Jing Yan had always known that Yue Jiang never spoke nonsense, so her words must be unusual.
He subconsciously glanced at Zhang'er a few more times, and whether it was a father and son's unspoken connection or not, Zhang'er was also glancing at him from time to time.
Whenever Jingyan looked over, Zhang'er would quickly look away. When he looked away as well, he could see out of the corner of his eye that Zhang'er had secretly glanced at him again.
Jingyan didn't know what to say. Zhang'er had been separated from him for too long, and it would be easy to scare him if he suddenly got close to him. He would wait until Zhang'er dared to take the initiative to talk to him.
A family of three had a falling out, and the two who were not even acquainted had gotten into a fight.
But Yue Jiang wasn't worried at all that Zhang'er wouldn't accept Jing Yan; there was no one in the palace who dared not speak to the child.
When Jingyan suddenly returned, Zhang'er didn't realize what was going on and was currently looking at him in his mind.
Once he discovers that Jingyan has nothing to fear, Jingyan will be able to understand whether his son is truly introverted or not.
Such a big thing happened yesterday that no one in the palace knew if today would come, so even the time of day was confused.
After noon, Yue Jiang finally had someone serve the meal, and the three of them sat down to eat together.
After Zhang'er was able to eat grains, Yue Jiang felt lonely eating by herself, so she often ate with him herself and didn't let anyone else feed him.
At the dinner table, she had just mixed the vegetable and shrimp rice for Zhang'er. Just as she was about to feed him with a spoon, Zhang'er took the spoon from her and quickly glanced at Jing Yan, clearly intending to hand the spoon to him.
Jingyan's sudden affection for Zhang'er was quite unexpected. He was stunned for a moment, staring at the golden spoon in Zhang'er's little hand for a long time.
Zhang'er thought Jingyan didn't want to feed him and listlessly tried to stop.
Jing Yan quickly took it, accepting Zhang'er's probing, his eyes full of tenderness, and smiled as he took Zhang'er's small bowl from Yue Jiang.
"Father feeds Zhang'er."
He lowered his eyes, scooped up a spoonful of rice mixed with vegetables, and prepared to feed it to Zhang'er. But before he could finish, Zhang'er had already opened his mouth wide, waiting for him to feed him.
Zhang'er ate with great appetite, bite by bite, until the whole bowl of rice was finished. Then Zhang'er let out a burp and said in a childish voice.
"Thank you, Father."
Jing Yan felt a very subtle feeling, which he couldn't explain, but a sense of pride suddenly arose within him after he had just fed Zhang'er a bowl of rice.
After finishing his meal, Zhang'er took out a pale yellow candy from his pocket, jumped off the stool, walked up to Jing Yan, and offered it to his lips.
After giving it to him, Zhang'er ran off to play by himself without saying a word.
Jingyan twirled the sweet candy in his mouth with the tip of his tongue, and asked Yuejiang in a low voice with a hint of curiosity.
"Has Zhang'er accepted me?"
Yue Jiang smiled: "Zhang'er knows how many candies he has. He never eats them all at once, but he's willing to give one to Your Highness. What does Your Highness say?"
Having received a good answer, Jing Yan ate the remaining candy, feeling a surge of warmth and gratitude in his heart.
"Jiang'er, Zhang'er accepted me so quickly, all thanks to you."
Yue Jiang turned to look at Zhang'er and said mysteriously, "Zhang'er has accepted His Highness. Let's see if His Highness can accept Zhang'er."
Jing Yan: "..."
"What's the meaning?"
Yue Jiang didn't answer, but by evening Jing Yan understood what she meant.
Ever since Jingyan fed Zhang'er lunch, Zhang'er had figured out that he wasn't a strict person.
Later, Zhang'er relaxed completely, and his father called out to him the most times in half a day.
Zhang'er makes all sorts of strange and unusual requests, which has made Jingyan doubt himself several times. Was he trying too hard to please Zhang'er in order to make her like him?
In less than half a day, all his authority was gone.
What did you just say?
When Jingyan returned from his bath, he found it hard to believe what Zhang'er had just said, so he asked again hesitantly.
