The God of War Who Protects the Nation: Starting with Saving a Mother and Daughter in Distress

It turns out that Yang Yuyan's husband's family was involved in a major treason case.

With a single imperial edict, the entire Cai family's property was confiscated.

Because of her family background, Yang Yuyan received some preferential treatment, but she was still sentenced to exile.

When the news reached the palace, Xiao Mei secretly asked someone to inquire about Yang Yuyan's whereabouts, but only received the reply, "Nowhere to be found."

Of course, if Xiao Mei were willing to search with all her might, she would definitely be able to find Yang Yuyan.

However, after Yang Yuyan got married, she took the initiative to distance herself from her husband's family, and their friendship eventually faded.

Empress Xiao Mei, being of high status, naturally wouldn't take the initiative to fawn over someone who wouldn't listen, and in the end, the matter was left unresolved.

"I thought she had already met with misfortune," Xiao Mei said softly. "I never expected that she would still be alive and even marry you. It really is a twist of fate."

As she said this, she was filled with endless emotions.

Unexpectedly, the person she thought was long dead reappeared, which was a pleasant surprise for her.

Qin An listened quietly and remained silent for a moment.

He knew that Yang Yuyan was a woman from an official family who had suffered misfortune, and he also knew that she came from a noble family.

But Yang Yuyan was unwilling to say more about the specifics, so he didn't ask any further questions.

Little did people know that she had such a relationship with the current empress when she was young.

Fate is truly a mysterious thing.

"Thank you for informing me, Your Highness," Qin An said frankly. "Hearing Your Highness speak of these things today has given me a better understanding of my wife."

Xiao Mei turned her head to look at him, looking at his young face, and then thought that Yang Yuyan was not much younger than herself.

To be honest, I'm not as good at taking care of myself as I am now.

The thought of her being with this young man always made her feel a little strange.

With this in mind, Xiao Mei suddenly asked, "What were the circumstances when she was forced into marriage with you? Did she... consent?"

After thinking for a moment, Qin An decided to tell the truth. He briefly recounted how the border regions had forcibly assigned spouses to immigrants.

When talking about their first time together, Qin An couldn't help but smile.

"She was from a respectable family, while I was just a poor immigrant from a humble background. I was much younger than her and starving. I suppose she would have looked down on me."

"But at that time, she and her daughters were all alone and helpless. She must have made a great decision to crawl into my bed in order to support her two daughters."

He said this frankly, without any attempt to conceal anything.

"But as time went by, we got used to each other. I treated her well, and she treated me well in return. Now we are a loving couple, like a pair of phoenixes singing in harmony."

Xiao Mei's expression turned somewhat strange after hearing this.

It seems that some images are already forming in my mind.

She stared at Qin An for a long while before slowly speaking in an ambiguous tone.

"You were just a young boy back then, weren't you? She was eight years older than you, and you still agreed to be with her?"

Qin An rarely showed a hint of embarrassment. He raised his hand to touch the back of his head, his ears turning slightly red, but he still chose to tell the truth frankly.

"Actually, I am a rough man and I prefer older, more mature women, like Yu Yan, who is gentle, considerate, and knows how to care for others, which perfectly meets my needs in all aspects."

Xiao Mei opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just shook her head gently and looked away.

Qin An spoke these words with an open and honest expression, not feeling that there was anything wrong with liking a woman who was eight years older than him.

This candor made her somewhat uncomfortable. She suddenly realized that she was also the kind of "mature" woman he had described.

Moreover, the two had unintentionally had some intimate contact before, and now they are alone together again.

All these factors combined led her to have some romantic thoughts.

"In some ways, Yang Yuyan is actually happier than me!" Xiao Mei muttered resentfully to herself.

However, as soon as the thought popped into her head, she ruthlessly suppressed it, but her heart involuntarily skipped two beats.

She subconsciously withdrew her hand from Qin An's arm, adjusted her outer robe, and her voice regained the composure of an empress.

"I am a little tired. General Qin, please help me back."

Qin An responded with a "yes," extended his arm for her to support, and silently escorted her back to the meditation room.

Upon reaching the door, Xiao Mei stopped, turned to look at him, and repeated her instructions: "When Yu Yan arrives in the capital, be sure to inform me that after so many years, I must see her no matter what."

It was also learned from previous exchanges that Qin An had already sent people to bring Yang Yuyan and her daughter to the capital.

This actually made her feel a little bit of anticipation.

Qin An clasped his hands in agreement, watched her enter the meditation room, and then turned back to his own room.

……

After the seven-day fasting period ended, Xiao Mei, as the Empress, naturally could not stay here any longer.

The imperial carriage set off to return to the palace.

Fortunately, Xiao Mei didn't cause any more trouble on the way back, and the journey was smooth.

