“His Majesty has arrived!”
A sharp, high-pitched voice rang out at the doorway.
The crowd that had just gotten to its feet knelt again with a rustle, shouting “Long live His Majesty!” in unison.
Ye Jingchen hesitated.
It felt awkward to watch others kneel before him, and it felt even more awkward for him to kneel before others, even if that person was the original owner’s father.
But in a feudal society under imperial autocracy, the consequences of not kneeling before the Emperor seemed serious.
Fortunately, although His Majesty was the Emperor, he also seemed to be a loving father. He did not mind and strode over to the bedside, scooping up Ye Jingchen’s small body with his big hands, looking him over and pinching here and there. Although his grip was a little rough, his concern did not seem fake.
“Chen’er, you’re finally awake. Is there anywhere that still hurts?” The man looked very young, and his voice was loud and strong. Because he was so close, Ye Jingchen’s head buzzed.
What shocked Ye Jingchen even more, however, was how the man addressed him.
“Chen’er? Could it be the ‘Chen’ in Ye Jingchen?”
Had he transmigrated into that cannon-fodder Crown Prince Ye Jingchen from the novel?
Falling into the water…
He tried hard to recall the novel’s plot. Because the Crown Prince was only cannon fodder, there was not much description of him. There was only one scene involving falling into the water.
In the Imperial Garden, Ye Jingchen happened to run into Third Imperial Prince Ye Jingyu by the waterside pavilion. Seeing Ye Jingyu alone, with no palace maids or eunuchs around him, he thought about pushing him into the pavilion to drown him. In the end, though, Ye Jingyu was not pushed in; instead, he himself lost his footing and fell into the water. Although the following eunuch quickly pulled him out, he struggled too violently, swallowed water, and passed out.
The reason this incident was mentioned in the novel was that it was a key point in the feud between the deposed Crown Prince, Third Imperial Prince, and the maternal clan behind Third Imperial Prince.
The deposed Crown Prince failed to hurt someone and only ended up hurting himself. After waking up, he went straight to the Emperor to complain, saying that Third Imperial Prince had pushed him into the water.
At the time, besides the two Imperial Princes, everyone else present belonged to the deposed Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace. Naturally, no one exposed his lie. The Emperor was already biased toward the Crown Prince, and after hearing this, he flew into a rage. Although he did not punish Third Imperial Prince, he punished Third Imperial Prince’s birth mother, the Noble Consort, making her kneel before the late Empress’s memorial tablet for a full three hours and also confining her to her palace for a month. Confinement was a minor matter, but the Noble Consort was pampered and delicate. Those three hours nearly ruined her knees, and as a result, she was left with a lasting illness.
Afterward, the Noble Consort and Third Imperial Prince tried every possible way to prove their innocence, but the Emperor merely scolded the deposed Crown Prince a few times and rewarded the Noble Consort and her son with some gifts before letting the matter go.
Later, whenever the Noble Consort’s knees hurt, she would resent the deposed Crown Prince, and Third Imperial Prince even wished he could flay and skin the deposed Crown Prince alive.
“Dad… Imperial Father, I’m fine.”
Testing the waters, he almost slipped and called him “Daddy.” Ye Jingchen hurriedly corrected himself and asked carefully, “I… how long has your son been unconscious?”
“You have already been asleep for a whole day. If you had not woken up by now, I would have had all those quacks in the Imperial Hospital beheaded!” the Emperor said, sweeping a commanding glance over the three imperial physicians present. His aura was extremely strong.
The three imperial physicians, who were already kneeling on the ground, bowed even lower, wishing they could become invisible.
Ye Jingchen was also a little afraid, but he still had to brace himself and ask, “Then… what about the matter of my falling into the water?”
“Jingyu actually dared to push you into the water! The Noble Consort failed to teach him properly. I have already punished her by making her kneel before your mother’s memorial tablet!” the Emperor said lightly.
