Vomiting

Qi Yuanzuo felt certain the Qi Emperor would come tonight.

So after dinner, he played with his dove cart on the animal-hide rug spread across the floor as he waited.

The wait was rather long. Nearly two hours passed before the Qi Emperor arrived, his face dark and grim.

He looked as though he had already argued with someone.

Hearing the announcement of the emperor's arrival, Qi Yuanzuo scrambled up from the floor and pattered over like a fledgling goose returning to its nest.

Before the Qi Emperor even entered, he saw the little yellow bundle dressed only in nightclothes, his loose hair stubbornly sticking up, his arms spread wide and his eyes filled with nothing but him.

The Qi Emperor's heart ached. He bent down and picked up his son, wrapped him in his cloak, and supported his bottom with one hand while warming his little feet with the other.

"You little rascal," he scolded. "Running out without clothes or shoes-if you fall ill, are you going to put your father through the wringer?"

The little Crown Prince obediently rested against his shoulder, both arms around the Qi Emperor's neck.

"Father, you're sad."

The Qi Emperor's composure crumbled.

He waved a hand.

The servants streamed out like fish.

Only Fat Eunuch remained in a dark corner like a silent crow, awaiting an imperial command.

The Qi Emperor buried his face in his son's small, frail shoulder and wept soundlessly.

After hearing the imperial physician's report, he had immediately gone to the Palace of Nurturing Origin to question the Empress Dowager.

Poisonous substances such as oleander were forbidden inside the Imperial Palace, and palace servants underwent strict searches whenever they passed through the gates to enter or leave.

Consort Xian devoted herself to worshipping Buddha and had no interest in power.

Consort Shun and Consort Li had no reason to target the Crown Prince.

The same was true of Zhaoyi Xiao and Zhaoyi Wei, and the Qi Emperor had informants in their pavilions.

Someone capable of obtaining oleander pollen, with a reason to target the Crown Prince, who knew he liked Tabbyback and could put poison on Tabbyback-the Empress Dowager was the prime suspect.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager had people attending the Eldest Prince, and Tabbyback was docile around the servants of the Condensing Dew Pavilion. It was difficult not to suspect her.

But the Qi Emperor had allowed the Empress Dowager to defend herself.

That was why he had initially questioned her calmly at the Palace of Nurturing Origin. Who could have imagined that she would admit it outright?

The Qi Emperor had exploded at once, demanding to know what she was thinking.

Mother and son had quarreled fiercely.

The Qi Emperor could not understand why the Empress Dowager hated him so much. He had not been raised at her side, but they were still mother and son!

He accommodated her whenever he could, but she clung to control of the court and refused to relinquish it. What emperor could tolerate that?

Every time the Empress Dowager acted, she trod on the emperor's bottom line, sometimes even crossing it.

Qi Yuanzuo gently patted the Qi Emperor's back, vaguely beginning to understand.

"Zuo'er, your father has failed you."

The Qi Emperor choked out his apology.

Qi Yuanzuo shook his head. "Why would you say that, Father? You're very good to Zuo'er. You're the best daddy in the whole world."

The Qi Emperor cried for a while before suppressing his anguish and wiping away his tears. Holding his son's face in his hands, he said softly,

"Wait another six months for your father, Zuo'er. In six months, no one will dare hurt you again. All right?"

The little Crown Prince kissed the Qi Emperor's forehead. "All right."

The Qi Emperor took off his outer robe and carried his son to bed.

"I'll sleep with you."

His eyes were red. He felt terribly guilty toward his son but did not know how to make amends, so he coaxed him to sleep as he had before.

The little Crown Prince kept wriggling upward until he reached the head of the bed. Copying the way the Qi Emperor held him, he tried to gather the emperor into his arms, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only encircle his head.

The little Crown Prince offered the Qi Emperor his arm as a pillow, then hugged his neck and nestled the emperor's face against his chest.

He awkwardly patted the Qi Emperor's back, stroke by stroke.

"Don't cry, Father. I'll protect you."

The Qi Emperor's eyes grew hot again.

After enduring his own mother's indifference, the twenty-three-year-old Qi Emperor could not help being moved by his son's pure concern.

He let his son hold and comfort him, keeping one arm around the boy as well.

"Zuo'er, do you miss your mother?"

The little Crown Prince nodded.

The Qi Emperor asked again, "Do you cry when you miss her terribly?"

The little Crown Prince shook his head. "No. Mother must like seeing Zuo'er smile, not cry."

"Yes. Every mother in the world likes seeing her child smile. How could anyone like seeing their child cry?"

The Qi Emperor made a decision no one else knew about.

