“Mother, your emotions are showing too clearly,” Bai Qingyan said in a low voice.

Seeing that the palace maids and eunuchs had withdrawn from the great hall, leaving it empty, Dong Shi put down her chopsticks and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her handkerchief. Her eyes reddened, yet she stubbornly refused to admit it, saying: “It’s just that A’Jue, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh are about to go to Nan Jiang. I simply can’t bear to part with them. What emotions could I possibly have?”

“If that’s the case, A’Bao brought you such a beautiful parrot – you should at least give it a glance…” Bai Qingyan looked toward the parrot hanging in the corridor. The parrot was flapping its wings, its plumage brilliant and colorful in the sunlight, drawing the attention of all the young palace maids and eunuchs.

Bai Qingyan looked outside again, seeing that there was no one inside or outside the hall, before lowering her voice to instruct Dong Shi: “Mother, though we can meet, you mustn’t show your emotions too obviously. The palace maids and eunuchs in this palace are all very shrewd. For A’Yu’s safety, Mother must still restrain herself. As long as you can see A’Yu and know that A’Yu is well, that’s enough. Even Nanny Qin… cannot reveal A’Yu’s identity!”

Dong Shi immediately gathered her spirits. When it came to her son’s safety, Dong Shi would restrain her emotions no matter what, just as she had during the palace banquet that day.

“Mother is already very satisfied to be able to see A’Yu!” Dong Shi held back her tears and smiled as she spoke to Bai Qingyan. “Mother will control her emotions. I guarantee that even Nanny Qin… won’t see through anything.”

Bai Qingyan grasped Dong Shi’s hand: “A’Bao believes in Mother! Mother should eat something first! I went to court early this morning, and I’m already quite hungry. If Mother doesn’t use her chopsticks, A’Bao doesn’t dare to start.”

Dong Shi was amused by Bai Qingyan and reached out to poke Bai Qingyan’s forehead, then rose to personally serve Bai Qingyan a bowl of porridge: “Nanny Qin made this early this morning. She said she was worried you’d be tired from court, so she added some gastrodia powder. Drink more.”

“Good…” She smiled and nodded, accepting the porridge bowl from Mother’s hands.

Before she had finished the bowl of porridge, someone came from outside to report that Prince Ghost-Face had been brought over.

Bai Qingyan glanced at the porridge bowl in her hands and said to Wei Zhong, “Mother and I haven’t finished our breakfast yet. Go ask this Prince Ghost-Face of the Rong Di if he would like to come in and have some together.”

Wei Zhong was quite surprised. He looked up at Dong Shi, seeing that she appeared to be smiling and didn’t object, so he repeatedly acknowledged and went out to invite Prince Ghost-Face in.

Bai Qingyu gripped his robes tightly at his sides, turned his head to instruct A’Pulu to wait outside the hall, then lifted his feet to step across the threshold of Shouhe Palace.

“This way, please…” Wei Zhong gestured for Bai Qingyu to enter, guiding him into the great hall.

“This subject pays respects to the Empress Dowager of Great Zhou and His Majesty!” Bai Qingyu’s hoarse, unpleasant voice rang out, startling the bright blue parrot with brilliant plumage in the corridor, which flapped its wings and stretched its neck to cry out in alarm.

“Nanny Qin, take that creature away…” Dong Shi couldn’t maintain her composure and lost her temper to cover her heartache.

Nanny Qin quickly acknowledged and ordered two young eunuchs to carry away the parrot that Li Zhijie had sent.

Dong Shi gripped her dress hem tightly, looking toward Bai Qingyu while trying her utmost to control her emotions.

“Please sit, Your Highness!” Bai Qingyan gestured for Bai Qingyu to take a seat.

Bai Qingyu lowered his eyes, not daring to look at his mother’s eyes, and sat down at the round table.

