When the emperor announced the choice of the crown princess at the morning court session, Ye Jingming, Ye Jingyu, and Ye Jingyu were all stunned.
They couldn't understand why their father would actually choose a male consort for his elder brother/crown prince, and they couldn't understand why the emperor would choose Xie Chang'an!
Not long after the morning court session, the news also reached the others in the Wenhua Hall, including Ye Jinghe, who was leading the guards on patrol of the imperial city.
In order to tell Ye Jinghe the news as soon as possible, Ye Jingyu started searching for Ye Jinghe all over the imperial city after the morning court session, and finally found him after searching several streets.
He didn't even eat breakfast while searching for Ye Jinghe.
"Fifth brother, you don't know yet, do you? Father has chosen Xie Chang'an as the Crown Princess. From now on, Xie Chang'an will be your sister-in-law. He hates you so much, do you think you can still monopolize the Emperor's favor?" Although Ye Jingyu was also shocked by this news, it didn't stop him from using it to attack Ye Jinghe.
"He doesn't like me, but does he like you? I can't monopolize my brother's affection, but do you think you can? You clown!" Ye Jinghe said disdainfully, looking at Ye Jingyu who was trying to provoke him.
"Your reaction...shouldn't you be very angry?" Ye Jingyu asked in surprise, ignoring Ye Jinghe's insult that he was a clown.
Why is Ye Jinghe's reaction so calm?
Shouldn't he be furious and go straight to Xie Chang'an to settle the score?
"I'm furious! How can I not be furious? So, I've decided to beat you up to vent my anger!" Ye Jinghe said, and then started to attack.
He originally intended to punch Ye Jingyu's seemingly harmless face, but the injury on the face would be too obvious, and Ye Jingyu would definitely go to his brother to complain. So, just as his fist was about to hit Ye Jingyu's face, he deviated from his direction and punched Ye Jingyu in the chest instead.
"If you're angry, go find Xie Chang'an! What kind of attitude is this, taking it out on me?!" Ye Jingyu clutched his chest and took several steps back, asking angrily.
"Who told you to provoke me? If I don't beat you up, who will I beat up?!" Ye Jinghe said as he continued to attack.
"You're actually serious?"
"You're still hitting me—"
"I'm going to tell my brother!" Ye Jingyu threatened while frantically parrying the attack.
"You haven't changed at all over the years, all you do is complain!" Ye Jinghe said disdainfully.
"As if you can't tattle? You're the one who loves to tattle the most!" Ye Jingyu said, calling out his bodyguard.
Although he has practiced martial arts over the years, his goal is to enter the Ministry of Rites and pursue a career as a civil official. Unlike Ye Jinghe, he is not as hardworking, so he is no match for Ye Jinghe.
He ordered his guards to hold off Ye Jinghe while he found an opportunity to escape.
"You just wait!" Ye Jingyu shouted as he ran, determined to go to the Eastern Palace to complain to his elder brother, the Emperor!
Ye Jinghe wanted to give chase, but was stopped by Ye Jingyu's bodyguards and could only watch Ye Jingyu run away.
He stopped, feeling disheartened.
Ye Jingyu's bodyguards were no match for him, but he had no interest in fighting the bodyguards; he was only interested in beating up Ye Jingyu.
Especially punching Ye Jingyu's hypocritical face.
Unfortunately, I can only think about it in my heart.
After beating up Ye Jingyu, Ye Jinghe felt that much of the pent-up anger in his heart had dissipated.
It would be even better if we could beat Xie Chang'an up!
Unfortunately, I can only think about it in my heart.
Let's go back to last night.
When Xie Chang'an didn't show up for dinner, Ye Jinghe was overjoyed and happily dined with his brother.
But soon, he lost his joy.
"Jinghe, Father has chosen Xie Chang'an as my Crown Princess, and will announce it to the world at tomorrow's morning court."
After dinner, his brother called him to the study and told him the terrible news.
Ye Jinghe was completely stunned.
It took him a long time to come to his senses, his heart burning with anger.
The emperor is so useless! He actually sacrificed his brother's happiness for the sake of the country. It would be better to let his brother take the throne instead!
“Brother, since the sun and moon never come out, why don’t we change the sky? If we change the sky, those people won’t care whether there’s a sun or a moon in the sky, and no one will dare to force you to marry a man!” Ye Jinghe said earnestly to Ye Jingchen.
No matter how many times he heard it, Ye Jingchen found it hard to get used to Ye Jinghe's occasional rebellious and disrespectful remarks.
"I am willing to marry Xie Chang'an." Before Ye Jinghe could say anything more outrageous, Ye Jingchen quickly told him.
"Father did this to appease the people; it was a helpless move. But I did it voluntarily because I have always liked Xie Chang'an." Fearing Ye Jinghe wouldn't believe him, Ye Jingchen added.
"What kind of 'like' is this, brother?" Ye Jinghe asked, somewhat confused.
"In this life, one must experience three kinds of feelings: family love, friendship, and romantic love. My feelings for you are family love, my feelings for Yun Shu and the others are friendship, and my feelings for Xie Chang'an are romantic love."
"So I'm willing to marry him and I'm looking forward to that day," Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
“But Xie Chang’an is a man, and my brother is also a man,” Ye Jinghe said blankly.
All the love he knew was between a man and a woman; he had never heard of love between men!
"Love has nothing to do with gender; it only depends on whether two hearts like each other," Ye Jingchen replied.
"I don't understand." Ye Jinghe's expression became even more confused. "Does mutual liking equal love? Then I like my brother, and my brother likes me too, so we—"
“We are family! Family affection and romantic love are different!” Ye Jingchen quickly said.
"We share the same blood, and our relationship is much stronger than that of romantic love. Romantic love can disappear or shift, but kinship will not. From birth to death, kinship exists naturally and remains eternally unchanged."
"Does my brother mean that family is more important than romantic love?" Ye Jinghe asked excitedly.
"What I mean is that you never need to worry that I will dislike you. My liking for Xie Chang'an is completely different from my liking for you. It's not that liking Xie Chang'an more means liking you less. The two are not in a zero-sum relationship, understand?"
Ye Jinghe didn't really understand, but he could choose to only listen to what he wanted to hear.
My brother said he would always love him, and that's enough.
In fact, if his brother hadn't told him about this beforehand, and if he had heard it from Ye Jingyu, he might have really done what Ye Jingyu hoped and rushed to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to cause trouble for Xie Chang'an.
So, Ye Jingyu may seem gentle and polite, but he's actually wicked and deserves to be beaten!
He had just hit Ye Jingyu several times. Knowing Ye Jingyu as he did, he knew Ye Jingyu would definitely go to the East Palace to complain to his brother.
But what if his brother found out why he hit Ye Jingyu?
Ye Jinghe felt excited just thinking about it.
He had a feeling that Ye Jingyu was going to be in big trouble this time!
Ye Jinghe immediately ordered several generals to patrol with the guards. He also wanted to go back to the East Palace to complain that Ye Jingyu had deliberately encouraged him to cause trouble for Xie Chang'an!
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