Chapter 131 Dwarfism

Yan Lang stood silently on the palace road, his back stiff. Yun Chen stood behind him as a guard.

A complex and gorgeous palace sedan slowly approached, accompanied by many palace maids and eunuchs.

On the palace chariot, a beautiful noble lady was sitting there leaning against the wall.

The lady looked to be over forty years old, but her charm and radiance remained undiminished and she was still very beautiful.

Yanlang bowed and kowtowed:

"Your son pays homage to Her Majesty Concubine Yi."

The palace carriage stopped immediately and the palace servants also stopped to wait.

Concubine Yi seemed not to have heard the greeting, and spoke lazily after a long while:

"Hey, isn't this the Third Prince? You haven't been studying herbal medicine lately, so you actually have time to come to the palace every day?"

There was a sharpness in Concubine Yi's words, and her tone was even more sarcastic, and she had no intention of letting Yan Lang stand up.

Yan Lang was still kneeling on the ground and replied:

"Your Highness is worried about your father's health. I have recently come to the palace to check your pulse."

Concubine Yi smiled, "That's right. Everyone says that long-term illness makes a doctor. Naturally, the palace physicians are not as capable as the Third Prince."

Yun Chen felt that this sounded so harsh. Was Yan Lang’s medical skills so superb because he had been ill for a long time?

But she has been with Yan Lang for more than half a year, and apart from looking old-fashioned, Yan Lang behaves like an adult in every way and does not have any illness.

Yan Lang was silent for a long time, without saying a word.

Concubine Yi didn't care either. She just sighed comfortably and said quite proudly:

"Look at my three useless sons—your three younger brothers are no match for you. Your fifth brother, the Prince of Jin, returned from his expedition to the Southern Barbarians last month. Your father insisted on rewarding him, but your younger brothers refused, saying it wasn't a victory.

Your eighth brother was a naughty boy, without any official position, but fortunately he married a wife and concubine. Oh, and now you have a nephew, and your eighth brother has a son. Your fourteenth brother has done a great job in shipping, and was crowned a king a few days ago..."

At first glance, Concubine Yi seemed to be showing off her son's abilities, but what she talked about was nothing more than ordinary things like getting married and having children.

Yun Chen secretly looked at Yan Lang's expression. His face was as cold as frost, but with a kind of numbness that came from having been hurt thousands of times.

She didn't understand why these ordinary things could hurt Yan Lang, but suddenly she realized a very important problem -

Yanlang is the third prince, and his younger brothers have all achieved great things, married and had children.

In addition, Yan Lang only entered the palace at night when there were few people around, so he has not been crowned king yet.

He was a child with a big heart, and spoke and acted in a mature and steady manner, but except for Yun Chen, everyone else was used to it...

Yun Chen had no choice but to infer a cruel fact:

Yanlang, is it dwarfism...

If that's the case, then everything makes sense.

Because of his long-term illness, Yan Lang studied medicine; because the royal family had such a descendant, Yan Lang could only live alone in the remote and deserted Guangyu Lanzhou, and could only go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor late at night.

Because he is an adult, he is disgusted by Yun Chen always calling him "Little Brother" and treating him like a child.

Concubine Yi talked for almost half an hour before leaving. When Yun Chen came back to his senses from his shocked guess, Yan Lang was still kneeling straight on the ground.

At the age of eight, he was small and frail, and looked very funny in the gorgeous and solemn attire of a prince that represented his royal bloodline.

Although ignorance is not a crime, Yun Chen felt very uncomfortable when he thought about how he had hurt Yan Lang's heart and lungs for the past six months.

She stepped forward to help Yan Lang up, brushed the dirt off his legs, dusted off his clothes, and wanted to rub his legs that were sore from kneeling, but then she realized that Yan Lang was an adult and she was a woman pretending to be a man, so they should not touch each other, so she withdrew her hand.

There was a flash of disappointment in Yan Lang's eyes. He forced himself to keep a straight face and said coldly:

"Now you finally understand. My body is eight years old, but I've already wasted thirty-nine years in this world."