He rallied his spirits and told Qi Yuanzuo about the past.

"When your mother was carrying you, her belly was very big, so she made a bet with me. She said you would definitely be plump, like a little pig."

"That was how we chose your childhood name, Tun'er."

"Your mother loved to smile and treated everyone kindly. Back then, whenever your mother, Su Changhe, Su Changhuai, and I had free time, the four of us would compose poems and matching verses, play the zither, sing, and dance."

"At the time, I thought there could be no greater joy in life."

The little Crown Prince asked in his childish voice, "Who are Su Changhe and Su Changhuai?"

The Qi Emperor explained patiently, "You've met Su Changhuai. He was the captain of the guards following us during the Double Ninth Festival. He's now commander of the Imperial Guards."

"Su Changhe is Su Changhuai's elder brother."

"He was a true gentleman, someone your father will never forget as long as he lives."

The Qi Emperor said wistfully, "I wronged him."

Those old memories were like scars upon his heart. Even healed, they still made it tremble from time to time. He did not leave them unspoken because he did not want to speak, but because he did not know whom he could tell.

The little Crown Prince said, "I want to meet him. I want to see what someone Father likes looks like."

The Qi Emperor's arms tightened slightly around his son.

"He's gone. He went to the same place as your mother."

"Was it because he had a baby too?"

The Qi Emperor chuckled and, unable to restrain his affection, pinched the little Crown Prince's nose.

"Men can't have babies. He chose to leave."

"If you want to see him, I'll show you his portrait another day. Changhe's younger brother is very skilled in martial arts. You'll surely like him too when you meet him."

"Shall I have him be your teacher?"

It seemed like a passing whim, yet also like the Qi Emperor could not contain his emotions.

The little Crown Prince agreed at once. "Yes!"

The Qi Emperor ruffled his son's hair.

"Changhe liked zithers, especially famous ones, and his playing was peerless. Your mother liked flowers, and oleanders were her favorite."

"Back then, an oleander grew in the Crown Prince's Residence where I lived. Whenever it bloomed, your mother would pick some flowers, dry them, and make floral stationery to copy poems onto."

At this point, the Qi Emperor fell silent.

Someone else in the residence had liked oleanders back then.

It was the present Consort Xian.

Whenever the empress picked flowers, she would send some to Consort Xian.

In Zuo'er's poisoning, Consort Xian and the Empress Dowager were the most suspicious. But Consort Xian had withdrawn from worldly affairs for years, causing him to overlook this.

In truth, no one had more reason to harm the Crown Prince than Consort Xian.

The Qi Emperor pulled his son into his arms and tucked the quilt around him, looking sleepy.

"Go to sleep. It's late. Your father is here with you."

The little Crown Prince obediently closed his eyes, but kissed the Qi Emperor's forehead once more before sleeping.

"Good night, Father."

The Qi Emperor wished he could make a cage, put his son inside, and carry him wherever he went.

Zuo'er was so young and understood nothing, yet so many people wanted to harm him.

The poison in human hearts seeped through every crack.

The Qi Emperor urgently wanted to seize power, to control everything.

Early the next morning.

Qi Yuanzuo opened his eyes to find himself alone in bed again.

His father had come over last night after quarreling with the Empress Dowager.

His father suspected the Empress Dowager of poisoning him, and she might have admitted it, leading to their argument.

After yesterday's conversation, Qi Yuanzuo felt Consort Xian was the prime suspect.

His father had thought of it too and would investigate.

Qi Yuanzuo called 88.

"Su Changhe killed himself, and Father had feelings for him."

88 asked, "How do you know, host?"

"Intuition."

"My intuition has always been accurate, especially when judging emotions. Just like how I judged Bolao to be a lunatic, possibly suffering from touch starvation and mildly sadistic tendencies."

Such things were hardly unusual for an emperor.

When someone had power and money, could do whatever they pleased, and had everything in the world within easy reach, they tended to enjoy trying something new.

His father felt guilty, and Su Changhe had killed himself.

An entire melodramatic plot had already unfolded in his imagination.

"No, it can't have been something that melodramatic. On the way back to the palace after the Double Ninth Festival, when Su Changhe came up, Su Changhuai felt both grateful and guilty toward Father."

"88, my intuition tells me I'm very close to the truth behind Su Changhe's death."

88 asked him, "Would you like a thousand episodes of mystery cartoons for inspiration?"

"Thanks, but there's a wall between Eastern and Western mysteries. I decline."

Yesterday's incident with poison on the cat's head had left Jiang Liang both frightened and thrilled.

She had only been here a few days and knew little about the factions in the palace. She wanted to feast on the gossip but could not get the whole story, and she dared not ask.

