Even now, Zhan Xi, who was imprisoned, was restless. He kept guessing about Ningning’s current condition, unsure if Ningning had woken up or not.
Zhan Rao said that Ningning might wake up, but the more Zhan Xi thought about it, the more agitated he became. He paced back and forth in the room, making the others increasingly nervous.
Duo Bi was almost dizzy from watching him.
“Zhan Xi, calm down. The little prince should be coming back soon, and we’ll know the result soon enough.”
“Yeah, Zhan Xi, just sit for a while.”
“I think the little prince cares about Ningning very much. He will definitely find a way to wake up Ningning.”
After several people’s persuasions, Zhan Xi finally sat down, but he still had a heavily worried look on his face.
Just as they anxiously waited for news, footsteps were heard outside the door.
The footsteps stopped at the door, and then the door opened.
Zhan Xi looked up subconsciously and, after seeing Ningning at the door, his eyes widened: “Ningning!”
Jian Ning, who was being held by Huo Lin, also stretched out her chubby hands and called out, “Daddy! Hug!”
Jian Ning had been with the little prince these past few days and hadn’t seen his father. For a young baby who was very attached to his father, this was extremely cruel.
Zhan Xi rushed to the door and picked up the baby, lowering his head and kissing Ningning’s little face indiscriminately: “Ningning, do you miss Daddy? Daddy misses you so much.”
Finally seeing his father, Jian Ning hugged his neck with tears in his eyes and let him kiss him as much as he wanted.
“Baby, want hugs!”
“Daddy misses Ningning too.”
The scene of the father and son reunion was touching. The uncles behind Zhan Xi were also envious: “Ningning, don’t you want your uncles to hug you? Come and let uncle hug you.”
A group of uncles all wanted to hug the baby, and the baby was suddenly very busy. He brought his little face forward and let each uncle touch it one by one.
Huo Lin, standing at the door, silently watched this scene. He could see that these Star Thieves truly loved Ningning.
And it was precisely because he understood the relationship between Ningning and these Star Thieves that Huo Lin had a lot of concerns. He worried that these Star Thieves could not provide a good education for Ningning.
He was even more worried about the life path they had planned for Ningning, which was to inherit their work and become a small Star Thief in the future.
Although Huo Lin was still young, his thoughts were like those of an adult.
He watched at the door for a long time. After the emotions inside had calmed down, he finally knocked on the door and called out to Zhan Xi, “Hello, can we talk?”
Zhan Xi, carrying the baby on his neck who wanted to ride high, turned his gaze towards him.
The eyes of the two met in the air, and Zhan Xi carried the baby and walked up to him. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
Even if the little prince didn’t bring it up, Zhan Xi would have taken the initiative to talk to him. Now that the baby was safe, he wanted to take him back.
But in order to leave, they definitely have to deal with this little prince.
Without the cooperation of this little prince, their group would not be able to pass through Mans’s checkpoint.
Huo Lin chose his own bedroom as the place to talk. He tidied it up a bit, making it very suitable for the baby to play in.
Zhan Xi looked at the bedroom, put the baby down from his neck, and let him sit in the pile of toys to play: “You play by yourself for a while.”
Jian Ning grabbed the toy and nodded in agreement.
After arranging things for the baby, the conversation between Zhan Xi and Huo Lin officially began.
The former got straight to the point: “Ningning and I should go back now, Your Highness. Thank you for this time. We will trouble you again to let us go.”
Although Zhan Xi wasn’t very scheming, he was still able to distinguish the important matters from the trivial ones.
After expressing his gratitude to the little prince, he explained his intention to leave.
Huo Lin frowned and didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he asked, “Are you and Ningning living on a very remote planet now? Can you move to White Mist Star?”
Zhan Xi: “...”
This little prince really overestimated him.
He shook his head and said frankly, “I can’t move there, Your Highness. Although the place we live in now is a bit remote, it is the hometown of Ningning and me. I have no plans to move for the time being.”
Upon hearing this, Huo Lin furrowed his brows even tighter.
Seeing that he was not giving up, Zhan Xi asked straightforwardly, “Your Highness, none of us have household registration. Can you give us a legitimate identity and a legal household registration?”
The little prince clenched his fists. He couldn’t do it.
All the things that Zhan Xi mentioned were beyond his current ability. He was still too young, and his father had not yet handed over the reins of power to him.
Zhan Xi sighed and said, “White Mist Star cannot accommodate a group of illegal residents. I know you really want Ningning to live with you in the same place, but it’s not possible right now.”
Zhan Xi couldn’t take Ningning to White Mist Star, and the imperial little prince living on White Mist Star couldn’t come to the barren planet where they lived.
There was no easy solution to this matter.
Huo Lin turned his head and looked at Ningning, who was still sitting on the ground playing with toys. He tightened his small face and promised, or rather comforted himself, “I will grow up faster.”
He could only have the right to speak about many things when he grew up and became stronger.
Zhan Xi understood his meaning, but did not express agreement or disagreement.
After discussing where the baby would live, Huo Lin raised another crucial issue: “What are your plans for the baby’s education? In two years, he will be going to kindergarten.”
Zhan Xi had long thought about the education issue and replied, “I will find a way to get him registered in the next two years and then send him to a planet with less strict regulations to attend kindergarten.”
When Huo Lin heard this, he also spoke up, “I will do my best. When the time comes, I will bring him to White Mist Star to study.”
Zhan Xi: “...”
Zhan Xi didn’t hold much hope for the little prince’s good intentions, but he didn’t dampen his enthusiasm, either.
