He opened his mouth and took a tiny bite. His eyes immediately lit up. “Imperial Father, they really are delicious.”

Yan Yunning glanced at Xuan Yanyu, whose smile stiffened slightly. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Imperial Father, you try some too — Xiaoxiao has never had such a delicious snack before.” The small figure looked at his father with earnest, sincere eyes and held the hawthorn stick, from which he had already taken a bite, out toward Xuan Yanyu’s mouth.

Xuan Yanyu pushed away the stick being offered to his mouth with a mild expression of disdain.

“Imperial Father, why won’t you try it? This subject went out of his way to hold it up to your mouth.” The small figure turned the words right back at him.

Yan Yunning burst out laughing. She poked the man’s arm with one fingertip. “Try one.”

Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow, lowered his head, and bit into one of the sugar-coated hawthorn berries. The sourness made his brow furrow. “Xuan Yuncheng?”

“Pft, pft, pft.” The small figure ran to the bamboo bin and spat out the hawthorn. Ye Chen quickly poured a cup of water and handed it to him. The small figure took a sip, then looked at Xuan Yanyu — whose brow was still furrowed — and said in a soft, unhurried, and distinctly pointed little voice, “Imperial Father said they were delicious, so this subject thought Imperial Father must really like eating them.”

Very much the same tone as Yan Yunning. And having said it, the small figure trotted over to Yan Yunning’s side and said, looking thoroughly aggrieved, “Imperial Mother, Imperial Father is bullying your son.”

Yan Yunning looked at the disgruntled Xuan Yanyu, then looked at the small figure affecting an air of wrongdoing. She very much wanted to laugh.

“Imperial Mother.” The small figure tugged at Yan Yunning’s sleeve.

“Ahem.” Yan Yunning suppressed her laughter. “It’s even — you had one, and your Imperial Father had one too, isn’t that right?”

“No.”

“No.”

The father and son, sharing strikingly similar handsome features, spoke at exactly the same moment.

Yan Yunning: “…”

She decided to hold her tongue and let them speak first.

“Imperial Mother, it was Imperial Father who did it on purpose,” the small figure said, pressing his soft little hands to his eyes as though wiping away tears that weren’t there.

“Weren’t you, too?” the man shot back.

“This subject was not — this subject let Imperial Father try one because Imperial Father said he liked them very much.” The small figure flatly refused to admit it.

“Nonsense.” Xuan Yanyu picked up the fruit platter and waved for Qiuci to withdraw.

“Imperial Mother, you say — was it this subject who did it on purpose, or was it Imperial Father?” The small figure folded his hands together and went to lean against the edge of the daybed, only for Xuan Yanyu to catch him by his small arm and move him aside.

“Imperial Mother!”

Yan Yunning pursed her lips. “Both of you did it on purpose…”

If the small figure’s grievance had been an act before, this time it was genuine.

Going to Imperial Mother to complain was nowhere near as effective as going to imperial grandfather.

Seeing the small figure’s pitiful expression, Yan Yunning sat up and took his small hand in hers, pulling him into her arms. Her voice was gentle. “Your Imperial Father did it on purpose — he knew the hawthorns were sour and wanted to tease Xiaoxiao a little.”

“Whereas Xiaoxiao thought Imperial Father liked them and let Imperial Father try them for that reason — Xiaoxiao had no such intention. Imperial Mother was wrong to say that just now.”

The small figure sniffled.

“Imperial Father just wanted to tease Xiaoxiao a little — don’t be angry with him, all right?” Yan Yunning accepted the half-peach that Xuan Yanyu passed to her and held it to Xuan Yuncheng’s lips. “This is from your Imperial Father.”

Xuan Yanyu set down the fruit platter, rose unhurriedly, and settled himself onto the daybed.

Fortunately the daybed was large enough — the three of them were not too crowded at all.

“Xuan Yuncheng — today someone knocked your arm again while you were writing, and another essay was ruined for nothing?” Xuan Yanyu twirled a lock of Yan Yunning’s hair around his fingertip with idle amusement and said, “How can you be this foolish — falling into the same trap twice in just a few days?”

The man continued, “You are the Crown Prince. Being this foolish — how will you ever govern Xuanzhao?”

Yan Yunning’s hand moved behind her back and gave the man a pinch on his waist.

