The guards immediately came over to take Secondary Consort Wei away, but she clung tightly to Xiao Yunlin and refused to let go.
“Consort, the Second Young Master isn’t dead!” The imperial physician bowed to Secondary Consort Wei. “But if you keep holding him so tightly, he certainly will be!”
Secondary Consort Wei stared at him in confusion.
“You’re saying my Lin’er… isn’t dead?”
The imperial physician nodded vigorously. “Consort, please put the Second Young Master down first.”
Secondary Consort Wei reached out to feel for Xiao Yunlin’s breath. When she felt warm air brush across the back of her hand, tears of joy immediately filled her eyes.
“Wonderful! Lin’er isn’t dead! Lin’er isn’t dead!”
She hugged Xiao Yunlin, crying and laughing at the same time.
The imperial physician noticed that Xiao Yunlin seemed to move.
“Your Highness, the Second Young Master seems to be waking up!” he hurriedly reported to Prince Ling.
Prince Ling could no longer endure the pain in his lower back and lay down. Even so, his gaze never left Xiao Yunlin.
Although Xiao Yunlin was a son born to a secondary consort, he was very intelligent. He also performed much better in his studies than Xiao Yun’an.
For that reason, Prince Ling had placed great hopes in him.
Sure enough, following the imperial physician’s words, Xiao Yunlin slowly opened his eyes.
When Secondary Consort Wei saw her son open his eyes, she covered her mouth, her face filled with delight.
“Lin’er, you’re awake?”
She asked gently and softly, “Tell Mother—who did this to you?”
“Mother will certainly seek justice for you!”
Xiao Yunlin’s eyes moved slowly. His gaze shifted from Secondary Consort Wei’s face to the imperial physician’s, and finally came to rest on Prince Ling, who was lying on the bed.
“Sleep!”
He stared blankly in Prince Ling’s direction.
Secondary Consort Wei looked utterly bewildered.
“Lin’er, what are you trying to say? Do you want to rest?”
Xiao Yunlin’s gaze shifted slowly once more, finally landing on a plate of pastries nearby. He stared at them without moving.
Following his gaze, Secondary Consort Wei looked over at the pastries. Her own empty stomach immediately began to growl even more fiercely.
She swallowed. “Lin’er, are you hungry?”
Xiao Yunlin said nothing. He simply stared at the pastries.
Suddenly, a clear strand of saliva slipped from the corner of his mouth and dripped onto Secondary Consort Wei’s hand.
The imperial physician felt that something was wrong with Xiao Yunlin. After hesitating for a moment, he stepped forward, took Xiao Yunlin’s wrist, and began to feel his pulse.
From beginning to end, Xiao Yunlin continued staring at the pastries and drooling.
When Secondary Consort Wei saw his condition, her heart gave a sudden jolt.
Imperial Physician Li frowned. It took him a full quarter of an hour before he finally withdrew his hand.
“What’s wrong with Lin’er?” Prince Ling had also noticed that something was amiss with Xiao Yunlin.
Imperial Physician Li looked at him with a troubled expression.
“Your Highness, the Second Young Master suffered from a high fever for too long, and some of the meridians in his brain have sustained damage.”
“He may simply be reacting slowly because he has only just woken up. I will prescribe some medicine and treat him for several days to see whether his condition improves.”
As he spoke, the imperial physician quickly wrote out a prescription.
He then said that he needed to fetch the medicine and took the opportunity to leave.
Secondary Consort Wei stared fixedly at Xiao Yunlin, feeling that something about her son was wrong.
“Zhenzhu, bring the pastries over to the Second Young Master.”
Zhenzhu glanced timidly at Prince Ling. Only after seeing that he had no objection did she dare step forward, take a pastry, and hand it to Secondary Consort Wei.
Secondary Consort Wei waved the pastry from side to side in front of Xiao Yunlin.
Xiao Yunlin’s gaze immediately followed it.
“Lin’er, do you know who I am?” Secondary Consort Wei moved the pastry away.
