Fu Huang loosened his hold on Fu Ye and looked at him, his gaze so deep it was almost frightening. “What did you just say?”
Qin Neijian was shaking so hard with shock his hands and feet trembled. He too wanted to ask, Your Highness, what did you just say? Say it again!
Panicked, he glanced around, suddenly alert. With a sharp wave of his hand, the eunuchs under the eaves all hurriedly withdrew.
Heavens help them all—they’d just heard something they shouldn’t have!
They wanted to live! They wanted to pretend they were deaf!
AAAAHHHH!
Only Shuang Fu stood there, mouth agape, staring as their prince gazed dumbly at the emperor, tears falling even harder.
Fu Ye thought: just now Fu Huang was still full of tenderness, holding him close, saying yes to everything he asked. But the moment he heard him say he loved him, he turned like this. His reason was already in shreds, and now his last thread of restraint snapped.
Xiao Ai: “AAAAHHH, stop talking!”
But Fu Ye couldn’t hear anymore. It was as if Fu Huang had pronounced a death sentence on him. He simply threw caution to the wind, looking at Fu Huang and saying: “Do you think that me loving even my own brother makes me so vile? Do you think loving you is my greatest sin?”
Fu Huang’s expression was one of utter shock.
Xiao Ai: “AAAAHHHH!!”
Fu Ye’s tears fell faster. “I’m guilty of deceiving the emperor too. I’m not even the Sixth Prince… I…”
But before he could finish, his face flushed scarlet, his vision darkened, and he collapsed into Fu Huang’s arms.
Xiao Ai: “AAAAHHHH!!”
Love is terrifying—it made him risk his life without a second thought!
In Chun Zhao Hall of Qingyuan Palace.
Several imperial physicians, having taken Fu Ye’s pulse again and again, wiped their foreheads nervously as they reported to the Empress Dowager.
Heavens above, the prince was perfectly fine when he fetched the emperor’s medical records from the Imperial Medical Bureau—how did it come to this?!
The Empress Dowager wore only a single plain sandalwood hairpin—an extreme rarity for one so particular about her appearance, especially when meeting the emperor, when she would always appear in full regalia. Clearly, she’d come in haste, her expression unsettled. “How is Prince Huan?”
Buddha above, when Prince Huan left Cien Palace, he was fine, said he was going out of the palace—how did this happen so suddenly?!
She shot a fierce look at Fu Huang.
The physicians hurriedly bowed and said, “The prince merely wept too hard—there’s no serious harm. He’ll recover after some rest.”
“Yes, yes… The prince himself said the same.”
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager immediately rose and sat down at Fu Ye’s side.
As she settled on the couch, she noticed a robe beside her—a violet linen garment patterned with catalpa flowers.
It looked very familiar.
She could swear she’d seen Prince Huan wearing this before!
Looking around, the Empress Dowager saw an entire pile of elaborate, brightly colored robes, clearly all belonging to Fu Ye.
She no longer even wanted to sit on that couch.
What sin is this—she didn’t dare imagine what the emperor had done on this very bed!
Fu Huang was still standing where he was, frozen.
Qin Neijian called softly, “Your Majesty… Your Majesty.”
Fu Huang snapped out of it and looked at him.
Qin Neijian hesitated, then said, “The prince is fine. Please don’t worry anymore.”
Just moments ago, the prince’s face had flushed bright red before he suddenly wept himself unconscious—scaring them all half to death.
As soon as the physicians were summoned, a lady-in-waiting from the Empress Dowager’s palace happened to be inquiring after the emperor’s health. So of course the Empress Dowager found out too!
The imperial doctors came rushing, and the Empress Dowager, pale-faced, followed right behind. Now the little East Wing was packed with people. Palace maids and eunuchs stood in neat rows outside. The eunuchs of Qingyuan Palace were famed for being as still as puppets, and the ladies from Cien Palace were elegant and cold, making the tension in the air all the more oppressive.
Fu Huang looked at him, then glanced at Fu Ye lying on the bed. The Empress Dowager was holding his hand, asking, “How do you feel?”
Fu Huang turned to Qin Neijian. “Did you hear what he just said?”
Qin Neijian trembled.
He had heard!
In that moment, it felt like he fell from the heavens to the pit of hell!
The prince actually said he… wasn’t the Sixth Prince?!
What did that even mean?! He didn’t dare think about it!
Heavens above.
Lowering his eyes, he risked a glance at the emperor. “This servant heard it all…”
Fu Huang murmured, “He said he… likes me. Loves me.”
