Our Binding Love: My Gentle Tyrant
chapter-350-30041322

The Singing Voice in the Dark

“As you can imagine, my mother agreed. But I still thought it was very dangerous. I had a feeling that if she goes down, she won’t ever come up again. But father refused to listen to me, so not long after she went down, I followed her when they weren’t paying attention.”

Ye Mu finally understood Lin Zhizhao’s identity. “So, you’re the descendant of the imperial crown prince?”

Lin Zhizhao listened and smiled derisively.

“Right. I’m the younger brother of the empire’s last emperor, Jing emperor’s great-grandson. If you say I’m in the upper-class status, then that’s true, because I have the blood of the imperial family.”

Ye Mu was suddenly surprised. Although she had lightly guessed before, she was still shocked when Lin Zhizhao said it himself.

“What happened after?” she asked.

Lin Zhizhao said with a sigh, “In the end, I couldn’t find her. I was stranded in the maze with her. The underground path keeps changing every shichen. Although I memorized the map, my mother and I didn’t have the strength to break the stone wall.”

He smiled. “In the end, I finally met her. She heard my crying and came running, but we were separated by a wall. She didn’t dare to run recklessly, afraid that the more she ran, the further I’d be. She kept asking why I came down, and I said I was worried about her. Then, she cried behind the wall. After hearing me cry too, she sat there and comforted me.”

When Lin Zhizhao spoke until here, it was as if he could still hear his mother’s voice coming through that wall.

That time she was also really scared, because although her mechanism skill was good, she couldn’t break the mechanism here, so besides waiting for someone to come save them, she couldn’t do anything else.

She could only tell him calmly, “Zhao-er, don’t be scared.” The slight trembling voice, separated by a wall, dispiritedly came out.

“Your father will come down to save us in a while, don’t be scared.”

At that age, the small Lin Zhizhao who was scared kept on crying. The torch he took from the entrance had died out early. He sat on the ground with the endless darkness all around him. He could only rely on his mother on the other side of the wall.

“Mum, I’m scared! Will Dad really come down?” Although he was still small, he had a faint gut feeling that if his mother didn’t go up, his father might not dare to come down. Since even his mother couldn’t go out, it clearly explained that this was the emperor’s imperial tomb. In that case, if father knew very well that it was dangerous, would he still come to save them?

He was very doubtful and scared!

But his mother said with certainty, “Don’t be scared! Your father hates to part with us, we’re his dearest family. He will definitely come save us!”

“Mum, I’m still scared. I spoke with Dad before not to send you down and he ignored me.”

His mother listened, turning silent for a long time. In the end, she didn’t know if she was telling him or herself, “He will come down. Don’t be scared. Zhao-er, I’ll sing for you. Don’t be scared.”

Saying this, his mother began to sing. To be a little closer to her, Lin Zhizhao firmly pressed himself against the wall, hoping it would open up. And the woman on the other side also did the same, her trembling voice singing for him.

Darkness made them distraught. But because they had each other in the darkness, they didn’t seem to be as scared anymore.

They didn’t know how long they had waited. Maybe a day?

Lin Zhizhao only felt his whole body was ice-cold, and he was hungry and sleepy. Finally, he saw a torch and heard footsteps!

It was a white bearded old man, looking like a transcendent being. Seeing Lin Zhizhao, he spoke one sentence, “Found you.”

Seeing him, Lin Zhizhao was overjoyed!

“Were you sent by Father* to save me?” His excitement shot through the wall, and his mother’s enthusiastic voice also came through from the other side, “Is it An Lang? Is it An Lang’s people?”

*he’s using a different way to say “dad” here, rather more formal

The old man frowned. He calculated the time and reckoned that the tunnel would change again, so he came over and grabbed Lin Zhizhao’s hand, walking out.

Lin Zhizhao hurried, “Wait! My mother is still over there! Save her! She’s behind the wall!”

The old man said, “There will be someone who’ll save her there. The tunnel down here changes from time to time, you should come with me first!”

“No! I’m not going! I don’t have anywhere to go without Mum!”

The old man’s face clouded over. “I’ll count to three. You must come with me, or else, you’ll be staying here by yourself. I also won’t be able to go out if I stay here for another moment. I’m asking you one last time, are you going or not!”

Lin Zhizhao’s mother heard it clearly. She also knew the tunnel changed every shichen. With the mechanism so formidable, it can’t be cracked by just one or two people. So she hurriedly said to Lin Zhizhao, “Zhao-er, you must go first! Your dad’s people will come save me soon. You should go up first, Mum will follow in a while.”

Lin Zhizhao was really scared. He looked behind him and looked at the old man in front. He uncertainly asked, “Father has sent someone else to come down? They’ll save Mum?”

The old man almost couldn’t bear it anymore and said, “Yes, come with me first!”

Lin Zhizhao was still unwilling, and his mother said once more, “Zhao-er, trust your father. He won’t abandon me, Mum will come up in a while.”

With tears, Lin Zhizhao said, “Then, Mum, you should hurry.”

“En, hurry and go up.”

Lin Zhizhao blindly followed the old man upward, but in the process and in the dark, he thoughtfully left marks on the corners of the wall. This way, if his father doesn’t come down to save her, he will still remember the way.

Thinking this, Lin Zhizhao looked at the old man in front, knocking east and west to find the stone door. He quietly remembered the mechanism in his heart, and then was led outside.

After he was outside, he was brought to his father. Before he could speak, his father slapped him!

The slap made his ears buzz, the corners of his lips flowing with blood.

“Father, Mum—she’s still—”

“Silence!” His father immediately said to the servant, “Take the young master down and bind him up! Tomorrow, bring him to the old residence early in the morning!”

Of course, Lin Zhizhao was unwilling. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but when he was dragged away, his father was already speaking to the old man ingratiatingly, “Does xiansheng* think the treasure is also here? Can we find it with feng shui?”

*honorific to address men; Mister/Mr.

Lin Zhizhao couldn’t hear the last words. He didn’t expect that his father actually didn’t care for his mother’s life, only ingratiating himself with the old man for the treasure.

Is the news of the treasure more important than a human’s life?!

He couldn’t express his resentment, and that night, he cried all night while he was locked up!

He thought of his mother who was trapped underground, still waiting for his father to save her. He thought of his mother who had so much trust in his father, willingly waiting alone in the dark to be saved. But in the end, because of the news of the treasure, on the same day and night, his father left.

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