Chapter 883 – Northern Overlord (Twenty)
Before deep autumn, Jiang Pengji, accompanied by over ten thousand troops and the resentment buff of the Little Princess, successfully arrived at the Chongzhou Prefecture.
Geographically, Chongzhou is even more northern than Wanzhou, and the signs of winter were already upon them.
While Feng Zhen and Qi Guanrang each clutched their fur cloaks, refusing to let go even if it meant death, Jiang Pengji remained graceful and composed.
“Zheng Tu, is there anyone ahead to receive us?”
From a distance, Jiang Pengji called out to the leading Fu Wang.
Fu Wang, riding a tall and muscular steed, had a natural aura of authority that commanded respect even without raising his voice.
However, this remarkably heroic man currently had his brows knitted into a frown.
Just by looking at his face, you could tell he was burdened with concerns.
As he heard his leader’s call from behind, anxious waves surged in Fu Wang’s heart.
Jiang Pengji knew precisely what had him flustered.
Fu Wang seemed excessively worried about Hui Jun, often sending things to her through others.
Sometimes it was cosmetics favored by women, other times it was vibrant silk and satin, occasionally a simple bouquet of wildflowers, and even some interesting phrases he’d copied down. Whenever he got his hands on something nice, he never forgot to send her a share.
Nevertheless, no matter how much Fu Wang tried to ingratiate himself, Hui Jun always remained elusive.
Of course, why would she let him see her like this?
As of late April, she was nearly five months pregnant—definitely not something she could attribute to mere weight gain to explain to Fu Wang.
Better to keep hiding until she gave birth, then figure things out afterward.
Alas, plans often fall short of reality.
That day, the weather was just right. Hui Jun, with her belly protruding, prepared to move some books to the courtyard for some reading to recharge herself.
She didn’t want to become a burden to Young Master and intended to come up with a way to sustain herself and her child after giving birth.
Jiang Pengji was aware of her intentions and turned around to present Hui Jun with a precious mathematics textbook.
I forgot to mention, ever since Jiang Pengji suggested subject separation, Cheng Cheng and Mr. Yuanjing had been consumed with their studies, tirelessly referencing the “Nine-Nine Multiplication Table” Jiang Pengji had sent them and scouring related ancient texts, ultimately producing a rather rough foundational arithmetic textbook.
If Hui Jun studied well, once she gave birth, she could take the opportunity to learn domestic management from Xu Ke.
Just as she was recharging, Hui Jun noticed a large shadow looming overhead.
Looking up, she found a tall and burly general blocking her from the sunlight.
The man’s piercing gaze was fixed on her belly, freezing her in place as if someone had hit the pause button.
In that moment, Hui Jun nearly lost her cool.
That face—she definitely recognized it.
Startled, Hui Jun didn’t even bother to put on her wooden sandals; she pushed Fu Wang aside and bolted barefoot back into the house.
Fu Wang: “…”
Hui Jun was shorter than Fu Wang, and with her short legs needing to take care of her belly, she couldn’t run too fast.
She hadn’t taken two steps before Fu Wang yanked her back by her collar.
“Mine?”
Fu Wang raised an eyebrow at her belly.
Hui Jun kept silent, and Fu Wang picked her up, setting her down on the corridor before retrieving her wooden sandals.
“Alright, after all, it is yours.”
Fu Wang had spent some time in Wanzhou, and even though Jiang Pengji had kept Hui Jun’s identity under wraps, Fu Wang was determined to investigate and could figure out a thing or two. Moreover, when Fu Wang first met Hui Jun, she was still the Empress of Dongqing.
“I’m about to head to Chongzhou with the lord to prepare for battle and likely won’t be back for years, so I thought I’d come to see you.”
To his surprise, he was greeted with such a large shock that it nearly scared the life out of him.
Hui Jun remained silent, simply cradling her belly with her right hand and tightly grasping the textbook Jiang Pengji had gifted her with her left.
“I asked the lord, and you are currently unmarried.”
The Emperor of Dongqing was dead, and the fourth prince Wu Ma Jun was reduced to nothing more than a corpse; Hui Jun should now be considered a widow.
Since she was a widow, that made her unmarried.
After a while, Fu Wang cautiously reached out to touch Hui Jun’s belly, causing her body to tense up in alarm.
“When I return, I’ll teach him martial arts and reading; it won’t make things too hard for you. If you run into any troubles, take this and find my former vice general. He’s stationed here now, and if he sees this, he will certainly help you.”
Hui Jun looked at Fu Wang with an odd expression; he couldn’t even be sure whose child was in her belly yet he dared to say such things?
As Fu Wang continued to speak to himself, Hui Jun awkwardly interjected, “Fu—General Fu, are you implying…”
“I’ve sent you countless gifts; you’ve accepted them all.”
Hui Jun nearly failed to process what he meant.
She thought Fu Wang would react with rage, dismembering her body with his gifts as vengeance.
Back at the Jiamen Pass, had she not purposely set a trap for Fu Wang, even if he lost, he wouldn’t have done so so embarrassingly.
Unexpectedly, it turned out this man actually had feelings for her.
Fu Wang handed her a token he always carried, hastily spoke a few words, and gracefully flipped over the wall to leave.
Hui Jun: “…”
She thought that this was the backyard of the county office; how could a big brute like Fu Wang sneak in so quietly? He must have climbed the wall!
Thinking of this, Hui Jun couldn’t help but furrow her brows.
“Rascal, does he think the lord’s backyard is his home?!”
Fu Wang liked Hui Jun, knowing she was pregnant, and the gifts he frequently sent her had become nourishing herbal medicines.
As for the identity of the child in her belly, he hadn’t given it much thought.
Cangzhou was located further north, with some areas bordering on foreign tribes.
The foreign races were fierce, frequently causing harm and death, leading to chaos at the borders where many women lost their husbands, and children lost their fathers.
After losing their husbands, many women would still take their late partner’s child to remarry, with the new husbands often being generous, treating their step-children as they would their own. Because no one knew when disaster might befall them, raising their step-children well was no different from caring for their own biological children.
Fu Wang was raised by a pack of wolves, with his adoptive father Fu Yang keeping him close. Living in such a rugged environment for over a decade, he had been accustomed to this perspective.
In the end, if Hui Jun was his, then Hui Jun’s child would also be his.
He was currently burdened with worries because before he left, he had secretly visited Hui Jun again and noticed her belly had grown even larger.
Fu Wang had witnessed childbirth before, and it left a lasting psychological scar on him.
There had once been a farm family at the border where the husband had recently passed away, leaving the pregnant wife to manage the household and perform heavy fieldwork alone. One day, overwhelmed, her waters broke, and she suddenly needed to give birth right there in the fields. At that time, Fu Wang was living among the wolves; since it was autumn and food was scarce, he had to leave the pack’s territory to search further for prey, only to stumble upon the woman lying in the fields, her legs spread wide, as a baby crowned, sending young Fu Wang into a cold sweat from sheer fright.
Overwhelmed by fear, Fu Wang had taken the wrong path and was captured, becoming a pet in a deadly struggle.
