Chapter 243 - 241. I Miss Mother I

Third-person POV

At the sight of the unique earrings, Zhang Wei's cry instantly ceased as he stared at the earrings with wide eyes. He reached out to the earrings with his short arms and babbled incoherent words. A few seconds later, he managed to grab one of the earrings. He played with the unique earring for a while and not long after, he put it in his mouth.

Weisheng panicked and immediately pulled out the earring from Zhang Wei's mouth. As his new toy was forcefully taken away by his father, he parted his lips to bombard his powerful cry. Knowing that Zhang Wei was going to cry again, Weisheng hastily handed the earring back to Zhang Wei.

He sighed tiredly as he stared at his son in defeat, 'Rebellious kid. Like me.'

To make sure that Zhang Wei didn't swallow the earring, Weisheng keenly watched over his naughty son.

Then a soft but firm babble was heard from across him, "Ah buh!"

"Your Highness Princess Rong, please drink your milk." Ming Yu gently pressed the bottle milk to Rong Ai's lips.

But Rong Ai resisted and pushed the bottle milk away with her puffy cheek, she stretched out her arms to Weisheng with teary eyes. Ming Yu glanced at Weisheng who was staring at Rong Ai, she stood up and walked to Weisheng's side.

Weisheng followed Rong Ai's eyes and found out that she was looking at the other piece of the earrings in his hand. The corner of his lips arched into a weak smile as he handed the earring to Rong Ai. Unlike her brother, she hugged the earring tightly in her embrace and proceeded to drink her milk.

'How can you two be so alike?' Weisheng caressed Rong Ai's head and gently poked her puffy cheek.

Rong Ai felt quite annoyed by the finger as it disturbed her from drinking her delicious meal. She wrapped his little fingers around the rough finger hoping that it could stop poking her cheek, but her action caused Weisheng to have a heart attack.

Weisheng was struggling to keep his face straight from the overload cuteness. Then he heard a faint gurgling sound from his son's stomach. Jin Momo chuckled at the baby's cuteness, she pulled out the earring from Zhang Wei's mouth and swiftly put the teat of the baby bottle into Zhang Wei's mouth before he could let out another cry.

With Hong er's earring in their hand, they silently drinking their milk while fighting the severe sleepiness. Weisheng occasionally tapped the back of the bottle with his finger whenever the baby was going to fell asleep so that the baby could finish the milk before they take their nap.

A few minutes later, the milk in the baby bottle was drained till the last drop by Zhang Wei and Rong Ai. They instantly went into their dreamland as soon as they swallowed the last gulp of the milk. The hands that were holding onto the earrings also loosened quite a bit.

Just when Weisheng was about to take away the earrings from their hands, the earrings suddenly glowed brightly that it blinded their vision. They slowly opened their eyes when the light subsided.

They were bewildered to see the earrings disappeared from the babies' hands. But then, Rong Ai grunted from the discomfort on her earlobe and twisted around to find a better sleeping position in Ming Yu's arms.

They were more shocked to see the earrings were hanging on Zhang Wei and Rong Ai's earlobe. One on Rong Ai's left ear and the other one on Zhang Wei's right ear. Although the earrings do look heavy on the baby's ear, however, the babies would grow bigger over time and at that time, it would suit and look good on them just like their mother.

Weisheng stared at them with loving eyes for a while and passed Zhang Wei to Jin Momo so she could put him into bed too. To not disturb the babies' afternoon nap, Weisheng decided to go out and take a look at his eldest son.

Their mother was absent and the three of them were still young, therefore as a father, he had to fill that vacant space as best as he could. Before Weisheng walked out of the room, he glanced at his children for one last time.

'Hong er, please protect them.' Weisheng beseeched within his heart.

Then he strolled around the garden that he demanded the gardener to finish in a span of one week which they did meticulously knowing that the emperor was not very magnanimous in things that involved around the empress.

The flowers that they planted were Hong er's favorites too and it wasn't that hard for them to guess as Hong er was not picky in a matter of everything. No matter what flowers they planted for her during the time where she was still in the Royal Palace, she would always smile at them and thank them for their hard work which they truly appreciate from the deepest of their hearts.

The vibrant color of the flower contrasted with the white snow that piled on top of the petals. Weisheng sighed and continued his walk around the garden when he saw Xue Lang sitting on the ground, facing the Floating Lotus Pavilion with a paintbrush in his hand and a white paper spread out on a small table in front of him.

Weisheng immediately glared at the restless servants. Without needing a command from Weisheng, Qiyi quickly went over to Xue Lang's servants and scolded them.

"Why is His Highness Prince Xue sitting here, on the ground, under the snow?! What if His Highness Prince Xue got sick? All of you must have known that His Highness Prince Xue is still not fully healed yet!" Qiyi reprimanded with whisper shouting.

Xue Lang spotted Qiyi and happily turned his body around as he hadn't seen his father for weeks. But his eyes dropped as soon as he saw Weisheng glaring at him, he hastily stood up and dashed towards Weisheng.

"Greeting to Imperial Father! This son went to visit Imperial Father as soon as I heard the news that Imperial Father had returned. But this son didn't dare to disturb Imperial Father and waited for Imperial Father in here while practicing my drawing skill." Xue Lang cheerfully said as he flashed a wide grin at the end of the sentence.

Weisheng's heart softened as he saw how similar Xue Lang's smile with Hong er's. But when he saw the tip of Xue Lang's nose was extremely red from the cold, he shook his head to not let his feeling take over him. He shouldn't let Xue Lang off when he had made a mistake especially when it could affect his own health.

Weisheng took off his black fur coat and dr.a.p.ed it over Xue Lang's shoulder which resulted in Xue Lang turning into a big fluffy furball. Weisheng looked downwards to Xue Lang while Xue Lang strained his neck to look up to his ridiculously tall father.

Not wanting Xue Lang to hurt his neck, Weisheng crouched down to Xue Lang's eye level and cupped Xue Lang's frozen cheeks with his full of calluses hands to warm Xue Lang up even if it only a bit.

"Xue Lang, father say this for your own good. Don't sit out here when the weather is so cold. You haven't recovered yet and what if you caught another illness before it healed?" Weisheng gently yet firmly lectured Xue Lang.

Xue Lang's eyes became teary as Hong er's voice seemed like echoed in his ears. Weisheng rarely scolded him as usually Hong er did the scolding for both of them and to add it, Weisheng was very stingy with words. Weisheng was perplexed when the tears in Xue Lang's eyes rolled down his cheek.

'Did I scold him too harshly?' Weisheng panicked and asked himself within his heart.

"What's wrong?" Weisheng softly brushed his rough thumb over Xue Lang's cheek to wipe his tear.

Xue Lang who couldn't hold back his tears jumped into Weisheng's arms.

"I-I miss Imperial Mother…"