My Son is a Transmigrated Prince

She felt that her son was the cutest cub in the entire kindergarten.

After Rong Heng left, Song Yuan sat quietly on the sofa. She started at the diamond ring placed on the table, lost in thought for nearly an hour. The table was in a mess, but she couldn’t bring herself to clean it up. When it was time, she hurriedly got up, ready to go out to pick up Rong Ting from school, but accidentally tripped over a chair and nearly fell. Looking back at the diamond ring on the table, she felt her eyes sting.

Song Yuan knew she wasn’t in the state to be driving. She didn’t dare. The weight in her heart was as heavy as a thousand catties, and she almost couldn’t breathe under the pressure.

Fortunately, it wasn’t time for people to get off work, so there were no people on either side of the road. Even if she was lost in her own world with her head down, no one would bump into her. It wasn’t until she reached the gates of the kindergarten that she returned to her senses.

There were many cars parked outside the gates, with many parents keeping watch outside. Before, Song Yuan would have chatted with those mothers, but today she didn’t have the urge to speak.

She wasn’t too familiar with those moms, so when everyone saw that she didn’t seem to be happy, they naturally didn’t go over to strike up a conversation.

After a while, the school bell rang.

Starting with the little class, then the middle class, and finally the big class, the teachers led the children out one after the other. Song Yuan stood on tiptoe and immediately spotted Rong Ting among a group of radish heads.

She didn’t know if it was because of a mom filter that she felt as though her son was the cutest cub in the entire kindergarten. He came with his own halo, allowing her to find him with just one look.

Rong Ting originally had no expression on his face, but when he saw Song Yuan, he immediately broke into a smile. He had always been good looking, with fair skin and delicate features. He had been a crown prince for several years, so although he couldn’t match his Emperor Father’s powerful and imposing manner, he was rather special among the group of children. Probably because of the influence of the palace, or because the little man looked up to his father, Rong Ting resembled Rong Heng; neither father nor son smiled often. When people who didn’t like to smile suddenly smiled like this, there was a particularly adorable feeling.

Song Yuan wasn’t stingy with her hugs. When Rong Ting came out, she gave him a big hug, saying, “I missed you so much! Were you happy today?”

Rong Ting was a bit embarrassed. Although the local customs here were a bit open, it didn’t seem appropriate to hug Empress Mother out in public.

He liked intimacy with Empress Mother very much. After secretly looking at other little kids hugging their parents and finding that no one paid them any mind, he then quietly laid his heart to rest.

“It was okay.”

Song Yuan released him and held his little paw. She forced out a smile. “The weather is good today, so I didn’t drive. Haven’t you been wanting to eat ice cream? Let’s go buy some.”

Rong Ting was surprised. He loved to eat ice cream; even eating three scoops was no problem for his black hole stomach1, but Empress Mother didn’t allow him to eat more. He only had the chance to get a taste of ice cream when he went out with Grandfather.

What’s going on today? Empress Mother was actually bringing him out to eat ice cream!

Rong Ting was very clever. He lifted his head to look at her. “Did something good happen today?”

Song Yuan felt uncomfortable, but she still tried her best not to let her true emotions show. “You could say that.”

There was a mall nearby with a Haagen-Daz store on the first floor. The mother and son pair walked in, but Rong Ting wanted a mile after being given a foot and pointed to a beautiful, newly-released winter product, asking in a low voice, “Can we order that?”

Song Yuan shot him a glance. “What do you think?”

Rong Ting wanted to order the Ode to Snow2, an ice cream hotpot that looked extremely delicious.

But the two of them definitely couldn’t finish it by themselves. Even if it were summer, they couldn’t eat ice cream so recklessly. What if they hurt their stomachs?

Rong Ting let out a disappointed ‘oh.’ “Then I’ll have two scoops. One strawberry and one vanilla.”

Song Yuan looked at him thoughtfully. Finally, with a sigh, she ordered an ice cream hotpot, right in front of Rong Ting.

If he’d only been surprised just earlier, he was definitely shocked now. He didn’t dare to believe what he’d heard!

After the mother and son sat down, Rong Ting asked, particularly flustered, “Empress Mother, what’s going on with you? I’m getting a very bad feeling.”

“Didn’t you really want to eat that ice cream hotpot?”

Rong Ting gave an ‘en.’ He did want to eat it, but Empress Mother acting like this left him… oddly terrified.

He kept feeling like this must be the day before the storm.

Once the ice cream hotpot arrived, he didn’t know whether he should or shouldn’t eat it.

“Empress Mother, I shouldn’t have done anything wrong recently.” Rong Ting stopped just as he was about to eat the ice cream balls. He had to clear up some matters first. If this storm had something to do with him, then he’d eat. If it did have something to do with him, then he’d eat less. “Right?”

“Of course. Your teacher told me you’ve been doing well. You’re very obedient, and you’ve earned several red flowers3.”

Rong Ting finally felt relieved upon hearing his Empress Mother say this. He probed tentatively, “Then, I’ll eat?”

“Alright, don’t eat too much.”

