The Empress Elara Voss felt tears stream down her cheeks. Caspian immediately panicked and tried to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, child. I failed to protect you..." Elara apologised guiltily as she looked at Yu Weiwei, who resembled his father, Lin Zhe, the most.
"Auntie, don't cry..." Yu Weiwei said in a panic as he tried to sit up, but Elara gently pushed him back onto the bed.
Elara looked into Yu Weiwei's eyes, which resembled Lin Zhe's, and couldn't help but recall the days before Lin Zhe and Yu Chen went missing.
"If one day I don't return..." Lin Zhe said as he looked tenderly at little Yu Weiwei.
"Please help me watch over Weiwei."
The Empress smiled.
"You're asking me to be his godmother?"
Lin Zhe looked at the sleeping baby.
"No."
"Just... let him grow."
"Unless his life is truly in danger."
"Why can't you just take him with you? And Yu Chen is still here. It shouldn't be my turn to look after him," Elara said as she looked at Lin Zhe.
"It's too dangerous. I'm not sure I'll survive."
"Heh... Yu Chen wouldn't stay behind obediently. You know him. He can't bear to be apart from me for even a moment," Lin Zhe scoffed, though a tender smile appeared on his face.
"He'll find us. My little Weiwei is so smart," Lin Zhe said as he pinched little Yu Weiwei's cheek, causing the sleeping baby to stir.
---
Elara smiled through her tears as those memories resurfaced.
Yu Weiwei was indeed smart.
But he had inherited Lin Zhe's emotional intelligence.
Or rather...
His inability to judge people.
It was her fault.
She hadn't thought it through.
Lin Zhe had always been able to judge people because of his Omniscient Insight Authority.
But Yu Weiwei didn't possess that Authority.
"I'm sorry..." Elara whispered so softly that it was almost inaudible.
---
Outside the hospital.
The entire Empire was waiting.
The news that Yu Weiwei had awakened spread faster than any announcement in history.
The citizens began asking for a livestream so they could see Yu Weiwei's condition for themselves.
Caspian sighed at the sight.
He looked at the mountain of work piled up behind him and couldn't help feeling irritated.
His beloved wife had practically moved into Yu Weiwei's hospital room.
You could hardly see her in the palace these days.
"Sigh... This is why children are such a nuisance. It's a good thing I don't have one," Caspian muttered.
The entire Empire would probably never have guessed that the reason their Emperor hadn't had children after more than two decades of marriage was because he was afraid they would steal his wife's affection.
Caspian sent someone to ask Yu Weiwei whether he would be willing to do a livestream to reassure the citizens.
Yu Weiwei agreed.
---
The moment the livestream began...
Millions of people flooded in.
The screen showed Yu Weiwei sitting quietly on his hospital bed.
He looked much weaker than before.
But he was alive.
The comments flooded the screen instantly.
[Weiwei...]
[I'm sorry.]
[We misunderstood you.]
[I believed the rumours back then. I was wrong.]
[You were suffering all this time, and we blamed you...]
[Please forgive us.]
Apologies flooded the comment section.
Then another group appeared.
Former Yu Yuan supporters.
[I was a fan of Yu Yuan.]
[I defended him because I believed he was innocent.]
[I owe you an apology, Yu Weiwei.]
[I hate that I attacked you without knowing the truth.]
[You saved people even when the whole world hated you.]
[I'm sorry.]
Yu Weiwei stared silently at the comments, a little stunned and confused.
He had expected anger.
Hatred.
Doubt.
But not this.
The young man lowered his eyes.
"It's okay."
The comments froze.
Yu Weiwei smiled faintly.
"Everyone makes mistakes."
"But in the future..."
"Please don't judge someone before knowing the truth."
The simplicity of his words caused the comments to explode once more.
[How can he still be this kind?]
[I'd hate everyone if I went through what he did.]
[Weiwei is too gentle...]
[Protect him!]
---
Far away, at the Empire's border...
A man watched the livestream quietly.
Evander stared at the young man's smile.
The same smile that remained even after everything he had endured.
His fingers tightened slightly.
He had fought countless battles.
Witnessed countless deaths.
Yet somehow...
The person on the screen was the first to make him want to protect someone.
A notification appeared.
