Disclaimer: I'm translating this novel for fun. I can't promise 100% accuracy, but I'm doing my best to try to make this coherent. Leave a comment if there's anything confusing and I'll try to fix it. If you enjoy the translation and want to support me, tip me a Kofi at https://ko-fi.com/infinite

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Chapter 77 Ambitious

The baby couldn't understand what the two adults were saying. His round round eyes blinked as his small hand grabbed his father without letting go. Smacking his small mouth, he left out soft babbles.

Song Song squeezed that booklet in his hand, feeling an uncontrollable feeling of shame as his brain subconsciously replaced the people in the pictures into Li Xiao and himself.

But what Li Xiao said was extremely correct. This was also his obligation. Although this kind of thing was embarrassing, he actually didn't find it unlikeable.

It fell silent between them for a moment. Song Song suddenly reached out and picked up their son, then turned and walked out.

When he returned, Li Xiao was sitting on the bed looking at him. Song Song walked towards him, sat on the bed, then fell silent.

"I.. "

He didn't finish speaking when Li Xiao said: "Zhen also doesn't want to let you become pregnant again."

Song Song sat there quietly without moving, looking like he's ready to be plucked. In the end, Li Xiao was the first who couldn't resist. He pressed down to kiss Song Song, already swallowing his saliva before even touching him.

The bed curtains were lowered. Li Xiao once again experienced how rare and precious Song Song's obedient behavior was. He was a well qualified empress, a well qualified father, and even an extremely well qualified lover.

His obedience in dealing with Li Xiao basically had no bottom line.

The following day was a rest day. Li Xiao opened his eyes, feeling his spirits refreshed as he breathed in the smell of the person cradled in his arms. Song Song was still sleeping deeply. His sleeping face was peaceful, breathing soft. On his body was an aroma familiar to Li Xiao, extremely fresh and clean, and also extremely captivating.

Song Song slept so deeply that he wasn't even disturbed when the man sniffed him and kissed him all over. When he woke up half dazed, Li Xiao already returned from practicing his swordsmanship.

Realizing that today was a rest day, Song Song yawned, feeling drowsy again.

Li Xiao didn't even bother him.

He personally helped Song Song wash his face, brought over water for him to swish, coaxed him into eating a bit, then let him go back to sleep again.

After many days of starvation, once he satisfied his desire, Li Xiao's happiness could be clearly seen in his words and actions.

Since he was in a good mood, the servants were able to get by much better. Some smart people who picked out the clues secretly thanked Song Song for sacrificing his body to feed the tiger.

To make Li Xiao happy was part of Song Song's duty, not to mention, the two mutually loved each other, Song Song didn't dislike this kind of thing.

It's one thing to not reject it, but to have to do it everyday still was intolerable. After satisfying Li Xiao for 3 days straight, Song Song clearly felt his energy wane. That immediate night, he rolled himself into a silk cocoon and only allowed Li Xiao to hug and not to eat.

Upon seeing he was not interested, Li Xiao didn't clamor for more and even turned to carry over their son for him to play. Peeking his head out, Song Song saw the well-behaved little baby and dug his way out of the blankets. He was immediately grabbed by Li Xiao and smooched. Song Song pushed him with a hand and said: "Don't squish him."

Maybe he could tell Song Song's mood, the little baby suddenly reached out a small hand and hit Li Xiao: "Ah!"

Li Xiao lowered his head to look at the little guy wedged between the two of them. The little thing's face wasn't even as big as his palm, but his bright and intelligent looking eyes actually carried a bit of ferocity.

Li Xiao asked him: "Who are you trying to intimidate?"

"Ya!"

The little baby hit him again. Song Song laughed out loud. The little guy's hand was small and short, fingers thin. If it weren't for the fact that Li Xiao was holding Song Song, the little guy wouldn't even be able to reach him.

He said: "You're probably squishing him."

Li Xiao said: "Zhen is hugging his empress. Am I supposed to ask for his approval first?"

As he said this, he squeezed the baby's face. The little guy immediately tried to grab him, but his arm wasn't that nimble and also didn't have much strength. Naturally, he couldn't push his father away. After a few times, he started to scrunch up his face.

One second later, Song Song smacked away Li Xiao's hand" "He's going to cry."

He patted their son and cooed at him softly: "Alright, alright. The bad father was chased away. Don't cry."

The little thing puffed up for a little while but then became happy again.

Li Xiao said: "Maybe he was faking it?"

"He's tiny. How is he supposed to fake it?" Song Song said: "It's not like he's a little imp, isn't that right?"

The last part was said to the little baby.

