face, her face wrinkled in a smile as she babbled.
Over here, Zhou Siyan was suturing Feng Qizhou’s wound. He saw that the brood pouch in his abdominal cavity was still there and asked, “Aren’t you taking out the brood pouch?”
“No. What if I want to have another one someday?” he looked at Zhou Siyan suspiciously. “Did you take yours out?”
Zhou Siyan didn’t say anything and silently sutured him.
The surgery in the White Tower was simple and crude, and the constitution of the people in the White Tower was also very strong.
From the time Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan came in, to the time Feng Qizhou’s wound was sutured and the wound healing agent was injected, it only took half an hour in total.
The effect of the wound healing agent was very strong, but after all, it was such a large wound, and Feng Qizhou was still not feeling well.
He struggled to sit up and asked Zhou Siyan to turn his back, saying that he wanted to change his clothes.
Xue Yu handed the baby to Zhou Siyan for him to hold, and she helped Feng Qizhou put on his clothes.
Zhou Siyan turned his back to the operating table, picked up the baby, and went to the safe. He opened the box and looked at Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei inside.
Xue Yu supported Feng Qizhou as he put on his clothes. She stared at the hideous, unhealed wound on his abdomen, swallowed, and asked, “Is it okay now? Is the surgery completely over?”
“Yes, it’s over. I can go out after I get dressed,” Feng Qizhou’s hands trembled slightly as he buttoned his shirt.
Xue Yu couldn’t hold it in any longer. She wrapped her arms around Feng Qizhou’s head and burst into tears, large teardrops falling.
“Feng Qizhou, I will definitely be good to you. I swear, if I ever let you down in the future, may I be struck by lightning!”
From the moment she entered the operating room and saw Feng Qizhou lying on the operating table, performing a C-section on himself, she had wanted to cry.
She had held it in until now and could no longer control it.
She cried out all the danger of swimming through the underground river and the waterfall, her heartache for Feng Qizhou, and her joy for the newborn, crying until she was out of breath.
She had never seen Xue Yu cry so hard.
Feng Qizhou was in a panic. He fumbled to wipe her tears. “Don’t cry. Here, husband will give you some milk.”
He pressed Xue Yu’s head into his arms.
When Xue Yu cried, Xue Xiaonan in Zhou Siyan’s arms also cried, and even Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei in the safe also started to wail.
The entire operating room was filled with cries, the children’s cries one after another.
Zhou Siyan put down Xue Xiaonan, picked up Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei from the safe, and comforted them as he came to Xue Yu’s side.
Feng Qizhou had always said that Xue Yu was also a child, a little child. Zhou Siyan hadn’t felt it that much before.
Now, listening to the children’s cries and then Xue Yu’s cries, he truly realized that Xue Yu was really just a child. She was only twenty-three, and this was her first time on the battlefield.
She knew nothing and was forced to become the mother of three children by the few of them.
He had always wanted to have a second child before, with a childish sense of competition.
He felt that Feng Qizhou had two, and Mo Li also had two, while he only had one. He felt a faint sense of injustice in his heart.
Now, this injustice suddenly disappeared.
He not only had Xue Xiaohai, but also Xue Yu. Xue Yu was also a child.
He had two children, one Xue Xiaohai and one Xue Yu.
“Oh my god, why are you crying so hard? Anyone who didn’t know would think I died in childbirth,” Feng Qizhou pinched Xue Yu’s ear.
Xue Yu sniffled and suppressed her sobs, rubbing her face hard with both hands.
She first went to comfort Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei in Zhou Siyan’s arms. “Don’t cry. Why are you like a copycat? Mommy cries, and you cry too?”
She put on a big smile for the children. “Alright, alright. Mommy is smiling now. You have to learn from Mommy and smile too! Hurry up and smile, or I’ll spank you!”
The children finally stopped crying.
Xue Yu turned around and went to hold Xue Xiaonan, who had been placed on the instrument table by Zhou Siyan. “Alright, alright. Baby, don’t cry. I have to comfort each and every one of you. Your old mom is going to be exhausted.”
After comforting all the children, Feng Qizhou got off the operating table.
He looked left and right, looking around. “Where’s Cake? Have you seen Cake?”
“Did you buy a cake to reward yourself?” Xue Yu said, holding the child.
Feng Qizhou: “I’m talking about my spirit body!”
“Oh, that vixen, right?” Xue Yu spun around like a top, looking everywhere.
Finally, she found Feng Qizhou’s arctic fox and Blueberry under the operating table.
The arctic fox’s belly had been cut open by itself. The wound was not big.
Blueberry was lying next to the arctic fox. It was also holding two blue, umbrella-shaped jellyfish in its arms. The jellyfish were not big, only the size of a fist, and very beautiful.
Blueberry curled its caudal fin and showed the two small jellyfish to Xue Yu, proudly telling her: These are my babies!
Xue Yu: “Xue Xiaobei and Xue Xiaonan’s spirit bodies?”
Blueberry: Yes!
Blueberry then had Xue Yu take out the meteorite crystal it had found on the road and feed it to the arctic fox.
The two small jellyfish floated around, one to Xue Xiaobei’s arms, and the other to Xue Xiaonan’s.
