Incarnation Of Gods: Endless War

Third-person POV

Zhang Wei's body froze when he heard the name that came out from Tao Qi's lips.

'Hong er? She is…no…I must not be hasty. There are millions of people with that name.' Zhang Wei remembered the advice that his father always told him.

While Zhang Wei was deep in his thought, Hong er turned her head to the source of the tremor and tilted her head. 

Tao Qi approached Hong er and used her shoulder as a media to write, "It seems like that brat is fine. I bought you breakfast, you should eat. I will look after him."

Hong er nodded her head and gave Tao Qi a few things to pay attention to, "Keep the towel on his eyes."

Tao Qi patted Hong er's shoulder once as a 'yes'. Hong er carefully walked towards the dining table by using the wall of the cave as her support. Tao Qi sat down and didn't take his eyes off Hong er in fear that she would trip on the uneven surface.

"Why don't you help her?" Zhang Wei uttered all of a sudden.

"Why do I have to? She still has legs to walk with. You brat better not take off that towel or else she will be mad at me." Tao Qi warned Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei's hand that was reaching out to the towel froze and dropped to the side, "A little help won't hurt and don't call me brat when you are also a kid."

"She wouldn't like it. She is that kind of woman, a very strong-willed one. And shut the hell up, I am older than you and that's it." Tao Qi said with an audible of pride in his cold voice.

Zhang Wei fell into silence and focused on regaining his Qi back as he was too lazy to argue with Tao Qi.

'I have to heal faster so that I can save Rong Ai and Ah Wen.'

.

.

The next thing Zhang Wei knew, he woke up to a scent that reminds him of home.

'Chicken soup?' Zhang Wei's sharp nose twitched at the fragrance that wafted towards his direction.

The reason why the scent of chicken soup reminded Zhang Wei of home because Weisheng often commanded the Royal Chef to cook this special recipe that his mother wrote down on a book. However, no matter how many times the Royal Chef attempted to make this common soup, Weisheng never seemed to be pleased by the outcome.

Although the Royal Chef's neck was unscathed, Weisheng's sigh of disappointment whenever the soup went into his mouth made the Royal Chef showered with cold sweat. The Royal Chef had precisely followed the ingredients and the instructions on the Hong er's cooking book without fail, yet he still got that dissatisfied reaction from Weisheng. 

Hence he called the maids and guards that had served Hong er previously, including Meiyun and Huayun. 

"En, the fragrance, and the taste is perfect. As expected, the dishes that the Royal Chef made." Meiyun complimented the Royal Chef's cooking skills.

Although the Royal Chef was elated by Meiyun's flattering remark, his worries hadn't been answered yet. "Then why? What did His Majesty Emperor find distasteful in my dishes?" 

Huayun who had been silent all this time finally parted her lips, "Because it isn't made by Her Majesty Empress."

"Huh?" The Royal Chef turned his head to Huayun and couldn't help but baffled by the answer.

Then he shifted his eyes to Meiyun who just smiled at him. 

"Just do what you always do. It is only an internal confliction in His Majesty Emperor's heart." Huayun set her chopstick on the table and left after she gave the Royal Chef a piece of advice.

Meiyun slightly bowed her head to the Royal Chef and followed Huayun to exit the Imperial Kitchen. Since then, the Royal Chef tried his best to duplicate every single of Hong er's dishes whether it was the appearance or the taste.

Therefore, Zhang Wei knew exactly the taste and scent of his mother dishes without her cooking it herself. 

'How can it be this be?' Zhang Wei's heart was beating fast.

*Tak tak tak

The chopping sound strangely made Zhang Wei felt at ease. Then he noticed that Hong er was walking towards him by her steady footsteps. She placed her warm palm on his forehead and exhaled a sigh of relief. 

Zhang Wei pretended to be asleep, he didn't know why he was so compliant with Hong er's words. He wanted to open his eyes and see her face, to identify whether she truly was the person he thought she was.

Hong er took off the towel on Zhang Wei's eyes and replaced it with a long thin cloth that she usually used on herself as a blindfold. Zhang Wei got irritated as his attempt to find out her identity failed again yet he didn't want to be disrespectful towards his lifesaver. He tugged on the hem of her sleeve as if telling her to take the blindfold off.

The sharp-witted Hong er knew what Zhang Wei means but paid no heed to his demands and kept on tying the blindfold around his head. When Hong er helped Zhang Wei to change his clothes, she realized that Zhang Wei wasn't someone she should offend. Although the attire was simple, the material that was used to make the clothes was definitely a high-quality material that commoners couldn't afford even with their yearly salary. 

Therefore to not anger the high-rank noble child, Hong er took his hand and wrote down her worries. "The river that you feel into is poisonous so your eyes are irritated by the poison in the water, so please let it heal for a while. I made some food and I hope that it will suit your taste. Since you can't see right now, do you mind if I feed you?" 

The words that Hong er used were very formal as if a servant talking to its master. Feeling guilty for making Hong er worrying about him, Zhang Wei loosened his grip on her hem and tapped the back of her hand as a 'yes'.

A wide smile spread across Hong er's face as she scooped a spoonful of congee and positioned in front of Zhang Wei's nose. Zhang Wei sighed at how persistent Hong er was while knowing that she also couldn��t see, he used his high sense of smell to locate the spoon. Then he parted his lips to devour the tempting soup, but as soon as the soup entered his mouth, his heart stopped for a few seconds.

His hands were trembling as his eyes welled up with tears, 'This…'

He yanked the cloth that covered his eyes and whipped his head to the side. A gentle lady with an eminently warm smile on her pale lips sat in front of him, she stirred the soup a few times to let it cool down and scooped another spoonful of chicken soup for Zhang Wei.

The sight that Zhang Wei witnessed right now was the same as the picture in his mother's chamber. The warm smile, the long luscious jet black hair that reached her waist, the usual white attire but with a plainer design, perfectly matched the painting. 

The only difference was the thin white cloth that wrapped around her head while in the painting showed the bright golden eyes that took one's attention in a glance. And to add it, Hong er didn't wear any accessory unlike in the painting.

Zhang Wei stared at Hong er with wide eyes, although his eyes stung like there were sands in his eyes, he couldn't afford to blink as he fears that she would disappear from his life once again.

"Mo..mother…" Zhang Wei tremblingly called out to her as he stared at her with his bloodshot eyes.

But Hong er couldn't hear his desperate calls. She tilted her head as the soup that she offered to Zhang Wei was untouched. She pulled back her extended hand and set aside the chicken soup. 

'He doesn't eat it after the first spoon. Does it taste that bad? I tasted it and nothing is wrong, weird… or does it not fit his taste?' Hong er racked her brain, trying to think a suitable dish that suits Zhang Wei's noble tongue but easy to digest at the same time.

"Mother!" Zhang Wei jumped onto Hong er and hugged her tightly.

Hong er was taken aback by the sudden weight and almost fell from the stool she was sitting on. Just as Hong er wanted to gently pull Zhang Wei away, she suddenly felt her shoulder was wet then she noticed that Zhang Wei was screaming some words that sadly Hong er couldn't hear.

The hands that were hanging on the air slowly approached Zhang Wei's back and softly caressed the slender yet sturdy back. This warm gesture caused Zhang Wei to cry out his heart, 13 years of separation finally came to an end.

Although Zhang Wei had never met his mother in his entire life and supposed to not have any attachment towards his mother, yet the moment he knew that it was her, his eyes unknowingly just pooled with tears and his heart filled with relief.

"Mother… I finally found you." Zhang Wei sobbed weakly.