Luo Nanchen still stood in place. His clothes were covered in dust, torn in many places. His wounds hadn't been treated and had already scabbed over. The wound at the corner of his mouth still retained the shape of dripping blood, but it had already coagulated. His lips were extremely pale, looking like a dying man in the desert.
Only his eyes remained as bright as ever, showing forbearance and determination.
That was no longer an expression a child should have.
Lin Qiao walked over, with a straight face. "Come in."
Luo Nanchen looked up. His dry lips moved slightly. "I..."
"What are you hesitating about? Come in and have a meal."
After saying this stiffly with a straight face, Lin Qiao couldn't bear to look at Luo Nanchen's face any longer. She quickly turned around and walked into the house.
She knew that this wasn't something he should have to endure. But being born into the royal family, if one wasn't ruthless enough, didn't have tough enough means, or wasn't powerful enough, one couldn't survive. Even if one didn't die, one would be half - dead.
Lin Qiao suddenly thought that perhaps the original owner had been so harsh on Luo Nanchen just to make him stronger?
No, the original owner had later lusted after Luo Nanchen's body.
...Sorry, she had thought too much.
Luo Nanchen's hoarse voice sounded behind her. "Lin Qiao, are you feeling sorry for me?"
Lin Qiao didn't say a word. With her back to Luo Nanchen, she was actually extremely nervous.
Damn it. If she said yes, would it be out of character?
Would all the dignity she had built up over so long be in vain?
Seeing that Lin Qiao remained silent for a long time, Luo Nanchen didn't continue to press. The bloodstains on his face looked a bit terrifying in the night, but his eyes were still bright, as if hiding a galaxy within.
"Okay, I won't let you down."
...
Luo Nanchen had always been in pain.
He didn't know if everyone was like this. His father didn't dote on him, and his mother didn't love him. They even regarded him as a burden that they couldn't avoid fast enough.
Anyway, from the moment he was born until now, no one had cared about him, no one had shown concern for him. No one had added an extra quilt for him when it was cold, no one had cared whether he was happy or sad that day. No one had stood up for him when he was bullied, and no one had hugged him when he was scared.
Luo Nanchen often curled up into a small ball in the corner of the room. He couldn't figure out if he had wanted too much, which was why he had ended up with nothing in the end. Was he too greedy, so the harder he tried, the faster the sand slipped through his fingers?
So he lowered his standards. When he was scared before, he hoped that someone would come and hug him and say it was okay. Later, when he was scared, he just hoped that someone would come and accompany him. Then, he hoped that someone could talk to him calmly. He didn't need them to stay, just talk to him for a while. After that, he didn't have any more hopes.
It was okay without anyone. He had already learned to overcome his fear.
He didn't understand why other princes and princesses could nestle in their mothers' arms and act coquettishly. He didn't understand why other princes and princesses could often see their father. He didn't understand why although they were all the same kids, everyone picked on him.
People would feel resentment. No matter how kind a child was, in a hopeless life and after pointless struggles, some evil thoughts would germinate in their hearts.
It was as if there were two people fighting in his heart all the time. One advised him to be good, while the other tempted him to do evil.
He wavered and didn't know what to do.
Until one day, when he went to the imperial garden to catch a fish to satisfy his hunger, he met someone.
That person was dressed in red, looking flamboyant and charming. With a pair of bright eyes like jade, she said to him, "Run quickly."
It was the first time someone had told him to run.
In the past, when he was bullied by the eldest prince, the crown prince, and all the princesses, no one had ever protected him or told him to run.
Regardless of the reason, Luo Nanchen remembered that little girl seriously.
Yes, he thought she was just a fairy who had strayed into the imperial garden, a little girl.
As it turned out, after going around in circles, that little girl had become his stepmother.
Luo Nanchen couldn't accept it. He was fierce and hostile towards Lin Qiao. He didn't want to recognize this stepmother. A stepmother was equivalent to a mother. For Luo Nanchen, Lin Qiao would never have any other identity to him.
Forever, there would always be a generation gap.
Luo Nanchen quietly watched Lin Qiao apply medicine to his wounds. "Lin Qiao."
Lin Qiao looked up at him and ignored him. She continued to rummage through the medicine box for new medicine and then slowly applied it to Luo Nanchen.
Luo Nanchen, on the contrary, smiled gently. Even though it pulled at his wound, he didn't feel any pain.
Lin Qiao had no experience in medical treatment. Following the system's instructions, she was still in a complete mess. She couldn't find the right medicine, and she wasn't very good at bandaging the gauze either. She was so nervous that she was about to become clumsy.
Just then, Luo Nanchen even laughed at her. He was really heartless.
Lin Qiao picked up the last bit of her dignity as an elder. "What are you laughing at? Stop laughing."
Luo Nanchen then stopped smiling and looked extremely serious. "I think this is quite nice."
Lin Qiao still had a straight face. "Nice my foot."
Luo Nanchen carefully searched for her gaze, like a little dog seeking its master's care. "Will you also apply medicine to the emperor like this?"
Lin Qiao thought for a while. Applying medicine to Luo Siyuan couldn't even be called that. She just forced him to take it.
"That's not the same thing."
"Oh." Luo Nanchen hung his head.
