Ling Rui’s objection made Emperor Ling chuckle.
“You don’t want to send beauties because you don’t want your older brother to be outdone?”
Emperor Ling knew how close the brothers were, so he naturally assumed Little Seven didn’t want to send women in order to prevent his elder brother from being overshadowed in the matter of the harem.
Emperor Ling’s reasoning seemed sound, but Ling Rui’s thoughts were completely different.
Ling Rui didn’t want to send beauties because he simply didn’t want anyone else near Ah Wu.
“Anyway, we’re not sending anyone.”
Ling Rui, reluctant to lie to his father, vaguely added, “Dad, maybe you heard wrong. He probably doesn’t even want any beauties.”
“Nonsense! How could the new emperor of Great Qing not want to fill his harem after ascending the throne?”
When Emperor Ling brought this up, his gaze darkened. “Do you think many emperors are like your older brother, refusing to take concubines?”
Emperor Ling was a traditional ruler. In his eyes, it was entirely normal for an emperor to have a full harem.
Ling Chen’s current behavior is abnormal.
“Dad, I believe the new emperor of Great Qing must be just like my eldest brother!”
Ling Rui said this with great conviction.
When he first heard his father mention sending beauties to Ah Wu, he had a momentary, instinctive overreaction. But now that he had calmed down, it became clear to him. This idea of sending beauties definitely wasn’t Ah Wu’s request—it must have been someone else’s decision, made without consulting him.
“You can’t figure out what the new emperor of Great Qing is thinking,” his father replied, dismissing his son’s statement.
After pinching his son’s cheek, Emperor Ling chuckled softly, “Alright, there’s no need for you to worry about such things. You’ve just returned to the palace—take the time to rest properly.”
The conversation between father and son wasn’t very harmonious, and by the end, Ling Rui had nothing more to say, having been effectively silenced by his father. Huffing with frustration, he fell silent, no longer wishing to speak.
Life in the palace was completely different from life in Yanzhou Prefecture. In the palace, Ling Rui was nothing but a carefree, lazy prince. With no real duties to occupy him, his daily routine consisted of sleeping in and leisurely visiting others for amusement.
Jiang Yan and Chen Zhou both had duties assigned to them, leaving them much busier than him. As for the friends Ling Rui used to play with in the capital, there were only a few left. He wasn’t keen on making new friends, so he simply stuck by his Sixth Brother.
While hanging around his Sixth Brother, the two of them found themselves getting into mischief. At the moment, they were in the midst of sneaking over a courtyard wall.
“Sixth Brother, are you sure we won’t be caught?”
“No, I had the shadow guards check. There’s no one guarding the courtyard at this time.”
“Even without guards, this is a young lady’s courtyard,” Ling Rui pointed out. His hands were already on the wall, yet he was still trying to dissuade his brother from going through with the plan.
It had taken Sixth Brother a lot of convincing to get Ling Rui to agree to help him sneak into the courtyard. They had been planning for some time, and Ling Rui finally gave in, agreeing to sneak in with his brother.
“Little Seven,” Ling Fu said, seeing his younger brother hesitate. His face turned serious as he whispered, “I’m not here to offend the young lady. I overheard some news—”
“The wife of the Assistant Minister of Works is planning to send the young lady away because she wants her own daughter to marry me!”
Ling Fu’s explanation left Ling Rui somewhat puzzled. It wasn’t until his brother elaborated further that he understood: the young lady that Ling Fu liked wasn’t the biological daughter of the household’s head wife, but rather a stepdaughter. The stepmother, envious that the young lady was about to become a royal consort, was plotting to switch her out with her own daughter, intending to deceive everyone and marry her off to the Sixth Prince instead.
Both the young lady and the fifth young lady, the stepmother’s biological daughter, had not been seen by outsiders in recent years. If the switch were done quietly, it might go unnoticed, as long as no one spoke up. The stepmother’s scheme was bold, but she didn’t realize that the Sixth Prince was only interested in the young lady he had his heart set on. No other young woman would do.
“Sixth Brother, why don’t we just have the shadow guards investigate?” Ling Rui was more than willing to help his brother, but he still felt that it would be more efficient to let the shadow guards handle it.
“The shadow guards don’t know what Yuan Yuan looks like, only I do.”
The young lady that Ling Fu was so fond of was named Yuan Yuan.
“Alright then, let’s go find Yuan Yuan.”
With the help of the shadow guards, they didn’t take long to discover that Yuan Yuan had already been sent away. And when Ling Rui found out where she had been sent, he was wide-eyed with surprise.
Yuan Yuan had been sent to Great Qing. At that moment, she was in a carriage on her way there with other young women selected to be presented to the emperor of Great Qing.
“Little Seven, how could they send Yuan Yuan to Ah Wu!”
Ling Fu exploded when he heard the news.
Furious, he was practically fuming, “What kind of idiocy is the Assistant Minister’s household up to! They dare to send the fifth young lady to me and Yuan Yuan to Great Qing? They’re done for!”
Ling Fu ranted about destroying the Assistant Minister’s household.
Ling Rui, watching his brother stomp around in anger, patted his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him, “Sixth Brother, don’t be upset. I’ll go and bring Yuan Yuan back.”
Though Ling Rui promised to bring Yuan Yuan back, Ling Fu still couldn’t comprehend why the household had acted this way.
“What’s wrong with these people? Are they out of their minds?”
“Well, this must be the stepmother’s doing,” Ling Rui replied. After handling many family matters back in Yanzhou Prefecture, he had a good understanding of the situation in the Assistant Minister’s household.
