Chapter 46
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The old man’s words reached the young child’s ears, and he thought the old man was talking to him.
His small face nodded seriously and replied, “Yeah, my auntie is the General! She’s super amazing, I know.”
The old man: “…”
The old man continued to look at the woman next to the young child. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something. However, one of the fighters interrupted, “General Murong is your auntie? Why don’t you say His Majesty is your father?!”
Originally relying on the crowd, he wanted to teach this vegetable delivery man a lesson.
But unexpectedly, he had just been accidentally hit in the face!
He valued his face the most, and if it was broken, when he returned to the capital, he was afraid his fiancée would despise his broken face.
“Don’t think you can talk nonsense here just because you’re small. Get down, I know you’re all together.”
“I’m not coming down!”
The young child was furious. He had intended to use his identity to persuade everyone to stop fighting and discuss how to solve the problem peacefully.
But this man didn’t give him any face.
A young man from the capital wiped the corner of his injured mouth with his hand, took a cold breath, and in the next moment, he vented his anger towards the young child, “With broken vegetable leaves on your face, what identity are you pretending to be! Come down, I hate others looking down at me.”
The Young Master walked towards the child while speaking.
Seeing him approaching, the little child felt nervous and his chubby feet slipped on the platform.
In that moment of falling, he cried out in fear, “Sihai!”
Sihai wanted to rush over to catch him, but he was too late from this distance.
Just as the child closed his eyes in anticipation of the fall, warm hands gently lifted his small body and held him close.
The soft touch, accompanied by a faint fragrance, made the little child open his eyes slightly.
Through his squinted eyes, he saw a beautiful face—the person who had lifted him onto the platform earlier.
Feeling reassured, he spoke in his soft, hesitant voice, “Thank you. Can you put me down now?”
The woman holding him did not let go.
She held him with one arm, her gaze shifting from his face, smeared with bits of vegetable leaves, to the troublemakers nearby. “Mao Cai, compensate for the damage and return to the military camp.”
Mao Cai, a young noble from the capital, was momentarily stunned.
He didn’t know this woman before him, but she knew his name: “Who are you? How do you know me? Although you look good, I’m not looking to get married here.”
He wouldn’t marry someone from a border town; his mother promised to find him a gentle, beautiful, well-born wife in the capital.
“You think you can get married here looking like that?” The woman scoffed and again, in a commanding tone, ordered him to pay up and leave.
Mao Cai listened to her command, rolling his eyes at her without courtesy. “You, a woman, still want to control me? Besides my mother and my wife, no other woman in this world can command me.”
The woman: “?”
“You sure?” she coldly remarked.
Mao Cai sneered, “Of course. Besides them, I won’t listen to any other woman!”
He declared firmly.
The woman looked at him and said just one sentence: “I am Murong Xue.”
Mao Cai: “……”
The woman showed a token engraved with the three characters “Murong Xue.”
Mao Cai glanced at the woman and then at the token, his face turning green.
Murong Xue put away the token and looked at him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, asking, “Mao Cai, will you listen to what I say?”
Mao Cai’s expression changed several times. Finally, looking as though he were struggling with constipation, he gritted his teeth and managed to force out a word under Murong Xue’s gaze: “Listen.”
Murong Xue was a general, and now he was under Murong Xue’s command. Of course, he had to listen to Murong Xue.
Mao Cai undid his money bag and began to apologize and compensate.
Meanwhile, the kid being held by Murong Xue had been staring wide-eyed in shock since earlier. His small mouth was slightly open, in utter disbelief.
Murong Xue noticed the kid’s gaze. She lowered her eyes, freed one hand, and removed the bits of vegetable leaves from the kid’s face.
“Are you Little Seven?” Murong Xue asked.
“Yes, it’s me!”
Little Seven had only heard about his eldest aunt’s stories before bedtime. Now, the eldest aunt from those stories was holding him.
Little Seven, overwhelmed with emotion, began to feel a bit aggrieved.
Thinking about how he couldn’t find his parents for so many days, and now seeing his aunt, their eyes met, and he looked up with a pouting face, crying out, “Auntie, I… I can’t find Mom!”
Murong Xue recognized his identity the moment he stepped onto the stage and said the general was his aunt.
From the letters and from Little Xu’s words, she wasn’t unfamiliar with this little kid.
Although they were meeting for the first time, Murong Xue already felt fondness for the kid in her arms.
“Don’t cry. I’ll take you to find your mom later,” Murong Xue said, still holding him. She wiped away his tears and prepared to take him away.