Qin Neijian: “……”
Wait—was that the most important part, Your Majesty?!
The prince just said he wasn’t the Sixth Prince!
He pressed his lips together and said, “……Yes.”
He almost suspected he’d only heard the prince’s confession, and the rest about identities was just his mind playing tricks on him.
“This servant heard it clear as day—it shocked me to my core!”
Fu Huang felt his temples throb. “Pinch me.”
“Your Majesty!”
And yet, he still gave his sovereign a light pinch.
The Empress Dowager, holding Fu Ye’s hand, continued asking him softly how he felt.
Whatever she said, Fu Ye could no longer take it in.
After that surge of emotion had passed, he felt dazed and blank.
“Ahhhh…”
Xiao Ai: “Heh.”
“Someone save me!”
“No saving you. I’ve screamed myself hoarse and you didn’t listen anyway.”
At that moment… he had simply been too overwhelmed.
The Empress Dowager glanced at the plaque that read Spring Dawn Hall.
Terrifying. Truly terrifying.
This so-called Spring Dawn Hall clearly houses nothing but the emperor’s springtime yearnings!
She felt for a moment that her anger was overwhelming her, making her dizzy. Steadying herself with effort, she asked Fu Huang, “What exactly is going on? Are you going to tell me or not?”
Fu Huang replied calmly, “He saw my medical records, realized how close I came to death, and panicked.”
The Empress Dowager stared at him.
Truth be told, she hadn’t seen Fu Huang much in recent days. The last time had been when his condition was at its worst—she’d come to look in on him, torn over whether to summon the clan elders of the Fu family into the palace. Then, the room had been dimly lit, and seeing the emperor so fevered and dazed had filled her with grief. Now, under the bright sunlight, she saw clearly that the emperor, after his grave illness, was pitifully gaunt.
Only his sharp, commanding features and upright posture still held that air of effortless authority befitting a sovereign.
Yet she seized the moment to say, “That only proves Prince Huan is a kindhearted, good child.”
The emperor had better understand!
He mustn’t ruin such a good child!
In the past, she hadn’t completely doted on Fu Ye. But these days, she found him increasingly flawless—practically perfect.
She would protect him with her life!
“I’m taking him to Cien Palace,” she said firmly.
There was no room for compromise in her tone.
Fu Huang answered, “Let him stay in Spring Dawn Hall.”
“I don’t feel at ease leaving him here,” the Empress Dowager said, fixing him with a steely gaze.
Fu Huang replied, “If I wanted to do anything to him, no one could stop me.”
The Empress Dowager: “……”
Harsh as it was, it was true.
Qin Neijian quickly interjected, “Spring Dawn Hall is where the prince is accustomed to staying. Your Majesty, if you’re uneasy, perhaps you could assign a few lady officials to keep watch over him?”
Sun Gongzheng thought to herself, There’s no one else it could be but her.
But honestly, she really didn’t want to live in Qingyuan Palace.
Then she saw the Empress Dowager look at her.
Left with no choice, she bit her lip and respectfully said, “This servant will stay behind to care for His Highness. Please, Your Majesty, rest easy.”
The Empress Dowager said, “Once Prince Huan is doing better, send someone to inform me.” Then she turned to the Emperor and added, “When he’s well, he still needs to leave the palace.”
Only after settling all this did she finally turn to go. But after just a few steps, she stopped again.
Sun Gongzheng called out hopefully, “Your Majesty?”
The Empress Dowager said, “Tell them to tidy up the Hall of Spring Mornings—it’s a mess. Don’t let it frighten Prince Huan!”
With that, she left, still clearly annoyed.
Sun Gongzheng and several palace maids stayed behind. She glanced at Fu Huang and said, “This servant will go tend to His Highness now.”
“I have matters to discuss with Prince Huan,” the Emperor said coolly. “You all wait here.”
Chief Eunuch Qin immediately added, “Lady Sun, perhaps you could sit for a while in the courtyard.”
He quickly ordered people to bring a bench for Sun Gongzheng and her attendants.
Of course, Sun Gongzheng wouldn’t dare sit, but neither did she dare oppose Fu Huang. All she could do was stand straight under the rose trellis, watching the Emperor enter the Hall of Spring Mornings.
She didn’t even know who had inscribed the plaque above the hall. The characters for “Spring Morning” were truly hideous.
She turned to look at Chief Eunuch Qin, only to see his face tight with anxiety. He seemed even more nervous and afraid than she was.
