Chapter 61: Moved by Emotion and Making a Date with Beauty

  Ma Chao didn't expect Zou Jing to ask this, "This, Miss Zou is naturally beautiful and elegant, with a gentle heart, I believe most people like her."

  "So you're like most people?" Jia Zhen continued to ask.

  "If I said I didn't like you at all, Miss, that would be a lie... only... only..."

  Ma Chao's words were cut off, "You don't need to say anything else, I understand everything. I know you're engaged, but I don't care about those things. As long as you like me, even just a little bit is enough!" Zou Xian firmly said.

  Ma Chao said, what do you know? You don't know anything. However, he did appreciate Zhen Ji's personality of daring to love and hate.

  He wanted to say more, but before he could, Zhen said, "Can you help me up?"

  "The doctor told you to rest well and try not to move around!"

  The doctor said he didn't know whether Ma Chao knew or not, this is what he thought himself.

  "Just for a moment." Zhen Qian begged pitifully.

  Ma Chao had no choice but to lift up Mu Qian from the bed. As soon as he lifted her, Mu Qian used all her strength to hug Ma Chao and cried out: "Brother Mengqi, don't leave Qian'er!"

  Ma Chao was completely at a loss, perhaps facing thousands of soldiers and horses, he would still be fearless, but facing the tears of a ten-year-old little girl, he had no way to deal with it. To say that what he feared most were women's tears and tantrums, and although Zhen Ji's mind may have been mature, she was only ten years old this year. A person like Ma Chao who hid a thirty-something soul under the appearance of a twelve-year-old was probably one of a kind in the world, and he really couldn't bear to hurt Zhen Ji.

  At the same time, Ma Chao also asked himself if he really wanted to let Rou Xian marry him. The answer was that for now, it seemed like there were some thoughts about it, but at present, he thought his own career had just started, and where did he have the time and energy to talk about love? But what's in front of him must be solved first, one is not wanting to hurt Rou Xian, two is also having a cooperative relationship with the Rou family, if this matter isn't handled properly, how can he face the Rou father and son.

  After some thought, Ma Chao wiped away Zhen's tears with his hand and said, "Zhen, don't cry. I'll be leaving Xuzhou soon."

  Zhen cried even harder when she heard that. Ma Chao looked at her and said, "But I have a plan for our situation."

  After Ma Chao said this, Mi Zhen cried a little less.

  "Jiang Er, in the next few years I might be very busy, even if I agreed to marry you, I may not have much time to accompany you, so for now I can't promise you anything!"

  Xunyu heard this and cried even more sorrowfully, adding a flurry of punches to Ma Chao's chest.

  "However, Zhen'er, I've thought of a plan. Five years from now, I'll come find you. Even if I myself can't make it, I'll send someone to Xuzhou. If at that time you still want to marry me, I will definitely marry you. Ma Mengqi's words are as good as gold, and I never go back on my word!"

  Zhen Er listened to Ma Chao's words, she finally stopped crying. After thinking for a moment, this was indeed a relatively good idea at present. Zhen Er nodded, "Meng Qi Gege, you must remember today's agreement! However, I still have one condition, if you don't agree...

  "Whatever you want to say, just say it. Except for lifelong matters, anything else that I can do, if you tell me, I'll definitely try my best." Ma Chao was afraid she would give herself another knife, which he really couldn't bear.

  In his view, although it seemed like he was letting Mochizuki wait for five years, these five years also gave Mochizuki more opportunities to choose. As for what would happen in the next five years, no one knew. If she met her true love during those five years, then she wouldn't have to wait for him anymore.

  However, Ma Chao did not understand Mu Qian's feelings for him and her persistence in love. It can be said that she would rather die than marry anyone else. If Ma Chao didn't want her, she would have taken her own life long ago. But now that she had Ma Chao's promise, Mu Qian naturally wouldn't seek death again. Although she didn't want to wait for five years, for the sake of being with the one she loved, five years was nothing. To say nothing of five years, even ten or fifteen years would be worth waiting.

  "I hope Brother Mengqi can stay in Xuzhou for a few more days, I...I don't want you to leave!" Zou Jing didn't want Ma Chao to leave Xuzhou so soon, she wanted to be by his side forever.

  Ma Chao thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, I can agree to this." He still had plenty of time on his hands, so spending more time with Mochi wasn't out of the question.

  With Ma Chao's promises, Zhen Er reluctantly lay back on the couch with his support. Originally, she had hoped to hold Ma Chao for a while longer, but unfortunately, her body was too weak and this matter could only be abandoned. After a while, she fell asleep, she was really too tired, although she had been in a coma before, that was not normal rest.

