Although he stayed in the clan residence for one night, the King of Huainan was a royal relative and the brother of the current emperor, and he had not been convicted yet, so the clan residence treated him with great courtesy. They served him with delicious food and drinks, and now they dared not touch him at all, and escorted him to the palace politely.
As soon as he saw Emperor Jingren, Shen Junyi's eyes lit up, and he shouted "Brother" and wanted to rush over to protect Emperor Jingren. He rushed towards Emperor Jingren at a very fast speed, and Emperor Jingren didn't even have a chance to hide before he was hugged by him. The touching brotherly hug that had been planned clearly didn't hug Emperor Jingren, who looked a little thin, but a strong and powerful body. The head of the King of Huainan only reached the chin of this body, and both arms couldn't completely wrap around this body.
Shen Junyi: “…”
The Queen was clearly sitting behind the Queen Mother. In this palace, he was the farthest away from Emperor Jingren. Even Xiao Shunzi, who was serving beside him, was closer to Emperor Jingren than he was. But it was him who arrived in front of Emperor Jingren in an instant, so fast that no one could see how he got there.
The Queen stood as still as a door god, firmly in front of Emperor Jingren and protected him tightly. Shen Junyi had no way to get close to Emperor Jingren.
Looking at the broad back of the Queen, Emperor Jingren couldn't help but think of the Queen always telling him that she would protect him. At that time, Emperor Jingren also kept telling the Queen that the Imperial Guards would protect them both, and the Queen didn't need to lead the way. But the Queen kept her promise to protect him again and again, and saved him from the Imperial Guards commander Yan Xu...
"Sister-in-law?" Shen Junyi looked at the queen for a long time before he could tell the identity of this person from her clothes. He just hugged the queen directly, and he could feel how strong her muscles were. It was like one against ten to deal with someone like him. It was too scary. How could this man walk around in women's clothes with a calm face? Wasn't it embarrassing
"Sister-in-law, my brother and I haven't seen each other for a long time. It's normal to hug each other when we meet. Why are you blocking the way, right, my brother?" Prince Huainan tried hard to lean his head behind the Queen, trying to let Emperor Jingren see his face.
"When a monarch and his subjects meet, courtesy comes first and intimacy comes second." The Queen said calmly, refusing to move away and standing firmly in front of Emperor Jingren.
"This, sister-in-law, you... It's a man's business, why do you, a woman, come out to make trouble? It's inexplicable!" The Prince of Huainan couldn't act like a prince in front of the Queen, so he just used women's clothing to ridicule the Queen.
Emperor Jingren naturally could not allow the Prince of Huainan to mock the Queen, so he said, "The Queen followed the etiquette and did nothing wrong. The Prince of Huainan overstepped the mark."
As soon as he opened his mouth, the King of Huainan could not say anything. The Queen slightly turned her body and glanced at the little emperor with her peripheral vision. At that moment, Emperor Jingren seemed to see the Queen smiling at him, but the smile was fleeting, and Emperor Jingren was not sure if what he saw was real.
The Queen stepped aside, and the Prince of Huainan had to bow when facing Emperor Jingren. He looked around and saw that even the Queen Mother was looking at him with disapproval. He knew that he could not struggle anymore, so he knelt down reluctantly.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May Your Majesty live forever." The King of Huainan's kneeling ceremony was not very standard, but since he was willing to bow his head, he could not care about it.
Emperor Jingren silently noted this matter and said to the King of Huainan: "Stand up and take a seat."
The moment Prince Huainan stood up, Emperor Jingren saw his appearance clearly - he had no impression of him.
This is... a little strange.
He remembered the Queen Mother's appearance, but not the King of Huainan's. In his memory, although the King of Huainan was cynical, he attached great importance to his throne. Anyone could fail to kowtow, except Shen Junyi. Since he was named the Crown Prince, Shen Junyi always considered himself when he was with him, and would not let anyone find any mistakes in him.
But now, the emperor's younger brother has changed.
Maybe, human hearts are hard to predict.
Emperor Jingren felt a little sad, but he didn't show it. Instead, he calmly asked about the night invasion of the imperial city. When he mentioned it, the King of Huainan immediately jumped up and said that the team of city gate guards were disrespectful to him as a prince, and asked Emperor Jingren to punish them.
As he said this, the queen looked up at Xiao Shunzi, and at that moment Xiao Shunzi also looked up at him. The two looked at each other and smiled a knowing smile.
They were naturally happy because their new opponent was so weak.
"Shut up!" The more Emperor Jingren listened, the more his face looked bleak. He said coldly, "I personally ordered that the city gates should not be opened at night. Even if I want to leave the city, I must have a warrant from the Five Cities Army. The city gate guards are loyal and are not afraid of power to protect the people of the imperial city. If I punish the city gate guards because of your words, who will be willing to guard the city for the people in the future?"
Prince Huainan was so dumbfounded by Emperor Jingren's scolding that the aspiration to recognize his relatives that he had exuded before disappeared completely, leaving only an expression of disbelief.
The Queen Mother, who had always been in the background, couldn't help but see her son like this, and said, "Ahem, it is true that the King of Huainan is at fault in this matter, but he hasn't been back to the capital for many years, so ignorance is not a crime. I haven't seen the King of Huainan for a long time, and I miss him very much. Come here, my son, let me take a good look at how you have been doing in Huainan these years."
