Yun Chu took a brief nap and woke.

Opening her eyes, she saw a small face magnified before her.

“Auntie, you’re awake.”

Chu Hongyu was leaning against the bedside, looking extremely well-behaved.

“The Young Lord insisted on coming in to watch you sleep.” Liu Qianqian looked down quite helplessly. “Young Lord, can we go out now?”

Chu Hongyu shook his head like a rattle drum. “Auntie will be so bored all alone when she wakes up. How about I stay here and tell Auntie stories?”

Yun Chu propped herself up slightly and touched his body. “Were you frightened last night?”

“With Auntie protecting me, nothing happened to me at all!” The little one patted his chest, then sighed. “Father says that a manly man should protect women, but I’m too small—I couldn’t protect you. But Auntie, don’t worry. When I grow up, whoever dares bully you, I’ll pay them back tenfold!”

He secretly glanced at Liu Qianqian beside them, then leaned close to Yun Chu’s ear. “When I grow up, I’ll marry you in Father’s place. That way I can openly call you Mother!”

Yun Chu: “…”

She touched the child’s head. “Then Auntie will thank you in advance.”

Liu Qianqian sighed inwardly. This child and Chu’er looked truly close. If someone who didn’t know saw them, they might even think they were mother and son.

“Auntie, I saw a very interesting story in a book yesterday. Let me tell it to you.” The little one spoke. “The book said there was a child who was especially clever and could learn anything. His father was particularly proud…”

As he spoke, he climbed onto Yun Chu’s bed.

It was the height of summer, and Yun Chu was only covered with a thin blanket. The little one wasn’t afraid of the heat either. Nestled against Yun Chu through the blanket, he began telling his story with great relish.

Yun Chu’s serious injury hadn’t healed yet. Although she had just woken from a nap, after talking for a while, her head began to feel heavy and confused again.

Tingshuang brought in the freshly brewed medicine, preparing to attend to her while she drank it.

Chu Hongyu climbed up from the bed. “Let me, let me! Can I feed the medicine to Auntie?”

He scooped up the medicine with a spoon, blew on it once, then blew again, before slowly bringing it to Yun Chu’s lips.

Yun Chu drank it down and smiled. “Thank you, Yu’er.”

Though Chu Hongyu was small, once he set his mind to doing something, there was no reason he couldn’t do it well. He concentrated seriously and actually managed to feed her the entire bowl of medicine.

After feeding her the medicine, he immediately asked Tingshuang, “Where are the candied fruits?”

Tingshuang lowered her head and replied, “Madam doesn’t like eating things that are too sweet, so no candied fruits were prepared.”

“How can that be?” The little one frowned. “Every time you take medicine, it’s so bitter, so bitter. If you don’t eat something sweet, that bitter taste stays in your mouth all day—it feels so uncomfortable…”

He felt around on himself. “When I left, Nanny gave me candied dates. Auntie, open your mouth—ah!”

Although Yun Chu didn’t like sweets, this was the little one’s thoughtful gesture. How could she refuse? She opened her mouth, and a candied date was stuffed inside.

The full sweet flavor spread through her mouth. Her heart also seemed to be soaking in a honey jar, sweet as sugar.

Life was so bitter—this mouthful of sweetness was hard to swallow down.

“Auntie, after drinking medicine you need to rest well. I’m leaving now.” Chu Hongyu jumped down from the bed and stood obediently beside it. “Tomorrow I’ll bring Changsheng to see Auntie together.”

Liu Qianqian was surprised.

So the young princess from Prince Pingxi’s residence also had a very good relationship with Chu’er?

Chu’er was in the Xie family’s rear courtyard every day—how would she have the opportunity to become so close with the Young Lord and the young princess?

Outside, Chu Hongyu obediently walked to Chu Yi’s side. “Father, Auntie Yun is resting. Let’s go back too.”

For the first time, Chu Yi felt his son was sensible.

He had thought this boy would insist on staying at the Yun family and refuse to leave. He had already prepared to use thunderous methods to bring the child back to the prince’s residence…

“Father, Auntie asked how Changsheng is doing. Bring Changsheng along tomorrow.”

Chu Yi rubbed his brow.