Hearing that the little Crown Prince had summoned an imperial physician yesterday, the Eldest Prince hurried over first thing in the morning to see him.

Qi Yuanzuo had just finished breakfast and was holding his medicine bowl, completing his twice-daily medicine routine.

He gulped it down, but before Jiang Liang could offer him an osmanthus candy, the little Crown Prince leaned sideways and dry-heaved.

Previously, he had always held his breath while drinking. Today, he had carefully tasted the last mouthful, and the result was that he threw up his entire breakfast.

He made an utter mess of himself.

In his alarm, the Eldest Prince pushed Jiang Liang aside, patted his back, poured water for him to rinse his mouth, and wiped his lips.

Once he saw that the boy had recovered a little, he picked up a candy to feed him.

A thought stirred in Simiao's mind, and she called out, "Eldest Prince, His Highness the Crown Prince doesn't eat candy."

The Eldest Prince paused, but the next moment, the little Crown Prince had already taken the candy into his mouth.

The Eldest Prince saw surprise flash through the eyes of the two attendants beside the little Crown Prince, and it did not look feigned.

For some reason, his heart skipped several beats.

"Feeling better?"

Having just vomited, the little Crown Prince was listless.

He merely nodded, not wanting to speak.

Seeing him suffer made the Eldest Prince feel miserable too.

"How long does he have to take this medicine? Can't they prescribe something that tastes better?"

Fat Eunuch replied, "The imperial physician said he needs several years of treatment."

"Your Highness, what medicine tastes good? Changing the prescription would change its effects."

Qi Yuanzuo's body slumped limply, and the startled Eldest Prince caught him.

"What's wrong?"

The little Crown Prince said dully, "I want to lie down. I feel awful."

The Eldest Prince quickly carried him inside and laid him flat to rest.

"Summon the imperial physician!"

The imperial physician arrived, and another round of fussing followed.

The vomiting had left him weak. He needed some water, some porridge, and sleep to recover, but once he had rested, he would still have to take his medicine.

Listening nearby, the Eldest Prince wanted to have the imperial physician beheaded.

After the imperial physician left, the little Crown Prince fell asleep again.

The Eldest Prince's brows remained tightly furrowed. When had the Crown Prince ever been this frail in his memories?

He went outside and questioned the Crown Prince's two attendants.

"I heard an imperial physician was summoned to the Hall of Inherited Blessing yesterday. Did the Crown Prince suffer another bout of fright?"

The two attendants exchanged a glance and kept their mouths shut, looking deeply secretive.

The Eldest Prince asked, "You can't even tell me?"

The two attendants hunched their shoulders, their faces filled with embarrassment.

The Eldest Prince assumed an imposing air. "I won't tell anyone about this. Go ahead and speak."

Finally, Fat Eunuch glanced around and quietly explained the incident involving poison on the cat's head.

He hinted obliquely, "When His Majesty came yesterday, he seemed to have had a terrible quarrel with someone... perhaps it was..."

He glanced toward the Palace of Nurturing Origin, then lowered his head and stopped speaking.

An unusual expression flickered across the Eldest Prince's face as he listened, but he concealed it instantly.

"I understand. Watch over him carefully. I'll come back once he wakes."

The Eldest Prince frowned, his steps slightly hurried.

He remembered something: yesterday, he had seen a matron attending his mother rubbing something onto Tabbyback's head, and he had asked about it.

The matron had said it was powder to drive away lice.

The Eldest Prince's steps grew even more hurried.

Inside the hall on the other side of the wall, Qi Yuanzuo had used the system's listening range to hear the entire conversation between the three of them. He had even heard the Eldest Prince's footsteps, more hurried than usual, with perfect clarity.

The coldness in his eyes lay fully exposed.

He had done it deliberately.

Fat Eunuch and Simiao genuinely cared for him, and he had used their mouths to tell the Eldest Prince what had happened last night.

Since he suspected Consort Xian had made a move against him, there was no reason to sit and wait for death.

Judging by the Eldest Prince's reaction, it was almost certainly Consort Xian.

He did not know how far the Eldest Prince would go for him.

After all, they were mother and son. They would not fall out over an outsider; the best outcome would be for the Eldest Prince to feel guilty toward him.

The worst outcome would be for Consort Xian to win the Eldest Prince over, and for them to conspire to harm him.

Jiang Liang stayed beside the little Crown Prince, studying his affection score. The more she studied it, the stranger it seemed.

Even the Eldest Prince had given her one affection point just now because she had brought the candy in time.

Yet the little Crown Prince's affection score toward her was still a big, fat zero.