“It’s scabbed over. Your Majesty saw it yourself, it’s just a minor wound. The fever was from catching cold after falling into the water; a little herbal soup fixed it.” As Su Yan spoke, he recalled the scene of the emperor personally applying medicine to him in the carriage that day, his ears heating up again. He thought to himself: if His Majesty asks me again whether I’m hungry, how should I answer this time?
Sure enough, the emperor’s next question was: “You came to the palace early to offer birthday greetings and have been running about all day — are you hungry?”
Su Yan choked on his own saliva and lowered his head to cough violently. The emperor laughed, walked over to pat his back, then took a plate of pastries from the nearby table and handed them to him to eat with his tea. Su Yan realized he had misunderstood and became even more embarrassed, his face turning red as he quietly drank tea and nibbled the pastries.
After a few bites of the fragrant Longjing cakes, he looked up at the emperor standing in front of him, feeling a bit awkward. “Your Majesty, just standing there watching… would you like to try one too?”
The emperor smiled and shook his head, returned to the dragon throne behind the imperial desk, casually picked up a memorial, and began to review and annotate it.
This thoughtful gesture greatly eased Su Yan’s embarrassment. He quickly finished the pastries, wiped his hands clean, and pointed to another plate. “The crown prince has also been busy all day. Perhaps Your Majesty might bestow a plate to him as well?”
Without lifting his eyes, the emperor replied, “Don’t worry, the Eastern Palace has everything. How could the crown prince possibly go hungry?”
Naturally, the crown prince would not go hungry, but after being severely reprimanded, receiving something from the emperor — even a trivial plate of pastries — would have been a small gesture of comfort.
Clearly, the emperor had no intention of comforting the crown prince. Su Yan, unwilling to give up, added, “When I arrived at the Disaster Relief Bureau earlier, I saw that the chaos had been quelled, and His Highness personally comforted the people. Even those commoners who directly confronted him were not punished. Such magnanimity must surely be inherited from Your Majesty.”
“Not necessarily. Perhaps he takes after his mother,” the Emperor said lightly. “I reward virtue and punish evil. I’m not always lenient.”
Trying to plead in a roundabout way had failed. The Emperor seemed determined to knock some sense into the Crown Prince. Su Yan had no choice but to give up for now.
But the Emperor wasn’t done. He set aside the memorial and said, “You’ve certainly been a most dutiful attendant to the Crown Prince. Always thinking of him, aren’t you? Why don’t you tell me—what do you think of my eldest son?”
—Another death trap of a question! If he praised the Crown Prince too much, the Emperor might not be pleased. But if he spoke ill of the Crown Prince, he’d be insulting the Emperor himself.
Say he’s brave? That could be seen as warmongering.
Say he’s intelligent? That might imply he’s scheming.
Say he’s compassionate? That would be mocking the Emperor who had just scolded him.
Being a court official is really too difficult…
Su Yan turned these thoughts over quickly, tucked his handkerchief into his robe, and calmly replied, “His Highness the Crown Prince is an honest, straightforward young man.”
His tone was sincere, but it sounded more like a senior praising a junior. Given Su Yan’s own age—seventeen or eighteen in this body—and his status as an official, it was borderline disrespectful. Yet the Emperor was secretly pleased. He nodded, “The Crown Prince doesn’t see himself as a child. He’s always trying to prove to me that he is a man who can stand as my equal.”
“Stand as an equal”—what a delicate phrase. Su Yan quickly added, “The Crown Prince is no different from any other son who wants to prove himself to his father. No matter how hard he works, it’s only to earn a word of approval.”
The Emperor’s expression was somewhere between a smile and not. “So in the end, your heart still leans toward him. I suppose it’s understandable, you’re close in age—you probably get along better.”
Su Yan quickly replied, “Our ages may be close, but our temperaments are quite different. The Crown Prince is forthright, while I often fail to know my place and frequently anger him. Thankfully, His Highness is generous and doesn’t hold grudges. If you ask where my loyalty lies, of course it is with the great Ming Empire, and I never dare forget my duty to the nation.”
His answer was flawless—but somehow didn’t sound that pleasing, especially the last sentence.
From anyone else, it would seem a declaration of loyalty.
From him—it just screamed survival instinct.
The Emperor gave Su Yan a faintly mocking look. “I am the Empire.”
Su Yan could only follow along, “Then in that case, my loyalty naturally belongs entirely to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor, ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years.”
The Emperor heard this phrase countless times every day—yet somehow, when it came from Su Yan, it always sounded odd.
He looked at Su Yan with an unreadable expression and beckoned him over. “Come here.”
Su Yan put down his teacup and nervously approached the imperial desk.
“Closer.”
Su Yan moved in until his stomach was almost against the edge of the desk.
The Emperor leaned forward and used the end of his brush to nudge open Su Yan’s robe. “Where is that ‘utterly loyal heart’? I’m very interested. I’ll be waiting for Minister Su to offer it.”
Su Yan quickly shielded his robe with his hand, awkwardly replying, “Where my heart is, I am. I’ve already presented my birthday tribute—Your Majesty, please don’t take the very core of my life as well.”
He knew the Emperor was mostly teasing—rare for the usually restrained Emperor Jinglong—so he didn’t seriously resist. His robe loosened slightly, and a jade seal tied to a red string slipped out.
The sight of it triggered emotions. The Emperor was briefly stunned, then his smile faded, replaced by a more serious expression—though his gaze grew even more intense.
Suddenly, the Emperor rose, hooked a finger through the red string, and tugged Su Yan’s body toward him.
Su Yan was pulled forward, instinctively bracing his hands on the desk to keep his balance. The jade seal dangled over a blank imperial edict, swaying back and forth. The creamy white jade seal was engraved with the word “Jin Tang” at the base. The five-colored silk thread bore the words “By Heaven’s Mandate, the Emperor’s Decree”—the seal and the inscription, intimately connected.
They were now so close they could feel each other’s breath. Su Yan, leaning against the edge of the table, nervously swallowed. The movement of his throat was clear against his pale skin, the same color as the jade.
The Emperor’s voice was soft and low: “My personal seal—why don’t you keep it properly stored?”
“To achieve my little life goal, I must start with the ‘one hundred million’ hanging around my neck.”
Of course Su Yan couldn’t say that, so he replied, “I… was afraid of losing it.”
The Emperor said, “Wearing it against your skin isn’t likely to be lost, but aren’t you afraid someone else might see it?”
Su Yan hurriedly answered, “There’s—there’s no one else, really—”
The Emperor said, “Since you’re wearing it, you’re not allowed to take it off again. If anyone wants to see it, you can ask them if they dare lay a hand on something bearing the imperial seal.”
Su Yan’s face flushed red. He muttered in frustration, “I’m not some private possession, and I don’t have anyone’s personal stamp on me!”
The Emperor smiled faintly. “Then let’s stamp one. Where would you like it?”
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