Xie Chang'an glanced at Ye Jingchen and said with a double meaning, "Horses have much more conscience than people. They grew up together since they were babies and have never been separated, so naturally they would be reluctant to part with them!"
Ye Jingchen laughed, "Since Hei Mo is so reluctant to leave Bai Ling, why don't you grant their wish and give Hei Mo to me as well? Don't worry, I won't mistreat Hei Mo!"
Xie Chang'an silently pulled on Hei Mo's reins, "Your Highness is far too greedy!"
"However—it's not that I can't give you Heimer, but if you accept Heimer, you'll also have to accept Heimer's owner."
"Then forget it. It's easy to raise another horse, but it's troublesome to raise another person. I hate trouble the most!" Ye Jingchen said quickly.
Xie Chang'an gritted his teeth, "So, horses have more conscience than people!"
Ye Jingchen smiled at Xie Chang'an, "What is conscience? Don't you always say I have no heart? If I don't even have a heart, where would I get conscience?"
Seeing Ye Jingchen's shameless and even proud attitude, Xie Chang'an really wanted to do something, but unfortunately, the time and place were not right.
At the entrance of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, Ye Jinghe and several Eastern Palace guards were waiting there.
Ye Jinghe stood alone in one place, while several Donggong guards stood in another, clearly separated from each other.
"elder brother!"
"Your Highness!"
Upon seeing Ye Jingchen, they all came forward together, and the previous distance between them disappeared.
"Jinghe, we're heading back to the palace!" Ye Jingchen said, mounting his horse, pulling the reins, and galloping towards the palace gate.
After running for a while, he turned around and saw Xie Chang'an still holding Hei Mo's hand, standing at the entrance of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
Compared to the man and horse, Bai Ling, who didn't even look back, seemed exceptionally heartless.
Ye Jingchen couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"What are you laughing at, brother?" Ye Jinghe turned around and looked back, but didn't find anything funny, so he asked curiously.
"Ahem! It's nothing. Your father demoted you. You went to the guard camp today. Did no one bully you?" Ye Jingchen coughed and asked.
“They wouldn’t dare,” Ye Jinghe said casually.
My brother once said that obeying orders is a soldier's duty, and he doesn't lead disobedient soldiers.
If someone is disobedient, a few beatings will make them obedient.
“If anyone dares to make things difficult for you, fight back. Besides your rank of captain, you also have the status of a prince. As long as you are in the right, you don’t need to worry about anyone!” Ye Jingchen told him.
Ye Jinghe was immediately overjoyed; he and his brother were truly on the same wavelength!
"Don't worry, brother! No one will make things difficult for me!"
After returning to the East Palace, Ye Jingchen personally took Bai Ling to the stable, fed it hay and water, and played with it for a while.
"Brother likes this horse so much, is it because Xie Chang'an gave it to him?" Ye Jinghe had been following along, watching Ye Jingchen do all these things himself, and his heart was filled with envy.
In the past, his older brother would personally feed him, give him water, and play with him. Now that he has grown up, he has easily regained all those privileges with the horse that Xie Chang'an gave him!
"It has a name, Bai Ling. It's a very intelligent little guy, and it will be my partner in battle from now on," Ye Jingchen said while brushing Bai Ling's fur.
On the battlefield, the importance of mounts is self-evident.
Ye Jinghe understood Ye Jingchen's meaning, and his hostility towards Bai Ling vanished instantly. He also came over, wanting to greet Bai Ling.
But Bai Ling didn't seem to like him and wouldn't let him touch her at all. As soon as Ye Jinghe got close, she started to get restless.
Ye Jinghe was immediately disappointed.
This was the first time Ye Jingchen had ever noticed that Bai Ling was actually shy around strangers.
At the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, it clearly got along well with everyone.
"The horse is shy, don't worry. You can feed it tomorrow. Feed it a few more times, and once it gets used to you, it will let you touch it," Ye Jingchen comforted Ye Jinghe, whose disappointment was written all over his face.
Upon hearing this, Ye Jinghe smiled again.
Because he was about to go to the northern frontier, Ye Jingchen handed over his duties in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue. These past few days, apart from attending the morning court and going to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion for classes, he had nothing else to do.
The next day, after the morning court session, Ye Jingchen left the palace and went to the princess's residence.
"What do you want from me? That matter was something Ye Jinghe had to do himself. It was Father who punished him. It has nothing to do with me, and I would never plead with Father for his sake," Ye Jingshu said upon seeing Ye Jingchen.
Ye Jingchen was amused by Ye Jingshu's wary look. "Royal sister, I didn't come to you about this."
"You wouldn't come to my temple without a reason, so what brings you here today?" Ye Jingshu asked, still not letting her guard down.
"Look at the outfit I'm wearing, what do you think?" Ye Jingchen said, opening his arms to show the clothes to Ye Jingshu.
The clothes he is wearing today are the birthday gift that Sister Chenxi gave him this year.
Although Ye Jingshu was puzzled by Ye Jingchen's intentions, she still moved closer to examine the black casual clothes he was wearing.
She wasn't good at needlework, but after opening the Golden Branches and Jade Leaves shop, she saw a lot and naturally learned about it.
When she saw the embroidery on Ye Jingchen's clothes, she felt it looked familiar, and when she touched the fabric, she knew what it was.
"Where did you get this outfit?" she asked.
“Someone gave me a birthday gift, one set every year,” Ye Jingchen said.
"Who sent it?" Ye Jingshu pressed.
"My elder sister has one too, right?" Ye Jingchen asked instead of answering.
“I do receive a new set of clothes every year, but I don’t know who sends them, so I don’t dare to wear them. Fanglan keeps them all,” Ye Jingshu said.
"The person who gave us our birthday gifts was a girl named Chaolu. She owns an embroidery workshop called Chaoyun Workshop. All the embroiderers in Chaoyun Workshop are orphans who were taken in by the Ciyou Hall," Ye Jingchen told Ye Jingshu.
"The Ciyoutang was founded when my mother was alive. She was kind to Chaolu, so she would make us a set of clothes every year as a birthday gift."
“She is a kind girl who knows how to be grateful, but—” Ye Jingshu realized something was wrong, “She is just an ordinary person, how did she manage to send clothes into the palace? Moreover, every set of clothes she made fit perfectly, how did she know my size?”
“My bodyguards Chenxi and Chaolu grew up together. He gave us the clothes, and he also provided our sizes,” Ye Jingchen said.
Ye Jingshu looked at Ye Jingchen thoughtfully, "You've known about this all along?"
“Just a few days ago, Chenxi told me about Chaolu’s existence and our connection with her. Chenxi is going to the Northern Frontier with me, and Chaolu is his weakness, so I hope that you, my elder sister, can protect Chaolu for me, so that Chenxi can feel at ease.” Ye Jingchen didn’t beat around the bush with Ye Jingshu anymore and directly stated his purpose.
Ye Jingshu's expression immediately turned ugly. "Is Chenxi that important to you? With such an obvious weakness, how did he become a bodyguard? Why would Father Emperor assign you a bodyguard with such a weakness?"
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