Gao Yuexing’s several attempts to communicate with Li Fuxiang all ended in failure.
Li Fuxiang’s prejudice against his own flesh and blood seemed ingrained in his very bones, making it impossible to easily erase.
When Gao Yuexing reached the most critical months of her pregnancy, people from the Medicine Valley came as well, staying by her side in the Eastern Palace without leaving her for a moment.
The position of empress remained vacant under the current emperor, which caused constant unrest in the harem and led to many incidents. After Gao Yuexing was conferred the title of Crown Princess, she naturally took charge of all matters in the harem.
Although Consort Xian was still the most prominent figure in the emperor’s harem, she was ultimately a concubine.
There is a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate statuses.
After all, one cannot overstep these boundaries.
Only after Gao Yuexing officially took charge of the harem’s affairs did she realize that the harem had indeed been in complete disarray for years, becoming more chaotic the more one tried to manage it. It took Gao Yuexing over half a year of meticulous effort to gradually grasp control of every critical aspect of the harem.
Managing the household was no easy task; it was mentally and physically exhausting and required considerable thought.
Now that Gao Yuexing’s body was inconvenient, and her heart was preoccupied, it was difficult for her to fully let go and focus on her pregnancy.
Li Fuxiang spent more and more time cooped up in the Eastern Palace. Whenever he saw Gao Yuexing frowning and deeply immersed in the tangled mess of trivial matters, Li Fuxiang always managed to disrupt her thoughts in various aggravating ways.
Carrying a small life within her, which constantly drew nutrients from her body, Gao Yuexing found herself far less capable than before, both physically and mentally. It was much easier to fool her now than in the past.
Li Fuxiang, staying home, had almost figured her out completely.
As the days leading up to her delivery approached, Li Fuxiang stuck by her side without leaving.
The emperor, however, came less frequently, merely sending the imperial physician to check on her three times a day.
Gao Yuexing was convinced in her heart that she would give birth to a daughter. The day before she went into labor, she even had a dream of an adorable little girl, as flawless as jade, running behind her. The girl’s charm and demeanor bore an eighty-to-ninety-percent resemblance to Li Fuxiang.
The next morning, as soon as Gao Yuexing opened her eyes, she felt something was off.
As usual, she ordered someone to brew her a cup of light tea and leaned against the pillow, sipping it slowly.
After finishing her breakfast, Li Fuxiang began circling around her aimlessly.
After drinking her tea, Gao Yuexing set down the cup and said, “Today is the tenth.”
Li Fuxiang replied, “Yes, the tenth.”
Gao Yuexing asked, “Doesn’t Jinxiang Courtyard have something delicious?”
Jinxiang Courtyard was the most famous pastry shop in the capital.
Li Fuxiang said, “Yes, they release new pastries on the fifth and tenth of each month, but they don’t sell them—only their honored guests get to taste them.”
Gao Yuexing didn’t respond, picking up her teacup again and slowly turning it in her hands.
Li Fuxiang said, “Do you want some? I’ll go and get you a portion!”
He was, after all, considered an honored guest at Jinxiang Courtyard. Whenever the shop had new creations, he was always given first pick.
Gao Yuexing said, “My mouth feels so bland. I want something sweet and sticky. Do they have anything else that’s good?”
Li Fuxiang said, “I’ll go check it out myself.”
Since Gao Yuexing became pregnant, if she craved pastries from outside, Li Fuxiang always went to get them himself, never delegating the task to anyone else.
This time was no exception.
Li Fuxiang’s horse had just galloped out of the imperial city when Gao Yuexing reclined on the couch and instructed someone to immediately bring her mother from the Gao residence into the palace.
Xia Tianwu took her hand, checked her pulse, and lifted the edge of the blanket for a glance. She understood the situation and ordered the entire palace to prepare for the delivery.
She asked Gao Yuexing, “Why did you deliberately send His Highness away?”
Gao Yuexing replied, “He hasn’t slept in three days. He probably senses it too. He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel it. Watching a woman go through the ordeal of childbirth—it’s so brutal. If he saw it with his own eyes, wouldn’t he go mad?”
