The princes had to study every day, and when they weren't studying, they were always accompanied by servants. Like the Fifth Prince, aside from the two eunuchs carrying his sedan chair, he also had a palace maid and a matron by his side.
The Fifth Prince racked his brains all night and finally managed to escape during his journey to school using the excuse of needing to relieve himself. When he reached the fork in the road at the Imperial Garden, he grew confused again.
Which path actually led to Father Emperor?
Scratching his forehead, he heard shouts behind him and immediately chose a random path without a second thought, continuing to run.
In the dim light, he unexpectedly collided head-on with a small figure rushing toward him.
A dull thud echoed.
The Fifth Prince, clutching his forehead, fell backward onto his bottom, struggling like an overturned turtle before managing to sit up.
Tears welled in his eyes from the impact, and he was about to curse when he looked up and saw that the person opposite him was Zhao Yan.
The little dumpling had also fallen flat on his back, still holding a small lantern. After scrambling to his feet, he stared blankly at the Fifth Prince and called out, "Fifth Brother?"
The Fifth Prince blinked once, then twice, as if suddenly realizing something, and asked irritably, "Are you trying to find Father Emperor too?"
Zhao Yan’s eyes widened, his expression clearly asking, "How did you know?" Then, in a childish voice, he inquired, "Does Fifth Brother know the way? I’m lost."
"Hmph! I won’t take you with me!" In truth, he didn’t know the way either.
The Fifth Prince pouted: Sure enough, Xiao Qi just wants to compete with me.
He turned and walked away, but Zhao Yan quickly trailed after him, lantern in hand.
"Stop following me!" The Fifth Prince spun around, glaring and stomping his foot angrily.
Zhao Yan, caught off guard by the sudden stop, collided with him once more, and both boys tumbled to the ground again.
Just as the Fifth Prince was about to curse, Chen Xiang and the attendants from Yunxiang Palace arrived simultaneously.
Both groups hurriedly picked up their respective young masters, their faces pale with fright.
"Seventh Prince, we’ve finally found you! How did you get lost? Hurry to the Imperial Study—you’ll be late."
"Fifth Prince, let’s get you into the sedan chair quickly!"
The two parties exchanged glances, mutual surprise in their eyes, then swiftly carried their little masters away.
Zhao Yan obediently allowed himself to be carried off, but the Fifth Prince wailed like a stuck pig the entire way, screaming to be let down.
They soon arrived at the Imperial Study. Zhao Yan had originally planned to sneak away again after classes ended in the afternoon. However, just before noon, Feng Zongguan personally arrived to announce an imperial decree.
It stated that the Tianyou Emperor could not bear to see any of his sons leave the palace. To ensure fairness, the decision would be made by drawing lots. After the midday meal, at a quarter past three in the afternoon, His Majesty would personally oversee the lottery ceremony.
Whoever drew the red-tipped stick would be the one to go.
Zhao Yan pondered: But this isn’t fair either. There are seven princes and seven sticks, and I’m last in line. What if the red-tipped stick is drawn by someone before me?
Even if I can revert to a previous save, I can’t guarantee it’ll work perfectly.
When the time came for the drawing, he realized he had overthought it.
Any issue he could conceive of, the Tianyou Emperor had already anticipated.
For the lottery, seven eunuchs stood in a row, each holding a container of sticks. Each container held an equal number of red-tipped and plain sticks, and the seven princes stepped forward simultaneously to draw.
Those who drew a red-tipped stick repeated the process, drawing again.
This continued until the final person drew the red-tipped stick.
It was like playing rock-paper-scissors in rounds: the losers from each group would compete again in the next round.
This ensures absolute fairness.
Zhao Yan secretly rejoiced, thinking this would make things easy. As long as he drew the red stick every time, the final result would definitely be him going.
The Second Prince, who had originally thought of drawing first, was dumbfounded and pursed his lips as he looked at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince remained calm, but the Empress in the side hall was somewhat nervous. All seven eunuchs had been chosen by His Majesty, making it impossible for her to manipulate anything.
Equally anxious was Wen Guifei beside her; the two were secretly competing, while the other consorts were all uneasy.
Of course, Li Meiren wasn’t qualified to be anxious in the Imperial Study—she could only pace back and forth in Jingfu Pavilion.
Behind the screen, the Emperor was confident and waved his hand at Feng Zongguan. Feng Zongguan then announced loudly, “Invite the seven princes to step forward and draw lots!”
The Fifth Prince glanced at Zhao Yan and rushed forward first.
Consort Yun, seated at the far end of the side hall, glared angrily at her son: That fool!
Zhao Yan followed the Crown Prince with a few quick steps, pattering forward.
The eunuch holding the stick container quickly crouched down as he approached, presenting it to him.
