Chapter 579 Boundless Motherly Love (First Update)
Princess Xinyang came out of the palace and got into her own carriage.
Yu Jin, standing beside her, asked, "Princess, shall we go to Vermilion Bird Street?"
Princess Xinyang thought for a moment and said, "Go to Biyue Alley."
When the carriage arrived at Bishui Hutong, Gu Jiao and Xiao Heng were turning over the soil in the front yard. The two of them were holding hoes and doing it quite well, just like a young farming couple.
Princess Xinyang stepped forward.
"Mother." Xiao Heng greeted her when he saw her.
Gu Jiao called out "Princess".
Princess Xinyang glanced at the man, not quite satisfied with the title.
Xiao Heng smiled and subtly took Princess Xinyang's hand: "Mother, what brings you here?"
"I won't bully your wife!" Princess Xinyang glared at him, slapped his hand away, and asked the two of them, "Has the Empress Dowager returned yet?"
Xiao Heng looked at Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao said, "I'm back. I'm inside talking to Huangfu Xian."
Princess Xinyang asked, "Do you all know about what happened in Ning'an?"
Gu Jiao nodded: "I just heard it from my aunt."
Princess Xinyang looked relieved: "Then there's nothing else. I'll head back now."
"I'll see you off," Xiao Heng said.
Princess Xinyang turned and walked towards the door. After taking only a few steps, she caught sight of the red-tasseled spear basking in the sun against the bamboo. She curled her lips and said to Xiao Heng, "This courtyard is spacious. Let's show off our spear skills."
A hint of embarrassment flashed across Xiao Heng's face as he took her arm and led her outside, saying, "My dear son, my dear son!"
Princess Xinyang glared at him, both amused and annoyed, before getting into the carriage to return home.
Holding a hoe, Gu Jiao looked at the tightly closed window of the west room and asked, "Do you think Auntie will tell him everything?"
Xiao Heng's gaze also fell on the tightly closed window, and he said, "Probably."
Gu Jiao thought for a moment: "Aren't you afraid he'll be sad? He's still so young."
Children seem very fragile.
"You're only three years older than him." Xiao Heng was both amused and exasperated. How much older did this girl think she was?
Xiao Heng said, "When faced with two evils, choose the lesser. The most painful thing is not to tell him and let him live his whole life in the misunderstanding of being hated by his own mother."
Gu Jiao seemed to sense his emotions and understand a little. She turned to look at him: "Remembering what happened to you?"
"Um."
Xiao Heng did not deny it.
The most painful thing he experienced was not that he was not Princess Xinyang's child, nor that he was almost burned alive in the fire, but that he misunderstood Princess Xinyang's disgust and abandonment of him.
It was a self-stripping away of one's heart and soul.
Gu Jiao said, "Huangfu Xian said that after he was injured, his mother seemed to become a different person, and perhaps she was no longer the real Ning An from that time on. Do you think the Prince Consort knows about Ning An?"
Xiao Heng shook his head: "I don't know. Some things will never have an answer."
It was an hour later when Empress Dowager Zhuang came out of the west room. She looked very tired, and there were bloodshot veins in her eyes.
She stumbled as she crossed the threshold.
Gu Jiao was sweeping the main room when she quickly stepped forward to help her up: "Auntie!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang waved her hand: "It's alright, I'm old, I'll go back to my room and lie down for a while."
After saying that, she slowly walked towards her little house.
Her hair was streaked with silver, and she was shrouded in a great sense of vicissitude. Even her back seemed to be slightly hunched. In just one day, she seemed to have aged ten years.
Her life was filled with so much suffering. She protected the Zhao Kingdom, His Majesty's throne, and the glory of the Zhuang family, but none of the people she raised with her own hands were left.
The Ning An she longed to see would never return.
Empress Dowager Zhuang slowly lay down on her bed; the room was dark.
creak—
The door was pushed open.
With another creak, the door closed.
A small figure trotted to the bedside and lay down on the edge of the bed: "Grandma!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "What?"
Little Jingkong asked in a cute voice, "Are you sleepy?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang rolled her eyes: "No, I'm just lying here sprouting."
Xiao Jingkong opened his eyes wide: "Oh, then shall I water you?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang: "..."
Little Jingkong said again, "Grandma, you still owe me a candied fruit."
Empress Dowager Zhuang: "The jar is on the table, take it yourself."
Xiao Jingkong exclaimed, "Auntie, why aren't you cheating today?"
Mrs. Zhuang said expressionlessly, "You were very noisy today."
