An Unbelievable Thought

Qi Yuanzuo scampered around Simiao with the older brother he had just won over in tow. His impatience made the Eldest Prince laugh.

"Have the servants of the Hall of Inherited Blessing been starving you?"

"You're drooling. Wipe your mouth."

A crowd of eunuchs and palace maids guarded the small kitchen of the Hall of Inherited Blessing as though facing a formidable enemy.

But the two little lords were fascinated by the kitchen and simply refused to leave.

The Eldest Prince had not wanted to stay. What was there to see in a room full of greasy smoke? But the little brat wanted to stay.

"Brother, I'll just take a look, just one look. Secretly, so Father won't find out."

The little brat looked guilty as a thief. What the hell did this have to do with Father?

Oh, well. He might as well indulge the child.

And so the Eldest Prince inspected the small kitchen of the Hall of Inherited Blessing as though surveying his territory.

The little crown prince watched hungrily as Simiao mixed chrysanthemums into the batter, adding only salt and pepper. She spread the batter flat in an oiled pan, and it quickly cooked into a pancake over low heat.

She flipped it and cooked the other side, producing a chrysanthemum pancake that did not look particularly appetizing.

Normally, something like this would never have been allowed onto a master's table, but Qi Yuanzuo was not fussy.

Once it was ready, he eagerly tore off a piece and tasted it.

That familiar taste of home...

The Eldest Prince watched with curiosity. "Is it really that good?"

His eyes had all but disappeared into his smile.

Qi Yuanzuo tore off a piece and stuffed it into his brother's mouth.

A prince's meals were exquisite and beautifully presented. A plain pancake had no place in such refined company.

The Eldest Prince had eaten one once in the military camp in his previous life, but never again afterward.

It tasted all right.

After so many delicacies from mountains and seas, plain food and simple fare had a charm of their own.

Qi Yuanzuo ate until he was half full. Worried he would get indigestion, Fat Eunuch urged him to stop a couple of times, and he took the opportunity to put down his food.

"Big Brother, come on! Let's go cadge some tea from Father!"

A cup of tea to cut through the grease after pancakes-that was truly one of life's pleasures.

Tea was stimulating and could counteract medicine, so the Qi Emperor would not let him drink it.

If he was not allowed any, he would go beg a cup at the Hall of Bright Virtue.

He pulled the Eldest Prince along and had someone carry the food box to the Hall of Bright Virtue.

Bolao moved to follow.

But the little crown prince said, "You stay."

Bolao halted and withdrew obediently, watching intently as the little crown prince walked away.

For more than half a month, Qi Yuanzuo had taken Bolao along whatever he did, yet this time he had not allowed him to follow.

Was it unintentional or deliberate?

No one could answer Bolao's question, but 88 could ask the person himself.

Qi Yuanzuo answered it, "Picking Flowers just caused a scene. It's enough to let Father know I have someone like that around me. Going too far is as bad as not going far enough."

"I can keep him, but I can't put him in an important position. At least until I come of age, I can't let Father know I intend to use him. That's Father's bottom line."

"Wait two or three days. If he hasn't been transferred away, that means Father has tacitly agreed to let him stay."

88 said, "Host, the Qi Emperor dotes on you. Why make things so complicated when a little wheedling would do the trick?"

"And what reason would I give? If I suddenly brought it up, don't you think the old geezer would suspect his precious son was possessed?"

88 fell silent. All those twists and turns were rather too much for a system like it.

Hall of Bright Virtue

The Qi Emperor knew the little crown prince was making Chrysanthemum Cakes and had been waiting for him to bring some over.

He knew exactly how far things had progressed in the Hall of Inherited Blessing. The Qi Emperor knew it all.

When he heard that the two had only remembered him after eating and drinking their fill, the Qi Emperor scolded him again.

"Heartless little rascal."

Fat Eunuch chimed in, "His Highness surely wanted to make certain they tasted good before bringing them to you. He already knows to show Your Majesty filial devotion at just three years old."

The corners of the Qi Emperor's mouth soared. "Stop always making excuses for him. Earlier, he even said he wanted to use me to test the food."

Fat Eunuch chuckled and stroked the dragon's tail with his flattery. "That's because whenever His Highness sees something new, he thinks of Your Majesty and wants you to be the first to taste it."

"Back in the countryside, this servant heard that children of two or three don't understand anything. They copy whatever their family does. Your Majesty always thinks of the crown prince whenever you see something good, so naturally, he thinks of you too."

The Qi Emperor's smile deepened, though his next words carried an inscrutable meaning. "All the more reason I must not let certain people lead Zuo'er astray."

Fat Eunuch kept his mouth shut. For half a month, His Majesty had battled the Empress Dowager at court every day, growing so angry that sores had broken out in his mouth.

Over the past few days, the Empress Dowager had hinted that if he still refused to release the Elder Princess, she would bring the Elder Princess's child into the palace to keep His Highness the Crown Prince company.

She was threatening His Majesty.

"Father! I brought Big Brother and something delicious to see you!"