Zhang'er: "Give Father candy, and Father will kowtow to me. Then go back to your palace. I want to sleep with Mother tonight."
Jing Yan heard it perfectly this time. He turned around and glanced at Yue Jiang strangely, then asked uncertainly, "You want me to kowtow to him?"
Yue Jiang couldn't help but chuckle as she listened. She was sitting next to Jing Yan, but Jing Yan turned around and asked her in a serious tone.
Yue Jiang laughed until her stomach hurt. She clutched her stomach and rested her forehead against Jing Yan's shoulder, chuckling softly.
“He loved eating candy even at a young age. His father and mother doted on him. Last New Year’s Eve, when Zhang’er paid his respects to his father and mother, in addition to the gold and silver rewards, the two elders secretly slipped Zhang’er a handful of candy behind the concubine’s back.”
"In the palace, you have to kowtow to everyone you meet. Zhang'er is the emperor's grandson. Whenever he kowtows to his elders, he can always get something back. So remember that you must give something when you kowtow."
“Your Highness has just returned, and he can’t tell whether Your Highness’s Crown Prince is older or his little grandson is older.”
“I am his father,” Jing Yan emphasized, even though he couldn’t tell who was in a higher position and didn’t know what “father” meant.
"Your Highness is putting Zhang'er in a difficult position. He has never left the palace and doesn't even have any playmates. He only knows that the people he sees often are his elders, since there are many more people kneeling before him in the palace."
Yue Jiang shook her head, reached out and touched the corner of Jing Yan's lips, her smile becoming even more strained: "I reminded Your Highness that it's not necessarily that Zhang'er can't accept you, but that Your Highness wants to accept Zhang'er."
"He feeds you whenever he asks you to at lunchtime, and you eat any candy he gives you. You always go along with him. Don't you ever think that Zhang'er is secretly judging who has the power between you two?"
After Yuejiang's explanation, Jingyan realized that Zhang'er was not reserved at all; he was clearly quite as clever as Yuejiang.
They actually used his guilt as a father as a measure of whether he could be bossed around.
Jing Yan immediately became serious and said in a slightly solemn voice.
"Zhang'er, your father doesn't eat candy, and... he won't kowtow to you either, because you are the one who has to kowtow to your father. From now on, you are not allowed to be disrespectful to your father."
Zhang'er scratched his head, not quite understanding. His father had already accepted his candy, so why wasn't he listening to him?
Sleepiness made Zhang'er drowsy, and he was in a bad mood, so he muttered to himself.
"So, Father King doesn't give me candy because he can't make me kowtow. It's not about eating candy. Fine, I won't kowtow then."
After thinking it over, Zhang'er stretched out his little legs and arms to climb onto the bed, but Jing Yan blocked him with his arm: "Not only does Zhang'er have to kowtow to his father, but he also has to listen to his father and go back to his own bedroom to sleep."
Zhang'er seemed so sleepy that her legs went weak, and she knelt down in front of Jing Yan, hugging his leg and rubbing against him: "I can't walk anymore, I'm sleepy."
Just as Jing Yan was about to soften his heart, he suddenly noticed that Yue Jiang had secretly turned her face away, her body trembling slightly as she turned to the side.
This time, he vaguely realized beforehand that Zhang'er was pretending to be confused.
Jing Yan didn't strongly refuse anymore. He bent down and pulled Zhang'er back into his arms, gently patting Zhang'er's back and coaxing him.
"Go to sleep, your father will take off your shoes."
Zhang'er really didn't want to leave, but she was also really sleepy. When Jing Yan held her in his arms, she thought she would stay, and so she let Jing Yan hold and coax her to sleep.
After waiting for a long time, Jing Yan felt that Zhang'er's breathing was gradually becoming more stable. He picked her up and walked outside the hall, handing Zhang'er over to Qingke and Qingfei, and asked them to take Zhang'er back to her room.
When Jing Yan returned, Yue Jiang was already wrapped tightly in the quilt and "slept".
He walked to the bedside and sat down, looking down at Yue Jiang's porcelain-white profile, and said with a wry smile, "Settling accounts."
"Jiang'er, Zhang'er teased me for half a day, and now you're going to tease me too?"
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