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"Those knots you usually tie are so difficult." Lin Ling clumsily tied the two straps into a firm knot, acting first and reporting later. "Let's use an easier one!"

Shi Changyuan looked at the hasty dead knot around his waist. As though he had expected this all along, he was actually quite satisfied with it.

Lin Ling looked at the emperor before him, dressed in black robes patterned with subtle auspicious dragons. Once Shunde placed the crown ribbons atop Shi Changyuan's head, the emperor's majesty and solemnity came rushing toward him.

Mushroom stared wide-eyed. This Shi Changyuan seemed completely different from the Shi Changyuan who had dressed him just now. Lin Ling could not put it into words, so he simply called it handsome.

"What is it?"

Shi Changyuan looked at the dazed Lin Ling, reached out, and squeezed the back of his neck. "Come back to yourself."

Lin Ling blinked, and Shi Changyuan took his hand, leading him out of the bedchamber.

"Let's go."

"Huh?" Lin Ling looked at Shi Changyuan, then at Shunde behind him, who was muttering instructions to the other palace attendants. Suddenly struck by inspiration, he asked in surprise, "Are you taking me to court with you?"

"Does Lingling not want to go?"

Lin Ling looked at Shi Changyuan and felt that something was strange. Ever since he had come down the mountain early, Shi Changyuan had seemed to want to stay with him all the time. No matter where he went, Shi Changyuan made sure Lin Ling remained within his sight.

Mm... like a clingy big cat.

Lin Ling did not dislike it, but attending court was a serious matter, after all.

"That doesn't seem right." Lin Ling looked at the emperor before him. "I'm not a minister. The ministers will gossip about you to your face."

After thinking about it, Lin Ling summed it up with a phrase from storybooks. "You'd be abusing power for personal gain, and I'd be a calamity that brings ruin to the nation."

Shi Changyuan: ...

Shunde behind them was also startled by Lin Ling's wording. Who insulted himself this viciously?

Lin Ling looked at the silent Shi Changyuan and Shunde, hesitated, then crooked a finger at Shi Changyuan to signal for him to lean closer.

"But if you really want to take me to court, I have another idea," Lin Ling said. "Taking a flowerpot to court seems easier to explain than taking a Mushroom Spirit."

Shi Changyuan froze. Just as he was about to say that he did not need to explain his actions to anyone, he saw Lin Ling run toward the Imperial Study.

He drove everyone out of the Imperial Study, waved Shi Changyuan over, and then closed the door.

When Shi Changyuan pushed open the door to the Imperial Study, the first thing he saw was the flowerpot on his desk. Inside it grew a little mushroom that gave off a warm golden glow in the still-dim room.

It was exactly like the mushroom from Shi Changyuan's dream long, long ago.

"You can hide the flowerpot inside your sleeve, so no one will see it." The little golden mushroom in front of Shi Changyuan spoke, offering a suggestion.

Shi Changyuan smiled. "All right."

"Hehe, wasn't that clever?" Mushroom proudly swayed his cap. The next moment, he found himself facing the entire court of civil and military officials.

Shi Changyuan did not hide him in his sleeve. Instead, he openly placed him on the empty half of the dragon throne, allowing Mushroom to look down and clearly see everyone below.

Lin Ling could indeed see very clearly. Looking at the court officials' expressions, as though they wanted to speak but stopped, then stopped but wanted to speak again, he closed his eyes and refused to look anymore.

It's over. Who knew what the ministers would say about Shi Changyuan this time? QAQ

Lin Ling never understood the contents of morning court. He had originally been very worried about Shi Changyuan's reputation, but the proceedings quickly made him drowsy. His vision went dark, and he fell asleep.

When he woke again, he was back in the Imperial Study.

Lin Ling shook his cap. Seeing that he was awake, Shi Changyuan dismissed all the palace attendants.

With a whoosh, Lin Ling changed back.

"Sleep well?" Shi Changyuan asked with a smile.

Lin Ling plopped down in his original chair, puzzled. "How did you know I fell asleep?"

Mushrooms did not even have eyes. How could he tell?

Shi Changyuan smiled but did not answer, keeping that secret to himself.

After morning court, some ministers would come to Shi Changyuan's Imperial Study to discuss matters privately. There seemed to be especially many ministers today, and the matters they discussed did not seem particularly important.

Everyone was secretly observing something.

"Did you see anything?" The moment an old minister with a white beard left the Imperial Study, another old minister with white eyebrows hurried over to ask. Yet the first minister merely shook his head and said nothing.

The expression between his brows was like that of an old imperial physician faced with an incurable case, alarming everyone terribly.

At some point, a beautiful youth had begun sitting in the Imperial Study. This was something the entire court knew.

Some of the more radical old ministers cried as they shouted things like "debauched and immoral," then risked themselves to investigate. But after going back and forth a few times, they found it did not look like a beauty adding fragrance to red sleeves at all. It looked more like a study companion.

But they had only ever heard of crown princes having study companions. Why did the emperor need one too?

Everyone began suspecting that this youth might be some formidable recluse they had encountered in the palace, and they always wanted to test him with a question or two.

The youth was not especially skilled at concealing his abilities. In fact, he overdid it somewhat, behaving almost like an illiterate person. Yet the emperor's style of conduct had changed so drastically that it was difficult for everyone not to make connections.

Some of the sharper ministers had privately sounded out Eunuch Shunde and had long since secretly prepared gifts for the emperor's wedding.

Then, during court today, His Majesty had actually put a pot of mushrooms on the dragon throne...?

The moment court ended, everyone began discussing it heatedly.

This was terrible. Could the emperor have quarreled with his future empress?

Since ancient times, only the emperor could sit upon the dragon throne. Some devoted men might be willing to share it with their empresses, but no matter what, it should not have been a pot of mushrooms!

Shi Changyuan was seeing off the last minister. Lin Ling kept him company, and, feeling rather bored, wandered around the Imperial Study, touching this and looking at that.