Extra 1
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Soon after Yun Qingci returned to the palace, Li Ying brought Li Heng over.
Because of his prejudice against children, and on the principle of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, Yun Qingci did not ask too many questions.
But despite this, Li Ying still asked for his opinion when he made arrangements for Li Heng: “I want to settle him in Jiangshan Palace and raise him personally.”
Yun Qingci could more or less understand. Li Ying had taken care of Li Heng for twelve years in his previous life, so he had feelings for this child, thus he nodded: “Let’s do as you say.”
At that time, they were standing in the sun together. Li Ying would remove his dragon robe and crown every time the court session was over. He was dressed very plainly, and he wore a white shirt that Yun Qingci had made for him last year.
Yun Qingci was used to seeing him in black in the past, so now that he had changed into white clothes, his whole body revealed a sense of restrained gentleness, less profound and more elegant.
Perhaps it was because of the pain. When they were alone, Li Ying could not help but approach him. Even if he was watering flowers, he had to wrap his arms around Yun Qingci’s waist and hold his hand.
The servants in the palace didn’t know about this, they just felt that His Majesty was clingy towards the Lord Empress and had to stick to him even in the middle of summer, and Yun Qingci never resisted, letting him do it.
“In that case, in the future, I will check on his homework after court, then come back to keep you company after.”
“Okay.” Yun Qingci said, “He is your son, so you are in charge.”
Li Ying smiled and kissed his face.
This situation lasted for about half a month. When he woke up that day, Li Ying was not by his side. He was still the same as before. If Yun Qingci asked, he would sleep in with him for a while. Otherwise, even if he didn’t go to court in the morning, he would definitely leave the bed to practice his swordsmanship or calligraphy.
Yun Qingci followed him to get up early a few times, but his decades-old habits were not so easy to change. He was used to living a comfortable life. Even if he managed to get up, he would make up for it after breakfast, which delayed his afternoon nap, delayed his evening rest, disrupted his routine and he would sleep late the next day.
So after a few times, Yun Qingci gave up.
He only occasionally deliberately kept Li Ying from getting up.
If Li Ying was not at Chaoyang Palace, he was usually at court. He did not restrict Yun Qingci’s freedom to leave the palace, and he would encourage him to go back to the Prime Minister’s Mansion to see his father or hang out with friends.
But Yun Qingci couldn’t rest assured. He was now Li Ying’s painkiller. If taking him to the court didn’t reflect badly on Li Ying, Yun Qingci would want to be conjoined like Siamese twins with him all day long.
Li Ying would now bring along his unfinished official duties to his place. Half of Yun Qingci’s desk was full of his belongings. He got up for breakfast, then cleaned up the desk and saw the reports of the Qing Division and court session notes lying together. A deep sense of satisfaction filled his heart.
While thinking that Li Ying should be about to return from the court, Yun Qingci quietly went to Jiangshan Palace. He stopped the eunuch who was about to report his arrival, sneaked in, approached the screen on his tiptoe, then poked his head out.
There was a small table next to Li Ying’s desk and there was also a small chair, dainty and exquisite. A little dumpling was sitting on it at the moment.
Li Ying had already returned from the court session, and as soon as he got back to the palace, he would immediately change into his usual clothes, as if he had had enough of the dragon robe that imprisoned him.
He sat beside the little dumpling and looked through the notes, while the little dumpling was holding his brush intently. Yun Qingci stared at Li Heng for a while. When the child grew up, he became very handsome, but he didn’t expect him to be so cute when he was a baby.
Li Ying suddenly raised his eyes and looked his way. Yun Qingci immediately retreated. He stood cautiously behind the screen for a while and could only hear Li Ying flipping through the memorials. When he looked again cautiously, he met a pair of smiling eyes.
He was discovered a long time ago.
Yun Qingci glared at Li Ying.
He stepped forward and walked in. The little dumpling raised his face thoughtfully. When he saw Yun Qingci, he was taken aback for a moment, then quickly stood up and said in a milky voice: “Lord Empress.”
“Call him Father Empress,” Li Ying corrected. Li Heng shrank his head and whispered, “Fath Impress.”
