"Father! I'm not a child anymore, how could you do this?!" Ye Jingchen glared at the emperor, questioning him with a mixture of grief and indignation.

"What about me?" The emperor found Ye Jingchen's reaction amusing and asked the question knowing the answer, deliberately teasing him.

Just as Ye Jingchen was about to argue with the emperor, he noticed Ji Wushuang's increasingly cold expression and immediately sensed something was wrong. He quickly pulled the emperor toward Ji Wushuang.

"Father, please give him a hug. Jingyu is so cute, don't you really want to hug him?"

Although Ji Wushuang in the novel was initially portrayed as someone obsessed with love, Ye Jingchen observed that even if she was, the degree of it wasn't profound.

Moreover, now that she has a child and is a mother, a woman becomes strong when she becomes a mother. Given the emperor's indifference towards Ye Jingyu, perhaps one day her romantic obsession will be cured without any medicine.

In the royal family, a sober mother is far more troublesome than a love-struck, irrational one!

Ye Jingchen exerted all his strength, and perhaps sensing his determination, the emperor finally agreed to cooperate.

He took a single step and walked right up to Ji Wushuang. Ji Wushuang quickly stood up, holding the child, and looked at the emperor in disbelief.

The emperor stretched out his hands towards Ye Jingyu in Ji Wushuang's arms and asked with a smile, "Jingyu, would you like your father to hold you?"

The little boy's eyes suddenly lit up.

He hesitated only for a moment before happily extending his hand to the emperor.

Ji Wushuang felt a mix of sadness and relief, and cooperatively handed Ye Jingyu to the emperor.

Ye Jingyu was two years younger than Ye Jingchen. Not only was he much shorter, but he was also much lighter. However, he was very soft and had a faint milky scent.

Although the emperor was somewhat reluctant when he held him, he felt a surge of fatherly joy once he did.

He was particularly pleased to see the admiration and longing in Ye Jingyu's eyes as he looked at him.

After holding the child for a while, Ji Wushuang worried that the emperor would get impatient, so she made an excuse to take the child away.

Ye Jingyu's brief experience as a father has come to an end.

When she returned to her mother's arms, there was still a slight hint of disappointment on her face.

Unlike his mother's gentle and fragrant embrace, his father's embrace was warm and open, just as his older brother had said, it felt very safe.

The emperor was in a good mood and praised Ji Wushuang, saying that she had raised the third prince very well and rewarded her with many things.

The emperor had a handsome appearance; otherwise, Ji Wushuang wouldn't have fallen in love with him at first sight. Moreover, those in power are adept at winning people's hearts, and as long as he showed a little tenderness, Ji Wushuang would visibly become happy.

After appeasing the emperor, he left Weiyang Palace with Ye Jingchen.

Chengqian Palace and East Palace are located in different parts of the same direction. After the emperor carried Ye Jingchen onto the palanquin, he ordered that they go to the East Palace first.

The palanquin passed through the middle of the Imperial Garden.

Sitting in a palanquin, the view is much wider, and you can see more scenery.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. After a while, Ye Jingchen could barely accept sitting on the emperor's lap.

He couldn't refuse, the palanquin was only so big, where else could he sit if not on the emperor's lap?

Spring is the season when all flowers are in full bloom, and none of the flowers cultivated in the Imperial Garden are ordinary. Ye Jingchen admired the beauty of the Imperial Garden and felt that he couldn't take it all in.

"Why are you being so generous today, Chen'er? Didn't you used to dislike your father being close to your younger brothers?" the emperor suddenly asked.

Ye Jingchen looked away and met the emperor's probing gaze.

Ye Jingchen's heart skipped a beat.

In Weiyang Palace, he was so busy doing favors for Ji Wushuang and her son that he overlooked the fact that, given the original owner's personality, it was impossible for her to willingly let the emperor hold Ye Jingyu.

Of course, given the original owner's personality, it was impossible for him to bring gifts to the Imperial Concubine and her son; he would rather humiliate them!

However, since he has taken over the body of the original owner, he cannot follow the original owner's old path; instead, he must make changes.

His desire to change will inevitably arouse suspicion.

He had already prepared his explanation and countermeasures for this.

Ye Jingchen's initial excitement visibly faded. After a long pause, he first let out a mock sigh before speaking, "Actually, I wasn't happy at all when I saw Father Emperor holding Third Brother."

"If you're unhappy, why do you do this?" the emperor asked, puzzled.

“Before, I was afraid that Father would prefer my newborn brother and stop liking me, so I didn’t want Father to get close to them. But after falling into the water this time, I thought I was going to die. I was very scared and regretful. If I really died, how sad you would be, Father. If your other brothers were by your side, would you be less sad?” Ye Jingchen looked into the Emperor’s eyes and said, his eyes gradually reddening.

It is said that one speaks most sincerely when looking into someone's eyes. Ye Jingchen did not know if the emperor could see his sincerity, but he could clearly see the emperor's emotion.

The emperor embraced Ye Jingchen tightly, as if he were holding his very heart.

"Father, even the pillars in the Imperial Concubine's palace are made of gold. Is she very rich?" Ye Jingchen asked curiously after the emperor had held him for a while.

Of course he knew it was gold plating; he asked that question on purpose.

Sure enough, the emperor laughed at his naive words.

"That's because the pillars were plated with gold. But the Imperial Concubine was a daughter of the Ji family, so she was indeed quite wealthy."

They might be richer than me!

The emperor silently added in his mind.

After all, the Ji family has a thousand-year history, while the Great Yuan Kingdom has only been established for a little over a hundred years.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!