The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1194 - 1194 579 Maternal Love is Boundless (first update)

Chapter 1194: 579 Maternal Love is Boundless (first update) Chapter 1194: 579 Maternal Love is Boundless (first update) Princess Xinyang came out of the palace and got into her carriage.

Yujin asked her by her side, “Princess, are you going to Vermilion Bird Avenue?”

Princess Xinyang thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go to Bishui Alley first.”

When the carriage arrived at Bishui Alley, Gu Jiao and Xiao Hen were turning the soil in the front courtyard, wielding their hoes with such expertise that they truly resembled a peasant husband and wife.

Princess Xinyang stepped forward and walked over.

“Mother,” Xiao Hen greeted her when he saw her.

Gu Jiao called out, “Princess.”

Princess Xinyang glanced at a certain someone, not quite satisfied with the address.

Xiao Hen smiled faintly and subtly grabbed Princess Xinyang’s hand, “What brings Mother over?”

“Don’t bully your wife!” Princess Xinyang gave him a stern look, brushed his hand away, and asked them, “Is the Empress Dowager back yet?”

Xiao Hen looked towards Gu Jiao.

Gu Jiao said, “She’s back, talking with Huangfu Xian inside.”

Princess Xinyang asked, “Do you both know about Ning An’s matter?”

Gu Jiao nodded, “Just heard about it from Aunt.”

Princess Xinyang looked relieved, “Then there’s no problem, I’ll head back first.”

“I’ll see you off,” said Xiao Hen.

Princess Xinyang turned and headed toward the entrance, taking only a few steps before catching a glimpse of the red-tasseled spear leaning against the bamboo and basking in the sun. She tugged the corners of her lips and said to Xiao Hen, “The courtyard is empty, why not show off a bit with the spear?”

A trace of embarrassment suddenly crossed Xiao Hen’s face as he steadied her arm to leave, “My own son, my own son!”

Princess Xinyang looked at him with a mix of annoyance and amusement, and boarded the carriage to return.

Gu Jiao, holding a hoe, looked towards the tightly shut windows of the west room and asked, “Do you think Aunt will tell him everything?”

Xiao Hen’s gaze also fell on the closed windows as he said, “I think she will.”

Gu Jiao thought for a moment, “Aren’t you afraid it will upset him? He’s still so young.”

Young children seem so fragile.

“You’re only three years older than him,” Xiao Hen said with a mix of laughter and helplessness. Did this girl think she was that much older?

Xiao Hen said, “Of two evils, choose the lesser. Not telling him and letting him live his whole life under the misconception that his birth mother loathes him would be the greater sorrow.”

Gu Jiao seemed to sense his emotions and gained some understanding. She turned her head to look at him, “Are you thinking about your own experiences?”

“Mhm,” he confirmed without denial.

The most painful thing he had experienced was not finding out that he was not Princess Xinyang’s child, nor was it almost being burned alive in a fire, but the misunderstanding of Princess Xinyang’s disgust and abandonment of him.

It was a raw and gut-wrenching self-alienation.

Gu Jiao said, “Huangfu Xian mentioned that his mother seemed like a different person after she was injured; perhaps she wasn’t the real Ning An from that point on. Do you think the consort knows about Ning An’s situation?”

Xiao Hen shook his head, “Not sure, some questions will never have answers.”

The Empress Dowager stepping out from the west room occurred an hour later, her expression tired with red veins visible in her eyes.

She stumbled slightly as she crossed the threshold.

Gu Jiao was tidying up the main hall and quickly stepped forward to support her, “Aunt!”

The Empress Dowager waved her hand, “I’m fine, just old. I’m going to lie down for a bit.”

With that, she walked slowly towards her own little room.

Silver streaks adorned her hair; a vast sense of vicissitude shrouded her, and her silhouette seemed to hunch a bit. In the span of a single day, she appeared to have aged ten years.

Her life had been too difficult, too hard. She had preserved the realm of Zhan Country, safeguarded the emperor’s throne, and maintained the glory of the entire royal household. Yet the people she had raised with her own hands were no longer with her.

The Ning An she longed to see would never return.

The Empress Dowager lay down on her bedchamber, the room devoid of light.

Creak—

The door was pushed open.

Then another creak, as the door was closed again.

A small figure pitter-pattered to the bed, propped itself up on the edge of the bed, “Aunt!”

The Empress Dowager replied indifferently, “What is it?”

The little Monk Mengmeng asked cutely, “Do you want to sleep?”

The Empress Dowager rolled her eyes, “No, I’m lying here sprouting.”

The little Monk Mengmeng widened his eyes, “Oh, should I water you then?”

The Empress Dowager: “…”

The little Monk Mengmeng then said, “Aunt, you still owe me a candied fruit.”

