Chapter 19
Ji Qingzhou stayed by the young emperor’s side while he napped for a short while after lunch. Not long after, a palace guard arrived with trays of food.
The aroma of the dishes roused the young emperor before anyone could call him. Smacking his lips, he opened his eyes, fully awake.
“Young Master Ji, Wang Ye instructed that you dine together with His Majesty.” the guard who delivered the food said, “He also said this estate isn’t like the palace, there are fewer rules here—so you don’t need to be too reserved.” The implication was that Ji Qingzhou and the young emperor were to sit at the same table.
“Wow…” Li Cong flipped over and was about to jump off the bed barefoot. Ji Qingzhou quickly helped him put on his shoes and socks.
“Is Imperial Uncle not joining us for the meal?” Li Cong asked the guard.
“Your Majesty, Wang Ye is entertaining guests in the main hall and will dine over there,” the guard replied.
The young emperor didn’t press further. Taking Ji Qingzhou’s hand, he walked straight to the table and sat down. Though he had grown up in the palace and had never once eaten at the same table as an attendant, somehow, dining with Ji Qingzhou felt completely natural to him.
Just like the other things Ji Qingzhou had introduced him to lately—things far more interesting than anything he had experienced since he could remember. If it had been any other attendant, they would never have treated him this way. Only Ji Qingzhou did. So to him, Ji Qingzhou wasn’t like anyone else.
“After lunch, can we go fishing?” Li Cong asked excitedly, turning to Ji Qingzhou.
Ji Qingzhou replied, “As long as Wang Ye doesn’t have other plans for us, I suppose we can.”
A guard stationed at the door overheard and chimed in, “Wang Ye said Young Master may decide freely what to do with His Majesty—no need to seek approval.” In other words, Ji Qingzhou had been given complete authority over the young emperor’s activities while at the estate.
Of course, Ji Qingzhou knew that all this freedom was only possible because this estate belonged to the Regent himself. Even though it appeared he had full autonomy, in reality, every move he made was still under the Regent’s watchful eye.
“There are candied hawthorns too…” While chewing the food Ji Qingzhou fed him, Li Cong couldn’t resist reaching out to grab a handful of the sticky sweet treats and sneakily stuffed them into his robe like a thief. Then, with a mischievous giggle, he slipped another handful into Ji Qingzhou’s robe pocket. “Imperial Uncle must know we love these, hehe.”
Ji Qingzhou: …
He had initially worried that, since the state was guarded only by soldiers, the young emperor might be lacking in comfort or care—but he soon realized he had worried for nothing. These guards were likely carefully selected by the Regent; they were all sharp and competent. Even the cooking here was on par with that in the palace.
After their meal, Ji Qingzhou took the young emperor to the back garden.
He had asked one of the guards earlier and learned that the flowerbeds in the backyard had recently been watered and the soil was quite damp, making it ideal for digging up earthworms to use as fishing bait.
“Young Master Ji, there’s no need for you to do it yourself. With all of us here, we could each dig with a spade and get plenty,” one of the guards offered.
“Yeah, the soil’s sticky and wet from yesterday’s watering. Leave the dirty work to us,” another chimed in.
Ji Qingzhou smiled as he took a small shovel. “His Majesty doesn’t get many chances like this. If we don’t let him get hands-on today, it would be such a waste of an opportunity.”
Hearing this, the guards said no more and stood by attentively.
The garden had indeed been watered the previous day. The soil was still soft underfoot, and crouching down meant your clothing would inevitably brush against the dirt. Remembering the Regent’s orders to not be too restrained, Ji Qingzhou helped the young emperor remove his outer robe, and he did the same with his own. Then, he rolled up both of their sleeves and tied up the hems of their inner garments. After all, the estate was filled with men—there was no need for modesty.
Yet, the guards who took their robes couldn’t help but look slightly awkward. They all averted their eyes and subtly stepped a few paces back.
“This feels so much better,” Li Cong said, swinging his little arms gleefully. “So light and cool!”
“But don’t try this in the palace, otherwise the court officials will be sending up memorials in protest.” Ji Qingzhou said.
The young emperor burst into laughter. He didn’t understand much about court affairs, but he was very familiar with those officials. Every time they droned on during morning court, that was when he felt the sleepiest.
The two of them—one tall, one small—squatted among the flowerbeds. In no time, they had dug up several earthworms. Ji Qingzhou didn’t compete for them; he just carried a little wooden bucket and stayed beside Li Cong, cheering exaggeratedly every time the boy found a worm. He wanted Li Cong to enjoy the experience to the fullest.
“Tsk…” muttered one of the guards holding the two outer robes. “Suddenly makes me want to get married.”
The guard beside him glanced over, an expression on his face as if to say, “You’ve got guts!”
The first guard quickly explained, “What are you thinking? I didn’t mean anything else… I just thought, when I get married and have kids one day, I want to personally take them to dig for worms and go fishing too.”
“The problem is, you’d have to marry such a good-looking wife, and your son would have to be just as obedient…” the other guard began, then immediately realized what he was saying. Comparing Young Master Ji and His Majesty to anyone else was far too presumptuous. Quickly shifting topics, he added, “Our Wang Ye has suffered for so many years—if this time he’s truly opened his heart, then it’s something to celebrate…”
“Regardless of anything else, Young Master Ji is good to His Majesty. Just that alone is beyond reproach,” said the first.
