As soon as Jun Ning reached the Imperial Garden, he sneezed loudly. He stopped in his tracks, rubbed his nose, and mumbled, "Who is thinking about me?"
As the saying goes, sneezing once means someone is thinking of you, sneezing twice means someone is cursing you, and sneezing thrice means you’ve caught a cold.
Jun Ning naturally matched himself to the saying.
Qiong Hua was initially distracted by the full bloom of the Imperial Garden, but seeing Jun Ning sneeze, she couldn’t focus on admiring it anymore.
She tugged at the collar of Jun Ning’s neck and asked, "Did you use cold water to wash your hair yesterday and got sick? Quickly tell your mother, where do you feel uncomfortable?"
In Qiong Hua’s eyes, Jun Ning was like a porcelain doll.
His poor health was something he had brought from the womb.
He needed careful care from those around him to grow up steadily.
So, even though he only sneezed, she was very worried.
Especially since yesterday the two of them weeded together, and Jun Ning was sweating profusely. Before she could stop him, Jun Ning had used cold water to wash his hair. At the time, she was terrified, fearing he might fall ill from it.
She spent a sleepless night in fear, and it was only when she saw he was fine that she finally relaxed.
Now, with just one sneeze, he scared her, making her heart jump to her throat.
Jun Ning turned and met Qiong Hua’s worried gaze. He shook his head, "I’m fine."
Qiong Hua skeptically touched Jun Ning’s forehead, confirmed he had a normal temperature, looked well, and showed no signs of illness, and finally felt reassured.
"Alright, mother, let’s continue forward!" The rıghtful source is 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝓷𝓮𝓽
Mother and son walked slowly forward, one behind the other. As they were approaching the entrance of the cave where Jun Ning had arranged to meet Jun Yu, Jun Ning suddenly stopped and hurriedly pulled Qiong Hua into a nearby bush.
It was the first time Qiong Hua realized her daughter... no, her son had such strength.
As he pulled her into the bush, she instinctively wanted to refuse, unwilling to enter the prickly bush.
Yet, she was easily dragged into the bush by Jun Ning.
The bush was large, with good sheltering, easily hiding two people.
But the little branches on the bush were indeed prickly. Although Qiong Hua had gotten used to hard labor in the Cold Palace over the years and had tough skin, she still felt uncomfortable from the pricks.
She frowned tightly in confusion and asked, "Yiyi, what’s wrong? Why did we hide here? Aren’t we going to find your friend?"
Jun Ning put his index finger on his lips, signaling her to stay silent, "Mother, don’t speak; there’s someone ahead."
Enduring the pain of being pricked by the small branches, Qiong Hua looked up.
The view ahead was wide and empty. There wasn’t even a fly, let alone a person.
"Yiyi, could you have seen wrong?"
Jun Ning pointed to the rockery next to the cave entrance, "Mother, look closely on both sides of the rockery; isn’t there someone?"
Following Jun Ning’s pointing direction, Qiong Hua looked again and still saw nothing.
When Jun Ning saw the confusion in Qiong Hua’s eyes, he knew her answer.
"Mother, with observation like yours, you’d be sold and not know it." Jun Ning shook his head worriedly, then explained, "There are many gaps in the rockery by the cave, with the sun directly facing them. If someone is standing behind the rockery, their shadow will be projected on the open space in front of the rockery through the gaps."
Pointing to the open ground in front of the right rockery, Jun Ning continued, "Look at the corner on the right side of the rockery; isn’t there a shadow of someone?"