147 Baby is in danger

At least for a moment, I wished Yun Heng did not have so many ulterior motives behind everything he did.

"Brother, what nonsense are you talking about?" Yun Rong looked at Yun Heng.

"Rong'er, let her go quickly!"

"No! Why should she have the Prince's love and my brother's love as well? No, I have already passed the point of no return."

Yun Heng's attempts to stop her ended in failure. I saw Li Yexuan take a step forward and understood the profound meaning in his eyes.

"Li Yexuan, are you going to agree or not? If not, I will kill her right now!"

"You think this Prince will be swayed by your threats?!"

"You! You!"

Before Yun Rong could finish her shock, I flicked my right hand, and the last hidden weapon plunged into her body. She never expected that I still had one hidden weapon left on my right hand.

"You bitch!"

Yun Rong mustered all her strength to grip her sword. At that moment, I only needed to push her away, but my weakened body betrayed me, making me a step too slow. The next second, her blade would surely slit my throat.

A hand appeared before me, gripping Yun Rong's blade, and blood instantly poured down from the palm.

"You..."

Kong Yuelin stepped forward and delivered a single palm strike, sending Yun Rong flying against the wall where she spewed a mouthful of blood.

"Catch Yun Heng!" Ignoring Li Yexuan, I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Qinglong reacted the fastest and subdued Yun Heng.

The members of the Fantian Pavilion restrained both Yun Heng and Yun Rong, while Xuanwu released the baby.

"Mother..." The baby stumbled and fell as he ran toward me, but he scrambled up immediately and dashed over.

"Let Mother see, where are you hurt?"

Ignoring all dignity, I sat straight down on the ground and lifted the baby's clothes, only to find his body covered in bruises and cuts of all sizes. Tears fell from my eyes.

"Mother, don't cry. Bao'er isn't in pain." He reached out to wipe my tears, and I pulled him fiercely into my embrace.

"Don't be afraid. Mother is going to punish the bad guys now."

"With Mother here, I'm not afraid."

"Huangfu Zijun, don't think everything is fine just yet! Don't forget you just drank poison!"

"Oh? Do you think someone who drank poison would still be standing here safe and sound?"

"You—how is that possible?! That is heart-break grass!"

Yun Rong could not possibly know that anyone who had consumed the Condensation Fragrance Pill possessed immunity to all poisons. Although the pill's efficacy had mostly faded by now, heart-break grass or gut-wrenching vine would at most cause some discomfort. Besides, before coming here, I had taken the antidote pill left behind by Guteng.

I stood up, brushed the dust off the baby's clothes, and let the child cling to my legs.

"Yun Rong, you have been thoroughly utilized your entire life. I truly feel sorry for you!"

"What do you mean?!" Yun Rong struggled to speak, but Zhuque delivered two swift kicks to her back.

"You should ask your eldest brother, Yun Heng. Oh, no, I should call you Li You."

Yun Rong turned her head in disbelief to stare at Yun Heng.

"What nonsense are you spouting? How could I possibly be the Crown Prince? Besides, everyone knows the Crown Prince disappeared during the coup five years ago."

"Stop the act. You are the real Li You, though you hid yourself remarkably well. It took me five years to thoroughly investigate the entire matter. When you were born, you contracted smallpox. Seeing that you were nearly breathless, the Empress ordered someone to bring another infant and hurriedly sent you out of the palace to be buried. Little did she expect the imperial emissary to casually abandon you by the roadside, where the Yun family found you and took you in. Later, you discovered your true identity as Li You. Not only did you instigate the Yuehua State to invade my Lingyun State, but you also exploited Yun Rong and meticulously plotted against Li Yexuan! However, you never anticipated that the late Emperor would bestow a marriage upon you, and that the person granted to you would be Lan Xin. The two of you are of a similar age, but logically speaking, you should call Lan Xin your imperial aunt. That is why you never touched her, and why you never had children."

"Nonsense! You are talking complete utter nonsense!"

"Bring him in!"

The members of the Fantian Pavilion escorted Lan Xin in.

"You!"

"What about me!" I walked up to Lan Xin and slapped her across the face. "Don't pretend with me here. You discovered Yun Heng's true identity long ago and aided him precisely so that once Yun Heng usurped the throne, he would spare the Second Prince's clan! You could fool Li Yexuan, but you couldn't fool me. I originally intended to spare your life, but you actually conspired with Yun Heng and Yun Rong to kidnap my son. You deserve to die."

Lan Xin glared at me, gnashing her teeth, her expression twisted in a ferocious manner we had never witnessed before.

"Huangfu Zijun!" Yun Heng roared at me.

"What qualifications do you have to challenge me? As for those thirty thousand soldiers, they became the Regent's men long ago."

"How is that possible? How can that be?" Yun Heng refused to believe the truth until Li Yexuan produced the imperial tiger tally, at which point he went completely mad.

"This is an internal matter of your Yuehua State; it is only fitting that you handle it," I said to Li Yexuan.

Li Yexuan nodded, and Kong Yuelin led men to escort the three of them away.

"Nothing escapes your eyes. This is the real you."

"Indeed." How could Li Yexuan possibly mobilize an army of fifty thousand to suppress Lingyun State just to marry me? He had merely dispatched twenty thousand and returned with fifty thousand, quietly replacing all three thousand of Yun Heng's soldiers.