“Ah Wu’s reputation outside isn’t very good. Many people think he’s a tyrant, prone to killing without mercy.”
“The stepmother probably thinks Yuan Yuan will die at Ah Wu’s hands,” Ling Rui added, sighing slightly. “Ah Wu really should work on his public image a bit.”
“Even if he tried, it wouldn’t make a difference,” Ling Fu interjected. “He really is fierce.”
The battle for the throne in the Qi Dynasty’s imperial palace had been relatively mild, especially in the later stages, where the eldest prince and the fourth prince were both trying to pass the throne to one another.
In Great Qing, however, things were entirely different. The scheming and bloodshed in Great Qing’s palace were well-known. To secure the throne in Great Qing, it was no small feat—there were corpses beneath that throne, without a doubt.
The new emperor of Great Qing, whether as crown prince or now as emperor, had never been known for his gentleness. He had earned a reputation as a tyrant, a killer, and a deeply calculating man.
“How vicious!” Ling Fu exclaimed, reflecting on the stepmother’s plan to swap the two young ladies. The cruelty of it shocked him.
“I won’t let her get away with this, Little Seven. I’m going to tell Big Brother!”
“Alright, you go talk to Big Brother. I’ll go find Yuan Yuan.”
Ling Rui’s determination to find Yuan Yuan was clear to see. But as Ling Fu glanced at him, he could immediately tell what his younger brother was really thinking.
“I see, you’re not really looking for Yuan Yuan, you’re looking for Ah Wu.”
Ling Rui: “…”
Ling Rui was at a loss for words when his sixth brother exposed his real intentions.
Ling Fu watched him stay silent for a few seconds and finally softened.
“Go find Yuan Yuan. After I report to Big Brother, I’ll come and help bring her back too.”
“Mm! I’ll definitely bring Miss Yuan Yuan back.”
The two brothers reached an agreement quickly. One packed his bags and set off, while the other went to the palace to file a complaint.
When Ling Chen heard that Ling Rui had left, he rubbed his temples and murmured, “That was fast.”
During this time, Ling Rui had always been with the others, so now that he was gone, the rest weren’t as reluctant to let him go as they were when he had just returned.
Ling Rui left on his own, without Lian Qing.
He had already told Lian Qing that once he brought Miss Yuan Yuan back, he’d accompany Uncle Lian Qing back to Guan Shan Residence.
On his journey alone, Ling Rui didn’t bring any shadow guards or escorts. He transformed into a small white creature, traveling faster than a horse.
After rushing on the road, Ling Rui intercepted Miss Yuan Yuan before she could enter the palace to meet the emperor.
“Miss Yuan Yuan, I’ve come on behalf of my sixth brother to find you.”
Ling Rui escorted Miss Yuan Yuan out. As he looked at her, he realized that his sixth brother’s description was spot on.
Miss Yuan Yuan truly had a round little face.
She clutched her handkerchief, and her gaze towards Ling Rui was timid, like a frightened little rabbit.
The more Ling Rui looked at Miss Yuan Yuan, the more he felt she matched all of his sixth brother’s criteria for an ideal wife.
No, wait.
Ling Rui thought back to what his sixth brother had said. When they were children, his sixth brother had already met Miss Yuan Yuan and had wanted to play with her back then.
So it wasn’t that Miss Yuan Yuan just happened to meet his brother’s standards for a wife—it was more likely that his sixth brother’s standards were based entirely on her.
“Don’t be scared. I’ll take you back.”
After settling Miss Yuan Yuan, Ling Rui also inquired about the other young ladies who had been selected.
Not many of them weren’t terrified of the new emperor of Great Qing.
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring all of you back,” Ling Rui assured them.
As he traveled, Ling Rui thought about the girls who were sent to be consorts for Ah Wu, and then he thought about Ah Wu himself.
He thought about it the entire journey and finally came to a realization.
He couldn’t be the good Zai Zai Ah Wu wanted him to be.
He didn’t want to be Ah Wu’s little boy—he wanted to court him!
Having clarified his own feelings, Ling Rui detained all the girls sent to become Ah Wu’s consorts.
He had thought for a long time and finally came up with a plan.
Instead of going directly to the palace to find Ah Wu, he bought some girls’ clothing, dressed up, and pretended to be one of the selected young ladies, letting the escorts lead him to the emperor’s palace.
“You need to be quick-witted, not clumsy, or you’ll anger His Majesty,” one of the escorts kept lecturing him about the rules.
Ling Rui listened half-heartedly, letting the words in one ear and out the other. He didn’t remember a single rule.
All he wanted to know was whether Ah Wu truly intended to select a harem!
Even though he already had an answer in his heart, he still wanted to see Ah Wu’s reaction.
Besides that, Ling Rui fiddled with his skirt, keeping a calm face, as he wondered whether Ah Wu liked girls or boys.
He wore a veil that only exposed his eyes.
He had checked himself in the mirror before and felt confident that Ah Wu wouldn’t recognize him right away.
The interior of Great Qing’s palace hadn’t changed much since before.
Ling Rui had been there before.
The last time, he had come in place of his second sister to marry the old emperor.
This time, he came disguised as a chosen consort for Ah Wu.
“Stay close, and don’t get distracted,” the escort continued to lecture, “We’re almost there. Let me warn you one last time: if you offend His Majesty, I won’t be able to protect you!”
“Among all the ladies in this batch, your face is the best-looking. Don’t let me down.”
Ling Rui, now in a skirt, had let someone apply makeup on him.
Afterward, no one could even tell his gender.
“Alright, we’re here.”
The escort stopped at the entrance of a palace.