Lin Qiao had always been soft - hearted towards those who were submissive. The reason she talked to Luo Nanchen with a straight face was just because she didn't want to expose the fact that she was a medical novice. In fact, Luo Nanchen's current cute and obedient state was very much to Lin Qiao's liking.
Lin Qiao had long been reluctant to ignore Luo Nanchen. "In the future, if you're wronged, come to me. Don't go to the emperor, okay?"
[Congratulations to the host for completing the advanced - stage task of performing PUA on the male protagonist.]
[Dignity increased by 50. Current dignity: 140]
Lin Qiao: ???
What the hell.
Why do you keep pinning the blame on me every day?
Where on earth did I perform PUA on Luo Nanchen?
Regardless of whether this counted as PUA or not, anyway, Luo Nanchen's eyes lit up. Then he pitifully said, "Okay... But I didn't break in on purpose..."
Although the little Siri kept pinning the blame on her, since this blame could increase her dignity, she didn't really care. Instead, she was a little happy because she had accumulated enough 100 dignity points. This meant that Lin Qiao no longer had to be restricted by the original owner's personality.
Even Lin Qiao's tone became a bit more relaxed. She followed Luo Nanchen's words. "Well, then how did you break in?"
Luo Nanchen was stunned and couldn't say a word again.
He had broken into the Zhaoyang Palace... because he had heard in the school that Luo Siyuan's health was getting better and that he had favored a concubine in the Zhaoyang Palace early that morning.
And when he had gone to the Changle Palace to look for Lin Qiao that morning, he hadn't found her.
Luo Nanchen immediately panicked. He didn't know why he was panicking. He just vaguely felt that a girl as bright, flamboyant, and wonderful as Lin Qiao shouldn't be with a sickly man like Luo Siyuan. She shouldn't be forced to do such things.
Luo Nanchen acted very quickly. He immediately jumped out of the window of the school. The teacher who was giving the lecture was so angry that he almost fainted.
But the theft of the jade pendant was an accident.
He didn't even have time to think about which was more important, the theft of the jade pendant or Lin Qiao being forced. He just struggled to get up and run towards the Zhaoyang Palace.
That was the first time Luo Nanchen had openly wanted to see his nominal father.
Luo Junhao had been spoiled so much that he was lawless. Anyway, this kind of thing had happened more than once or twice. So he instructed a group of little eunuchs to continue beating Luo Nanchen. His clothes were torn, his body was kicked, and his face was scratched.
Luo Nanchen didn't feel the pain. He just thought that it was better this way. This whole body of injuries, even if it could gain half a point of Luo Siyuan's concern, would be worth it. Then he could take Lin Qiao out.
However, he didn't consider the consequences. After taking Lin Qiao out, what then? What would he do next time? Could the same reason be used twice?
Lin Qiao was right to scold him. It had sobered him up a lot.
Living in a muddle - headed way was simply not going to work. If he wasn't strong enough, he couldn't even protect himself, let alone others.
He had to become strong, strong enough so that everyone would obey him, be afraid of him, and not dare to oppose him.
This was what he had figured out after an afternoon. It was a firm decision, and he would strive for it.
...
That day, with wounds all over his face and body, Luo Nanchen said hoarsely to Lin Qiao, "I won't let you down."
Luo Nanchen always kept his promises and achieved results.
The next day, he went to the Spiritual Energy Platform.
He built his foundation in less than half a month.
And he reached the Qi - Refining stage in less than another month.
There were two levels between foundation - building and Qi - Refining, namely the Open - Light and Fetal - Breath stages, but Luo Nanchen directly skipped these two stages and went straight to Qi - Refining.
His cultivation talent was so high that it was astonishing.
You should know that the original owner, who had been key - trained as a saintess in the Le'an Realm, had only reached the Golden Core stage, just one level higher than Luo Nanchen. The crown prince, Luo Junhao, although he had good cultivation talent and had been trained since childhood with the best teachers in the whole Yunjin, was now only at the same level as Lin Qiao, the Golden Core stage. And the eldest prince, Luo Tianlei, who had extremely poor cultivation talent and was several years older than Lin Qiao, was still lingering between the foundation - building and Open - Light stages.
The teachers on the Spiritual Energy Platform were so happy that they took turns vying to give Luo Nanchen lessons.
The teachers on the Spiritual Energy Platform were all experts from all over the continent. They were not directly under the jurisdiction of the palace. They all liked those with ability and didn't care whether you were the emperor's son or a beggar's son, let alone whether you were in favor or not.
This made Luo Junhao so angry that he smashed several antiques.
Luo Junhao went to Luo Siyuan to cry after being wronged on the Spiritual Energy Platform. When Luo Siyuan heard this, he thought, "Huh? He actually has such a powerful son?" So he happily rushed to the Spiritual Energy Platform to watch and even excitedly bestowed a lot of pills on Luo Nanchen.
Luo Nanchen suddenly became a sought - after figure.
This made Luo Junhao so angry that he smashed several more antiques.
When he returned to the Eastern Palace, he found that Lin Qiao had brought people to make a big scene there. They beat the servants black and blue, and even humiliated him several times. Luo Nanchen's jade pendant was also taken back.
This made Luo Junhao so angry that he smashed several more antiques.
Antiques: There aren't many of my siblings left...
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