Chapter 1548 - 1546: Is He Really Leaving for Good?

Chapter 1546

"Empress! Empress!"

Zi Ning noticed that the Empress Dowager hadn’t moved for a while and quickly ran over.

"Someone, someone, the Empress Dowager has fainted from crying again!"

As soon as she finished speaking, several young maids came out to help support her.

Just as they were about to lift the Empress Dowager with effort, they suddenly felt a pair of large hands blocking them.

A deep voice accompanied the gesture.

"You all leave, I’ll take care of it!"

The maids looked up abruptly, instantly shocked.

"Greetings, Emperor!"

"Rise, all of you!"

As he spoke, he had already lifted his mother single-handedly and began walking toward the front courtyard room.

Feeling his mother’s body had become lighter, his brow furrowed even deeper.

A soft spot inside him collapsed instantly, as if the ground dragon was turning over, as if the palace was collapsing, as if... the world was turning upside down, and as if something important was drifting away from him.

Suppressing his complicated emotions, he returned to the front courtyard room, placed his mother on the other side of the bed, and called for the Imperial Physician.

Then he hurried to his father’s side.

Seeing Lin Siyin and several Imperial Physicians discussing something, each looking more serious than the last, his heart sank.

"How is it?" he asked, his voice trembling involuntarily.

Lin Siyin and the Imperial Physicians looked up at him with an indescribable expression.

The expression seemed to say, ’The news is not good; I don’t want to tell you for fear of breaking your heart!’.

"It’s nothing!"

His voice was a little hoarse.

"Speak up! There’s nothing I can’t handle, I’m mentally prepared."

"Your Majesty... the Taishang Huang’s body..." the Imperial Physician hesitated to continue.

"I’m afraid it’s already... exhausted!"

Lin Siyin’s face also looked bad, remaining silent.

Ever since she diagnosed this illness, she knew it couldn’t be cured, but she didn’t expect this day to come so soon.

She stood up intending to comfort Zhao Qichen, but he gently pushed her away.

"I want to be alone for a while!"

"Take good care of the Empress Dowager! I’m going out for a walk," he said, then turned and left.

At this moment, the tree in the backyard that had witnessed many of his mother’s tears belonged to him.

After Zhao Qichen left,

Lin Siyin turned to check on the Empress Dowager.

Her slender, fair fingers gently placed on the Empress Dowager’s pulse, and moments later, her expression became more solemn.

"It’s not good, the Empress Dowager’s health is also..."

She frowned, looking at the nearby Imperial Physician.

"How are you attending to her, how is the Empress Dowager’s health so poor?!"

"Reporting to the Empress!"

"The Empress Dowager has always been weak in health for years, and after raising four children, as she aged, her old ailments increased day by day!"

"Moreover... in the past year or two, she endured too much stress! But she always held back, keeping it all inside, resulting in..." resulting in this illness!

Lin Siyin pondered after listening.

Indeed, constantly staying by the Taishang Huang’s side, the Empress Dowager should have known about his health condition.

Watching her beloved one fade away daily, how enormous must her inner pain be!

The most tragic part is, this pain cannot be expressed.

One is good at enduring, the other is good at acting.

One deliberately shows, ’I’m fine,’ while the other deliberately shows, ’I know you’re fine, I’m also fine!’.

They do everything for each other’s sake yet desperately hide themselves, pretending nothing is wrong and seeing nothing.

’Hiss...’

She took a deep breath,

For some reason, she suddenly thought of mandarin ducks in the mountains.

These birds often end this way; when one unexpectedly dies, the other refuses to live alone.

Perhaps this is the legendary, in heaven we wish to be Biyi Birds, on earth we wish to be connected branches?

Lin Siyin wiped away the tears from her cheeks and instructed the Imperial Physician.

"Replenish them well, do whatever is most beneficial!"

"Understood, Empress!"

The Imperial Physician bowed and withdrew.

Lin Siyin stayed alone by Xia Ruqing’s side, waiting for her to wake up.

...

When Zhao Qichen returned, he saw Lin Siyin sitting alone by his mother’s bed, her eyes also red.

He stepped forward anxiously.

"Is there something wrong with Mother as well?"

Lin Siyin couldn’t lie to him and nodded.

"Yes!"

Then she saw Zhao Qichen’s already red eyes turn a deeper shade of red.

Wanting to offer some comfort, she didn’t know what to say, so she forced a smile and asked,

"We’ve been on the road for most of a Shi Chen, why don’t we bathe, change, and then eat something?"

Crying together constantly was no solution.

Attention had to be diverted somehow.

As someone’s child, eventually, this day would come, but the sky won’t fall.

"Okay!"

Zhao Qichen accepted her goodwill and nodded.

They went out, Zi Yue and her people came in the room to watch, while Zi Ning was focused on brewing medicine.

...

This courtyard, though called small, was not little at all.

With plenty of rooms, and unique front and back courtyards

Zhao Junyao and Xia Ruqing lived in the main house.

The two of them chose two rooms in the west wing to stay in.

After bathing, changing, and simply having dinner, their emotions gradually calmed.

Zhao Qichen appeared somewhat melancholy, hesitating before speaking.

"Yinyin, how much longer do you think... my father has?"

Lin Siyin was drinking tea, and almost spat it out upon hearing the question.

"Cough, cough!"

She placed the teacup aside, patting her lips with a handkerchief.

"I can’t really say!"

"This... I’m not a deity!"

She vaguely had an answer but dared not speak carelessly.

"It’s alright!"

"Give me an estimate, so I can mentally prepare!" His expression was a bit hurt, his tone somewhat dejected.

Lin Siyin’s heart softened, thinking... perhaps it’s time to prepare? She cautiously said,

"At the longest... a year, at the shortest... half a year!"

Even with ample mental preparation, Zhao Qichen was still shocked by this answer.

"My father... is not even sixty! Already?"

"Already exhausted... Emperor, I know it’s hard to accept, but..."

Lin Siyin didn’t know how to continue, so she simply patted his back without saying more.

Yes! Some things aren’t that easy to accept!

"Alright!"

"It’s fine! I... can bear it!"

For some reason, an inexplicable panic surged within him, as if the world was ending, or... reaching some extreme threshold.

With his father here, he feared nothing.

Although he could carry the entire kingdom himself, knowing his father was there gave him a sense of security.

Now... this sense of security, this mountain-like umbrella, was about to disappear.

Though not needed, it irrationally filled him with panic.

So quickly, his parents were about to leave one after the other, leaving him to face everything alone?

From now on, the man who had always taught him, the one who told him to be brave, was going to leave completely?