Zhou Siyan fell into deep thought. “Xue Xiaohai’s spirit body is also a seahorse, completely inheriting the mother’s spirit. Why didn’t Xue Xiaobei and Xue Xiaonan inherit the mother’s characteristics? Their spirit bodies are two jellyfish instead.”
Feng Qizhou was angry. “Are you questioning Xiaobei and Xiaonan’s bloodline? Are you suspecting that they are not Xue Yu’s children?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m just curious,” Zhou Siyan calmly put Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei into the safe.
Feng Qizhou: “I’ve only had relations with Xue Yu. If you have any doubts, I can have a DNA test done for the children tomorrow to prove their innocence.”
Xue Yu hugged him and patted his back. “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I’m sure the children are mine. I have a telepathic connection with the children. I can feel that these two sisters are my flesh and blood.”
Zhou Siyan said calmly, “I just wanted to express that only my daughter has completely inherited the mother’s spiritual characteristics.”
Feng Qizhou’s brows furrowed. “And? Are you very proud?”
Zhou Siyan: “Yes.”
“When Xue Xiaohai grows up and sows her seeds everywhere, you’ll deserve it when you have to earn money to raise your grandchildren in your old age,” Feng Qizhou went to get the temperature-controlled box he had prepared in advance and put Xue Xiaonan in it.
After tidying up the operating room, the three of them took the children back to Feng Qizhou’s apartment.
Xue Xiaohai and Xue Xiaobei were not sleeping. They crawled out of the box and clung to Xue Yu, touching her face and pulling her ears.
Xue Xiaohai kept calling for her mother, and Xue Xiaobei also followed, but she couldn’t make the correct sound yet, just babbling.
Feng Qizhou’s wound was still hurting, so he could only have Zhou Siyan help feed Xue Xiaonan. He sat next to Xue Yu and asked her how she had gotten back.
Xue Yu told him everything.
She looked at her watch. It was four o’clock. She said anxiously, “I have to go back. I have to be back at Pinglan Lake before nine. I’m swimming against the current on my way back now, so it will take even longer.”
“Xue Yu,” Feng Qizhou touched her face, his eyes red. He kissed Xue Yu.
He held her two lips, their lips and teeth intertwined, kissing silently.
Zhou Siyan was holding Xue Xiaonan and feeding her on the side. He turned his back and didn’t look, his broad back like a wall, cold and stern, with an innate sense of oppression.
After kissing Feng Qizhou for a moment, Xue Yu pushed him away. “Hey, why are you kissing me? You’re always taking advantage of me when I’m not paying attention. My reproductive ability is very strong now. What if I get pregnant from a kiss?”
Feng Qizhou’s thumb wiped her lips. “Who was it that said, if I ever let you down, may I be struck by lightning?”
Xue Yu stood up. “I really have to go back. Being a deserter is a death penalty. If I die, what will you guys do as single fathers?”
“I feel guilty for making you work so hard, Xue Yu,” Feng Qizhou also stood up and hugged her, his chin resting on her shoulder.
“Everyone has worked hard. Don’t be so dramatic anymore. I really have to go back.”
Zhou Siyan handed Xue Xiaonan back to Feng Qizhou.
Xue Yu didn’t know the small paths in the White Tower city. He needed to go out and show her the way, to take her to the moat.
There was no time for a tearful farewell. The three children were all left with Feng Qizhou for him to take care of.
***
Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan quickly left the Manster Building. The two of them ran like the wind through the dark alleys of the steel city.
When they reached the moat, Xue Yu was about to jump in, but she turned to look at Zhou Siyan. “Help me take care of Feng Qizhou and the children, okay?”
“Yes,” Zhou Siyan stood in the dark, his tall and slender figure like a flagpole in the ruins, lonely and desolate, standing tall.
She didn’t know when it started, but Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan always had a deep, old-married-couple vibe.
She would tell Zhou Siyan everything without reservation and would ask for his opinion before making a decision.
But when it came to emotions, there was an indescribable awkwardness. She was not very good at expressing her feelings directly.
It was like a middle-aged couple who had been together for a long time, had children, and had everything. An occasional kiss was always strange, as if it would give them nightmares.
“Is there anything you want to say to me?” Xue Yu asked awkwardly.
Zhou Siyan’s lips moved. “Be safe.”
Xue Yu twisted her fingers together. “Well, if Xue Xiaohai is not obedient, you can call me. I’ll discipline her.”
Zhou Siyan: “Yes.”
Xue Yu took two steps forward, then turned and ran back to kiss him on the cheek. Her movements were very fast. After the kiss, she ran off, jumping into the water as nimbly as a fish.
Blueberry was leisurely hiding in a corner, inseparable from the black panther.
Suddenly, it heard a loud splash. It turned its head and saw that Xue Yu was gone. Blueberry’s two eyes widened, and it let go of the black panther to chase after Xue Yu: Where are you going? Wait for me!
Zhou Siyan stood on the high embankment and touched the cheek that Xue Yu had kissed. Xue Yu’s lips were very moist, and there was still a wet mark on his cheek.
He stood for a long time, until the wetness from Xue Yu’s kiss on his face had completely disappeared, before he turned and left.