Chapter 25

Imperial Physician Feng had never witnessed Ye Shu's accomplished acting, and suspected nothing. He stepped forward immediately to take Ye Shu's pulse.

He placed his fingers on Ye Shu's wrist and took his time listening. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

Consort An's pulse was unmistakably… a pregnancy pulse!

His Majesty truly was formidable — Chancellor Ye had only recently become pregnant, and now Consort An was with child so soon as well.

Truly Heaven-blessed Changlu! How wonderful! How joyous!

Imperial Physician Feng was beaming — but then his expression suddenly froze.

Wait. This pulse…

The bed curtains had fallen back into place. From outside, only the vague outline of someone draped against the dragon bed was visible. Imperial Physician Feng's cheek twitched, his face going through several rapid changes.

Consort An's pulse was indeed a pregnancy pulse, no question about that — but the gestational age… no matter how he looked at it, it was close to two months along.

Two months ago, Consort An hadn't even entered the palace yet.

Imperial Physician Feng realized he seemed to have stumbled upon some extraordinary imperial secret, and his face drained of color instantly.

From within the curtains, Ye Shu watched the physician's changing expressions through a gap in the gauze, and was somewhat impatient.

What was this old man doing, making faces like that — what was going through his head?

Can't lose the gentle, virtuous beauty persona now.

Ye Shu cleared his throat and asked in a pleasant tone: "Has the physician found something?"

Imperial Physician Feng gave a full-body jolt and came back to himself.

He had served three dynasties and seen a great deal — but he had never encountered anything as absurd as this. This kind of palace scandal could not, under any circumstances, be allowed to leak out.

And from the look of things, Consort An also didn't seem to know he was pregnant.

There was still a way to handle this.

In an instant, Imperial Physician Feng had thought the whole matter through. He released Ye Shu's hand and managed to keep his voice even: "…Young Master has insufficient qi and blood. Rest well over the next few days, and dietary supplementation is recommended…"

A moment later, as Imperial Physician Feng left Yangxin Hall, he noticed his back was drenched in cold sweat.

Inside the hall, Ye Shu lifted the bed curtain. The last of his doubts finally dissolved.

So his body truly had nothing wrong with it?

About an hour and a half later, Jin Wang returned.

Since the imperial physician had instructed that a pregnant kun-sovereign must walk and get sunlight every day, Jin Wang had been setting aside one hour after court each day to accompany Ye Shu before going to the Imperial Study for official business.

Jin Wang undid Ye Shu's gold chain and brought him out of Yangxin Hall by imperial palanquin.

Accurately speaking — the sovereign and Consort An.

— Jin Wang would never understand what pleasure this person found in playing two roles at once.

"Being shut in the palace is so dull — if I don't find something to entertain myself, are you trying to bore me to death?" Ye Shu said.

At those words, Jin Wang was momentarily taken aback.

He remembered now — Ye Shu had always loved freedom.

The rear palace was inherently lonely, and someone of Ye Shu's nature especially would never be willing to be confined within these deep palace walls.

And yet he had locked this person up in a room…

Ye Shu had no idea what Jin Wang was thinking, and like nothing was the matter, was already distracted by the scenery outside the palanquin.

The interior of the palanquin had been widened, but still wasn't particularly spacious. The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder, pressed close — like two people leaning against each other.

But Jin Wang had never felt the distance between them as keenly as he did today.

His Majesty the sovereign's heart was wrapped in a powerful sense of guilt, having long since abandoned his original reason for confining this person in the first place.

He raised his hand to rest on Ye Shu's shoulder and was just about to speak when Ye Shu suddenly cried: "It's snowing!"

Jin Wang's hand froze.

Ye Shu couldn't spare him a second's thought. He immediately called the palanquin to a halt, didn't wait for the attendants to help him down, and jumped straight out.

— Sending a jolt of alarm straight to the back of Jin Wang's skull.

"Ye…" Jin Wang caught himself and switched hastily. "Consort An — stop right there!"

Ye Shu stopped and looked back with an innocent expression.

Jin Wang didn't wait for help either, jumped down from the palanquin, and strode over to him. "Have you forgotten what We told you?"

