Upon hearing this, Ling'er exclaimed in surprise, "Writing? Are you joking, sister? His Highness the Prince of Qin has been unconscious for almost two days and two nights. How can he possibly write?"
"What? His Highness... he's been unconscious for two days and two nights? What happened? Wasn't he just injured?"
Upon hearing Lu Tianjiao's words, Ling'er suddenly burst into tears, wiping them away with her chubby little hands. She sobbed, "To save Ling'er's mother, His Highness Prince Qin and Sister Yun fell off a cliff together. His Highness Prince Qin was severely injured and remains unconscious. And Sister Yun... Sister Yun... Waaah... Waaah..."
Upon hearing Ling'er's words, Lu Tianjiao felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her head. The sound was continuous, and she couldn't help but slump to the side with a thud, completely stunned.
After a moment, regaining her senses, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Ling'er's small hands, shaking them vigorously twice. Then, she impatiently urged, "Yi Shangyun... what happened to Yi Shangyun... is she... is she already... Ling'er, tell me quickly!"
Ling'er continued to weep bitterly, choking out, "Below that cliff was a rushing lake. His Highness Prince Qin fell onto the lake shore, but Sister Yun... she fell into the lake... and is gone. Perhaps when she fell, she hit a rock on the shore and bled profusely, staining the rock red."
"What?" Lu Tianjiao stared wide-eyed in astonishment at Ling'er, who was now looking like a little tearful child.
She had hated that woman before… no, even just now, she still felt that same hatred. But for some reason, when she suddenly heard the news of that woman's death, a sense of loss welled up inside her, a feeling she couldn't quite explain.
This woman almost became her sister-in-law, whom she considered like a mother; this woman made her pale in comparison to the man she loved most; this woman, seemingly without doing anything, easily stole the heart of the man she loved with all her heart.
With great difficulty, she racked her brains and tried every possible way to stay in the Prince of Qin's mansion. She was determined to endure all humiliation and difficulties and wait for this woman to come to her door so that she could personally challenge her.
She even wanted to completely ruin this woman's reputation, to make her infamous and utterly trampled underfoot by the world, to be scorned and cursed by everyone. In this way, she could uproot her from the heart of the man she loved most, ensuring she would never have a chance to rise again.
Afterwards, she appropriately put herself back in, making that man fully realize that in this world, only she, Lu Tianjiao, truly and purely loved him.
...
But why, why did everything she had meticulously planned and schemed come to an abrupt end before it even had a chance to begin?
Lu Tianjiao, it turns out that you not only didn't even have the right to say those words to Brother Han, but now you don't even have the chance to compete against your opponent.
She suddenly realized that she had honed herself into this state, like a devilish fighting rooster, but sadly, she would never see an opponent appear again.
If that's the case, that deceased woman will surely become the deepest, most painful wound in Brother Han's heart forever.
In this way, she will never be able to enter his heart again, nor occupy the place most cherished in his heart.
Love is love, and that's enough. But Lu Tianjiao insisted on loving so greedily, wanting to be the most beloved person in her Han-gege's heart. As the saying goes, "There is nothing inherently wrong in the world; it is the foolish who trouble themselves." Love that is too greedy is destined to end in nothing.
"No, no, no... Impossible... This is impossible... How could she die? How could she just die like this... No..." As Lu Tianjiao thought about it, he suddenly seemed to go mad and started shouting to himself, while constantly shaking Ling'er's two thin arms.
Ling'er cried and screamed, "Ling'er wants Sister Yun, Sister Yun, come back, come back, boohoo... boohoo... boohoo..."
Just then, Granny Zhang, carrying a bowl of medicine, rushed out of Lin Yuexuan upon hearing the commotion. She snatched Ling'er's small hand from Lu Tianjiao's tight grasp, but then paused, momentarily stunned, at the woman before her. She then comforted Ling'er, saying, "Ling'er, be good, don't cry, don't cry..."
While stroking Ling'er's little head, Zhang Mama squatted down to wipe away the tears from her rosy, chubby face. She couldn't help but glare at Lu Tianjiao, but Lu Tianjiao was too absorbed in his endless sorrow to notice Zhang Mama's scolding.
Seeing that he completely ignored Ling'er, Granny Zhang shouted at Lu Tianjiao, "Who are you, girl? Where did you come from? How can such a big girl bully a child like this?"
Lu Tianjiao quickly came to her senses and stood up, apologizing repeatedly, "You must be... Granny Zhang. I'm so sorry, so sorry. I'm His Highness Prince Qin's junior sister at the West Qin Academy. It was Princess Qin who insisted on keeping me at the Prince Qin's residence to keep her company. Just now... just now I heard this little sister say that His Highness Prince Qin was seriously injured and had been unconscious for almost two days and two nights. I was so anxious... I must have frightened the little sister. I'm so sorry, so sorry."
