Murong Xu watched his boastful little one, feeling a bit of toothache from the sweetness.
“He’s not bullying you now, but who knows what will happen when he grows up,” Murong Xu continued stubbornly. “In any case, you need to get stronger. You need to turn that baby fat into muscles.”
“I’m already strong!” The little one raised his arm, showing off. “Look, very strong!”
Murong Xu: “…”
Murong Xu poked his soft, chubby arm and was left speechless.
The two of them laid together, playing around for quite a while before finally falling asleep.
The next day, after the little one woke up, they spent half the day at the General’s Mansion. In the afternoon, Murong Xu took him back to the palace.
The palace staff were waiting eagerly for the little one’s return.
“Little Seven, where did you go to play with your uncle yesterday?”
In Fenghua Palace, Noble Consort Yi helped straighten the little one’s clothes as she asked.
The little one sat obediently on a bench and replied, “We went to lots of places.”
He listed all the activities he did with his uncle, but by the end, a hint of doubt appeared on his small face.
“Mother, do you have something on your mind?”
“Little Seven, did your uncle meet any girls while he was with you?”
“Nope,” the little one shook his head, answering honestly. “Uncle didn’t meet any girls. We went ice fishing.”
Upon hearing this, Noble Consort Yi frowned even more.
“That’s strange,” she murmured.
The little one, hearing her words, asked curiously, “What’s strange?”
Noble Consort Yi lowered her head, looking at her son’s innocent face. After hesitating for a few seconds, she finally said, “I thought your uncle might have found a girl he likes.”
As soon as the little one heard this, he immediately shook his head like a rattle drum. “No way! Uncle said he’s going to stay single!”
Before, the little one didn’t want his uncle to marry because he was worried about getting a bad aunt. But now that time had passed, he secretly hoped his uncle would find a good wife.
However, when he asked his uncle about it, his uncle had smiled and said that getting married wasn’t interesting, and he planned to stay single forever.
Hearing this, Noble Consort Yi’s eyelid twitched.
The Murong family, being a military family, didn’t place much emphasis on continuing the bloodline. Their sons were prepared to face the battlefield, knowing that death could come at any moment.
But just because they didn’t emphasize it didn’t mean they wanted their children to be alone.
“Little Seven, don’t take your uncle’s words too seriously.”
Knowing how close the little one was to his uncle, Noble Consort Yi gently brought him closer and asked, “Since you spend so much time with your uncle, have you noticed if he’s close to anyone?”
The little one thought for a moment, then pointed at himself.
“Uncle is close to me!”
Noble Consort Yi: “?”
Trying to be patient, Noble Consort Yi said, “Besides you.”
The little one furrowed his brow and thought again. After a while, he answered, “He’s close to my big brother.”
Although his uncle and big brother bickered, the little one still believed they were close.
Noble Consort Yi laughed despite herself. “They were friends before, but that doesn’t count as being close. Think again.”
The little one mentioned a few more names, even bringing up Ning Shao, but Noble Consort Yi still shook her head.
“Forget it, you’re still too young to understand.”
Assuming that the little one didn’t know the difference between close and not close, Noble Consort Yi gave up on the questioning.
Later, they spent time in the palace together. The little one wanted to go sledding, so he made a simple sled with a basket.
He sat in the basket and slid down the snowy slope with a whoosh.
While he played, Noble Consort Yi watched, and they spent the afternoon together until Emperor Ling arrived to join them.
“Little Seven has really grown up. It’s not as easy to carry you as it used to be,” Emperor Ling remarked as he picked up his son.
The little one was no longer the tiny tot he once was. Now, at over ten years old, even carrying him was a bit of a challenge.
Although Emperor Ling said it wasn’t easy to carry him anymore, he still picked him up, bouncing him in his arms to estimate his weight.
“Daddy, I’ll carry you!” The little one stood in the snow, smiling up at his father. “I’ve grown, so I can carry you now!”
Emperor Ling chuckled and pinched his son’s cheek. “I can’t carry you like this anymore. But if you turn back into a little white dumpling, I can still hold you.”
At his father’s urging, the little one transformed back into his small white dumpling form with a pop.
The little white dumpling was tiny, not even reaching Emperor Ling’s knee.
He bent down, happily scooped up the little dumpling, and even tossed it into the air, catching it on the way down.
Watching from the side, Noble Consort Yi was a little nervous. “Don’t throw him like that! What if you miss, and he hits the ground?”
“It’s all snow here, no need to worry,” Emperor Ling reassured her. But he did slow down the tossing, just to be safe.
