The next morning, Ye Jingchen was woken up by Fangfei as usual. He dressed and washed himself with his eyes closed. When he finished getting ready and left the palace, he did not see the little figure waiting outside.
"Where's Jinghe?" he asked curiously.
Ye Jinghe was usually much more proactive than him. Every time he walked out of his bedchamber, he would see the little guy waiting anxiously at the door.
If someone who doesn't know the truth saw this, they might think he was mistreating Ye Jinghe and deliberately making Ye Jinghe stand as punishment at the entrance of his bedroom early in the morning!
In fact, even if a palace maid brought a stool and placed it in front of him, Ye Jinghe would not sit down.
"I want to see my brother first, and I also want my brother to see me first."
The little guy is always particularly stubborn about some inexplicable things, and Ye Jingchen can't do anything about it.
In ancient times, there was a stone that longed for a husband; now, there is a stone that longs for a brother.
But it's really strange that the Wangxiong Stone isn't here today.
“The Fifth Prince seems to still be in his bedchamber,” Fangcao said. “I’ve been keeping an eye on him, and he hasn’t left his bedchamber yet.”
A little dumpling who used to come to the Crown Prince's bedroom door on time every day suddenly stopped coming. They couldn't help but pay attention to her while being curious.
Ye Jingchen had a bad feeling.
Ye Jinghe is different from him. Although he is young, he is a very self-disciplined child. He never stays in bed late or oversleeps.
Is he sick?
Or perhaps it's a case of 'reluctance' kicking in?
"Go to the side hall," Ye Jingchen instructed, and quickly walked towards the side hall.
It's just a few steps, and you'll arrive in no time.
Fangxi and Fangrui have always been the ones taking care of Ye Jinghe.
There was no one at the entrance of the side hall. The door was ajar. Ye Jingchen pushed the door open and went in. He saw Ye Jinghe sitting in front of the dressing table in the bedroom. Fang Xi and Fang Rui were surrounding him, and he didn't know what they were doing.
But what use is a dressing table to a little boy?
The noise of him pushing the door startled the three people, and Fangxi and Fangrui subconsciously stepped to the side to shield Ye Jinghe behind them.
This was just an unconscious action on their part. As soon as they met Ye Jingchen's questioning gaze, they immediately realized that their actions were inappropriate and quickly moved aside.
In the process of blocking and yielding, Ye Jingchen had already walked over.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Jinghe, why are you covering your face?"
Ye Jinghe covered his face with both hands, even his eyes.
"Brother, I have something growing on my face, it looks awful. Could you please not look at me for now, and wait until they cover it up before you look?" Ye Jinghe covered his eyes completely, so his vision was completely dark. He couldn't see his brother, so he could only speak cautiously in the direction his brother was.
Something growing?
This issue can be big or small, so we can't be careless.
"What's wrong with his face?" Ye Jingchen asked Fang Xi and Fang Rui immediately.
The two palace maids knelt down with two thuds and said in unison, "We are guilty!"
Their posture made Ye Jingchen even more uneasy.
"Don't rush to confess. What exactly is growing on his face? Why wasn't the imperial physician called?!" Ye Jingchen questioned.
"This... Your Highness... the Fifth Prince, he..." Fangrui looked at Ye Jingchen, then at Ye Jinghe, her expression subtle, not exactly fearful, but rather something that was hard to put into words.
"Your Highness, you should see for yourself. We servants can't really say anything!" Fangxi said loudly, her head bowed.
Upon hearing this, Ye Jingchen stepped forward and tried to remove Ye Jinghe's hand.
He wanted to see exactly what was growing on Ye Jinghe's face!
"Brother, I'm fine, can you go out first—" Ye Jinghe covered his face tightly.
"No!" Ye Jingchen refused outright, using some force to press down on Ye Jinghe's shoulder with one hand and pry his hand off with the other.
Despite the four-year age difference, there was a significant difference in strength. Ye Jingchen slowly moved Ye Jinghe's hand away, and when he saw Ye Jinghe's little face, he couldn't help but laugh.
Ye Jinghe did indeed have something growing on his face, including dark circles under his eyes.
Seeing that her brother had already seen her face, and that there was no point in hiding it anymore, Ye Jinghe simply exposed her entire face to Ye Jingchen.
"Pfft—" Ye Jingchen laughed out loud again when he saw Ye Jinghe's pair of very symmetrical dark circles under his eyes.
What are you doing—
"Didn't you sleep last night? How did you end up like this?" Ye Jingchen's smile faded, and he asked with a serious expression.
Aside from his prominent dark circles, Ye Jinghe's face showed obvious signs of fatigue.
Based on Ye Jingchen's past experience of staying up all night, Ye Jinghe must have also not slept all night, otherwise his little face wouldn't look so haggard!
Ye Jinghe didn't speak, but simply lowered his head silently.
"Fang Xifangrui, how are you taking care of the Fifth Prince? Why did he become like this?" Ye Jingchen asked the two palace maids who were taking care of him when Ye Jinghe remained silent.
"Your Highness, the Fifth Prince never allows his servants to attend him to bed at night. This morning, when he didn't summon us, we dared to enter the palace and found him playing with the Nine Linked Rings," Fangrui said cautiously.
"I wonder where the Fifth Prince got his nine-linked rings. Judging from how engrossed he was, he probably played with them all night," Fang Xi chimed in.
Ye Jingchen: ...
Ye Jingchen looked at Ye Jinghe and met his guilty little eyes.
"Did you really play all night?" Ye Jingchen asked incredulously.
"I just want to untangle them," Ye Jinghe said softly.
"Have you untied it yet?" Ye Jingchen asked, suppressing his anger.
"No, it's too difficult, I can't solve it," Ye Jinghe said, frowning and unwilling to give up.
"Since you've discovered you can't solve it, why don't you just go to sleep?" Ye Jingchen questioned.
"If it can't be solved now, maybe it can be solved in the next moment?" Ye Jinghe said with anticipation.
Ye Jingchen was amused by his answer; at that moment, he truly witnessed Ye Jinghe's persistence.
"Give me the Nine Linked Rings." Ye Jingchen reached out to Ye Jinghe.
“But I haven’t untied it yet,” Ye Jinghe said, unwilling to give up.
"If you don't untie it, are you going to stop sleeping, eating, going to class, and doing anything else?" Ye Jingchen retorted.
"I can definitely solve it, brother, you have to believe me," Ye Jinghe said earnestly.
"But what you need most right now is a good rest. Do you know how much damage staying up all night can do to your body?"
"I've stayed up all night before too, and it never happened to me," Ye Jinghe said dismissively.
"Before—" Ye Jingchen was initially very angry, but upon hearing him say this and thinking of what he had gone through before, his heartache for him overcame his anger, and his voice softened unconsciously, "Before, it was out of necessity, but not now. Now you should get some sleep. Only when people are well-rested can they grow up healthily."
“Alright—” Ye Jinghe took out the nine-linked rings hidden in his sleeve and handed them to Ye Jingchen.
He was always helpless against his gentle and soft-spoken older brother.
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