The beloved baby has a space

Everything in the dream was so vivid that even now, waking up and knowing it was just a dream, Qin Huai still felt it was terrifyingly real. It was as if everything before his eyes was the dream, and he had never grown up, never been to Hujia Village, never seen little Ayu whose eyes were full of sunshine, never experienced the warmth of humanity, and never traveled all over the Great Chang Kingdom.

In his dream, he was just a child who died young, unaware of his identity until his death. He died under the blank gaze of everyone, vomiting a large basin of dark red blood before listlessly passing away.

After his death, his soul floated and saw Chi Jia and all the Chi-surname guards draw their swords and commit suicide. Empress Qin's hair turned white overnight, and she broke with Emperor Minghua completely. A bloody storm swept through the capital of Dachang Kingdom.

But "he" didn't care about this.

He drifted to the Xie family mansion in the neighboring county of Wangbei County and saw little Ayu suffering all kinds of bullying. After her mother died, the four-year-old girl took care of herself alone in the dilapidated courtyard. Because someone had been feeding her medicine that reduced her intelligence for many years, she was always stupid and dull. Even the servants' children treated her like a toy and made fun of her. She lived a life worse than a dog.

Even so, the little girl in the dream still had a pure heart. She suffered so much hardship, humiliation, ridicule, and countless poisonings, yet she did not hold a grudge against anyone.

Perhaps someone taught her what love is, but no one taught her what hate is, so she never learned to hate.

Qin Huai couldn't continue the dream completely; he only dreamt that "Ayu" had lived a difficult life until she reached the age of 15, but she looked like a child who had just turned ten. The young ladies of the Xie family were discussing taking her as part of their dowry, so that she could become their husband's concubine in the future. If their husband trusted her, they could easily control her.

He was so angry that he wanted to kill them! But when he saw Xie Changsheng, the woman he had personally killed, appear in his dream, he realized that it was just a dream.

When Qin Huai woke up, he was covered in a cold sweat. For the first time, he experienced the fear of losing something.

The thirteen-year-old boy knew what romantic love was, but he didn't understand what kind of love it was, nor did he ever delve into it.

Even now, he was still somewhat bewildered, vaguely seeing a door unlike any other, a window secretly opened in his heart, as if some different light was shining through it.

"Brother Ayou, Brother Ayou? What's wrong? Don't scare me!" Ayu called Qin Huai for a long time, but when she saw that he was lost in his own thoughts and didn't respond to her words, she became anxious.

Qin Huai snapped out of his daze and saw A Yu's anxious expression. He instinctively reached out to smooth her furrowed brows.

"I'm fine, I—"

"Cough cough—" Old Mrs. Wang stood at the door, holding a bowl of medicine in her hand. "Now that you're awake, drink it while it's hot." She went forward, gently pulled Ayu up, and handed the bowl to Qin Huai.

Qin Huai quickly sat up straight, took the medicine bowl, and swallowed it down in large gulps.

After finishing his drink, Qin Huaicai belatedly realized what was happening and first said to Grandma Wang, "Thank you, Grandma."

Then he said to Ayu, "Ayu, I apologize for what I said earlier."

Ayu asked blankly, "What did I offend?"

She never even considered the strict separation between men and women. Qin Huai had been poisoned and fainted. After waking up, he said he had a nightmare. She was only focused on comforting him and didn't think of anything else.
"Are you alright? If you are, we'll head down the mountain after breakfast," said Old Mrs. Wang.

Ayu asked, "Grandma, Brother Ayou is all better now, and the abbot also said he's almost recovered. Are we going home?"

"Let's not go home first, let's go to Wanning City."

"Are we going to watch our second uncle take the imperial examination?"

“No, send Qin Huai to take the imperial examination,” Old Mrs. Wang said, her brows furrowed as she looked at Qin Huai. “If he can’t become the top scholar—”

Qin Huai hurriedly said, "Please rest assured, Grandma and Ayu, I will use all my knowledge to become the top scholar in the imperial examination!"

The young monk, who had just stepped into the meditation room, quickly retreated.

He scratched his head as he walked, saying, "This guest is awake, but it seems like there's something wrong with his head. I need to go find the abbot to take another look."