It was evident that Wagner had already learned to be independent before. He even went to the Imperial Kindergarten alone, but his independent life was immediately terminated.
Marshal Twain was still coaxing his son to sleep on this
side, while on the other side, a certain chubby child slept like a piglet,
kicking his father with his fat feet and resting his head on Uncle Ling Qi,
sleeping soundly.
This night passed relatively peacefully.
By the next day, people began to wake up one after another
and flooded the Emperor’s official account, going crazy.
Throughout the entire day and night, the Emperor’s hot search
rankings on the StarNet remained high.
The rumors about the little child being the Emperor’s
illegitimate child completely vanished. No one believed that rumor anymore.
They only envied the child who was so loved by the Crown Prince.
The children from the Green Grass Class had not yet received
the results of yesterday’s child meeting, but today they learned about the
clarification on the StarNet. The children were ecstatic; they thought the
Emperor was really good!
The wise Emperor even supported their class’ Ningning!
Unconsciously, the Emperor’s image became even more towering
in the hearts of the children.
Several consecutive days passed.
The little child attended classes in the palace, and learning
in the palace was not as fun as learning in the kindergarten.
The little child, who initially didn’t want to go to
kindergarten, now proactively held his father’s big hand and eagerly said,
“Daddy, take me to kindergarten.”
Now in the palace, he had to drink unpleasant medicine in the
morning and attend the teacher’s classes after taking the medicine.
The teacher who used to teach his older brother was very
strict. When teaching the little child, she corrected many of his bad habits,
such as biting pen caps, daydreaming during lessons, and always wanting to be
carried.
The little child, who had been spoiled by a crowd of adults,
was being treated strictly for the first time.
He didn’t dare to argue with the teacher and could only
secretly go to his father, asking him to send him to the kindergarten, saying,
“My legs don’t hurt anymore, and I can go to kindergarten now.”
Zhan Xi understood the little child’s thoughts very clearly.
He bent down, pinching the chubby cheeks of his own little
child, and chuckled, “This kind of teacher needs to teach you a good lesson. If
they don’t, you won’t know how gentle your kindergarten teachers are.”
Dr. Jean came again.
This time, Dr. Jean was conducting a follow-up examination
for the child, and the results were quite good. “Your Highness, Ningning is
fine now and can go to kindergarten. However, incidents like this must be
prevented in the future.”
“The child’s body is not fully developed, and the bones are
not as strong as those of an adult. If they are beaten too hard, the chances of
death are high.”
Dr. Jean wasn’t scaring them on purpose; he was sincerely
giving a reminder.
The little child didn’t understand some of the words and
phrases from Dr. Jean’s mouth, but he only understood that Dr. Jean said he
could go to kindergarten.
“Big brother.”
The little child, secretly carried by his brother without the
knowledge of their family tutor, leaned against his brother’s ear and asked
softly, “Can Ningning go to kindergarten tomorrow?”
“Yes. You can.”
The child’s schooling issue was settled, but during these few
days, the Duke Cole’s mansion was thrown into complete chaos. The ancestral
heritage of the Cole family suffered severe blows in just a few days.
The most shocking revelation was that Duke Cole was involved
in the unjust taking of innocent lives. All of his crimes were exposed.
Facing multiple charges, Cole was soon to be brought to court
for trial.
Night fell.
The little child, back in his own home, still stuck close to
Ling Qi. Worriedly, he touched Ling Qi’s face and asked, “Uncle Ling Qi, what’s
wrong with you?”
Children were highly sensitive, so the little child
thoroughly captured the recent emotional troubles of Ling Qi.
“Are you still afraid of bad people?”
Wearing his green dinosaur pajamas, the little child
earnestly asked Ling Qi, “Don’t be afraid. Dad said the bad people have been
caught.”
“Afterwards, the bad guys won’t come anymore!”
The little child tried his best to comfort Uncle Ling Qi, but
despite his efforts, he felt like his attempts at comfort were useless. Uncle
Ling Qi hadn’t been happy for several days!
The previous Uncle Ling Qi and the current Uncle Ling Qi were
noticeably different. The young child didn’t know how to describe this change,
but he could sense that all these changes stemmed from that scoundrel who
bullied him and Uncle Ling Qi!
“I’m fine.”
