Chapter 20 He Will Be a Good Father

```html

The snow falls softly.

On the main road, no other silhouettes can be seen.

The weather is cold, and New Year's Eve is half a month away. Most of the escort merchant teams have decreased significantly.

Cui Yun steps closer. Although he hasn't been on the battlefield, he practices martial arts, and his senses are much sharper than ordinary people.

The woman's breath is weak, barely audible.

The desolate countryside indeed seems a bit eerie.

Yet, Cui Yun's expression remains unchanged. His gaze lingers for a moment on the clumsy 'fat mink', then, with a calm and unfettered manner, retracts.

Inside the carriage, Ji Ge widens his eyes.

He sees Cui Yun slightly bending down, reaching out with his distinctly jointed hand.

Ji Ge is filled with heartache!

Just an inch away from getting close to Shen Hua, Cui Yun directly reaches down, accurately picking a mushroom from between the rocks, covered by snow, leaving only the size of a fingernail, dotted like bright blood droplets.

Ji Ge, who has been watching closely: ???

No way, are you getting off the carriage just to pick mushrooms?

Cui Yun takes out a thin cloth to carefully preserve it.

Last time, the Heir of Prince Gong was poisoned by eating this, and he went through the 'Compendium of Materia Medica' without finding a record.

Having come across it again, he naturally wants to keep it.

As for this half-dead girl...

In a daze, Shen Hua strains to lift a hand, touching a corner of clothing, feeling the smooth, glossy silk, a sign of its fine quality. Without hesitation, she grabs it.

Cui Yun looks down, suddenly tense, as frost covers his face. His once calm eyes surge with a sudden tempest.

However, at this moment.

Shen Hua lifts her other arm, pulling slightly on her scarf, revealing a pair of clear, moist eyes. She catches the deep gloominess in Cui Yun's eyes at just the right moment.

Involuntarily, with a jolt, she's frightened by Cui Yun's gaze, and even the hand clutching his garment shrinks back quickly.

The back of the woman's hand is pale, with veins unusually prominent, looking as if her time is about to end, appearing both fragile and pitiful.

Ji Ge is terrified: !!! Where did this ghost come from!!!

Zheng Qianyu returns, somewhat disheveled, suppressing the astonishment in her eyes.

The man before her, dressed in fox fur, has a clean, elegant face, with the demeanor of a scholar, neither too cold nor too warm, perfectly balanced, somewhat aloof yet not offensive.

Zheng Qianyu: "I found water for you."

Shen Hua is unbearably thirsty, and cannot be bothered with Cui Yun. She slowly sits up, takes off the thick scarf, letting the wind in, shivering from it.

She then reaches for the water pouch that Zheng Qianyu hands over.

Leaning forward to take a sip, the ice-cold spring water slides down, numbing her lips and teeth, causing her brows to furrow in pain.

"So... cold."

Zheng Qianyu, seeing Cui Yun leaving indifferently, retorts at her words: "It's good enough to have water, don't be so picky."

But as she speaks, she notices something amiss. Shen Hua's face is burning red, cold sweat pouring down, definitely not just from being covered up.

Shen Hua's health is always poor, and when serious, it can be life-threatening. Zheng Qianyu's heart skips a beat, raising her hand to touch the woman's forehead.

Scorchingly hot.

She had only been away briefly; surely Shen Hua wouldn't die just like that!

A sudden 'bang' rings out beside her. The seated, water-drinking Shen Hua collapses without warning.

Zheng Qianyu frantically tries to pull the unconscious, eye-tightly-closed Shen Hua.

"Hey! Don't scare me!"

From behind comes a sharp, hurried call. Cui Yun pauses in his step onto the carriage.

The Cui Family must always choose kindness.

These past years, he has also concealed his brilliance, downplaying the sharpness around him, hasn't he?

Cui Yun hides the emotions in his eyes.

"Ji Qing, invite them inside."

"Yes."

———

Perhaps out of concern for Shen Hua, the carriage speeds up.

There sit four inside the carriage, yet it's not cramped.

It's luxuriously arranged, indicating the owner's remarkable status. Therefore, Zheng Qianyu's eyes dare not wander.

Ji Ge, dressed in opulent purple attire, leisurely says, "In this freezing cold, why are you two girls running around outside? Aren't you afraid of an accident? If it weren't for Young Master Cui having Heating Pills, she might not even last until a doctor in the city."

Heating Pills were specially developed by the Imperial Physician, a secret medicine of the palace, and not affordable for ordinary people.

One of its herbal ingredients is even a tribute from a vassal state, extremely hard to cultivate, with very low survival rates.

Each year, the Imperial Physician barely manages to produce a dozen. By the Emperor's graciousness, they are all sent to Marquis Yangling Mansion to protect the life of the little princess.

The little princess lost her father at a young age and is plagued by frailness, thus often clings to her second uncle, Cui Yun, who happens to carry Heating Pills, just in case they're needed.

Ji Ge never tasted a single one, never expecting them to benefit Shen Hua.

Zheng Qianyu doesn't know the depth of the matter, but seeing that Shen Hua's fever has subsided somewhat, she lets out a sigh of relief and hastens to express her gratitude to the two.

Cui Yun gently replies, "It's nothing significant."

Ji Ge gives a snort of laughter, "You've been gone, and I bet Rong will be fussing to find you again."

Bringing her up, the smile in Cui Yun's eyes becomes somewhat genuine.

With his father and brother dead in battle, only he and Cui Rong remain of the Cui family lineage. As the only male heir, he should uphold the whole Dengyangling Marquis Mansion, and Cui Rong should lead a carefree and happy life under his protection.

Cui Yun silently curves his lips into a smile, "The little girl is spoiled, there will be much coaxing to do when I return."

Indeed, spoiled!

Ji Ge has never seen such a troublesome child.

The last time he visited the Dengyangling Marquis Mansion, he brought some cherry meat for Cui Rong.

Cui Rong, tilting her head, a small bundle, said in a sweet, childish voice, "Don't want it."

"Is it because you don't like eating it?"

She held her little face, "It's because you, sir, are wearing a green outfit, and I feel it's inauspicious."

"Could it be that your Second Uncle never wears green clothes?"

"But Second Uncle looks better than you do."

He was bursting with anger yet couldn't argue with a child, turned around and changed clothes.

Cui Rong sweetly smiled at him, still saying, "Don't want it."

"What now?"

"My mind is still picturing you in your green outfit. Sorry. Second Uncle said not to poke someone's sore point."

Since she had already apologized, Ji Ge couldn't blame her further.

It's just that Cui Yun attends to everything like a father and mother, meeting Cui Rong's every request without fail.

Cui Yun is quite adept at caring for people, suggesting that he would be a good father in the future.

He, however, is unaware that the one currently unconscious in the carriage is a creation much resembling Cui Rong, and perhaps even more so at times.

Zheng Qianyu: "Neither of the two young masters seems to be from Fengzhou."

"Indeed, it is said that the gentle beauties of Fengzhou are famous, so Brother Cui and I came to see for ourselves."

He utters this without seeming wanton, his gaze is clear, devoid of the vulgarity of consorting with prostitutes, indicating he is not a lecher.

——In terms of looks, you, the last one, Zhou Zhizhi.

This sentence suddenly echoes in Zheng Qianyu's ears.

She sits upright, brimming with pride.

"Young master, you see before you one of the top beauties of Fengzhou City."

Ji Ge chokes: ??? Are you serious.

Cui Yun comes to a halt.

```