Though he had spent a night at the Court of the Imperial Clan, Prince Huainan was after all a member of the imperial family, and the present emperor’s full blood brother. Moreover, he had not yet been convicted of a crime. Because of this, the Court of the Imperial Clan had been very courteous toward him. He had eaten and drunk well, and certainly no one dared to touch a hair on his head. They escorted him respectfully to the palace.

When Shen Junyi saw Emperor Jingren, his eyes lit up. He cried out “Imperial Brother!” and made to spring forward and embrace Emperor Jingren. He charged at him, fast as lightning, leaving Emperor Jingren no time to dodge the hug. His plan for this touching brotherly hug was perfect, but he didn’t get his arms around the somewhat thin-looking emperor. Instead, he grabbed hold of a strong, solid form. Prince Huainan’s head only came to this person’s chin, and his arms couldn’t fully encircle them.

Shen Junyi was stunned.

The empress, seated behind the empress dowager, had been the furthest person in the room from Emperor Jingren, even further than Little Shunzi. But somehow he was the one who had reached Emperor Jingren in an instant, moving so fast that no one had clearly seen him do it.

The empress was as unyielding as a door god, standing steadfast in front of Emperor Jingren, keeping him closely guarded. Shen Junyi couldn’t get near him.

Looking at the empress’s broad back, Emperor Jingren couldn’t help thinking of how the empress had always said he would protect him. At the time, Emperor Jingren had constantly told the empress that the Imperial Guard was there to protect them both, that the empress had no need to enter the fray himself. But the empress had fulfilled his promise to protect him time and time again, and had even rescued him from Yan Xu, the commander of the Imperial Guard…

“Sister-in-law?” Shen Junyi looked at the empress for a long time before finally determining his identity from his attire. He had just hugged the empress and had the most direct impression possible of how firm the empress’s muscles were. He could easily have taken down ten of Shen Junyi. This was appalling! How could this man look so calm while going around in women’s clothes? Wasn’t he ashamed?

“Sister-in-law, I haven’t seen my imperial brother in so long. It’s very normal to want to hug him as soon as I see him. Why are you getting in my way? Right, Imperial Brother?” Prince Huainan struggled to get his head around the empress so Emperor Jingren could see his face.

“When ruler and subject meet, it is appropriate for formality to precede intimacy,” the empress said mildly, not budging in the least, still shielding Emperor Jingren.

“Well, look, Sister-in-law… It’s men’s business. What’s a woman like you doing getting involved? It’s absurd!” In front of the empress, Prince Huainan couldn’t put on the airs of a prince. He could only mock the empress over the crossdressing.

Emperor Jingren naturally couldn’t let Prince Huainan mock the empress. He said, “The empress acts in accordance with etiquette. She has done no wrong. You overstep, Prince Huainan.”

Once he had spoken, Prince Huainan could say nothing. The empress turned aside slightly and glanced at the young emperor out of the corner of his eye. In that moment, Emperor Jingren seemed to see the empress smile at him, but this smile was so fleeting that Emperor Jingren wasn’t sure whether he had truly seen it.

The empress moved aside. Prince Huainan came face to face with Emperor Jingren and had to bow. He looked all around, saw even the empress dowager looking at him with disapproval, and knew that he couldn’t resist any longer. Unwilling as he was, he still had to kneel.

“My greetings to Your Majesty. Eternal blessings upon Your Majesty.” Prince Huainan’s bow wasn’t very correct, but he was even willing to lower his head, so that wasn’t worth quibbling about.

Emperor Jingren silently made a note of this and said to Prince Huainan, “Rise. Have a seat.”

The instant Prince Huainan rose to his feet, Emperor Jingren finally saw his face clearly—he had no memory of it.

This…was a little strange.

He remembered the empress dowager’s face, but not Prince Huainan’s. And in his memories, while Prince Huainan was irreverent, he took Emperor Jingren’s position very seriously. Anyone else might skip a full obeisance, but not Shen Junyi. Since Emperor Jingren had become crown prince, whenever they were together, Shen Junyi would always take pains on his behalf, not letting anyone point to a single mistake of his.

But now, his younger brother had changed.

This must be the unfathomable human heart.

Emperor Jingren was a little saddened, but he didn’t show it. He calmly questioned Prince Huainan about his attempt to force his way into the capital last night. As soon as he brought this up, Prince Huainan immediately leapt to his feet, said the city gate guard squad had shown him disrespect, and asked Emperor Jingren to punish them.

As he said this, the empress glanced at Little Shunzi. Little Shunzi just happened to have looked up at him. Their eyes met, and they exchanged a smile of tacit understanding.

Naturally they were pleased that their newest opponent was so weak.

“Be silent!” The more Emperor Jingren heard, the stormier his expression became. He coldly said, “It is on our personal orders that the city gates are not to be opened at night. Even if we ourself wish to leave the city, we must have in hand an order from the Five City Wardens. The city gate guard is unfailingly loyal, fearless in the face of threats in their protection of the capital’s citizens. If we were to punish the city gate guard on your say so, who would ever give their all to guard the city for its people again?”

Prince Huainan was struck dumb by this reprimand. All the pathos of a family reunion went out of his manner at once. Only disbelief remained.

The empress dowager, who had so far kept to the background, really couldn’t help herself when she saw her son like this. With a delicate cough, she said, “Prince Huainan has indeed done wrong, but he has been away from the capital for many years. The ignorant cannot be held responsible. It has been too long since I’ve seen Prince Huainan, and I have missed him dearly. Come over here, Son, let me see how Huainan has been treating you these past few years.”