New comment from PurpleStar.
Evander hesitated.
Then he typed.
[PurpleStar: You don't need to forgive everyone so quickly.]
Yu Weiwei noticed the comment.
He smiled.
"Maybe."
"But holding onto hatred is tiring."
Evander stared at the reply.
For a long time...
He said nothing.
Then he quietly saved the livestream.
---
The Empire thought Yu Weiwei had returned as a victim.
They were wrong.
The young man who awakened that day would soon become something far greater.
Not a noble.
Not a weapon.
Not a symbol.
But the person who would slowly change the future of the entire Empire.
---
After Yu Weiwei woke up, the Empire finally calmed down.
The citizens who had spent days worrying about his condition could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
However...
A new problem appeared.
They wanted to see him every day.
Not because they were curious.
Not because they wanted news.
But because they wanted to know that he was truly doing well.
The hospital received countless messages every day.
Some were from ordinary citizens.
Some were from aristocrats.
Some were from his newly formed fandom.
And all of them carried the same request.
{Can we see Young Master Yu?}
{We just want to know that he's okay.}
The hospital director looked at the mountain of requests and sighed.
Finally, he went to discuss it with Yu Weiwei.
"Young Master Yu."
"Would you be willing to do a short livestream every day? If not, perhaps once a week?"
Yu Weiwei looked surprised.
"A livestream?"
The director nodded.
"Nothing complicated."
"You don't have to answer any questions you don't want to."
"We only want the citizens to stop worrying."
Yu Weiwei thought about it.
After everything that had happened...
He knew many people had been anxious because of him.
So he nodded.
"Okay."
---
That evening...
For the second time since his awakening...
Yu Weiwei appeared online.
The livestream began.
There was no luxurious background.
No grand announcement.
Only a quiet hospital room.
The young man sat beside the window, his silver-white curly hair puffed up like a mushroom cap.
The moment his face appeared—
The comments instantly exploded.
[Weiwei!!]
[He's really here!]
[He looks better than he did two days ago!]
[Please don't overwork yourself!]
Yu Weiwei looked at the rapidly scrolling comments and was speechless.
He was currently on medical leave, leisurely strolling around the hospital every day.
Since when had he been working hard?
Yu Weiwei smiled and responded to their concern.
"I'm fine."
"Thank you for worrying about me."
That simple sentence brought countless viewers to tears.
After everything they had learned...
They knew those words were not something Yu Weiwei said lightly.
During the livestream, Yu Weiwei answered a few simple questions ignoring the few discordant voices and those asking about the mental core repair.
He answered the ones asking about his recovery.
About his daily routine.
About what he planned to do after leaving the hospital.
Then someone asked:
[Young Master Yu, what do you usually do when you're resting?]
Yu Weiwei paused.
"Usually?"
He thought for a moment.
"Read."
"Cook."
"And take care of my plants."
The comments immediately became curious.
[Plants?]
[Cook?]
[Weiwei still eats natural food?]
[Young Master Yu grows plants?]
[Can we see them?]
Yu Weiwei glanced at the small balcony connected to his room.
Several flowerpots sat there.
Nothing impressive.
Just a few tiny green sprouts growing quietly.
Ever since he woke up, he hadn't been able to get used to nutrient solution.
It tasted slippery and strange.
So he had been cooking with the ingredients stored inside his space pocket, which he had brought from the cultivation world.
But he couldn't rely on that forever.
Eventually, the ingredients would run out.
So he planted a few seeds to help supply his future meals.
He walked over and pointed the camera at them.
"This one is a medicinal herb."
"This one is a vegetable."
"And these..."
He gently brushed a tiny leaf with his fingertip, a flow of mental power sip into it making it grow much more bigger.
"They're still growing."
The comments immediately descended into chaos.
[They're so cute!]
[Wait... vegetables can be grown like this?]
[I know, right? I thought they had to be planted directly in the ground!]
[So that's what those ancient flowerpots were used for...]
Yu Weiwei was speechless as he read the comments.
In this interstellar era, the concept of natural food had almost disappeared.
No one had ever awakened a Nature Authority.
Even those with plant-related Authorities mainly controlled poisonous or mutated plants.
Those plants certainly wouldn't stay obediently inside a flowerpot.