As soon as Ye Jingyu ran off, the palace attendants of Weiyang Palace snapped out of their daze, bowed to Ye Jingchen, and hurriedly chased after him.
Ever since the little master nearly got into trouble last time, the Noble Consort had given a strict order that the little master was never to be left unattended, otherwise the palace attendants serving him would be put to death.
Ye Jingchen watched the little round figure run away, and smiled smugly.
He was very experienced with children. Sometimes, when a child said “hate,” it didn’t really mean hate.
Take little Ye Jingyu, for example… he had clearly felt pleased with the praise just now.
What child didn’t like being praised? Even an Imperial Prince was the same.
“Let’s follow him,” Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
Ye Jingyu was still young and couldn’t run fast. After a short while, he got tired, so he slowed to a walk and stopped covering his face.
He thought about what he had said to his cheap brother before running away, and felt a tiny bit of guilt. He had shouted “I hate you” so loudly… would his cheap brother be sad?
Thinking this, he glanced back, wanting to see if he could still see the pavilion and the person in it. But when he turned his head, he met a pair of smiling eyes.
His cheap brother was not far behind him, still smiling as he watched him.
Ye Jingyu stopped, and in the fiercest voice he could muster, asked, “Why are you following me?!”
With a body only three heads tall, even his walking was amusing. Ye Jingchen had been silently following Ye Jingyu like a spirit behind his back, staring at his back and the back of his head, when Ye Jingyu suddenly turned around, and their eyes met.
“I’m taking you to see Imperial Father and your mother!” Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
“I don’t want to go with you!” Ye Jingyu said angrily, his steamed bun face even rounder.
“That won’t do. If I go alone, your mother will think I did something to you again!” Ye Jingchen said, quickening his pace to walk beside Ye Jingyu, and without listening to protests, took his chubby little hand.
Ye Jingyu struggled, but he was small and weak, and couldn’t break free from hands two years older than his.
He looked to Suzhi for help.
Suzhi looked at him, then at the smiling Crown Prince, and finally chose to look up at the sky.
Blue sky, white clouds… what a nice day today!
“Jingyu, little brother, Weiyang Palace is so beautiful… even more beautiful than my Eastern Palace!” Ye Jingchen exclaimed sincerely.
Of course, beauty was secondary; the main thing was its splendor.
Not only were the palace’s carved beams and painted pillars gilded, but even the lampposts along the road held round, lustrous pearls the size of a child’s fist.
Ye Jingchen had a reasonable suspicion that those pearls were night pearls, but he had no proof.
Although he very much wanted to verify it, he couldn’t just reach out and pry one out to look at… after all, such behavior was beneath his status.
Ye Jingchen’s casual comment made the Weiyang Palace attendants around Ye Jingyu all change color.
Suzhi smiled cautiously and said, “Your Highness is joking. Weiyang Palace is only the Noble Consort’s palace; its scale naturally cannot compare to the Heir Apparent’s Eastern Palace.”
Her smile was forced.
“I’m not joking. What does beauty have to do with scale?” Ye Jingchen asked back with feigned innocence.
Suzhi dared not say anything more.
For the rest of the way, Ye Jingchen’s mouth never stopped. First he praised the golden necklace around Ye Jingyu’s neck.
Yes, the Noble Consort had put a pure gold necklace around Ye Jingyu’s neck, with a pure gold longevity lock hanging from it… dazzling enough to blind one’s eyes.
After praising the necklace, he praised the longevity lock; after the longevity lock, he praised Ye Jingyu’s clothes; after the clothes, he praised his little boots.
In short, from top to bottom, from head to toe, he praised everything, all the way to the main hall of Weiyang Palace.
Ye Jingyu had been completely dazed by the shower of praise. He was led all the way to the main hall in a daze, looking extremely obedient.
The palace attendants following them wore strange expressions, not knowing how to react.
In the main hall, the Emperor and the Noble Consort sat on opposite sides. Neither spoke. The serving palace attendants nearby barely dared to breathe.
The atmosphere was awkward and tense.
But Ye Jingchen acted as if he didn’t see the awkwardness. As soon as he entered the main hall, he dragged Ye Jingyu in a little run to the Emperor. “Imperial Father, Jingyu, little brother and I are back!”
Seeing Ye Jingchen appear, the Emperor, who had been expressionless, revealed a loving smile. He reached out and patted Ye Jingchen’s head, and asked with a smile, “Chen’er, have you and your brother finished your secret talk?”
“All done!” Ye Jingchen stuck out his tongue and said with a smile.
Then he asked back with feigned innocence, “Did Imperial Father and the Noble Consort have their secret talk too?”
The Emperor was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
He patted Ye Jingchen’s head again. “You, you little imp!”
Watching the heartwarming scene between the Emperor and the Crown Prince, and then looking at her own child, who had been cold-shouldered by the Emperor from start to finish yet still gazed at the Emperor with adoring eyes, Ji Wushuang gave a mocking smile.
She stepped forward, covered her son’s eyes with one hand, and with the other, took her son’s hand from the Crown Prince. She carried her child back to her original seat.
She had originally thought that even if the Emperor didn’t like her very much, he had at least some affection for her. But at this moment, she clearly understood how naive and ridiculous her previous thoughts had been.
The Emperor loved the former Empress, and because of that love, everything connected to her was loved. The Emperor did not love her, and so he was completely indifferent to her child.
She regretted it.
If she had known earlier that the Emperor was such a loving yet heartless man, she would never have entered the palace as a consort in the first place, and certainly would never have given birth to Jingyu, letting her child be born without a father.
“Imperial Father, Jingyu, little brother told me he misses you very much. Can you hold him?” Ye Jingchen tugged on the Emperor’s sleeve and coaxed.
He had clearly seen Ye Jingyu’s envious look and the Noble Consort’s action just now. As his first chosen ally, Ye Jingchen valued the Ji family behind the Noble Consort and the Noble Consort’s own love-brained nature. Ye Jingchen absolutely would not give her a chance to break free from her love-brained state!
“I never did! You’re lying!” Ye Jingyu pulled down his mother’s hand covering his eyes and glared angrily at Ye Jingchen.
When had he ever said such a thing?
As expected, his cheap brother was not a good person… lying without even blinking!
“Jingyu, little brother, don’t be shy. You are also Imperial Father’s child, my own brother. Imperial Father is your father… what’s wrong with being held by your own father? Imperial Father’s embrace is warm and broad, and especially gives a sense of security. Why don’t you try it?” Ye Jingchen coaxed.
The Emperor was both moved and amused. He reached out and lightly slapped Ye Jingchen’s bottom, scolding with a laugh, “You little brat, you forget your daddy as soon as you have a brother. You haven’t even asked me if I’m willing!”
Ye Jingchen’s body jerked. He quickly used both hands to cover his bottom and glared at the Emperor, his face burning red.
What was wrong with this Emperor?
How could he spank him? And in front of so many people at that!
Even the original body was eight years old now… not an age to be spanked!
Ye Jingchen was so embarrassed he wished he could find a hole to crawl into!