They had agreed to only visit once. Who had agreed to come again tomorrow?

Although Madam Xie had saved this boy, coming too often wasn’t appropriate either. Besides visiting the sick, there were many other ways to express gratitude.

For him, a man, to bring his son daily to visit someone else’s womenfolk—if word got out, it wouldn’t affect him, but rather Madam Xie. His already presumptuous actions had brought trouble to Madam Xie. If he came to the Yun family daily, Madam Xie might suspect he had some…

Thinking of this, the image of that slender waist, too delicate to grasp in one hand, floated before Chu Yi’s eyes.

When he realized what he was thinking about, his ears involuntarily turned red. He coughed and spoke with a calm expression. “Lord Yun, Young Madam Yun, this Prince will take his leave first.”

Yun Ze nodded and personally saw the two out.

Walking outside, a carriage stopped at the entrance of the Yun residence.

Yun Ze frowned slightly. With Father not in the capital, the Yun family rarely had visitors. Why were they coming in waves today?

He glanced at the carriage and recognized it—it was the carriage from Marquis Xuanwu’s residence.

Qin Mingheng had heard that last night the Yun residence had summoned a female physician at midnight to treat an illness. Early this morning, he had specifically requested the female physician to come to the marquis’s residence to check his wife’s pulse for peace of mind. Only then did he learn that Yun Chu’s carriage had met with an accident and she was injured, currently recuperating at the Yun residence.

He was somewhat worried, so he came to the Yun residence to inquire about the situation.

Who knew that just as he descended from the carriage, he would run into Prince Pingxi.

He was just an externally-surnamed marquis without real power. Before a prince personally enfeoffed by the Emperor, he was nothing. He immediately bowed his head in salute. “This humble official greets Your Highness.”

Chu Yi stared at him coldly.

These past few years, he had been very busy—first rushing about everywhere, busy finding treatment for his two children, and second, receiving imperial orders to suppress bandits in various regions and provinces, rarely in the capital.

In recent times, he had finally been able to stay in the capital for an extended period. He had repeatedly sought to have tea with Marquis Xuanwu, but the marquis always avoided seeing him.

He was just preparing to forcibly compel Marquis Xuanwu to enter the prince’s residence when he unexpectedly encountered him at the Yun residence entrance. This was a good opportunity.

“Last time this Prince sought tea with Marquis Xuanwu, the marquis said he was ill. Yet this Prince sees you looking quite spirited.” Chu Yi spoke. “As it happens, there are some matters this Prince needs to ask Marquis Xuanwu about.”

Qin Mingheng lowered his head and gripped his paper fan tightly.

After the incident five years ago, Prince Pingxi had questioned him once.

After the two children were born, Prince Pingxi had grabbed him and questioned him again.

Who would have thought that after all these years, he was still asking!

He followed Chu Yi to the large stone lions at the entrance of the Yun residence. “Your Highness, this humble official has said before—after that woman was violated five years ago, she went into hiding. It wasn’t until she gave premature birth that this humble official learned of her whereabouts. By the time this humble official arrived, she had already died from difficult labor, and the two children had no breath either… This humble official thought the children were dead and didn’t dare send them to the prince’s residence, which is why I left them on the road Your Highness must travel… If Your Highness doesn’t believe me, you can send people to investigate.”

Even now, he couldn’t believe that two premature children with deathly auras had actually been kept alive!

He would never tell Chu Yi that the woman from back then was Miss Yun from the Yun family!

The woman he couldn’t have, he wouldn’t let anyone else have either!

Chu Yi’s lips were ice-cold.

If he could investigate clearly, he wouldn’t need to come asking.

He spoke. “What this Prince wants to ask Marquis Xuanwu is whether that woman had any other family?”

The imperial physician said that Changsheng’s illness required companionship from relatives—perhaps one day she would open her mouth and speak. But their mother had already died. Even if he had heaven-reaching abilities, there was no solution.

In the imperial family, kinship was too intangible and illusory.

He had long wanted to find the biological mother’s family for the children, but years of suppressing bandits had left him unable to get away. Now he had finally cornered Marquis Xuanwu.

That woman had died from difficult childbirth. All these years, he had always had a knot in his heart. If he found the woman’s family, he would treat them well…