As the crowd thinned out, Ling Zhaowen, followed by Ling Xingzhong and Ling Maomao, walked up to the carriage.
Ling Zhang, seeing the lookers-on had cleared off, lifted the carriage curtain and craned out. “Grandfather, Maomao.”
Ling Xingzhong didn’t appear very excited to see his beloved grandson. “Um,” he merely said, looking inside the carriage. At the sight of Ling Zhaowu who was hiding behind Ling Zhang’s back and peeping at him with a somewhat scared face, his eyes quickly reddened, appraising Ling Zhaowu carefully from head to foot. When he found that Ling Zhaowu was thin and pale, tears welled up in his eyes. “You unfilial son. I thought you’d never come back.”
At first Ling Zhaowu was very afraid, but gradually, as though surprised by Ling Xingzhong’s upset look, he fixed him with a bemused stare.
“Father, get in the carriage.” Ling Zhaowen walked over and supported Ling Xingzhong into the carriage.
Ling Maomao didn’t need Ling Zhaowen’s help and climbed onto it by himself. Ling Zhang reached out his hand to pull him to his feet. “Get in, Maomao.”
Ling Maomao held Ling Zhang’s hand tight and called, “Big Brother.”
Maybe because he was affected by the atmosphere, Ling Maomao was not as excited to see Ling Zhang as he had been in the past. Though the gleam in his sparkling eyes suggested that he was pleasantly surprised, the little boy appeared much more poised than the last time Ling Zhang had seen him.
Ling Zhang pulled him into the carriage, which was quite broad and comfortable and didn’t feel crowded even with three adults and a child sitting inside now. Ling Zhaowu was sitting pressing himself tightly against Ling Zhang’s side. When Ling Xingzhong had been getting in, he had buried his head in Ling Zhang’s back and afterwards had turned his head aside to look at Ling Xingzhong. Seeing Ling Xingzhong still gazing at him with that same excited face, he had uneasily edged a little closer to Ling Zhang. Ling Maomao was sitting beside Ling Xingzhong, staring at this uncle of his who was a complete stranger to him, astonishment gleaming in his eyes. He had never expected that Ling Zhaowu would act like this, but he didn’t ask any questions, looked from Ling Zhaowu to Ling Xingzhong and Ling Zhang, and then just sat there, keeping silent.
Ling Zhaowu, however, was distracted by Ling Maomao’s presence. Clearly a little boy was not as intimidating for him as an adult was. He looked at Ling Maomao curiously.
His gaze sent Ling Maomao somewhat disconcerted. “Un–Uncle.”
Perplexed as to what that word meant, Ling Zhaowu swiveled his head aside to look at Ling Zhang. “Zhang’er?”
Ling Xingzhong had been observing Ling Zhaowu since he’d got into the carriage. Seeing that Ling Zhaowu had been behaving like a child all along, he felt a twinge of intense heartache, twisted his head around and didn’t turn it back until he had wiped the tears off the corners of his eyes. In order not to make his grandfather feel embarrassed, Ling Zhang pretended not to have noticed. Ling Maomao’s attention was focused on Ling Zhaowu, so he failed to perceive this.
“He’s Maomao, my uncle’s son, your nephew,” Ling Zhang explained to Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhaowu repeated the word. “Nephew?”
Then he shifted his gaze to Ling Maomao and suddenly gave a smile. “Nephew.”
Ling Zhang was briefly stupefied to see his smile. Ling Zhaowu had hardly smiled apart from the couple of occasions when Ling Zhang had seen smile on his face in the Millennium Pavilion, and this was the first time that he had seen Ling Zhaowu smile since they’d left the Millennium Pavilion.
Ling Xingzhong also appeared somewhat absent-minded, a faraway expression on his face, as though Ling Zhaowu’s smile had conjured up his memories of Ling Zhaowu’s childhood. After quite a while, he let out a long sigh and pulled himself back to the present, his eyes resting on Ling Zhaowu who had become interested in and been gazing all along at Ling Maomao. “You undutiful son. If you had listened to me and stayed at home, none of this would have happened.”
