CH 5

Chapter 5. False Affection

It might be either because he had gotten used to being a wandering spirit, or that his little body was in its developmental stage, but he always felt like sleeping. After a few continuous months, Jing Qi was disinclined to do anything.

Ping An felt like their young master could very well sleep through the entire year as he spent the entire three months of winter doing nothing but that, just like a pig.

After reporting his sickness to His Majesty, except for the few times he had to pay the man a visit, he did not take one step past the residence’s gate, being more “well-behaved” than young ladies from other families.

In his past lives, He Lianyi had taken hold of Jing Qi’s heart. Ever since he was little, he was used to putting the other’s problems and happiness first and foremost. Too diligent to serve him in fact, he had poured out all of his diligence which was supposed to be directed to his own father.

Then this lifetime came; and now that his infatuation was gone, it felt empty, but at the same time the weight had been lifted off his chest.

Now Jing Qi had adopted a more lighthearted perspective, and besides, he was still very young. Da Qing might have been rotten from its roots, but on the outside it still managed to keep up a delusion of opulence, so it would not crumble immediately. By the time the unrest finally revealed itself, the Crown Prince would have matured enough to hold down the fort.

He suddenly understood why the Emperor did not hold early court meetings in the past twenty years: To humans, what could possibly be better than having fun? Every day, he would sleep until past noon, then woke up and ate a meal just for the sake of it, then practiced calligraphy, wrote some nonsensical poems if the inspiration struck, read some pages about chess, skimmed through entertainment literature that covered anything from geography to folk tales, then slept right on the divan when his eyes got tired.

According to Ping An’s calculation, Young Master’s reading time was very long, making it seem like he was trying to be studious even at such a young age. But nine out of ten times he brought him more tea, the little lord was “reading” with his eyelids closed.

He was the embodiment of “sitting around and doing nothing”.

Once you stepped into the residence, time seemed to stretch on for much longer.

The more lazy he was, the more he slept. The more he slept, the more lazy he became.

It came to the point where even He Lianyi, who visited every time he got a break, found it abnormal.

Pitiful was young Crown Prince; on all the occasions he visited, whenever he asked “Where is your Young Master?” he was only met with either “He is already asleep”, “He has yet to wake”, “He is resting in the studies”, or “He is resting in the backyard.”

The location might vary depending on the time he was there, but the activity was a single constant – sleeping.

After a long period of time, He Lianyi suspected that he had developed some kind of illness, so he took the royal physician to see him. While his pulse was being checked, the Crown Prince stood to one side impatiently. At random times he would ask, “How is he?”

“This is…” The doctor paused. The moment he stepped through the door, he could tell that this prince of Nan Ning was completely healthy by his complexion alone. But he could not just say it as it was, since it would make him look not professional enough. Therefore, Physician Hu pretentiously scratched his chin and spoke with every word stretched out, “According to Basic Medicine1, illnesses are born from qi2 imbalance. Qi level is high when one is angry and low when one is frightened, qi flow becomes more sluggish when one is happy; qi withdraws when it gets cold and overflows when it is hot; qi becomes disrupted when one panics, is depleted when one is exhausted and coagulates when one is wrought with worries. Every human emotion can cause a change in qi, and once it is produced the organs will begin to function out of harmony…”

His book quotes seemed to be endless. Even though He Lian was unsure what he was talking about, he had an idea that the level of exaggeration in Jing Qi’s “illness” was pretty high. His face darkened as he glared at the other boy.

Once the physician was politely sent away, he looked back and asked mock-nonchalantly. “Your sickness seems serious.”

Jing Qi replied gravely. “You should know, Your Highness, that while this ailment isn’t deadly, it is not at all easy to cure. The physician talked so much only because he felt helpless about this situation.”

He Lianyi raised his brows. “What kind of ailment is it?”

“In the previous dynasty there was a book rumored to be written by a genius physician with the last name Du, and the ninth chapter in that book talks about illnesses that are difficult to treat – “sleep addiction” is one of them. This illness is really rare, only having occurred a few times in the past. It was normal that Physician Hu doesn’t know about it, he was still young after all.”

He Lianyi listened to him speak, his expression hard to read. He did not interrupt these incredibly fraud knowledge ramblings.

Jing Qi continued with astonishing confidence. “People who have this illness will behave normally at first and only wants to sleep a little more than the standard need, but gradually they will be almost perpetually dazed, and can fall asleep the moment they close their eyes. In a few years, they can enter a coma that lasts three to ten years at least and…”

“And how many, at most?” He Lianyi picked up a tea cup while still hearing him out.

Jing Qi’s eyes flashed strangely as he smiled. “Rumor has it that you can fall unconscious for sixty-three years.”

In that brief moment, He Lianyi felt like there was an indescribable emotion gracing the other’s delicate features; it was seemingly half mocking, half jesting. But it was there and gone in the next second, so he thought it was just his imagination. When he blinked, he only saw an unbearably mischievous face that frustrated him so much. He conveniently rolled the medicine book on the table into a stick and knocked it on the other’s head. “Sleep addiction? You are just lazy.”

