2 Entering the palace
◎Huo Yan: I didn’t cry, wow◎
March of the second year of Jianyuan①.
Huo Yan, who had just turned eight months old, was awakened in the middle of the night by vague fragments of memory and saw Huo Qubing sleeping on him with his legs spread out.
Their faces were almost pressed together, and his brother's little arm, as white and tender as a lotus root node, was resting on his shoulder. It was no wonder that he dreamed of being bitten by an octopus in the first place due to this kidnapping posture.
It turned out that the little octopus was not in the dream, but was right next to him.
He laughed to himself, looking left and right, and thought his brother was super cute.
He climbed up from Huo Qubing's arms on tiptoe, without waking him up. He was even so concerned that he covered his brother's belly.
There's nothing I can do about it, I'm born to worry.
Just as he was about to lie down and continue sleeping, he heard a loud shout.
"My third sister was chosen by that noble lady and entered the palace?! Qing'er also went with her?! The princess is also planning to release our family from slavery?"
No need to guess, the one making so much noise must be Wei Shaoer.
"Keep your voice down, the children are asleep."
Wei Junru said softly.
Upon hearing this, Wei Shaoer slapped his mouth, and the rest of the people also lowered their voices.
Huo Yan couldn't quite hear what was going on. He had just learned to crawl, so he used his hands and knees to crawl to the end of the bed, ready to listen again. Unfortunately, there was a separate room, and Wei Shaoer and the others had turned down the volume, so he couldn't hear anything.
He lay there for a while, and finally rubbed his eyes, yawned, crawled forward two steps, fell beside Huo Qubing's belly, and fell into a deep sleep.
My mother is always in a panic all day long. This time, she probably put the thread in the wrong place again and insisted that someone stole the thread she was weaving.
He thought in his half-asleep state.
When he woke up, he heard the people around Pingyang Marquis's mansion complimenting the Wei family and his mother and the others' joy at being released from slavery. Only then did he understand what everyone meant by entering the palace and what he had missed last night.
My aunt is gone. She was taken away by the emperor.
His most gentle aunt was taken away by the emperor.
His uncle was also kidnapped yesterday.
Huo Qubing didn't understand what was going on. He just blinked and watched the Wei family moving back and forth, giggling. He also patted Huo Yan and asked him to watch with him.
This was a normal reaction for him. He was always curious about living and moving people.
It’s just that the people he photographed weren’t quite normal.
Huo Yan, who had the memory of his past life, lay on the bed, sighed softly as if he saw through everything, then turned over silently, revealing his little belly.
"Baby, you're so generous! Considering our family's status as a mule-horse-kneeling family, if my uncle and aunt were taken away, the worst they'd do would be to become palace slaves. And for illegitimate children like us, who only have a mother, we're lucky it's the Han Wu Emperor era, so we still have some hope. If it were the Ming or Qing dynasty, we'd probably be gossiped about for the rest of our lives."
"Yanyan, crying?"
Huo Qubing turned his head to look at his brother and found that his brother had a dull expression and tears were constantly flowing from his eyes. Seeing him looking at him, Huo Yan quickly raised his arms to cover his tear-red eyes.
"You're wrong, I'm not crying!"
I'm not crying, don't talk nonsense! I'm a little boy who stands tall and proud!
Although he is only eight months old, perhaps due to the influence of his previous life, he does not have any of the obstacles regarding pronouns that other children have, and he speaks very fluently.
Huo Qubing wiped his tears and handed him his other sleeve while wiping.
"No crying, Yanyan."
Huo Yan snorted, turned over again, and turned his butt towards Huo Qubing, crying out in a sobbing voice, "I didn't, I said it, wuwa."
Huo Qubing patted him on the back, very generously.
"Yanyan didn't cry."
night.
A cry of "woohoo" broke the silence. Huo Qubing, who had been calm and comforting in the morning, hugged Huo Yan and cried uncontrollably after hearing that Wei Qing was gone.
There was no other way. Usually when Wei Shaoer was not around, Wei Qing was the one who accompanied them.
Huo Qubing, who had been pestering his uncle eight out of ten days, began to look for his uncle when it was almost time to go to bed, but he couldn't find his little uncle even after crawling all over the house.
He has been stubborn since he was young, and he kept looking for it on the ground when he couldn't find it.
“Chirp.”
uncle.
Huo Yan followed him and led him to the right place to climb when he turned the wrong turn, not letting him go out or go to dangerous places.
He even encouraged Huo Qubing when he was about to cry.
It's okay. Babies at this age tend to forget things very easily and they will forget about their illness quickly.