Ling Qi said so, but on the night before Cole was taken to
court, he couldn’t sleep no matter what.
It was midnight.
Ling Qi got up and sat up. He quietly walked towards the
door, but as soon as his front foot moved, the little child wearing dinosaur
pajamas tumbled down from the small bed, rubbing his eyes, and followed him
like a little tail.
The big and small figures walked out one after the other.
Zhan Xi, who was also awake, stared at the ceiling. He
thought for a moment, but decided not to get up. At this moment, perhaps Ling
Qi would prefer to have Ningning accompany him.
The house where Zhan Xi and the child lived wasn’t large, but
perhaps due to Zhan Xi’s tidy arrangements and the neatly placed belongings, it
didn’t appear visually crowded.
Ling Qi walked all the way to the edge of the courtyard, next
to the vegetable garden. He casually sat on a stone and picked up his star
device to make a phone call.
He made several calls, and on the final attempt, Cole
answered the phone.
Ling Qi sat in the darkness and calmly asked, “Did my mother
really die?”
Duke Cole, who had never been so desolate before, had reached
such a point now, and his tone still lacked warmth toward this blood-related
son.
He chuckled, a mad meaning behind his laughter. “I’ve become
like this because of you! You’re a curse, a cursed child who should never have
been born!”
“You want to know the whereabouts of your mother, don’t you?
Fine, I can tell you, but you have to get me out of here.”
“Only if I’m alive can your mother continue to live.”
Cole’s grating laughter made Ling Qi tightly clench his fist.
“You clearly told me before that my mother was dead.”
“I lied to you.”
Cole’s tone turned cold. “Get me out, and I’ll take you to
see your mother.”
After dropping this statement, Cole abruptly hung up the
phone. He didn’t place all his hopes on this troublesome son. He had another
son.
No, to be precise, he had a bunch of sons, but at this
moment, he had another, more promising son.
Mans, the Empire’s top general.
Although his relationship with Mans wasn’t great, and Mans
hadn’t been by his side for these years, Mans was born to his legal wife, his
nominal first heir!
For the sake of reason and emotion, the other had to protect
himself!
“Go find Mans.”
Cole instructed one of his sons who came to visit him,
telling him to find Mans. “Tell Mans that if I die, the Duke’s Manor will be
completely finished!”
The Duke’s Manor, deeply rooted in the Empire for many years,
couldn’t be destroyed like this.
Night gradually spread.
Ling Qi, sitting in the courtyard, was still reflecting on
Cole’s words. In the quiet darkness of the night, the tension on his face was
no longer hidden.
He wrapped his arms around himself, and his eyes were filled
with pain.
At this moment, he felt like he was back in his childhood,
back in the shadow cast by Cole.
Cole said that his mother was the most despicable mistress,
and if it wasn’t for his mother seducing him and being caught by the Duke’s
family’s strictest mistress, the Duchess, he wouldn’t have been held under her
control and tormented at every turn.
The Duchess came from a prestigious family and held a much
higher status than Cole at the time.
Cole continuously tried to coax and appease the angry
Duchess, but with little effect. Whenever he felt suffocated, it was the
nightmare moment for little Ling Qi.
The lady was both merciful and cold-hearted. She gave Ling Qi
the opportunity to survive in the Duke’s residence and also provided him with
the chance to receive education and etiquette training.
However, she made the same choice to remain silent about
Cole’s cruel treatment towards this illegitimate child.
Ling Qi’s memory was pulled back to the past.
He tightly hugged his arms, trembling slightly all over his
body.
Just as he was trembling uncontrollably and starting to feel
cold, a pair of chubby hands suddenly embraced him. At the same time, the voice
of the little child sounded.
“Uncle Ling Qi, don’t be sad.”
Ningning’s childish voice sounded like it was about to cry.
He held Ling Qi tightly, using his own warmth to comfort him. “Ningning will
stay with Uncle Ling Qi!”
During the phone call just now, the little child was behind
him. Although he couldn’t hear clearly, he could tell that the person on the
other end of the call was very fierce.
After hanging up the phone, Uncle Ling Qi became very sad.
The little child had strong empathy towards people he was
close to. He could sense that Ling Qi was currently on the verge of collapse.
He didn’t know how to solve it, so he could only hold on to Ling Qi, trying to
warm him up a little.
Uncle Ling Qi’s body was ice cold.