Ye Jingchen: !
So he really had transmigrated into the deposed Crown Prince as a child, but…
Heaven was trying to destroy him!
He had slept for a day. So who could tell him how long the Noble Consort had already been kneeling?
“Imperial Father, don’t blame Third Imperial Brother. Actually, I saw Third Imperial Brother alone by the water and wanted to scare him. I accidentally fell into the water myself. It wasn’t Third Imperial Brother who pushed me in!” Ye Jingchen quickly explained.
“Really?” the Emperor looked at him suspiciously. “With Imperial Father protecting you, you do not need to be afraid. Just tell the truth. The palace attendants around you all said Jingyu pushed you into the water.”
Ye Jingchen gave a bitter smile. The Crown Prince had fallen into the water right in front of them, and they had failed to watch over him properly. That was a major crime that could very well lead to beheading, so the palace attendants were certainly afraid of being held responsible and could only frame someone else.
Ye Jingchen reached out and tugged on the Emperor’s dragon robe. “Imperial Father, they were behind me and Third Imperial Brother at the time, and quite a distance away from us. It’s possible they saw it wrong. But I was the one involved myself… whether I was pushed or fell in on my own, I can still tell the difference.”
“Is that really so?” The Emperor still seemed somewhat unconvinced.
“A gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall. When I saw Third Imperial Brother alone by the water, not only did I not immediately take him to a safe place, I even wanted to scare him. It’s all my fault. Father… Father should punish me instead.” Ye Jingchen deliberately changed the way he addressed the Emperor, clearly with ulterior motives.
He could tell now that the novel had been understated when it said the Emperor favored the deposed Crown Prince. This was not ordinary favoritism; it was practically treating him like a treasured jewel.
He called him “Chen’er,” but Third Imperial Prince was just “Jingyu.” With the imperial physicians he spoke of himself as “We,” but with the Crown Prince, it was plain “I.”
The Noble Consort and her son would surely defend themselves, but he would rather believe the words of the palace attendants around the Crown Prince than the woman who shared his bed and his own biological child.
And as for the deposed Crown Prince falling into the water, with so many eyes watching, as long as the Emperor wanted to investigate, he could know the truth in an instant. There was absolutely no way he could be deceived by the palace attendants!
From this, it was clear that the Emperor truly liked the deposed Crown Prince and did not doubt him at all.
“A gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall? Haha, Chen’er said that very well. I am delighted!” The Emperor laughed heartily, looking genuinely pleased, just like an ordinary father in any normal family who is overjoyed when his child makes a little progress.
“So… shouldn’t Imperial Father revoke your order and stop making the Noble Consort kneel?”
If she knelt herself into trouble and formed a grudge, the one who would suffer later would still be him!
The Emperor thought of how the Noble Consort had actually run to the Zichen Hall and made a huge scene, claiming that the Crown Prince had failed to push Jingyu into the water and so had fallen in himself. When he heard that, he had been furious, which was why he punished her by making her kneel before the Empress’s memorial tablet. The Noble Consort had framed Chen’er in order to escape punishment; she deserved to be punished!
But his Chen’er was so sincere. If he found out that the Noble Consort had turned the tables and falsely accused him, he would definitely be very upset.
The Emperor’s expression darkened. “She failed to take care of Jingyu, leaving him alone in a dangerous place. Shouldn’t she be punished?”
“But with my falling into the water happening first, I’m afraid the Noble Consort and Jingyu will think too much about it. Jingyu and I are full brothers. I don’t want this incident to create a gap between us, so Imperial Father… Father, could you please not punish the Noble Consort this time?” Ye Jingchen tugged on the Emperor’s sleeve and coaxed.
A thirty-year-old adult acting cute would be embarrassing, but a little toddler acting cute was not only not embarrassing, it was extremely effective.
This was something Ye Jingchen had learned from his little niece, who was only a few years old. The whole family was helpless against that trick.