Chapter 8
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After hearing the response in his mind, Ling Rui, still holding his head, opened his eyes wide with a reddened gaze. He called out again, “Ah Wu!”
This time, he didn’t hear a response.
His precognitive images had all dissipated. After using his foresight ability once, he had to wait for some time before he could use it again.
While Ling Rui was still holding his head, Noble Consort Yi had already grasped his little hand. After removing his hand, she checked his little head, asking, “Where does it hurt? Here? Ji Yan, call for the imperial physician!”
Ji Yan had already sent Qingdai to call for the imperial physician while the little prince was holding his head.
While waiting for the imperial physician to arrive, Ling Rui sat on Noble Consort Yi’s lap. Ling Fu, with a worried look on his face, asked him, “Little Seven, what’s wrong with you?”
As they chatted, Ling Rui suddenly felt unwell!
The imperial physician, Tang, arrived quickly. After examining Ling Rui, he said, “The young prince’s body is still recuperating. Suddenly having a headache may be due to excessive mental strain or inadequate rest.”
Actually, in Tang’s view, the young prince’s headache was completely inexplicable, but with Noble Consort Yi watching, he didn’t dare to say so.
After the initial pain in Ling Rui’s head subsided, he slowly felt better. He reached out his small hand and tugged on Noble Consort Yi’s sleeve, saying, “Niang Niang, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Even though he felt better, Noble Consort Yi was still somewhat worried.
Seeing Noble Consort Yi’s concern, Tang took the initiative to speak, “Niang Niang, here are several prescriptions for nourishing the spirit. These medicinal dishes are suitable for children as well.”
He handed over the list.
Ji Yan stepped forward, took it, and handed him a large silver note. “Thank you, Imperial Physician Tang, for your concern for our little prince.”
Imperial Physician Tang glanced at the amount on the silver note, hurriedly thanked Noble Consort Yi, and left.
Noble Consort Yi was generous in her rewards. With the tips she gave him during his visits to the Fenghua Palace, Imperial Physician Tang earned more than his annual salary.
After Imperial Physician Tang left, the kitchen started preparing the medicinal dishes.
Ji Yan, after seeing off Imperial Physician Tang, had to go to the kitchen to oversee things and also stay by Noble Consort Yi’s side. With so much to handle alone, she decided to bring Cuixi along to take care of the little prince.
As for Qingdai, Ji Yan assigned her some tasks but didn’t let her stay by the little prince’s side.
In the sleeping quarters.
Ling Fu looked at the slightly wilted Ling Rui and said earnestly, “Little Seven, you need to eat more. Eating more will make you healthier, and if you’re healthy, you won’t get sick.”
Ling Rui perked up and nodded earnestly.
He looked up and set a goal for himself, “Eat more rice, three rice rice!”
He wanted to eat a little more rice so he could have more energy. That way, he could use his foresight ability again.
Although Ling Rui was young, he wasn’t stupid.
He vaguely inferred that when he used his foresight ability, he could find Ah Wu. At least, he could talk to Ah Wu and Ah Wu could hear him.
“It’s three bowls of rice, not three ‘rice rice’.”
Noble Consort Yi, startled by his earlier behavior, also sat down on the mat, watching him and Ling Fu play. “Your Sixth Brother has started school, so you can ask him to teach you.”
The youngest among the princes and princesses, Ling Rui, unexpectedly received a task from Noble Consort Yi. Trembling with the piece of wood in his chubby hands, he quivered.
“Brother, teach me?” Ling Rui blinked his bright eyes, looking at Ling Fu expectantly.
Under his little brother’s gaze, Ling Fu nodded decisively. “Okay! Sixth Brother will teach you well! You’re still young, so let’s start with counting.”
“Okay!”
Ling Rui wasn’t picky about what to learn. He praised Ling Fu happily, “Sixth Brother, great!”
Praised by his little brother, Ling Fu was elated. He didn’t even bother with the wood anymore. Instead, he held Ling Rui’s little hand and taught him to count. “This is one finger, this is two fingers…”
Two children, one teaching, one learning, the scene was indescribably warm and harmonious.
After learning for a while, the afternoon snack was ready in the kitchen. This snack was prepared for the two children, as Noble Consort Yi didn’t eat.
The snack included two additional medicinal dishes. Although they were medicinal, the dishes prepared by the kitchen tasted good.
After finishing the second bowl, Ling Rui wanted to eat a third one, just like Ling Fu.
Noble Consort Yi patted his little belly and didn’t let Cuixi add more rice for him. “Your belly is so full, you can’t eat anymore.”
With two bowls already, Ling Rui was obviously full.
Since Cuixi didn’t add more rice, Ling Rui could only look at Ling Fu eagerly as he ate.
Ling Fu finished three bowls of rice, and after eating, he comforted Ling Rui, “Little Seven, when you grow a little bigger, you’ll be able to eat three bowls of rice like Sixth Brother.”
Ling Rui nodded.
After having this extra meal, Ling Rui didn’t want to stay in the room any longer. He pestered Ling Fu to go out and play: “Sixth Brother, let’s go out and play.”