Rong Ting happily dug in. Song Yuan had no appetite, so she just watched him eat, wanting to engrave his current appearance in her heart.

She didn’t want to leave Rong Ting. She wanted to let him stay here always, to grow happy and healthy from where she could see. She wanted to be selfish, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t make the choice for him–or in other words, not give him the opportunity to choose.

In the past, when she was young, she’d seen her father lie, heard many, many people tell lies. Those she loved, those who loved her. There were no exceptions.

Over the years, she’d never deceived the people she loved, let alone deceive Rong Ting this time.

Maybe she’d never been a good mother, or fulfilled her duties and obligations as a mother, but she wanted to be a mother who would never lie to him or deceive him.

When they returned home, Song Yuan was afraid that Rong Ting would have diarrhea after eating ice cream, so she made him some ginger tea to expel the cold. The mother and son were sitting on the sofa when Song Yuan suddenly spoke. “There’s something I want to tell you. Your Emperor Father came to find me today. He told me that he’s going back, back to Great Ye. It should be next month. He told me, if you want to stay here then stay here…” She wanted to keep her tone calm and undisturbed, but every word was like a knife, making it difficult and painful for her to say even one more word. I think that although you’re young, you’ve always been an assertive and clever child, so it’s your decision.”

After speaking, Song Yuan couldn’t control her emotions, but she didn’t want to show her expression in front of Rong Ting, so she hurriedly stood up and rushed to the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she slowly slid down, hugging her knees and closing her eyes with difficulty.

Now she could understand why people would lie.

Rong Ting wasn’t stupid.

Back when Rong Heng asked him if he wanted Empress Mother to come back with them, he had a vague conjecture in his heart.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about going back before Emperor Father had showed up, but he had dearly missed Empress Mother’s warmth, so every time he thought of it, he quickly pressed it back down. When Emperor Father came, he felt that this wasn’t something he should be worried about. When and how to go back was naturally something for Emperor Father to worry about. Thus, he stayed steadily by Empress Mother’s side. He also knew what Emperor Father’s thoughts were, so when he asked him that, he was anxious and worried. He wanted to tell Emperor Father, don’t take Empress Mother back!

Yes, he wanted to always stay with Empress Mother, and in his heart of hearts he hoped Empress Mother could go back to the palace with them, but he knew better–if Empress Mother went back, she would never be happy again. What he wanted was to see Empress Mother happy.

Now that Emperor Father had spoken to Empress Mother about this, he most likely had dispelled the thoughts he shouldn’t have.

He could rest assured.

He stood up, hesitantly approaching the bathroom door. He reached out to knock, but he dropped his hand halfway.

That night, Song Yuan couldn’t sleep. She lay in bed, watching videos on her phone.

They were sent by the kindergarten teachers, as well as the teachers of the former academy.

Every teacher said that Rong Ting was very clever, more sensible than children his age. Everything was very good, except that he wasn’t too sociable. He would participate in their usual class games, but he would never blend in with the others.

She’d been worried about this, so during this time she had consulted children’s psychology books. Thinking about it now, it seems she’d been too optimistic.

When she’d transmigrated to ancient times, she’d also tried to integrate into her environment, but didn’t she also fail in the end?

Modern people could not become ancient people.

Similarly, could ancient people become modern people?

Song Yuan got out of bed and walked over to the living room. Placed on the desk were the books that Rong Ting usually read. Apart from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, the ones he most often read were the books Rong Heng bought him, The History and Fall of the Ming Dynasty, The Twelve Emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang.

She opened The History and Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Rong Ting had used colored pencils to mark many areas. In the margins, he used a pencil to write down his opinions and reflections.

Song Yuan flipped through the book and suddenly came to a realization. Rong Ting had lived in that sort of environment since he was young, and he found everything in modern society strange and delightful. Wasn’t this just like her when she’d just transmigrated to ancient times? Modern times was her home–she’d always been clear on this point. For Rong Ting, ancient times was his home.

Rong Heng said that he knew her answer.

Similarly, she also knew Rong Ting’s answer. And that was why she was distraught.

Now looking at his books, she thought, maybe the person who wanted to become a good emperor was not just Rong Heng. Perhaps Rong Ting wanted to too.

The author has something to say:

Feels like the readers have all become mama fans 233334

In fact, being a mom is like this, hoping that their cub can choose to live as they5 want, but also that their cub has their own ideals and aspirations!

[1] 暴风吸入: storm wind + breathe in/suck in. Couldn’t think of an English equivalent at the time of translating hehe

[2] A real, Haagen-Dazs product you can get in any of their stores in China. It comes with different flavors of ice cream, frozen fruit, and some pastries/cakes that you can dip into the bowl of fondue. The name for the product is actually 冰雪欢乐颂, which is, like, Ode to (Ice and) Snow. Much more poetic than ice cream hotpot, but oh well

[3] Like golden star stickers for good behavior, but little red flowers instead

[4] Like LOL or LMAO in English

[5] As in, moms hope that their kids can live the way the mom wants

Cheese: god, that ice cream hotpot looks DELICIOUS. Why can’t this be a thing where i live QAQ