It doesn’t matter if you forgot. I will remember it for both of us and find a way later.
Huo Yan coaxed Huo Qubing to the bedside and prepared to take him up.
"Uncle is going horseback riding!"
He smiled as usual, coaxing the child in front of him with a happy tone.
If everything stopped here, it would be a beautiful picture.
Unfortunately, Ms. Wei Shaoer was not around usually, so she rushed in, lifted the curtain, put the two children to bed, changed their clothes, and coaxed them to sleep.
Huo Qubing was a stubborn person, so naturally he wanted to ask where Wei Qing was going.
When asked this question, Wei Shaoer's expression immediately softened and he couldn't help laughing.
Huo Yan's heart skipped a beat and he threw himself into Wei Shaoer's arms, sobbing softly to try to stop Wei Shaoer from speaking.
But Wei Shaoer is an extrovert, and he is like winking at a blind man.
She coaxed Huo Yan, "Your uncle and third aunt have both entered the palace. From now on, our lives will get better and better. On such a good day, you're still crying."
After Huo Yan heard what she said, his body froze for a moment and he couldn't even pretend to cry.
What a stupid teammate! I can’t lead the team!
Sure enough, the clever boy Huo Qubing quickly grasped the meaning of the word "entering the palace".
Wei Shaoer became even more excited. She didn't care who she was talking to and started to describe her experience of entering the palace.
Huo Yan felt a little numb when he saw Huo Qubing's tears growing more and more and Wei Shaoer's face flushed.
Sure enough, before Wei Shaoer finished speaking, Huo Qubing burst into tears.
Huo Yan immediately escaped from Wei Shaoer's arms at lightning speed and crawled towards Huo Qubing.
Mother, I am blessed to have you.
Fuck, my daily question is, when can I run? I’m really slow at crawling.
"Don't cry, don't cry." Huo Yan wiped Huo Qubing's tears distressedly, emphasizing, "Mother is a liar!"
Ancestor, please stop crying. What if you get sick again?
Huo Qubing leaned against him and cried even louder, "Everything you say is a lie."
The fair and smooth little face that usually always smiles is now covered with tear marks and the nose is red.
Wei Shaoer wanted to hug him, but he pushed her away.
"Mother, I'm happy."
My uncle is gone, why is my mother happy?
Wei Shaoer was a little at a loss in front of the bed. Huo Yan resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her and said, "Okay, okay, you keep crying like this. I had a lot of trouble coaxing you into submission."
Wei Shaoer was still at a loss.
Huo Yan sighed in his heart, and finally had to pat Huo Qubing's back slowly, hold his face up, and gently rub it like he usually did when Huo Qubing cried, hoping to soothe his emotions as usual.
As expected, Huo Qubing's crying gradually stopped and he no longer cried.
Huo Yan rubbed his cheek again before reaching out to wipe his tears.
"If it's lost, you can find it. Bingbing and I will look for it together when we grow up. So don't cry, okay?"
After Huo Yan finished speaking, he swallowed the saliva produced by his small and incompletely developed mouth and tongue.
He said such a long sentence that Wei Shaoer couldn't help but stare at him.
Ah Yan, is it normal to say this at this age?
Huo Yan is very annoyed now, especially since Wei Shaoer looks at him as if he were a monster, which reminds him of some bad memories.
"Mother."
He couldn't help but remind him.
Upon hearing this, Wei Shaoer suddenly raised her head, her eyes full of joy. She almost cried with joy, "Ah Yan, my son, you are so eloquent, you are a child prodigy!"
After she finished speaking, she ran out without waiting for Huo Yan's reply, obviously intending to chat with Wei Ai and the others.
Huo Yan looked at her back and suddenly lost his breath.
He shouldn't have doubted his mother's kindness.
Grandma is very cute.
Huo Qubing also looked at Wei Shaoer curiously as he left. He stopped crying completely and huddled close to Huo Yan, putting his little face on Huo Yan's shoulder. He spoke in a hoarse voice, and every word he said was intermittent.
But Huo Yanquan, who was with him day and night, could hear it.
Ah Yan, is it far to get to the palace? Would you be scared walking that far alone? Can we find it? Do we have to grow really big?
Huo Yan lowered his eyelids when he heard this. He had no way to answer.
But tears fell silently again, and his heart felt empty, as if a piece was missing, but he couldn't figure out what was going on. He only knew that he couldn't answer Bingbing because he wanted to cry too.
So he hugged Huo Qubing back even harder, lowered his head and shed tears on his neck.