Given Li Fuxiang’s temperament, there was no telling what he might do.
Xia Tianwu briefly remarked, “His Highness, it seems, never really grows up.”
Gao Yuexing said, “That’s because he has nothing left to lose, which makes him increasingly innocent. I like him this way.”
Madam Gao rushed into the palace. She had been anxious and sleepless at home, knowing the day was near. People were already waiting at the city gate, and they brought her to the Eastern Palace in a carriage.
When the carriage stopped, Madam Gao lifted the curtain and stepped out, only to freeze in place.
Li Fuxiang was standing under the grape trellis at the entrance. The thick leaves hung low, almost brushing his nose. He seemed absent-minded, lost in thought, and entirely out of sorts. Madam Gao hesitated for a moment and called out, “Your Highness.”
Li Fuxiang waved his hand, and an attendant nearby immediately escorted Madam Gao toward the inner chambers, cautioning her, “His Highness was deliberately sent away by the Crown Princess. When you see the Crown Princess, be careful not to let it slip—it might distract her.”
Madam Gao didn’t know what to say for a moment.
She sighed, then entered to check on her daughter.
Gao Yuexing herself was well-versed in medicine and paid extra attention to nurturing the fetus during her pregnancy, practicing almost self-punishing restraint when it came to her diet.
Giving birth to the child was easy enough, but the child wasn’t exactly cooperative.
Gao Yuexing had long felt a strange mother-child connection.
It seemed the child had some complaints about this pair of parents, as it kept causing trouble in the days leading up to the delivery, leaving Gao Yuexing not only unable to rest properly but also deeply agitated.
When Madam Gao entered the room, she saw her daughter pretending to scold her belly fiercely: “You little rascal, I’m warning you—enough is enough! If you dare to cause any more mischief at the critical moment, you’ll see what happens when you come out!”
Hearing her daughter’s vigorous voice, Madam Gao felt relieved and couldn’t help but smile helplessly. “What could he possibly understand? Lie down properly now.”
Seeing her mother, Gao Yuexing felt even more at ease. She obediently lay down and asked, “Everyone keeps saying this child might be a girl.”
These comments were only whispered in private.
Even though she and her husband didn’t think there was any difference between a son and a daughter, the people in the palace still dared not speak carelessly about it.
Madam Gao said, “Let me be honest with you—don’t take it the wrong way. You and your husband have only recently taken up residence in the Eastern Palace. If your first child is a son, it will save you a lot of trouble in this position.”
The current emperor and crown prince, a father and son duo, had one who refused to take an empress and the other who refused to take concubines. For a dynasty, a sparse lineage was not a good thing.
Gao Yuexing didn’t take it seriously. “Having too many sons isn’t a good thing either. In the future, they’ll fight each other, brothers turning against each other, and whoever survives in the end will just end up alone.”
Madam Gao smiled. “You’re not wrong about that.”
As noon approached, Gao Yuexing could no longer endure the pain, and labor finally began.
Li Fuxiang couldn’t hear the screams from inside the room, but he smelled the scent of blood.
His five senses—hearing, taste, vision—were all exceptionally keen. Twice dispatched to the Western Frontier, his body, honed through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, instinctively tensed up at the familiar smell.
Sweat streamed down his face, forming a small puddle on the ground.
Li Fuxiang stared at that damp spot, unmoving, watching as it dried on the sweltering ground and then became wet again.
When the sun was clearly leaning toward the west, the sound of a baby’s cry came from the inner room.
In that instant, all the servants in the Eastern Palace erupted with joy.
Li Fuxiang heard someone excitedly shouting, “Congratulations, Your Highness! It’s a little imperial grandson.”
It turned out to be a son.
Gao Yuexing looked at the wrinkled little face in the swaddling cloth, utterly perplexed.
During her most painful moments earlier, just thinking of the daughter she had seen in her dream had eased her pain considerably.
Gao Yuexing gently poked the baby’s little face and said, “You’re quite the little liar.”
