"Mother..." he called out softly.
This gentle call seed to instantly break through the mountains and seas, the insurmountable distance of ti that once separated them.
Ying Ji’s brows trembled, he slowly blinked, and suddenly a different kind of moisture appeared in his phoenix-like eyes, his nose tip also turned red abruptly.
She sniffled, tossed aside the feather duster in her hand, and her fingers vented their frustration by vigorously scraping the scales off the green-headed fish.
She turned her head to the side, her eyes looking elsewhere, her voice drifted in the wind: "You still know in your heart that I’m your mother... If I hadn’t co to find you today, until when were you planning to hide it from ?"
Baili An softly called ’Mother’ again: "You can scold all you want, but I’m already grown up, yet you still pull down my pants with other won around..."
"Stop diverting the topic!"
Ying Ji finally let go of Baili An, allowing him to stand up and pull up his pants properly, and then from sowhere produced a handkerchief, wiping away her tears with a couple of sobbing sounds:
"You heartless thing, you’re not stabbing yourself with that sword, you’re clearly stabbing into your mother’s heart.
I bet this rascal doesn’t even see as his mother, enduring such grievances outside all alone, when you couldn’t handle it, you resorted to foolish acts instead of coming to mother for comfort.
Even now, you still want to hide it from ..."
Lady Ying Ji seed to cry and beco increasingly agitated, once more picked up the worn-out rusty kitchen knife, and struck the chopping board twice with it.
The Empress’s nose twitched, inhaling back the snot about to fall from her red nose tip, her tone exceedingly fierce: "Today, even if I beat those two buttocks of yours to a pulp, it wouldn’t be too much!"
The onlookers were utterly gobsmacked.
Is this still their imposing Lady Ying Ji, the cold and elegant, noble Earth Queen?
Having ruled the Central Netherworld for over a thousand years, how did they only now discover that their lady had such a brazen, unruly deanor?
Perhaps aware of the gazes from the spectators all around, Ying Ji’s phoenix-like eyes turned cold and wicked, instantly exuding a fierce, extravagant chill.
Everyone watching from the Central Netherworld suddenly scattered like startled birds, retreating in haste.
Though the Di Family’s dramas are amusing, they are far too risky, best to retreat while they can.
As they left, Shen Tu from the Royal Hall cast a ’good luck’ glance at Baili An.
When Lady Ying Ji is enraged, ordinary folks... truly cannot restrain her.
Baili An looked helplessly at Ying Ji, her shoulders trembling as she suppressed her frustration, he had no choice but to grab the handkerchief from her hand, and pinch her nose.
After wiping her nose clean, he sighed and said: "Mother, you’re already a grown woman, yet you cry like a child, aren’t you afraid your daughter-in-law will laugh at you?"
Yin Baishuang placed a handful of peeled, plump sunflower seeds in Ying Ji’s palm, laughing: "Crying isn’t anything shaful, what’s there to laugh about, unlike soone who did wrong and was spanked by their mother, now that’s embarrassing."
Ying Ji couldn’t help herself and let out a chuckle, but imdiately realizing her reaction was inappropriate, quickly recomposed herself, regaining her dignified and aloof deanor.
Baili An laughed in exasperation, rolled up his sleeves and said: "I just knew you were the one sneaking around behind my back and betraying , now you have the nerve to laugh at , watch not spank your butt."
Lady Ying Ji glanced over: "Try being fierce to her again?"
The feather duster was raised again.
Baili An’s attitude of admitting fault was very sincere: "Mother, I was wrong..."
Ying Ji lowered the feather duster, laid her open palm flat before Baili An, raised her chin slightly: "Say it again."
Baili An bent down, placed his chin on her palm, looking at her tearfully: "Mother, I was wrong, I’ll never hide anything from you again, alright?"
Ying Ji’s eyelids suddenly flushed, her eye rims misted, she pulled Baili An into her arms, trembling teeth in fear, producing a clicking sound: "It’s good you’re back... It’s good you’re back..."