Little Jingkong tilted his head and asked, "So, did I not make noise before?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang was about to lose her mind. She just wanted to be alone and grieve for a while. Why was this little monk always chattering away?
"Dinner's ready!"
Gu Xiaoshun's loud shouts echoed from the courtyard.
Little Jingkong tugged at Empress Dowager Zhuang's sleeve: "Grandma, let's go eat!"
"I don't want to eat."
"My great-uncle made brown sugar glutinous rice cakes."
"In no mood……"
"I also made red bean rolls."
"No……"
"And sweet egg soup."
Empress Dowager Zhuang's face darkened, and she swallowed hard.
Can't we just be sad for once?!
Huangfu Xian was a patient. He had just rested, so Gu Jiao didn't wake him up. She heated up some millet porridge for him in the pot so he could eat it when he woke up.
Unexpectedly, Huangfu Xian still did not wake up by nightfall.
"Why isn't the little brother awake yet?" Xiao Jingkong asked, puzzled.
"Let me see." Gu Jiao checked Huangfu Xian's pulse and touched his forehead. His pulse and temperature were normal. "He should just be asleep."
Huangfu Xian was indeed asleep.
He had a dream that he went back to when he was five years old.
That year, the snow in the border region was particularly heavy, and many people froze or starved to death in their homes.
Princess Ning'an, accompanied by her servants, planned to distribute porridge at Caishikou in Ye City.
The five-year-old boy ran over panting, hugged Princess Ning'an's leg, and said in a clear voice, "Mother! Xian'er wants to go too!"
Princess Ning'an looked at the snow falling heavily outside, gently patted his head, and said with a smile, "The snow is too heavy. Xian'er will freeze if he goes out. Xian'er, please stay at home and wait for your mother to come back, okay?"
The five-year-old shook his head and said, "But Mother will get cold too!"
Princess Ning'an said softly, "Mother won't, Mother is wearing many, many clothes."
The five-year-old puffed out his little chest and said, "Xian'er can wear lots and lots of clothes too!"
Princess Ning'an chuckled gently, pulled him into her arms, and kissed his little face and forehead: "Good boy, Mother will be back soon."
Afterwards, Princess Ning'an put him down, put on her cloak, and went out.
He strode to the door with his short legs, but unsurprisingly, he was stopped by the servants.
He had dreamed of this scene many times. The next scene was him pretending to take a nap, sneaking under the bench of the shopping carriage when no one was looking, and then successfully leaving the mansion with the carriage.
However, being young, he did not know that not all carriages went to his mother's soup kitchen.
The carriage stopped in an unfamiliar place.
It was already dark by then, and the coachman had gone to run errands, so he got off the carriage.
The unfamiliar streets and the unfamiliar crowd made him panic.
He began calling out "Mother" over and over again.
He didn't know how long he had been calling out or how long he had walked. The sense of bewilderment and helplessness he felt when he couldn't find his mother would wake him from his nightmares every time.
This time, however, it's different.
He continued to wander aimlessly through the streets like a headless fly.
The wind and snow grew heavier and heavier, and he lost his way. Unknowingly, he came to an empty official road, with endless white snow on both sides.
He had no strength left, and he fell into the snow, unable to get up again.
Just before he was about to lose consciousness, a gentle yet anxious voice sounded above his head, and then he was lifted up by a pair of gentle arms.
"Xian'er!"
It's my mother.
He weakly opened his eyes and saw a face covered in tears.
"Mother has finally found you!"
Princess Ning'an held him tightly in her arms.
He wanted to hug his mother, but he was frozen stiff.
Princess Ning'an carried him on her back, braving the biting wind and snow, walking forward with each step sinking deep into the snow.
Princess Ning'an fell into the snow countless times, but she got up countless times.
"Mommy, I'm so cold."
Princess Ning'an took off her cotton-padded coat and draped it over him.
"So sleepy..." he murmured, leaning on his mother's back.
Princess Ning'an said breathlessly, "Xian'er, don't sleep, Mother will take you home."
Eventually, she could no longer walk and collapsed onto the cold snow.
He lay on her back as the snow fell heavily.
She dug a small hole in the snow beneath her with her bare hands, her fingers bleeding and her bones exposed.
She took off her padded jacket and wrapped it around him along with her cotton-padded coat, then carefully placed him inside.
She then used her frail and thin body to cover the snow pit, shielding him from the blizzard.
The biting cold wind slowly tore at her body, and she gradually became stiff.
With her last strength, she said to him, "Xian'er, you must live on..."
(End of this chapter)
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