Madam Gao called to the people outside, “The Crown Prince has been standing under the sun for half a day. Why hasn’t anyone invited him in yet?”
Gao Yuexing glanced outside but said nothing.
Buying pastries shouldn’t have taken all day. With Li Fuxiang’s absence, she had already figured it out.
Li Fuxiang strolled in with his hands behind his back, shrugging off his outer robe in the outer room. His inner clothes were completely soaked through with sweat.
The wet nurse, beaming with joy, carried the baby to show him. Li Fuxiang took one look and frowned.
Gao Yuexing said, “You looked just like this when you were a baby.”
The mute servant glanced at him and gestured: “You were even thinner as a baby, like a little mouse.”
Li Fuxiang: “…”
Gao Yuexing laughed.
Li Fuxiang walked over to her, leaned down, and rested his head beside her.
Gao Yuexing raised her hand to stroke his hair and softly said, “See? I’m fine.”
In the Eastern Palace, eight wet nurses attended to the precious little prince, leaving Gao Yuexing with little to worry about. Sometimes, these experienced caretakers even anticipated her needs, managing everything about the baby flawlessly.
The emperor visited several times, always coming for the little prince.
The baby soon grew more defined, and his features were strikingly familiar, though it was hard to tell whether he resembled his mother or father more. The emperor occasionally spent entire afternoons in the Eastern Palace, reluctant to leave.
Li Fuxiang watched this and said to the emperor, “If you like him so much, you can have him.”
He said it with such seriousness that the emperor stared at him for a long time to confirm it wasn’t a joke, then kicked him.
Li Fuxiang darted away after the kick. He genuinely wasn’t joking and had given the matter serious thought.
The tiny baby lay softly in Li Fuxiang’s arms, and he dared not move. The baby’s fragility was palpable, as if one careless mistake could cost him his life.
Gao Yuexing said to him, “See? How difficult it is for you to have grown up safe and sound.”
Li Fuxiang replied, “The hardest part was for the mute servant.”
Only after raising a child does one truly understand the kindness of parents.
Li Fuxiang, as a bystander, gradually realized just how much effort and care it took to properly raise a child. A belated chill ran down his spine as he came to understand how miraculous it was that he had managed to survive at all.
When the baby began crawling, Gao Yuexing decisively decided to wean him.
On the very night she made the decision, a small basket appeared outside the emperor’s Qianqing Palace.
Xu Xiude lifted the small blanket covering the basket and, upon seeing its contents, nearly lost half his soul in fright. Carrying the basket, he hurriedly ran back to the emperor and said, “Your Majesty, take a look at this…”
The emperor only had to move a finger to understand what had happened. He cursed, “Scoundrel.”
But despite his words, he carefully took the child into his arms.
He gazed at the baby’s delicate features, unable to put him down. After pondering for a moment, he said, “That rascal must have done this in secret. Send someone to the Eastern Palace and tell them that I’ll be keeping the child in Qianqing Palace for a few days. Let her rest easy.”
Xu Xiude acknowledged the order with a “Yes.”
Since the matter concerned the little imperial grandson, he dared not take it lightly. Taking time from his schedule, he personally went to the Eastern Palace, only to find Li Fuxiang absent. Puzzled, he inquired further and learned that the dignified crown prince had been sent to sleep in the study.
It was both exasperating and amusing.
That evening, as it was inconvenient for Xu Xiude to enter the inner chambers, he conveyed the emperor’s message to the Crown Princess in the outer hall, drank a cup of tea, and was respectfully escorted out.
The emperor intended to keep the child for a few days. Gao Yuexing waited for two days without hearing any unusual news from Qianqing Palace. When she went to check, she found that the child and his grandfather seemed to be having a great time together, which finally put her mind at ease.
Every day, Li Fuxiang would test the waters with Gao Yuexing.
If she was still uninterested in engaging with him, he would obediently return to the study at night. If he happened to catch her in a good mood and she showed him some favor, he would shamelessly return to their bedroom.
Li Fuxiang’s acts of feigned obedience and playful cunning left Gao Yuexing helpless.
