My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

He carried neither an umbrella nor a raincoat. His dark princely robes were completely soaked through, clinging wetly to his body. His hair lay disheveled against his cheeks, and rainwater streamed down his chin and nose.

He leaned on his sandalwood cane, his crippled right leg submerged in the ankle-deep puddles outside the yard. He trembled like a withered leaf swirling in a gale, but he stubbornly bit his pale lips and stood ramrod straight.

Three days and nights.

Aside from fainting twice and being forcibly revived by a frantic eunuch pinching his philtrum, he never left the dilapidated wooden door.

The military report of the fall of Daizhou became the final straw that broke the back of this crown prince of the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty needed a ruthless crown prince who could ride into battle and stabilize the morale of the army.

He was just a cripple who needed help to walk.

Although Prince Li Tai of Wei was imprisoned, the eyes of the powerful families in the court had already begun to dart around restlessly.

Despair drove him to the very door of this desolate palace.

"What's the point?"

Li Chen picked up his teacup, took a sip, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

He withdrew his gaze, closed his eyes again, and, accompanied by the continuous sound of rain, continued to deduce the subsequent meridian pathways of the scroll "Nine Revolutions Thunder Seal" in his mind.

"Squeak."

The wooden door to the inner room was pushed open.

A small figure came running out, its little leather boots covered in mud.

Today, Xiao Sizi wore a thick pink short jacket and was struggling to drag an oil-paper umbrella that was taller than her. She ran to Li Chen's rocking chair, grabbed the edge of the bamboo chair with her chubby little hands, and stood on tiptoe.

"Sixteenth Brother..."

The little girl's voice trembled slightly, and her large, clear eyes were misty with tears.

She stretched out a short, stubby finger and pointed at the swaying figure in the rain outside the courtyard gate.

"The Crown Prince has been standing outside for three days. His face is so pale, and his lips are turning purple. If he gets soaked any longer, he'll freeze to death."

Li Chen didn't open his eyes, but simply reached out and accurately pinched her chubby cheeks.

"He wants to stand there in the rain, what's it to me?" Li Chen's voice was flat and emotionless. "He has legs, he can leave anytime. Sixteenth Brother hates trouble the most."

Little Sizi pouted, and her eyes instantly reddened.

She lowered her head, her hands tightly twisting the hem of her clothes. Rain dripped from the oil-paper umbrella in her hands onto the blue bricks, making a crisp dripping sound.

"But... but when Si Zi secretly came to play with Sixteenth Brother before, she brought all those snacks..." The little girl sniffed, her voice barely audible, "Some of those osmanthus cakes and walnut shortbreads were given to me by the Crown Prince."

Li Chen's fingers, which were holding the teacup, paused slightly.

"Brother Crown Prince said that the food in the Cold Palace is not good, so he asked Si Zi to bring more food over so that you won't go hungry." Little Si Zi raised her head, and a tear fell onto the bamboo surface of the rocking chair, splashing out a small water droplet.

She reached out her small hand and grabbed Li Chen's faded sleeve.

"And last winter, that thick cotton-padded coat... After Mother had the nanny make it, my brother, the Crown Prince, secretly took it out, wrapped it in oilcloth, and handed it to me. He said that since you don't even have a charcoal brazier in your room, you should wear more clothes to keep warm."

Li Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He lowered his head, looked at the undergarment he had worn for three years, and then at the dark figure outside the door who could barely stand in the pouring rain.

cause and effect.

The most meticulous, yet also the most troublesome thing in the world of cultivation.

The more than a thousand days and nights the original owner endured in this cold palace, those inconspicuous little snacks, and that cotton-padded coat that saved her life in the dead of winter, were not all the work of Empress Zhangsun and the little maid.

Li Chen sighed.

He placed the teacup in his hand on the small table next to him.

"So annoying."

He stood up and strode to the edge of the eaves. With his right index and middle fingers together, he casually flicked them upwards towards the courtyard gate through the heavy rain.

"Squeak—!"

The dilapidated wooden door, which had been tightly closed for three days and three nights, seemed to be suddenly pushed open by a pair of invisible giant hands, slamming heavily against the walls on both sides.

A fierce wind, mixed with torrential rain, swept into the courtyard in an instant.

Li Chengqian shuddered violently. A startling light flashed in his lifeless eyes as he tried to take a step forward, but his crippled leg, which had been soaking for three days, had long since lost all feeling.

"Thump."

He lost his balance and fell heavily into the muddy water, splashing up a large amount of mud.

Just then.

From the alley paved with bluestone slabs outside the courtyard gate came a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps.

A huge, bright yellow oil-paper umbrella suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley.

Li Shimin didn't even have time to change out of his dragon robe; he was only wearing a thin everyday garment.

He held an umbrella in one hand and used the other to tightly protect the pale-faced Empress Zhangsun in his arms.

Surrounding them were a dozen or so Imperial Guards holding umbrellas, their faces full of anxiety.

"Chengqian!"

As soon as Empress Zhangsun entered the alley, she saw her son lying in the mud and unable to get up for a long time. She let out a heart-wrenching scream, broke free from Li Shimin's hand, and rushed over through the puddles.

Li Shimin's expression changed drastically. He threw down the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, strode across the puddle on the ground, rushed forward, grabbed Li Chengqian's arm, and forcibly pulled him out of the mud.

"Imperial Physician! Quickly summon the Imperial Physician!" Li Shimin roared at the guards behind him, his eyes bloodshot.

"Stop shouting."

A clear, cool voice pierced through the rain, landing precisely in everyone's ears.

Li Chen stood under the eaves, arms crossed, coldly watching the chaotic family at the courtyard gate.

"Wipe the water off before you come in. If you step on my tiles, you're all out of here."

Half an hour later.

The inner room of the side hall.

The charcoal brazier in the corner was glowing red, and the crackling of the charcoal dispelled much of the damp chill in the room.

Li Chengqian changed into a set of coarse cloth clothes that Li Chen had found for him. He was wrapped in a thick cotton quilt, holding a bowl of freshly brewed hot ginger soup in his hands.

"Giggle giggle..."

The rim of the bowl collided with his teeth, making an uncontrollable, violent sound. He was trembling all over, and his lips had turned a horrifying bluish-purple.

Empress Zhangsun sat beside him, tenderly wiping his still dripping hair with a dry towel, her eyes red and swollen.

Li Shimin sat imposingly on the bamboo chair opposite Li Chen.

Although the Tang emperor was suppressing his temper, his eyes still held that habitual condescension and anger.

"Chen... Immortal Master." Li Shimin stared at Li Chen, his chest heaving violently. "The Imperial Hospital is helpless with Chengqian's leg. He stood in this torrential rain for three days and three nights, his sincerity unwavering. And you just watched him freeze outside for three days!"

Li Chen held his teacup and glanced at him sideways.

"He wanted to stand there himself. Did I force him with a knife? Or did I tie him to the door with a rope?"

Li Shimin suddenly stood up, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and the veins on his neck bulged out.

"You! Don't you have any respect for elders or the proper order of things?!"