“Too bad Young Master Ji is a man. Otherwise, maybe one day they could have a little heir,” the second one added.
“Even men can—didn’t you hear?” the first leaned in and lowered his voice to whisper something in the other’s ear.
The other guard looked shocked. “No way. I’ve never heard of that before.”
“Hey… there are quite a few who prefer men in our dynasty, but even so…” The guard lowered his voice even further. “When people shut their doors and have a child, of course outsiders wouldn’t know. Besides, what man of seven feet tall would go around bragging that he gave birth to another man’s child?”
The other guard still didn’t quite buy it, chalking it up as some nonsense his colleague had heard somewhere and somehow believed.
In the front hall, Li Zhan and Qin Zheng had just finished their lunch.
Qin Zheng was the youngest son of Qin Xueqi, commander of the capital garrison, and was very close with Li Zhan.
However, this Second Young Master Qin had a temperament quite unlike Li Zhan’s.
“I heard you brought a young eunuch from the palace. Why haven’t I seen him serving you?” Qin Zheng asked curiously.
“He attends to His Majesty, not to me,” Li Zhan replied plainly.
Qin Zheng wasn’t about to give up. “You have so many people at your side—can’t they take care of His Majesty? Was that really necessary?”
Li Zhan glanced at him and asked, “What, you have a problem with it?”
“Wouldn’t dare, I’m just curious.” Qin Zheng chuckled: “You used to hate eunuchs the most. How could you allow one into your private estate?” To be fair, his suspicion wasn’t unfounded. Li Zhan was known to be cautious to the extreme, and ordinary people had no chance of entering this place.
Li Zhan didn’t react much, his expression indifferent.
Seeing this, Dong Dong spoke up to ease the tension: “It’s Young Master Ji.”
Qin Zheng froze at the name, and his smile immediately faded.
Back in the rear garden, the young and the grown-up had spent nearly half an hour digging and had collected a decent haul.
Ji Qingzhou figured they probably had enough and decided to stop—maybe they could still make it in time to use fresh fish for dinner. If the estate’s cook knew how to make sweet and sour fish, that would be perfect. The thought made Ji Qingzhou feel rather pleased.
“Do you know how to fish?” Li Cong asked, carrying the little wooden bucket as he turned to Ji Qingzhou.
Ji Qingzhou scratched his head a bit awkwardly. “Not really…”
“Ah… then what do we do?” Li Cong asked anxiously.
A nearby guard quickly stepped in. “Your Majesty, this humble one has some fishing experience. If Your Majesty doesn’t mind, I can teach you.”
“Yes!” Li Cong replied eagerly.
Ji Qingzhou gave the guard a grateful smile. Thank goodness someone here knew how, or else he might’ve wasted the whole afternoon with nothing to show for it.
The lake in the estate wasn’t large, but compared to the lotus pond in the palace, it was significantly bigger. If they had a small boat, they could probably paddle around for a bit.
The guards had already prepared fishing gear in advance, along with wide-brimmed straw hats for shade for both Ji Qingzhou and the young emperor.
Li Cong had never seen a hat with such a wide brim before. After putting it on, he found it novel and kept taking it off to examine it.
But his hands were small and weak, and while trying to take it off again, a gust of wind blew it right into the lake. Li Cong gasped in horror. Ji Qingzhou instinctively rolled up his pant legs to wade in after it, but a nearby guard stopped him immediately and jumped into the lake himself to retrieve the hat.
With the hat back in hand, Li Cong cheered in delight.
Ji Qingzhou saw that the guard was drenched and handed him a handkerchief, motioning for him to dry off.
“Thank you…” the guard accepted the cloth and was about to wipe his face when he suddenly realized—wait, as a guard, how could he use Young Master Ji’s handkerchief? Alarmed, he quickly handed it back with an awkward look, then stepped aside in silence.
Not far away, Li Zhan and Qin Zheng had been observing the entire scene.
“He’s only known the guards here for a day, and he’s already this friendly with them?” Qin Zheng remarked. “No wonder he earned your favor so quickly after entering the palace—he really knows how to win people over.”
Li Zhan frowned and replied coldly, “When did I ever say he earned my favor?”
“Didn’t you?” Qin Zheng raised a brow. “So you’re only looking after him for Grand Tutor Ji’s sake?”
Li Zhan said nothing, but his brow remained tightly furrowed.
“He’d rather give up the chance to be exiled than stay in the palace—clearly, he’s got something planned. The Ji family’s downfall had hidden layers to it. If he wants to make things right or even seek revenge, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Qin Zheng went on.
“What do you think he wants?” Li Zhan asked.
“Redress… or revenge?” Qin Zheng guessed. “But surely not just to serve His Majesty and you, right?”
Li Zhan’s gaze landed on the youth by the lake. He watched as the boy reeled in a big fish and happily high-fived the young emperor beside him. Even from a distance, he could hear the youth’s bright, cheerful laughter.
Seeing that Li Zhan stayed silent, Qin Zheng pressed again. “So? What do you think he wants?”
“I guess…” Li Zhan finally replied, “he wants sweet and sour fish for dinner.”
Qin Zheng: …
What the hell???
If you love what Ciacia is doing, then consider showing your support by supporting a cup of coffee for her at Kofi. If you can’t wait for the next release chapter, subscribe to advanced chapters membership on her Kofi to get access to up to 10 chapters!