Zhao Yan reached out his small hand, grabbed a stick, and pulled it out, silently praying: Please, please, let it be the red-tipped stick.
If not, he would Revert to a previous save.
He looked down at the end of the stick—it was red.
Zhao Yan cheered inwardly but dared not show too much emotion outwardly.
Feng Zongguan stepped forward to announce the results: “Crown Prince—white stick, Second Prince—red stick, Third Prince—white stick, Fourth Prince—white stick, Fifth Prince—red stick, Sixth Prince—white stick, Seventh Prince—red stick!”
After he finished, the Second Prince’s face turned pale, while the Sixth Prince let out a long sigh of relief, then looked at Zhao Yan with concern.
For the second round, the Second Prince, Sixth Prince, and Seventh Prince drew lots simultaneously.
Three young eunuchs each stood before the three princes with their stick containers. Wen Guifei tightened her grip on the armrest of her wooden chair, staring fixedly at the container. Consort Yun also clenched the handkerchief in her hand, while behind the screen, the Tianyou Emperor’s gaze remained fixed on Zhao Yan the entire time.
That child was still grinning foolishly after getting the red stick—he was too young to understand the significance of it.
The three drew their sticks simultaneously again: the Second Prince got a white stick, while the Fifth Prince and Seventh Prince got red sticks.
The tension in the Second Prince’s heart dissipated completely upon drawing the white stick, and he looked at his two unlucky younger brothers with some sympathy.
The Fifth Prince looked quite smugly at Zhao Yan, chin held high: Hmph, he would never lose.
Zhao Yan was speechless: This little brat actually took his words seriously.
The third round of drawing began, and the two reached out at the same time.
The Fifth Prince drew a white stick, while the Seventh Prince drew a red stick.
Zhao Yan stared blankly at the red stick in his hand: Was his luck soaring? He didn’t even need to Revert to a previous save?
Beside him, the Fifth Prince stared at his white stick for two seconds, then looked at Zhao Yan’s red stick. Overwhelmed by frustration, he completely lost it.
He threw his white stick to the ground, burst into tears, and wailed, “Waaah, Xiao Qi must have cheated! He cheated! Waaah…” Before anyone could react, he grabbed the stick container in front of Zhao Yan and hurled it to the ground.
Consort Yun was so frightened she stood up abruptly, wishing she could rush over and give him a beating.
The sticks inside the container scattered all over the floor, and every one in sight was a red-tipped stick.
The Fifth Prince finally found an outlet for his frustration and cried out indignantly, “Father Emperor, look! Xiao Qi cheated! He cheated!”
He lay down on the floor, throwing a tantrum and demanding a redraw.
Consort Yun shot a meaningful glance, and the matron serving nearby immediately stepped forward to pull the Fifth Prince who was throwing a tantrum on the floor: "Your Highness, if you didn’t draw the lot, you didn’t draw it. Don’t make a scene."
The Fifth Prince shouted, "No! I want to go and pray for blessings for Father Emperor!"
Before the Tianyou Emperor could feel moved, the Fifth Prince continued yelling, "I don’t want to study! I want to go pray for blessings! I want to eat delicious food outside the palace!"
The other consorts looked at the Fifth Prince as if he were a fool.
At the same time, they stared at the scattered red-tipped lots on the floor and fell into an eerie silence: So, from the beginning, His Majesty intended for the Seventh Prince to go, didn’t he?
Their worries throughout the day had been unnecessary.
Indeed, the one His Majesty detested the most was still the Seventh Prince.
Everyone looked somewhat sympathetically at the young prince—that small, bewildered, and helpless child.
The Tianyou Emperor also turned his gaze to Zhao Yan.
Somehow, he seemed to detect a trace of sadness in the child’s eyes.
His hand tightened slightly as he pondered how to resolve the situation. The next moment, time reversed, and the two children stood once again in front of the lot tube, simultaneously reaching out to draw lots once more.
The Tianyou Emperor frowned: Was this child using the Revert to a previous save to redraw the lot, not wanting to leave the palace?
But his lot tube was filled entirely with red-tipped lots. What did he plan to do?
The Tianyou Emperor fixed his gaze intently on Zhao Yan.
Both children drew lots from the tube at the same time. Even after the Revert to a previous save, it was still the Fifth Prince with the white lot and the Seventh Prince with the red one.
The Fifth Prince threw his usual tantrum, but just as he reached out to knock over the lot tube in front of Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan swiftly knocked over the lot tube in front of the Fifth Prince as well.
The red and white lots mixed together, making it impossible to tell whose was whose.
This time, Consort Yun stepped forward directly, forcibly pulling the tantrum-throwing Fifth Prince to his feet, scolding, "There’s no cheating here! If you keep making a scene, I’ll deal with you when we get back!"