"I haven't…" Ye Shu said quietly. "No brisk walking, no jumping, no rough stone paths, no getting close to the edge of lakes… I'm just saying, are you raising me like a three-year-old?"

Jin Wang said coolly: "You're far more trouble than any three-year-old."

Ye Shu: "…Hmph."

Jin Wang had the attendants fetch a snow-white fox fur cloak and helped Ye Shu put it on, then took his hand. "One glimpse of snow and you forget everything — hold onto Us and walk slowly."

They were not far from the Imperial Garden. Jin Wang dismissed the attendants and led Ye Shu there at a leisurely pace.

This was the capital's first snowfall of winter. In truth it was barely snow at all — just a few scattered flakes, vanishing the moment they touched the ground without leaving a trace.

But for Ye Shu, a southerner who rarely saw snow from one year to the next, it was more than enough to excite him.

"Still this fond of snow…" Jin Wang glanced over at him with an amused smile.

Odd, really. Ye Shu had been born in the capital, and the capital was never short of snow.

And yet this person behaved as though he had never seen it, getting excited for half a day every time snow fell.

Had always been like that, since childhood.

Ye Shu had his hood up, most of his face nestled inside the white fox fur, which made that face look all the more pale and clean.

He tipped his head back to watch the drifting snowflakes, his eyes faintly bright — making all that snow around him seem to lose its color by comparison.

Jin Wang's thoughts drifted for a moment.

The snow grew heavier, and the two were obliged to find a pavilion to shelter from it.

Beside the pavilion was a man-made lake. The snowflakes fell in cascading drifts onto the water — a breathtaking sight.

Jin Wang put his arm around Ye Shu and sat with him in the pavilion, taking both of his hands in his own. "Cold?"

"Not cold." Ye Shu looked out at the distant lake surface and muttered quietly: "The snow's still too light though. Can't have a snowball fight in this."

"…" Jin Wang said with great seriousness: "Even if it were heavy you wouldn't be permitted to."

Pregnant and still wanting to have a snowball fight — could this person go one day without testing fate?

Ye Shu was displeased. "Why are you managing even this?"

Jin Wang: "We manage what We manage."

"But…"

Jin Wang said flatly: "Gold chain."

Ye Shu: "…"

Ye Shu's expression changed in one second. "You are absolutely right. Whatever you say."

The snow grew heavier and heavier. Gradually, accumulation began on the branches.

But it didn't feel cold.

Ye Shu was wrapped in thick fox fur, and Jin Wang held both his hands gently enclosed within his own, tucked against his chest.

Ye Shu looked down at the sight, and felt as though the warmth of Jin Wang's palms were flowing through his hands into every inch of his body — a heat spreading all the way to his heart.

Even the deepest recesses of his heart felt close to being thawed by that warmth.

"Why are you looking at Us?" Jin Wang asked.

"Nothing." Ye Shu looked away and said softly: "This is the first time I've ever seen the first snowfall. I didn't expect to be seeing it with Your Majesty."

Jin Wang caught the significance in those words, though he didn't quite understand. "First snow meaning the first snow of winter? Is there some deeper meaning?"

Ye Shu smiled without answering.

Seeing that the snow was not about to let up, an attendant soon came with the imperial palanquin to find them.

With Ye Shu's pregnancy, he genuinely shouldn't stay out in the snow for too long.

Outside the pavilion was a narrow path, and the palanquin couldn't get through — it had to stop ten steps away.

Ye Shu's eyes swept the situation, and he started stirring up trouble again. "I don't want to walk. Your Majesty, carry me on your back."

"…"

In the past, no one would ever have imagined someone bold enough to put the sovereign to this kind of use.

But the few attendants who had come out today were all from Yangxin Hall — long since accustomed to this person's complete lack of decorum toward His Majesty — and one and all closed their eyes and pretended to see nothing.

As expected, Jin Wang showed no irritation whatsoever. He walked over to Ye Shu and bent down. "Get on then."

An attendant stepped forward with an umbrella. Jin Wang carried Ye Shu on his back and walked out into the snow.

Ye Shu buried his face against Jin Wang's shoulder. Turning his head slightly, he had a clear view of Jin Wang's handsome profile.

"Your Majesty, I feel like you're different from before."

Jin Wang: "Different how?"

