Inside the Kunning Palace's sleeping quarters, a sense of tranquility, as if the world had survived a catastrophe, permeated the air.
The pungent smell of blood has been replaced by the finest incense from the palace servants, leaving only a faint scent of herbs, a reminder that a thrilling battle has just ended here.
Xiao Che knelt by the bed, like a statue that had been lost and found again. He held Lin Wanwan's hand tightly, buried his face in her palm, and his hot tears silently soaked her cool fingertips.
He couldn't say a word, nor dared to think of anything. The more than an hour he had spent waiting outside the delivery room had almost exhausted all his energy. He had never felt time pass so slowly, nor had he ever felt death so close.
It wasn't his own death, but the fear that she might leave him.
That fear was far sharper than any sword or blade, enough to slowly tear him apart.
Lin Wanwan lay weakly on the bed, letting him vent his lingering fear and dread. She could feel his hand holding hers trembling violently; it wasn't the trembling of an emperor, but the most instinctive reaction of an ordinary husband fearing the loss of his wife.
Her heart ached with a mixture of tenderness and pain. She raised her other hand and gently stroked his trembling back, one stroke at a time, and soothed him in a hoarse but incredibly gentle voice, "I'm alright, Xiao Che. Look, I'm perfectly fine."
Her touch and voice were like a good medicine, finally calming down the emperor who had just been roaring.
Xiao Che took a deep breath and looked up. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his handsome face was still streaked with tears, but a light had rekindled in his deep eyes. He looked at her as if he wanted to etch her image into the depths of his soul.
“Wanwan…” His voice was hoarse, and he was about to say something.
Outside the palace, the long-suppressed cheers, like a thunderous roar, finally pierced through the thick palace walls and faintly drifted in.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on the birth of your son!"
"May Heaven bless the Great Liang! May the dynasty enjoy a long and prosperous reign!"
The rising and falling cheers finally reminded the emperor, whose mind was only on his wife, that he seemed to have... overlooked something important.
Lin Wanwan couldn't help but laugh at his still somewhat bewildered expression, and weakly reminded him, "Your Majesty, it seems you... forgot to see our son."
son.
Yes, he also has a son.
That little thing that had just pulled him back from the brink of kicking down the door with its loud cries.
Xiao Che then seemed to snap out of his daze. A complex emotion flashed across his face, a mixture of embarrassment, curiosity, and a hint of nervousness that he himself was unaware of.
He cleared his throat, straightened his back, and tried to regain his imperial dignity. He said in a deep voice to the door, "Bring him in."
Soon, the midwife he had just pushed away returned, accompanied by Ruolan, carefully carrying the swaddled baby in. This time, everyone was more careful; though their faces were beaming with joy, they dared not offer their congratulations loudly, lest they offend His Majesty, whose mind was entirely focused on the Empress.
The midwife carried the swaddled baby to the dragon bed and said softly, "Your Majesty, please look at the little prince."
Xiao Che finally shifted his gaze from Lin Wanwan's face to the small bundle wrapped in bright yellow brocade.
Then, his face, which had just regained some color, became subtle again.
Inside the swaddling clothes lay a wrinkled, red little thing. Its eyes were tightly closed, its face was smaller than the palm of his hand, its hair was sparse and stuck to its scalp, and its skin still had some vernix caseosa.
This is...my son?
The future crown prince of Liang?
how……
Why do you look like a little monkey?
Xiao Che's brows furrowed slightly, unable to contain himself. The prince he imagined, if not born with the bearing of a dragon and phoenix, should at least be exquisitely beautiful and exceptionally adorable. But the one before him… was far removed from his expectations.
His expression remained unchanged, still bearing the air of a profound and unfathomable emperor.
However, Lin Wanwan, who was standing to the side, clearly saw a brand new emoji slowly floating above his head.
It was a chibi-style cartoon emperor, looking at a similarly wrinkled little red ball of fluff with a disgusted expression, pinching his nose with two fingers. Below the image was a line of text filled with a probing question:
[This is my son? Why... he's a little ugly? .jpg]
Lin Wanwan almost couldn't help but burst out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth with the blanket, her shoulders shaking as she tried to suppress her laughter. This man, who said one thing but did another, even secretly disliked his own son in his heart.