When Qin An successfully escorted Xiao Mei back to the palace, Yang Ming was already waiting in the hall.

"Did the Empress's trip go smoothly?"

Although he still thought that Xiao Mei's actions were completely unnecessary, Yang Ming felt a little sorry for her when he saw her looking a bit haggard from the seven-day blessing ceremony.

Xiao Mei also reported the details of her trip immediately.

However, she was also careful not to mention anything that Yang Ming would not like to hear. She only said that she was praying for Daxing and for the country to be prosperous and peaceful.

This made Qin An, who had been playing the role of a nobody in the background, secretly nod in approval.

Judging from Xiao Mei's performance, she is not truly naive and innocent, which proves that she was able to secure her position as Empress.

Yang Ming listened and nodded repeatedly, but suddenly asked, "I heard that there seemed to have been some trouble on the way there?"

Qin An's heart tightened instantly.

He hadn't forgotten that he had unintentionally taken advantage of the Empress there.

If the emperor found out, one can imagine what would happen to him.

Xiao Mei, on the other hand, remained much calmer. She simply sighed softly, "Alas, I regret not heeding Your Majesty's words. I was too naive and thought too highly of the refugees, which almost caused a riot."

"Fortunately, thanks to Your Majesty's great fortune, Your Majesty truly has keen insight and knows how to appoint people well. He appointed General Qin as my bodyguard. It is thanks to his timely intervention that a disaster was averted."

Qin An was quite surprised by Xiao Mei's words.

He could tell that the other person was trying to take credit for him.

Moreover, the method was quite clever; instead of praising himself directly, he flattered the emperor.

As expected, Xiao Mei's words pleased Yang Ming greatly.

His gaze finally fell on Qin An: "Qin An, you did a great job. I will reward you handsomely."

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!" Qin An quickly expressed his gratitude.

"In addition, you have worked hard during this period. I grant you a seven-day leave to rest and recuperate."

……

After leaving the palace, Qin An rode at full speed back to the Qin residence.

The moment he stepped through the gate, he approached Li Qingwan and the others.

Li Qingwan, who took a long time to recover, clearly sensed that something was wrong. She looked at Qin An with a puzzled expression: "Husband, you seem a bit unusual today. Has something happened?"

Dan Bing also quipped, "Could it be that she suffered some kind of shock outside?"

In response, Qin An simply replied in a low voice, "It's nothing, I just missed you all."

He would naturally not admit that he was attracted and stimulated by Xiao Mei's mature charm and body.

But in front of Xiao Mei, he dared not be presumptuous, nor did he dare let others know his thoughts; he could only bury them all in his heart.

I was afraid that if I continued like this, something terrible would happen.

Seeing that Qin An clearly didn't want to say more, they wisely stopped asking.

The next morning, Qin An had just finished practicing his halberd technique in the backyard.

The gatekeeper then came to announce that Miss Li had arrived.

When Li Zhaoning led Li Xuanfu through the courtyard gate, she noticed that Qin An had an extra boy.

The boy was dressed in a clean, coarse cloth short coat, his hair was shaved short, and his face still showed signs of thinness after recovering from a serious illness.

But his eyes were dark and bright, revealing a stubbornness that refused to admit defeat.

"This is..." Li Zhaoning couldn't help but be curious when she saw that Qin An had such a child by his side.

"This is my adopted son, Qin Yong!" Qin An simply stroked Qin Yong's head and introduced him without saying anything else.

"Adopted son?"

Li Zhaoning's expression instantly became a little strange.

Qin An himself is not even that old, and he doesn't even have any biological children.

How could they have taken in such a grown-up adopted son?

Although some people in this world have children early, Qin An, at his age, does indeed not have any children who are eight or nine years old.

But Li Zhaoning always felt something was off about this happening to Qin An.

She witnessed it with her own eyes. Qin An wasn't infertile, and he didn't lack women, so why was he in such a hurry to adopt a son?

But this was Qin An's private matter, so she didn't pry.

"Master, what are we practicing today?" Li Xuanfu didn't have that much on his mind; he just wanted to learn something new from Qin An.

"Go warm up and stretch your body first."

Li Xuanfu nodded obediently and immediately assumed a horse stance to practice his boxing.

The moment he moved, Qin Yong's gaze was fixed on him.

Although Li Xuanfu was young, his punches were powerful and fierce. Each punch brought a whooshing sound and sent wood chips flying when it hit the wooden stake.

Qin Yong stared wide-eyed.

He was confident in his innate superhuman strength and had never encountered a match in the refugee camp.

But the boy in front of him, who looked about the same size as him, was much more powerful in his punches and kicks.

What kind of monster is this?

Qin Yong, who had been feeling a little smug about his extraordinary talent, was instantly devastated.

Now I truly understand what it means to be outmatched and have a world beyond our understanding!