  She had just cried and hugged, and said a few words to Ma Chao, making her extremely tired. Now that she had made a promise, she could finally sleep peacefully. However, Miao Zhen seemed to be afraid that Ma Chao would run away, so her small right hand tightly grasped Ma Chao's right hand. As she fell asleep, her grip only tightened, leaving Ma Chao no choice but to let her hold on, unable to leave. He could only stay by Miao Zhen's side and accompany her.

  He sighed in his heart, the hardest to accept is the kindness of a beauty. The ancients were not deceiving me, being liked by someone can also be an unbearable thing at times. Mei Zhen was perfect in every way, and he wasn't entirely uninterested in her either. It's just that they had only known each other for so short a time, yet she insisted on marrying him no matter what. Logically speaking, this should have been a great fortune, if it were an ordinary person, they would have agreed long ago. But he simply couldn't accept it like this.

  Maybe her soul doesn't belong to this era, maybe she isn't particularly fond of herself yet, or maybe there's another reason. Fortunately, with the promise, she won't go seeking death again. If she really waited for me for five years, I certainly can't disappoint her again. This can't happen again.

  It was unclear how long had passed when Ma Chao was about to fall asleep, and then Zhen Ji woke up.

  She saw Ma Chao at a glance. Mi Zhen smiled to Ma Chao: "Brother Mengqi, you go rest too, I still have Yan'er to take care of."

  Ma Chao was like a great amnesty, thinking in his heart that the little girl had finally woken up. If it wasn't for her holding onto his hand and not letting go, he would have left long ago.

  Meng Zhen glanced at Ma Chao, only then realizing she had been holding his hand all along. Her face turned bright red as she quickly let go of his hand and hid her head under the covers.

  Ma Chao thought it was interesting, but he was really too tired. He just wanted to leave and go back to his own room to rest well. However, before leaving the door, he said to Zou Xian, "When someone hugged me earlier, why didn't I see her blush? Now she's blushing just from holding hands! Haha!" As he spoke, he left with a smile. But Ma Chao seemed to hear Zou Xian say on the couch, "Brother Meng Qi is bullying me!" He suddenly felt that teasing little girl was also a very interesting thing.

  He returned to his own room, Ma Chao fell on the couch and fell asleep. He had a dream that he finally achieved unification after decades of hard work, with many civil and military officials under him, countless talents, and many beauties collected, with children and grandchildren all around.

  He had just done this and woke up, he was still savoring the beautiful dream on the couch, it's really "the day has its thoughts and the night has its dreams", but what about the beauty? It seems that he hadn't thought about it before.

  Perhaps Ma Chao had never thought of this, but his dream betrayed him, beautiful rivers and mountains, this is what he truly thinks in his heart.

  Ma Chao got up, finished washing and dressing, and went to see Marquis Huan.

  "Good nephew, I shouldn't ask too much about young people's affairs, but you also know that this old man only has one daughter, so I couldn't bear to see her get into trouble!"

  Pity the parents of the world, Mou Taigong is naturally the same. However, Ma Chao just discovered a problem, to say that Mou Zhuo looks like a talented person, Mou Zhen is even the first beauty in Xuzhou, and even Mou Fang doesn't look bad, but this Mou Taigong, except for those spirited eyes, his appearance is ordinary, there's nothing outstanding about him. But his three sons and daughters are at least better than this old man in terms of looks, are these three really his biological children?

  But this was just a flash, Ma Chao secretly blamed himself for thinking so, naturally they were all born to him, maybe because the mother of the three siblings looked outstanding, otherwise why would Gaozu only marry one, it should be the case, he also thought his analysis made sense.

  When Ma Chao heard this, he didn't prepare to conceal anything and told Taigong everything about his conversation with Zhen. Taigong sighed, "Alas, when a girl grows up, she doesn't listen to her father. Since Zhen has agreed, I as her father have nothing more to say. I only hope that if there really is such a day, you will treat Zhen well!" Ma Chao repeatedly promised to take good care of Zhen after hearing Taigong's almost pleading tone.

  "Now that the old man has spoken, I can rest assured! My virtuous nephew, don't be deceived, in recent years my body has been gradually deteriorating, and I may not have many years left to live. As for family matters, I am at ease leaving them to Zhu'er, but as for Fang'er, let him go his own way - always dancing with knives and swords, who knows what kind of accomplishments he will achieve? The old man won't be able to see it anyway. But the only one that makes me uneasy is Jing'er!" As he spoke, Old Man Miao's eyes became slightly red.

  "Zhen'er was born only a few years, their mother passed away, at that time Zhu'er was eight years old, Fang'er was six years old, and Zhen'er was only three years old, almost didn't understand what was going on, often asking where her mother went, I could only say, Zhen'er's mother went to a very far place, Zhen'er listen, later will see."

  Later, when Zhen'er found out the truth, she blamed me for deceiving her as a father. However, she said that more than blaming me, she was grateful to this deceitful father of hers who gave her a dream, a dream where she could see her mother. Because she lost her mother at a young age, Zhen'er has always been very mature and independent, but the more I think about it, the more I feel guilty towards her!