Little Seven laid against her, and as she turned, he quickly spoke up, “Sihai, and Sihai too.”
He hadn’t forgotten to call Sihai as well.
Since Murong Xue revealed her identity, Sihai had also been in a state of shock. What surprised him most was that the little kid who had been talking nonsense was actually the nephew of General Murong!
“Auntie, Sihai saved me. He ran a long way to bring me to find you.”
“Oh, then Auntie should thank him.”
Murong Xue said, turning back to call Sihai over to walk together. “Thank you for bringing Little Seven to find me. This kindness, our Murong family will repay.”
Seeing Murong Xue up close, Sihai was so nervous that he couldn’t even complete his sentences. “No, no need to thank me. It’s just what I should do.”
Sihai was so nervous that he couldn’t even complete his sentences.
Little Seven listened as Sihai spoke with Auntie, and his little eyes glanced behind him, seeing the delivery uncle hurrying away after receiving compensation to buy new vegetables.
Meanwhile, Mao Cai was also preparing to leave.
Little Seven hugged Auntie’s neck, pouting, and called out to Mao Cai.
Normally forgiving and not holding grudges, this time Little Seven remembered to hold a grudge. With his beautiful round eyes fixed on Mao Cai, he hummed, “The general is my aunt, the emperor is my father, I’m not lying!”
Mao Cai: “……”
Mao Cai felt like his face was being slapped.
He had never seen the Seventh Prince in the capital before, so he truly did not recognize that this child, dressed as a young servant with vegetable leaves on his face, could be the Seventh Prince of the palace.
“Little Highness, I apologize for my offense.”
Mao Cai apologized to the young prince. After apologizing to the young prince, he also apologized to Murong Xue. This series of apologies left him completely subdued.
Murong Xue listened to his apologies and dismissed him.
She continued walking forward with the child in her arms.
They didn’t walk too far this time, and soon arrived at their destination. “Aunt’s place here is a bit simple, not as good as in the palace. Little Seven, sorry to trouble you,” she said.
Hearing this, Ling Rui shook his little head. “It’s not troublesome.”
He had been acting as a servant all the way, and he had persisted.
Now back with his aunt, he already felt good.
Si Hai followed behind Murong Xue. Although he was still nervous, he gathered the courage to start a conversation with her. Without waiting for Murong Xue to ask further, he recounted in detail everything that had happened to the child along the way.
He began with when Little Seven was sold.
Murong Xue frowned tightly as she listened to the child’s ordeal along the way. Meanwhile, as Murong Xu came over to find Murong Xue, he happened to overhear and became furious as well.
“Selling my baby as a servant, who are these people?! I must kill them!”
Murong Xu was infuriated.
The child in Murong Xue’s arms saw Murong Xu, and his eyes lit up: “Little Uncle!”
The child, who had been thinking about his little uncle for a long time, opened his little hand and leaned forward to let his little uncle carry him: “Hold, hold baby.”
Murong Xu had been thinking about his baby ever since he left.
The two embraced tightly, the child teary-eyed, and his little uncle’s eyes also reddened as he kissed the child’s cheek affectionately.
“Uncle was so worried about you.”
Murong Xu had come to find Murong Xue just now to tell her he intended to leave. He was preparing to go out to find the child.
Now that the child had arrived, he no longer needed to go out.
Finally reunited, the family hurriedly gathered. Murong Xu quickly bathed and changed the child, feeding him as well. Alongside, he brought along Sihai.
While Murong Xu busied himself caring for the child, Murong Xue wrote a letter to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
It would take several days for the letters to be delivered.
Considering how precious this visit was, Murong Xue mentioned in the letter that the child was still recovering and needed to regain his strength before returning.
After a busy half-day, everyone ate and drank their fill. They checked on the child again, who was sitting on the new bed Murong Xu had prepared, looking clean and tidy.
There were many toys piled on his bed, gifts from the General’s household.
The owner of the General’s residence had always been Murong Xue alone. Recently, the Fifth Young Master arrived. Everyone in the residence had long felt they had too little to do, and they didn’t feel secure about their wages.
Now with the Little Prince in the household, they finally had a chance to shine.
Those who cooked, cooked; those who tailored, tailored—all were busy trying to impress.
Murong Xu paid no attention to their busyness. He was listening to the military doctor, who was saying, “The Little Prince’s cough hasn’t fully recovered. He’s still young, so we shouldn’t use too much medicine. Just give him a couple of days’ rest, and he’ll slowly get better.”
“What we need to watch out for now is that despite appearing fine at first glance after his journey, once he relaxes, the accumulated fatigue and hardship may take a toll on him.”
