Li Yan didn't know Jianzhen had worried about him all night. The eunuch was terrified something would happen to the Crown Prince right under his nose. After returning to the Eastern Palace, Jianzhen was tormented with regret. 'What possessed me? How could I have just stood there and watched His Highness eat that mysterious food?'
He hadn't even had time to test it for poison with a silver needle.
But by the time he came to his senses, it was too late.
Upon arriving at Taiji Palace, Li Yan saw a eunuch being dragged away with his mouth gagged.
Liu Ye, Emperor Jing'an's Chief Eunuch, had just come out to deal with the matter. He wore a grim expression, but the moment he saw Li Yan, his face broke into a fawning smile.
"Your servant greets the Crown Prince. You must be hungry, Your Highness? The Emperor is waiting for you to dine!"
"Rise, Mr. Liu," Li Yan said as he walked past him. "That man just now..."
Liu Ye laughed dryly. "A servant was disobedient and didn't know his place, which angered the Emperor. Your servant is merely sending him to be taught a lesson on etiquette."
Li Yan's round, boyish face was cold and stern. He knew perfectly well that Liu Ye's talk of "being taught a lesson" was just a euphemism. Once dragged away, the man was most likely dead. He also knew that every year around this time, the palace servants dragged away had almost all committed the crime of having a loose tongue.
On any other day, his father, the Emperor, might not pay much mind to the gossip of the thousand-some servants in the palace, nor would he specifically assign someone to monitor them. But during the period surrounding the New Year, if anyone in the palace was caught privately discussing someone they shouldn't, there was only one outcome—
They would be dragged away and beaten to death.
Li Yan pursed his lips, not a trace of a smile on his small face.
'Was my mother someone these people could gossip about so freely? Even discussing her in private is unacceptable!'
"There is no room in the palace for gossips. My thanks for your hard work, Mr. Liu," Li Yan said. Though his voice was still boyish, he was the future Crown Prince, personally groomed by Emperor Jing'an. As he spoke, he already possessed a sliver of his father's imposing aura, one that commanded respect without anger.
Liu Ye would never dare act presumptuously before the Crown Prince. He hastily bowed with cupped hands. "It is merely my duty."
Only then did Li Yan step into Taiji Palace.
Li Yun had already been waiting for some time. He hadn't been idle, however. By his side lay a stack of Li Yan's coursework from the past several days.
Although a Crown Prince Mansion had been built outside the palace, Li Yun had not simply let his son run wild. Every three days, the instructors from the Imperial College would deliver the Crown Prince's assignments to Emperor Jing'an's desk.
"Your son pays his respects to Father Emperor," Li Yan said upon entering, bowing with perfect decorum.
"Come here." Li Yun's voice was low. Upon seeing the Crown Prince in his daily attire, he had already put away what was in his hand, making sure no one saw it.
Without any further pleasantries, Li Yun walked to the dining table, picked up his chopsticks, and gestured for the meal to begin.
Li Yan walked over, but as soon as he sat down, he couldn't resist sneaking several glances at his father.
'Father's expression seems particularly grim today,' he thought.
Though puzzled, Li Yan remained silent. He had been well-educated by the Cabinet Scholars and the old pedants of the Hanlin Academy. He was quick-witted, eager to learn, and respectful of his teachers and their ways, but that didn't mean he was without a trace of resentment.
There were rarely any heartwarming moments when the father and son were together.
Even when they ate together, not a sound could be heard at the table. The silence was absolute.
Compared to that of an ordinary household, the imperial father and son's dinner was somber and frigid, as if devoid of any sign of life.
Li Yan, however, was already used to it. For as long as he could remember, his father, the Emperor, seemed to be a man devoid of warmth. He was a conqueror who had expanded the empire's borders, the commander of a formidable iron cavalry. When the world spoke of him, it was with equal parts admiration and fear.
He, too, admired his father as an Emperor, but... he also harbored resentment.
After Li Yan began his education and entered the Imperial College, he was suddenly surrounded by many new people. At first, he would ask where his mother had gone. Everyone else had a mother; only he did not.
Everyone around him kept the truth from him, unwilling to tell him why his mother had passed away. But he was innately clever. Even though no one would tell him anything, he learned how to subtly coax bits of information from the palace maids and eunuchs.
By piecing together the fragments, Li Yan was able to assemble a rough picture of the truth.
Aunt Yu Yi and Aunt Yanxia were never quite respectful when they faced his father. If it had been anyone else, they would have been dragged away and beheaded long ago.
Disrespecting the Emperor and scorning imperial authority was a capital offense.
But his father had never punished either Aunt Yu Yi or Aunt Yanxia.
Li Yan knew that the two Ladies-in-charge of the Eastern Palace had once been his mother's most capable Chief Palace Maids.
His father wouldn't lay a hand on the two aunts because he felt he had wronged his mother.
Li Yan had no appetite. In two days, it would be the day before New Year's Eve—which was also his birthday.
He'd heard that his mother had fallen into a coma just after giving birth to him. 'Was it because Mother grew to loathe Father, and therefore came to resent me as well?' he wondered. 'Is that why she refuses to wake up, even after I was born?'
He put down his silver chopsticks, gracefully wiped the corners of his mouth, and sat obediently in his seat.
Seeing this, Li Yun raised an eyebrow. "Are you full?"
"To answer Father Emperor, I am not very hungry."
Li Yun pressed, "Are you not hungry, or do you find the food unappetizing?"
As he spoke, his tone took on a severe edge.
Shangjing City was to abstain from lavish meals, and this was even more strictly enforced within the palace. In fact, on Li Yun's own dining table, there were almost no meat or fish dishes to be seen.
If Li Yan was refusing to eat because of this, Li Yun's gaze would darken.
"I am simply not hungry..." Li Yan thought, 'My stomach is still full from those two plum blossom cakes. I can't eat another bite.'
Li Yun's gaze fell on the Little Bun beside him. He stared for a long moment, and only after determining that his son wasn't lying did he finally dismiss him.
After Li Yan left, Li Yun also put down his chopsticks. He lifted his hand and flexed his fingers. Suddenly, a dark shadow seemed to materialize from thin air, dropping to its knees at Li Yun's feet.
"Master."
Li Yun began, "Go and investigate what the Crown Prince did today..."
He trailed off, stopping suddenly.
He reached up and pinched the space between his brows. "Never mind. You are dismissed."
The words had barely left his lips when the dark shadow at his feet vanished.
On Li Yun's wrist was a fresh wound, barely perceptible unless he raised his hand.
He had let too much blood these past few days and was feeling drained.
Li Yun did not stay in Taiji Palace at night, a fact the palace servants had long grown accustomed to.
When he reached Kunning Palace, he saw that the lamps within were still lit.
Li Yun stood at the entrance, a rare smile gracing his features, before pushing the door open and stepping inside.
"Yuan Niang, I'm home."
Back in his days at the General Mansion, the thing he looked forward to most each day was returning home.
No matter how late it was, a lamp was always left burning for him, as if to light his path home.
No one was permitted to attend within Kunning Palace. Even Liu Ye, who followed Li Yun everywhere, could only stand guard outside.