Chapter 187

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yanqing smiled, bowed, and replied, "Mother, my name is Song Yanqing. My father said it means peace and tranquility, and the character 'Qing' in my name is also a way of remembering and missing you, Mother."

After saying that, he added, "My child really likes this name."

“Song Yanqing,” Shen Qingnian murmured softly.

She remembered that the man had suggested the name during her pregnancy. He had also thought of a girl's name at the time, Song Qingxue...

Memories buried deep in her heart resurfaced, causing Shen Qingnian to feel a pang of sadness. She forcibly suppressed it and asked the little boy in front of her, "Can I call you Yan Qing?"

“Of course you can,” Xiao Yanqing’s eyes were bright, as if they had fallen into the stars, and the joy in her eyes was almost overflowing. When she looked at Shen Qingnian, she even had a bit of a fawning look, like a little puppy waiting for its owner to take it home.

Although his mother appeared aloof, she was very gentle with him, which made him very happy.

Seeing Xiao Yanqing so happy, Shen Qingnian couldn't help but smile, her aloof demeanor dissipating and her whole person becoming gentler.

“Mother, your smile is exactly like the painting Father used to depict,” Xiao Yanqing couldn’t help but say, her words filled with amazement and emotion.

In his father's paintings, his mother was dressed in fine clothes and had exquisite makeup. Now, although his mother was without makeup, he couldn't help but feel close to her, whether in the paintings or now.

Shen Qingnian was slightly taken aback, then asked, "Did His Majesty personally paint my portrait?"

As far as she knew, men were not skilled in painting, and when the empress passed away, it was customary to invite a master painter from the palace to paint a portrait of the late empress.

There is no reason for it to be drawn by the emperor himself.

"After my mother passed away... my father missed her very much, so he would personally paint her portrait to ease his longing," Xiao Yanqing replied.

He remembered that his father would sometimes paint all night long, and would even stay in the Ice Palace for several nights in a row. Occasionally, his father would carry him inside, where he could see the entire wall covered in paintings.

Whether laughing, sitting, or standing...

The Emperor's painting skills also improved from being clumsy and rough at the beginning to becoming lifelike. In the entire Ice Palace, in addition to the portraits hanging on the walls, many others were put into wooden boxes.

Shen Qingnian was somewhat surprised to hear this. She hadn't expected the man to personally paint her portrait, and at the same time, the guilt she had been harboring in her heart began to surge slightly.

The new emperor's ascension to the throne should have been his busiest time, yet he personally painted the portrait, suggesting that his affection for himself was deeper than one might imagine.

She thought that after she faked her death, the other person would be able to quickly process their emotions and move on, but she overlooked the fact that he was a completely different person from her. He grew up in love and sunshine, and although he was an emperor, he was also her husband. Even though he had studied the art of rulership since childhood, his feelings for her were unconditional...

Shen Qingnian's face was somewhat pale. The guilt that she had forcibly suppressed countless times in her heart struggled to surge out at this moment, completely enveloping her.

The facts that she had previously dared not face and had timidly avoided were now laid bare before her.

She owed him; he deserved to punish himself...

Seeing that his mother didn't speak, Xiao Yanqing carefully took out two small white flowers from his bosom. The white flowers were flattened by the weight of the flowers in his bosom.

"Mother, Father once said that you love jasmine the most. I picked these jasmine flowers when I passed by a jasmine tree," Xiao Yanqing said, holding two jasmine flowers in her chubby little hands as if presenting a treasure.

Shen Qingnian snapped out of her reverie. She looked at the two jasmine blossoms that had been pressed and deformed, gently touched them with her fingertips, and smiled, "Mother really likes jasmine. Yan Qing, could you help Mother put them in her hair?"

She never imagined that the jasmine scent she used to attract men would be told to Yan Qing by a man.

Shen Qingnian was filled with complicated thoughts, but Xiao Yanqing was very happy. He stood on tiptoe and put the two small jasmine flowers in his mother's hair.

"Father once said that Mother was the most beautiful woman in the world, and now that I have seen her, it is indeed so," Xiao Yanqing exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.