His voice arrived before he did.

The Qi Emperor scolded him again. "He'd only learned his manners for a couple of days, and half a month in bed has wiped them all away."

Fat Eunuch thought, And who was it who cried with tears and snot streaming down his face while the crown prince was unconscious?

"Father! Where are you? I can't see you!"

The Eldest Prince's irritated voice could faintly be heard as well. "Be quiet! Father might spank you!"

The Qi Emperor snorted as he headed outside. How dare that boy spoil the bond between me and the crown prince!

"What brought my little Tun'er to see me?"

Tun'er?

Qi Yuanzuo froze, then remembered that this had indeed happened.

When he was little, he had eaten himself round and plump. While bathing him, the Qi Emperor had seen his chubby, rosy little body and teased him for looking like a piglet.

And so Tun'er had become his nickname.

Besides that, there had been countless others: Precious, Rice Ball, Little Pup, Little Grain, Silkworm Baby.

Every single one was a tearful chapter in Qi Yuanzuo's history, making him bawl his eyes out.

He stood facing his father with his little hands behind his back, his lower lip jutting out far enough to hang an oil bottle from it. With a cold snort, he brushed past him.

All the Qi Emperor could see was his little bottom swaying from side to side.

He raised an eyebrow. Quite the little temper.

"Did I offend him?"

Fat Eunuch was dazzled by the azure sky and had heard nothing.

Once inside the Hall of Bright Virtue, Qi Yuanzuo drank two cups of tea and slumped in a chair, unwilling to move.

"Brother and I made these pancakes together. Are you pleased with them, Father?"

The Qi Emperor ate with refinement, then offered his assessment.

"My son has put his heart into this."

Judging by how much he had eaten, however, he was satisfied in both body and soul.

"Chengyou, do you have no lessons today?"

The Eldest Prince, who had been serving as background scenery, no longer cared about the Qi Emperor's attitude.

"It's my day off."

"Has Junior Tutor Xi been diligent lately?"

The Eldest Prince answered indifferently, "He's been reasonably well behaved."

The Qi Emperor frowned slightly. "I investigated. You were not falsely accused that day."

The Eldest Prince said, "Everything Father says is right."

The Qi Emperor said, "Stubborn and incorrigible."

He no longer wanted to bother with his eldest son, and the Eldest Prince no longer wanted to stay.

"If Father has no further instructions, I shall take my leave."

When the Eldest Prince turned to go, the little crown prince dashed after him.

"Brother, wait for me!"

The Qi Emperor grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. "You're staying here. After so many wasted days, you've forgotten all your manners. I'll have Fat Eunuch teach you again!"

Qi Yuanzuo kicked his legs, rebellion in every bone. "No!"

The Qi Emperor would not take no for an answer. He had been mischievous before, and now he was even worse! Could the grand commandant be right that boys needed a beating?

"When you went to see your third brother, did you like him?"

Qi Yuanzuo stopped struggling. "He's ugly."

The Qi Emperor laughed heartily. "He's your younger brother. Play with him more from now on. When you grow up, he'll assist you and help you."

He earnestly instructed his son. "You are the crown prince, but a crown prince must not stand alone."

"I'll be with Big Brother!"

A complicated look flashed through the Qi Emperor's eyes. "That isn't impossible, but your older brother might refuse to submit to you. Your younger brother, on the other hand, will never catch up to you."

A three-year-old Qi Yuanzuo would not have understood, but an adult soul lived inside his body.

Nestling in the Qi Emperor's arms, he declared without a shred of shame, "I don't understand."

The Qi Emperor said, "That's all right. I'll teach you."

Among the things Qi Yuanzuo knew, the Qi Emperor's attitude toward the Eldest Prince was a mystery.

The Eldest Prince had been the Qi Emperor's first child, born four years after his marriage. Why was he so cold toward an eldest son who had been so hard to come by?

If he did not like him, why had he later given Qi Chengyou the military tally? When the Qi Emperor had made the Eldest Prince a prince with his own fief, he had granted him the two wealthiest prefectures in Jiangnan!

All the other princes had been granted northern fiefs. The Eldest Prince alone was the exception.

Yet it did not look like affection either.

The Eldest Prince's mother, Consort Xian, was from the south. Could Father and Consort Xian have had some melodramatic, tormented romance in their youth?

It was not only his attitude toward the Eldest Prince that was strange. The Qi Emperor's attitude toward his other sons was peculiar too!

He spoiled the crown prince and treasured him, showing the responsibility a father ought to have and his hopes for his son. Those feelings were normal.

Yet apart from the crown prince, the Qi Emperor acted as though his other sons were not his sons at all.

Indifference.

An unbelievable thought surfaced in Qi Yuanzuo's mind.

Surely Father didn't really believe that, of all the princes, only the crown prince was his biological son?!

The Qi Emperor had no idea what the son in his arms was imagining about him. He patted his little head. "Come to court with me tomorrow and meet your maternal grandfather."

Preoccupied with his thoughts, Qi Yuanzuo gave an absentminded answer.