“Your Highness?”
“Your Highness? The Hour of the Rabbit has reached one quarter. Time to get up!”
“Crown Prince?”
A voice kept nagging persistently by Ye Jingchen’s ear, waking him from his dream.
“Shut up!” Ye Jingchen slapped toward the source of the voice.
“Forgive me, Your Highness!” Fangfei hurriedly knelt to beg forgiveness, conveniently dodging that hand and causing Ye Jingchen’s strike to miss.
After a moment, Ye Jingchen finally shook off the last traces of drowsiness and looked at Fangfei with a faint hint of apology.
He had not meant to lose his temper. It was just that he could not control his morning grumpiness. Back home, no one had ever been willing to wake him up; he had to rely on an alarm clock.
“Get up. From now on, when you wake this prince, stand farther away and speak louder. Otherwise, if this prince gets hurt by mistake, this prince won’t take responsibility!” Ye Jingchen reminded them sternly.
Fangfei lowered her eyes and replied, “Yes.”
But she had no intention of listening.
Waking His Highness was always a thankless, exhausting task. His Highness would always throw a fit after being woken up, and they were all used to it.
If they really stood farther away and spoke louder as His Highness said, he would complain that they had no manners and did not respect him, and he might get even angrier. In the end, the ones who would suffer would still be them.
The Eastern Palace was not close to the Emperor’s Chengqian Palace. Now that Ye Jingchen had such short legs, he could not walk fast, and he still had to make a trip to the garden, so time was actually tight.
He urged the palace maids to wash and dress him. Meeting the Emperor was a major matter, and the palace maids did not dare be careless, dressing him carefully from start to finish.
By the time they finished, he was almost falling asleep from waiting. He hurried out through the hall door.
The sky at a little after five in the morning was still dim and gray, and a chill hit him head-on. Fortunately, Fangfei was thoughtful and draped a small cloak over him.
“First, go to the garden. I want to personally pick the most beautiful flower to give to Imperial Father,” Ye Jingchen ordered.
As soon as he said that, the palace attendants all froze.
Give the Emperor a flower?
Crown Prince, are you sure?
“Your Highness, isn’t that a little inappropriate?” Fangfei asked cautiously.
“I’m going to pay respects to Imperial Father. I can’t go empty-handed, but I don’t have any gift worth bringing out. Picking a flower is better anyway. It’s both pretty and fragrant,” Ye Jingchen said with innocent enthusiasm.
“Then you might as well go empty-handed!” That was what all the palace attendants were thinking.
However, the Crown Prince’s decision would not be easily changed. Ye Jingchen led a large crowd to the garden in a great uproar, claiming that he wanted them to help him choose flowers and that he absolutely had to pick the most beautiful one.
In the garden, more than a dozen palace lanterns lit the way. While pretending to choose flowers, Ye Jingchen called out the names of everyone around him one by one and barely managed to remember some of their features.
After making a huge commotion for half an hour, making sure the whole scene was dramatic enough to disturb the Emperor, Ye Jingchen finally picked out a peony he had long since liked. He personally plucked it and held it carefully in his hand.
“Your Highness, the road to Chengqian Palace is still long. Let this servant hold it for you first,” Fangfei said.
She wanted to take the flower for him, but he refused.
Only by holding it himself could he show his sincerity, right?
It was a Spring Willow flower. Its petals were a vivid green, and its flower leaves looked like willow branches. It was especially beautiful and especially fitting for the season.
What made it even more exquisite was the dewdrop among the stamens, crystal clear, about to fall but not quite.
So when Ye Jingchen held this flower, he was especially careful, afraid that the dewdrop would be shaken loose.
After choosing the flower, the sky was already fully bright. Time was running short, so Ye Jingchen led a few palace attendants and strode along quickly. Before long, he was already gasping for breath.
The eunuch at his side wanted to carry him, but he refused. Joking aside, if he were really a child only a few years old, being carried would not matter. But inside, he was a thirty-year-old grown man. How could he let another man carry him?