Dear Bodhisattva… something serious is about to happen, isn’t it?
Oh no, oh no… am I really not going to leave Qingyuan Palace alive today?
The truth was, though the Emperor was overbearing, what he said wasn’t wrong. If the Emperor truly wanted to do something to Prince Huan, all they could do was weep. The Empress Dowager might curse him a few times, but in the end, she’d still have to watch Prince Huan be ruined.
All they could rely on now… was the Emperor’s so-called deep affection.
She thought again of how Prince Huan had gotten so distraught just from reading the Emperor’s medical case record. Clearly he hadn’t grown up in the palace—he was too softhearted, too kind. He wouldn’t even realize it if he got eaten alive!
Fu Ye lay under the covers. When he heard the sound of the hall doors opening, his whole body tensed.
From the footsteps, he knew it was Fu Huang who had come in.
He listened as Fu Huang stood still for a moment, then finally approached and sat down beside him on the bed.
A hand, through the blanket, rested lightly on his shoulder.
His body went rigid.
Where’s that boldness you had just now? came Xiao Ai’s mocking voice.
Damn it.
Xiao Ai was right. What was the worst that could happen now?
There was nowhere left to run.
Steeling himself, he threw back the blanket.
His crying had been so intense that his eyes were still swollen, his nose was red, his hair a tangled mess, with his hairpin askew—half his hair had come loose and spilled across the pillow.
But the moment he saw Fu Huang, he started crying again.
This time he cried out of real fear—fear of something he wouldn’t be able to bear.
Fu Huang asked, “Why are you crying?”
Fu Ye didn’t answer him.
“Answer me first—then you can cry,” Fu Huang said.
Fu Ye simply pulled the blanket over his head again.
Then he felt Fu Huang lean down, covering him through the blanket.
Fu Huang asked quietly, “Did I mishear just now?”
Fu Ye cried out, “Ahhhh! Xiao Ai! Xiao Ai!”
But Xiao Ai didn’t respond.
Only Fu Huang’s voice—low, hoarse, and uncertain—broke the silence: “Did you just say… you like me?”
Fu Ye hadn’t expected that at all. Of all things, this was what Fu Huang questioned him about first?
Honestly, it was humiliating—especially from Fu Huang’s point of view. His kind of love… it would probably frighten most people.
But along with the shame came a kind of reckless courage. There was no point in running anymore. So instead of avoiding it, he simply pulled down the blanket and met Fu Huang’s gaze.
Fu Huang’s eyes were dark and deep, like bottomless pools, pressing him for an answer. “Did I mishear you?”
How could Fu Ye respond?
His love was pure, fierce, and heavy with guilt. It had burst out in a moment of impulse—but now he couldn’t bring himself to confess it boldly again.
So he answered with his tears.
He looked straight at Fu Huang with the most beautiful eyes in the world, without flinching, and let the tears fall. And those tears spoke louder than any words could.
There was no language for what Fu Huang felt in that instant—as if those warm tears flowed across the parched, barren wasteland of his heart, watering the withered, hopeless seeds there at last.
His spring morning had been nurtured by those tears.
Fu Huang didn’t know what to say. He froze for a moment, then lowered himself onto Fu Ye, wrapping him in his arms.
Fu Ye went still. That embrace stopped his tears.
Xiao Ai’s voice in his head: Holy shit.
Fu Ye felt even more dazed.
He stayed in Fu Huang’s arms for a while—until suddenly he heard Fu Huang laugh.
It was a soft laugh, but the breath in it gave it away.
Fu Ye was too curious. He pried Fu Huang’s shoulder back so he could see his face. Fu Huang turned toward him.
His face was thin, and when he smiled, there were faint creases at the corners of his eyes. But his eyes were red. He said, “Looks like we’ve both taken a long, twisted road to get here.”
Fu Ye stared at him, unmoving, and his heart began to pound wildly.
Xiao Ai whispered, I think he…
Fu Ye: Ahhhhhhh!
Xiao Ai: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
The two of them—one louder than the other.
Fu Ye couldn’t believe it. He threw his arms around Fu Huang’s neck, and this time he really started sobbing.
Then he let go, looking closely at Fu Huang’s face, wondering if this was all just a dream.
Fu Huang said, “Hold me a little longer.”
“But I just said—I lied to you. Did you hear that? I committed the crime of deceiving the Emperor. And you can forgive that?”
“Since you knew it was a crime against the Emperor, why did you admit it?” Fu Huang asked.
