Chapter 635: Wait for Me
Chapter 635: Chapter 635: Wait for Me
Addressed by name, Mo Lingwei immediately stood up perfectly straight.
"Hello, Auntie. My name is Mo Lingwei. I am the Crown Prince and will one day be the Monarch of Cangyun Country. Shen Ningning and I grew up together as childhood sweethearts."
Shen Siyi had a flash of realization. "So you’re the little Crown Prince. I remember you. Back when your mother was pregnant with you, she ate a lot of Saran and other warming fruits."
"I guessed back then that you would be prone to illness. Your father, the Emperor, was quite worried about your health. He even dreamed of Hellfire burning down the Imperial Palace. I told him that his frequent nightmares were simply caused by psychological stress."
"Your illness just needed proper treatment with cooling medicines and a period of recuperation to heal. Unfortunately, your father the Emperor didn’t believe me at the time."
Shen Ningning quickly said, "Later, Brother was harmed by the Poisonous Bracelet Qi Jingchun gave him. He developed a strange chilling ailment. If not for the Immortal Realm you gave me, which could treat his illness, that wicked woman would have nearly killed him!"
At the mention of Qi Jingchun, Shen Siyi’s expression instantly soured.
She rolled up her sleeves. "Is she still alive? If she is, I’m going back right now to finish her off with my own two hands. I treated her like a sister, and she used me like an idiot!"
"That woman must be an old hag by now, right? Just watch how I’ll torture her."
Xie Suzhi quickly wrapped his arms around his wife. "She died long ago. After you were gone, she used that so-called Natural Disaster System to wreak havoc. Ningning eventually subdued her, and she died a miserable death."
Shen Siyi turned and pulled Shen Ningning into a hug, nuzzling her soft little cheek.
"That’s my girl! Qi Jingchun would never have guessed that even if she plotted to kill me, my daughter would bring her to justice ten years later!"
Besides, Shen Siyi hadn’t actually died.
Instead, she had fallen into the water, discovered a fluctuation in the spacetime frequency, and seized the opportunity to return.
As the family was talking, Shen Ningning looked back and saw that Mo Lingwei had, at some point, stopped in his tracks.
He stood with his head lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
Shen Ningning waved and called out, "Brother! Why did you stop walking?"
Only then did Mo Lingwei catch up.
"I was just thinking... The problem that plagued my mother, the Empress, and my father, the Emperor, for so many years—something that even became a source of great torment for her—was it really that simple?"
He looked at Shen Siyi, his gaze complex. "So, I’m not an ill omen? It’s just that my mother had excess internal heat when she was pregnant, and I was weak when I was born... so my father’s daytime worries caused him to have such an absurd nightmare?"
Shen Siyi could see that this matter deeply bothered Mo Lingwei.
’Being treated as the reincarnation of an Evil God since childhood must have been incredibly painful for him as a child.’
"Of course. It was all a misunderstanding," Shen Siyi said, nodding firmly. "And you shouldn’t blame them. People in ancient times..."
She paused. ’Wait, my husband Xie Suzhi is an ’ancient person,’ and my daughter is half an ’ancient person’ too!’
’Mo Lingwei is about to become my son-in-law, so I can’t call him that either.’
Shen Siyi cleared her throat. "The era you live in doesn’t have such progressive ideas and concepts yet. I once read the records of your mother’s pulse diagnosis during her pregnancy."
"She mentioned often feeling as if her body was on fire, but that’s actually normal during pregnancy. A pregnant woman’s body temperature rises and is different from others’."
"I saw that the Imperial Physician also prescribed her some mild, cooling tonics, but perhaps they weren’t very effective. Add to that how much your father the Emperor doted on her and worried, and as the saying goes: what you think of by day, you dream of by night."
Actually, Shen Siyi had another suspicion.
’Perhaps the late Empress constantly felt unwell because someone had tampered with her medicine.’
But she didn’t voice this thought.
Because the Empress had already passed away, and saying such things would only bring pain to the living.
She just felt her heart go out to Mo Lingwei, who had carried the burden of an ominous legend since childhood, and on top of that, had to be the scapegoat for the natural disasters created by Qi Jingchun.