Facing the sudden appearance of the young child, Ling Qi was
stunned for a few seconds. After a few seconds, he abruptly embraced the young
child in his arms. “Ningning.”
He didn’t say anything to ask the young child to go back or
pretend to be unaffected so as not to worry the young child.
At this moment.
He buried his face in the soft chest of the young child in
his arms.
“Uncle Ling Qi.”
The young child was infected by his emotions, sniffled, and
choked up, saying, “Ningning is most fond of Uncle Ling Qi. Uncle Ling Qi,
please don’t be so sad.”
With the big one and the small one holding each other, Ling
Qi could smell the scent of milk on the little one’s body. It wasn’t the smell
of cow’s milk, but the aroma of powdered milk.
The little child managed to trick his way into getting some
powdered milk to drink.
In the comforting words and embrace of the little child, Ling
Qi slowly regained his composure. He asked softly, “Ningning, if you found out
about your mother, would you go look for her?”
The little child nodded without hesitation.
He replied seriously, “Ningning will go look for her with
Daddy!”
Zhan Xi had never said anything bad about Ningning’s mother
when educating the young child, so in the little child’s heart, his mother
remained a very beautiful presence.
Ling Qi fell silent for a while before saying, “I don’t know
if she’s still alive.”
Cole had told him a long time ago that his mother had passed
away.
Now that Cole had changed his tune, Ling Qi didn’t know
whether to believe it or not.
Ningning didn’t dwell on Ling Qi’s question. In his small,
childish voice, he said earnestly, “If you don’t know, then go ask.”
Ningning’s ability to think was still quite simple, but it
was this simplicity that made Ling Qi no longer feel lost.
The place they were sitting was sheltered from the wind, but
even so, the cold air of the night grew increasingly harsh. Ningning was held
in Ling Qi’s arms and didn’t feel cold.
He extended his chubby little hand and patted Ling Qi’s back,
just as his father would do when he cried or threw a tantrum.
“Uncle Ling Qi, if you’re sad again in the future, tell
Ningning. Ningning will give you candy, chocolate candy given by big brother!”
“Okay.”
Ling Qi responded softly, “Thank you, Ningning.”
The breeze outside caused the little child to sneeze, and
tears welled up in his eyes. He rubbed his nose and continued talking to Ling
Qi.
“Uncle Ling Qi, the vegetables Ningning planted have grown.
Tomorrow, Ningning will pick vegetables for you to eat.”
“When Ningning grows up, I’ll earn money for you to spend.”
The words spoken by the little child were lively, but to coax
Uncle Ling Qi’s heart, they were firm.
Ling Qi lifted him up, no longer letting him accompany him to
continue enjoying the breeze. Because of his injury, the little child hadn’t
been to kindergarten for several days now, and if he caught another cold or
fever, he would have to take more time off.
As the two returned, Ling Qi’s mood clearly improved.
Zhan Xi continued to pretend to sleep. He listened for a
while after the two next to him had fallen asleep.
The little child hugged Ling Qi secretly and confessed to
Uncle Ling Qi, “Uncle Ling Qi, you should know that Ningning likes you the
most!”
Ling Qi, who was confessed to, lowered his head and kissed
the chubby little one. “Uncle Ling Qi loves you very much, too.”
Ling Qi found it difficult to say such words. From his
perspective, it felt awkward and hard to express. He wouldn’t easily show his
affection, and even in his interactions with Zhan Xi, he often maintained a
prickly attitude.
But this little child had captured his heart.
The two of them exchanged confessions, while the nearby
father looked on dumbfounded, unable to squeeze in a single confession.
After an unknown amount of time, everyone in the room fell
into a deep sleep.
The next day arrived.
After Ling Qi got up, he made some warm porridge, afraid that
the little child would catch a chill from staying outside with him last night.
While Ling Qi was preparing the porridge, Zhan Xi also got
out of bed.
He squatted in the yard, looking at the scattered pieces of
the broken little mecha, his brow furrowing deeply. Ningning would go to school
today, but his beloved rainbow mecha still hadn’t been repaired.
The kindergarten had mecha classes every day. How could his
precious baby attend class without a mecha?
***
The author has something to say:
Ningning: Let’s buy a new one! A new little mecha!
Thanks for the update!! 😍😍
ReplyDelete