Feeding him

"Then why won't you come out?"

"I'll have breakfast brought here. Have a little."

"I'm not hungry."

"You only had half a bowl of porridge this morning. Chun He said you barely touched your food last night either." Qi Xiao's tone remained unhurried, leaving no room for negotiation.

Qi Yu lifted his face a little from Qi Xiao's chest, revealing one eye. Through the gaps in his disheveled hair, that eye looked at his imperial father, a little tentative and a little aggrieved. "Then I want Almond Cream."

"You can't have just that for breakfast. Have some porridge first." Qi Xiao glanced toward the door. De'an understood at once and went out to give orders for breakfast to be served.

Breakfast was laid out on the small table in Yuning Hall: longan porridge, stir-fried choy sum, and steamed Chinese yam. Qi Xiao sat on the edge of the bed, with Qi Yu leaning in his arms, his legs still tucked beneath the covers. Chun He brought over the porridge. Qi Xiao took it, stirred it with a spoon, then scooped up a spoonful and blew on it.

"Open your mouth."

Qi Yu opened his mouth and took it. The porridge was sweet, the longan flesh stewed so soft that it melted in his mouth. He swallowed and opened his mouth again. Qi Xiao fed him a second spoonful, then a third. At the fourth spoonful, Qi Yu turned his head away.

"I want cake."

"Two more mouthfuls."

"One."

"Two." Qi Xiao scooped up a spoonful of porridge and held it to his lips. Qi Yu opened his mouth and took it, then took another mouthful. He kept staring at the plate of Osmanthus Cake. Qi Xiao put down the porridge bowl, picked up a piece of Osmanthus Cake with his chopsticks, set it on a small plate, and handed it to him. Qi Yu took it and bit into it. As he chewed the cake, his cheeks bulged, and his expression relaxed a little.

Qi Xiao watched him eat the cake and picked up a piece himself. He had told the Imperial Kitchen to steam the Osmanthus Cake to Qi Yu's taste, using only half the usual amount of sugar. He took a bite and found it a little too sweet. But Qi Yu liked it. The boy had loved sweets since he was small. As a child, he had sneaked Osmanthus Cake from the Imperial Kitchen and ended up with a toothache so bad that he rolled around on the bed. Once he recovered, he went right back to eating it.

"If there's a thorn in your heart again, tell me. Don't leave it lodged there." Qi Xiao did not look at Qi Yu as he spoke, lowering his head to put some choy sum into Qi Yu's bowl with his chopsticks.

Qi Yu's chewing slowed. He swallowed the cake in his mouth and licked the grains of sugar from the corner of his lips. "Then if I tell you, will you listen?"

"I will."

"Then Jiang Baolin..." Qi Yu stopped after saying her name. He stuffed the remaining half of the Osmanthus Cake into his mouth, his cheeks bulging high, as though he meant to chew up that name and swallow it back down.

Qi Xiao put down his chopsticks and leaned against the back of the chair, watching him. He waited a moment, until Qi Yu had swallowed the cake in his mouth, before speaking. "I didn't think things through properly with Jiang Baolin."

Qi Yu kept his head lowered, tracing his finger back and forth along the edge of the plate. "When she plays the zither, you close your eyes and listen. When she massages your shoulders, you don't move away either. You never let anyone touch you. You won't even let Eunuch De'an massage your shoulders." His voice grew softer and softer as he spoke, the last word barely escaping his throat.

"I won't let her do it again," Qi Xiao said.

Qi Yu raised his head, his eyes red, though he was not crying. "What about playing the zither?"

"Do you want to hear it? If you do, I'll have her play. If you don't, I won't listen."

Qi Yu stared at him for a while, as though trying to decide whether he meant it or was only coaxing him. Then he lowered his head and leaned back into Qi Xiao's arms. "I don't want to hear it," he said in a muffled voice. "Don't let anyone else massage your shoulders anymore. I can learn. I'll ask an imperial physician to teach me. Imperial Physician Zhou at the Imperial Medical Bureau knows bone-setting and massage."

Qi Xiao looked down at the head buried against his chest once more. "All right."