Chapter 44 To Hug or Not to Hug

Lin Yanshu blushed slightly upon hearing this, and felt a throbbing in her head.

Lin Yanshu shook her head, but the more she shook it, the more her head spun, and she even saw double when looking at Li Chengyi.

Li Chengyi noticed that Lin Yanshu was acting strangely, and he asked her considerately:

"What's wrong?"

Lin Yanshu shook his head and said:

"fine."

But as soon as she finished speaking, she rested her head on Li Chengyi's chest and collapsed limply into his arms.

Li Chengyi didn't know what was wrong with Lin Yanshu. He shook Lin Yanshu's shoulder fearfully and called her name.

"Yan Shu, Yan Shu!"

If Lin Yanshu were awake, his brains would definitely have been shaken out by Li Chengyi.

Li Chengyi picked Lin Yanshu up in his arms and immediately summoned the imperial physician, putting aside all thoughts of Xiao Chen.

The imperial physician prescribed several doses of herbal medicine for Lin Yanshu, but Lin Yanshu remained unconscious.

Li Chengyi stared at Lin Yanshu, who was lying unconscious on the bed, and asked with a hint of anger, "Since you took the medicine, why are you still not awake?"

"What are you all good for?!"

The imperial physicians were sweating profusely from Li Chengyi's questioning. They had been summoned at the last minute, and the effects of medicine always take time to take hold.

Li Chengyi came to his senses and realized he had been too harsh. He waved his hand, signaling the crowd to push him away and bring out Lin Yanshu's master from the prison.

Now that the matter is settled, his crime of defection has been cleared. Since his apprentice is in trouble, he should come and see for himself.

Ji Yuan was hurriedly invited back.

He thought something terrible had happened, but when he returned home, he found his disciple lying on the couch again.

As a doctor, she always ended up bedridden with illness.

Ji Yuan stepped forward to take the pulse and asked:

"What has Yanshu been doing these past few days? What has she been eating?"

"I didn't do anything, I just called a witness with me and prescribed some medicine for the witness."

"That person was poisoned?"

How did Master Ji know?

Ji Yuan understood. His apprentice had always had this problem: testing medicine on herself. He had told her many times, but Lin Yanshu wouldn't listen. She even said that with him, her divine doctor master, around, he would always pull her back from the brink of death.

"Let me see those prescriptions she wrote."

Li Chengyi sent someone to deliver the prescription, which Ji Yuan examined one by one, as well as the prescription given to Lin Yanshu by the Imperial Medical Academy. It seemed to be the right remedy; Lin Yanshu would wake up once the medicine took effect.

"It's alright, Yan Shu is fine."

"If nothing's wrong, why won't he wake up? This is definitely not nothing!"

Ji Yuan glanced at Li Chengyi, who was now in disarray:

"Your Highness, don't panic, don't panic. Let Yan Shu rest for a few days and she'll be fine."

Seeing Ji Yuan's confidence, Li Chengyi felt less flustered.

"However, there might be some minor mishaps when he wakes up, but Your Highness is an exceptional person and will surely be able to handle it."

Ji Yuan didn't tell Li Chengyi that Lin Yanshu might experience temporary amnesia when she woke up.

Li Chengyi wrote it down, and Master Lin Yanshu said it was a minor mistake that would never cause any trouble.

"I've noted it down."

"Your aunt is waiting for you outside, Lord Ji."

During Ji Yuan's time in prison, the eldest princess had not visited him, which made Ji Yuan somewhat uneasy.

He was thinking about how to explain his disappearance to the princess. If all else failed, he might as well hide.

Although he seemed to have gained the favor of the princess since his return, he knew that the princess still harbored resentment towards him for leaving without saying goodbye back then.

Seeing that Ji Yuan turned around and showed no intention of leaving, Li Chengyi noticed that Ji Yuan had turned away.

He had Ji Yuan dragged away; he couldn't escape the emotional debts he had incurred.

Ji Yuan's departure was like a wolf entering a tiger's den; he never returned.

If Li Chengyi could have foreseen what would happen next, he certainly wouldn't have let Ji Yuan leave.

Li Chengyi visited Xiao Chen in prison. Xiao Chen readily confessed to the embezzlement case and the assassination attempt.

"If you want to avenge your father, why choose this path?"

Xiao Chen looked at the proud and noble Li Chengyi. As the crown prince, he lived a life of luxury and ease. How could he know his suffering?

He came from almost the same background as him, but he had to wander from childhood and be bullied, all because of the person on the throne.

Because he was fickle and unfaithful.

He wasn't stupid, and he didn't hate Li Chengyi; he hated the instigator.

"I want to kill him, and I want him to see the dynasty he built fall from his hands."

"Make everything he cares about disappear."

Li Chengyi frowned. He hadn't expected Xiao Chen to be so extreme. Was he really willing to let the entire world and the entire dynasty be buried with him for the sake of his own hatred?

The concepts of governing the country and ensuring its stability that Li Chengyi had been taught since childhood made him unable to accept and even less agree with this idea.

Perhaps finally having a chance to vent, Xiao Chen stared at Li Chengyi with bloodshot eyes:

“Your Highness, you were born a prince, so naturally you would not understand the suffering of someone as lowly as me.”

"When the emperor went south, he said he would give my mother a proper status, but then he just left."

"My mother was left alone with a big belly."

"She was a woman, and as her pregnancy progressed, her family couldn't tolerate her anymore, so she was kicked out."

"Until her death, she kept thinking that her ideal husband would come to find her. Tell me that my father will come to pick me up."

"A complete idiot woman."

“During those days of wandering and hardship with my mother, I had already made up my mind.”

"If I were to actually meet this so-called father emperor, I would kill him on the first meeting."