Ling Zhaowu couldn’t understand. He just subconsciously knew that by making this remark, Ling Xingzhong was reproaching him. A trifle afraid, he lowered his head and buried his face in Ling Zhang’s back.
The corners of Ling Xingzhong’s mouth slightly twitched. Eventually, he heaved another sigh, looking senile and weary, as though having just aged several years.
Ling Zhang couldn’t bear to see him like this and consoled him, “Grandfather, my father will recover. I brought a pill that could cure him.”
Ling Xingzhong inclined his head and looked at Ling Zhang, guilt etched on his face. “I’ve been keeping your mother’s parentage back from you all these years. It never crossed my mind that I was holding you back. Fortunately they came and found you, and you didn’t miss any of this. I made a mistake.”
Ling Zhang hurriedly said, “No. You did what you thought was best for me. It’s not your fault.”
Ling Xingzhong shook his head. “You don’t have to console me. I know I could be very mulish sometimes. Had I adopted a more flexible approach in that year, I might have managed to stop your father from leaving, and you wouldn’t have been divided from your father for so many years, and neither would your father have ended up like this. If it weren’t for the kindness of them, I would have to spend the rest of my life in regret.”
Ling Zhang looked at him earnestly. “Grandfather, you did everything you could. Things wouldn’t have come to this had my father seen sense back then, but given his mental state, we cannot blame him for that. You shouldn’t beat yourself up over my father’s mistake.”
Ling Xingzhong gave a long sigh. “The father is responsible for the son’s ignorance.”
Ling Zhang had no alternative but to hurriedly make an attempt to steer the conversation away from this topic in the knowledge that it’d take some more time to get his grandfather to stop blaming himself. “Grandfather, back at the city gates, what with the confusion outside, I didn’t introduce my maternal grandfather to you. He’s in the carriage behind us, along with Mr. Mu, the physician who’s been treating my father.”
Ling Xingzhong nodded. “I see. I’ll thank them after we get home.”
Ling Zhang opened his mouth but eventually said nothing.
…
The horse-drawn carriages halted at the front gates of the residence of the Ling family. Fu Caiwei, along with some servants, had been waiting for them. At the sight of the group of people, her eyes rested on Ling Zhaowen who was in front, overjoyed. “Darling!”
Ling Zhaowen gave a nod at her and dismounted from his horse. After Fu Caiwei walked down the flight of steps, Ling Zhaowen told her in a low voice, “My big brother is in the carriage with my father and Zhang’er. His mental state is a little… special. Don’t feel surprised when you see him.”
Fu Caiwei nodded. “I understand.”
In the carriage.
“Here we are.”
Ji Donglin raised the carriage curtain. Ling Zhang turned and said to Ling Zhaowu, “Father, we’ve arrived home. Let me help you get out of this carriage.”
Ling Zhaowu curiously looked outside, a disbelieving expression flashing across his pallid face. “This is not home.”
Ling Xingzhong paused, looking at him.
Ling Zhang knew that the reason why Ling Zhaowu said this was because he had taken that little courtyard house in the Millennium Pavilion which he’d been living in for over half a year for his home and had forgotten the Ling family, so he patiently explained, “Father, this is the Ling family, which is both my home and your home.”
“Your home? Zhang’er’s home?” Ling Zhaowu looked at him.
Ling Zhang inclined his head.
Comprehension dawning on his face, bobbing his head, Ling Zhaowu beamed, “Then it’s my home as well.”
On hearing this, Ling Zhang felt a stab of sadness and firmly held his father’s hand. “Let’s get out of here and go home.”
Ling Zhaowu nodded and finally went out of the carriage with Ling Zhang cooperatively. After that, when Ling Zhang released his grip on Ling Zhaowu’s arms and went to help Ling Xingzhong, Ling Zhaowu seemed rather unhappy, following him closely with his front against Ling Zhang’s back.
“Take it easy, Grandfather.”
Ling Zhang supported Ling Xingzhong out of the carriage and then subconsciously reached out his hands to carry Ling Maomao, but the little boy swiftly jumped off the carriage. “I can manage it myself, Big Brother.”
