Chapter 41
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Ling Rui hadn’t smelled the danger of the Empress, and Ling Yi hadn’t expected the Empress to return.
For a moment, the three people inside and outside the door stood still as if petrified.
Ling Rui was the first to react. He covered his eyes with his small hands and trembled, “You, you can’t see me.”
Ling Yi: “…”
Ling Yi glanced at the little child covering his eyes and then at the Empress, whose complexion had turned unpleasant. His throat moved, and right in front of the Empress, he quickly picked up the little child and put him outside the window.
A few seconds later, the little child leaned against the wall and ran away in a hurry.
The Empress entered the room and closed the door behind her.
The mother and son looked at each other, and finally, Ling Yi spoke first, “Royal Mother, Little Seven just happened to stroll here to visit.”
“Has he visited a few times before?”
“This is the first time.”
Ling Yi lowered his head and blurted out, not caring whether the Empress believed him or not.
Of course, the Empress didn’t believe him.
She looked coldly at her younger son and said with a calm but intense tone, “Yi Er, since when did you start deceiving your royal mother like this? I’ve reminded you so many times that you mustn’t let the children of Noble Consort Yi get close to you.”
“He is ominous. His proximity will worsen your health.”
Upon hearing this, Ling Yi’s heart sank.
He didn’t believe the little child was ominous, but now he thought of his own episode of coughing up blood today. If the Empress found out, she might blame it on the little child…
“Royal Mother, I’ve only met Little Seven this once. If I see him again, I’ll avoid him,” Ling Yi replied politely, aligning his words with what the Empress wanted to hear.
After a short while, the Empress helped him up from the ground, let him drink the freshly delivered goat’s milk, and then went to bed.
Ling Yi closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the Empress’s footsteps leaving, and slowly opened his eyes again.
He stared straight at the ceiling for a moment, sighed, and thought to himself, if only Big Brother were here.
After not seeing Big Brother for so many days, he really missed him.
Just as Ling Yi was thinking about the little child and then about Big Brother, the little child who had run away against the wall bumped into Emperor Ling.
Emperor Ling appeared from somewhere, with a smile on his handsome face, seeming to be in a good mood.
“Little Seven.”
Seeing the little one running over, Emperor Ling instinctively crouched down. Sure enough, the next moment, like a little calf, the little one charged towards him.
He lifted the little calf up and asked, “Why are you alone? Aren’t you playing with Little Six?”
“Sixth Brother is having his second meal. I’m not hungry.”
Although the journey was sometimes tough, Ling Fu genuinely felt happy. Along the way, he ate various local snacks, and his belly was getting fuller.
Emperor Ling was used to holding the little one. Whenever he saw him, he reflexively lifted him up.
Carrying the little one while walking, he continued to ask, “So where did you go alone? Noble Consort said you’ve been running around outside these few days.”
“I went to play with Third Brother.”
Ling Rui hugged Emperor Ling’s neck, honestly explaining, “The Empress saw me, so I ran out.”
With this explanation, Emperor Ling understood.
Smiling, he reminded him, “Your Third Brother isn’t well. Noble Consort Yi is worried that you kids might play too rough with him, so she doesn’t like you playing with Third Brother. She told me about this.”
Although Emperor Ling felt the Empress was overly protective of Ling Yi, he didn’t contradict her on such a trivial matter.
Realizing it was already late, Emperor Ling looked at the little one in his arms and decided not to send him to the Noble Consort tonight. “You’ll sleep with me tonight.”
Ling Rui nodded.
After walking a while, Emperor Ling brought the little one into his room, which was much better than the consorts’ and princes’ accommodations.
Ling Rui laid on his shoulder, feeling a bit sleepy.
“Daddy, I want goat’s milk with honey.”
“Alright.”
Emperor Ling had someone bring goat’s milk, a large cup sweetened with honey. Ling Rui drank half and his belly swelled up.
Rubbing his bloated belly, Ling Rui handed Emperor Ling the unfinished milk. “It’s delicious. Daddy, you drink.”
Emperor Ling: …
Emperor Ling had never eaten or drunk leftovers from others before.
He looked at the milk, then at the little one holding it. After a while, he took the milk and drank it in one gulp.
Ling Rui didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he had just done.
After rinsing his mouth, he kicked his chubby legs against Emperor Ling’s body intermittently.
Emperor Ling handed the quilt to the palace attendant and cleaned his mouth. Then he turned around and, without warning, grabbed a chubby little foot that was kicking energetically.
Ling Rui: “!”
Ling Rui tried hard to pull his chubby foot back, but he couldn’t.
“Daddy, Little Seven is sorry.”
The mischievous little one could bend and admit fault when necessary, so he apologized immediately.
The father and son played around on the bed for a while until Ling Rui started to feel sleepy. He turned over and laid on Emperor Ling’s chest. Rubbing his eyes, he asked his father about his third brother.