"You weren't this nice to me before — remember when I wanted you to do my hair and you refused?" Ye Shu paused, then said quietly: "And you punished me."

He was naturally referring to what had happened in the Imperial Study.

Jin Wang's steps faltered slightly. He said: "Behave yourself, and We won't punish you anymore."

"That depends on your performance." Ye Shu gave a low hum. "Only if you stop being so harsh with me, and stop scheming and testing me."

Jin Wang turned those words right back on him: "That also depends on your performance."

Ye Shu: "…Hmph."

The two returned to Yangxin Hall shortly. Jin Wang told Ye Shu to go and bathe first.

Yangxin Hall's side chamber had only one bathing pool. At some point, Jin Wang had stopped insisting on bathing together with Ye Shu.

Not because this dog emperor had regained some sense of propriety — it was because after Ye Shu became pregnant, his pheromone would occasionally spill out and refuse to stay hidden. In the room it was still manageable, but in the bath, where the steam amplified everything, it became far more intense.

Jin Wang had suffered the consequences several times and had decisively stopped putting himself through it ever since.

Ye Shu bathed, changed, and was returning to Yangxin Hall when Imperial Physician Feng happened to be arriving through the door.

The physician saw Ye Shu, and a look of extraordinary complexity flashed in his eyes.

Ye Shu: "?"

Jin Wang instructed: "We are going to bathe. Imperial Physician Feng, please take the consort's pulse in case he's caught a chill."

Imperial Physician Feng: "…Yes."

Ye Shu walked over, and Jin Wang picked him up and settled him on the small couch.

But it stopped there.

Jin Wang did not attach the gold chain again.

Ye Shu looked at him, puzzled.

Jin Wang made no mention of it. He ruffled Ye Shu's hair and said gently: "Drink some ginger tea to warm your stomach. We'll be back shortly."

Ye Shu answered agreeably.

Jin Wang left promptly. Ye Shu sat up straight and let Imperial Physician Feng take his pulse.

Today the physician seemed somewhat distracted as he took the pulse. His expression flickered between wanting to say something but holding back, and being overwhelmed by complicated feelings — a rich range of emotions cycling through his face.

Ye Shu was concerned that this old man's face might cramp up if he kept it up. He said considerately: "If the physician has something to say, please just say it."

The physician glanced toward the inner chamber and asked quietly: "Might this subject ask whether Consort An is currently in the hall?"

"…" Ye Shu put on a serious face. "No. Of course not."

"That's good…" The physician drew a deep breath, lowered his voice to near-nothing, and said in an air of great secrecy: "This subject has a world-shaking secret to tell Young Master."

Of His Majesty's two rear-palace consorts, Imperial Physician Feng had always had a soft spot for the former Chancellor Ye Shu.

He had watched both Ye Shu and Jin Wang grow up.

Ten years ago, Jin Wang had caught a cold and run a high fever for several days running. At the time, Imperial Physician Feng happened to be away from the palace. The Imperial Medical Bureau had no regard for Jin Wang, an unfavored prince, and brushed off Ye Shu's several attempts to seek treatment.

When Imperial Physician Feng returned to the palace, Ye Shu was kneeling at the gates of the Imperial Medical Bureau. On a bitter winter's night, covered in snow.

The depth of feeling between these two children — Imperial Physician Feng had always been watching.

From being unwilling to execute him after the treason, to now conceiving this person's child — in Imperial Physician Feng's eyes, Ye Shu and Jin Wang's feelings for each other had already found their way through to the light.

And then this Consort An appeared at exactly this moment.

Imperial Physician Feng both marveled at Consort An's audacity and felt deeply sorry for Ye Shu, who was still being kept in the dark.

So today, after returning, he had thought it over at length and finally made up his mind. Rather than telling His Majesty directly, informing Ye Shu in advance would be more beneficial — even if it only meant being prepared a little sooner.

This was wisdom he had absorbed from the rear palace during his years serving the previous sovereign.

Imperial Physician Feng, feeling deeply for the hardships of the rear palace, leaned close to Ye Shu's ear and said gravely: "Consort An is pregnant."

He paused, and then, even more seriously: "Not His Majesty's bloodline."

Ye Shu sipped his ginger tea. "Is that all, I thought it was some——"

Hm???

Pregnant with WHAT???