  Ma Chao also felt a little moved after listening, after all, he had grown up under the careful care of his parents since childhood, and naturally could not understand the pain of having no mother.

  But he remembered there was still one thing he hadn't done, "I don't know what illness Uncle is suffering from?"

  Zhang Taigong came back to his senses from his memories, and when Ma Chao asked him this question, he told Ma Chao about the condition of his body in detail. After listening, Ma Chao understood that Zhang Taigong's illness was a cardiovascular disease in his previous life, which is a deadly disease, regardless of ancient or modern times.

  Fortunately, among the medical books left by Nan Hua, there were a few prescriptions that just happened to be suitable for the symptoms. If not, Ma Chao would really have no good solution. Cardiovascular diseases had been a problem even in his previous life, let alone in ancient times. He gave two prescriptions to Zou Tai, to be honest, he didn't know how effective they were, but he knew they wouldn't do any harm anyway.

  Taigong Wang held the prescription and said to Ma Chao, "I didn't expect my nephew to be knowledgeable in medicine too!" He really didn't know that Ma Chao had this skill, but thinking of Ma Chao's martial arts skills, he also thought of the Zhanlu sword. The more things Ma Chao knew, the more it proved that his vision was accurate.

  "This is just a little bit of knowledge." Ma Chao's medical skills can only be said to be superficial.

  "Xian nephew, no need to be modest!" Zou Taigong thought Ma Chao was being modest, but he didn't know that Ma Chao really didn't understand much. However, he did trust Ma Chao and handed the prescription over to a servant to prepare the medicine according to the recipe, decoct it, and take it at night.

  Ma Chao's prescriptions were for morning and evening use. Seeing that the old man trusted him so much, he felt that giving the old man a prescription was right. A gentleman would die for someone who knows him, and naturally, he also hoped that others would trust him.

  "Uncle, I'll take my leave now."

  "Good nephew, go ahead, you promised Zhen'er that she would stay here for a few more days, and we will have plenty of opportunities in the future."

  "No! Young nephew retreats!" After finishing speaking, Ma Chao turned around and left.

  More than four months passed and under the warm hospitality of Lady Mi and her father, Ma Chao stayed at the Mi household for more than four months.

  Ma Chao came to see Tao Qian and bid him farewell, "I have come this time to inform my uncle that I will be leaving Xuzhou tomorrow." He explained his intentions to Tao Qian.

  Old Master Taigong had expected this, "Since my good nephew wants to leave, I won't persuade him to stay. I only hope that before he leaves, he can properly bid farewell to our family's Jing'er."

  "That's natural." Even if Ma Chao didn't say it, he still had to bid farewell to Miao Zhen. In these four months of frequent contact with Miao Zhen, he really developed feelings for this little girl, which was a good start.

  "So many thanks, young master!" Mrs. Tao hastily expressed her gratitude.

  "Uncle, why be so polite? It's I who should thank you!" Ma Chao said with a bow to Marquis Mi Zhen. Whether it was business cooperation or the past few months of living in the Mi estate, he had much to thank the old man for.

  "Uncle, nephew is taking his leave!"

  "Go, young master."

  Ma Chao went out of the house to find Zhen Er, generally speaking, a woman's boudoir is not a place where men should enter unnecessarily. But in these few months, he didn't know how familiar he had become with Zhen Er's boudoir, and he never had that kind of consciousness.

  Yuan'er saw that it was Ma Chao who had arrived, and naturally did not dare to block him. The young lady had already given orders that when Ma Chao came, no one was allowed to stop him. After leading Ma Chao into the house, Yuan'er told Zhen that the young master had arrived and then withdrew.

  "Mengqi brother, are you leaving?" Zhen'er was indeed clever, she had guessed Ma Chao's intention.

  Ma Chao nodded, "There are still many things for me to do, I have no choice but to leave!"

  "Mengqi brother, I don't want you to leave!" As she spoke, Zou Xiang cried again.

  "Don't cry, you won't look pretty if you cry. I'll miss Zhen'er too, but if fate permits it, we'll meet again!" Ma Chao comforted.

  Ma Chao heard his words and indeed stopped crying. She suddenly hugged Ma Chao tightly, thinking to herself that since they would be parting ways anyway, who knows when they would meet again.

  It turned out that he was wrong this time, and Zhen not only hugged him but also kissed his face after hugging him, then quickly got under the quilt on the bed. The speed was incredible, it happened in the blink of an eye.

  Ma Chao then touched his left cheek, which had been slapped, and reluctantly retreated. At the door, he heard Mi Zhen shouting at him, this time with a genuine tone, "Brother Meng Qi, if you forget your promise, you will never see me again in this life!"