"Let's go home."

Li Yexuan reached out to take my hand, but I dodged him.

"You may use me, you may humiliate me, I can let all of that go and even be willing to marry you as part of your scheme. But Li Yexuan, stop viewing everyone through your own lens, constantly living a life of calculation. I have finally realized that stubbornly insisting on marrying you was a mistake, and wanting a title for the children was also a mistake. The child will live a better life following me. Perhaps I should never have let you know of the child's existence in the first place."

"It won't happen again."

I smiled and shook my head, but noticing something amiss with the baby, I scooped him up horizontally and kissed his forehead.

"Having my child is enough for me. The chaos you stirred up harmed my child; your negligence toward Lan Xin harmed my child. I will never forgive you—never." I walked away holding the baby, while Qinglong and Xuanwu held Li Yexuan back.

"Zijun, don't go. I was wrong."

"Don't follow me, or I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from wanting to kill you!"

"No! Even if you kill me, I will never let you walk away again!"

I refused to listen to any more of Li Yexuan's entreaties, holding the flushed and feverish child tightly against my chest.

"Return to the Pavilion!"

"Yes!"

Zhuque escorted me and the baby as we prepared to leave, while the remaining guards intercepted Li Yexuan.

"Wait! Let me examine the child." Kong Yuelin returned in a hurry.

"Pavilion Master, please examine him. Young Master's condition doesn't look good."

Li Yexuan stopped fighting and immediately came over to check on the child.

"Quickly, take him to the nearest medical clinic; we cannot delay this child's treatment," Kong Yuelin said with a hint of panic in his voice.

"I'll carry him." Li Yexuan snatched the child from my arms.

Moving with lightweight martial arts, I was carried along by Zhuque and Xuanwu.

Li Yexuan kicked open the doors of the medical clinic with a single blow.

"Who are you people? What do you want?" The people inside the clinic fled in terror at our aggressive arrival, leaving only a brave clerk and a physician to step forward.

"Shut your mouths! This is the Prince Regent and the Princess Regent. Can you bear the responsibility if anything happens to the young heir?!" Zhuque's words frightened the clinic staff half to death.

The baby was laid upon the clinic couch, and Kong Yuelin immediately began rummaging through the herbal cabinets.

"Kong Yuelin, can we feed Bao'er the small spiritual ganoderma?"

"Do you have it?"

"Yes."

"Hurry! Having the small spiritual ganoderma will yield twice the result with half the effort."

I retrieved it from my pouch.

"Be a good boy, Bao'er. Swallow it quickly."

No matter how I coaxed him, the baby showed no intention of swallowing. The pill was too large for him, and we could not force it down his throat.

"Bao'er, swallow it quickly."

"Give me the medicine."

Li Yexuan brought over a cup from somewhere. The hand holding the cup was still crusted with his own blood, while his other hand took the pill from mine and dropped it into the cup. Channeling his internal energy, he crushed the pill into liquid form.

"Hold him steady."

I cradled the baby's body, pinched his mouth open, and Li Yexuan began pouring the medicine down.

"Don't spit it out, don't spit it out. Be a good boy, swallow it."

Most of it went down, though a small portion was spat out.

"What should we do? He only took half. Should we feed him more?" I turned and asked Kong Yuelin.

Kong Yuelin came over to inspect the baby.

"There's no need. He's out of danger; once his fever breaks, he will be fine. Tend to his wounds while I go brew another decoction."

"Thank you."

"Don't forget your own injury," Kong Yuelin reminded Li Yexuan.

"Go tend to your wounds; leave the baby to me. Zhuque, fetch some water. Xuanwu, go buy some clothes for Bao'er."

"Yes!"

Zhuque and Xuanwu retreated outside, and the clinic physician delivered a set of bedding. I undressed the baby and gently wiped his skin. Seeing the bruises and purple marks covering his tiny body, my tears fell uncontrollably, and Li Yexuan beside me looked as though his eyes were reddened as well. When Zhuque offered to apply the medicine for the baby, I refused, personally tending to his wounds and dressing him in clean clothes.

"Are you planning to discard that hand of yours entirely?"

I had no choice but to force myself to endure, pulling Li Yexuan's hand over to wipe away the bloodstains.

"I'm sorry, Zijun."

"No need. I am taking the child back to Fantian Pavilion."

"Alright."

I finished applying medicine to Li Yexuan and wrapped his wound with bandages.

Kong Yuelin arrived with the medicinal brew, and together with Li Yexuan, we managed to get the child to swallow it.

An hour later, the baby's fever broke, and Kong Yuelin confirmed he was out of danger.

A familiar figure hurried into the clinic from outside, causing me to stand up in excitement.

"Zijun, is Bao'er alright?"

"He's fine. What brings you here?"

"I happened to be in the vicinity of Yuehua State."

Guteng spoke as he walked over to the baby's side to examine him.

"Indeed, he is out of danger."

Before I could even speak, Guteng's hand rested on my pulse. His expression turned grim in an instant, and I knew he had figured it out.

"I'm fine." I tugged at Guteng's sleeve, signaling with my eyes that Li Yexuan and Kong Yuelin were still present, terrified that a single word from him would blow my cover.

"Return to Fantian Pavilion. There are plenty of medicinal herbs there, and it will be better for Bao'er."

"Alright."