“So useless.” Yun Qingci curled his lips and said, “He can’t even speak clearly.”
Li Heng was startled and a look of vulnerability flashed across his face.
Li Ying said helplessly: “Don’t scare him.”
“Huh.” Yun Qingci pulled a chair and sat down. When he saw the little dumpling’s eyes filled with tears, his mind suddenly buzzed: “Why, why are you crying?”
Li Ying turned his head to look at the little dumpling’s expression and said, “Father is not blaming you, don’t be afraid.”
Li Heng nodded hurriedly.
His understanding of Yun Qingci was limited to rumors. He hadn’t seen him with his own eyes, he only knew that the Lord Empress didn’t care about him. Before he came, his grandmother told him that if he wanted to be the son of the emperor, he had to please Lord Empress Yun and never make him unhappy.
He pursed his mouth, plucked up his courage, picked up a candied pastry beside him and held it to Yun Qingci with both hands: “Sweet, sweet.”
Yun Qingci had always been strong when encountering the strong, and weak when encountering the weak. In the same way, he was also a person who encountered evil with more evil and good with more good. In his impression, children of this age were rarely sensible. If they didn’t ride on their father’s head and pull his hair shouting “Go, go”, they were not children.
Although Yun Qingci himself was not like this, he couldn’t stop himself from seeing a lot of them.
But Li Heng’s approach obviously surprised him. After a brief moment of daze, he subconsciously stretched out his hand to pick up the candy and blushed a little, mocking himself for not being able to speak: “Thank you.”
The little dumpling smiled at him, both corners of his mouth rising at the same time, a very flattering smile.
Yun Qingci paused, realizing that although the child was young, he obviously knew that he and Li Ying were not his biological parents. At this moment, he was probably feeling he was relying on their charity.
He squeezed the candied pastry and took a bite, put the rest back on the table and said in a soft voice, “Sit down and practice your writing.”
Li Heng bowed to him and obediently sat down on the small chair.
Yun Qingci bypassed him, sat down on the other side of the table and quietly pulled Li Ying’s sleeve. After Li Ying leaned his head closer, he asked, “Why is this little thing so obedient?”
“He followed his grandmother to live in the palace, so he knows better.”
Yun Qingci remembered that Concubine Wei and the first empress were sisters. Zhang Shixue hated Empress Wei so much, one would fear she wasn’t too nice to her sister. This child must have been told by Concubine Wei that any nonsense was unacceptable as soon as he was born.
Yun Qingci felt a little sympathetic for a while and whispered, “Concubine Wei, does she know about your mother?”
“I didn’t tell her,” Li Ying said, “She will naturally know when the day comes to punish the Zhang family.”
Yun Qingci nodded, rubbed his hand along his arm twice and touched his fingers. Li Ying took advantage of the situation to hold him and said, “Why are you free to come over today?”
“I was afraid he would torment you.”
“Where on earth… did you learn that children are not easy to manage?”
“Why do you care?.” Yun Qingci’s expression looked a little guilty. Li Ying realized that something was wrong and said casually: “Ah Heng, stop here today, you will have dinner with Mr. Liu.”
Li Heng glanced at him, stood up obediently and saluted, and was taken away by Liu Ziru.
Yun Qingci was wondering why he had let the child go when he suddenly felt his waist being embraced. Li Ying stretched out his hand and hugged him. Yun Qingci pushed him instinctively and hurriedly looked back to see if Li Heng had left. He said, stuttering, “You, what are you doing?”
“There is something you’re hiding from me.”
“No.”
“No?” Li Ying looked at him and leaned in slowly. Fascinated by his beauty, Yun Qingci subconsciously made an expression of waiting for a kiss, but instead his waist was scratched unexpectedly. He immediately covered it, but he couldn’t help laughing: “What are you doing!”
“Tell me, why are you so prejudiced against children, huh?”
Yun Qingci grabbed his hand, for fear that he would scratch him again. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled.
“Speak quickly.” Li Ying threatened: “Otherwise I will kiss you.”
“You just want to kiss me!” Yun Qingci was not afraid at all: “Come!”