Why else?
Because he loved him. Because love had made him lose all reason—driven him to life or death.
Fu Huang said, “And this liking me—was that a lie too?”
Fu Ye frantically shook his head.
“You’re not just saying you like me because you know I care for you and you want to survive?”
Fu Ye didn’t know what to say anymore.
All he could hear, over and over, were those words: I care for you.
If this really is a dream, Fu Ye thought, then let me keep dreaming like this forever. He felt so happy he was almost dizzy.
Letting out a soft cry, he hugged Fu Huang again.
His tears soaked into Fu Huang’s neck, but even that wasn’t enough—he ended up clambering onto him altogether.
Suddenly, Fu Huang wrapped his arms around him, lifting him up and settling him on his lap.
And so, Fu Ye found himself held close in an embrace so intimate it left no space between them.
Even in the arms of such a thin, gaunt man, he felt completely enveloped.
Xiao Ai was so overwhelmed he didn’t dare look anymore.
Too intense. Too exciting. I need to calm down! I’ve gotta go find Xiao Mei and scream about this!
And so, with a final round of Ahhhhhhhhh! as he spun in circles, Xiao Ai’s voice went quiet.
Outside, Shuangfu craned his neck curiously and whispered to Chief Eunuch Qin, “Lord Eunuch, shouldn’t we take a look inside?”
Chief Qin shushed him at once. Seeing that Sun Gongzheng and the others were frowning at him, he quickly wiped the smile off his face.
But Sun Gongzheng and the rest were already visibly tense. Sun Gongzheng stepped forward and called out, “Your Highness, are you feeling any better? Her Majesty the Empress Dowager instructed us to stay behind and tend to you. If you need anything, just say the word.”
No sound came from within.
This is terrifying! Sun Gongzheng thought.
She considered the Emperor, then the Empress Dowager, and in the end decided her loyalty still lay with the Empress Dowager. Gathering her courage, she took two more steps forward.
Inside, Fu Ye spoke thickly through his nose: “Is this real?”
Fu Huang said quietly, “I don’t know.”
And Fu Ye let out a laugh. A breeze came in through the window, rustling the memorials on the low table. Through the window, he could faintly see the plum blossoms embroidered on the robes of Sun Gongzheng and the others standing outside. Just on the other side of that single window stood so many silent palace folk—maids, eunuchs, and imperial physicians—while inside, the two of them clung to each other.
Outside, Sun Gongzheng’s voice grew more anxious: “Your Highness!”
Fu Ye moved slightly.
Fu Huang only held him tighter. “Don’t move.”
“Sun Gongzheng can see us.”
“Let her look.”
Fu Huang really is insane.
And Fu Ye loved him all the more for it.
But of course, they couldn’t let Sun Gongzheng see them like this.
Thank goodness he hadn’t completely lost his head to love—though honestly, he was already feeling faint, his heart racing.
Later, he realized it wasn’t just love making him dizzy—it was because Fu Huang was holding him too tightly.
Swept up in the moment, Fu Ye nuzzled against Fu Huang’s ear, marveling at how this man could be so good—so good that as long as he loved him, nothing else seemed to matter. And wasn’t that so very like him? This Emperor who always did as he pleased, yet who became so restrained and aching only in front of him.
Fu Ye found himself loving him even more.
But then, seeing how thin and frail Fu Huang really was, his heart ached. He brushed his soft lips against Fu Huang’s cheek in a feather-light kiss.
At any other time, Fu Huang would probably have leaned in for more. But now he seemed almost dazed, unable to believe this was real—that Fu Ye, of all people, would take the initiative to kiss him, something not even his wildest dreams had conjured.
He thought of how Fu Ye had said he wasn’t the Sixth Prince. Who knew if that was true or not? But what did it matter—whether it was a lie or not, neither bloodlines nor the law meant as much as the man in his arms. After so many years of bitter hardship, his heart and soul soaked through in cold misery, this small taste of sweetness was enough to leave him dizzy with joy.
From hell, he had stepped into his spring morning. There was nothing more he could ask for.
Their bodies were pressed so close it felt like they’d melt into one. Fu Huang seemed caught in a spell, hugging him tighter and tighter, until it hurt. His sharp, bony shoulders jutted out; a strange, tingling pleasure spread from his heart outward. His lips parted, his delicate face a mixture of pain and bliss. And then—with a soft clatter—his hairpin fell, and his hair spilled loose, cascading over Fu Huang’s body.
