Though brothers in an imperial family generally had no affection to speak of for each other on account of fighting over the throne, Prince Huainan and Emperor Jingren’s relationship was different. Emperor Jingren was both the eldest son and the son of the late emperor’s first wife; in Xia, where these qualities were given precedence as a matter of course, this meant that Emperor Jingren’s claim as heir to the throne had been unshakeable since his birth. Prince Huainan was only two years younger than Emperor Jingren. The empress at the time, the present empress dowager, had been very strict about Prince Huainan’s education. Since he was small, she had told him that he had to support his big brother.

The brothers had always been on good terms. When Emperor Jingren inherited the throne, Prince Huainan had been only sixteen years old and hadn’t yet left the capital to take control of his fief. Emperor Jingren had deliberately kept him in the capital for another two years, only sending him to his fief when he was eighteen. He had also delineated the best territory for his fief.

Though they hadn’t seen each other in two years, Emperor Jingren and Prince Huainan had kept up a constant correspondence. From their letters, it appeared that rather than causing them to grow apart, distance had only improved their relationship. Prince Huainan often said in his letters that he wanted Emperor Jingren to hurry up and give him a little nephew to play with; he had a gift ready and waiting for the child’s Hundredth Day Celebration in his treasury.

Toward this little brother, Emperor Jingren was as indulgent as could be. He was probably the only person apart from the empress for whose sake Emperor Jingren would betray his principles.

Censors often condemned Prince Huainan for building a private army, which was a mark of disloyalty, and Emperor Jingren had always suppressed these memorials, never letting them be mentioned in court. In his view, it was perfectly reasonable for his little brother to have his own soldiers to protect himself. In reality, if Prince Huainan hadn’t had private soldiers, Emperor Jingren wouldn’t have been able to resist sending a company to protect his brother.

The reason Emperor Jingren loved Prince Huainan so much, apart from the two of them having been close since childhood, was that Prince Huainan ruled according to strict principles. No common people were ever oppressed in his fief. And according to the rules, the tax revenue from his fief ought to have belonged entirely to him, but he sent a large portion of his revenue to the national treasury each year. Huainan was known as the granary of the realm. The grain and cotton Prince Huainan sent each year made up a fifth of what entered the national treasury in total. He would have been entirely within his rights to retain this grain for his own use; a few years down the line he’d have had no trouble using it to maintain an army a hundred thousand strong. But he had never done so. He had paid this tax regularly. Emperor Jingren simply didn’t believe that he could be disloyal.

But now it didn’t matter whether he believed it or not!

The assassination attempt seemed to suggest a foreign mastermind, but on closer investigation, all the clues pointed to Prince Huainan. Had the empress’s martial skills not exceeded everyone’s expectations, such meticulous planning would have seen Emperor Jingren killed or captured. Such a plan could only have been put together by someone intimately familiar with the capital. If this hadn’t been the doing of foreigners, it could only be the doing of Prince Huainan.

Emperor Jingren was in a towering rage, but the empress wasn’t at all surprised and only calmly poured a cup of tea for Emperor Jingren. “Anger damages the liver. Have some tea, Your Majesty, and calm your emotions. Then you can think about it.”

The tea the empress had brewed was particularly light and fragrant. At any rate, it tasted unusual to Emperor Jingren. It was a little hot, so he had to drink slowly. As he sipped a little at a time, Emperor Jingren’s anger slowly faded. He squeezed the empress’s fingertips and sighed.

“We…we really are very grieved.” His fury gone, what remained to Emperor Jingren was sadness. “My brother was always with me when we were children. The two of us did everything together. As crown prince, I couldn’t misbehave, so he took the blame for things like climbing trees and stealing birds’ eggs to keep the ministers from saying the crown prince lacked virtue. He once said that it was alright for Xia to have a frivolous imperial prince, but it couldn’t have a pleasure-seeking heir to the throne. He would play with me, but any blame would be his alone. He is our little brother. Each day we sit on the throne, we will protect him. How could he… How…”

The more Emperor Jingren spoke, the more he suffered. This betrayal by a loved one was insupportable. Merely holding the empress’s fingertips wasn’t enough to give him strength.

So the empress silently got to his feet and went to stand beside Emperor Jingren. He meant to gently stroke his shoulder to give him strength. But, unexpectedly, Emperor Jingren threw his arms around the empress’s waist and pressed his face against him. Because the empress was so tall, the seated Emperor Jingren’s face just happened to press against his lower abdomen.

The empress froze.

This was probably the greatest danger the empress had faced in his life. On the one hand, he was delighted that Emperor Jingren relied on him so much. On the other hand, he was afraid Emperor Jingren’s face might rub against him. He was no longer the empress of before, whose heart could remain as tranquil as still water while he slept beside Emperor Jingren. Now, he often…couldn’t control himself.

Fortunately Emperor Jingren behaved himself. He only wanted to press close to the empress, embrace his beloved to give himself strength. So he was quiet and did nothing else.

The empress finally relaxed and raised a hand to stroke Emperor Jingren’s smooth hair. An emperor’s hair wasn’t his to stroke, but the empress wanted to, and Emperor Jingren didn’t stop him.

“Jinyi, give us an heir,” Emperor Jingren said suddenly with his face pressed against the empress’s belly.

The empress was silent.

“The reason we would not let the imperial physicians treat us is that we are still young, and in no great hurry to have children. Moreover, we do not think there is anything wrong with us. But now we want to have a child with you. We will no longer shun the imperial physicians but permit them to treat us.” Emperor Jingren let go of the empress’s waist and looked up at him.

The empress struggled to keep his expression placid. “Your Majesty has never been in a hurry on the subject of children. Why this sudden…”

“After this assassination attempt, we think it would give us a sense of security to have an heir. And we want your child, Jinyi. Actually, it doesn’t matter whether we have a boy or a girl. We’re both still young. If it is a boy, then he will be crown prince, and we will teach him statecraft, while you will help him to be strong. If it is a girl, then she will be our princess, and we will cosset her all her life.” Emperor Jingren closed his eyes and imagined it. The more he spoke, the more beautiful such a future appeared.

The empress could hardly stand it. All he could do was take Emperor Jingren’s hand and nerve himself up to say, “Your subject wife will do her best.”

Hearing this, Emperor Jingren smiled happily and squeezed the empress’s hand. “We will also do our best! We have been keeping track of your cycle. Your time of the month ended right before we left for the hunting grounds, right? It is afternoon now, an inappropriate time for intercourse. We will come to Qifeng Hall tonight.”

The empress fought down a desire to cry and managed to say, “Your subject wife will be pleased to welcome you.”

He was nervous enough to say the wrong thing, but Emperor Jingren was in a good mood now and didn’t care what words the empress used. He stood on tiptoe to kiss the empress’s lips, then ordered lunch. He instructed the imperial kitchens to deliver his lunch to Kunning Palace.

With the empress to console him, Emperor Jingren set aside the matter of Prince Huainan for the moment. After a cheerful lunch, he went to the imperial study with Eunuch Lian to take care of today’s business.

Leaving behind the empress alone in his hall, most unusually distressed.