Both Liqin and Jingfei were taken aback by her innocent but painful question. It took them a few seconds to say something.
"Is it because I am a burden to him?" Qiao Zhi continued to cry loudly this time. Jingfei, whose heart is already like Qiao Zhi felt sad towards her. She slowly moved towards her and hold her close to her.
"Shhhh... it's okay. Just cry it out." she said lovingly. Liqin, who is observing the scene felt something inside his heart. He knew how much Jingfei wanted to have a child and seeing her right now doing this to Qiao Zhi, he is sure that she could have been a great mother if they had a child.
"My dear, I guess Qiao Zhi needs to rest for now. Let's talk about this matter later."
Jingfei looked at her husband worriedly. Liqin gave her a reassuring look. When he talks about adopting to her a few months ago, she already raised this concern to him but he reassured her that everything will be alright. Now that Qiao Zhi seems to be against the adoption, he is thinking of ways to convince the young lady that staying in the Minister of War household is a good thing.
Huang Jingfei helped the weak Qiao Zhi out of the main hall. Both women are quiet as they walked towards the young lady's new room again. Jingfei holds Qiao Zhi's hands firmly. The moment they entered the room, she helped Qiao Zhi sit on the bed.
Jingfei sat as well next to the young lady. She is looking at the room and thinking about how she can console her.
"I believe that your master also had a hard time sending you over," Madam Jingfei said quietly.
"really?" Qiao Zhi looked at her.
Jingfei smiled, touched her face which is wet with her tears.
"Of course. But remember that your master cannot marry and you are now a young lady. It will be hard for both of you to stay together like you used to."
Qiao Zhi thinks about it for a while. She must admit that for the past few years, her master becomes more distant and irritated towards her. She equated his behavior with his age but she never thought about anything else.
When Jingfei felt that Qiao Zhi is open to listened to her, she continued.
"Your master and our family are closed friends. Your master knew that our family has no children and that we wanted to have one. When we learned about your situation, we wanted to help your master as well. So, we thought that it will be best if we will adopt you."
Qiao Zhi looked at Jingfei and she saw hopefulness there. Qiao Zhi looked at her hands and said, "but I am just a lowly girl from the countryside. I don't deserve to your adopted daughter." hearing this, Jingfei's heart burst with happiness. She hugged the young girl immediately.
"Don't say that my dear, the moment I saw you I knew that you are the one we are waiting for."
Qiao Zhi, who was never hugged before so lovingly, hugged Madam Jingfei back. She felt a nice feeling inside her heart. She finally smiled.
When they finally looked at each other, both women are smiling.
"Can I make a request?" Qiao Zhi suddenly asked.
"Whatever it is," though taken aback, Jingfei will do everything to fulfill her daughter's request.
"Can I be who I am? It is tiring to act like a lady."
Huang Jingfei gave out a hearty laugh. She never thought that she will find an innocent, pure and confident girl as a daughter. Being raised by a general, Huang Jingfei knew how tiring acting in front of everybody just to be seen as a noble lady.
Outside Qiao Zhi's bedchamber, Huang Liqin is standing listening to the conversation of the two women inside. He smiled when he heard his wife's hearty laugh. It's been a while when he heard her laugh like that. Also, hearing Qiao Zhi's request, he is sure to have a lot of surprises in the future.