Changling walked out of his palace with Youxian and Qian Luse behind him. They made their way to the shrine in the imperial palace and they met up with Qinghe and Mei Yuan, who were waiting with some of their siblings.

Qiang Wu snuck up to Youxian and asked, “Why are you limping?”

Youxian looked down at his feet. He wasn’t sure of his condition, but needed to hide it until he knew because he didn’t believe the physician. “I tripped on our way here.”

Changling looked down at them and commented, “Both of you are short.”

Qinghe looked at Qiang Wu and mumbled, “Why must you ask something so embarrassing? Of course he won’t tell the truth.”

Youxian glared up over at Qinghe, glad that he didn’t know the actual reason, and snuck a glance at his lover, but it seemed like he didn’t care. Youxian smiled at Changling and asked, “Who will you be praying to?”

Changling raised a brow as he answered, “No one I know is dead, so we are praying for mama Rucheng to keep blessing us.”

“Who is that?” Qiang Wu asked curiously, especially because the person had the same name as the girl he was in love with.

Changling looked ahead at the temple doors that opened as he answered, “My other mother.”

Emperor Wu Yong stepped out, followed by the Empress and the concubines, as Qiang Wu complained for only the siblings to hear, “I hate the cold food.”

“Are mother and father not joining us?” Changling asked, directing the question to his brother.

Qinghe shook his head as he stared at his brother. “I haven’t seen them since last night.”

Changling nodded his head and went silent.

The royal siblings snickered under their breath at Qiang Wu’s comment and the emperor spoke, as he was happy to see all his children. “I am happy to see that all of you could make it. This year we are celebrating Hansik with new family members. After all the prayers and offerings, we’ll have breakfast.”

The children eyed the adult and when they looked up; they saw that a certain pair of eyes were trained on the new arrivals.

Qiang Wu turned to Changling and said, “We do this by order of birth. You are now the eldest son, hence you need to enter the temple first to offer your prayers.”

Changling eyed his younger brother and said, “Your brother-in-law is the oldest, no?”

Qian Lan sighed with a shake of her head and said, “Oraboni, we are in front of a temple. Please remember that.”

Changling turned to her and asked, “Your sister was blessed yesterday morning with a gift from the ancestors. Your gift is still coming.”

Qian Lan bit her lip and lowered her head. Youxian shook his head and saw that everyone was looking at the bruise on Qian Luse’s cheek, whereas the brothers couldn’t care less.

“We’ll go together like we always do,” Qinghe said and took Mei Yuan’s hand. Changling took Youxian’s hand, and the sisters followed them upstairs and walked into the temple. One of the sisters turned to Qiang Wu and asked, “Did I hear him right? Did he hit his sister? What did she do?”

*

The servants served the food, with Qian Lan and Qian Luse serving their brothers. Mei Yuan’s mother looked at the sisters, then asked, directing the question at Qinghe, “Why do you treat your sisters as servants?”

Qinghe didn’t know the question was for him, nor did Changling, who answered, “It’s how our mother taught them.”

She scoffed and said, “I was talking to your brother.”

Changling turned to look at her and licked his fingers, smirking he asked, “Which one?”

She narrowed her eyes on him and looked at Qinghe, who was drinking tea and couldn’t be bothered with the surrounding conversations.

Changling looked at Qinghe and shook his head, “Oh him? It’s no use getting an answer out of him. He is probably wondering why the river is endless.”

The emperor cleared his throat and said, “I’ve heard that Mei Yuan’s tea making has progressed and also her cooking skills in such a short amount of time. Will the two of you be willing to host us after the coronation ceremony?”

Qinghe gazed over at the emperor and asked, “Who is us?”

“Seeing that you are marrying our daughter, his majesty means him and I,” her mother answered with attitude. Qinghe could hear that she did not want to go and was forced.

Qinghe remained silent. He knew best that he was going to say something bad.

Changling leaned over as if he was going to whisper in his ear and said loud enough, “I swear, just give me the word and I’ll kill them all. No one is going to know.”

Youxian’s eyes widened at hearing his words. He grabbed Changling’s shoulder and pulled him back. He stuffed cold vegetables into his mouth as he said, “Here, eat. You haven’t eaten since last night. I know you are very hungry.”

Changling chewed as much as he could and said between bites, “I won’t kill you, I promise.”

“Is that the problem?” Youxian asked with a glare.

Changling looked into his eyes and thought about it. He then recalled what he did before going home to him last night and quickly focussed his gaze. He shook his head and mumbled, “I’ll be quiet.”

Mei Yuan could feel the tension his words caused and said, “We would be happy, father but Qinghe and oraboni have prior engagements that they have to see to. With oraboni being under the weather, their lives have been put on hold. With him healthy again, they need to leave the palace to get things done.”

