"Put me down, I don't want to rest!" Chunming struggled incessantly.

However, his struggles were like a tickle to Ye Jingchen, who easily carried him to the yard.

"I bought some pastries, let's have some tea and rest for a while." Ye Jingchen helped Chunming sit down on a stool.

"These pastries are your brother's favorites," Ye Jingchen added, seeing that Chunming still wanted to go back to the study.

Chunming stopped in his tracks as he tried to get up.

He wanted to know what his brother liked to eat so that he could buy it for him when he had money in the future.

Xie Chang'an had already opened the pastries that Ye Jingchen had bought.

"Fang Xi—" Ye Jingchen called out.

"What are your orders, Your Highness?" Fangxi asked as she entered the courtyard.

"Go and prepare a pot of hot tea to go with the pastries," Ye Jingchen said.

Fangxi glanced at the pastries, acknowledged the order, and withdrew. A moment later, she brought in a pot of tea.

Ye Jingchen bought peach blossom pastries, and Chunming took a small piece and nibbled on it.

The peach blossom pastry was fragrant and crispy, sweet but not greasy, and Chunming remembered the taste.

"Son, do you want more people to like you?" Ye Jingchen asked casually as he watched him eat pastries.

"I only want my brother," Chunming said.

He actually had a family, but they abandoned him because he couldn't learn to speak.

In fact, he was capable of learning to speak, but he learned slowly and at a later age.

Before being taken in by his brother and brought back to the palace, he had been wandering in another place for more than a year. Few people would be kind enough to give him some food, and most people avoided him like the plague.

He could only eat things that others had discarded, and he had to compete with his own kind and with stray dogs.

He had nowhere to go but to sleep in dilapidated temples, under bridges, or under eaves, where it was hot in summer and cold in winter, sharing his nest with snakes, insects, rats, and ants.

Compared to before, he seemed to be living in a honey pot since his brother took him back to the palace.

He now lives in a beautiful house, with no worries about food or drink. His new home is better than the one he remembers, much better.

And all of this is because of my brother.

So, all he needs is his older brother.

Ye Jingchen was not surprised by his answer. He calmly continued, "So, do you hope that only you are good to your brother? Do you hope that everyone dislikes him and avoids him like the plague?"

"No!" Chunming said without even thinking.

He wanted his brother to be good to him, but he didn't want to be the only one being good to his brother.

My brother is so good, everyone should like him.

"Since you don't want to, then why don't you want to play with me, someone who's good to your brother?" After going around in circles, Ye Jingchen brought the topic back to its starting point.

Seeing that the little brat was already a bit confused, Ye Jingchen pressed on, "Look, I'm only nice to you because I like your brother, so shouldn't you also like the people your brother likes?"

Chunming was completely confused.

He wasn't as smart as Ye Jinghe was when he was young. How could his little head possibly understand such a complicated problem?

"Should I like it?" he asked hesitantly.

"Shouldn't you like it?" Ye Jingchen retorted, his tone certain.

Chunming didn't speak, his small head filled with a big question.

"I'm going to practice calligraphy." After finishing the pastry in his hand, Chunming jumped off the stool and headed towards the study.

"Have a cup of tea to soothe your throat before you go," Ye Jingchen said, handing him the tea that had been poured earlier.

Chunming took the teacup, gulped down the tea, put the empty teacup on the table, and then ran off to the study, afraid that Ye Jingchen would say something else to him or ask him to do something else.

Ye Jingchen watched Chunming run away and smiled in a particularly meaningful way.

He said there was no child he couldn't handle.

"Don't you feel any remorse for deceiving a child like this?" Xie Chang'an asked.

He felt that Ye Jingchen's skill in fooling children was even greater than his own when he was a child.

"No, I'm so happy," Ye Jingchen said with a smile.

After Chunming practiced for a quarter of an hour, Ye Jingchen walked into the study again and said to him, "That's enough for this morning's calligraphy practice. Shall I take you to Zuixianlou for lunch?"

Chunming knew about Zuixianlou, the best restaurant in the capital. He had heard people say that the aroma of Zuixianlou's food and wine could be smelled from three streets away.

He was somewhat tempted to go, but also somewhat afraid.

Ye Jingchen didn't give him a chance to hesitate. He picked him up from the chair and carried him out of the mansion.

Once on the bustling street, Chunming became even more frightened and could only cling tightly to Ye Jingchen's neck.

"Kid, can you loosen your grip a little? You're going to break my neck," Ye Jingchen said, somewhat exaggeratedly.

Chunming glared at him, but loosened his grip on his neck a little.

"Good boy," Ye Jingchen praised.

After having dinner at Zuixianlou, Ye Jingchen took Chunming to inspect Linyuan Bookstore and Tiangong Pavilion. Finally, he took Chunming to Youjian Teahouse for tea, spending the entire afternoon there.

During this time, Chunming repeatedly asked to return to the Prince Qian's residence, but Ye Jingchen always brushed him off with various reasons and excuses.

There's a teahouse where a storyteller performs every day. Chunming couldn't stand it at first, but after listening to the storytelling for a while, he changed his previous resistant and uncooperative attitude and began to lean against the window of the private room, listening with great interest.

"Your Highness, I think I've had enough exercise today," Ye Jingchen asked Xie Chang'an, sipping his tea.

Xie Chang'an glanced at him but didn't say anything.

That's enough.

From the moment they left Prince Qian's residence, Ye Jingchen was either carrying the child or holding the child's hand the entire time, and they did indeed walk quite a distance.

However, Xie Chang'an was somewhat dissatisfied that Ye Jingchen focused most of his attention on the child.

At this moment, Xie Chang'an couldn't help but feel a little fortunate that neither of them could have children. Otherwise, once they had a child, wouldn't his importance in Ye Jingchen's eyes plummet?

After finishing the story downstairs, Chunming immediately asked to return to the Prince Qian's residence.

This time, Ye Jingchen did not refuse and led him slowly toward the Prince Qian's residence.

On the way, I bought him candied hawthorns and sugar figurines.

Ye Jingchen estimated the time very accurately. By the time they returned to Prince Qian's residence, Ye Jinghe had also just returned home.

Ye Jinghe was overjoyed to see Ye Jingchen. He dismounted and walked a few steps to Ye Jingchen.

"Brother!" he called out.

Upon seeing Ye Jinghe, Chunming immediately broke free from Ye Jingchen's grasp, jogged over, and squeezed between Ye Jingchen and Ye Jinghe. She looked up with a sweet smile and called Ye Jinghe "brother."

His reaction was exactly the same as Ye Jinghe's when facing Ye Jingchen.

Ye Jingchen smiled and reached out to pat Chunming's little head.

In his other hand, he held a string of candied hawthorns and small sugar figurines coated in sugar, which he handed to Ye Jinghe.

When he bought things for Chunming, he always bought two portions, one for Chunming and one for Ye Jinghe.

"Thank you, brother!" Ye Jinghe happily accepted it.