Chapter 145
A heavy snow fell on the day of Lidong (the beginning of winter) and continued until the twelfth lunar month without stopping. I was so cold that I stayed indoors for a whole month without going out.
"cold……"
Upon hearing that sound, I trembled all over and crawled into the corner of the bed, wrapped in the blanket.
After a long silence, I suddenly felt a weight on my body, and a hand started pulling at the blanket covering me.
"……cold!"
"What do you mean 'cold'? Your mother is already cold enough! Let go, let go, stop pulling!"
"Father, Yuan'er wants Father..."
This sticky, soft voice is so endearing, but this brat just started talking and immediately uttered a perfectly clear "Dad." But when it came to me, he took half a month to finally manage to say it, and even then, he still couldn't quite get the word out properly. It made me so angry that I seriously doubted whether he was really my son, or if someone had switched him while I was unconscious.
"What good is it for you to come to me if your dad's gone missing? Hey, who gave you permission to come up here? Get down, get down!"
The brat widened his round eyes, kicked off his shoes, and huffed and puffed as he climbed up, heading straight for the blanket.
Two summers ago, this child got caught in the rain and developed a persistent high fever after returning home. Because he was already weak, even He Xiuqi was almost at a loss for what to do.
"Yuan'er, come here, Mommy will give you some candy. Don't stay here, okay?"
He blinked, his body curled up in the blanket with only his head showing. After listening to what I said, he just stared straight at me, then his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed.
"Wow... Daddy, Daddy..."
His icy little hands gripped my clothes tightly as he cried with a powerful, earth-shattering sob.
After that serious illness, the little rascal actually recovered. When it was cold, as long as he wasn't exposed to the wind, he would be as warm as a furnace. After discovering this, I liked to sleep with him. At first, it was fine, but after a while, the little guy didn't want to, and his dad didn't want to either. In order for me to have a comfortable winter, I even bribed him with a lot of his favorite red date candies. In less than ten days, his dad's face darkened, and from then on, the little guy would cry immediately at the sight of anything related to red dates. Later, because of this incident, there were many red date candies piled up in the room. I would eat one when I was craving it, and eventually, I got to the point where I felt like vomiting just from the smell of it.
I made a mistake today. I really shouldn't have tried to coax him with candy. In this freezing weather, the only thing that could get me out of bed is probably this little devil.
"Ugh, it's freezing!" I hopped around and pulled a thick blanket out of the closet. "Who let this brat in?"
"Would you get up if I didn't let him in?"
The person stood at the door, the sunlight softening the red dress, and the light and shadow filtering through the snow made the person's face appear so white that it was impossible to see clearly.
"Father, Father!"
As soon as the little guy saw his father, he dragged himself off the bed wrapped in a blanket, tripping twice along the way. With his short legs and arms and being quite chubby, his neck was completely hidden under the blanket.
"Little fatty! You've got a father but don't want a mother..."
The little creature, tumbling and crawling forward, suddenly turned its head and threw a murderous glare at you. Is it trying to rebel?
"Yuan'er, go find your Uncle Qionghua. Dad will play with you later."
The man walked over, picked up the chubby boy, and with a few words, he coaxed the boy into a daze. He then handed the boy to Xiaoman, who was guarding outside, closed the door, and turned around to stare at me with a half-smile.
"You've started misbehaving again after a few days of neglect?"
"No way, I eat and sleep on time, and I haven't caused any trouble. You complained about me being noisy a while ago, and now I haven't even left the house, is that bothering you?"
He turned his head and smiled faintly, then walked over and warmed his hands on the stove. "Did you take your medicine this morning?"
"I..." Her momentum instantly deflated. She vaguely remembered someone bringing her medicine and making her drink it before going back to sleep this morning, while she was still half asleep. "Who...who told on me? Besides, missing a dose won't hurt you, why are you making such a fuss?"
"If Xiao Yuan hadn't bumped into you that time, I probably would never have known you had a lumbar spine injury until I died."
"It's nothing serious, and it doesn't hurt usually, so what's there to say?"
"You're in so much pain and you still say it's not a big deal?" He stopped laughing and started glaring at me, his face turning slightly pale.
I still remember that rainy summer night when I unexpectedly saw Xiao Yuan following behind Shao You. We had brought her along to keep Tian Chen in check, but Xiao Lianjue, considering this, hadn't allowed Tian Chen to show himself at all. Since that plan failed, the princess was no longer of any use. I was thinking of just letting her go, but she stubbornly insisted on returning to the capital with us. No matter how much I tried to persuade her, I couldn't get rid of her. Even when I was practically cursing her, she remained unmoved. Finally, the kind-hearted Shao You and A Yue stepped in, taking on this burden despite their own injuries.
It wasn't until we returned to the city, after hearing He Mengyan's explanation, that I learned why the child had so stubbornly refused to go back. I remember that I spent the entire afternoon munching on sunflower seeds, until even my tea tasted salty, and that long, drawn-out palace intrigue story had only just begun. In short, Princess Xiaoyuan was tired of all the scheming and plotting, preferring to be held hostage in the capital rather than return. So I couldn't help myself and muttered, "You're quick to back out, and your brother loves you so much, yet you don't care about his life or death now." The little girl, stung by my words, stood up angrily. Because of the force, the chair behind her bumped into my rocking chair, causing her to lose her balance and fall backward, her lower back hitting the hard armrest. That one blow was enough to make me faint from the pain.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a deathly pale face, which scared me so much that I almost rolled off the bed.
Now, if the person in front of me were to turn pale again, they would probably look just as pale as they did back then.
