Jiang Zhiqing stroked her head and coaxed, "Alright, don't bother yourself with things that aren't your concern. Mother believes your father won't let me be wronged. But you, why do you seem so distracted?"
"Didn't you go with your uncle to visit His Highness with Taoist Yuanzheng just now? Did something happen there?"
A mother knows her daughter best. The time they'd spent together had deepened the bond between this mother - daughter pair. Jiang Zhiqing immediately noticed that Jiang Mian seemed a bit down.
Jiang Mian leaned closer and rested her head on Jiang Zhiqing's shoulder.
"Just now, Xiao Jingcheng woke up for a while," she murmured. "But before even a quarter of an hour had passed, he fell back into a coma."
"How could this be?" Jiang Zhiqing asked with concern. "Is there something wrong with his health?"
Jiang Mian shook her head. "Taoist Yuanzheng said that he was able to wake up because he saved the people of Dongli Town and thus received some nourishment from the purple qi. However, the people of Dongli Town's faith in him is limited, so it could only sustain his brief awakening."
"Anyway, he approved of my decision," Jiang Mian said, a faint smile returning to her lips. "He also decided to return to the capital. At least I didn't harm him or hold him back."
The way she spoke and her expression when mentioning Xiao Jingcheng were completely different from usual.
Jiang Zhiqing deliberately asked, "Mujin, could you tell mother what kind of person he is?"
"Him..." Jiang Mian paused. "At first, I found him really annoying. Not only was he bad - tempered, but he always shouted at me and treated me like a servant girl."
Just thinking about how he'd squeezed her neck tightly after regaining consciousness made Jiang Mian angry.
"However, I'm not someone to be easily bullied. Later, I deliberately played a trick on him."
"He's the Crown Prince. Aren't you afraid that he'll bear a grudge and take revenge on you in the future, Mujin?"
"He's not that kind of person," Jiang Mian blurted out.
Noticing Jiang Zhiqing's inquisitive look, she felt inexplicably shy. "He always takes revenge on the spot. Besides, I saved his life. If he dares to take revenge on me, I have plenty of ways to make him suffer."
"Actually, his most precious virtue is that he's willing to listen to advice," Jiang Mian continued. "He'll admit his mistakes and apologize. You know, he's the Crown Prince, second only to the emperor. In this regard, he's already far better than many others."
"More importantly, he cares about the common people and is willing to sacrifice everything for them. He's not like Xiao Yixuan, who treats the people like grass and only has an eye for profit, using others' lives to achieve his own goals."
As she spoke, Jiang Mian snorted, showing her blatant disgust for Xiao Yixuan.
Jiang Zhiqing pondered for a moment and then asked, "What do you think of your uncle, Mujin?"
"Uncle?" Jiang Mian was a bit surprised. Why would mother ask about her uncle?
"Uncle is a good guy," Jiang Mian said without hesitation. "He's very kind. When we led the people of Dongli Town to avoid the disaster, uncle helped me treat the patients. He never complained about being tired."
"He also taught me how to identify and distinguish poisons without holding back anything. He even saved mother. I'm really grateful to him."
Just a good guy and feeling grateful?
Jiang Zhiqing smiled knowingly.
It seemed that she didn't need to worry. Mujin was still a bit naive.
Moreover, Doctor Mo was a descendant of the King of Chu. Even if Mujin was willing, she and Li Zhao wouldn't agree. Otherwise, the coffins of the ancestors of the Li clan might be turned over.
"However, I always feel that the side of uncle that he usually shows isn't his true self," Jiang Mian murmured. "The one who told me he'd killed someone today is the real him..."
She fell asleep leaning against Jiang Zhiqing. Her breathing became steady and calm. Jiang Zhiqing lovingly stroked her sideburns and pulled up the covers for her.
Once again, she felt that her child had truly grown up. She'd experienced so many things alone, learned excellent medical skills, was praised and loved by the people of Dongli Town, and also had her own troubles and secrets.
She, her child, and the man she loved had missed out on so much.
Jiang Mian slept soundly, but Jiang Zhiqing couldn't fall asleep.
How could she not want to wear a wedding dress, cover her head with a red veil, and marry the man she loved as his proper wife?
It was precisely because she cared so much that she'd decided to leave after being forced into the river by the daughter of the Zhang family. Even though she knew Li Zhao was frantically looking for her, she never wavered for a moment.
Although she and Li Zhao had reunited after eighteen years, and she knew that he'd never loved anyone else but her all these years.
But she didn't know if it was because they'd been separated for too long or if she was just being too sensitive.
She always felt that her husband seemed to be hiding something from her.
...
Xiao Jingcheng didn't fully regain consciousness and wake up from his slumber until the next morning when the sun shone through the window on him.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the peaceful sleeping profile of his own body. Since Jiang Mian and Mo Zhizhang were nowhere to be seen, he knew that he'd returned to the body of the yellow dog.
He never expected that after using that forbidden spell once, there would be such a powerful after - effect that he didn't wake up until this late hour.
No wonder Taoist Yuanzheng had said that during the spell - casting, the soul container and the physical body couldn't be too far apart. If the soul couldn't return to the yellow dog's body smoothly, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Because of the spell connection between his soul and his physical body, Xiao Jingcheng could see the purple qi surrounding his physical body at this moment.
The purple qi that had been so thick yesterday, looking like chains, was now extremely thin, like a layer of gossamer.
And he'd only managed to stay awake for less than a quarter of an hour last night.
If it continued at this rate, it would probably take seven or eight days before he could use the spell again.
Just as he was thinking, the door was pushed open, and Taoist Yuanzheng walked in.
Meeting the yellow dog's gaze, Taoist Yuanzheng casually closed the door and said with a smile, "Awake? You tried it once last night. How do you feel now?"
The yellow dog proudly stood up straight on the bed, raised its paw and placed it on its shoulder, and snorted through its nose.
It was obvious from its appearance that it was dissatisfied with the short duration of its awakening.
Taoist Yuanzheng shrugged. "There's nothing I can do. Purple qi is hard to come by. It's already a great achievement that you were able to wake up for so long. This at least proves that my spell worked and I wasn't lying to you."
Xiao Jingcheng understood this principle.
It seemed that he had to find a way to speed up the recovery of the purple qi.
But now that he was possessing the yellow dog and couldn't speak like a human, what could he do?
He heard the barking of dogs coming from outside.
His furry ears twitched slightly, and an idea suddenly popped into Xiao Jingcheng's mind.
Since purple qi came from others' sincere reverence for him, then, what about dogs...
Could they also generate it?