After a bit of tossing and playing, Emperor Ling placed the little white dumpling into the basket, tied a rope to the basket, and began pulling him through the snow.
The little dumpling sat in the basket for a while, then hopped out and invited his father and mother to sit in it as well.
He held the rope in his mouth, signaling for his father to tie it around him.
Seeing this, Emperor Ling really did tie the rope to him.
“Chirp!”
Daddy, sit!
The little one urged his father to sit inside the sled as he pulled it.
The Noble Consort did not sit in the sled. It wasn’t that she thought it improper, but she simply didn’t want to tire out the little one.
The little one happily pulled the sled, overjoyed.
Watching them, the Noble Consort couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth.
“Honestly, it’s like you’re regressing.”
She was referring to Emperor Ling.
Caught up in playing with his son, Emperor Ling didn’t hear her remark and was enjoying himself immensely.
For the little one, every day in the palace was filled with joy.
Here, he wasn’t a small county official. He didn’t have to worry about whether the people had food to eat, if they could earn money, or if their lives were improving. Here, he was just the youngest prince in the palace.
His older brothers would tell him, “Leave these matters to us adults.”
All he had to do here was be a child.
For the next period, the palace held many banquets.
The attendees were mostly young people and a few older children, who played together—ice skating, sledding, and engaging in other group activities.
The adults would place bets on their games, and the lively atmosphere of the New Year filled the air.
The little one played joyfully every day, so much that by the time night came, he was fast asleep, deeply exhausted.
Though the days in the palace were full of happiness, Ling Chen silently calculated the time.
He wanted to keep the little one here, but it was clear the child had no intention of staying.
After much thought, Ling Chen simply called Murong Xu over.
“You’re the best at persuading people. Can’t you convince the little one to stay? He’s done more than enough in Yanzhou, and the remaining tasks can be handled by others.”
Yanzhou was, after all, a far cry from the capital.
Ling Chen didn’t want the little one to suffer too much.
Murong Xu, hearing this, shrugged, “I can’t persuade him. You’re his older brother; why don’t you try?”
Ling Chen: “…”
Ling Chen looked at him. “If I could persuade him, would I have called you here?”
They both looked at each other in silence.
Neither of them could convince the little one.
After a moment of quiet, Murong Xu shifted the conversation, “You can’t change Little Seven’s mind, so leave it be. Right now, there’s something else—do you want to hear it?”
“What is it?”
“The last time I stayed at your place, a rumor spread.”
Murong Xu glanced at Ling Chen, as if blaming him for his staff’s loose lips.
Ling Chen paused. “A rumor? What kind?”
Murong Xu rolled his eyes and said irritably, “What else could it be? Of course, they’re saying you used your power to take advantage of me.”
“What does that even mean?” Ling Chen didn’t understand the new phrase.
Murong Xu had some connections with Guan Shan Residence and occasionally corresponded with Zhang San, so he picked up some modern slang from there.
“It means you, as the emperor, forced me to sleep with you.”
Ling Chen: “!”
Murong Xu’s blunt words left Ling Chen’s handsome face stiff.
After a moment, his ears turned red. “That’s outrageous!”
“Utterly absurd!”
Looking at Murong Xu’s nonchalant expression, Ling Chen frowned deeply. “You heard such things and you’re not angry?”
This kind of rumor could ruin both of their reputations.
At Ling Chen’s age, he hadn’t even taken a concubine yet, let alone engaged in anything improper. Now, hearing such a thing, he was not only furious but also felt an odd discomfort.
“I’m fine with it,” Murong Xu smiled calmly. “Even if it reaches my ears, it’s not like I’ll lose anything.”
Murong Xu’s relaxed attitude puzzled Ling Chen.
“Rumors like this could affect your chances of marriage.”
“Well, if it does, then I won’t marry. You haven’t taken a consort either, right?”
Ling Chen: “…”
Ling Chen’s expression stiffened.
They had had a similar conversation before.
Murong Xu had asked why Ling Chen hadn’t taken a consort, and Ling Chen had asked Murong Xu why he hadn’t married.
Their answers were more or less the same.
One said he was too busy with state affairs and had no time for romance, while the other claimed he was too focused on defending the nation to involve a good woman in such responsibilities.
Each had their own reasons, but it seemed they both simply didn’t want to get married.
The hall fell into silence.
After a long while, Ling Chen finally spoke, “I’ll find out who’s spreading such rumors. It’s getting late; you should head back.”
“Aren’t you going to invite me to dinner? Why not call Little Seven too? We can eat together.”