Ling Fu also loved going out to play, but Noble Consort Yi didn’t seem to want little Seven to go out.
After pleading with Ling Fu and getting no response, Ling Rui went to hug Consort Yi’s leg: “Niang Niang, let’s go out!”
Noble Consort Yi was initially firm in her refusal as he clung to her leg, but then the little clinger lifted his face up to her: “Niang Niang, pinch pinch.”
This little clingy bundle even learned to use his chubby face to bribe.
Noble Consort Yi couldn’t resist his persistence. Finally, she squatted down and pinched his fair and tender little face several times.
“Off you go, off you go. This palace can be a bit quieter without you around.”
Noble Consort Yi spoke with a tone of disdain, but when Ling Rui happily held hands with Ling Fu and walked outside, she glanced at Ji Yan and instructed, “Take good care of the little prince.”
Ji Yan naturally agreed.
Ling Fu didn’t like people following him when he went out, but he couldn’t dismiss the people sent by Noble Consort Yi.
Having managed Fenghua Palace for so long, Ji Yan’s skills and abilities far surpassed those of the young concubines in the palace. She was particularly adept at reading people. Following the two princes, she maintained a careful distance—not too close to interfere with their play but close enough to step in immediately if anything went wrong.
“Little Seven, why are you still walking unsteadily?”
When the two boys walked hand in hand, Ling Fu could clearly feel that whenever he sped up, Little Seven would stagger as if about to fall.
Trying hard to keep up with Ling Fu’s pace, Ling Rui explained with a good temper, “Sixth Brother, I’m small.”
He was still very young and had short legs, so he needed to walk a bit slower.
Hearing his words, Ling Fu looked down at him, then nodded in agreement. “You are indeed very small. You must be the youngest child in the palace.”
Ling Fu was a good brother. After noticing his little brother’s difficulty in keeping up due to his short legs, he slowed down his pace.
After a short stroll outside, Ling Rui shook Ling Fu’s hand and said, “Sixth Brother, let’s go to your house to play.”
He wanted to see Consort Ru.
Ling Fu hesitated for a moment and asked, “Do you really want to go? My royal mother needs to take medicine every day, and there’s a medicinal smell in our palace.”
Ling Fu was used to the medicinal smell and didn’t find it unpleasant, but he wasn’t sure if Little Seven would like it.
“I want to go.”
Ling Rui continued to shake his hand.
Seeing this, Ling Fu stopped hesitating and held his little hand, leading him to Lan Pavilion.
Before they reached Lan Pavilion, they smelled a strong medicinal scent at the door, which was indeed unpleasant.
“Royal Mother! Royal Mother, I’m back!”
Ling Fu shouted loudly, showing his younger brother to Consort Ru. “Little Seven wanted to come and play, so I brought him here.”
Consort Ru sat in the courtyard wearing a green dress. Her appearance was somewhat delicate among the concubines in the palace, and she had always been easy-going.
Emperor Ling was very fond of her for a while, granting her the position of Consort and entrusting his sixth prince, who had lost his mother, to her care.
The Emperor’s favor improved her life a bit, but at the same time, it brought her disaster. Her health collapsed during that time.
When she was ill, Emperor Ling’s visits to her became less frequent. In the end, he wouldn’t visit her for months at a time.
Consort Ru didn’t mind this at all; she just wanted to live her days peacefully with her chubby little son in this secluded Lan Pavilion.
“Little Seven.”
Consort Ru smiled at Ling Rui as he walked in and asked gently, “Is your health better? Are you still taking medicine?”
Ling Rui nodded obediently and replied, “Better, need medicine.”
He meant that his health had improved a bit, but he still needed to take medicine.
Consort Ru carefully observed his little face and noticed that it looked much rosier than it did at the autumn banquet. His chubby cheeks seemed a bit fuller.
It was clear he had been well taken care of these days.
“Eat your medicine well, and you’ll recover faster,” Consort Ru said, then had a maid bring pastries to share with him and Ling Fu.
Ling Rui took the pastry but hadn’t eaten it yet when Ji Yan stepped forward with a smile and stopped him. “Seventh Prince, we just had an afternoon snack, and we’re not hungry yet. If you eat more pastry now, your stomach will ache.”
“Let me hold the pastry for you first. When you get hungry later, I’ll give it to you, okay?”
Ling Rui thought for a moment and obediently handed her the pastry.
He didn’t want his stomach to ache.
After Ji Yan stopped the little prince from eating the pastry, she explained to Consort Ru, “Please forgive me, Consort Ru. Seventh Prince had quite a bit to eat in the afternoon. If he eats more now, he may get indigestion.”
Consort Ru smiled and didn’t blame her.
She had experience in raising chubby children and knew that children shouldn’t eat too much.
The two little ones were sitting at a small table and chairs in the courtyard. The chubby one had taken out his calligraphy materials and was preparing to write. Before starting his calligraphy, he wrote a few numbers on a blank sheet of paper.
“Little Seven, I’ll teach you these numbers.”
