Two days before Ye Jingshu's birthday, Ye Jingchen left the palace to retrieve a birthday gift specially made for her.

Having written storybooks for Ye Jingchen for so many years, Liu Wenxuan had some guesses about his identity, but he was a smart man and never took the initiative to confirm the matter.

Ye Jingchen originally planned to enter the imperial court after he came of age. Two years before entering the court, he would not ask Liu Wenxuan to write stories, so as to avoid embarrassment when they met in the court.

But it seems that things are changing faster than planned.

So before leaving, Ye Jingchen gave him an invitation to the Princess's birthday banquet.

The moment Liu Wenxuan saw the invitation, his expression turned somewhat strange.

He probably wanted to look shocked, but he didn't have Ye Jingchen's masterful acting skills, so his expression was stiff.

After a moment, he gave up, smiled awkwardly at Ye Jingchen, took three steps back, straightened his clothes, and solemnly performed a kneeling bow, "Your humble servant greets Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Previously, Ye Jingchen concealed his identity from him. Even if he guessed Ye Jingchen's identity, as long as he didn't reveal it, their relationship was just a normal employer-employee relationship.

But this invitation was tantamount to Ye Jingchen revealing his identity to him. Naturally, his attitude would be different when facing a sugar daddy and when facing His Highness the Crown Prince.

"No need for formalities! I have kept my promise and have not revealed Lord Liu's identity to anyone, but Lord Liu himself needs to be careful, after all, Mr. Xuanji's fans are all over the capital!" Ye Jingchen joked.

Mr. Xuanji is the pen name that Liu Wenxuan gave himself.

Given Liu Wenxuan's current fame, if his true identity were exposed, he would certainly be adored by thousands, but he might lose his prestigious position as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, as the censors would undoubtedly launch a verbal and written attack against him.

"Thank you for the reminder, Your Highness!" Liu Wenxuan said, trembling with fear.

Although he entered the Hanlin Academy, Liu Wenxuan and his mother still lived in the same place as before, not far from Zhizhi's courtyard.

After leaving the Liu family, Ye Jingchen went to find Zhizhi.

He had always thought that Ye Jingshu and Zhizhi could be friends, and he still thinks so now.

So he also gave Zhiyi an invitation.

"Is it really okay for ordinary people like us to attend Princess Zhaoming's birthday banquet? Won't we embarrass the princess?" Zhizhi asked, somewhat at a loss, holding the invitation.

She was acquainted with Xie Shaoling, and they even addressed each other as brother and sister. Knowing that Xie Shaoling was the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo, it was only a matter of time before she deduced his identity from his attitude.

What's more, the things Ye Jingchen asked them to do were so strange!

"No, I've mentioned you to my elder sister before. She admires you very much and has always wanted to meet you!" Ye Jingchen said with a smile.

He did have other ideas when he helped Zhizhi and the others back then, but since Zhizhi had met Xie Shaoling, he had to give up his previous thoughts in order to leave a good impression on Xie Shaoling.

However, he knew they were all good children who had been diligently collecting prices of goods in the capital for him all these years without ever slacking off.

Moreover, perhaps because they had been doing these kinds of small things for a long time, each of them had a very keen intuition. In addition to collecting prices, they would also collect information about what ordinary people in the capital were talking about during their leisure time.

The information gathered at first was rather disorganized, but later, perhaps after they guessed his identity, the information presented to him became categorized and clearly organized.

Originally, there were only seven children in this courtyard, including Zhizhi, but over the years Zhizhi has taken in some more children, making a total of more than a dozen.

They come from all age groups.

There are many orphans without parents in the capital city. Some can enter the orphanage, while others cannot.

The children Zhizhi took in were all those who, for various reasons, could not enter the orphanage and had to beg on the streets to survive.

Seven years have passed. Although the little girl has grown up, she still hasn't forgotten her original aspiration and has a compassionate heart to help people and save lives.

Yes, and a grateful heart.

When they first met, it was Chenxi who saved her, so she has always liked Chenxi very much. Even after so many years, she still calls Chenxi by the same name she used to call him.

"Big brother, how have you been lately?"

Every time Ye Jingchen and Chenxi came here together, she would ask them this question.

However, her gaze towards the dawn was clear, filled only with pure joy, without any other emotions mixed in.

As always, Chenxi was sparing with words, simply nodding.

"Zhizhi likes you so much, what's wrong with you saying a few words to her?" After leaving the courtyard, Ye Jingchen said with a hint of exasperation.

If Chenxi hadn't been so cold, and Zhizhi hadn't liked him so much, maybe something could have happened between them?

In Chenxi's eyes, his words were useless nonsense, and naturally, he received no response.

Ye Jingchen had also made an appointment with Xie Chang'an today. He entered the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion through the side gate and found Xie Chang'an already sitting under the peach tree waiting for him inside Chang'an Residence.

In the past two years, the emperor has not been as strict with Ye Jingchen's studies as before, and has turned a blind eye to his leaving the palace. Therefore, if Ye Jingchen wants to discuss something with Xie Chang'an, they usually do so outside the palace.

Xie Chang'an's temperament was completely different from Xie Shaoling's, but as he grew older, he began to resemble Xie Shaoling quite a bit. Every time the emperor saw him, his eyes would look very subtle.

Over the years, ever since Xie Shaoling's acquaintance with them was made public to the emperor, Ye Jingchen had deliberately stirred up conversations several times when the emperor was in a good mood, getting the children to speak well of Xie Shaoling in front of the emperor. However, all of this had little effect. The emperor's prejudice against Xie Shaoling did not diminish in the slightest because all the children had a good impression of him; on the contrary, he became even more jealous.

Fearing that he might make things worse, Ye Jingchen didn't try again.

Xie Chang'an looks like a combination of Xie Shaoling and Xu Jingjing, and he combines all the advantages of both of them. You can tell at a glance that he is their child.

The emperor didn't care about Xu Jingjing, so in his eyes, Xie Chang'an was a spitting image of Xie Shaoling.

Because of the saying "love me, love my dog," the emperor not only disliked Xie Chang'an, but there were also people in the Eastern Palace watching his every move.

Therefore, they could only keep their distance from each other in the palace.

"In a few days, the Crown Prince, who is not worthy of being seen in public, will be making his appearance in court. I wonder what you are thinking at this moment?" Xie Chang'an asked with schadenfreude after seeing Ye Jingchen.

Xie Chang'an had been waiting for this day ever since he learned that the emperor had issued an edict requiring Ye Jingchen to come to court.

He wanted to see what method Ye Jingchen could use to escape attending court, given that the emperor had already issued an edict!

"It's just being a mascot in the Golden Palace, what could you possibly feel about that?" Ye Jingchen said irritably.

Attending court doesn't necessarily mean he has to work hard and improve himself.

However, attending court meant he had to get up even earlier than before, which was something he found hard to accept!