Emperor Jingren couldn’t throw these efforts to smooth things over back in his mother’s face, so he said nothing, letting Prince Huainan and the empress dowager reminisce.

As soon as the empress dowager spoke, the scene changed from the interrogation of a criminal to a family gathering. The Left Associate Director of the Court of the Imperial Clan, who had escorted Prince Huainan here, could no longer remain. He asked Emperor Jingren for permission to leave.

Positions in the Court of the Imperial Clan were all held by imperial kinsmen. The Court of the Imperial Clan was overseen by its director, who was very senior—in fact the current most senior member of the imperial clan, which gave him the authority to detain imperial kinsmen who committed crimes. The director belonged to the generation of Emperor Jingren’s grandfather, while the Associate Director, all things considered, was Emperor Jingren’s imperial uncle. It was precisely because the Left Associate Director had this seniority that put him in a position to oversee Prince Huainan.

“Please stay, Imperial Uncle,” said Emperor Jingren, rather than letting him go. “When Prince Huainan leaves the palace, conduct him back to the Court of the Imperial Clan. Please wait in a side hall.”

The empress dowager and Prince Huainan, who had been chatting about household minutiae, were startled.

“Your Majesty…” The empress dowager couldn’t resist trying to intercede again, but she was cut off by Emperor Jingren.

“Empress Dowager,” Emperor Jingren said solemnly, “we can overlook for the moment that Prince Huainan, not knowing the rules of the capital, insisted on entering the city. But he brought five hundred elite soldiers and threatened to storm the city gate. This must be dealt with severely. The other vassal princes left their guards at the barracks outside the capital and brought only a few dozen guards with them into the city. Prince Huainan brought five hundred soldiers and planned to force his way into the capital—this must be addressed. We are currently in the midst of New Year celebrations. We will permit Prince Huainan to attend the New Year’s Eve banquet, but he must be under surveillance by the Court of the Imperial Clan during this time. When the Court of the Imperial Clan resumes business after the New Year celebrations and handles this case, he may leave.”

Hearing that he had to stay on at the Court of the Imperial Clan, Prince Huainan looked at Emperor Jingren with an expression as if he had been struck by lightning. “Imperial Brother, I really didn’t mean it, I just…didn’t understand the rules. Imperial Brother, please…please spare me.”

“We know that you did not mean it,” Emperor Jingren said, manner softening slightly, “but everything must be done in accordance with the rules. You don’t have to be imprisoned, just stay at the Court of the Imperial Clan and let their people keep you safe when you go out. When this is over, you can return to your residence. This way, you will also avoid being impeached by the Censorate.”

The empress dowager had realized that her younger son was having trouble adjusting to the capital’s rules after all these years away. If he remained in Emperor Jingren’s company, things would only get worse for him. She would be better off giving her younger son some hints in private, so he would learn how to act in his brother’s presence.

So the empress dowager hauled a still unwilling Prince Huainan back to Cining Palace with her, on the excuse that mother and son had things to catch up on. She did not issue an invitation for Emperor Jingren to come along; clearly she had things to say to Prince Huainan with no one else present. Emperor Jingren let them go.

When they were gone, only Emperor Jingren, the empress, and Little Shunzi remained in the side hall.

Emperor Jingren gave a gentle cough. “Little Shunzi, withdraw.”

Unlike the empress, Little Shunzi couldn’t stay where he wasn’t wanted. He only sent the empress a hateful glare, then bowed his head and left. Only two people remained inside the hall.

The empress was the first to break the silence. “Your Majesty has lost weight since I last saw you. Here your subject wife thought that with the company of all the beauties in the harem, Your Majesty would be blooming.”

This was a rather rude thing to say, but as soon as Emperor Jingren, who was always finicky about rules, came face to face with the empress, all the principles in his heart turned to tenderness.

“Why are you saying that? You know perfectly well that all of those people trick us with incense. If each of them didn’t have a close-knit bulwark of power behind her, we would have sent them all to prison by now.”

In front of the empress, Emperor Jingren also had fewer scruples about what he said.

“I’m just petty-minded.” The empress walked over to Emperor Jingren, moved a chair over next to him, and sat down. “I love Your Majesty. It makes me unhappy to think of Your Majesty being intimate with others.”

He spoke bluntly. A faint flush came into Emperor Jingren’s cheeks. He sighed and said, “We do not wish to be with anyone but you, but we cannot forget the needs of the realm.”

Emperor Jingren had too much integrity for concealment. He was open about his feelings for the empress. He wouldn’t hide that he was offended by the empress’s deception about his sex, and he wouldn’t fob him off with an empty promise.

“I know.” The empress took his hand and said seriously, “If you weren’t this conscientious and rule-abiding Shen Junrui, I wouldn’t have fallen so deeply.”

Emperor Jingren’s blush did not fade. The empress drew close and gently kissed his face. There was a barrier between them, and they hadn’t seen each other for a long time; the empress didn’t dare to do anything more intimate than this little gesture.

Emperor Jingren didn’t stop him. Instead he squeezed the empress’s hand, not wanting to let go.

“We will have no empress but you. Our children will know no mother but you.” These promises were the only ones Emperor Jingren could give.

The empress knew that this was Emperor Jingren’s utmost limit and didn’t want to compel him to do more. He also didn’t want to mention next year’s harem selection. Instead, holding Emperor Jingren’s hand, he said, “When the first snow fell, I wanted to perform a sword dance for you. Now the sky is clear, but there’s quite a lot of snow on the ground. Why don’t we go walking through the snow together?”

“All right,” Emperor Jingren replied.