Chapter 824: Crafty, convincing Ning An (2/2)

“Your Royal Highness, this...would it be too much and too clever for our own good?” Ning An asked.

Han Yunxi rolled her eyes impatiently. “If you don’t do this, how can you express your compassion towards this child properly? He’s different from other children, so even overindulging him is understandable.”

“Your Royal Highness, this child is an orphan. After sending him to Medical City, he can’t very well remain an emperor who lives in comfort and high positions, right? Even if we send these people with him, Medical City will send them right back,” Ning An said.

“That’s exactly what we want Medical City to do! After they send them back, you’ll send a few more right over to express your sincerity. And they’ll have to be sent under your name. After a couple of turns, you and Department Head Jue will get to know each other better, won’t you?” Han Yunxi couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. “Ning An, when it comes to matters of business, you really can’t compare with your little sister.”

Ning An couldn’t find any words to retort, but only felt that Han Yunxi’s plan could truly buy off Medical City’s heart and make their future negotiations easier. She accepted the advice at face value and immediately ordered people to do as Han Yunxi instructed.

“Remember, you have to find reliable people,” Ning An instructed her retainers. Han Yunxi drank her tea while blinking her crafty eyes, lost in thought once again.

The original plan was to send Long Zun off today, but Han Yunxi’s machinations delayed the trip by two more days. While she was thinking to herself, a child’s cries rose from the backyard. Han Yunxi hurried over and saw Long Zun struggling fiercely in his wet nurse’s lap while bawling at the top of his lungs. Occasionally, he would cry out something unintelligible between his sobs.

“What’s going on?” Han Yunxi asked.

“He was like this when they sent him here. After playing by himself, he suddenly starting crying and refuses to be coaxed. No one knows what’s the matter,” Ning An replied.

“Doesn’t he know how to talk yet?” Han Yunxi asked in alarm.

“He doesn’t even know how to say ‘mother.’ The wet nurse says this child learns at a much slower rate than other children his age. He’s already over two, but only just learned to speak. He hasn’t even fully mastered walking yet,” Ning An replied honestly.

“The early induced labor probably hurt him,” Han Yunxi felt stifled at the thought and suddenly thought of Gu Qishao.

At this moment, Long Zun began fussing again and even pointed towards the door.

“Could he be searching for his mother?” Han Yunxi asked.

The wet nurse gave the crying Long Zun over to some court ladies before she hurried to her side. “Your Royal Highness, this child wouldn’t look for his mother. The number of times that Empress Dowager Chu’s held him can be counted on five fingers. Even when she’s sitting right in front of him, he never acknowledges her.”

“He probably doesn’t even know what a mother is. It’s likely he’s scared because he’s unused to these new surroundings. Hurry and take him away, don’t let him disturb Her Royal Highness,” Ning An scolded. After being sterile for so many years, she had mixed feelings when faced with little children.

The wet nurse hastily picked up Long Zun, but the little child had suddenly grown silent at the sight of Han Yunxi. After staring at her awhile, he pointed his tiny finger towards the door again and cried, “Mother…”

He wanted to find his mother!

Even if his mother didn’t want him, he wanted her, ah!

Immediately, the room fell into a hush except for the boy’s crying noises. In the world of a child, there was no such thing as goodness or evil, status or gain. There were only his pillars of support linked to his bloodline. This child had no idea what kind of person Chu Qingge was, nor in whose hands he had fallen into. He had even less concepts of Cloud Realm Continent’s current chessboard. All he knew was that he had a mother.

Who said he wouldn’t bother looking for her?

In this world, even such a little child had been hurt by the machinations of profit and plot. What was the point of such struggles? People like them couldn’t even satisfy the whims of a tiny baby. What right did they have to call themselves “powerful?” Had East and West Qin ever considered how their mutual grudge would earn the hatred of countless innocent civilians?

“Hurry and get him out of here!” Ning An suddenly raged. It was unlike her to be so anxious and unwell. How could she have avoided being pregnant all those years as Emperor Tianhui’s consort? The only reason laid in the fact that she never allowed herself to bore a child!

As the cries of the child faded away, both Han Yunxi and Ning An exhaled in relief.

“Ning An, East and West Qin used to occupy separate territories in peace. Who instigated the war between them?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.

She had learned from Long Feiye that a flood had wrecked the southern regions in the past, creating pestilence and famine from the crop failures. Both East and West Qin had sent out imperial envoys to fight the natural calamity, but West Qin had spread rumors amongst the victims that the East Qin imperial prince was a star of disaster reincarnated into human form that would bring countless catastrophes upon Cloud Realm Continent.

The East Qin imperial clan was weak back then. Its crown prince was about to ascend the throne, but West Qin’s rumors had been seized upon by the other East Qin princes to their advantage. When the East Qin emperor died, the struggle for the throne began, leaving the royal courts in an unstable state. West Qin then took their chance to start a war…

1. Long Zun (龙尊) - Long is a surname that means “dragon,” same as the one in Long Feiye; Zun is “respected.”