Hurrying as fast as they could, they finally reached Chengqian Palace at the Hour of the Dragon.
Then the palace attendants at Chengqian Palace told him that His Majesty the Emperor had not yet finished morning court.
Ye Jingchen thought for three seconds and decided to bring his gift to meet the Emperor after morning court. Then, in front of all the civil and military officials, the Emperor would surely be given great face.
His decision made all the palace attendants of the Eastern Palace look mournful.
“Your Highness, the area before the Hall of Supreme Harmony is so solemn and dignified. After court ends, the courtiers will all pass through there. There will be so many people talking at once. If your gift to His Majesty gets bumped or touched, wouldn’t that be a pity?” Fangfei tried to talk him out of it.
“I’ll be very careful to protect it!” Ye Jingchen said with complete confidence.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was not far from Chengqian Palace, and there was a path that led directly to a side entrance of the hall. But that road could only be used by the Emperor and his eunuchs; no one else was allowed to walk it, not even the Crown Prince.
If he went around from the front, he would have to climb stairs.
Nine is the ultimate number. There were exactly ninety-nine steps, neither more nor less, symbolizing the utmost among men.
Ye Jingchen was determined to climb the stairs himself, and he could not afford to go slowly, because the Emperor might dismiss court at any moment. If he was late, he would not achieve the effect he wanted.
The palace attendants could not stop him, so they could only follow along miserably.
Climbing all ninety-nine steps while still protecting the flower in his hand really exhausted Ye Jingchen.
He secretly resolved that once he had fully become used to this identity, he would definitely make physical training a priority!
By the time he reached the entrance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, morning court had just ended. The ministers filed out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in neat lines, then spread out in front of the hall and gathered in twos and threes as they descended the stairs.
The standing order at morning court was very particular. The higher one’s status, the closer one stood to the Emperor, which meant that the lower-ranking officials were the first to come out of the hall.
The Crown Prince was still young and rarely appeared in public, so many officials had never seen him and did not recognize him. Their first thought when they saw him was: why is there a child in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, holding a flower? How outrageous.
But as more and more officials came out of the hall, and their ranks grew higher and higher, there were inevitably some who had seen the Crown Prince before. They quickly stepped forward to pay their respects.
Just like that, Ye Jingchen instantly became the center of attention in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
With one person taking the lead, the rest of the officials hurriedly joined in to pay their respects.
After court ended, the Emperor could have returned directly to Chengqian Palace through the side door of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. But sensing the commotion outside, he grew curious and sent someone to ask about it. After learning that the Crown Prince had arrived, he hurriedly strode down from the dragon throne and came outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Then he immediately saw Ye Jingchen, his little face flushed red, holding a flower and standing amid a crowd of ministers, looking rather at a loss.
He was just about to help Ye Jingchen out of the situation when he saw Ye Jingchen spot him as well, break through the crowd, and run toward him.
Ye Jingchen had been watching the hall door the whole time. The moment he saw the Emperor’s bright yellow figure, he quickly shouted, “Imperial Father!” and ran toward the Emperor at a trot.
The ministers did not dare overstep their bounds and automatically made way for the Crown Prince.
Ye Jingchen stopped in front of the Emperor. He did not kneel, but simply looked up at him, grinning as he said, “Your son pays respects to Imperial Father!”
His voice was clear and powerful, completely unlike his weak condition from lying sick in bed yesterday. The Emperor was delighted to see him and scooped him up in one motion.
Ye Jingchen had not expected the Emperor to actually pick him up, especially in front of all the ministers, and he felt very resistant inwardly.
But first, it was the Emperor who was holding him, so he could not refuse. Second, the Emperor was the original body’s biological father. It was perfectly normal for a father to hold his son, so he had no reason to resist.
He could only carefully protect the flower he had guarded all the way, lest it be crushed by that heavy paternal affection.