"But, even if my words were harsh, I was the one who offended her. Why would she break up with you? Can’t she understand your absence for two months? If she truly loves you, would her feelings be so fragile?"

Wan Donglin was silent for a while. "During the two months I was away, I was actually in constant contact with her. At first, she was indeed confused, but later, she began to understand the code I sent and even sent messages to me using Morse code."

"My God, you two were acting like secret agents."

"That was completely unintentional. I’d mentioned it to her before, and she became interested and even bought a book on ciphers. You know, she’s intelligent and can figure things out quickly."

"Is she really that amazing?"

"If she wasn’t, could she get into Harvard?"

"She also knew I had someone watching over her. In fact, I had arranged for this person before I got into trouble. I had a premonition of unpredictable danger, so I instructed him in advance. Fortunately, this man was loyal and diligently carried out his duties even when I disappeared."

"That’s strange then. Why would she still blame you? Is she really that arrogant?"

Wan Donglin sighed deeply.

"Donglin, why are you sighing like that?"

"Actually, just like the Empress Dowager, I also cautioned her many times. For a while, I noticed she was starting to depend on me, always acting spoiled and seeking my indulgence for every little thing..."

"If that’s the case, then the Empress Dowager wasn’t wrong to scold her."

"Sigh, you all forget one thing: she has no other family. She’s all alone with only me by her side, so naturally, she relies heavily on me. I myself had forgotten this point before..."

So, when I doted on her, it was boundless. When I came to my senses and wanted to caution her, I was too harsh. Worse still, she hadn’t even fully recovered from the shock when she then had to endure such a long time on the run...

Going too far is as bad as not going far enough. People are like ostriches; once hurt, self-preservation becomes their first instinct.

A widowed mother with an only son often develops an unhealthy attachment to him. If it’s like this between a mother and son, imagine how much more intense it can be between a husband and wife.

If your world is too small, with only that one person in it, you’ll inevitably see that person as more important than anything else.

Wan Donglin stood up. "Alright, ladies, you can both go home now and rest easy. Stop worrying about me. Haha, look at you two. Why the long faces? Is it really necessary?"

The mother and daughter glanced at each other without a word.

Liu Daqing saw her son out and still couldn’t help asking at the door, "Donglin, are the two of you really breaking up?"

Wan Donglin smiled. "Empress Dowager, you really have too little confidence in your son. Didn’t you say it yourself? If she leaves me, where else could she find such a good man? You can set your heart at ease a thousand times over. She loves me; she’ll absolutely never break up with me."

"How can I relax? You’re already this old, and you still don’t have a child."

"Here we go again, here we go again..."

"If you don’t want me to nag, then you, my boy, need to step up and have a child soon! If you have a child, I’ll stop worrying immediately."

"Well, things were hectic before, so I didn’t have the time. Just watch, I promise I’ll get it done as soon as possible."

Yan Xixi chose the hottest time of the day to go to the hospital.

It was past two in the afternoon. Walking under the sun, she felt as if her hair was about to start smoking. Zhou Ting and Huang’s mother weren’t due to arrive until five or six in the evening, and this was usually Huang Xiaojue’s nap time.

She quietly entered the ward.

Huang Xiaojue wasn’t lying on the bed. He was standing by the window. It seemed he had been waiting for her.