CHAPTER 853: CHAPTER 700

Tinglan Garden.

The old lady got up in the middle of the night, then refused to go back to sleep.

"Old madam, are you hungry? Shall I have the kitchen make you some sweet soup? You can eat it and then sleep, how about that?"

Yuan Yang gently coaxed.

The old lady shook her head, "No, no."

Yuan Yang called Zhao Si over to persuade her as well.

Zhao Si said with a smile, "Old madam, do you want to read a new storybook? At dawn, I’ll go and pick one for you, I’ll make sure to choose one you haven’t read!"

The old lady still shook her head, "That’s no good either."

The two exchanged glances, not knowing what to do.

Zhao Si asked in a low voice, "Should we... report to the young lady?"

Yuan Yang thought it over and found it feasible, so she quickly went to the main courtyard, only to be told that the young lady and the master were not there.

"What about Lord Chen Long?"

Zhao Si asked.

If Lord Chen Long were here, the four of them could play leaf cards with the old lady to amuse her.

After all, Lord Chen Long always lost, and the old lady loved playing leaf cards with him.

Yuan Yang sighed, "I asked, he’s not here either."

"This is troublesome."

Zhao Si, who had been with the old lady for so long, was well aware of her condition. If she woke up at midnight and didn’t see the young lady, she was prone to having an episode.

"Oh, Your Majesty!"

Yuan Yang said, "I went to His Majesty’s courtyard, and Master Cui was guarding, saying it was inconvenient for His Majesty."

"How could it be inconvenient? His Majesty is the old madam’s own son."

Zhao Si wouldn’t have been appointed by the Supreme Emperor to stay by the old lady’s side if he weren’t clever.

Given the master and young lady’s unusual behavior, he surmised that something must have happened to Emperor Liang.

"Under no circumstances should we let the old madam know."

He advised.

Yuan Yang nodded, "I understand."

What they feared most happened next.

Just as they finished speaking, the old lady opened the door and walked out.

The two of them hurriedly fell silent.

Yuan Yang asked with a smile, "Old madam, there are many mosquitoes outside, you should quickly return indoors."

The old lady said, "I want to see Yun’er."

Yuan Yang’s eyes flashed, and she awkwardly said, "At this hour, the Emperor of Liang is resting; why don’t we go find him in the morning?"

"No, I want to find him now!"

The old lady said resolutely.

Yuan Yang gave Zhao Si a look.

Zhao Si felt troubled.

What could he do?

"I want to see Yun’er... I want to see Yun’er..."

The old lady insisted on walking out.

Neither Yuan Yang nor Zhao Si could stop her, so they had to follow her to the Emperor of Liang’s courtyard.

When Cui Hu saw the three of them, his brow furrowed, and he pulled Zhao Si aside, asking, "What’s going on? Didn’t I say it’s inconvenient for His Majesty? How did the old madam end up here?"

Zhao Si whispered, "The old madam wanted to come over herself, I couldn’t stop her!"

"Yun’er..."

The old lady hurriedly walked inside.

Cui Hu’s outstretched arm was pressed down by Zhao Si.

Zhao Si said, "We can’t use force on the old madam; it might trigger her illness."

"Is it a mother-son connection?"

Cui Hu asked anxiously, "But if the old madam sees His Majesty like this, she might really have an episode."

Zhao Si worriedly asked, "What exactly happened to His Majesty?"

Cui Hu sighed deeply, "His Majesty... alas, I don’t even know."

"Yun’er!"

The old lady entered Emperor Liang’s room, walked to the bedside, and, gazing at the motionless Emperor Liang, felt a strange pain in her heart.

"Yun’er, Yun’er wake up, where are you going?"

The old lady shook Emperor Liang’s arm, "Are you abandoning your mother?"

Emperor Liang had no reaction.

There were still a few hours until dawn.

Even if Cui Hu searched, he wouldn’t know where to look.

"Hey, Ji Feng!"

A response came from the shadows, "I don’t know."

"Yun’er is ignoring me, Yun’er... is Yun’er leaving again... Yun’er is gone again... Yun’er..."

The old lady fell into disarray.

Yuan Yang mumbled, "This is bad..."

Cui Hu asked, "What’s bad?"

Yuan Yang was so anxious that cold sweat broke out, "The old madam has remembered the child’s early death again; she’ll probably have another episode..."

Cui Hu was at a loss for words, "No way, this... what should we do? Ji Feng! Come up with a solution!"

Ji Feng calmly stated, "There is no way; we can only wait for the Young Madam and Grand Commander to save His Majesty."

Cui Hu scratched his head, "What if His Majesty is saved, but the old madam meets an untimely fate—"

Ji Feng was silent for a moment, then said, "Then it must be the will of heaven."

"You—"

Despite his anxiety, Cui Hu had to admit Ji Feng made sense.

"Yun’er..."

"Old madam, shall we first go find the Young Madam?"

In a moment of desperation, Yuan Yang had a spark of inspiration and decided to take the old lady around the garden, to stall for time.

But the old lady refused to move.

She felt she was losing her son.

Just as she was on the verge of collapse, a faint voice slowly sounded.

"Mother... you’re so noisy..."

Once again, the old lady was pulled back from the edge of the cliff as she stared blankly at her son who had spoken to her from the bed.

"Yun’er, you’re awake?"

Emperor Liang weakly smiled, "Mother cried so loudly, she woke her son up."

The old lady straightened her face, "I wasn’t crying!"

Emperor Liang laughed, then started coughing violently.

The old lady quickly turned him around, patting his back to help him breathe.

Emperor Liang took a deep breath, "Mother, that’s enough."

The old lady said, "I’m not tired!"

Emperor Liang: "... Can you use a lighter touch? Your son just woke up, and he doesn’t want to meet father yet."

The old lady blinked, withdrew her strong fist reluctantly, and looked innocently at her again-and-again-and-again lost-but-found son.

Emperor Liang felt as if he had died once, not the kind of illusion of a close call, but truly having walked into Yama Hall.

His consciousness was clear, yet he couldn’t extricate himself from Purgatory.

He didn’t understand what had happened to him, but the feeling was terrible, and he never wanted to experience it again.

After soothing the old lady, he summoned Ji Feng.

Ji Feng recounted Meng Qianqian and Lu Yuan’s judgment.

Emperor Liang said gravely, "Then it seems I was cursed by Loulan’s witchcraft?"

Ji Feng replied, "The one who should have been cursed was the Miao King; Your Majesty took the calamity for him."

"I did not take the calamity for him! Just a mere Miao King, how could he compare with me?"

It sounded as though he was friendly with the Miao King, when in fact they were mortal enemies.

He had carelessly fallen for Loulan’s witchcraft, which meant he needed to be more cautious in the future.

Still, since he had awakened, the Loulan witchcraft must have been broken.

Who had broken Loulan’s witchcraft?

Was it Little Nine?

At Weiyang Building, it was she who had saved Tan’er.

It seemed his grandson had married quite an extraordinary wife.

Seeing that Emperor Liang was silent, Ji Feng asked, "Your Majesty, do you feel unwell? Shall I fetch a doctor?"

Emperor Liang said, "Go personally to Witch Mountain Divine Hall and ask the Goddess a question for me."

Ji Feng asked, "What question?"

Emperor Liang, with a serious expression, said, "Has the person destined for tribulation appeared?"

The secret was finally about to be revealed...