For an instant Ling Zhang felt lost. Maomao had grown up.
“Zhang’er.” Ling Zhaowu gave the back of Ling Zhang’s robe a pull, displeased with him gazing at Ling Maomao.
Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance and held Ling Zhaowu’s wrist consolingly. “Father, does this place strike you as familiar?”
On hearing this, Ling Zhaowu glanced around and was just about to shake his head when his eyes were suddenly fixed on something, his countenance vacant.
The others looked in the direction he was staring and found that what attracted his attention was an outer screen wall and the plants in front of it.
“Your father and your mother finished that painting on the screen wall together the year when we returned to Tanyang,” Ling Zhaowen explained in a quiet voice.
Ling Zhang turned his head around to look at Ling Zhaowu. Worrying that the painting might turn out to be some kind of visual stimulus, Ling Zhaowu had started walking forward. Ling Zhang hurriedly followed. “Father.”
This time Ling Zhaowu didn’t give any particular reaction and was still considering the painting on the screen wall. Standing in front of the wall, looking up at it, he raised his hand to touch it and with that his face took on a seemingly distant or anguished expression. Ling Zhang’s heart gave a lurch and then saw Ling Zhaowu suddenly crouch down, clap his hand over his head and cried out in pain, “Ah! AAAAAARGH!”
“Father!” Ling Zhang gave a start and hurriedly yelled, “Mr. Mu!”
Mr. Mu had just got out of the carriage with Ji Yin when he caught sight of this scene. He hastily took his medicine chest in his arms and sprinted over.
All members of the Ling family were startled.
“Brother!” Ling Zhaowen ran up to Ling Zhaowu and tried to support him only to find that Ling Zhaowu’s strength was so great that he was unable to raise him to his feet.
“Maternal Grandfather!” Ling Zhang had just let out a cry when Ji Yin swooshed over to them with a blur of movement and restrained Ling Zhaowu who was shouting in pain. Ling Zhaowu sat onto the ground, leaning against Ling Zhang’s chest, still holding his head and crying constantly, “AAAAAARGH!”
“Brother.” Ling Zhaowen’s eyes reddened with sorrow at this sight.
Ling Xingzhong was also thrown into discomposure, at a loss what to do. Seeing his son’s miserable face, he felt as though the pain was stabbing at his heart.
Right at this moment, Mr. Mu took quickly took out some needles, skillfully stuck several of them into Ling Zhaowu’s skin at certain acupoints, then stuffed a pill into Ling Zhaowu’s mouth, raised his head and said, “Hurry. Carry him inside.”Read latest chapters at L istnovel.com
With great strength, Ling Zhang directly scooped up Ling Zhaowu who had listlessly closed his eyes after calming down, and rushed through the front gates. The others immediately followed. A steward, who was the only one left in the gateway, instructed some servants to take the traveling bags in the carriages into the residence and then park the carriages to another place.
After carrying Ling Zhaowu inside, Ling Zhang suddenly paused, wondering where he should take Ling Zhaowu. Servants every other day cleaned the courtyard house that Ling Zhaowu used to live in, so it was very clean, but he was afraid that Ling Zhaowu would be stimulated again by the things in his room when he woke up. After hesitating for a brief moment, he hastened towards his own house with Ling Zhaowu in his arms.
Ji Yin, carrying Mr. Mu with one arm and the medicine chest with the other hand, nimbly followed in Ling Zhang’s wake like a shadow and was instantly out of the others’ sight.
Having entered his own courtyard house, Ling Zhang was very familiar with everything inside. The servants in the courtyard were all astounded to see Ling Zhang abruptly charge in with a man in his arms.
“Make the bed!” Ling Zhang yelled.
“Young Master, we’ve made all the beds already,” a servant hurriedly answered.
Ling Zhang carried Ling Zhaowu into his bedroom, put him down onto his bed and carefully adjusted his lying position to make sure it was comfortable. “Everything’s fine now, Father.”
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