As if fearing what she held was a dream-like illusion.
In this mont, Baili An only felt a wave of bitterness surge from nowhere, overwhelming his head, the tip of his tongue turned bitter.
He had envisioned and longed for countless tis the reunion scene with his mother in his heart.
Until this mont truly arrived, as he was tightly embraced by Ying Ji, Baili An discovered he was completely at a loss.
Being away from ho for too long, one tends to forget their holand.
The mories of Central Netherworld for Baili An have always been distant and unfamiliar, his life tougher than the stones in the stream.
He’s felt pain, faced death, experienced despair; the occasional warm images from mory seem like they belong in a different era, and in a blink, he can no longer catch a trace of his mother’s scent.
He’s always felt that all the emotions of the world are shallow connections for him.
Things that were once out of reach are now easily attainable.
First Yin Baishuang, then mother; this makes him feel like this life, once unreadable, full of endless suffering, has suddenly reached its end.
In his heart, an anxious thought arises.
Can he truly... be this happy?
Ying Ji eventually cried herself to exhaustion, and finally lay asleep on Baili An’s lap.
Her face still bore tear marks, snot sared all over his trousers, and she tightly held onto a now-motionless green-headed fish; a feather duster with scattered feathers lay by her skirt, like a child exhausted from playing, her sleeping face serene.
Yin Baishuang squatted beside her, her slender fingertips softly tracing Ying Ji’s dense lashes, chuckling lightly, "Little An, your mother is truly amusing."
Just after she spoke, with a ’snap,’ she received a smack on her rear.
Baili An’s eyes were clear, and by now, how could he not see through the situation:
"My mother, you lured her here, didn’t you?"
Yin Baishuang held her rear, feigning grievance, "But in fact, your mother has co to see you off, to hold you, you can act spoiled with her, deep inside, Little An must be quite happy, right?"
Baili An snorted, but his fingers slipped into Ying Ji’s dark green hair, deftly maneuvering, soon tying lively little braids all over her head.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze serene, as if concealing a world of contrasts.
"But now, she will endure yet another endless waiting."
Yin Baishuang sat beside him, her gaze distant towards the faraway mountains where clouds rise and colors occur, and said with a smile:
"We need not always seek a happy ending. The aning of waiting is that these feelings may turn into mories, and those longed for may find their way ho.
Everyone faces death, whether in three years or three hundred; why shouldn’t Little An think differently? You grew up an orphan, distant from familial love; though you always think of your mother, the ti spent truly together was scarce.
If in this remaining life, you can regard neither gain nor loss, nor worry about the future anxieties, and gain another three years of honest companionship, isn’t that still a gain?
In a lifeti, there aren’t so many perfect resolutions; live in the present, yearn for the future, relish now, recall yesterday, but don’t speak of the future, as things remain unclear.
Not to ntion three years from now, Little An, you currently stand amidst the storms, even the Demon World’s ruler is eyeing you.
Coupled with your relationship with Jiang Chen, once your identity is exposed, it will lead to endless pursuit from Heaven.
If you consider all these things, isn’t it that you never want to appear before us again?
Baili An was speechless for a mont, and after a long silence, he smiled wryly, saying, "Recognizing illusions from extre confusion makes one awake everywhere; freeing oneself from difficult emotions leads to broader horizons. After experiencing a life-and-death ordeal, in the end, I’m not as open-minded as Xiao Shuang."
He smiled, bent his head down, picked up the feather duster on the ground, brushed it, stripping it clean of feathers.
"In the past, my mother never needed this..."
After the farcical episode, Baili An intended to exert so effort to send Her Majesty Ying Ji back to the Empress Palace for proper rest.
Who knew, just after plucking the feathers off the duster, the one lying on his lap woke up, showing no sha at all about crying and making a fuss before the two younger ones.
She rubbed her eyes, then gathered the few utensils scattered on the ground, bundled them up, and carried them on her back.
Seeing her stance, Baili An realized sothing seed amiss: "Mother, what are you doing?"
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