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Once all the impossible options had been eliminated, the one left, no matter how absurd, had to be the correct answer.

She swallowed, suppressing her overwhelming shock as she asked, "This child's father... is Sword Venerable Mingxiao?"

Song Zhizhi glanced at Liu Changfei and nodded. "Mm."

Liu Changfei:!!!

The shocking revelation made Liu Changfei's mind crash for several seconds. How had she never thought of it?! She had only guessed that Sword Venerable Mingxiao might harbor unusual feelings for Zhizhi, but she had never imagined that the child in Zhizhi's belly belonged to Sword Venerable Mingxiao!

Good heavens! Was this something she was supposed to know?

Liu Changfei took a moment to recover, then waved her hand. "Give me a moment to digest this."

The child's father was Sword Venerable Mingxiao. Judging by how far along she was, the two of them must have known each other before Song Zhizhi entered the Sword Sect. So had Song Zhizhi joined the Sword Sect to find Sword Venerable Mingxiao?

Zhizhi was pregnant yet did not dare tell the Sword Venerable, silently bearing the hardship of carrying the child alone. Could it be because the Sword Venerable was some scumbag who started something only to abandon her, refusing to acknowledge it once he had put his pants back on?

Liu Changfei's expression shifted through a kaleidoscope of emotions. The image she had of Sword Venerable Mingxiao, the cultivation world's number one dream man, was beginning to crumble. One moment, her face was full of indignation; the next, she looked at Song Zhizhi with pity and sympathy.

She hugged Song Zhizhi and declared righteously, "Zhizhi, don't be afraid. I'll get justice for you! Even if he's a Sword Venerable, he can't be some heartless man who abandons the woman he seduced."

Song Zhizhi: ? Had Feifei misunderstood something?

She looked utterly bewildered. "What heartless man? He didn't do anything to wrong me."

If anyone had started something only to abandon the other, then between her and Xie Xiuji, she seemed to be the one who had done exactly that.

Song Zhizhi recalled how she had tricked Xie Xiuji that day in order to cure her poison and suddenly felt a little guilty. She gave a light cough, her gaze drifting as she defended Xie Xiuji. "My relationship with him isn't what you think."

"Well..." Under Liu Changfei's piercing gaze, Song Zhizhi skipped over the matter of her transmigration and explained, "I was poisoned by Spring Day Powder back then, and that was the only way to cure it. He did it to detoxify me, so... ahem. I didn't know he was the Sword Venerable at the time. I only discovered he was here after joining the Sword Sect."

Liu Changfei let out a breath of relief. "So that's what happened. I knew it. The Sword Venerable is upright and noble; he couldn't possibly be the sort of man who starts something and then abandons it."

After revealing this secret, Song Zhizhi felt much lighter. She wanted to ask for Liu Changfei's opinion. "Feifei, he kindly helped me detoxify back then. This child was an accident. I don't know how to bring this up to him. I'm afraid he won't accept this child."

That was why Song Zhizhi had kept putting off confessing everything to Xie Xiuji.

Song Zhizhi knew that many men did not mind a fleeting spring romance with a girl they had just met, but if a child suddenly appeared out of nowhere, many of them would not be able to accept it right away.

Liu Changfei pondered for a while. Thinking of Sword Venerable Mingxiao's indulgence and concern for Song Zhizhi, she felt that Song Zhizhi's worries might be unnecessary.

But pregnant women were prone to emotional fluctuations. They could easily become pessimistic about certain matters and sink into their own emotions, unable to pull themselves out. It was perfectly normal for Song Zhizhi to think this way.

After some thought, Liu Changfei suggested, "Why not test the waters first, tactfully? Ask him whether he likes children. You can do this..."

Liu Changfei leaned close and whispered a string of suggestions into Song Zhizhi's ear.

*

When Sword Venerable Mingxiao arrived at Clear Snow Peak carrying a food box, he discovered that Song Zhizhi was not in the courtyard. Faint sounds came from inside her room.

Sword Venerable Mingxiao raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Song Zhizhi's voice came from within. Perhaps because the door separated them, her voice sounded somewhat muffled.

Sword Venerable Mingxiao pushed the door open and entered. He found Song Zhizhi sitting at the edge of the bed, holding an exquisite rattle-drum. Though his entry made a faint sound, Song Zhizhi did not even lift her head. Her eyes remained lowered as she stared blankly at the rattle-drum.

Sword Venerable Mingxiao examined the rattle-drum in her hand. It had a red base and white face, and the Phoenix carved on its drumhead was especially exquisite, lifelike enough to seem as though it might fly out in the next instant and spread its wings into the sky.

"Is it pretty?" Song Zhizhi abruptly raised her head and asked Xie Xiuji.

"This drum is made very exquisitely. The Phoenix pattern on its face is vivid and lifelike." Sword Venerable Mingxiao studied it for a moment before objectively commenting, "It's just that the formation inscribed on it is rather crude. It might be better if it were altered."

Song Zhizhi picked up the rattle-drum and gently shook it. Cheerful, pleasant music rang out, and a smile touched her brows. In a gentle tone, she said, "Right? I think it's pretty too. The moment I saw it, I felt it was perfect."

"Perfect for what?" Sword Venerable Mingxiao felt that Song Zhizhi's words carried a hidden meaning today. Faintly, he sensed that perhaps she had something important to tell him.

"Did something happen?" Sword Venerable Mingxiao asked softly, frowning.

"Xie Xiuji." Song Zhizhi shook her head. After so many days, this was the first time she had called him so formally by his full name—not the distant Sword Venerable Mingxiao, nor the somewhat reserved Senior Brother Mingxiao, but the name he had once told her himself.

"Mm?" Sword Venerable Mingxiao answered in a low voice. Somewhere deep down, he sensed that what Song Zhizhi wished to say had something to do with the rattle-drum in her hand.

Clutching the rattle-drum, Song Zhizhi drew a deep breath. At last, she gathered her courage and asked, "Do you like children?"

Sword Venerable Mingxiao paused. Children?

Most cultivators chose to remain alone. Even when they married, having descendants was difficult, and the higher one's cultivation, the more so. None of Sword Venerable Mingxiao's peers had ever had children. He recalled the most vivid impression children had left on him.

That had been decades ago, when he was traveling on a mission and passed through a mortal village. He had seen a group of children with mud on their clothes, dust and snot smeared over their faces. The snot dangling beneath their noses and the black-and-yellow streaks of dirt and mud on their faces had left a profound impression on the cleanliness-obsessed Sword Venerable Mingxiao.

Decades had passed, and perhaps those children had already reached their twilight years. Yet whenever Sword Venerable Mingxiao recalled that scene, he could not help frowning. Children were too dirty.

Rankings

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Transmigrated into a Book

Sweet Romance

Transmigration and Rebirth Romance

Tu Yanyan

Amnesia Trope