Chapter 348: The Son You Had With Whom? Do You Still Remember?
Ji Qingwu hadn’t even said many of the things on her mind, but the little one already understood what she was thinking.
In that moment, she truly understood the profound connection between a mother and her child.
Yuan Heng continued, "Father-Emperor only has me as a son. If you had tried to leave with me, we probably would have been caught and brought back long ago."
"The Zhao Family’s legacy is no ordinary family business—there’s an empire to inherit. I’m a boy, so it’s my duty to bear this responsibility."
"In the future, I’ll protect you and Jiu Jiu, too."
Ji Qingwu planted a kiss on his forehead and said, "Heng’er, Mother will always be here from now on. I won’t let you be all alone again."
His mother’s lips were soft and fragrant, without any lipstick. Yuan Heng’s small face flushed red, but his dark eyes were like Xuanyu stones that seemed to absorb the light.
Seeing his shy yet happy expression, Ji Qingwu couldn’t resist the urge to pepper his little cheek with kisses.
She closed her eyes, her lips about to land on the little one’s face, when she felt a gust of wind sweep past her.
The warm little bundle in the blankets was suddenly gone.
Ji Qingwu quickly opened her eyes and saw a pair of dark eyes, strikingly similar to Yuan Heng’s, looking down at her. They swirled with an emotion she couldn’t comprehend.
Emperor Wu Su had arrived at some point, and he was holding Yuan Heng high in the air with his hands under the boy’s armpits.
Suddenly snatched from the warm, fragrant blankets, anger flared in Yuan Heng’s eyes.
But when he saw that the person before him was his Father-Emperor, who should have been in the Diligent Governance Hall handling state affairs, he pressed his lips together and obediently stopped struggling.
Then, he called out reluctantly, "Father-Emperor."
Zhao Mingyan frowned as he looked at Yuan Heng, who was dressed in a woman’s pale pink inner tunic.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Before Yuan Heng could react, Ji Qingwu knelt on the edge of the bed, holding out her hands to take her son back.
She furrowed her brow and said, "Holding him like that is uncomfortable."
At her words, Zhao Mingyan loosened his hands. "How much could he weigh? I can still hold him."
Ji Qingwu shot him a look, then tucked the little one into the blankets on the inner side of the bed. "I meant that *Heng’er* is uncomfortable."
Yuan Heng hid his mouth and nose in the blankets, leaving only his eyes peeking out from his little face.
Ji Qingwu’s maternal instincts overcame everything else, and she no longer found the Emperor’s grim expression frightening.
She turned and said, "Look at how you’ve scared Heng’er!"
Yuan Heng cooperatively closed his eyes, but his trembling eyelashes made it obvious he was trying to hide a smile.
Zhao Mingyan’s gaze slid from Yuan Heng to Ji Qingwu’s tender red lips, and his eyes narrowed.
He asked, "Heng’er?"
’When did these two become so close?’
Ji Qingwu shielded Yuan Heng’s small body behind her. She had just promised the little one she wouldn’t let him be alone again, and she was determined to keep her word.
She looked the Emperor straight in the eye and said, "Aren’t names meant to be used? What’s wrong with it?"
Yuan Heng nodded repeatedly from under the covers, making the blankets quiver.
Zhao Mingyan raised his eyebrows in surprise. Ji Qingwu rarely adopted such a sharp, thorny posture. Her kneeling body was tense—a clear sign of vigilance.
He said faintly, "There’s nothing wrong with it."
With his reply, Ji Qingwu found she had no reason to press the issue.
It was rare for her to stand her ground so firmly before Emperor Wu Su.
Ji Qingwu glanced at the still-open window. She had been so focused on Yuan Heng that she hadn’t noticed the time; the sky outside was already dark.
She then asked, "Why has Your Majesty come here?"
Ji Qingwu’s eyes flickered. Logically, the Emperor should have been incredibly busy today, dealing with Su Fengyue and his accomplices.
According to the message from Ting Sihai, he had been summoning ministers to the Diligent Governance Hall all day, which was why she dared to bring Yuan Heng over.
’Don’t tell me he found out Yuan Heng was gone and came here specifically to settle the score with me...’
Ji Qingwu bit her lip and instinctively shuffled backward as his shadow fell over her.
Zhao Mingyan simply sat down on the edge of the bed and said, "I came to inform you that Jiu Jiu will not be coming back."
"Unlike you, I don’t take a Prince away without so much as a word."
If he hadn’t come in person, he never would have known that Yuan Heng was with her, let alone sleeping in her bed.
A cold glare shot towards Yuan Heng under the blankets, and the boy shrank back, hunching his small shoulders.
Ji Qingwu had no choice but to move closer to Emperor Wu Su again, blocking his chillingly intense gaze.
She asked, "Is it that Jiu Jiu doesn’t want to come back, or is Your Majesty forcing her to stay?"
Zhao Mingyan glanced at her. "You know her temper. Who could possibly force her to do anything?"
’That’s true. Jiu Jiu has never been one to let herself be taken advantage of, even as a child.’
Ji Qingwu nodded. "Your Majesty, now that you’ve delivered your message, shouldn’t you be..."
’He’s barely been sitting here for a moment, and she’s already trying to kick him out.’
Zhao Mingyan sneered, "Yes, I should be going. And I should also take the little thief who stole a Prince back to the palace to be punished."
Ji Qingwu said, "How is it stealing? A mother seeing her son is the natural order of things. It’s only right and proper."
He heard her sharp-tongued rebuttal, no longer shying away from openly stating her relationship with Yuan Heng.
The two of them were so intimate, and Yuan Heng was even wearing her inner tunic. It seemed the mother and son had already acknowledged each other.
Zhao Mingyan suddenly leaned toward her. Ji Qingwu tilted back, propping herself up with her hands on the blanket to keep from falling over.
He whispered in her ear, "Whose son is he? Do you still remember?"
Ji Qingwu’s chest heaved, and a mortified blush spread across her cheeks.
She retorted angrily, "I don’t remember."
With Yuan Heng still watching nearby, she gave him a hard shove, but he didn’t budge. Instead, a sharp pain shot through her wrist.
With a flick of his hand, Zhao Mingyan pulled the blanket over Yuan Heng’s head, completely obscuring his view.
The blanket also muffled the sound, and the little one could no longer clearly hear the voices outside.
Zhao Mingyan pressed down on Ji Qingwu’s back, pushing her toward him and blocking her retreat.
"If names are meant to be used, why don’t you use mine?"
"Since you’ve acknowledged your son, why won’t you acknowledge his father?"
His large hand moved up, wrapping around the back of her shoulder. He said in a low voice, "Since you don’t remember, let’s do something to help you recall."
Ji Qingwu said hastily, "I remember! I remember everything."
Zhao Mingyan said, "And yet, you still seem confused to me."
Ji Qingwu’s eyes went wide as she tried to prove her case. "I’m lucid. I’m perfectly lucid."
His long fingers threaded through her soft, silky hair. "Being lucid is what makes it so infuriating."
’Being lucid enough to say all those things I hate to hear.’
Ji Qingwu’s scalp tingled where his fingers touched. She retorted, "Is Your Majesty lucid right now? Do you know what you’re doing?"
"Do you know that this is the Wei Family’s residence, and that you’re in front of a child?" Ji Qingwu’s voice was soft as she uttered the final sentence: "Do you know... who I am?"
Neither of them had been drinking, nor were they tired; of course, they were both lucid.
Her bright, limpid eyes met his pitch-black ones.
Ji Qingwu raised a hand and placed it on his broad, solid shoulder.