The Fifth Prince sniffled and finally stopped crying.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yan held the red-tipped lot and grinned foolishly.
The Tianyou Emperor’s expression was rather complicated: Did this child use the Revert to a previous save just to draw the red-tipped lot without any controversy?
Was he too young to understand, or was he truly foolish?
The lot drawing was finally settled: the Seventh Prince had drawn the red-tipped lot and would depart at Chen hour the next day to pray for blessings at the Tianquan Temple palace, a thousand miles away, on behalf of the Emperor.
This was the best outcome all the palace consorts had hoped for.
When the news reached Jingfu Pavilion, Li Meiren staggered and fainted on the spot. By the time Zhao Yan returned, she was holding him and crying, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Zhao Yan reached out his small hand and patted her shoulder, comforting her softly, "Mother, don’t cry. Xiao Qi will be back soon." He was about to leave the palace for some enjoyable fun, free from daily fears and the tedious memorization of classical texts.
Li Meiren cried even more bitterly: What did he mean by "soon"? It was ten years!
In ten years, everything would be too late.
Li Meiren wiped her tears and gently stroked Zhao Yan’s temples. "Xiao Qi, don’t be afraid. There must be another way. I’ll go beg the Empress… The Empress has always been kind-hearted…" As she spoke, she released Zhao Yan and stood up to leave.
"Mother!" Zhao Yan panicked.
He had worked so hard for this opportunity—why beg now?
Chen Xiang was also greatly alarmed and hurried after her: How foolish of the Beauty! The Seventh Prince was going to pray for blessings on behalf of the Emperor. If she begged the Empress, wouldn’t it tell everyone that the Seventh Prince was unwilling to go, showing a lack of filial piety?
If that happened, he might never return, even after ten years.
Ah, if only her mistress would use her brain sometimes.
Watching the figure disappear from sight, Zhao Yan decisively reverted to a previous save. The next second, he was back at the moment when Li Meiren stood up. He promptly wrapped his arms around Li Meiren’s leg and sat stubbornly on the ground, refusing to let go.
Li Meiren struggled to free her foot, dragging him along for a few steps before exclaiming in frustration, "Xiao Qi, let go!"
"I won’t!" Zhao Yan lifted his small head, tears welling in his eyes as he gazed at her. "Mother, please don’t go to the Empress. Xiao Qi is willing to pray for Father Emperor’s blessings in your place…"
Li Meiren’s heart ached: What child would willingly leave their mother? Xiao Qi must be afraid she would face repercussions!
She reached out, picked Zhao Yan up, and soothed him, "Alright, don’t cry. Mother won’t go." She would wait until the child was asleep to leave.
Zhao Yan breathed a long sigh of relief.
For the rest of that afternoon and into the night, Li Meiren had no heart to make Zhao Yan study or practice writing.
At the beginning of the Xu hour, Li Meiren came to stay with Zhao Yan. She remained until the end of the Xu hour, when Zhao Yan fell asleep. Only then did she push open the door and slip out quietly.
The moment she left, Zhao Yan opened his eyes.
He threw on a cloak, climbed to the window, and pulled out a whistle hanging from his neck, blowing it softly.
Almost instantly, the Tianyou Emperor, dressed in black with a face covering, appeared at the window.
Zhao Yan’s eyes lit up, curving into crescents as he called out in a childish voice, "Jiu Jiu."
The Tianyou Emperor remained silent. The little one whispered, "Is Jiu Jiu’s face injury better now?"
The Tianyou Emperor nodded in a hushed tone.
"That’s good." The child rummaged through a drawer in the table and pulled out a small clay figurine, handing it to him. "Here, a parting gift. I’m leaving the palace tomorrow—don’t miss me too much."
The Tianyou Emperor took the clumsily made clay figure, his expression growing even more complicated. "A parting gift? For me?"
The child nodded. "Yes, Jiu Jiu is my good friend. After I leave the palace, I’ll remember to send you gifts. I’ll mail them to my mother and have her place them under the bed in my room. Remember to come get them when you have time."
Clutching the clay figure, the Tianyou Emperor suddenly asked, "Is the Seventh Prince truly willing to leave the palace to pray for His Majesty’s blessings? Once you go, you won’t return for ten years?" He emphasized the word "ten."
The child’s eyes were clear and sincere as he nodded firmly. "Of course, I’m willing."
The Tianyou Emperor’s expression grew even more troubled. "The Seventh Prince has never even met His Majesty!"
The little one replied matter-of-factly, "But he’s Father Emperor!" Then he lowered his head, looking somewhat dejected. "Father Emperor must want me to go too… Father Emperor doesn’t like me. All the sticks in the divination tube were red…"
So this child knew everything…
At that moment, the wise and mighty Tianyou Emperor felt a pang of guilt.