What If...I Remember?

Chapter 67

"Mother?"

A-Li had been told to be prepared, but seeing his mother stuck in unconsciousness, the little boy could not help as his lower lip trembled, "Mother?" "Your mother is unconscious, A-Li." Ye Hua reminded, sitting down beside Bai Qian as he held the bowl of porridge he had taken from the breakfast table, and A-Li climbed onto his father's lap, "But Mother can hear us, can't she?" "I'm unconscious, not deaf." Ye Hua had been about to answer his son when he heard the soft mutter, and the Crown Prince's head snapped so quickly that there was the slight sound of bones cracking, and Bai Qian barely opened her eyes as she groaned, "Is that porridge I smell, Ye Hua?"

"Qian Qian, you're awake!" Ye Hua had almost dropped the bowl in surprise, and Bai Qian grimaced as she sat up, "I woke up long ago, but went back to sleep after realising none of you were around." "Father said that Mother was unconscious! Father lied!" A-Li turned to pout at Ye Hua, whose eyes narrowed at once, "A-Li, I did not know that your mother had woken up." "Riceball...since when are you allowed to speak to your father like this?" Bai Qian spoke sternly, her eyebrows furrowed disapprovingly, and A-Li dropped his gaze at once, "Sorry, Mother."

"Come here." Bai Qian gestured for her son, and Ye Hua was quick to grab an extra pillow for her to lean against as she draped an arm on her son's shoulder casually, "Riceball...as I said, I was not deaf. I could hear some things vaguely, and so why is it that Feng Jiu mentioned you sulking about your father and I?" "He did." Ye Hua answered blandly, "A-Li thought that we didn't love him anymore." "But why?" Bai Qian leveled her head with her son's, her eyes widened with a mother's concern, and A-Li squirmed uncomfortably, unsure if he should repeat what he had said to his father to Bai Qian. After all, he had said those in spite, and they were much harsher than anything he would have said to his mother.

"Mother...you agreed to send me to Kun Lun." A-Li finally mumbled after a burning silence, and Bai Qian blinked in astonishment, before some amusement flooded into her features, "Riceball...just because I agree to send you to Kun Lun, it doesn't mean I don't love you!" "A-Li knows..." The little boy mumbled, his cheeks aflame with a bright red, and Bai Qian pinched his cheek gently in an affectionate gesture, "Riceball...no matter what happens, Father and Mother will always love you. No matter what we do, little A-Li, we always have your best interests at heart."

"Father said that too, Mother. But why did Father throw A-Li out of Mother's room? Was that for A-Li's good as well?" The little boy puffed his chest up a tad bit defiantly, and Bai Qian stared at her son, exchanging a brief glance with her husband before a devious grin lit up her expression. "Qian Qian," Ye Hua warned, his eyes flashing with alarm, and Bai Qian's grin lost its mischievous element, "Riceball, that is for you to understand in the future. You only have to remember that you are always loved by us, no matter what."

"Promise?" A-Li looked up expectantly at his mother, but Bai Qian merely threw her head back in a laugh, before she pinched her son's cheek, a little harder this time, "You're rubbing off too much from Cheng Yu, I say. I carried you for three years painstakingly, A-Li. There is no better promise that I will always love you. You are made of our flesh and blood; your Father and I will always love you. You cannot ask for a better promise than that."

"And if that isn't enough proof for you, A-Li, there is one last thing," Ye Hua added, joining his wife in disfiguring A-Li's cheeks, "We've decided that you should have a new name, a proper name." "One that heralds our unity as a family. One that no longer represents separation, or break up." Bai Qian beamed at Ye Hua, proud of the name that she had come up with, and A-Li looked between them both, his tiny face filled with curiosity as he asked in eagerness, "What is it, Mother?"

"Chen, the one for time and hours. But more importantly...it stands for dragon." Bai Qian watched as A-Li's eyes lit with a deeper understanding of the new name he was given, "You shall be called Bai Chen, as a part as the Bai Family, the Royal Family of Qing Qiu and the only nine-tailed foxes, and Chen, for being part of the scarcely remaining Dragon Clan." "So...will I still be called Riceball? Or A-Li?" A-Li asked worriedly, and Bai Qian merely chuckled, "We will always call you Riceball until the day you outgrow it. And as for 'A-Li'...do you still wish to be called A-Li?"