Wu Yong narrowed his eyes and asked, “What business? Why haven’t you asked permission to leave?”

Changling looked at him and asked, “Why do I need your permission to leave?”

“Because you are staying within my palace! I forbid you to leave. Who knows what will happen, you were already injured before. We cannot have that happening again!” Wu Yong said.

“I think you are taking this father thing too literal,” Changling commented, “You can’t even accept your son-in-law and yet you want to father me?”

“He is not my son you are!” Wu Yong answered with a glare as he slammed a cup he was drinking from down.

“Oh wow,” Changling said and ignored him. He turned to Qinghe and asked, “Brother, how do you feel? You are good at keeping a poker face. How are you feeling knowing that your father-in-law, who wanted to kill you, still thinks of you as a cockroach who needs to be killed?”

Mei Yuan stood up and everyone saw she had tears in her eyes. She looked at her father and said, “Father, Qinghe will be my husband soon and treating him like he is nothing to you is wrong! If this will continue, then I am happy to leave!”

Before he could answer her, she ran off while wiping her tears.

Qinghe watched her leave, then looked at the emperor and stood up. He bowed slightly then walked out behind Mei Yuan. It took him some time before he found her in the palace garden, sitting on a bench crying.

Qinghe sat down beside her and asked, “Why are you crying?”

“Oh,” Mei Yuan said, catching a fright. She looked at him and said, “It’s just so frustrating. Oraboni was speaking the truth. My father hates you and it’s all my fault. You used to be the highly respected scholar Rong Qinghe and all because of me, you are being ridiculed by everyone.”

“Then how shall we deal with everything that is upsetting you?” Qinghe asked her as he pulled her in for a hug.

“Can we leave? We can start over where no one will stop us from loving one another,” she said and pulled his free hand to her stomach and placed it on there. She looked into his eyes and said, “I want to be able to grow a family with you.”

Qinghe looked at her, confused, and asked, “Don’t tell me you have it?”

Mei Yuan sighed and nodded her head. “Sister-in-law and I found out yesterday morning while you were out. Qinghe I am scared. If father finds out about this, he’ll…”

“He’ll what?” Qinghe asked.

She wiped her eyes away and asked, “Can’t we get married sooner?”

Qinghe nodded his head, “Yes, we can get married right now.”

“We can?” She asked excitedly.

Qinghe nodded his head, “Yes, but let’s tell your oraboni first.”

*Back in the hall*

“You disrespect this kingdom’s emperor,” the empress said to Changling.

Changling looked over at her and answered, “And the empress title should be my mothers.”

She slammed the cup down and glared at him. “Your mother deserves nothing!”

Changling smiled at her and the small teacup that had tea in it flew across the hall with a flick of his fingers and landed right in her left eye, shattering and cutting her.

At her side, Qian Lan stood with a knife at her neck and looked at Changling, who was sitting down while everyone was standing and looking at the empress, who was holding her eye and whimpering.

Wu Yong’s eyes were wide as he looked at the empress, who was bleeding, and looked at Qian Lan, who looked like she had killed before. He looked back at Changling and saw that Youxian had his head bowed and so did Qian Luse.

His brow twitched as he asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

“Well, you can choose that for yourself. We can live in harmony or will we be at war constantly. She is nothing but the person who gave you your offspring, so she has no authority in my eyes. Now, if she and anyone of your concubines disrespect our mother again, my sister there won’t bat an eye while slicing their throats. Remember one thing dear empress, I am not the prisoner here and instead it is you all and I understand that you want to take your place as my father but that won’t happen if your force it.”

Changling stood up and so did Youxian, looking back at his sister and said, “Let her go.”

Qian Lan with drew her knife and put it away. They walked off and as they passed Qiang Wu, Changling looked at him and could see that he did not like what happened to his mother. Changling smirked and said, “You are welcome at my palace anytime and if you really are angry about me hurting your disrespectful mother, remember one thing: she did everything to become the empress, then empress mother. With you on the throne and your father dead, she’ll be the one ruling this kingdom, not you. You are still weak and know nothing about the outside world. If you want, I can teach you because the palace isn’t the place an emperor is supposed to be. You need to fight a war before becoming the ruler.”

*

Qiang Wu walked up to his mother, who was being treated, and she immediately asked, “Are you going to leave him to hurt me and get away?”

Looking at his mother, he asked, “If father doesn’t do anything, what makes you think I can go against him?”

She glared at her son and said, “Look at what he did to me. Why do you not care?”

He took in a deep breath and said, “You had no right to speak the words you did.”

“So what? The title of Crown Prince should be his? Are you telling me all my hard work was for nothing?” She asked him.

The empress looked at him, surprised. Before she could ask who he was talking about, he left the room.

*

Wu Yong walked into his study and slammed his hands against the table. “Why can’t I stop him? He is out of my control!”