He didn't know how long it would take them to be able to enter the house from being an illegitimate child, and he didn't know whether his aunt and uncle were safe or afraid.
He didn't even know how old he would have to be before they could see each other again.
He could only answer.
"Keep walking, keep walking, keep searching, keep searching."
Huo Qubing let him cry on his neck. He was still the smart and stubborn child that Huo Yan loved the most. He stretched out his hand and hooked Huo Yan's little finger.
"Yanyan, let's go together, hook."
Huo Yan intertwined his little finger with his and hooked it as before.
"good."
Just like the first time he tricked Huo Qubing into making a pinky promise with him, he said with a smile, "Pin it down and hang yourself, and don't change it for a hundred years."
The two of them searched together.
Ever since he set the goal of meeting Wei Zifu and the others, Huo Yan has become much quieter than before.
Of course, no one could see it except Huo Qubing.
Because Huo Yan rarely speaks in normal times.
When Huo Yan had already thought of a hundred or eighty cruel methods of "Are there any kings, princes, generals, or ministers of different races?", Wei Qing came back.
I can only say that it’s a good thing that Wei Qing is back.
Wei Qing returned in the evening of the third day. As soon as he entered the house, he saw his family waiting at the door. He subconsciously gave a gentle smile and briefly recounted what happened last night and the arrangements made by the current emperor for him and Wei Zifu.
The emperor kept Wei Zifu and asked her to serve in Jianzhang.
Everyone in the Wei family immediately showed joy on their faces.
Seeing the joy of others, Wei Qing was silent for a while. He was wondering if it would be difficult for his third sister to be given as a gift to the emperor and enter the palace.
But to prevent others from overthinking and becoming anxious, he forced himself to put aside his worries and pretended to be happy. He chuckled and agreed, "Third sister is very lucky."
Wei Qing was chatting with everyone when two little cannonballs crawled straight towards him, calling him "uncle" in a baby voice.
His smile couldn't help but become more genuine, and he opened his arms and hugged everyone.
"Good boy. Uncle is back."
After dinner, Wei Shao'er was still dressed neatly and ready to go out. She had been busy having a secret meeting with Chen Zhang③, who had visited Pingyang Hou Mansion last time, and out of habit, she entrusted her two children to Wei Qing who was free.
Wei Qing agreed, hugged his two nephews with red and swollen eyes who had been clinging to him since he returned home, and coaxed them to go to bed.
The two children closed their eyes obediently. He left with satisfaction, but when he left, two identical forces grabbed his sleeves.
Two pairs of almond-shaped eyes that looked very similar to his looked at him eagerly, with tears in their eyes.
"uncle!"
The first one to speak was Huo Qubing, and tears began to fall as soon as he opened his mouth.
Huo Yan also started crying. He cried silently, but tears streamed down his face. He tightly grasped Wei Qing's hand and asked softly with tears in his voice, "Let's go?"
Wei Qing's heart was weakened. Holding his two nephews, the young man's face was full of indescribable tenderness, and he shook his head gently.
"No, uncle won't leave. Uncle said we are a family and we will be together forever." He paused and stroked the furry heads of his two nephews. "Aunt is going to enjoy a good life. She won't be hungry anymore and won't be beaten or scolded by noble people."
The real cub Huo Qubing nodded and grinned at him.
The fake cub Huo Yan lowered his head, wondering in his heart.
My aunt stayed in the palace. Given their family status, it was impossible for her to enjoy herself or be respected. It was normal for her to be bullied by everyone.
He quietly clenched his fists.
Rebellion? He was too young. By the time he grew up, Emperor Wu of Han would have already seized power. Challenging an emperor with millions of soldiers at his disposal and rebelling against him would mean waiting for death, and it would also implicate his family. It was definitely not an option.
Huo Yan's lowered eyes were filled with darkness. The only way left was to become an official.
He must have power, very much power, so that his aunt will not be bullied.
【Author’s words】
①In the spring of the second year of Jianyuan (139 BC), Wei Shaoer's sister Wei Zifu was favored by Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che.
② "Records of the Grand Historian" states that in the third year of the Jianyuan reign (138 BCE), Wei Zifu, who had been neglected for over a year since entering the palace, became pregnant again. This sparked jealousy among Empress Chen, and her mother, Princess Guantao, ordered the capture of Wei Qing, who was serving at Jianzhang (later Jianzhang Palace), with the intention of killing him. Therefore, it's possible that after Liu Che had sex with Wei Zifu, he took Wei Qing with him as well. It's possible that he had a twelve-year-old child drive him back home. (While this seems outrageous, it doesn't seem out of place if it was him.)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
