As soon as Ye Jingyu ran away, the palace servants of Weiyang Palace snapped out of their daze, bowed to Ye Jingchen, and hurriedly chased after him.
Since the young master almost got into trouble last time, the Imperial Concubine gave a strict order that no one should be left by the young master's side at any time, otherwise all the palace servants serving him would be executed.
Ye Jingchen watched the little dumpling run off into the distance and smiled smugly.
He is very experienced in dealing with children; sometimes, what children mean by "hate" is not actually hate.
For example, little Ye Jingyu was very pleased with the praise he just received.
No child dislikes being praised, not even a prince.
“Let’s follow them,” Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
Ye Jingyu was young and couldn't run fast. After running for a while, he got tired and started walking instead of running. He also stopped covering his face.
He felt a little guilty thinking about what he had said to his older brother before he ran away. He had said so loudly that he hated the other person. He wondered if his older brother would be sad.
Thinking this, he glanced back, wondering if he could still see the pavilion and the people inside. But when he turned around, he met a pair of smiling eyes.
His older brother was right behind him, not far away, watching him and smiling.
He stopped and asked in what he thought was his fiercest voice, "What are you doing following me?!"
The three-headed figure was interesting even when it walked. Ye Jingchen followed Ye Jingyu silently like a ghost, staring at his back and the back of his head. Suddenly, Ye Jingyu turned around, and their eyes met.
"I'll take you to see your father and mother!" Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
"I don't want to go with you!" Ye Jingyu said angrily, her chubby face getting even rounder.
"That won't do. If I go alone, your mother will think I've done something to you!" Ye Jingchen said, taking a few quick steps to Ye Jingyu's side and taking his chubby little hand without further ado.
Ye Jingyu struggled for a moment, but unfortunately, he was small and weak, and he couldn't break free from the hands of someone two years older than him.
He looked to Suzhi for help.
Suzhi glanced at him, then at the smiling Crown Prince, and finally looked up at the sky.
Blue skies and white clouds, what a beautiful day!
"Brother Jingyu, Weiyang Palace is so beautiful, even more beautiful than my Eastern Palace!" Ye Jingchen exclaimed sincerely.
Of course, beauty is secondary; the most important thing is luxury.
Not only were the carved beams and painted pillars of the palace gilded, but even the lampposts along the roadside were filled with round beads the size of a child's fist.
Ye Jingchen had reasonable grounds to suspect that these beads were luminous pearls, but he had no evidence.
Although he really wanted to verify it, he couldn't just reach out and pry a bead off to take a look, as such behavior was inconsistent with his status.
Ye Jingchen merely made a casual remark, but the expressions of the several Weiyang Palace servants beside Ye Jingyu all changed.
Suzhi smiled and said cautiously, "Your Highness is joking. Weiyang Palace is just the palace of the Noble Consort, and its scale is naturally not comparable to that of the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace."
The smile was forced.
"I'm not joking. What does beauty have to do with regulations?" Ye Jingchen asked, feigning innocence.
Suzhi dared not say anything more.
Throughout the rest of the journey, Ye Jingchen kept talking, praising the gold necklace around Ye Jingyu's neck.
Yes, the Imperial Concubine placed a pure gold collar around Ye Jingyu's neck, with a pure gold longevity lock hanging from it, enough to blind anyone.
After praising the necklace, they praised the longevity lock; after praising the longevity lock, they praised Ye Jingyu's clothes; and after praising the clothes, they praised the little boots.
In short, he praised everything from top to bottom, from head to toe, all the way to the main hall of Weiyang Palace.
Ye Jingyu was already dizzy from his praise, and in a daze, he was led all the way to the main hall, looking extremely obedient.
The palace servants who followed them all had strange expressions on their faces, unsure of what to do.
In the main hall, the emperor and the imperial concubine sat on opposite sides, neither of them speaking, and the palace servants serving them dared not even breathe loudly.
The atmosphere was awkward and tense.
But Ye Jingchen seemed oblivious to the awkward atmosphere. As soon as he entered the main hall, he led Ye Jingyu and jogged to the emperor, saying, "Father, my little brother Jingyu and I are back!"
Upon seeing Ye Jingchen appear, the emperor, who had been expressionless, revealed a loving smile, reached out and patted Ye Jingchen's head, and asked with a smile, "Chen'er, have you finished whispering with your brother?"
"I'm done!" Ye Jingchen stuck out his tongue and said with a smile.
Then, feigning innocence, she asked, "Did Father and the Imperial Concubine also whisper to each other?"
The emperor was stunned for a moment, then chuckled.
He reached out and patted Ye Jingchen's head again, "You're such a clever little devil!"
Watching the scene of the emperor and the crown prince being kind and filial, and then looking at the child beside her who had been neglected by the emperor from beginning to end but still looked at the emperor with adoring eyes, Ji Wushuang revealed a mocking smile.
She got up and stepped forward, covering her son's eyes with one hand and taking his hand from the prince's with the other, then sat back down in her original seat with her child in her arms.
She had thought that even if the emperor didn't like her very much, he still had some affection for her. But at this moment, she clearly realized how naive and ridiculous her previous thoughts had been.
The emperor loved the late empress, so he extended his affection to her children as well; the emperor did not love her, so he ignored her children.
She regretted it.
If she had known earlier that the emperor was such a deeply affectionate yet ruthless person, she would never have entered the palace as a concubine, much less have given birth to Jingyu, leaving her child fatherless from birth.
"Father, my little brother Jingyu told me he misses you a lot. Can you hug him?" Ye Jingchen reached out and tugged at the emperor's sleeve, pleading.
Ye Jingchen clearly saw Ye Jingyu's envious gaze and the Consort's actions. As his first chosen ally, Ye Jingchen valued the Ji family behind the Consort and her love-struck nature. Ye Jingchen would never give her a chance to get rid of her love-struck mind!
"I didn't! You're talking nonsense!" Ye Jingyu pulled down his mother's hand that was covering his eyes and glared angrily at Ye Jingchen.
When did he ever say such a thing?
My cheap brother is definitely not a good person; he lies without even blinking an eye!
"Jingyu, don't be shy. You are also Father's child, my own brother. Father is your father. What's wrong with being hugged by your own father? Father's embrace is warm and broad, and it makes you feel especially safe. Why don't you try it?" Ye Jingchen coaxed patiently.
The emperor was both touched and amused. He reached out and gently patted Ye Jingchen's bottom, laughing and scolding, "You brat, you really forget your father now that you have a younger brother. You haven't even asked me if I'm willing!"
Ye Jingchen shuddered, quickly covering his buttocks with both hands, glaring angrily at the emperor, his face burning red.
What's wrong with this emperor?
How could you spank him? Especially in front of so many people!
Even if it were the original owner, she would already be eight years old now, no longer old enough to be spanked!
Ye Jingchen was so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a hole!
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