Emperor Ling encountered female doctors at Guan Shan Residence and some women he had clashed with before.
These women clearly told him—
His face wasn’t universally appealing.
Even as an emperor, not everyone admired him.
Perhaps because of the setbacks he experienced at Guan Shan Residence, much of his previous blind confidence in himself had been chipped away.
He muttered about the Empress, while the little one, covering his ears, didn’t want to hear anything about adult relationships.
“Go to Guanghua Temple.”
Emperor Ling ordered his subordinate, “Find out what the Empress is doing there.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After giving the order, Emperor Ling pried the little boy’s chubby hands off his ears and continued to ask, “Little Seven, do you think daddy is still handsome?”
As the emperor, Emperor Ling was well-fed and taken care of. He hadn’t suffered much hardship, so he maintained his good looks quite well.
His eldest son, Ling Chen, wasn’t even seventeen yet, and Emperor Ling himself wasn’t too old either. Although there were some fine lines at the corners of his eyes, he still showed no significant signs of aging.
The little one looked up at his father and, with his innocent gaze, honestly said, “Handsome.”
In the little one’s eyes, there was a bit of a filter when he looked at his father.
Hearing this, Emperor Ling lowered his head and gave him a kiss on the cheek, praising, “Hmm, Little Seven is very honest.”
An honest child deserved praise.
After chatting for a while, the little one resumed building a wooden toy house he had been working on earlier. Seeing that his father wanted to join in, the little one even let him sit down and play along.
“Teacher says this game can improve both hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills.”
Recently, the little one had been quite obsessed with building wooden toy houses.
Emperor Ling played with him for a bit but soon found it dull.
“This is a children’s game. Have Little Six play with you.”
Emperor Ling called for Ling Fu, leaving the two children to continue playing together.
As for Emperor Ling himself, after lingering in the hall for a short while, he eventually made his way to Fenghua Palace.
Over the past few days, many officials had requested an audience with him.
At first, Emperor Ling met with a couple of them.
As usual, those two ministers began by expressing their grievances, criticizing both the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince, and proposing that the Seventh Prince be supported instead.
If Emperor Ling were in better health or had not gone through the trials at Guan Shan Residence, his former temperament might have allowed him to actually depose the eldest and raise the youngest.
But now, that was no longer possible.
Not only did Little Seven have no interest in the throne, but he was also too young to hold such power securely.
Little Seven couldn’t become emperor, and if the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince were removed, the only heirs left would be a sickly Third Prince and a Sixth Prince whose only skill was eating.
Among the remaining princes, none were suitable to inherit the throne.
Without a heir, what would become of the Qi Dynasty?
While Emperor Ling had never been considered an excellent ruler, he wasn’t so foolish as to be unclear about such a significant matter.
All the petitions to impeach the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince were handed back to them for handling.
Although he was reluctant to delegate power, at this point, he had no choice.
Having stopped meeting with ministers, Emperor Ling spent his time in Fenghua Palace with Noble Consort Yi.
“Yi Er, Little Seven and I will soon be leaving again.”
Thinking of their upcoming departure, Emperor Ling couldn’t help but feel melancholic.
Life in the palace was so comfortable. Once they returned to Guan Shan Residence, he and Little Seven would once again have to fend for themselves.
“Mm, both of you behave well, and maybe you’ll earn another vacation to come back.”
“This break was thanks to Little Seven.”
Emperor Ling sat in a chair, pulling Noble Consort Yi closer by the waist. His expression clearly showed his reluctance to leave.
Noble Consort Yi could feel that he had indeed changed quite a bit during this stay.
Lowering her gaze, she looked at the man holding her and couldn’t help but think: If he had been sent to Guan Shan Residence earlier, would these changes have come sooner?
“Yi Er, how many people in the palace do you think are truly loyal to me?”
One moment, Emperor Ling was lamenting his impending departure, and the next, he had shifted the conversation to loyalty.
This was a question Noble Consort Yi couldn’t simply dodge by covering her ears like the little one had.
She reached out casually, smoothing a hand through Emperor Ling’s hair.
After a pause, she spoke, “True loyalty is something you can only earn by giving it yourself. Only when you offer your sincerity to someone will they reciprocate.”
After she finished speaking, Emperor Ling fell silent.
For a long while, he tightened his grip around Noble Consort Yi’s waist and said, “Yi Er, my sincerity… belongs to you.”
Noble Consort Yi: “Mm.”
But she didn’t echo his sentiment.
They stayed there quietly, without the noise and playfulness of children. By this stage in life, adults didn’t have much energy left for such chaos.
In Chengming Hall.
The little one let out a long breath of relief as he looked at the wooden house he and his Sixth Brother had built together. His little chest was full of pride.
“Sixth Brother, we can give this to Big Brother as a present.”
“Sure!”
Ling Fu agreed enthusiastically. “We can also put some gifts inside the house. Hmm, I can give Big Brother all my snacks.”
“I have something to give Big Brother too.”
The two children were busy planning gifts for their older brother’s birthday, their excitement building by the moment.
The day before Ling Chen’s birthday, the little one kept thinking, feeling like his gift wasn’t enough. Ling Fu, sitting next to him, handed him a piece of dried meat.
“Big Brother doesn’t care about how many gifts he gets. As long as it’s from our hearts, he’ll be happy.”
Ling Fu’s words made a lot of sense. The little one rubbed his chubby cheeks and nodded.
“And besides, what Big Brother needs most right now isn’t gifts.”
Ling Fu chewed on the dried meat slowly. “What he really needs is a Princess. I heard from Mother that many young ladies want to marry Big Brother, but he’s not interested in marriage.”