She looked at Yan Lang with great distress. That look made him extremely uncomfortable. He couldn't help but turn his head away and said in a deep voice:

"Although dwarfism causes short stature, their organs are fully developed, and they can have relationships, marry, and have children. But I have a rare and incurable soul-leaving disease. Since I was eight years old, nothing has grown."

The body always stays at the age of eight, but the mind grows with each passing year.

When I grow up to be a teenager, I envy others and watch them fall in love for the first time.

When he reached the age of twenty, he watched from afar as his younger brothers had already entered the court as officials;

Growing up to thirty, he was alone, watching his brothers all have wives and concubines, and sons and daughters...

Emperor Dongyan had many concubines and sons. Among his more than twenty sons, only Yanlang was not allowed to be seen in public and could not be made a king.

He has been thinking about the same question for many years:

Should I live?

Is it possible to satisfy the royal dignity by dying and not have to suffer the torment of this world anymore?

Yun Chen couldn't imagine the pain Yan Lang had endured over the years.

Unlike Huo Gannian, Huo Gannian is a physically and mentally healthy adult man who became disabled in both legs due to an accidental injury. He urgently needs people around him to treat him with a normal attitude.

As for Yan Lang, everyone treated him cautiously, treating him like an adult. But as long as he lived in this world, all the mundane things and ordinary human relations would hurt him deeply...

Yun Chen didn't know how to comfort him. Yan Lang seemed to have gotten used to the pain day after day and didn't need any comfort.

But she knew he was just trying to act like everything was alright.

Otherwise, his house would not be full of servants and guards, without even a maid.

Since you are born deaf, why bother getting close to fragrance?

And so, there was no more conversation along the way.

Yun Chen followed Yan Lang into a palace to pay a visit to his biological mother, Concubine Zhao.

Upon seeing the gentle and docile Empress Zhao, Yun Chen instantly understood why Yan Lang had suffered such an experience but did not become distorted in character. At most, he was numb from the hurt and very cold-blooded.

Having such a mother probably helped Yanlang to ease many of the pains in his life.

Looking at the scene of loving mother and filial son, Yun Chen felt even more regretful.

Although Yan Lang looks only eight years old, he has inherited Yan Chuo's sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and has the appearance of a handsome young man.

When she first saw Yan Lang, she thought he was a very handsome boy.

She sighed in her heart, if it weren't for the soul-separation syndrome and if he hadn't been trapped in such a small body, Yan Lang would have been a handsome and bright young man now.

Half an hour later.

It was almost dark when we left Concubine Zhao's palace.

Yan Lang took Yun Chen out. When they passed a palace alley, they met two young eunuchs running over in a hurry. A moment later, they came back in a hurry with two imperial doctors.

Yan Lang asked the palace maid curiously, and she said that half an hour ago, Concubine Yi was returning to the palace after delivering snacks to the emperor. For some reason, she suddenly fell off the palace sedan chair, and her two knees were bruised and purple. It seemed that she would not be able to get out of bed for ten days or half a month.

After hearing what the palace maid said, Yan Lang immediately remembered that when he was talking to Concubine Zhao just now, Yun Chen, as a guard, had been standing in the corner of the hall and disappeared for a while.

He immediately looked at Yun Chen, and sure enough, he saw a hint of cunning in the latter's smart eyes.

Not understanding why Yun Chen was doing unnecessary stupid things again, his eyes trembled slightly, but he didn't say anything.

After leaving the palace in a carriage, he said:

"You are so brave, sir."

Yun Chen raised his eyebrows proudly:

"The Imperial Garden is full of pebbles. I have a hundred ways to make her fall flat on her face!"

Yan Lang couldn't help laughing.

"You have a hundred ways to deal with Concubine Yi, but can you think of a way to steal the wind-eroded grass?"

"I hadn't thought of that... Your Dongyan Palace is incredibly heavily guarded. I observed carefully and found that your father has at least two expert secret guards guarding him day and night."

"It should be eight."

"Damn it..."

"You can't sneak up on my father. You must approach him openly to have a chance of success. I have a plan. Do you dare to try it?"

"dare!"