Li Ying: “……”
He pressed in, and Yun Qingji, who was kissed three or two times, went soft. After a kiss, Li Ying separated from him, and Yun Qingci stuck to him again. Li Ying nudged his lips and said, “No more kisses, I’m at a disadvantage.”
Yun Qingci said incredulously: “What disadvantage?”
“It’s me who is getting tired, not you.”
“…that.” Yun Qingci could hear the implication of his words. He embraced Li Ying’s neck, pressed his face on his shoulder and said sullenly: “No big deal. I’ll do it myself.”
Li Ying laughed, hugged him tightly, kissed him heartily on the cheek and whispered, “Shameless.”
How can there be anything to be ashamed of with your own man? Yun Qingci snorted.
“Okay, don’t change the subject.” Li Ying raised his face and said, “What secrets do you have to hide from me, tell me quickly.”
“I…” He saw that Li Ying was really curious, so after holding back for a while, he muttered: “I decided, before confessing to you, because I considered that there would be no children between us, so I went to try…”
“Try?”
“I just went to see a lot of fathers and sons getting along!” Yun Qingci said fiercely: “It’s not like you don’t know the relationship between me and my father before, so I didn’t know how fathers and sons got along, and I didn’t know what to do if I regretted it in the future. Although I’m not good with my father, what if I want children in the future? I had to make sure that I really didn’t like children and wouldn’t want children in the future, so I could confess to you, so I went to understand… Then I found out that nine out of ten were annoying.”
Li Ying: “……”
He really didn’t expect this.
Yun Qingci gave him a heavy push and said angrily: “Do you think I am very bad, very schemy to be able to think about this kind of thing clearly…”
“You were just being responsible for our future.”
Yun Qingci looked at him.
Li Ying couldn’t help laughing and said, “Ah Ci, you did the right thing.”
Yun Qingci hesitated for a moment: “Don’t you think I’m selfish and cunning? I told you I liked you after thinking about everything clearly…”
“I don’t,” Li Ying said, “You are not selfish. You just wanted to be responsible to me, so you sorted out your thoughts. Ah Ci, you are amazing.”
It turned out that at that time, Yun Qingci had already determined his future, and it belonged to Li Ying only.
He had thought about it carefully, instead of running over to tell Li Ying about his feelings when his brain was hot. He didn’t bother Li Ying at all.
Although he was not sure of Li Ying’s intentions at the beginning, he still prepared himself completely before he went to find Li Ying.
He rubbed Yun Qingci’s face. The latter suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He buried his head in Li Ying’s arms and said sullenly: “Don’t call me amazing… I’m just selfish, I was afraid that you wouldn’t let me go if I regretted it in future.”
“It’s as if you knew I liked you at that time.”
“There is always a chance. Besides, I am so good, why won’t you like me?”
Li Ying made no sound.
Yun Qingci turned his face towards him and said, “What are you laughing at?”
“You are right, you are so good, how could I not like you.”
Yun Qingci couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from rising and said, “Then how are you going to like me?”
“Are you hungry?”
Yun Qingci rubbed his stomach subconsciously, then nodded: “A little bit.”
Li Ying put his fingers on the back of his head, kissed him carefully and said softly, “What do you want to eat?”
Yun Qingci blinked and stared at him for a while.
Then he held Li Ying’s face and smacked his lips.
He asked solemnly: “Can I eat you?”
Li Ying thought for a while.
He still needs to think about this kind of thing?! Yun Qingci grabbed his ears with both hands and his expression became very dissatisfied.
Li Ying’s eyes flashed slightly, he deliberately frowned and nodded reluctantly.
“I’ll risk my life to accompany this gentleman.”
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Such a flirt! YQC has interesting experiences, it’s very responsible of him to thought about what to do if there would be kids. And LH is sooo cute, I can’t o(≧∇≦o)
AWWW THEY CALLED LH LITTLE DUMPLINGG
Also I’m so glad we get side stories, honestly I still feel bad about the pain LY goes through and I hope he can get help with his eating disorder..
little dumpling is such a cute nickname. xD Im hungry kek.