Murong Xu patiently listened to the doctor’s advice and took notes seriously.
That night…
Murong Xue and Murong Xu looked at the child sitting on the small chair and simultaneously issued an invitation, “Little Seven, do you want to sleep with me tonight?”
Facing this difficult choice, Little Seven glanced at Eldest Auntie and then at Uncle, feeling so torn that he was about to cry.
“I want to sleep with Eldest Auntie, but I also want to sleep with Little Uncle.”
Unable to decide, the child looked at Auntie and Uncle with a sincere expression, and boldly said, “Let’s all sleep together.”
He could snuggle on the left side with Auntie and on the right side with Uncle.
Sleeping in the middle meant he didn’t have to choose!
As soon as he spoke, Murong Xu and Murong Xue fell silent for a while. Finally, Murong Xu relented, “Alright, Big Sister, I will let Little Seven stay with you.”
He had held Little Seven so many times back in the capital.
But Big Sister hadn’t had a chance to hold him properly yet.
Although Murong Xu let Little Seven go, his eyes still showed reluctance, “Little Seven, Uncle will come to see you tomorrow morning. We’ll go see the horses together.”
“Okay.”
Ling Rui obediently nodded, kissed Murong Xu on the cheek, and watched Uncle leave the room.
After Murong Xu left, he also called Sihai, who had been with his precious child all this time, to come over. He was very interested in this Sihai.
Late at night, in a warm atmosphere.
The child who was going to sleep with Auntie was a bit excited. He wore a soft white undershirt, lying on Auntie’s bed, his eyes fixed on her without blinking.
“Auntie, come and sleep.”
“Coming.”
Murong Xue got into bed and embraced the child in her arms.
They chatted, and the child, now in a chatty mood, spoke to Auntie, who listened patiently.
After chatting for a while, Ling Rui’s excited little head cooled down a bit. He rested his head on Murong Xue’s arm, rubbed his eyes, and began to feel sleepy.
Seeing him yawn, Murong Xue whispered, “Go to sleep. When you wake up, Auntie will take you to play.”
“Okay.”
Ling Rui closed his eyes sleepily.
After half an hour of closed eyes, Ling Rui suddenly opened his eyes again. Today he found Auntie, but he hadn’t seen Ah Wu yet.
Auntie was still sleeping. Ling Rui opened his eyes and rubbed his little head.
The next moment, instead of directly foreseeing Auntie’s future, he only foresaw what was going to happen to Auntie recently.
Auntie was recuperating now, so theoretically, nothing dangerous should happen.
But Ling Rui saw in his vision that Auntie was awakened in the middle of the night, being told that enemies were attacking.
The person said a lot of things that Ling Rui couldn’t understand.
But he could vaguely sense that the enemies mentioned by the person were not ordinary, but someone who made Auntie very wary.
After hearing the report, Auntie got up from bed and walked out.
In the next scene, Auntie was surrounded by people.
Auntie looked at those surrounding her and coldly uttered the words “traitors.”
Ling Rui’s face turned pale watching this vision.
He tried to muster his courage and called out, “Ah Wu, you, where are you?”
Ah Wu, who was near the general’s mansion, looked at the soldiers surrounding the mansion and replied, “I’m at your door.”
Naturally, the general’s mansion couldn’t stop him.
But in the dead of night, if he forced his way in, it would surely wake up the child.
He knew his child was inside.
“Ah Wu, you, you go—”
Before Ling Rui could finish his sentence, he heard a knocking at the door.
The knocking sounded three times, and Murong Xue woke up immediately, her eyes clear and without any trace of drowsiness.
“Come in!”
“General, urgent report! Prince Hu Yan has gathered tens of thousands of troops and is attacking at midnight. He must have known that you have been recuperating these months and took advantage of this opportunity to attack.”
Upon hearing the name Prince Hu Yan, Murong Xue’s face paled. She got up hastily, not even paying attention to the child in bed.
The child looked at the scene he had just foresaw, and immediately it appeared before him. He got up in a hurry and called out to Murong Xue, “Auntie, don’t go!”
“Little Seven, be good. Auntie will be back soon.”
Murong Xue got dressed, gently stroked his cheek reassuringly, and then, despite his protests, pushed open the door and left.
Watching Murong Xue leave, the child behind, barefoot, chased after her.
Unlike in the palace, there were no palace maids beside him late at night, so he ran quite a distance before the servants noticed him.
Just as the servants were about to carry him back, a beast’s claw landed on him.
It had been waiting outside for most of the night, but in the end, Ah Wu burst in.
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