Chapter 39 - 39 A Dead End
Having dismissed Zhang Zhao, Qi Yue suddenly felt a wave of fatigue and weakness.
She hurriedly propped herself up to sit aside and took two Qi Supplementing Pills from her space.
“Yueyue, are you alright?”
Rustling sounds came from behind, and Qi Yue, recognizing it was Zhao Xiyan, didn’t turn her head back immediately.
“I’m fine.”
Helping Zhonglan give birth had already exhausted a great deal of her strength, and just now she had spent a lot of effort to support Zhang Zhao, which had left her drained.
But, given that the original body was naturally strong, there was no serious harm, and she would be fine after some rest.
Ever since she truly realized how fat her body was, Qi Yue didn’t really want to face Zhao Xiyan.
As a woman, she was fat and ugly, yet he, a man, was even more beautiful than a woman, which made her feel unbearable.
Zhao Xiyan continued to call out from behind persistently.
“Yueyue, come here for a moment.”
Qi Yue glanced at the not-so-bright Luminous Pearl, pursed her lips, and finally turned her head.
“What is it?”
Zhao Xiyan handed over a water bottle from a distance, his expression tender.
He wasn’t wearing a mask!
Qi Yue felt her scalp tingle.
“No need, I don’t feel like drinking right now.”
The man’s voice sounded like pearls falling off a string, tinkling as they hit the ground.
“You haven’t drunk any water all day, I saw.”
Qi Yue’s face flushed with embarrassment.
Why was this man always watching her?
She wanted to say she had water to drink but then thought his water bottle might be nearly empty. She could take it and add some water to it, so she got up and moved over.
Still, she deliberately kept a distance from Zhao Xiyan.
“Why are you sitting so far away?”
The man smiled and handed over the water bottle.
Qi Yue was hit with the warmth of his smile and couldn’t help but feel a little fluttered. The hand she extended accidentally touched Zhao Xiyan’s hand.
His hand was very cold, almost icy, but the skin was soft and smooth.
In her fluster, Qi Yue scratched him inadvertently and felt the raised knuckles, which were hard and felt smooth like jade.
“Heh…”
Hearing Zhao Xiyan just chuckled lightly without saying anything else, Qi Yue relaxed.
She pretended to drink a sip from the water bottle, but then she remembered it was his personal bottle, and her lips began to feel as if they were burning.
She quickly focused her attention on her space and stealthily stowed the water bottle into it.
While sitting outside, her consciousness controlled the space, pouring half of the Spiritual Spring Water into the bottle.
All along their journey, this was how she had been replenishing Zhao Xiyan’s water.
She only poured half to cover up the amount of water so he wouldn’t notice anything.
Once her consciousness returned, her heart settled down.
Without thinking much, Qi Yue handed back the water bottle to him, not noticing that Zhao Xiyan gently shook the water bottle in his hand, with a deep smile on his lips.
After resting for a while, hearing that both children were crying badly one after another, Qi Yue couldn’t help but get up and walk over.
“What’s wrong?”
Zhang Zhao, a burly man, was holding one of the children, looking embarrassed.
“Probably… must be hungry, I guess…”
Hearing this, Qi Yue turned to look at Zhonglan.
“No milk?”
Zhonglan lowered her face, mumbling an embarrassed “Mhm.”
Qi Yue understood.
If it hadn’t been for Shen Yu’s deliberate care of providing some meat along the road, Zhonglan might have collapsed earlier, not to mention having the strength to give birth today.
Leaving a quick “Wait here,” Qi Yue returned to the Zhao family’s area, pretended to take a few things from her bag, but actually took them from her space.
She placed a pack of brown sugar and a bottle of lactation essence for nursing mothers beside Zhonglan.
“Drink this.”
After hesitating for a moment, she explained further.
“There’s no hot water now, so you can just keep the brown sugar in your mouth to replenish a bit of your qi and blood.”
“How can I accept this, such a good thing.”
“I happened to come across it in Yuezhou City last time and bought it on a whim.”
Qi Yue explained in a light tone.
She had prepared the block of brown sugar early, wrapped in paper. The milk essence too, specifically packed in a small porcelain bottle, so as not to give anything away.
Cong Zhonglan and Zhang Zhao both showed grateful expressions, and seeing the robust man as though he was about to kneel again, Qi Yue hurriedly stopped him.
“If you do that again, I won’t take care of you.”
Zhang Zhao then bowed his head and thanked her repeatedly.
Cong Zhongyue’s eyes were also on the brink of brimming with hot tears.
Qi Yue took one of the children, pretending to soothe him, and while putting her fingertips to his lips, covertly fed him some Spiritual Spring Water.
After doing the same for the other child, neither of them cried any longer.
Soon both children were nestled in Cong Zhongyue’s arms, sound asleep in sweet slumber.
Looking at the two vibrant little lives, a surge of passion swelled in Qi Yue’s heart.
She had to think of a way to ensure their survival.
“Miss Qi Yue, we would like to ask you to give a name to our children.”
Upon hearing the request for naming, Qi Yue immediately waved her hand in refusal.
She was terrible at giving names, not to speak of naming children, even naming animals, all she could come up with was ‘Big Yellow’, ‘Little Yellow’.
However, the couple insisted on her suggesting a name, saying that whatever she chose would be good.
Because she was the savior of their children.
This really put Qi Yue in a difficult spot.
After pondering for quite some time, she suddenly felt that the cave they were in resembled a massive tomb, waiting for her to open it and lead everyone out of it.
A glimmer of inspiration flashed in her mind, and she suddenly had it.
“Zhang Qifeng, right, the older brother will be called Zhang Qifeng, and the younger brother will be called Zhang Qiyun.”
Zhang Zhao and his wife both said the names she chose were good, and when Shen Yu heard them, she also praised Qi Yue’s choices.
“These names are good indeed, they signify that we will definitely make it out alive!”
“Right, we will definitely survive!”
Zhang Zhao was also full of determination.
Qi Yue helplessly glanced at Shen Yu.
Her mother-in-law was becoming more and more uninhibited.
In the beginning, she was clearly a genteel lady who never stepped beyond the threshold of her home, but now she could speak up in public, encourage others, and even inspire fighting spirit.
Exile could really change a person.
It was at this moment that Guan Yidao suddenly stood up.
“Since everyone has this confidence, why don’t we start digging the path right away!”
“Since the cave has been sealed from the outside, we can also dig it open from the inside. I believe, as long as we are united, we will certainly find our way to freedom!”
Guan Yidao’s rousing speech immediately gained the support of all the exiles.
“Yes, dig the tunnel, escape to freedom!”
“We want to get out, we want to live!”
“…”
Those who considered themselves strong and sturdy all stepped forward, willing to contribute their labor to resolutely dig a tunnel out.
But Zhao Jingjing didn’t think it was a good idea.
The reason for the previous sudden collapse was due to someone on the outside mining stones.
Not to mention whether the area covered by this collapse was large, what if the cave collapsed again during the digging?
But not digging was akin to awaiting death.
If only there was another way out of the cave!
While Qi Yue was contemplating this, she suddenly heard Guan Yidao asking for her opinion.
“Miss Qi Yue, what do you think of this plan?”
“Not very good,” Qi Yue said calmly, “if it collapses again while digging, burying even this cave, that would truly be a dead end.”