“Is Third Brother sick and still going out?”
“I heard there’s a miracle doctor in Luocheng. This doctor’s whereabouts are hard to track down, but he’s in Luocheng. The Empress is taking your third brother there to find this doctor to treat him.”
Ling Rui nodded in response.
As he nodded, his chin bobbed up and down on Emperor Ling’s chest. “Daddy, I want to help find the miracle doctor for Third Brother too.”
“Alright.”
As they talked, Ling Rui soon buried his little head in Emperor Ling’s neck and fell asleep.
The next day, they continued their journey.
However, when Ling Rui went to find his third brother again, his third brother wouldn’t play with him.
After a few rejections, Ling Rui sat on Noble Consort Yi’s lap, disheartened, and told her the news.
Noble Consort Yi touched his face and comforted him, “Our Little Seven is so good. If he doesn’t play with you, there are plenty of others who will.”
Ling Rui hung his head, still wanting to play with Third Brother.
“Don’t you want to learn painting? Let your Second Sister teach you.”
Noble Consort Yi arranged his schedule, “Go to your Second Sister in the morning to learn painting, and in the afternoon, follow Jiang Yan to practice martial arts. Jiang Yan’s martial arts were also learned from your Little Uncle for a while.”
The Duke’s residence and the General’s residence had a good relationship, and Noble Consort Yi and the Duchess were close friends.
The Duke’s young master also liked to visit the General’s residence.
Hearing that Little Uncle had taught Jiang Yan martial arts, Ling Rui suddenly became interested. That day, he dragged Ling Fu and eagerly began practicing horse stance with Jiang Yan.
Knowing that Ling Rui was practicing horse stance, Emperor Ling came to watch.
Under the big tree, the chubby one squatted down, but ended up sitting on the ground with a thud. Beside him, the little one wasn’t faring any better.
The little one strained his face, obviously trying hard.
But his short legs trembled and, after a few seconds, he couldn’t hold himself up and plopped down on the ground.
After several attempts, Ling Fu decided to give up first.
“Little Seven, you practice. I’ll cheer you on from the side!”
Ling Fu initially intended to set an example for his younger brother, but faced with harsh reality, he decided to step back a bit.
Teaching the two of them was exhausting for Jiang Yan.
Especially the Little Prince; just watching him, Jiang Yan was sure his bottom must be hurting.
“Little Prince, let’s wait until you’re a bit older to learn.”
Jiang Yan comforted the Little Prince, “I didn’t start learning until I was three.”
Rubbing his little bottom, Ling Rui agreed to wait until he was a little older before resuming horse stance practice.
Days passed by like this.
Although Emperor Ling’s itinerary was low-key, it inevitably encountered several assassination attempts.
Ling Rui was unaware of these attempts.
He was still young, and the adults naturally wouldn’t tell him about such things.
After several assassination attempts, Emperor Ling had two bouts of severe headaches, possibly triggered by stress.
When his headaches struck, Noble Consort Yi rushed to his side, personally massaging his temples.
Ling Rui watched from the side, learning.
As he learned, he stretched out his little hand, gesturing. When he saw Ah Wu in the future, he would also rub Ah Wu’s head.
After about ten more days, they needed to travel a section by water.
Ling Rui looked at the large boat on the water and remembered his father’s premonition.
Although the boat in his father’s vision was not this one and the timing was different, Ling Rui still felt a bit of psychological shadow.
“Mother, can we not take the boat?”
The little one, who had a shadow over large boats, sat in Noble Consort Yi’s arms, feeling a bit uneasy.
Noble Consort Yi comforted him, “Don’t be afraid, the big boat we’re on is very stable and won’t capsize.”
“Look, these pills, if you carry them with you, you can smell them if you feel seasick, and you’ll feel much better.”
Noble Consort Yi wasn’t sure if the little one would get seasick, but she was fully prepared.
Taking the boat was a must, as was the water route. The wishes of one little one couldn’t change the entire journey.
On the day they boarded the boat, Ling Rui clenched the seasickness pills tightly, nervously stepping onto the boat.
After boarding, he met Ling Yi.
Ling Yi’s complexion seemed even worse. Ling Rui watched him for a few seconds, then ran over and handed him the pills he was holding.
“Third Brother, take these, you won’t get seasick.”
Ling Rui shoved the pills into Ling Yi’s hand and ran off again.
Ling Yi: “…”
Ling Yi looked at the pills, then at the little one’s retreating figure. He clenched his fist around the pills.
Ling Rui still didn’t like being on the boat. Within two hours, he had already thrown up a few times.
Seeing him vomit made Noble Consort Yi very anxious.
“Aren’t you carrying the pills with you? How are you still getting seasick?” Noble Consort Yi said, ready to call the accompanying physician.