Shen Siyi wasn’t yet thinking of him as her son-in-law, but she already felt a pang of sympathy for him.
If the late Empress’s spirit in heaven could see the first half of her own son’s tormented life, she would be heartbroken too.
Mo Lingwei’s eyes gradually reddened. Finally, a light laugh of relief escaped his lips, as if an immense burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
"So I’m not an ill omen... I didn’t cause my mother’s death... I was her normal child."
Seeing this, Shen Ningning stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around Mo Lingwei.
"Of course you’re not. Besides, Brother, you’re so accomplished now. If the Empress knew from the afterlife, she would be so proud of you."
Mo Lingwei was vulnerable at that moment and needed the shoulder of someone close to him.
He didn’t hesitate to pull Shen Ningning’s waist tight against him, burying his head in her delicate shoulder.
Shen Siyi watched them with a sigh, but Xie Suzhi, beside her, was already frowning.
"I know, but... it doesn’t seem right for the Crown Prince to be holding Ningning like that. I’ll go pull them apart." As Xie Suzhi spoke, he started to walk towards them.
But Shen Siyi grabbed him and held him back.
"The children have their own way of doing things. What are you going to do, get in the way?" she said, her beautiful eyes glaring at him with a wife’s authority.
Xie Suzhi replied meekly, "But that’s our daughter. We can’t just let anyone hug her."
"The Crown Prince isn’t ’just anyone.’ Besides, I just heard Ningning say you’ve already agreed to their marriage, haven’t you?"
"But..."
"No ’buts’! Back when you were courting me, you climbed over my courtyard wall in the middle of the night!" Shen Siyi said casually, lacking the restraint and traditional mindset of the women of this era.
Her words made Xie Suzhi recall that time, and his handsome, scholarly face instantly turned red.
He immediately covered his wife’s mouth, his low voice a little frantic. "Not in front of the children. Don’t say it."
Shen Siyi blinked twice, feigning innocence, but her gaze was alluring and mischievous.
Back then, Xie Suzhi had been far more forward than Mo Lingwei. What else would he be doing, climbing into the Qi Mansion courtyard in the middle of the night?
He would, of course, pull Shen Siyi into his arms and kiss her, never getting enough.
Remembering his own youthful deeds, he suddenly found Mo Lingwei much more agreeable. Compared to his past self, Mo Lingwei was actually quite respectable.
"Crown Prince, how about a race?" Xie Suzhi suggested loudly, on a whim.
Mo Lingwei lifted his head, having mostly vented his emotions. "Race what?"
"I’ll carry my wife, and you’ll carry your betrothed. If you reach the foot of the mountain before us, we’ll agree to your marriage with Ningning, no questions asked."
Mo Lingwei froze. ’Could it really be that easy?’
’He thought that with Shen Siyi’s return, he would have to pass at least ninety-nine difficult trials!’
Shen Siyi immediately leaped onto Xie Suzhi’s back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Husband, run! Let’s get a head start!"
Xie Suzhi took off, running down the mountainside in huge strides.
Shen Ningning let out a soft cry as Mo Lingwei hurriedly lifted her onto his back. "Father! Mother! You two are so sly! How could you get a head start!"
Mo Lingwei hastily gave chase. Ahead of them, Shen Siyi’s long, wavy curls flew in the wind as she looked back with a smile, the curve of her red lips triumphant.
"All’s fair in war, my dear daughter. Haven’t you learned that? Besides, Xiao Mo, it would be embarrassing if you can’t even catch up to her father."
Mo Lingwei’s competitive spirit surged. He sprinted, kicking up clouds of powdery snow, and in the blink of an eye, he had already overtaken Xie Suzhi.
Now it was Shen Ningning’s turn to look back and wave breezily. "Father, Mother, we’ll see you at the foot of the mountain."
The family of four chased each other, while Hei Diao scrambled to keep up at the rear, its talons going TAP-TAP-TAP as it ran.
"Wait for me! I want to play too!" it squawked, flapping one wing like a hopping chicken.