“Okay!”
The chubby one pointed to the numbers on the paper and taught Ling Rui to recognize them. “Once you know these numbers, I’ll teach you arithmetic.”
“Mm!”
Ling Rui looked down at the numbers on the paper and began to recognize them one by one. As he did, he recited, “1, 2, 3…”
Ling Rui obediently counted the numbers while Ling Fu quickly worked on his own writing.
The tutor at their school loved to assign homework, which Ling Fu disliked. However, not completing his homework would result in a punishment from their eldest brother. He wasn’t afraid of the tutor but was very much afraid of his eldest brother.
As the two children diligently studied, Consort Ru arranged a seat for Ji Yan and the two began to chat.
After some time passed, the sky gradually darkened.
Ling Fu finished writing the characters, and Ling Rui recognized a few numbers.
Consort Ru originally wanted to keep Ling Rui for dinner, but then she thought that the dinner here would definitely not be as good as in the Fenghua Palace, so she let go of this idea.
However, when Ling Rui was about to leave, he held Ling Fu’s hand and whispered something to him.
He had been here all afternoon and hadn’t seen any danger. But his foresight ability wouldn’t be wrong, so he told Ling Fu—
He had a bad dream. In the dream, Consort Ru died, and there were broken porcelain bowls on the ground. The bowls were blue with floral patterns.
He didn’t know how Consort Ru died, but he saw Consort Li and his daddy.
His daddy was angry.
Consort Li said that Consort Ru had done something foolish and that it was a pity for the Sixth Prince, who had lost his mother again.
Consort Li shed tears and said she was willing to take care of the Sixth Prince.
And then, Consort Li truly took the Sixth Prince away.
Ling Rui shared the key points of his vision with Ling Fu and reminded him, “Sixth Brother, it’s a secret.”
The dream he had was a secret that should not be told to others.
After hearing his whisper, Ling Fu’s face turned serious, and he nodded solemnly. “Little Seven, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
The two boys parted ways, and Ji Yan carried Ling Rui back to Fenghua Palace.
Upon returning, Cuixi attended to Ling Rui’s face washing, while Ji Yan spoke quietly to Noble Consort Yi about the situation at Lan Pavilion. “Consort Ru looks very unwell. I suspect her illness has worsened.”
Noble Consort Yi showed no emotion on her face and listened quietly.
After Ji Yan finished speaking, Noble Consort Yi glanced at Ling Rui, who was washing his face, and said calmly, “Little Seven likes playing with the Sixth Prince. If Consort Ru needs help and asks you, remember to agree.”
“Yes.”
After giving her instructions, Noble Consort Yi saw that Ling Rui had finished washing his hands and face. He approached her and said in his soft voice, “Niang Niang, hug!”
“We’re about to eat, no hugging,” Noble Consort Yi deliberately refused the little clingy bundle.
The little bundle looked up with his small face and kept pleading, “Hug, hug!”
One insisted on not hugging, while the other kept his arms open for a hug. After a while, Noble Consort Yi finally smiled and picked up the little bundle.
“Niang Niang, I can count!”
The little one, held in her arms, proudly showed off his afternoon’s learning achievements by counting from 1 to 10!
This learning speed was quite impressive.
Noble Consort Yi rarely praised him, but she did this time, “Not bad, keep it up. Learn a bit more now, and when you start school, you’ll amaze your royal brothers and sisters.”
Ling Rui sat in his designated chair for meals, happily swinging his legs.
Holding the spoon given to him by Ji Yan, he said excitedly, “I also need to learn to recognize characters and write. I want to write to Ah Wu.”
Although he didn’t know exactly where Ah Wu was, he knew that Ah Wu was also in this world. Ah Wu was very smart and would definitely find him.
Noble Consort Yi had heard him mention Ah Wu many times and was no longer surprised. She had searched the palace and found no one named Ah Wu.
“Niang Niang, I can do arithmetic.”
Ling Rui extended his little hand and counted on his fingers to show Noble Consort Yi. He had learned arithmetic quickly today, and Sixth Brother had even taught him an extra calculation.
“This is 1,” Ling Rui counted on his first finger.
“This is 2,” he counted on the second finger.
“And together, it’s 3 fingers,” Ling Rui concluded. “1+1 equals 3!”
Noble Consort Yi: “?”
Noble Consort Yi’s eyelids twitched. “The first finger, plus the second finger, adds up to just two fingers, doesn’t it?”
Ling Rui shook his head and corrected her, “No, you count 1, then 2, and after 2 comes 3.”
The first finger plus the second finger equals 3.
Noble Consort Yi: “…”
Looking at the little one’s face, filled with “I’m so smart,” Noble Consort Yi suddenly felt a bit worried about his future schooling.
While Ling Rui was still firmly believing that 1+1 equals 3, in Lan Pavilion, Ling Fu spotted a blue porcelain bowl with flowers.
Seeing this bowl made his face turn pale.
Before he could take the bowl to Consort Ru, someone arrived at the palace gate. “Is Consort Ru here? I’m here to deliver good news.”
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