“Mm?” Xuan Yanyu’s brow furrowed slightly. He captured the hand that had sneaked over to cause mischief and said in an unhurried tone, “You’re five years old now. When there’s nothing else to do, go practice your swordsmanship. Spend more time reading the historical records of Xuanzhao — rather than sitting here being coddled and soothed by your Imperial Mother.”

The small figure pursed his lips. His lashes trembled several times.

“I heard you found the imperial tutor long-winded and nearly drove him to faint — is that true?” Xuan Yanyu leaned on his side, his expressionless eyes fixed on Xuan Yuncheng, who had lowered his head.

Ye Chen felt a chill run down his spine. Crown Prince had nearly driven the imperial tutor to faint — wasn’t that before Her Highness the Xuan Empress had returned? And he had only mentioned it to Ye’an in passing. How had His Majesty found out and brought it up now — when they got back home, wouldn’t Crown Prince be furious with him?

“This subject… this subject only said one word about the tutor being long-winded, and the tutor started pressing on his own philtrum…” The small figure defended himself. “Imperial Father, this subject had already understood everything, and said so clearly. But the tutor kept going over it again and again.”

“Is that a valid reason?” The man toyed with Yan Yunning’s fingers, his voice cooling slightly. “Never mind the fact that the imperial tutor is your elder — even if he were not, you as Xuanzhao’s Crown Prince should not conduct yourself with such poor etiquette.”

“Xuan Yuncheng — even children from ordinary families would not be this impolite.” Xuan Yanyu’s tone was not particularly gentle.

The small figure grew so flustered his face turned red. He said anxiously, “But — imperial grandfather assigned this subject six imperial tutors. Every day they each go through the same single page of the same text. This subject has listened until he can recite it by heart.”

“This subject suggested to the tutors that they could move on, but they would not listen. This subject only spoke back once after that.”

“They would not listen because your imperial grandfather instructed them not to — he was afraid you were too young and that learning too much too quickly would be overwhelming. You could have gone to your imperial grandfather about it, rather than rudely calling the tutor long-winded.”

“This subject didn’t know.” The corners of the small figure’s eyes grew red. Tears of grievance dropped steadily down his face.

Yan Yunning pushed Xuan Yanyu’s hand aside, gathered Xuan Yuncheng in her arms, and walked out of the hall.

The man was briefly startled. “Ningning?”

Yan Yunning paid him no mind. She carried the small figure into the inner chamber and said softly, “Let’s change your clothes — Imperial Mother will take you outside the palace to play. Does that sound good?”

“Imperial Mother.” The small figure pinched the hem of his robe. His eyes were still swimming with tears, and he asked carefully, “Does Imperial Mother also think Xiaoxiao has no manners?”

“Of course not. Xiaoxiao, you already spoke up to the tutors, and they would not listen — saying one word to them was not rude. Think about it — they didn’t listen to you and just kept lecturing on their own. Wasn’t that also rude? So you don’t need to take your Imperial Father’s words to heart.”

“It can’t be that just because our Xiaoxiao is young and they refuse to listen to him, that means it’s simply something we have to accept.”

“Imperial Mother.” The tears he had been holding back fell freely down his face. The small figure wrapped his arms around Yan Yunning, his little milky voice cracking. “Does Imperial Father dislike Xiaoxiao?”

“He doesn’t.” Yan Yunning patted his back with gentle affection. “Your Imperial Father loves you very much. He simply thought of you as the Crown Prince, and forgot that our Xiaoxiao is still just a small child.”

“Imperial Father… really loves this subject?” the small figure asked between little hiccupping sobs.

“Yes, very much,” Yan Yunning said with certainty.

The small figure wiped his tears and quieted his crying.

“All right — let’s get changed, and Imperial Mother will take you out of the palace.” Yan Yunning smiled and gave his small cheek a gentle pinch.

“Mm.”

After changing out of his formal robes, Yan Yunning carried Xuan Yuncheng out of the inner chamber and stopped before Ye Chen, who was waiting outside. She asked, “How many shadow guards does the Crown Prince’s residence have?”

Ye Chen answered truthfully, “Close to a thousand. The Grand Emperor assigned all the finest shadow guards from the Xuan Imperial Palace to attend Crown Prince.”