“Your Majesty,” she said, suppressing a laugh and looking at him encouragingly, “won’t you… hug him?”
hug?
Xiao Che's body instantly stiffened.
Looking at that soft, boneless little thing, he suddenly felt a fear more intense than facing a thousand troops.
Can I hug this thing?
Will it break if you touch it?
His hands, which once held the reins of power and strategized with great skill; his hands, which once drew a powerful bow and brought peace to the country; his hands, which once wielded a sword on the battlefield and beheaded countless enemies… Now, when facing this small child of his own blood, he felt utterly lost.
He slowly stretched out his hands.
Lin Wanwan could clearly see that his long, strong fingers with distinct joints were trembling slightly, like the last stubborn leaf falling in the autumn wind.
The midwife noticed His Majesty's nervousness and quickly whispered instructions from the side: "Your Majesty, support the little prince's head and neck, and keep your arms steady..."
Xiao Che took a deep breath, as if he were about to embark on the most difficult battle of his life. Following the midwife's instructions, he stiffly reached out his arms towards the tiny swaddling clothes.
The moment that soft, warm weight truly landed on his arm, Xiao Che felt all the muscles in his body tense up instantly!
He felt as if he were holding not a soft baby, but a red-hot branding iron, a precious glass treasure that might explode at any moment, a rare object that was too hot to handle and would shatter at the slightest touch!
His whole body was stiff as a stone, he dared not move, and even his breath was unconsciously held. He lowered his head and stared intently at the little thing in his arms, afraid that if he blinked, it would turn into nothingness.
Lin Wanwan looked at his anxious and fearful expression, feeling both sorry for him and amused.
Who would have thought that the tyrant who once made the world tremble would be so frightened by his own son?
This is probably what they mean by "one thing subdues another".
A strange silence fell over the bedchamber. Lin Wanwan watched with a smile as the palace servants waited obediently, not daring to breathe. The whole world seemed to consist only of this new father and the new life in his arms, their silent and clumsy first interaction.
However, this quiet did not last long.
Perhaps Xiao Che's embrace was too stiff, making the baby in the swaddling clothes feel uncomfortable.
Suddenly, the wrinkled little face scrunched up even more, and the little mouth pursed.
Immediately afterwards—
"Wow--!!!"
A deafening cry, a hundred times louder and more heart-wrenching than the one heard outside the delivery room, suddenly erupted in Xiao Che's arms without warning!
The voice, so close yet filled with accusation and grievance, struck Xiao Che like a thunderbolt straight into the top of his head!
He was jolted awake, his brain instantly shut down!
What she held in her arms wasn't her son, but a thunderbolt! A death warrant!
Xiao Che was so frightened by the sudden crying that his arm holding the child trembled violently, and he almost instinctively threw the "hot potato" in his arms away!
Fortunately, his last shred of reason returned at the last moment, allowing him to firmly steady his arm. Even so, the horrified movement caused the midwife and Ruolan, among others, to gasp in shock!
"He's crying! Why is he crying?!"
Xiao Che was completely flustered. He looked at the little thing in his arms, its mouth wide open and its face flushed from crying, and was utterly at a loss. He wanted to comfort it, but didn't know where to start; he wanted to check on it, but dared not move it.
He could only stiffly hug this "human alarm," his face filled with unprecedented confusion and helplessness, looking at Lin Wanwan on the bed as if pleading for help.
Lin Wanwan was looking up at the completely out-of-control emoji above his head.
There, all the background and all the patterns vanished. In their place stood a gigantic, frantically flashing red alarm, a hundred times more piercing than the one that had blared during her own childbirth!
The siren was blaring a piercing, silent wail, and the entire area was shaking violently, as if it were about to collapse at any moment. And in the center of the siren, a line of text filled with panic and despair was scrolling frantically in an apocalyptic font:
[He's crying! Why is he crying? Did I hurt him? I need help urgently! .gif]
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