The imperial physician could only reply, "Your Majesty, His Highness will be fine once he coughs it out."
To make the Qi Emperor angry, he hurriedly changed the subject.
"I feel deeply responsible for His Highness the Crown Prince's attack this time."
"To prevent a recurrence should His Highness be frightened or exert himself strenuously in the future..."
"I suggest developing pills for His Highness to carry at all times. Should this happen again, taking one would relieve his symptoms."
The Qi Emperor said, "Granted. You must spare no effort!"
The imperial physician replied, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
Qi Yuanzuo coughed for a while, until he had expelled the little bit of bitter medicine that had gone down his windpipe. The coughing stopped, but the stabbing pain in his lungs intensified.
He took the remaining half bowl and drained it in one gulp. Once his breathing settled, he felt considerably better.
Holding his son, the Qi Emperor felt his heart ache however he looked at him. Only after touching his hands and feet and finding them warm did he relax. Then he gently smoothed the Crown Prince's furrowed brows and reproached himself.
"It was my fault. With thunder and rain tonight, I should have come to keep you company sooner."
Qi Yuanzuo shook his head. "Father, you couldn't have known beforehand. I'm all right. Did someone disturb you?"
The Qi Emperor shook his head. Had someone disturbed him, why would he have been so furious? "The servants in the Hall of Inherited Blessing are all useless! I'll replace the lot of them."
At a single word from the sovereign, every servant in the hall fell to their knees, trembling.
Qi Yuanzuo hurriedly caught his arm and explained, "Father, I was the one who told them not to disturb you."
The Qi Emperor stood his ground. "Tun'er is too young to look after himself. When I'm absent, the servants are supposed to protect and care for you in my place. They concealed this and failed to report it, disregarding your safety. I cannot tolerate them."
Qi Yuanzuo sat upright and argued with the Qi Emperor.
"I told them not to tell you. They were only following my orders."
"Father, I've already grown up. I can assess a situation and judge what matters most and what must be dealt with first."
The Qi Emperor laughed. He pinched the soft flesh of the Crown Prince's cheek, then compared their heights and teased him.
"Grown up?"
His son still had a face full of baby fat, plump and round, and hadn't even grown all his hair yet, but he solemnly told him:
Father, I've already grown up.
It was simply too funny.
"Still, I'm not someone who insists on having everything his own way."
The Qi Emperor leaned back against the headboard with his arms folded, waiting at his leisure to hear how the Crown Prince would persuade him.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Qi Yuanzuo thought for a moment. "Though I'm still young, I understand what matters most and what must be dealt with first."
The Qi Emperor refused to accept that. "To me, nothing matters more than your health. You judged wrongly this time, so your words cannot convince me."
Seeing that his son had nothing left to say, he turned and ordered, "Drag them out. Dispose of them."
The servants in the hall began sobbing and pleading softly. Before the Fat Eunuch could carry out the order...
They heard their little master on the bed burst into tears.
The Qi Emperor shot upright.
Has he cried from feeling wronged because he couldn't win the argument?
Tears pattered down the little Crown Prince's face. When the Qi Emperor picked him up, he stretched out his two short arms and hooked them around his father's neck. With that warm little rice dumpling in his arms, the Qi Emperor's heart immediately softened.
He heard his beloved son sobbing in his arms, sounding terribly aggrieved.
"But to me... nothing matters more than... than you, Father."
The sentence came out in broken fragments, his tears pattering onto the clothes over his father's chest.
Under the assault of those words and tears, the emperor's defenses collapsed into utter rout. His eyes grew hot, and he wished he could scoop out his heart and give it to his son.
The little Crown Prince curled into the Qi Emperor's arms in complete dependence, one hand hooked around his neck and the other wiping away his own tears.
With his pale yellow nightclothes and soft hair, he looked like a newly hatched chick.
The little chick chirped that his father mattered most.
The Qi Emperor adored him beyond measure.
He held his son and coaxed him at length.
"They'll stay. Not a single one will be touched. I'll keep them all for you."
The Fat Eunuch swept his fly whisk. That settled it.
The Qi Emperor declared, "The Crown Prince is kind and benevolent. For now, I will spare you. Aren't you going to thank him for his grace?"
The servants in the hall hurriedly offered their thanks.
"We thank His Highness the Crown Prince for his great grace! May His Highness live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years! Long live Your Majesty!"
The Qi Emperor waved a hand, dismissing everyone who had no reason to remain.
The imperial physicians withdrew as well. They exchanged glances, all wearing expressions that said this was just as they had expected.
