The Empire’s people always worshiped Ludwig with great zeal. They believed he was a perfect, good man—devoted to his wife, dedicated to his son’s education, and responsible for the Empire’s people.
But if these zealous followers of Ludwig were to discover
this blemish on his reputation, would they still continue their fervent
adoration of him?
Cole was desperate to know the answer.
It was already late at night, yet Cole felt no trace of
sleepiness. He summoned his trusted confidant and gave him a quiet instruction.
The next day.
When the little child woke up, rubbing his eyes, both Daddy
and Uncle Ling Qi were there. Still half asleep, he approached them and planted
a kiss on their cheeks.
After the kisses, he went back to lying down dreamily,
continuing his sleep.
When the little child woke up just now, he had a slightly
unpleasant dream, so his heart felt a bit scared. After kissing Daddy and Uncle
Ling Qi, he placed his chubby feet on Daddy’s belly and went back to dreaming.
About an hour later, Zhan Xi woke up, his hand holding the
little child’s plump foot. Under the influence of his biological clock, he
opened his eyes.
After waking up, Zhan Xi instinctively looked at the child.
The child’s head was next to Ling Qi, and both of them were
sleeping peacefully—one big, one small.
As Zhan Xi sat up, his gaze fixed on this scene, reluctant to
shift his eyes away.
He didn’t have much education. Although he had read many
books and learned a lot in the past two years to educate the child, he still
felt like an uncultured man at heart. He lacked the air of an intellectual and
the knowledge of an educated person.
For this beautiful scene before him, he couldn’t find any
sophisticated words to describe it.
The only word that came to mind was: beautiful.
Perhaps he had been staring for too long, but Ling Qi, who
was sleeping with the little child, slowly opened his eyes.
The gaze of the two collided unexpectedly, and Zhan Xi
immediately turned his face away. He got up and found his clothes, saying, “You
can sleep a little longer. I’ll get up.”
Ling Qi responded with a sound of agreement, “Hmm.”
Previously, when Zhan Xi slept, he only needed to wear a pair
of boxers, but now that he had to sleep with the child, he also wore pajamas.
The fabric of the pajamas was soft, and the child liked to snuggle against such
fabric that wouldn’t harm his skin.
After putting on the pajamas, naturally he had to take them
off to change clothes.
After finding the clothes he wanted to change into, Zhan Xi
hesitated for a moment, but after the hesitation, he still turned his back to
the bed and took off the pajamas.
Ling Qi behind him: “...”
Damn, this guy really didn’t feel reserved.
Ling Qi stared at his back for a few seconds and said, “Why
do you still have injuries on your back?”
Zhan Xi, nonchalantly, replied, “Maybe it’s from being
slashed before. What’s wrong? Do you find it ugly?”
Ling Qi remained silent, only furrowing his eyebrows.
Soon.
Zhan Xi changed his clothes, and Ling Qi, who was no longer
sleepy, reminded him, “If you’re going out today, go out early and preferably
don’t stay for breakfast.”
Zhan Xi feeling puzzled: “?”
Zhan Xi didn’t understand, “Why?”
Ling Qi calmly said, “Ningning needs to take his medication
in the morning, and it’s Ludwig’s turn to feed him this morning. If you stay...”
Before Ling Qi could finish his sentence, Zhan Xi’s face
tightened, and he continued, “I suddenly remembered that I still have two carts
of scrap to sell. Um, Ling Qi, do you want to come with me? We can sell the
scrap and then come back?”
After contemplating for a few seconds, Ling Qi nodded.
Neither of them had breakfast. Before leaving, they didn’t
forget to leave the little child to Huo Lin.
They couldn’t conveniently knock on the door of the Emperor’s
bedroom, so they had to leave the child to Huo Lin.
When Ludwig wanted to come up with an excuse to leave the
breakfast table early the next morning, he looked up and noticed that Zhan Xi
and Ling Qi were not there.
Huo Lin had already taken care of the little child. He placed
a round spoon in the chubby hands of the child and explained to his father,
“Uncle Zhan and Uncle Ling are busy. They have a lot of things to do, so they
didn’t stay for breakfast.”
Ludwig: “...”
Ludwig knew it was an excuse as soon as he heard it.