This person hasn't spoken to me for two whole months because of this. I didn't think I had done anything seriously wrong. At first, I went along with him, but as time went on, the more I saw his face, the angrier I got. It's impossible to be happy eating and sleeping with a deadpan expression on my face every day.
I get angry just thinking about it. "Hmph!"
There was silence for a while. I secretly glanced at him and saw him pursing his lips as he continued to warm his hands.
"Hey... since you're already up, why don't you come out for a walk with me?"
"Take your medicine."
"don't want!"
"Then you can go back to sleep."
After saying that, he pulled his hand back and was about to leave. I rushed over to grab him, but the blanket under my feet was too thick, and I lost my balance and inevitably fell onto the carpet.
Despite my sulking, the person still couldn't bear to see me fall or get hurt, but instead of helping me up, they grabbed me by the back of my collar.
"Are you still half asleep and want to fall and wake yourself up?" He grabbed my neck, his tone ambiguous.
His body temperature has always been on the colder side. It feels very comfortable to touch him in the summer, but in the winter I avoid touching him whenever possible. I only allow him to go to bed after he has warmed up every night. It's strange, really. Once he's warm, he can stay warm as long as he's not exposed to drafts. No wonder his son is just like him.
I was originally an unusual person who was afraid of the cold. Later, I was poisoned and although I was eventually cured, my body was not the same as before. Then I took Guanghan San. So it's not my fault that I'm so afraid of the cold, is it?
"I'm hungry. It's been so long since I've had duck soup at Mingfulou. Shall we go?"
He sighed softly, "You just won't take your medicine?"
"You're really persistent! I've told you I hate taking medicine, don't you understand or can't comprehend it?!"
"So you mean you prefer me to use the bottle like before?"
"Hmph, I'll drink, it won't kill me. So, are you going to take me to the casino later?"
"...So you're going to negotiate with me now?"
"That's why we don't get along. You could stay in the city for ten years without feeling uncomfortable, but I've been holding back until today not because I'm afraid of you, but entirely because I'm giving you face, understand?"
"I understand." He said coldly, pulling the blanket off me and draping a fur coat over my shoulders. "Let's go."
He dragged me to the kitchen, watched me drink every last drop of my medicine before nodding and stuffing two bites of candied fruit into my mouth.
The snow was still falling. The person held an umbrella and led me by the hand, seemingly not intending to take a carriage.
"Dad!"
Halfway there, a round, chubby thing suddenly appeared and clung to someone with lightning speed.
"You're not serious, you're bringing him along?"
"Didn't you want to eat the duck soup at Mingfulou?"
"That casino..."
"We'll see."
Just as I was about to refute him, my stomach started growling uncontrollably.
So the three of them headed out of the city. Because it was cold, there were few people on the streets, making it seem rather deserted, which suited some people's tastes.
The Mingfulou restaurant was fairly warm. Since we were regulars, the manager came over to serve us personally as soon as he saw us, serving tea and water and bowing respectfully.
It wasn't that they knew our identities, but rather that Nangong Ling had an outstanding demeanor. This manager was able to open Mingfulou in the capital and make it famous, so his ability to judge people must be excellent.
"Father, hibiscus cake..."
The sticky, gooey sound, and the whole person clinging to his father—ugh, how awful!
I turned my head and glanced around unintentionally, and suddenly saw a pair of very familiar figures.
It was Xiao Zongjiu and Consort Ming. Strange, what are these two doing here?
"Is the food in Xiling bad? I always see them eating outside."
The person opposite me shook their head, broke the hibiscus cake into crumbs, and fed it to the chubby boy. I could tell they weren't paying any attention to what I was saying.
"Xiao Lianjue has disappeared."
He suddenly blurted out something that startled me.
"Even after all this, they still won't let him go?"
"That's beyond our control."
He wiped his hands and ladled a bowl of soup for me.
"How did you find your way here?"
"You care a lot?"
"No, I'm just curious." After drinking a few sips of soup, he slowly warmed up. "In the end, Hongniang crippled his martial arts, right? It's really not easy for him to escape from the Heavenly Prison after all that. Why didn't Xiao Zongjiu just kill him back then?"
"For the whereabouts of Zisha Dan (a type of cinnabar)."
I frowned. "Are they still looking for this? If they find out that the Purple Clay Pill was used to drug Yuan'er, won't they come and ransack our house?"
Why do I get the feeling you're so excited?
"Really? Oh, little fatty, don't you dare steal my pastry roll!"
"Why are you fighting with him for it..." Someone brushed my hand away, grabbed another plate from the side, and asked, "How about going to Red Canyon next month?"
"What are you going there for, to starve?"
"You really are heartless, leaving your second brother there and not caring about him at all?"
I stood there for a while, and then I remembered that there seemed to be such a thing.
"Oh." I swallowed a piece of pastry. "Speaking of which, he wasn't injured by Li Mu and the others. It turns out he was bitten by a bamboo viper! He's been hiding in Crimson Valley for so long. Did he plan to just stay there eating and drinking for free for the rest of his life?"
"Or what?"
"...What? You want me to never be able to repay what I owe you? Don't dream about it. I don't care about any of that. I'll leave if I want."
He smiled, pulled out the silk handkerchief, and lowered his eyes to wipe the little fat boy's mouth.
"Where do you plan to go, the Heavenly Annihilation Sect or the Bieyun Manor?"
"Don't underestimate me; I can go to many places!"
"That means we're going to Meishi Manor, but I'm afraid you won't be able to free your brother from the opium addict."