Under the round table, Bai Qingyan grasped Dong Shi’s trembling hand and said to Bai Qingyu: “I wonder if Your Highness has had breakfast? If you don’t mind, perhaps you could join us?”

“Thank you for Your Majesty’s kindness, but this subject has already eaten,” Bai Qingyu said, not daring to remove his mask in front of his mother and elder sister, not daring to let them see his face.

Dong Shi thought Bai Qingyu was hiding his identity and nodded: “Since Your Highness has already eaten, we won’t insist.”

“Has Your Highness come here regarding the alliance between our two nations…” Bai Qingyan asked with a serious expression.

“Precisely. This subject heard that Prince Yan Li Zhijie of Xiliang came to pay his respects early this morning, so I could no longer sit still,” Bai Qingyu said.

Bai Qingyan wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and said to Wei Zhong: “Clear all this away and withdraw with the others.”

Wei Zhong understood that Bai Qingyan wanted to have a private conversation, so he led the palace maids and eunuchs to clear away the breakfast and withdraw to wait outside the hall.

As soon as the great hall doors closed, Dong Shi could no longer hold back her tears, which fell as she gazed at Bai Qingyu.

Bai Qingyan gripped her mother’s hand tightly, and only then did Dong Shi cover her lips with her handkerchief, not daring to let herself cry aloud.

Their four eyes met, and Bai Qingyan’s eyes were also red. Seeing A’Yu’s hands clenched tightly on his legs, she gently patted A’Yu’s clenched hands, then gently squeezed them. Everything was understood without words – it was good enough that they were alive… that they could meet.

“Mother… Elder Sister…” Bai Qingyu’s already hoarse voice became even lower.

This single “Mother” was like thousands of knives cutting through Dong Shi’s organs, causing her heartbreaking pain, yet she didn’t even dare to cry.

Her son had been such a fresh and handsome young man, his voice had been so pleasant – how had he become like this? Yet beyond her sadness, Dong Shi couldn’t help but feel grateful to heaven for letting A’Yu live, for letting A’Yu return…

Bai Qingyan’s tears fell like broken strings. She gripped A’Yu’s hand tightly, forcing herself to show a smile, grateful to the Bai family ancestors in heaven for protecting the Bai sons, grateful to heaven… for letting A’Yu return!

She wanted to touch A’Yu’s face, but it was covered by a mask.

Bai Qingyu gripped Bai Qingyan’s hand in return, squeezing it tightly, then rose with tears in his eyes and bowed deeply to his mother and elder sister. He then lifted his robes and knelt, kowtowing heavily.

Bai Qingyu, the fifth son of the Bai family, had returned safely to the capital…

These words were what Bai Qingyan most wanted to say, and what the Bai family most wanted to hear.

But at this moment…

Bai Qingyu could not speak to them.

He could only kowtow three times to Mother and Elder Sister.

Dong Shi could bear it no longer. She rose and rushed to Bai Qingyu’s side. Though tears were streaming down her face, she bit her lower lip hard to keep from crying aloud. She reached out her trembling hand, wanting to touch her son’s face, yet not daring to remove her son’s mask, fearing that if someone came in and saw… She could only hold her son tightly in her arms, embracing him with all her strength! Afraid that her son would disappear again, afraid that, like before, this was only a dream, and upon waking, there would be nothing, leaving only her.

Bai Qingyu bit down hard on his teeth and embraced his mother…

When he had left home, Mother had wanted to hug him, but he had thought himself grown up and was impatient with Mother’s embraces.

But later, living among the Rong Di, whenever he dreamed in the middle of the night, it was always of Mother’s embrace, always of Elder Sister’s smile.

Today, he had finally returned, but now was not yet the time to say he had returned home safely.

He would present the Rong Di and Xiliang as gifts for Elder Sister’s coronation. When the world was unified, on that day… he would definitely return to kneel openly and honorably before Mother and Elder Sister and all the Bai family members, and say those words… “I have returned home safely.”