He looked at the little child who was still earnestly eating,
then thought about the medicine he would have to give the child later. In that
instant, His Majesty the Emperor felt that he had never dealt with official
affairs that were as difficult as this.
“Ningning.”
Ludwig knew that the child was in the best mood while eating,
so he took advantage of this time to raise a preventive measure. “Tell me, if
you get sick, do you need to take medicine?”
The little child’s action of stuffing food into his mouth
slowly stopped.
His little head suddenly seemed a bit clever. “Are you trying
to make Ningning take medicine? Ningning doesn’t want medicine!”
Ludwig’s preventive measure failed.
He changed his strategy and used a gentle approach like Ai
Wei’s: “Good babies aren’t afraid of taking medicine. Ningning, are you a good
baby?”
Ningning, who already realized what Uncle Lulu was up to,
looked at him with a cautious expression. He tightly gripped the round spoon
and spoke with a firm, childish voice: “Ningning is a bad baby!”
Ludwig: “?”
Ludwig was truly struggling with this child. He turned his
head and looked at Ai Wei.
Ai Wei calmly drank her porridge, refusing to meet his gaze.
After finishing breakfast, Ludwig couldn’t find anyone to
take over this task for him.
Huo Lin, with his backpack on, left particularly briskly this
morning.
Andrei, the butler, also had a pile of tasks to attend to, so
he didn’t appear in front of Ludwig at all. The other people in the palace were
even more hesitant to take on this task.
As time passed by, the medicines in the kitchen were all
prepared.
Ludwig took a deep breath and carried the chubby child over.
The chubby child was watching a video that Wagner shared with
him. When he was picked up, his chubby face showed displeasure, “Ningning wants
to watch the video!”
Ludwig placed him on his own lap, “Alright, you can keep
watching.”
Ai Wei had already placed the medicine on the table.
Ludwig looked down at the child, who was engrossed in playing
with the handheld console, then looked at the bowl of medicine. He raised his
gaze and looked at Ai Wei once again.
His eyes clearly conveyed the need for help, but
unfortunately, Ai Wei was merciless.
There was no other way.
Ludwig could only toughen up and take the lead. He lowered
his head and looked at the young child, asking, “Ningning, do you want to be a
healthy child?”
The child, who was focused on the console, didn’t even lift
his head. “Ningning is healthy!”
He didn’t have a fever anymore, and his body didn’t hurt. He
was a healthy child now.
Ludwig rubbed his curly hair. “You’re not very healthy at the
moment. Dr. Jean says you need to take some medicine to become a healthy
child.”
The little child, who had been sitting nicely on his lap,
heard these words and twisted his small body, wanting to get down from him.
“Ningning doesn’t want you to hold me anymore!”
“Be obedient.”
Ludwig held the young child tightly and didn’t let him escape.
Ludwig felt that when he used to take care of Caesar, it was
never this troublesome. Caesar also had moments of being ill, but Caesar didn’t
resist taking medicine.
Caesar not only didn’t reject it, but he didn’t even need to
be fed.
“Auntie, hug Ningning!”
The little child, held down by Ludwig and unable to escape,
reached out his little hand for help towards Ai Wei.
Ai Wei sat in her place and said, “Auntie will come to hug
you after she finishes her work, Ningning. Wait a bit for Auntie.”
The child that wasn’t picked up by Auntie was forced to
continue sitting on Ludwig’s lap.
Ludwig couldn’t think of any other good solution, so he
brought the bowl over and fed the child directly.
“Ningning, take a sip of medicine, and I’ll buy you ten
toys.”
“No! Ningning has toys!”
“I’ll buy you a toy excavator bigger than you and take you to
the construction site to see the excavator dig.”
This temptation was slightly more enticing. The child,
covering his mouth, hesitated for a moment. “Ningning will only take one sip.”
Ludwig nodded.
As Ludwig spoke, he brought the bowl close to the child’s
mouth.
Just as the little child opened his mouth, he realized that
Uncle Lulu was feeding the medicine without stopping!
He took several sips in a row, and when the child struggled
to break free, the medicinal soup spilled all over Ludwig.
But at this moment, he didn’t care about his clothes anymore.
He continued coaxing, “Ningning, take another sip. After you finish drinking
this time, I’ll make you a candy house.”