The little chubby one, on the other hand, was quite eager to get married. He dreamed of having a cute Princess. His life goal was to spend his days eating, playing, and enjoying life with her.
“Why doesn’t Big Brother want to get married?” The little one was curious.
His uncle hadn’t married either, but that was because, after consulting him, they discovered his uncle had too many bad relationships. Plus, his uncle was always going to battlefields, and he didn’t want to delay a good woman.
Big Brother didn’t have to go to war, and he was so popular. In the little one’s view, finding a nice young lady to marry shouldn’t be hard at all.
“Big Brother probably doesn’t want to be distracted by beauty.”
The chubby one, who seemed to know quite a lot, said with an exaggeratedly wise look, “That’s what I call ambition.”
The little one: “…”
The little one: “Okay.”
The two children weren’t worried about whether their Big Brother would get married or not. As long as he was happy, they would support whatever he did.
While the children didn’t fret about the matter, the Emperor, sitting in his study after reading over the imperial edict he had drafted, began to think about his eldest son’s marriage.
“Lu Guang, do you think I should arrange a marriage for Ling Chen tomorrow?”
Ever since returning from the Fenghua Palace, the Emperor had remained in his study. He had no intention of changing his decision, and the edict to make Ling Chen the Crown Prince was ready. He figured he might as well finalize the matter by also arranging a Crown Princess.
Lu Guang, bowing, smiled and said, “Your Majesty, arranging a marriage for the Eldest Prince is a good thing. However, I’m not sure if our prince has someone in mind.”
The Emperor didn’t know either.
Other than his Little Seven, he hadn’t been involved in raising the princes and princesses, and didn’t know much about them.
“Never mind.”
The Emperor didn’t feel like spending any more effort figuring out which young lady would be suitable for Ling Chen. He put the edict away and got up, planning to take a proper rest.
After the birthday banquet tomorrow, he and Little Seven would be leaving.
During the final bit of time left, he planned to enjoy himself.
Even Lu Guang didn’t know what was written in the Emperor’s edict. Only the eldest and fourth princes were aware of it.
The two princes kept the matter quiet, except for one false rumor spread by the Eldest Prince. After the rumor was out, he kept a close eye on his mother’s reaction.
He wanted to use a fake rumor to see what his mother would do.
“Your Highness, the Empress has returned to the palace. During the day, she went to the place where Master Shikong used to live at Guanghua Temple. She also lit candles for both you and His Majesty, and personally wrote blessings for you both.”
Ling Chen’s spy reported back, and the Emperor’s men received the same information.
When the Emperor and Ling Chen heard the report, they both shared the same puzzled expression: “What exactly is she up to?”
They couldn’t figure out what the Empress intended.
The Emperor’s eyelid twitched. He touched his eyelid and muttered to himself, “Is something going to happen at tomorrow’s birthday banquet?”
He knew the old saying: left eye for fortune, right eye for disaster.
And it had been his right eyelid twitching earlier.
Mumbling to himself for a bit, the Emperor eventually decided to take things one step at a time. The Empress hadn’t made any mistakes, and tomorrow was his eldest son’s birthday—there was no way she wouldn’t attend.
With many people eagerly awaiting the event, dawn arrived as expected the next day.
This time, the little one, who usually loved to sleep in, got up quickly without needing anyone to urge him.
After getting up, he changed into the new clothes he had picked out long ago. “Cuicui, do I look good in this? Does this look better, or the yellow one?”
“Your Highness, this outfit looks absolutely wonderful.”
The little one was already adorable, and now, dressed up like this, he looked like a little celestial boy who had wandered into the mortal world. Even though Cuicui had seen him many times, she was still amazed by how stunning he looked.
She stepped forward and tidied up the little prince’s clothes. As she did, she couldn’t help but remark, “When our little prince grows up, who knows how many people will be enchanted by you?”
The little one blushed at the compliment and grumbled, “I’m still young, not someone people would admire like that.”
Cui Xi couldn’t hold back her laughter, finding his words amusing.
After getting dressed, the little one quickly scarfed down his meal and ran outside.
The Eldest Prince’s birthday banquet was a grand event, with many guests invited, including plenty who brought their daughters along.
The little one didn’t wait for Noble Consort Yi to escort him; instead, he ran off to find his friends on his own.
He met up with his Sixth Brother and joined Jiang Yan and the others.
The group of friends stuck together, confidently weaving through the large crowd, unbothered by the number of people.
Today, the little one stood out, and many ladies and young girls took notice of him.
“Is that the Seventh Prince? He really is handsome.”
“Yes, that’s the Seventh Prince. He looks even better than he did at last year’s banquet.”
“No wonder His Majesty dotes on him. If such a lovely child were in my family, our old lady would spoil him endlessly.”
Everyone who laid eyes on the little prince adored him.
This affection might have been partly because of Noble Consort Yi’s favored status or the Emperor’s special fondness for the little prince. Or it could simply be because the little prince himself was undeniably adorable and good-looking.
Whatever the reason, these people had their own explanations for their affection.
But the little prince, busy with his friends, was unaware of it.
“Do you guys know how to sing the birthday song?”
The little prince even taught the other children how to sing it. “Later, let’s all sing it together for my Big Brother.”
“Sure.”
“We’ll go and sing it later.”
Whenever the little prince had an idea, the children always followed along without question.
The group of children played happily at the banquet, and after a while, the banquet was officially announced to begin.
As the little prince searched for his Big Brother, he suddenly locked eyes with the Empress. The moment their eyes met, a chill ran down his back, and instinctively, he hid behind his Sixth Brother.
Sensing his brother’s unease, Ling Fu, with his chubby body, positioned himself in front of his brother like a shield and asked seriously, “What’s wrong? Is there an assassin?”
That bish better not !
Thank you for the update ❤️