Hearing his son’s cry, the reprimand on the tip of Li Ji’s tongue died, immediately replaced by urgent questioning.
"Who did you say you were looking for?"
Li Xun was so anxious that tears streamed down his face. His words were a jumbled mess, and his small body shivered uncontrollably from the cold.
"I want to find Mother! Mother left! Mother, don’t go! WAAAH!"
Li Ji noticed his son’s small, pale face, and his senses finally started to return.
He set the boy on the ground, took off his gray-white crane robe, and wrapped Li Xun completely within it.
Li Ji bent down, stared into his son’s eyes, and asked, word by word.
"Did you just see your mother?"
Li Xun nodded vigorously, tears rolling down his cheeks.
He pointed to the nearby lake, wanting to say something, but he was so frozen that his teeth chattered uncontrollably. Even his tongue felt stiff, and his words were muffled and unclear.
No one else could understand what he was saying.
Only Li Ji understood what Li Xun meant, thanks to his Mind Reading Technique—
’Mother is in the lake! Mother just saved me, but she sank so fast! WAAAH! Mother, don’t abandon Gou Dan! Gou Dan will be good!’
Li Ji pushed his son toward Chen Wangbei.
"Take him to the Imperial Hospital."
Then, Li Ji quickly shed his outer coat and, with a SPLASH, leaped into the icy lake.
This act drew gasps of alarm from everyone present.
It was the middle of winter!
Snow was still falling, and a thin layer of ice coated the lake’s surface.
Jumping in at a time like this was no different from suicide!
Chen Wangbei was also worried for Prince Zhao’s safety, but he had to carry out the prince’s command.
He could only suppress his worry, scoop up the young prince, and hurry toward the Imperial Hospital.
Li Xun struggled with all his might, wailing loudly.
"I’m not going! I want to find Mother! Mother, WAAAH!"
However, his meager strength was not enough to budge Chen Wangbei.
Chen Wangbei carried him further and further away.
Soon, he could no longer see the lake.
The lake water was bone-chilling. Even though Li Ji’s body was far stronger than an ordinary person’s from years of martial arts practice, his lips still turned pale from the cold.
He dove underwater, his eyes wide as he searched relentlessly, desperate to find the person he had longed for day and night.
Yet, as far as he could see, there wasn’t a single soul in the water.
With the oxygen in his lungs dwindling, Li Ji was forced to surface.
On the shore, his trusted aides were frantically shouting for Prince Zhao to come back.
Li Ji paid their shouts no heed.
He took a deep breath and plunged back into the water.
’Manman had promised him she would come back.’
’He had waited for her for more than three years.’
’For him, those thousand-plus days and nights were like a dying man clinging to his last sliver of hope.’
’But that hope never came.’
’He couldn’t hold on much longer.’
Li Ji surfaced again, gasping for air, the rims of his eyes alarmingly red.
’Manman.’
’Since you’re back, why won’t you come see me?’
He plunged back into the water, swimming toward the deeper parts.
’Manman.’
’Come out, please!’
Li Ji searched with all his might, wishing he could tear through the mud at the bottom of the lake.
But he still could not find the woman who had captured his entire heart.
Left with no other choice, the trusted aides jumped into the lake after him to help Prince Zhao search.
They searched for half a day, until dusk fell, but still found nothing.
Forget a living person, there wasn’t so much as a shadow at the bottom of the lake.
Yet Li Ji still refused to give up.
Finally, his trusted aides couldn’t watch any longer. They scrambled to grab Prince Zhao and forcibly dragged him ashore.
Li Ji tried to jump back into the lake, but his trusted aides held him fast, refusing to let him do anything so reckless again.
Princess Ningyang rushed over when she heard the news.
Seeing the scene, she raised her hand and slapped Li Ji hard across the face, her voice filled with anguish as she scolded him.
"Princess Consort Zhao is dead! Get a hold of yourself! Stop this nonsense!"
...
As expected, Li Xun fell ill.
When Princess Consort Zhen heard of the matter, she braved the heavy snow and rushed to the Imperial Hospital.
All the imperial physicians were terrified.
’They secretly wondered, could Princess Consort Zhen be planning to take this opportunity to harm the Heir of Prince Zhao?’
’Prince Zhao’s power currently overshadowed the entire court. Even though the Emperor had named the Seventh Prince as the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince was still young and completely unable to contend with Prince Zhao. All court affairs, large and small, were decided by Prince Zhao.’
’As the Crown Prince’s birth mother, Princess Consort Zhen must have long considered Prince Zhao a thorn in her side.’
’Now that the Heir of Prince Zhao was ill and Prince Zhao was not by his side, it was the perfect opportunity to strike.’
’If something were to happen to the Heir of Prince Zhao, Prince Zhao would undoubtedly be dealt a heavy blow.’
Hua Qingqing paid no mind to the imperial physicians’ thoughts and went straight to Li Xun’s room.
Li Xun alternated between chills and fever. His mind was muddled, but his mouth was still crying out nonstop.
"Mother, don’t go... Mother, don’t leave me..."
Hua Qingqing took Li Xun’s small hand and soothed him gently.
"Xun’er, don’t be afraid. Your aunt is here. I’ll stay with you."
However, it was as if Li Xun couldn’t hear her; he just kept calling for his mother.
It broke Hua Qingqing’s heart to see him like this.
She instructed the imperial physicians to do everything in their power to treat the young prince, and at the same time, her dissatisfaction with Prince Zhao grew.
’Look how sick the child is! And Prince Zhao hasn’t even come to see him.’
’What a derelict father he is!’
...
Hua Manman opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a white lightbulb.
Its white light brightly illuminated the entire bathroom. The showerhead had been turned off, but because it was so old, a drop or two of water still occasionally dripped down.
One of the drops landed right on Hua Manman’s face, gradually pulling her out of the dream.
Bracing her hands on the tiled floor, she slowly sat up.
A throbbing pain emanated from the back of her head.
Hua Manman reached up and touched the back of her head, feeling a small, swollen lump.
She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious; the steam in the bathroom had already dissipated.
She felt cold. Leaning against the wall, she slowly walked out of the bathroom.
After getting dressed, Hua Manman found some safflower liniment and rubbed it on the back of her head.
When her fingers touched the bump, she sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
’That hurts!’
Hua Manman gritted her teeth against the pain while applying the medicine, her mind involuntarily replaying the events of her dream.
The dream had been too realistic, as if it had really happened.
She began to suspect it wasn’t just a dream.
She wanted to ask the system what was happening.
Unfortunately, the system was still dormant and gave no response.
After applying the liniment, Hua Manman went into the bathroom to wash her hands.
Looking up at her reflection in the mirror, she couldn’t help but recall the scenes from her dream.
"Li Xun..."
A powerful pang of sorrow welled up in her heart, completely chasing away any desire to sleep.
She took out her digital drawing tablet and, recalling Li Xun’s face, began to sketch him meticulously on the blank canvas.
’I wonder what happened to Li Xun later. Did he get back safely?’
’He’s so young. After being in that water for so long, he’s bound to get sick.’
’I hope Li Ji takes good care of him and doesn’t let him face that kind of danger again.’
Under Hua Manman’s hand, Li Xun’s image gradually came to life on the screen.
Hua Manman set the portrait as her phone’s new wallpaper.
The moment she finished setting the wallpaper, her phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from the hospital.
"Excuse me, are you a relative of the patient Hua Yusen? Mr. Hua just attempted suicide at the hospital. Could you please come as soon as possible?"