One night, as she turned over in bed, she decided to have a serious conversation with him. “When the child grows up, do you think he’ll let you off easily?”
Li Fuxiang’s current relationship with the emperor was already a clear warning.
No matter how close the emperor appeared to Li Fuxiang, there was still an intangible barrier between them.
The ten difficult years in the Xiaonan Pavilion and the injustice suffered by his birth mother—anyone else would harbor resentment for such things.
Li Fuxiang took a lighter view of grudges because of his inherently kind nature.
However, this rare disposition might not necessarily be passed down to their son.
Li Fuxiang casually said, “It’s fine. Let him do as he pleases. As long as he takes good care of you in the future, I won’t need anything from him.”
Gao Yuexing’s face darkened. “Don’t speak nonsense.”
Li Fuxiang reluctantly muttered, “Oh.”
Another fruitless conversation left Gao Yuexing preoccupied, so the next day, she went to play chess with the emperor.
The emperor held a chess piece in one hand and the little prince on his lap, occasionally getting distracted to tease the baby.
Neither of them was focused on the game, making it hard to determine a winner. The chessboard, representing the vast empire, was in disarray.
The emperor asked, “Have you chosen a name for the child?”
Gao Yuexing replied, “The Ministry of Rites proposed a few names, but His Highness wasn’t interested. I’d like to hear Your Majesty’s opinion.”
Naturally, the Ministry of Rites had selected the finest names.
The emperor said, “The child is still so young. While I have high hopes for him, I don’t want an overly weighty name to burden his fortune. Let’s start with a nickname.”
Gao Yuexing said, “The nickname was chosen by His Highness—Yun Pian Gao (云片糕).”
This was because the first pastry Gao Yuexing ate after the child was born was the Yun Pian Gao that Li Fuxiang brought back.
The emperor was speechless for a moment. “Alright then.”
Gao Yuexing’s worried expression finally caught the emperor’s attention.
The emperor knew exactly what was troubling her.
However, Gao Yuexing couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t see through it, and had been deeply troubled by it recently.
The emperor, fiddling with a chess piece, said, “I’ve heard your father was a strict man and your parents must have been very loving when you were young.”
Gao Yuexing nodded. “Yes, they loved each other very much.”
The emperor said, “You grew up under the protection of your parents, so you know how to love your own child. That’s not something innate—it’s a legacy from your parents. But Li Fuxiang is different. He never experienced a mother’s love, and the kindness his father showed him mostly stemmed from guilt, not love. He doesn’t know what a true father should be like, and no one ever taught him.”
Yun Pian Gao had eight wet nurses attending to him at all times, but when Li Fuxiang was a child, he didn’t even have milk to drink.
Holding the baby, the emperor couldn’t help but think about those years when Li Fuxiang, abandoned and out of sight, struggled to survive in the overgrown XiaonanvPavilion.
Back then, the emperor had been deeply troubled and couldn’t resist confiding in the young Gao Yuexing.
The emperor asked, “Do you remember how you advised me back then?”
Of course, Gao Yuexing remembered.
That year, with her still-immature voice, she told the emperor personally: “He doesn’t know how to be a son, and no one has ever taught him. But there’s no law in the world that dictates how a son must behave. In the end, his relationship with Your Majesty is unique—that’s his own understanding of the father-son bond.”
The emperor held the baby and laughed. “You see, most people are quick to advise others, full of clever words. But when it comes to their own problems, they can’t see clearly or figure it out.”
Gao Yuexing carefully mulled over his words.
She had always had a sharp tongue since childhood. When she said those words back then, it wasn’t sincere at all—it was entirely to pacify the emperor’s fragile and sensitive heart.
Unexpectedly, after so many years, those words had gained some truth to them.
Now, they seemed to apply perfectly to her own situation.
In the end, the emperor stood up, gently patted Gao Yuexing on the head like comforting a child, and said warmly, “A harmonious family and a peaceful era—don’t weigh yourself down with such heavy thoughts, girl. Look on the bright side. With me helping you take care of the child, what’s there to worry about?”