Ling Rui, pale and weak from vomiting, clung to Noble Consort Yi’s clothes and told her he had given his pills to his third brother.
Noble Consort Yi was so angry she wanted to scold him, “Doesn’t your third brother have his own medicine? He can’t even use yours.”
Despite her anger, Noble Consort Yi took out another set of pills and placed them under Ling Rui’s nose.
However, the pills had little effect on Ling Rui.
After vomiting a few more times, Ling Rui finally started to feel better. Leaning weakly against Noble Consort Yi, he tried to foresee something for himself.
He had a persistent uneasy feeling.
Ah Wu had mentioned that Ling Rui’s intuition as a little Rui beast was the most accurate.
Whenever he had this kind of intuition before, Ah Wu would make a nest, and they would sleep together in it.
When the uneasy feeling passed, Ah Wu would take him out to hunt.
“How many days until we arrive?”
Ling Rui looked up and asked Noble Consort Yi. He couldn’t foresee for himself and had to rely on his intuition for his own matters.
“We’ll be there in five or six days.”
Noble Consort Yi rubbed his head and said, “Just hang in there a bit longer. Once we get off the boat, it will only take less than two days to reach Luocheng.”
“When we get to Luocheng, you can have fun with Little Six.”
Noble Consort Yi was also looking forward to the beautiful scenery of Luocheng.
Her status prevented her from traveling freely, but Little Seven, being a prince, wasn’t as restricted.
With some attendants, Little Seven could enjoy Luocheng like any ordinary child.
As they talked, Ling Rui counted on his fingers, calculating how long five or six days would be.
On the third day on the boat, Emperor Ling was attacked again. This time, it was more severe than any previous attempt.
It was so serious that even Ling Rui was affected.
Ling Rui wasn’t with Noble Consort Yi at that moment; he was with Ling Fu.
The two little ones were bored inside the boat, so Ling Fu took him to the bow, wanting to ask the boatmen to catch some fish for them.
Ling Fu had a bright idea: “Freshly caught fish must be very fresh. We can make grilled fish.”
Ling Rui gently reminded him, “The kitchen has grilled fish.”
Ling Fu shook his head, “The fish we grill ourselves will taste better.”
Of course, they weren’t allowed to grill fish themselves on the boat.
But the two little ones looked at each other and decided to do it anyway.
They were actually lucky to have left their room when they did.
Shortly after they left, the assassins reached their room, brandishing gleaming knives.
The assassins found the room empty.
Ling Rui, holding his sixth brother’s hand, reached the outside.
Just as they were about to find a boatman, Ling Rui saw a boatman’s corpse.
The sight of the body, without any cover, left both children shocked. Ling Fu’s face turned pale with fear.
Ling Rui quickly covered his brother’s mouth, preventing him from screaming.
“There… there are bad people.”
Ling Rui was scared too. Looking at the corpse, his voice trembled, “We need to find Daddy.”
Thinking of the bad people on the boat, Ling Rui’s first thought was to find their father.
They needed Father’s protection and to ensure their mother was safe.
Hand in hand, the two children shivered as they searched for a way.
By now, the boat was in complete chaos.
Only at this moment did Emperor Ling realize that the previous attacks were just minor skirmishes. The earlier, easily subdued assassins were meant to lower his guard.
“D*mn emperor, with disasters all over the land, the people are suffering! You sit on the throne, blind and deaf, unable to see the people’s suffering?!”
An angry voice echoed on the boat, just as Ling Rui and Ling Fu were cautiously moving.
This was the first time Ling Rui heard such words. It was his first time hearing someone accuse Emperor Ling.
Amidst angry accusations, as if tinged with tears of blood.
Ling Rui perked up his small ears, hearing someone speak of great disasters. They spoke of their family, once numerous, now reduced to only themselves due to starvation.
They recounted how in many places, hunger had driven people to eat tree bark, and eventually, even bark became scarce.
Ling Rui was frightened.
He clutched Ling Fu’s hand tightly, standing frozen in place alongside the equally frightened Ling Fu. Their short legs didn’t know where to run.
Just as fear gripped them, a strange voice behind them suddenly spoke up.
“It’s the Dog Emperor’s children.”
The voice carried with it a tone of anger as it closed in on them.
In a split second, Ling Rui realized the danger, grabbed Ling Fu’s hand, and dashed forward.
Luckily, having explored the ship the day before, Ling Rui quickly found a corner and shoved Sixth Brother into it.
Ling Rui didn’t know how long he had been running, but he hadn’t been rescued.
Cornered with no way out, the assassin’s broadsword swung towards him. Ling Rui, clutching his little hands, glanced at the assassin and then jumped off the boat with a splash.
Once in the water, he kicked his short legs and swam away swiftly.
He swam incredibly fast, even faster than Ah Wu used to.
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