The two of them chatted for a long time, and in the end, they made an agreement.
If the little prince really had the ability to bring the baby to a good school, Zhan Xi would not stand in the way.
“Can you give me your address? That way I can send something to Ningning.”
“Little Prince, you don’t have to spend money. I can-“
“If you don’t give me an address, I won’t let you leave.” The little prince’s face was stern, polite, but not much.
Zhan Xi’s mouth twitched. Sure enough, the little child taught by the cold-blooded emperor could not be a gentle and polite little gentleman.
He wrote a specific address: “You can send things here, and I will pick them up.”
Huo Lin then asked, “And your star machine number?”
“I haven’t paid my bills and haven’t recharged.” Zhan Xi replied.
Upon hearing this, Huo Lin still wrote down his star machine number. After finishing, he took out his own star machine and lowered his head to tap a few times. “Okay, I’ve recharged you with ten thousand star coins.”
Zhan XI: “???”
Damn, the imperial prince’s pocket money was that much?
After Huo Lin finished recharging, he looked up at Zhan Xi and said, “I want to sleep with Ningning tonight.”
Just after being hit with money, Zhan Xi couldn’t refuse and looked around the room, saying, “Okay, I’ll sleep on the sofa, and you two can sleep on the bed.”
Huo Lin agreed.
The three of them slept in the same room, and Huo Lin also saw first-hand how Zhan Xi took care of Ningning. The baby who was taken care of was wearing clean new clothes, all refreshed, and his belly was full.
“Guoguo.”
Jian Ning sat on Guoguo’s bed, looking at Guoguo who was playing with him, and then looking at his father, who was folding clothes not far away. He was so happy that he was bubbling inside. “Baby, happy!”
Huo Lin pinched his little face and thought to himself that he might not be able to be happy at this time tomorrow.
That night.
Jian Ning was so happy that he couldn’t bear to sleep. He lay on the bed and kept turning his little body.
Huo Lin indulged him in his restlessness.
The next day.
Zhan Xi packed his things and wanted to take Ningning back. He had been away for several days, and he didn’t know what was happening on the barren planet. If he didn’t go back soon, he would not feel at ease.
Huo Lin promised to let them go, but before letting them go, he had to deal with General Mans.
General Mans was his father’s direct subordinate, and Huo Lin was not sure if the other party would obey all his commands.
He held the baby in his arms and knocked on the door of General Mans’ room.
The door opened.
Jian Ning shook his little hand to greet the other person. After greeting, he leaned back in Huo Lin’s arms and continued to suck on his milk bottle.
Mans, dressed in a military coat, lowered his gaze and looked at the two children at the door. “Your Highness, is there something you need?”
Huo Lin showed him the baby in his arms. “Ningning is leaving.”
Mans said, “Hmm.”
Huo Lin continued, “He wants to leave with his father and uncles. You need to withdraw the troops from the Original Stone Star’s exit.”
Mans: “...”
Mans’ eyes flickered. “Your Highness, are you ordering me?”
Huo Lin’s heart tightened, but he still showed his dominance. He held his little face up and nodded firmly. “Yes, it’s an order!”
Huo Lin’s nervous attitude affected the baby in his arms.
The little baby gulped down two sips of milk in surprise and then nodded at Mans as if agreeing with his brother.
Just when Huo Lin thought that Mans would refuse his order, the silver-haired man raised an eyebrow and replied, “As you wish, Your Highness.”
With Mans’ words, the troops stationed at the exit were withdrawn.
Zhan Xi successfully took the baby back, and he also brought Ling Qi, who had just appeared, with him.
At first, Jian Ning, who was taken away, sat quietly in his father’s arms, not crying or making trouble. But soon, he realized that something was wrong.
“Daddy, where is Guoguo?”
Why didn’t he see Guoguo?
Zhan Xi coaxed him: “Guoguo wants to go back to his home, and we should go home too. Uncle and others are still waiting for you to come back.”
Jian Ning didn’t believe it, and he seriously said: “Guoguo, follow me, go home!”
He rarely could say a whole sentence, but unfortunately, even if he could say a whole sentence, he couldn’t take Guoguo home.
Soon.
The young baby who realized this truth looked up with a chubby face and cried like a watering can.
The crying baby was still surrounded by a group of adults trying to coax him. Ling Qi even gave him a delicate jade pendant, but he couldn’t be comforted.
At the same time, the little prince also boarded the spaceship back home a step later than him.
Before leaving, the little prince came to see his mother again.
Mother closed her eyes quietly. No different from before. It was just that one of her hands was pulled by Ningning onto the Phoenix Feather Stone.
“Mom, if you could wake up like Ningning, that would be great.”
Huo Lin looked at his mother and murmured softly. He knew it was an impossible idea. Over the years, too many people had died from mental exhaustion.
Those who died were buried in the ground, and his mother was placed here by his father, waiting for a joint burial with him.
He looked at his mother for a long time.
Before leaving, the still young Little Prince couldn’t help but complain to his mother: “Mom, this time when I go back, Father is going to punish me.”
“He never smiles at me, nor does he coax me like Ningning’s father coaxes him. Do you think I’m his real son?”
His mother, who was still lying down: “......”
Huo Lin became more and more depressed as he complained. He thought of the way Ningning and Zhan Xi interacted and felt envious of their father-son relationship.
The father and son pair of Ningning and Zhan Xi, who he envied, were not in the loving relationship that he imagined right now.
They were in chaos, with the baby crying and the father coaxing.
***
The author has something to say:
Mother: Be good, wait for Mom.
Ningning: Applaud!