With the Empress Dowager's help in smoothing things over, Emperor Jingren did not want to offend his mother, so he said nothing and allowed Prince Huainan to reminisce with the Empress Dowager.
As soon as the Empress Dowager spoke, the interrogation of the prisoner in the hall turned into a family reunion. Zuo Zongzheng, who was escorting the Prince of Huainan from the Ministry of Clan Affairs, could no longer stay and asked for his resignation to Emperor Jingren.
The officials of the Imperial Clan House were all from the side branches of the imperial family. The Zongling, who was in charge of the Imperial Clan House, had a very high seniority and was the most senior member of the imperial family. Otherwise, it would be difficult to suppress the imperial family members who committed crimes. The Zongling was the grandfather of Emperor Jingren, and the Zongzheng was the uncle of Emperor Jingren. It was precisely because Zuo Zongzheng had this seniority that he was able to control the King of Huainan.
"Uncle, please stay," Emperor Jingren did not let him go, but said, "When the Prince of Huainan leaves the palace, I will have to escort him back to the clan residence. Please wait in the side hall."
The Queen Mother and the King of Huainan were chatting about family matters: "..."
“Your Majesty…” The Queen Mother could not help but wanted to plead again, but was interrupted by Emperor Jingren.
"Empress Dowager," Emperor Jingren said solemnly, "The fact that the Prince of Huainan didn't know the rules of the capital and insisted on entering the city can be temporarily ignored. But he brought 500 elite soldiers and threatened to break into the city gate, so this matter must be taken seriously. The guards brought by the other princes stayed in the garrison camp outside the capital, and only brought dozens of guards into the city. The Prince of Huainan directly brought 500 elite soldiers to force his way into the city, and this matter must be dealt with. Now is the New Year's Festival, and I allow the Prince of Huainan to attend the New Year's Eve dinner, but he must be under the supervision of the Imperial Clan House during this period, until the Imperial Clan House resumes office after the New Year and this case is dealt with before he can leave."
Hearing that he would still be living in the clan residence, Prince Huainan looked at Emperor Jingren with a look of being struck by lightning, "Brother, I really didn't mean it. I just... don't know the rules. Brother, please, please forgive me this time."
"I know you didn't mean it," Emperor Jingren said in a more relaxed tone, "but everything still has to be done according to the rules. You don't have to go to jail, just live in the clan residence, and the clan residence's staff will protect your safety when you go out. You can return to the palace after this matter is settled, so that you won't be impeached by the Censorate."
Since he had said so, it was useless to plead for mercy. The Queen Mother quickly comforted the King of Huainan, saying that the Emperor was just following the rules to avoid being used by the censors, and that everything would be fine after the clan affairs office dealt with it.
The empress dowager also realized that her youngest son had been away for many years and was unable to adapt to the current rules of the capital. If she allowed him to continue to get along with Emperor Jingren, it would probably backfire. It would be better for her to give her youngest son some advice in private and let him learn how to get along with his brother.
So the Queen Mother dragged Prince Huainan, who still refused to leave, and took him back to the Cining Palace on the pretext of a mother-son reminiscing trip. She did not invite Emperor Jingren to go with her, and it was obvious that she wanted to talk to Prince Huainan alone. Emperor Jingren let them both go.
Everyone had left, and only Emperor Jingren, the Empress, and Xiao Shunzi were left in the side hall.
"Ahem," Emperor Jingren said with a light cough, "Xiao Shunzi, you go down first."
Xiao Shunzi didn't have the ability to stop the Queen from leaving just because she didn't want to. He could only glare at the Queen with hatred and walk out with his head lowered. Now there were only two people in the hall.
The Queen was the first to break the silence and said, "I haven't seen you for a long time. Your Majesty has lost some weight. I thought that with the beauties in the harem around, your Majesty would look very good."
This was quite rude, but the rule-abiding Emperor Jingren turned all his words into tenderness when facing the Queen.
"Why are you saying this, Queen? You know that they are using incense to fool me. If it weren't for the numerous forces behind these people, I would have thrown them into jail long ago."
In front of the Queen, Emperor Jingren spoke with less scruples.
"I am narrow-minded," the queen walked to the side of Emperor Jingren and simply moved the chair over to sit next to him, "I like your majesty, and I feel uncomfortable when I think of your majesty being close to others."
He spoke bluntly, and a slight blush appeared on Emperor Jingren's face. He sighed and said, "I also want to be with the Queen, but I can't just leave the country alone."
Emperor Jingren was too upright to hide his feelings. He was honest about his feelings for the queen, did not hide his concern about the queen's gender deception, and would not use an empty promise to evade the queen.
"I know," the queen held his hand and said in a deep voice, "If you weren't such a law-abiding Shen Junrui, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to fall so deeply."
The blush on Emperor Jingren's face had not yet faded when the empress leaned over and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. There was a distance between them and they hadn't seen each other for a long time, so the empress didn't dare to do anything too intimate and could only show him a little intimacy like this.
Emperor Jingren did not stop him. Instead, he held the Queen's hand tightly and did not want to let go.
"You will be my only queen. My children will only recognize you as their mother." Emperor Jingren made the promise. This was the only promise he could make.
The Queen knew that this was the limit of Emperor Jingren, so she stopped forcing him and didn't want to mention the selection next year. Instead, she took Emperor Jingren's hand and said, "When the first snow falls, I want to show you my sword dance. Although it's sunny outside now, there's a lot of snow. How about we go out in the snow together?"
"Okay." Emperor Jingren replied.