Qi Qi and Aunt Chunqin stepped forward together and knelt down helplessly: "This servant Qi Laibao greets Your Majesty the Empress and wishes Your Majesty a thousand years of life."

"Greetings, Ninth Prince..."

The person behind the curtain on the bed sat up as soon as the words were spoken: "You've come?"

The Empress's voice was gentle and refined, yet imposing: "Get up, come here and let me see you."

Qi Qi stepped forward and was also looked up and down by the Empress: "How old are you this year?"

Qi Qi couldn't help but look up at her: "Six years old."

Chunqin said, "How can you be so disrespectful as to look directly at someone of such high status! You must address Your Majesty before answering."

Qi Qi quickly lowered his head.

The Empress then said, "It's nothing. You can learn the rules slowly. Do you know why I called you here today?"

Seeing the Ninth Prince's pale face and the way he raised an eyebrow at him, Qi Qi thought to himself, "You Ninth Prince, are you planning to bring me here to serve you?"

"This servant does not know."

The child's words were innocent and cute, but he did seem a little dim-witted. However, since this was the person her son had specifically requested, the Empress glanced at her son's more alert face and sighed inwardly.

"From now on, you will serve as a page to the Ninth Prince."

Qi Qi: "..."

The Empress didn't seem to be in good health either. After gently asking Qi Qi a few more questions about his life since entering the palace, she left.

This was a gentle woman inside and out, with a pleasant aura and a faint, warm floral scent. Qi Qi had rarely seen such a woman. After she failed to feed him the medicine and left the palace, he whispered, "Ninth Prince, Her Majesty the Empress is so beautiful."

The maids and eunuchs standing nearby: ...How dare you!

The Ninth Prince snorted coldly and chased the crowd around him out: "Annoying! Get out!"

After everyone had left, he said, "How was it? Were you surprised or scared? From now on, you're mine, and I can punish you anytime."

Qi Qi didn't bother arguing with the rude sick child. Since the die was cast, and besides, the Ninth Prince seemed like a decent person despite his irritating appearance—he was just lip service and hadn't actually punished him—he could only resign himself to his fate and earnestly said:

"I will be obedient, Your Highness, please protect me and don't let anyone bully me."

The Ninth Prince remained noncommittal: "So you're being sensible today?"

Qi Qi said, "Because I've already arrived..." Seeing the Ninth Prince narrow his eyes, Qi Qi quickly said, "Your Highness, I didn't see you in the Imperial Study yesterday. So you didn't come because you were sick."

The Ninth Prince, leaning against several soft pillows and fiddling with the jade pendant in his hand, asked upon hearing this, "You came to find me?"

Qi Qi: "...No, it's just, uh, I really miss Your Highness, and you looked so handsome riding a horse that day!"

Qi Qi launched a sweetheart attack on the Ninth Prince, trying to use his smile to make the Ninth Prince understand that he was a good person and had decided to submit to him, please him, cling to his coattails, beg to lie down, beg to not do any work, and beg to eat delicious food every day...

Whether the Ninth Prince believed him or not, he simply grinned and arrogantly said, "Glib talker."

Qi Qi glanced at the small bowl of medicine being warmed with hot water beside him, hesitated for a moment, and the Ninth Prince immediately said, "No way! This is just a tonic, there's no need for me to drink it!"

Qi Qi looked at him strangely: "No way? Your Highness, don't you feel a bit stuffy in the room...?"

The Ninth Prince then said warily, "Where do you think you're going? No way! You'll stay here and serve me properly! You'll also have to drink your medicine later, or you'll fall ill!"

Qi Qi: "Oh no, I wanted to ask if we can open the windows here to let in some fresh air? It's so stuffy, it takes forever to get sick."

The Ninth Prince choked for a moment: "...How did you know?"

Qi Qi had begun to find the Ninth Prince easy to talk to.

So, without batting an eye, he said, "It was a pitch-black night... I was sick with a high fever, and it had just rained heavily in the village, so the roads were wet... I heard some gurgling noises all around... and then there was a knock on my door..."

The Ninth Prince thought he was going to tell a ghost story, his eyes lit up, and he automatically pulled the blanket up to cover his stomach.

Qi Qi: "Is Old Qi home... Is Old Qi home..." An aged voice sounded from outside the door...

The Ninth Prince swallowed hard. Qi Qi handed him the medicine bowl and continued, "After the door opened, a dark figure appeared at my doorway... He covered his face with a white cloth, his eyes were as black as ink, and his withered hands reached out to me, the exposed skin resembling the bark of a hundred-year-old tree at the village entrance..."

What's going on? Why does this feel even more immersive than the ghost stories in the palace? The Ninth Prince swallowed hard, then subconsciously drank the water—no, the medicine—from the bowl, his face contorting in pain from the bitter taste.

Qi Qi carefully took out a handful of dried plums that he had hurriedly grabbed from his bosom, gave one to him, and then sucked on one himself, trying to relieve his hunger.

It's sweet and sour, and the more you eat, the hungrier you get.

Ninth Prince: "And then?"

Qi Qi said, "Then he opened the window in the room and said it was too stuffy. He said that if he didn't get sick, he would die of suffocation."

Ninth Prince: "..."

He chewed on a dried plum and said through gritted teeth, "How dare you! You dare to lie to this prince!"

Qi Qi: "I didn't!"

Ninth Prince: "You tricked me into drinking the medicine!"

Qi Qi honestly replied, "No, it's just that this medicine smells terrible here. Since His Highness is sick, it would be a waste if he didn't drink it."

The Ninth Prince had been suffering from insomnia all night and had a fever, so he was in a bad mood when he woke up in the morning. Now that he was in a better mood, a little flame was inexplicably ignited in his heart: "Come here!"

Qi Qi covered his face and huddled inside the bed curtains, pleading, "Please don't pinch my face, please don't hit my palms, I beg you."

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