Xiao Yunlin hurriedly looked around for it, his face filled with anxiety.
“Eat… eat…”
As he spoke, a long strand of saliva dribbled from his mouth.
“Lin’er, I’m your mother! Don’t you recognize Mother anymore?”
Secondary Consort Wei forcibly turned Xiao Yunlin’s face toward her. Unable to see the pastry, and with his cheek scratched by her long fingernails, Xiao Yunlin instantly grew agitated.
“Ah! Ah!”
Xiao Yunlin screamed at Secondary Consort Wei without stopping. He even raised his hands and struck at her.
After freezing for a moment, Zhenzhu immediately rushed forward and held Xiao Yunlin in her arms.
“Consort, the Second Young Master must be hungry! Please give him the pastry!”
At that moment, what else could Secondary Consort Wei fail to understand?
Her son had been burned into an idiot.
Xiao Yunlin’s constant shrieking caused the anger in Prince Ling’s heart to surge beyond control.
“Stuff his mouth!” Prince Ling shouted furiously.
Zhenzhu hurriedly snatched the pastry from Secondary Consort Wei’s hand and stuffed it into Xiao Yunlin’s.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yunlin immediately grabbed it and threw it away.
He continued beating Secondary Consort Wei.
“Bad person!”
“Bad person! I’ll beat you to death!”
Secondary Consort Wei seemed to have lost her mind. She neither dodged nor resisted, merely staring blankly at Xiao Yunlin.
The guards outside rushed in and pulled Xiao Yunlin from Zhenzhu’s arms.
One of them covered Xiao Yunlin’s mouth, but Xiao Yunlin bit down hard.
The guard did not dare release him and could only endure the pain.
“Take him back to his room and have people guard him!” Xiao Yunlin’s cries had given Prince Ling a pounding headache.
After Xiao Yunlin was taken away, only Prince Ling and Secondary Consort Wei’s mistress-and-servant pair remained in the room.
Prince Ling stared coldly at Secondary Consort Wei, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“I never imagined that, just to get out, you would actually use Lin’er!”
“Lin’er ended up this way because of you!”
“You poisonous woman! You destroyed your own son with your own hands!”
When the imperial physician had made his diagnosis, Prince Ling had already ordered an investigation into the cause of Xiao Yunlin’s fever.
In order to get out of the small dark room, Secondary Consort Wei had told Xiao Yunlin to pretend to be ill.
Prince Ling valued Xiao Yunlin, so she believed that, for Xiao Yunlin’s sake, he would certainly agree to let her out.
Unfortunately, Xiao Yunlin had been too clever for his own good.
To keep Prince Ling from seeing through the ruse, he had not only soaked himself but also had a large number of ice blocks placed in the room.
Worried that the hot weather would prevent the plan from working, Xiao Yunlin had even soaked his bedding.
And so he had slept through the night beneath a freezing, wet blanket.
By the next day, he had indeed developed a fever.
The maid had gone to find Princess Consort Ling, but Princess Consort Ling had refused to see her.
The maid then searched for Prince Ling in the front courtyard, but he had been in the palace all day and all night and had not returned.
Even the steward had gone out on business and was not at the residence.
The maid had no choice but to use crude methods to lower Xiao Yunlin’s fever. That was how he managed to hold on until Prince Ling returned. Otherwise, he would have died from the high fever long before then.
Hearing Prince Ling’s accusations, Secondary Consort Wei stared blankly at him.
“It’s all my fault?”
At that moment, Prince Ling wanted nothing more than to strangle her.
“With a selfish mother like you, Lin’er has suffered eight lifetimes of bad luck!”
“If he had been born from the Princess Consort’s womb, he would never have been ruined by you and condemned to live this way!”
Prince Ling was enraged.
His eldest son had already been raised into a wastrel, and now his second son had been ruined as well!
When Secondary Consort Wei heard Prince Ling mention Princess Consort Ling, the taut string in her mind snapped.