His warm gentle disposition really made one's heart move.

Li Xiao couldn't hold back and hugged him close again. The squished baby immediately started to wiggle and stretch his body. His little claws smacked on Li Xiao's face while he made 'ah ah' noises.

Song Song can only push him away once more: "Stop messing around. He'd get angry again."

With the days at ease, it passed extremely quickly. Song Song watched with his own eyes as the little baby changed from only being able to turn his neck, to being able to flip over, to sit up, and crawl around. He witnessed his growth little by little, heart filled with an unsurpassable satisfaction.

His previous life was bumpy, while this life was spent especially comfortably, as if he was living in a dream.

Sometimes he felt that what happened in the previous life was nothing but a nightmare that's been long since tossed to the back of his mind.

As the little prince's 'son,' Ji Ying was given special privilege to enter and exit the palace as he pleased. The little prince actually really liked to stick to him. As soon as he could walk, even with Song Song holding him on a leash, he would specifically head towards Ji Ying.

When the child first started walking, he kept pitching his head forward. Coincidentally, he just happened to fall into Ji Ying's arms one time. Grabbed Ji Ying's sleeves, he'd look at the other pitifully until he was picked up. Then he'd started giggling.

When he grew a little bigger and could walk by himself, he would still tug on Ji Ying's sleeve and instruct him in his baby tone of voice: "You need to remember to wait for daddy." (Note: baby keeps talking in mispronounced words, but I won't make you guys try to guess what he's saying by spelling everything wrong. Just remember baby is baby talking this entire time. xD)

Ji Ying humorously lowered his head to look at the baby that was just a little taller than his knees and said: "Can't you speak clearly? And you dare claim to be my dad."

"Daddy said it!" The little prince seemed extremely angry at his disobedience towards himself. His little face even puffed up as he huffed: "Daddy said I'm your daddy!"

"Your big daddy and your small daddy's head both have problems. One is crazy and one is dumb. How can their words be trusted?"

The little prince glared at him. He lifted his small hand and smacked Ji Ying's butt hard: "You're not allowed to be disrespectful to emperor daddy!"

Ji Ying waved away his soft little hand and crouched down to look at him: "No wonder you're worthy of being cray cray and dumb dumb's kid. So dimwitted and foolish. A little idiot."

In the entire palace, who didn't know that the empress was his majesty's beloved sweetheart. The emperor loved the empress and everyone/everything related to him. Who dared to be disrespectful to the little prince? But every time Ji Ying came over, he always made fun of him. The little prince's eyes instantly turned tearful: "You're you're a disobedient son!"

Ji Ying reached out his head to poke at his little face, saying with a grin: "Who's disobedient? Who's disobedient? En?"

The little prince's soft face and soft little legs was forced to take a step back with each one of Ji Ying's pokes. Eventually he fell to the ground on his butt and, unable to hold back, started crying loudly.

Ji Ying couldn't resist wanting to laugh, but also hastily picked him up to coax: "Little daddy? Daddy? I was wrong. Okay okay, don't cry anymore."

The little prince was obedient and naive. Who knew if it was because he spent too much time around Song Song, he usually spent all day with furrowed brows, like a little grown up, making Ji Ying unable to resist bullying him.

But he couldn't bully him too badly, he still had to make him happy. Ji Ying cradled his little daddy in his arms. The little prince was so pissed off by him that he started hiccuping, all the while clenching his collar sobbing: "Unfilial son!"

"Ai yoo.. Sorry sorry." Ji Ying kissed him and said softly: "Don't cry? Little dad? Dad?"

The little prince pursed his mouth. He looked somewhat like Li Xiao, but his temperament was more like Song Song, soft like a small roll of bread.

On the other side, Song Song who heard the commotion, walked over with a heavy face: "Ji Ying?!"

He really couldn't stand Ji Ying bullying his own kid the most. Taking two steps forward, he reprimanded: "Why are you messing with him again?"

Actually, it wasn't just Ji Ying. Li Xiao also liked to bully the baby. Unhappy, he headed forward to take the child from Ji Ying, but then heard the little prince say: "He didn't, he didn't bully me."

"....." This meek little personality was also extremely like Song Song. Song Song silently looked at his reddened little face, and the tears still hanging on his eyelashes and knew the little prince was going to protect his own 'son': "He's he's very good!"

The little prince's thoughts were pure and simple. He believed whatever Ji Ying told him. And once Ji Ying told him that if the little prince didn't protect him, his head would be chopped off by his emperor father and his daddy.

Nobody understood their son better than the father. The little prince felt that his son wasn't bad enough to that extent.