"But dying is too easy."

Li Chengyi looked up at Xiao Chen, who was staring at him, and said coldly:

"So, because of your suffering, are you going to make all the people of the world suffer the same pain as you?"

"Do you know how many wives lost their husbands and how many women were forced to live a life of hardship like your mother because of the military rations you embezzled?"

"An assassination attempt in the hunting grounds—if the two countries were to go to war again, how many more tragedies would there be for you and your mother?"

Li Chengyi acknowledged Xiao Chen's painful past, but he did not agree with him.

Does his suffering mean he expects the whole world to share in his pain?

Xiao Chen didn't look at Li Chengyi. He knew that what Li Chengyi said was true, and he himself knew that he had embellished his actions with clever words.

The situation is settled; Xiao Chen will not die.

The emperor has already issued an edict not to kill him.

However, while he could escape the death penalty, he could not escape punishment. He would never be able to fulfill his wish in this life and could only be imprisoned.

When Li Chengyi walked out of the prison, his sister was waiting outside, looking at him anxiously.

Is he alright?

Lee Seung-ik didn't know how to face his sister, whose husband had been exposed for his true identity and had committed a rebellious act.

"He won't die, it's just that you'll never see him again."

"Royal sister, don't worry about him anymore."

The princess gently shook her head: "My brother, he treats me very well."

I will not defend him for the mistakes he made.

“I will atone for his sins.”

With a solitary lamp and ancient Buddha statue, I beg the Bodhisattva for forgiveness.

Li Chengyi didn't try to persuade them any further. He knew that the Li family members were all stubborn and couldn't be persuaded.

They won't know to turn back until they've hit a brick wall and bled profusely.

………………

Li Chengyi spent his days watching over Lin Yanshu as he handled the remaining matters of the case, waiting for Lin Yanshu to regain consciousness.

Lin Yanshu finally woke up, and the first thing she saw was Li Chengyi sitting at his desk reading official documents.

She blinked, looking as innocent as a naive fawn. She looked at Li Chengyi quietly, without saying a word.

After a long while, Li Chengyi sensed something was wrong, looked up, and suddenly met Lin Yanshu's gaze.

She's awake!

Li Chengyi was very excited. He dropped the memorial in his hand, rushed to Lin Yanshu's bedside, and called for the imperial physician:

"Summon the imperial physician! The person has woken up!"

Lin Yanshu was unusually quiet, so quiet that Li Chengyi felt somewhat uncomfortable.

She sat on the couch, watching the crowd come and go before her. The imperial physician examined her, uttering a string of gibberish.

She didn't care; she just stared intently at Li Chengyi.

Everyone else was irrelevant to her except for Lee Seung-ik.

After confirming that Lin Yanshu was unharmed, Li Chengyi dismissed everyone.

Lin Yanshu only started moving after a group of strangers left.

She looked at Lee Seung-ik and opened her arms to him.

Li Chengyi responded naturally, sitting down next to Lin Yanshu, opening his arms, ready to respond to Lin Yanshu.

But then I heard her say:

"Mommy, hug me."

Li Chengyi froze on the spot.

What does Lin Yanshu call himself?

When did I become her mother? Didn't those imperial physicians say she was fine? Why would they say such a thing to me!

When Li Chengyi didn't respond to her calls, Lin Yanshu pouted in displeasure. She opened her arms and said urgently:

"hug."

"You can't hug me."

"Why?"

"There's no reason why. First, tell me why you call me Mother."

Lin Yanshu said:

"You are the first person I saw. The first person I saw when I opened my eyes was my mother."

Li Chengyi had no idea where Lin Yanshu got all these absurd arguments from, and the veins on both sides of his forehead bulged with anger.

Originally, Lin Yanshu waking up should have been a joyous occasion, but now she's calling him "mother." No man would accept a woman he loves calling him "mother."

This makes it seem as if his thoughts violated ethical principles.

His tone was slightly irritated:

"Who told you this nonsense?"

"I don't remember."

This all comes down to Ji Yuan. When Lin Yanshu was little, Ji Yuan would often tease her, saying:

"The first thing an animal sees when it opens its eyes is its mother."

Lin Yanshu has lost his memory, but he remembers the indecent things very clearly.

"Mother, you're so mean! Don't you want me anymore?"

Lin Yanshu spoke with tears welling up in her eyes, looking aggrieved, biting her lip in struggle, as if a storm was brewing.

Seeing Lin Yanshu's appearance, Li Chengyi immediately panicked and stopped trying to correct Lin Yanshu's way of addressing him.

"Wait a minute. Hey, don't cry."

"I didn't abandon you, I'm not your mother."

Lin Yanshu sat blankly on the couch. After understanding what Li Chengyi said, she burst into tears.

“My mother doesn’t recognize me and she’s lying to me. She just doesn’t want me anymore.”

Li Chengyi didn't know where Lin Yanshu got so many tears from; they flowed like a floodgate opening, unstoppable.

He clenched his fist in bewilderment, and finally resigned himself to the fate of being a mother.

He stepped forward, embraced Lin Yanshu, withdrew his hand, wiped away the tears on Li Chengyi's cheeks, and gently coaxed him:

"Alright, alright, stop crying. Your mother didn't abandon you."

"You silly child, I was just teasing you, and you're crying like this. If you keep crying, I'll really abandon you!"

Li Chengyi pretended to be fierce to scare Lin Yanshu, and Lin Yanshu actually stopped crying.

She reached out and hugged Li Chengyi back, rubbing her face against his brocade robe, her tears falling onto him.

Her eyelashes fluttered wetly, looking pitiful, as she nestled against Li Chengyi's chest, looking up at him.

"Yanshu, don't cry, Mother, please don't abandon me."