The Empress Dowager: “The jar’s on the table, help yourself.”

The little Monk Mengmeng exclaimed, “How come you’re not playing tricks today, Aunt?”

The Empress Dowager said blankly, “You’re very noisy today.”

The little Monk Mengmeng tilted his little head, “Was I not noisy before?”

The Empress Dowager felt like she was going to lose her mind. She just wanted a moment of quiet to feel sad, but why was this little Monk always chattering?

“It’s time for dinner—”

“`

A loud call from Gu Xiaoshun echoed through the courtyard.

Xiaoshun tugged at Empress Dowager Zhuang’s sleeve, “Auntie Grandma, let’s go eat!”

“I don’t want to eat.”

“Grandpa made brown sugar glutinous rice cake.”

“I don’t want to…”

“He also made honey bean rolls.”

“No…”

“And syrup egg too.”

Empress Dowager Zhuang frowned, swallowing her saliva.

Can’t a person grieve in peace for a moment!

Huangfu Xian was a patient, he had just lain down, and Gu Jiao didn’t wake him up, instead, she reheated some millet porridge in the pot for when he would wake up.

Unexpectedly, when night came, Huangfu Xian still hadn’t awakened.

“Why hasn’t big brother woken up yet?” Xiaoshun asked, puzzled.

“Let me check.” Gu Jiao checked Huangfu Xian’s pulse and then felt his forehead, the pulse was normal, the temperature too, “He should just be asleep.”

Huangfu Xian was indeed asleep.

He dreamed that he returned to when he was five years old.

That year, the snow at the border was especially heavy, many civilians froze or starved to death in their homes.

Princess Ning An took her servants, planning to distribute porridge at the vegetable market in Ye City.

Five-year-old him ran over huffing and puffing, hugging Princess Ning An’s legs, crisply saying, “Mother! Xian wants to go too!”

Princess Ning An looked at the snow flying outside and gently stroked his head, smiling, “The snow is too heavy, Xian will freeze if he goes out, can you be a good boy and stay at home waiting for mother to return?”

Five-year-old him shook his head, “But mother will freeze too!”

Princess Ning An said softly, “Mother won’t, I’m wearing a lot of clothes.”

Five-year-old him puffed out his little chest, “Xian can wear lots of clothes too!”

Princess Ning An laughed gently, hugged him into her arms, kissing his little cheek, little forehead, “Be good, mother will be back soon.”

Afterward, Princess Ning An put him down, donned a cloak and left through the door.

He chased to the door with his little short legs but, unsurprisingly, the servants stopped him and took him back.

He had dreamed of this scene many times, the next scene would be him pretending to take a nap, then sneaking under the carriage bench when no one was looking, hiding and successfully leaving the residence with the carriage.

But little did the young him know, not all carriages went to mother’s porridge shed.

The carriage stopped at a strange place.

By then it was already getting dark, and as the coachman went about his business, he got out of the carriage.

Strange streets, strange people, he began to panic.

He started calling for his mother over and over.

He didn’t know how long he called, how far he walked, that feeling of not being able to find his mother, of being lost and helpless, would always wake him from the nightmare.

But this time was different.

He continued to bump around the street like a headless fly.

The snowstorm grew fiercer and he lost his sense of direction, unwittingly he arrived at a desolate official road, both sides a sheer expanse of white snow.

He had no strength left, he fell into the snow and couldn’t get up again.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a tender and anxious voice rang out above him, and soon after he was lifted in a pair of gentle arms.

“Xian!”

It was mother.

Weakly opening his eyes, he saw a face covered in tears.

“Mother finally found you!”

Princess Ning An held him tightly in her embrace.

He wanted to hug back, but he was frozen stiff.

Princess Ning An carried him on her back, struggling through the harsh snowstorm, sinking into the snow with each step.

Princess Ning An fell into the snow countless times, but also rose just as many times.

“Mother, I’m so cold.”

Princess Ning An took off her cotton-padded coat and put it on him.

“So sleepy…” he murmured, lying on mother’s back.

Princess Ning An said, gasping for breath, “Xian, don’t sleep, mother is taking you home.”

In the end, she could walk no further, she lay down in the cold snow.

He lay on her back, as the snow kept falling heavily.

She dug out a small hole in the snow beneath them, bit by bit, her ten fingers bloody and mangled, down to the white bones.

She also took off her jacket and wrapped it with the cotton coat around him, carefully placing him in the hole.

She then used her own fragile and thin body to cover the snow hole, shielding him from the raging blizzard.

The piercing cold wind tormented her body, and she grew rigid.

With her last bit of strength, she said to him, “Xian, you must survive…”

“`