Ji Ying quietly said: "Thank you daddy for saving my life."

The little prince: "Humph."

Song Song wasn't in a good mood so ignored them: "His majesty is never in Yingxin palace these days. Do you know where he went?"

Ji Ying gave his daddy over to Song Song to hold and said: "If the empress doesn't know, then how would I know?"

"Has his illness stabilized?"

"I haven't seen it get worse." Ji Ying frowned, then said as if something came to mind: "You don't need to be too worried. It's not like he realized something and went off to find another place to go nuts in."

"Nonsense." Song Song chided. He reached out to wipe the little prince's face and said: "To be honest, I always thought he had another reason for wanting me to go to court with him."

"To train you." Ji Ying said: "It's better to be prepared for everything. This illness of his needs two sets of hands ready. However, seeing as he's been pretty stable the last two years, as long as the days continue without ripples, there shouldn't be any other issues."

Song Song nodded and then said: "I heard he's been frequenting the Stargaze Tower often recently. You're close to the head priest. Help me ask him what the emperor is doing and make sure nothing's happening."

(Note: The head priest title that I'm using here is like the uhhh head buddhist monk of the nation. Kinda like the pope. He does a lot of divination stuff, kind of based on faith and superstition.)

Ji Ying laughed: "Li Yunzi, that fellow, is always aloofness and virtuosity like his life is at stake. Yet you're worried that the emperor might take an interest in him?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Song Song replied disgruntled: "If you keep going, I'll chop off your head."

When the little prince heard, he immediately shouted: "No chopping allowed!"

The two adults turned uniformly towards him and both revealed smiles.

Ji Ying said goodbye to his daddy. The little daddy reluctantly waved his little claws and personally watched his son leave. Then he was carried by his own daddy back to read and study. He asked softly: "I already have a son so why do I still need to read books?"

"Why do you not need to study when you have a son?"

"Isn't studying for the sake of finding a wife?"

"..... who told you this?"

"Emperor father said."

"Absolute nonsense." Song Song said: "Studying is for yourself, not for any other person. You're the future crown prince. You need to study books well and practice martial arts well, so you can become like your father in the future."

The little prince's face was full of excitement: "I want, I want to learn martial arts!"

"When you're a little bigger, you can get your father to teach you himself." Song Song turned into a husband bragger and said: "Your father is super strong."

"How strong?"

"The strongest in the whole world!"

When Ji Ying walked out of Yangxin Palace, he ran straight into the returning Li Xiao. He bowed while Li Xiao walked past him. Ji Ying suddenly said: "Your majesty."

"What's the matter?"

"The empress asked today. He knows you've been going to the stargaze tower often."

"How did you reply?"

"I said that your majesty and the head priest spend all day together watching the rain, the snow, and the moonlight, showing affections and letting go of inhibitions" He didn't finish when he caught sight of Li Xiao's icy cold expression, and said smiling: "Just kidding. However, since your majesty has caught the person and the empress isn't dumb, I'm afraid you won't be able to hide it much longer."

"Then you better spend some more time collaborating with the head priest."

Li Xiao had nothing left to say, so he continued on his way. Li Ying straightened up, frowned slightly, and also left.

When Li Xiao entered, the first thing he heard was his empress praising him as the strongest in the world. His cold expression instantly warmed up. He walked over and said: "So in Song-er's heart, Zhen is that powerful."

"Father!"

Li Xiao smiled and rubbed the little prince's head. Perhaps it's because Song Song often bragged about him in front of the little guy, the little prince always revered and respected him heavily. In his eyes, Li Xiao was like a mountain. Li Xiao said: "If you want to learn martial arts, you can start next year in the spring. You're not that small anymore."

The little prince immediately revealed an excited expression.

Song Song frowned. When the two were along later at night, he said: "Isn't it a little too early?"

"He already can't wait."

"That's because he only knows that he can become strong by practicing martial arts. But he really doesn't know how tough the process will be."

Li Xiao flipped over and leaned over Song Song, cupping Song Song's face with his hands, asking: "What does Song-er think of Zhen?"

"Your highness is naturally a giant among men."

"If Song-er didn't even like a tall and strong man like Zhen before, then how can he find a good wife in the future if he remained weak like a chicken?"

".... why do you always, always bring the topic over to this. He actually told me today that he doesn't want to study because he already has a son, so he has no need to find a wife."

"Why do you think Zhen is always exceptional with everything I do?"

"Why why?"

"Of course it's to obtain Song-er, who's such an all around perfect and caring partner."

Song Song: "....."

Aren't you ambitious.