Murong Xu, as usual, was acting mischievously, or, as Ling Chen would put it, playing the rogue.
Despite the age gap between him and Little Seven, Murong Xu sometimes mimicked the younger one’s tone and mannerisms.
Whenever they met without outsiders around, Murong Xu had no reservations about speaking his mind.
“Little Seven is with Little Six right now. I’m afraid—”
“Then call them both over! It’s been a while since I’ve seen that little chubby one.”
“Little Six is not a chubby one!”
As they talked, eventually, Little Seven and his sixth brother were called over.
The group had a lively meal together.
Even after dinner, Murong Xu, whether deliberately or not, had both kids clinging to him, refusing to let go and insisting on playing with him.
But by this time, it was already late, and playing together would mean they’d have to stay the night.
Ling Chen looked at his two younger brothers, then at Murong Xu, who was clinging to his leg. He pressed his temples and agreed, “You can stay the night, but you’ll sleep in the side hall.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Murong Xu smiled, took the two children, and headed to the side hall.
Time passed unknowingly amidst the laughter of the little ones.
By the time the little one realized how quickly time was slipping away, it was already time for him to leave.
He had been back for quite a while this time.
The people of Yanzhou Prefecture were still waiting for him.
“Big brother, when Yanzhou Prefecture becomes more beautiful and prosperous, you must come and see it yourself!”
“Alright, big brother will definitely visit then.”
The little one bid farewell to everyone in the palace.
Emperor Ling was the one most reluctant to part with him. Although the emperor’s health had remained stable so far, that stability never meant he was truly healed.
Little Seven had already given him so much more time, and the emperor was deeply satisfied with that.
Now, he only had one concern: “Little Seven, once you’re gone, if something happens to me, I’m afraid I won’t see you in time.”
“Don’t say that!”
The little one, upset by these words, hugged his father’s neck tightly and said earnestly, “You’ll live for a long time, Daddy!”
“Just wait, I’ll definitely bring you to Yanzhou Prefecture to enjoy life.”
Once he turned Yanzhou Prefecture into the best place, he would bring his father and mother there to live in comfort!
The little one’s confident demeanor made the emperor smile.
“Alright, I’ll be waiting.”
After saying goodbye to everyone, the little one wasn’t in a hurry to leave.
He had one more thing to do before departing.
Both his big brother and uncle were always urged to marry. The adults wanted them to take wives, but when the little one asked, neither of them had any desire to marry.
So, for their happiness, the little one made a visit to Han Guang Temple before leaving. The temple had a revered monk who could read fates, highly respected by the people of the capital.
The little one brought their birthdates to the monk.
“Master, could you say that their marriages shouldn’t be forced? Please?” The little one pleaded.
The solemn-faced master took the birthdates handed to him, closed his eyes for a long time.
When he opened his eyes again, whether moved by the little one’s persistence or for another reason, he spoke quietly, agreeing to help. However, what he said wasn’t exactly what the little one had requested.
He said, “The fates of His Majesty and Little General Murong are… closely linked.”
That day, word spread from the temple: when General Murong found his marriage, so would the emperor. Moreover, no one should force the matter.
The little one found the master’s words strange and scratched his head. “Does that mean big brother and uncle won’t be urged to marry anymore?”
The master didn’t answer him.
Knowing the master wasn’t much of a talker, the little one sat for a while longer, thanked him, and made a donation before leaving.
By the time the little one boarded the carriage back to Yanzhou Prefecture, rumors about the emperor and General Murong had already begun swirling through the capital.
Unaware of the commotion he had caused, the little one sat in the carriage, chatting with his sixth brother and Jiang Yan and Chen Zhou.
Jiang Yan sighed, “You didn’t see it, but when I left, Doubao was so sad he almost cried himself sick. He really loves me as his brother!”
“Don’t flatter yourself. Doubao was upset because Little Seven left too.”
As Doubao grew older, his tastes were maturing as well.
No matter how his tastes evolved, the little one’s face was still the best-looking in Doubao’s eyes.
When the little one wasn’t around, Doubao reluctantly clung to his older brother. But when the little one was present, Doubao only wanted to call him “big brother.”
“This can’t go on forever,” the little one thought aloud. “We should send Doubao to school early so that the teacher can teach him that inner beauty is the true beauty!”
Jiang Yan was speechless.
Thinking about Doubao, he reminded him truthfully, “My brother doesn’t really like school.”
“Even if he doesn’t like it, he has to go,” the little one said firmly. “All children need to go to school! When I get back to Yanzhou Prefecture, I’m going to build lots of schools!”