Seeing that Granny Zhang was ignoring her and only focused on comforting Ling'er, Lu Tianjiao hurriedly stepped forward, placed a hand on Ling'er's shoulder, and said softly with concern, "Ling'er, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I was just now because..."
Before Lu Tianjiao could finish speaking, Zhang Mama angrily stood up and interrupted her. Perhaps due to the influence of Xuan Yuanhan's illness and her depressed mood, coupled with being angered by Lu Tianjiao's actions, Zhang Mama's movement when she stood up was somewhat abrupt, and she staggered slightly.
Seeing this, Lu Tianjiao quickly reached out to help, but Granny Zhang seemed to deliberately avoid her hand. Instead, she grabbed Ling'er's small hand, who was still crying, and walked towards the backyard, leaving Lu Tianjiao standing there silently, staring blankly at the departing figures of the old woman and the child.
Halfway there, Ling'er seemed to have finally calmed down and explained, "Granny Zhang, that older sister just now didn't bully Ling'er. She was probably just like Ling'er, and like everyone else, she also cared about His Highness Prince Qin and Sister Yun."
However, Granny Zhang seemed not to have heard Ling'er's words at all, and was only muttering to herself in a daze, "Your Highness's junior sister at Xiqin Academy... is... Lu Xian's daughter... So, she has grown up so much."
"Does Granny Zhang recognize that pretty lady from earlier?" Ling'er asked curiously, tilting her head as she slowly followed Granny Zhang's steps, holding her hand.
However, Zhang Mama did not answer her question. Instead, she suddenly stopped and earnestly instructed her with a serious expression, "Little Ling'er, have you forgotten what I told you? In the Prince Qin's mansion, you must not mention anything about His Highness to anyone."
Upon hearing this, Ling'er pouted and lowered her head silently, saying, "Granny Zhang, Ling'er misses her mother. Ling'er hasn't seen her mother for a long time."
Granny Zhang patted Ling'er's head tenderly, took her little hand, and walked away while saying with a worried expression, "Ling'er, be good, your mother... she will be back soon."
After a long while, Ling'er stammered and asked again, "Granny Zhang, do you think... Ling'er's father... is he really still alive? Will he come back? Why do I feel like I can't remember what my father looks like anymore!"
Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang sighed heavily, stopped, and pointed to a stray white cloud on the northern horizon. She said, "Ling'er, look at that white cloud on the horizon. Although it is extremely far away from the cloud above us, it is relentlessly striving to catch up. As long as this cloud is there, it will never lose its direction and will eventually reunite with us."
After a while, Ling'er suddenly turned around and faced the southern sky, where she noticed a tiny, snow-white cloud that looked like a scattered peach blossom. Ling'er was extremely surprised and asked, "Granny Zhang...did you see that tiny, very small, yet snow-white peach blossom cloud drifting from this side of the sky?"
Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang turned around and looked in the direction Ling'er was pointing. She exclaimed with delight, "Oh my, the cloud our little Ling'er found is truly a rare sight! It's snow-white, and there are five petals around it that look like peach blossoms."
After a moment of silence, Ling'er finally couldn't help but bring up the person that no one wanted to mention: "Granny Zhang...you said...that snow-white cloud floating in the south, isn't it...Sister Cloud?"
Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang remained silent, clearly speechless at the question posed by the innocent little girl before her. It was also because mentioning this person caused everyone in the Prince of Qin's mansion unbearable heartache.
However, Ling'er suddenly became excited and extremely happy. She looked earnestly into Zhang Mama's eyes and said, "Zhang Mama, didn't you just say that 'as long as that white cloud is there, those clouds that have fallen behind will never lose their direction and will eventually reunite'? In that case, if the white cloud in the north is Ling'er's father, then the snow-white peach blossom cloud in the south must be Sister Cloud, because only Sister Cloud is so beautiful."
Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang suddenly stared at her, startled by Ling'er's words.
But Ling'er continued cheerfully, "Granny Zhang, the 'Qin Prince's Mansion of Western Qin' is where that white cloud is. And Father in the North and Sister Yun in the South, Ling'er believes they will definitely come back with Mother to reunite with us. Mother will definitely find Sister Yun and Father. Hmm, Ling'er must be a good girl and listen to Grandma and Granny Zhang, stay in the Qin Prince's Mansion and wait for them to come back."
In the backyard of the Qin Prince's mansion, an old man and a young boy silently observed and gazed at the white clouds in the clear sky above.
Meanwhile, Lu Tianjiao hurriedly returned to his room and frantically rummaged through the bookshelves...
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