The little child, engrossed in watching cartoons on the star
device, had always wanted the candy house from the cartoon. But the candy house
was difficult and expensive to make, and even though Zhan Xi doted on the
child, he couldn’t fulfill his wish at the moment.
“Trick, tricking Ningning!”
The child, who had just been forced to drink several sips of
medicine, had reddened eyes. “It’s not just one sip. Ningning drank several
sips!”
“Uncle didn’t hold it properly just now, so you drank a bit
more. It won’t happen this time.”
Under the conditions of “excavator,” “candy house,”
“piggyback ride,” and “being taken to the chocolate factory by Uncle Lulu,” a
large bowl of medicinal soup finally went smoothly into the little child’s
belly.
After feeding the medicine, Ludwig’s forehead was covered in
fine sweat beads.
He looked at the little child crawling into Ai Wei’s arms and
sighed in relief. “Finally, it’s over. I’m going to take a shower. Wait until
it gets hot, then bathe him.”
“Okay.”
After Ludwig finished speaking, he went to the bathroom. Ai
Wei, watching the child who was sticking to her again, felt extremely
satisfied.
The child held a candy in his mouth and showed Aunt Ai Wei
the video he liked to watch.
While he was browsing the videos, suddenly, Andrei came to
report that the Minister of Imperial Public Opinion was seeking an audience.
Upon hearing this, Ai Wei told Andrei to tell the minister to
wait for a while before entering.
After Ludwig finished showering, the minister entered.
Ai Wei held the child and sat behind a screen playing. Shen
was at a distance where she could hear what Ludwig and the minister were saying
but remained hidden from their view.
“Your Majesty.”
The minister saw Ludwig and didn’t beat around the bush,
asking directly, “Do you have a love child attending the Imperial Military
Kindergarten?”
Ludwig: “?”
Ludwig’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, “I don’t have any
love child. What’s going on?”
“Last night, the largest entertainment forum leaked
information claiming that you have a love child with detailed information about
the child. As soon as we detected this news, we took immediate action to block
and intercept all related topics, keywords, and images using technological
means. However, despite our efforts, many people are still finding ways to
spread it.”
“Due to our blocking and sealing actions, many people believe
this matter is true.”
After the minister finished narrating the entire incident, he
also presented a few solutions: “If the love child matter is false, then this
matter can be easily resolved.”
The Minister’s fear was that... this matter was true.
In the information and pictures released by the
whistleblower, it was indeed evident that their Emperor doted on the child in
his arms.
Such displays of affection might be considered normal if done
by someone else, but when it came to their empire’s most ruthless Emperor, it
was undoubtedly like witnessing a ghost in broad daylight—everyone was
horrified.
Moreover, Queen Ai Wei had a higher reputation among the
people and a large number of supporters. If Ludwig truly had an illegitimate
child, without a doubt, his image as a faithful husband would completely
crumble.
The Minister had been anxious throughout his journey, but
fortunately, he now heard a favorable answer.
In the new proposal presented by the Minister, the young
child needed to make another appearance. Simply concealing and protecting the
child would not suffice. They now had to use the Emperor’s account to update a
new post.
The young child knew that he was going to be in front of the
camera again, and he wasn’t afraid at all. He dressed in what he believed
looked the best on him and had his older brother help him style his hair!
“Am I handsome, Brother?”
The cheeky little child raised his chubby face and asked his
brother, who was in front of him.
Huo Lin stroked his little curls and affirmed, “Very
handsome!”
***
Just as the little child was about to start recording a
video, the children from the Green Grass Class also heard the rumors. They were
all furious, gathering together and holding a serious meeting, the “Ningning
Meeting”.
The theme of the meeting: How to help Ningning clarify the
rumors!
They knew Ningning had a dad; he wasn’t the Emperor’s child.
Each child firmly believed in the Emperor, as they were all fans of the
Emperor.
“I’ve scolded my dad already, and now he believes what I
say.”
A child spoke up, “Now we have to go tell the adults not to
speak ill of Ningning.”
“That’s right, they can’t say bad things about Ningning!”
“Ningning’s dad is amazing! He even painted Ningning’s mecha.
The Emperor isn’t Ningning’s dad!”
***
The author has something to say:
Emperor: I’ll be able to be Ningning’s dad when he grows up
:)
Thanks for the update!! ðŸ¤ðŸ¤
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