After being conferred his title, Yan Si followed the eunuchs to the Imperial Academy of Medicine, which was inherently the residence for all the imperial physicians in the palace; here, they arranged the finest quarters for him.
It was a place completely sequestered from the other sectors, surrounded by an abundance of flora and fauna, appearing truly beautiful and tranquil.
Yan Si stepped inside leisurely and looked around; this place compared to yesterday's room was superior in every way, and furthermore was immensely spacious... Afterward, he immediately went over to the side of the bed and cast his back down to lie away.
"So soft." The bed was exceptionally soft; the blankets and pillows still carried a faint, extraordinarily pleasant fragrance. Yan Si burrowed his head into the pillow and took a deep, thorough breath.
"This place is truly fine." It was only that... it lacked RongCheng... Having grown accustomed to being closely attached to one another over many days, now that he was missing, his heart felt a genuine sense of emptiness: "Where is he at this moment?"
It seemed he was beginning to miss the man...
Meanwhile, RongCheng had temporarily forgotten about Yan Si, thinking that since he had arranged everything thoroughly, that was enough.
Yan Si lay cradled around his pillow, rolling about for a while, and fell sound asleep before he knew it...
The moment he woke up was still due to someone calling him; however, the image of the creature before his eyes was entirely blurry. He saw a very beautiful woman, who nudged him and called out, "My child, wake up, wake up and eat some cakes! Mother has made a great deal of delicious cakes for you here!"
Hearing such a call with absolute clarity, Yan Si rose up in a panic and crawled right into the innermost side of the bed, evading violently while unceasingly screaming, "No! I will not eat! Hurry and get away! Get away!"
Despite this, that woman still refused to let him go; she immediately climbed onto the bed, intending to seize him, and spoke with gritted teeth, "Eat it! Hurry and eat the cakes!"
The more she spoke, the more agitated Yan Si became, screaming fiercely, "No! I will not eat! Get away! Hurry and get away!!!"
After a period of wrestling, at this moment a hand suddenly caught hold of Yan Si and pulled him out; the person immediately cradled him into his chest, caressing and soothing him to reassure him, "Little brother, calm down quickly! Calm down! It is me... it is me here!"
Hearing the familiar warm voice, Yan Si abruptly snapped back to reality, gasping for breath unceasingly; his heart at present was still thumping heavily inside his chest cavity, temporarily unable to regain composure.
Beholding the boy like that, RongCheng became even more furious; he held Yan Si tightly while simultaneously glaring intently at the palace maid beside them, asking with gritted teeth, "What did you do to him?"
Seeing His Highness fly into a rage, the maid hurriedly knelt flat on the ground to explain herself, "Your... Your Highness appease your wrath, this ser... this servant merely wished to call young master to rise for dinner, never... never expecting..."
Merely calling him for dinner, why exactly did the person react in such a manner? It was obvious that because she saw Yan Si was thin, weak, and small of stature, she had bullied him! At that thought, RongCheng spoke in a cold voice, "Still daring to be deceitful, men!"
The moment she heard him call for men to come, the maid turned pale with fright and hurriedly prostrated herself to beg for mercy, "Your Highness! Your Highness, forgive my offense! Your Highness, forgive my offense!"
The imperial guards outside heard the call and instantly rushed inside to seize the maid, intending to drag her away; at this time, Yan Si seemed to fully awaken, and seeing the critical situation, he hurriedly intervened to stop it, "Eldest brother... eldest brother, do not! Please do not!"
Seeing that Yan Si had awakened, RongCheng looked at him and asked anxiously, "Are you alright? What did she do to you? With me here, there is no need to fear; speak it out quickly, I will handle the matter for you."
Yan Si hurriedly shook his head, "No... no... she... she did nothing to me, please release her."
RongCheng looked at Yan Si with suspicion, feeling that there was some matter the boy was fearfully concealing; could it be that the maid had threatened him? At that thought, he glared even more intensely toward her as if wishing for her to confess her own crime.
Knowing that RongCheng did not believe his words, Yan Si gripped his hand tightly and said, "Eldest brother, release her, and have everyone withdraw completely, I... I will speak."
RongCheng nodded, while simultaneously waving his hand for everyone to withdraw outside.
Waiting until the entire group had retreated, Yan Si only then calmly recounted the dream that had haunted him for so many years; although everything was not distinct, he knew it had once occurred. At the time he had tentatively asked Yichang Hua, the man merely said, "At the age of three, you snuck out entirely alone to bathe in the spring, and were carried away by a female ghost."
Hearing up to here, RongCheng felt a true headache, thinking silently to himself: "At a mere three years old, what could he possibly know? For what reason did that master of his not watch over him, but instead let him go entirely alone to bathe in the spring like that?"
Furthermore, what exactly was that female ghost? According to what Yan Si recounted, he himself did not clearly remember the details either, merely dreaming frequently of a woman coming to force him to eat mud cakes...
This could be that during his childhood he had genuinely encountered something horrific and remained haunted until now... Nonetheless, RongCheng still felt a sense of vagueness and did not quite believe it; up until this very moment, he had not even seen what a ghost looked like, let alone a female specter.
Regardless of whether RongCheng believed it or not, Yan Si spoke further, "Just now while dreaming in my sleep, I once more saw that woman coming to force me to eat cakes... therefore... that was why..."
In truth, that maid had done nothing at all; seeing him agitated, she had merely wished to call him awake.
The matter was clearly a misunderstanding yet had been torn open to such an extent; RongCheng felt a bit uneasy and immediately handed down an order to release the maid; that woman indeed had been given a terrifying fright.
Particularly toward Yan Si, RongCheng genuinely did not know how he should console him, merely caressing his head and saying, "Everything after all has already passed, do not think too much further; quickly come and eat rice."
Yan Si nodded faintly and left the bed, following RongCheng to the table to eat rice; the man took the initiative to pull out a chair and assisted him to sit down.
Beholding RongCheng's current actions and gentle demeanor compared to just a moment ago, they truly seemed like two different individuals. When he was furious, he caused people to be terrified, but when he was normal, he made others wish to lean upon him, just as he always hoped to be embraced by him.
Even so, Yan Si inherently did not know that in this world, only two individuals were permitted to behold that gentle and tender expression of his. Aside from that, there remained many other facets of character within RongCheng that he had never once laid eyes upon.
Waiting until Yan Si sat down, RongCheng also followed to sit beside him; he ladled a bowl of rice and placed it before him, while simultaneously picking up a great deal of food to drop inside; before long, it was piled high like a mountain, and he spoke, "You must eat a lot."
Looking at the bowl of rice before his eyes, Yan Si was momentarily at a loss for words. Until turning toward RongCheng, seeing that his side of the table was completely empty, he asked, "There... is eldest brother not eating together?"
RongCheng shook his head, his countenance appearing somewhat hesitant as if wishing to say something yet stopping; seeing this, Yan Si asked once more, "Do you... have some matter?"
Only now did Yan Si feel it was strange; should he not at this time be by the side of that Imperial Consort watching over him? For what reason did he still come here to look at him eating rice?
Remaining silent, pondering for a moment, RongCheng spoke, "In a little while after finishing the rice, how about you come to see how the Imperial Consort is; for what reason has an entire day already passed yet he still does not awaken, I truly feel anxious."
As expected, it was thus... in the final analysis, RongCheng was solely because of worrying for his Imperial Consort that he came here, and happening to discover the situation, he had saved him along the way.
Letting out a sigh, Yan Si stood up and said, "Then, let me go see how he is."