Because he fainted, Xiao Yuncheng was carried into the Imperial Study.

After examining Xiao Yuncheng, the imperial physician knelt before the Emperor of Great Yan and Empress Chen: "Your Majesty and Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince has fainted due to heatstroke and needs to rest in bed. I will now prescribe some cooling soup for His Highness to alleviate his symptoms."

Upon hearing this, Empress Chen waved for the imperial physician to leave, then walked to the bedside, glanced at Xiao Yuncheng, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“When I was pregnant with Cheng’er, I was poisoned by Consort Jiang, which caused Cheng’er to be born with congenital poison and weak constitution. How could he withstand the scorching sun outside?”

The Emperor of Great Yan looked silently at the unconscious Xiao Yuncheng without saying a word.

Consort Jiang did indeed poison and harm the Empress and the Crown Prince in her womb.

But in the end, didn't she also suffer the fate of dying along with her unborn child?

What's past is past, why bring it up again?

Empress Chen glanced at the Emperor out of the corner of her eye. In the past, whenever she brought up this matter, the Emperor would feel extremely guilty towards her. Why was he indifferent today?

Is she still angry with the Crown Prince?

Thinking of this, Empress Chen wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her embroidered handkerchief and said, "When Cheng'er was young, he was kind-hearted and secretly went to the Cold Palace to visit Consort Su and the Ninth Prince. As a result, he was knocked down by the Ninth Prince and hit the back of his head on the floor tiles of the Cold Palace. He still suffers from dizziness to this day. I'm afraid that he may not just have heatstroke, but that his old illness has flared up again!"

The Emperor of Great Yan frowned.

At that time, Xiao Jiu was only a three-year-old child. How could he possibly push the fifteen-year-old Crown Prince?

Moreover, it was the crown prince who secretly went to the Cold Palace.

He cut off the food supply to the Cold Palace for three months because of this, causing Consort Su and Xiao Jiu to starve and have to dig in the dirt to eat and fill their stomachs with tree leaves every day. He has already vented his anger for the Crown Prince, so why does he keep bringing up these old stories?

Recalling these past events, the Emperor of Great Yan spoke with a deep sense of helplessness: "Later you said that the Celestial Master of the Imperial Observatory once said that Xiao Jiu's birth chart was unlucky for the Crown Prince, so I sent him to Qingyun Mountain. Why are you still holding onto Xiao Jiu?"

"What does Your Majesty mean by saying this? Is it a sign of resentment towards me?" Empress Chen stared at the Emperor with red eyes, her eyes filled with grievance and sadness.

Although she is 46 years old, she is well-maintained and still retains a youthful innocence in her eyes and brows. She is still pitiful when she sheds tears.

"You know perfectly well that I can't stand seeing you cry." The Emperor sighed softly, walked to Empress Chen's side, and looked up to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

He and the Empress were childhood sweethearts and stayed together for thirty years.

Thirty years ago, he was the thirteenth prince of the Great Yan Kingdom. His mother was of lowly birth and he was not favored by the emperor, so he could only marry the illegitimate daughter of a fifth-rank official.

The dowry prepared by the Ministry of Revenue for him when he got married was less than the dowry given by a county magistrate when he took a concubine, but his wife never complained about him.

She came to his side when he was down on his luck and became his first wife. She endured a lot of hardship with him, so he always remembered her kindness. The first thing he did after ascending the throne was to prepare a grand investiture ceremony for her, making her his only empress.

But once he became emperor, he needed many concubines in addition to the empress.

Under repeated pressure from his ministers, he welcomed several noble ladies into the palace and selected a few more from among the newly selected women to fill the harem.

He knew that his empress was jealous, prone to tantrums, and disliked his interactions with the other concubines, so he tried his best to accommodate her.

He always turned a blind eye to the affairs of the harem, allowing the Empress to hold absolute power.

As a result, he now has few offspring. Including the little princess Su Fei who died at birth, he had ten children, but now only three sons and one daughter remain.

One of his sons became a monk at Qingyun Mountain and has refused to leave the mountain, return to secular life, or even see his father, the emperor.

Thinking of Xiao Ling, the Emperor of Great Yan's eyes darkened. Xiao Jiu was truly a heartless child.

The previous year, he fell seriously ill, and he issued three imperial edicts summoning Xiao Ling back to the palace, but Xiao Ling refused to come down the mountain to see him. The Taoist priests of Qingyun Mountain even lied to him, saying that he was no longer on Qingyun Mountain, and that his whereabouts were unknown and his fate was uncertain.

"Your Majesty..." Empress Chen choked up and leaned on the emperor's shoulder.

This was inappropriate in front of the princes' concubines, but everyone in the imperial study seemed to take it for granted.

The Emperor snapped out of his reverie and gently patted Empress Chen on the back. "You love your son so much it's like killing him! You spoil the Crown Prince too much!"

Empress Chen lowered her eyes, "How could I not love the children I risked my life to give birth to?"

The emperor sighed helplessly.

Xiao Yunfei stepped forward at the opportune moment and said, "Father, Mother is just worried and confused. She is not unaware of your good intentions. Your Majesty made my elder brother kneel outside the Imperial Study to give an explanation to the officials. It was not that you intended to punish my elder brother. Mother, please do not make things difficult for Father."

After a pause, Xiao Yunfei continued, "It was indeed wrong of my elder brother to speak ill of the veteran generals in the court, but he is straightforward and not good with words. His words may have been unintentional. Rather than having him kneel here, Father, it would be better to have him go to the General's Mansion, prepare generous gifts, and apologize to General Shen."

"As long as my elder brother sincerely apologizes, those old ministers in the court will surely understand Father's good intentions and my elder brother's determination to admit his mistakes. At that time, they will no longer question my elder brother's position as crown prince!"

Xiao Yunfei's words resonated with the Emperor of Great Yan. He looked at Xiao Yunfei with satisfaction: "Of all my children, you are the most sensible!"

"Father is both my father and my king. It is my duty as a subject and a son to share my father's burdens and offer advice to my king." Xiao Yunfei said respectfully.

Xiao Yuncheng had been pretending to be asleep, but upon hearing this, he knew it was time to wake up, so he groggily opened his eyes.

He first glanced at the bright yellow embroidered dragon curtains on the bed, then struggled to sit up: "I... how did I get here? Father told me to kneel outside, but I haven't finished kneeling yet, I want to get out..."

Upon seeing this, Empress Chen immediately rushed to Xiao Yuncheng's side, offered a few words of concern, and then told Xiao Yuncheng about Xiao Yunfei's suggestion.

He added that the emperor had already agreed to the matter.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuncheng hurriedly climbed off the bed, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to express his gratitude: "Thank you, Father! Your son will go to the General's Mansion to apologize with a bundle of thorns on his back!"

The emperor glanced at Xiao Yuncheng and said, "If only you were half as sensible as Xiao Liu!"

Having been spared punishment, Xiao Yuncheng should have been happy, but he was not happy at all.

Seeing the undisguised praise and affection for Prince Jin in his father's eyes, an inexplicable fire suddenly rose in his chest.

From childhood, his father and mother always favored Prince Jin, simply because he was younger. They thought Prince Jin was perfect in every way. If it weren't for the principle of primogeniture for the crown prince, his father might have chosen his sixth brother as the crown prince!

Just then, the Emperor of Great Yan said, "The Dragon Boat Festival is in a few days. You should not return to Jizhou for now. Stay in the capital and spend the festival with your mother!"

Xiao Yunfei: "Thank you, Father!"

——

General's Mansion

After listening to Bai Zhi's report, Shen Yuan also became interested in Fei Yan Tang.