Jing Qi laughed and dodged.

At the beginning, he wanted to reject this hobby of playing and joking around with the other boy, but he slowly got used to it; though sometimes, he really wanted to make an exclamation such as “So there was a time when nothing was wrong between me and him”.

The Wuchang ghost, true to his name, did such an impeccable job. The person in front of him would later become intelligent and heartless and ruthless and cruel, but right now in Jing Qi’s eyes, he was merely a stubborn child who refused to accept his fate.

Since He Lianyi was a few years older, it took him no time to catch Jing Qi. He trapped the younger boy in his arms and only let him go after he had pinched the small face so hard it turned red. He scolded, “Why can’t you and Father learn nice things? All you two know how to do is being dodgy.”

A child normally would not criticize their parents like that, not to mention the delusional old man was still the ruler and could sever heads with just a sentence; so this honesty startled Jing Qi. 

He Lianyi had always been very cautious with his actions and his principle was “one must not do any unnecessary actions”, he would never say anything out loud without thinking long and hard about it beforehand.

But at the moment he was only ten, his shrewdness yet to be honed. He would not have been this frank had Jing Qi had returned to the palace and he had someone to talk to again.

He Lianyi knew he misspoke the moment he finished that sentence, and he thought about how fortunate it was that Jing Qi was someone he could trust. He sighed and changed topic, “You seem to be living very well here.”

After a short period of silence, Jing Qi replied, “Your Highness, the rules are that the princes’ study partners are picked from noble families, and are people who have yet to inherit any titles. Father passed away too soon, so now… According to the rules, my studying from now on can be continued independently with a hired tutor…”

He stopped talking to glance at He Lianyi. With Da Qing’s inheritance system, age did not matter; the moment the father passed away, the title would be bestowed on the first son. The child could be five and he would still be considered to have become mature the moment it happened.

However, since Jing Qi grew up in the palace, it was not unreasonable for him to continue being the Crown Prince’s study partner—just like in the previous life… 

…unless he himself did not want it anymore and was only using the rules as an excuse. He Lianyi understood the intention and felt dejected. “Beiyuan…”

Jing Qi acknowledged the fact that he had lived past his prime. He no longer possessed the heart of a vigorous youth, and wanted no part in scheming with others – of course, the more primal reason was that he wanted as less connection as possible to this boy who would later become the next ruler. But even then, Jing Qi could not risk to displease him, so he asked after some thoughts, “Does Your Highness know who visited us during Father’s First Seven?”

He Lianyi was taken aback by that.

“It was Great General Feng Yuanji.” Jing Qi lowered his head with his eyes also downcast, fingers drumming gently on the border of the table.

Only then did He Lianyi snapped out of the trance, his face full of pain and his eyes full of regrets. After a while, he laughed coldly. “My first brother… what an excellent job he has done. His ability to frame the innocents and harm people of this country is truly unmatched.”

He stood up and walked around the room with his hands clasped together. “In this situation of hardship, facing those devils, if only I can… Hmph!”

He did not finish the sentence, grief and anger tightly packed into the sound of his scoff. His profile looked stiff, like the muscles were strained.

Jing Qi said, “If one has no power, they can do nothing else but follow what fate has in store for them. That’s why on that day I realized that if I’m no longer staying in the palace, at least I can provide a safe space for you here. In the future I won’t be the only one, and then one day…”

He Lianyi turned his head back to him. Many years later, he would still remember this: The boy sat over there in his pale blue robes, legs folded, hands cradling a cup of tea, eyes full of smiles. There were no trivial formalities, no pretentiousness, just a normal, casual back and forth exchange – at least I can provide a safe space for you here.

The boy, who had never tasted sadness before, who was full of doubts, who had yet to experience absolute power.

Unfortunately, spring waited for no one – but that was a story for later.

Jing Qi finally stepped outside six months after that, as the Emperor sent a direct order to the Residence, commanding him to visit the palace – the South Xinjiang hostage had arrived.

The Emperor had a very simple thought process: He heard that the young shaman was only around eleven to twelve years old, and the long and difficult trip here must have been hard for such a young child, not to mention the change in climate. Furthermore, the language barrier would further the child’s misery; and Da Qing was ruled with mercy, so it was out of the question for the level of hospitality to be impeccable – the boy must feel comforted and safe… Of course, mercy had nothing to do with the war they waged against South Xinjiang, those were completely different matters.

And it just so happened that Jing Beiyuan grew up under his eyes and had a leisure-loving, mischievous and clever personality that he was very fond of. He thought the child could benefit from making some friends.

That was why from the early morning, Jing Qi was surrounded with servants after servants to be dressed in his tiny court clothes. Then he would enter the palace with eyes only half open, on his way to meet the one with whom he would be entangled for the rest of his life.