The more they witnessed His Majesty's love for the Crown Prince, the more deeply they understood that the prince's place in his heart was unshakable.
If the affection had been one-sided, and the Crown Prince had possessed a poor character, perhaps things might have changed someday.
But the Crown Prince was exceptionally filial and clever. Never mind His Majesty-if their own sons looked like little celestial children and clung to their necks, crying softly that they loved their daddies best...
The imperial physicians' burly frames shuddered. Give it to him! Give him everything!
Others envied the Crown Prince for winning His Majesty's heart, but they also envied His Majesty for having such a wonderful son!
Why did Heaven favor the imperial family so much?
Lady Yin also withdrew to brew ginger soup herself, thoughtfully leaving father and son some time alone.
His Majesty had braved the wind and rain tonight. It would not do for him to catch a chill.
Inside the hall, the Qi Emperor broke his reasoning down piece by piece for his son.
"Father isn't blaming you. Father is worried about you. I'm afraid Tun'er might fall ill without my knowing, or be bullied and wronged here in the palace."
"Father understands what Tun'er meant. Tun'er thought he was merely feeling unwell, and didn't want Father to worry or have his sleep disturbed, didn't you?"
The little Crown Prince nodded and kept wiping away his tears.
The Qi Emperor patiently explained.
"If Father fell ill too, and deliberately hid it so Tun'er wouldn't worry, how would you feel?"
The little Crown Prince said, "I'd cry from anger..."
The Qi Emperor laughed heartily. "Exactly. Father would cry from anger too. Not only that, he would be frightened."
"Father knows how filial Tun'er is. But if you fell ill and I wasn't the first to notice, I would be upset, worried, and frightened."
"So, what should Tun'er do next time he feels unwell?"
The little Crown Prince answered obediently, "Find Father."
The Qi Emperor wiped away his tears and gently instructed him, "Not find Father. Find an imperial physician first, then immediately send someone to tell Father."
"Zuo'er did very well this time. If you'd sent someone to tell Father after summoning the physician, you would have done even better."
Qi Yuanzuo buried his face in the Qi Emperor's arms, his ears flushing red under all that coaxing.
He wasn't a real child, after all, but the Qi Emperor truly was a good father.
"Zuo'er, you are the Crown Prince, above ten thousand people. You may do whatever you want, without having to consider anyone or anything."
Qi Yuanzuo asked in a muffled voice, "What about you, Father? What if one day you refuse to let me do something I want to do? Just like today."
After thinking it over, the Qi Emperor handed the Crown Prince the blood jade bracelet he always carried.
"Let this bracelet serve as your token. One bead, one request. Whenever Zuo'er produces a bead, Father will agree to anything unconditionally. Does that set your mind at ease?"
The Blood-Jade Bead Bracelet felt warm to the touch. The Qi Emperor almost never parted with it.
Each blood jade bead measured eight millimeters across, and there were twenty on the strand.
Qi Yuanzuo inwardly clicked his tongue. If we fall out someday and I produce a bead to ask Father to abdicate, will he honor it or not?
Qi Yuanzuo quietly put it away. "I don't need that many. One bracelet, one request."
He linked pinkies with the Qi Emperor and said earnestly:
"One bracelet, one request, to use when Father and I argue and get angry. Arguments hurt our affection for each other. Father and I are only allowed to argue once in our whole lives."
"All right."
Father and son sealed their pact with linked pinkies: they would argue only once in their lifetimes.
Once they had finished talking, Lady Yin returned with the ginger soup.
The Qi Emperor drank a bowl, and Qi Yuanzuo was coaxed into taking a few spoonfuls too. He lay peacefully on the bed while the Qi Emperor soothed him to sleep.
"Everyone says I favor the Crown Prince. Tun'er loves me so much. How could I not love him?"
Lady Yin thought, You haven't given the other princes a chance to love you. Who is it that goes an entire month without seeing his other sons even once?
The Eldest Prince has grown this big, and you've never even held him.
"You are right, Your Majesty. Even I cannot help wanting to draw close whenever I see the Crown Prince."
The Qi Emperor lowered his eyes and fell silent. Lady Yin could not fathom what he was thinking.
"Go back. I'll stay here and watch over Zuo'er."
Consort Yin listened to the wind and rain outside, and the crashing thunder accompanying the lightning.
It's easy to talk when you're not the one suffering.
She said gently and graciously, "It's nearly the hour of the Rabbit. I'll stay and keep watch with you, then leave after seeing you off to court."
The Qi Emperor tacitly agreed.
Before you continue