Pregnant After Healing the Alpha

Chapter 170: Chapter 163: Can You Help Me Scrub My Back?

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It’s over, it’s all over…

Zhan Nanqing kept telling herself it was over, she now had no face to see Qiao Jing.

She had been anxious all afternoon, wondering what Qiao Jing would think after learning about this.

After giving Zhan Nanqing a proud glance, Su Manhan turned to Qiao Jing, “Don’t say I’m playing favorites, you’re now nominally one of the Zhan Family, and even though you’re just watering plants and gardening at Professor Qiao’s Research Institute, I’m still willing to let you join this banquet. I’ll say you and Nanqing are both from the Research Institute and celebrate for you both at the same time.”

“That won’t be necessary, I don’t like to draw attention to myself,” Qiao Jing declined.

Su Manhan’s breath hitched in her throat, “You, what do you mean by that? Are you implying that I’m too ostentatious?”

Qiao Jing looked up, calm and composed, “If you insist on taking someone’s casually spoken words personally, I can’t do anything about it.”

“You, you, you—do you mean to say that I’m judging your noble intentions with my petty mind?!” Su Manhan stammered, flustered.

Qiao Jing frowned slightly, clearly becoming impatient, “Are you suffering from a persecution complex? Do you think everyone in the world wants to be your enemy? Whatever I say, you think I’m opposing you?”

At this point, Qiao Jing stood up and scanned the room.

“It seems I’m not very welcome here. Your family should enjoy your gathering, I won’t disturb you further.”

With that, Qiao Jing turned to leave.

But after just one step, her wrist was caught by Zhan Qipei.

Qiao Jing was lethargic, “You—”

“I’ll leave with you,” Zhan Qipei’s voice overpowered Qiao Jing’s words.

Qiao Jing looked slightly bewildered. Was he ready to upset his mother for her sake?

“Qipei! Let her go, you stay,” Su Manhan commanded, looking at Zhan Qipei.

Zhan Qipei stood up, his grip on Qiao Jing’s hand never loosening.

“I’m not hungry, you all go ahead and eat.”

After saying this, Zhan Qipei led Qiao Jing by the hand and left the private room.

“This is infuriating—huff, huff—I’m so angry—” Su Manhan kept patting her chest, “Once a son grows up, he’s really no longer under your control, running after a woman all day long.”

Zhan Nanqing chimed in, “Isn’t that what my dad does too, always hovering around you every day?”

Su Manhan “…”

“When adults are talking, children should keep out!” Su Manhan said irritably, glancing at Zhan Nanqing.

Zhan Nanqing shrugged her shoulders and picked up her chopsticks to eat her vegetables.

As for the conflict between Qiao Jing and Su Manhan, it wasn’t really her place to comment. Throughout history, how many mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships were good?

And Qiao Jing’s identity was another matter. If Qiao Jing didn’t mention it, she had no right to bring it up.

Just let it be.

After leaving the hotel, Qiao Jing couldn’t help but say:

“Actually, you didn’t have to do that. She’s your mom. No matter how harsh her words to me or how little she likes me, it’s all because of you. She’s looking out for you, from your perspective. If she had no blood relation to you, she wouldn’t care less about whom you married.”

Hearing this from Qiao Jing, Zhan Qipei’s gaze softened when he looked at her.

“She treated you that way just now, and yet you still speak for her. How lucky am I to have married such a kind-hearted wife.”

Qiao Jing was taken aback, were his sentiments not a bit too stretched for a simple conversation?

“`

“I’m not speaking for her, I’m just stating the facts. My mom died early, and I never felt a mother’s love from childhood to adulthood. It wasn’t until I saw that video, during my illness, she took care of me all the time, talking to me with tender eyes and a gentle voice. In the end, she left this world for my sake, so in my view, every mother is selfless. No matter what happens, they would always be by their children’s side.”

Qiao Jing looked up at the countless stars in the sky and spoke with a deep sense of feeling.

Standing to the side, Zhan Qipei kept his gaze fixed on Qiao Jing, watching her slender figure which, under the night’s embrace, seemed even more delicate, invoking a sense of heartache in the onlooker.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Finally, Zhan Qipei opened his arms and pulled Qiao Jing into his embrace, wrapping her frail body with his broad shoulders.

He whispered into her ear with a low, husky voice.

“I will protect you for a lifetime and won’t let anyone bully you.”

Qiao Jing, who had initially been ready to push the man away on instinct, suddenly heard his sincere words and couldn’t help but feel a softness in her heart, touched by the sentiment.

Just as Qiao Jing was beginning to bask in the man’s good intentions and warmth, he whispered again near her ear, “Although I can’t let you find your mother again, I can let you become a mother.”

Qiao Jing “…”

Qiao Jing was speechless, twitching the corners of her mouth before pushing the man away and giving him a meaningful look.

The force of Qiao Jing’s push wasn’t strong, mainly because she was considering the man’s current leg condition.

Zhan Qipei looked down at where he’d been pushed to, a numbing sensation spreading between his shoulder blades, his eyes instantly filling with a sense of pleasure.

Usually, Qiao Jing’s pushes were forceful, but this time they were so gentle. As light as a feather brushing past, it seemed she had learned to be tender towards him.

“Are you feeling better?” Zhan Qipei had said those words on purpose, just to lighten the mood as the girl missed her mother excessively.

Qiao Jing raised her eyebrows slightly. As clever as she was, she caught the man’s intention and felt warmth in her heart once again.

“Actually, there’s no need to; I’m not that fragile.”

“No, you are fragile, and you do need my protection,” Zhan Qipei continued Qiao Jing’s words.

Alright, this conversation couldn’t go on any further.

As Qiao Jing prepared to leave, the man’s voice suddenly rose again.

“I’m curious, you’re clearly a brilliant doctor, unrivaled in your skills, so why would you go to Professor Qiao’s Research Institute to work as a researcher?”

Qiao Jing turned back to look at Zhan Qipei and answered honestly, “Because my interest in medicine is just a hobby, agronomy is my lifelong pursuit.”

Her words struck Zhan Qipei with an unprecedented shock. Just a hobby, and you became the nation’s most famous Divine Doctor Jing?!

If Zhan Qipei didn’t know Qiao Jing as a genuinely low-profile person, he would have thought she was boasting to him.

This only piqued his curiosity further.

“Just a hobby and you’ve reached such heights — so what are your achievements in agronomy?” Zhan Qipei asked, deeply looking at Qiao Jing.

With delicately arching brows as if painted, Qiao Jing replied, “Academic research is an endless path. I don’t talk about achievements, and I don’t care about these superficial honors. I just like to tinker with these crops, cultivate vegetables, which makes me feel like returning to the countryside and ignoring the world’s noise. People can play tricks and plot against you, but crops won’t.

Growing melons yields melons, and planting beans yields beans. The more you work, the more you get in return, so that’s why I focus on researching crops.”

“I understand now, and I won’t ask anymore.”

Zhan Qipei realized what Qiao Jing meant. She enjoyed that kind of life close to the fields, a life not concerned with achievements, just immersed in its essence.

As for what Qiao Jing’s actual achievements in agronomy were, it no longer mattered.

Such a low-profile nature was indeed very similar to the legendary Professor Qiao.

Truth be told, if Qiao Jing weren’t just 23, he would have doubted if she were Professor Qiao herself.

After returning to the apartment, Zhan Qipei once again grabbed Qiao Jing’s hand, “Could you help me rub my back?”