The Ninth Prince, born to Consort Shu, was given his name by Xue Yan.
His name consisted of a single character: Chang (昶). Like Xue Yan, he did not use the generational character Yun (允) assigned to the princes of his generation.
Xue Yan’s intentions were as clear as day.
From the moment the name was finalized, everyone inside and outside the palace knew that this newborn Ninth Prince had already been personally designated by Xue Yan as Great Yong’s heir.
Although the claim sounded absurd, the current court was indeed under Xue Yan’s control. He simply did not want the title of Emperor or to live in the imperial palace. Everyone throughout the government knew that the current Prince of Guangling was, in all but name, the Emperor of Great Yong.
Naturally, he was the one who got to decide who would be the next ruler.
Everyone said that the Ninth Prince was blessed with extraordinary fortune, having been born with the destiny of one who would sit upon the imperial throne.
But his mother, Consort Shu, was the only one who was unhappy.
Many years later, people in the palace still remembered what had happened on the day Consort Shu gave birth.
At the time, when the child was born, Consort Shu was still conscious in the delivery room.
The midwife had only just announced the birth. The Empress, the other consorts, and everyone from the Jun family waiting outside had not yet reacted when they heard Consort Shu anxiously asking from within the room, “Is it a boy or a girl? Is it a boy or a girl?”
The midwife hurriedly replied, “Congratulations, Your Highness! It’s a little prince!”
To everyone’s surprise, upon hearing this, Consort Shu cried out anxiously, “That’s wrong! That must be wrong! It’s a little princess! Look again. It must be a princess!”
Every maid and midwife in the room was stunned.
“It’s… it really is a little prince, Your Highness!” the midwife stammered.
Consort Shu burst into tears.
“That little brat has gotten such a good deal!” she wailed.
Aside from the few masters who knew the truth, no one understood what Consort Shu meant by those words.
Nevertheless, this did nothing to stop her reputation for adoring daughters from spreading throughout the palace.
When the baby was carried out, Xue Yan was the first to take him from the midwife.
He had never held a baby before. He lifted the infant out of the midwife’s arms as if he were picking up a bag, and the child nearly slipped out of his swaddling clothes and fell to the ground. The midwife and the surrounding maids cried out in alarm.
Jun Huailang hurriedly took the Ninth Prince from Xue Yan’s arms.
He had held Linghuan when she was little. Although his movements were not particularly practiced, at least he did not handle a baby as dangerously as Xue Yan had.
Everyone hurried into the delivery room to see Consort Shu, leaving only the two of them standing at the entrance.
Xue Yan lowered his head and looked at the baby, his brows knitting together.
“…Why is he so ugly?”
Newborn babies were all wrinkled, with reddish skin. The child looked like a little monkey.
Jun Huailang laughed. “All babies look like this when they’re first born.”
Xue Yan raised his eyes toward him and happened to see Jun Huailang holding the baby awkwardly but carefully, a smile lingering in his eyes and across his brows.
Xue Yan stared at him, his gaze going unfocused. He did not recover even half his wits until Jun Huailang looked up at him in confusion.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jun Huailang asked, puzzled. “Why are you staring at me?”
Xue Yan chuckled quietly and shook his head.
How could he possibly tell Jun Huailang that, just now, looking at him had made it seem as though this little brat were Jun Huailang’s own child?
He would never dare.
Now that everyone in the Jun family had more or less accepted their relationship, Xue Yan lived at the Duke of Yongning’s residence every day. He had practically moved the entire Prince of Guangling’s household into someone else’s estate.
If Jun Huailang heard him say something like that, wouldn’t he throw him out and refuse to let him through the door for ten days or half a month?
He did not have the courage to say it, but the resemblance in his imagination had been undeniable.
If Jun Huailang really had the ability to give him a little monkey like this, then Xue Yan would conquer not only all of Great Yong but also the surrounding lands—the Turks, the Khitans, the southern tribes, and every other territory in the world—and hand them all over to that little monkey.
Of course, Jun Huailang did not have that ability.
Nevertheless, that night, Jun Huailang discovered that Xue Yan was especially insatiable. It was as though he never grew tired, and he kept him occupied again and again until daybreak, leaving Jun Huailang barely able to get out of bed for almost the entire day.
——
The little monkey grew more and more handsome as he got older.
Xue Yan named him Xue Chang (薛昶), taking the character’s meaning of “eternal daylight.”
The name was also formally approved by Emperor Qingping. By then, the Emperor lay in bed every day. Although he could now manage to utter a few simple syllables, he still could not move.
With little else he could do, he had gradually developed a liking for listening to opera. The courtyard was filled with the high-pitched singing and recitation of performers, making the place lively throughout the day.
He heard the Ninth Prince’s name, and the child was brought to him for a look. After that, it was settled: the boy would be called Xue Chang, with the childhood nickname Minglang.
From the moment Xue Chang was born, he was designated Crown Prince. Xue Yan was promoted from commandery prince to imperial prince, receiving the title Prince of Qi and being granted the authority to act as regent.
From a young age, Xue Chang spoke little and did not smile much. Yet he was exceptionally beautiful and adorable, with skin as fair as jade and eyes so large that he looked almost exactly like Consort Shu.
As a result, his normally solemn and cold expression only made him seem even more endearing, and everyone found him irresistible.
The elders in the palace called him Chang’er or Minglang. Only Xue Yan went around calling him “Little Monkey” all day long.
When Xue Chang was little, he could not distinguish between the Chinese characters for “marquis” (侯) and “monkey” (猴), which sounded almost identical.
When he heard people respectfully addressing that imposing uncle of his as “Marquis,” he assumed that the “Little Monkey” his regent brother called him used the same character as the title “Marquis.”
His regent brother had never been one to smile from the time Xue Chang was little. Naturally clever, Xue Chang imitated him and learned to copy his mannerisms almost perfectly. Everyone in the palace respected and feared his regent brother, and watching him grow up, Xue Chang wanted to become someone just like him in the future.
In his heart, Xue Chang greatly admired Xue Yan.
Therefore, when Xue Yan called him that, he assumed his regent brother had high expectations for him. He even studied harder because of it, afraid that he would fail to live up to such an imposing name.
Then, in the fourth year of his life, Xue Chang suddenly learned what a “monkey” was.
Unlike a marquis, a monkey was an ugly little animal with reddish buttocks and fur covering its body.
For the first time in his brief four-year life, Xue Chang flew into a rage.
He charged straight into the Imperial Study. None of the surrounding guards or eunuchs dared stop him. He shoved aside Eunuch Jinbao, who had approached with a beaming smile to ask what he wanted, then rushed at Xue Yan and scratched his face to ribbons.
The outcome was naturally that Xue Chang received a spanking from Xue Yan. He cried until he was hoarse, and every servant in the Imperial Study looked on in astonishment.
The news even spread throughout the inner palace and eventually reached the Duke of Yongning’s residence.
Two years earlier, the Heir of the Duke of Yongning had taken the imperial examinations. He had placed first in the metropolitan examination and answered every question fluently during the palace examination, earning the title of top scholar.
One of the successful candidates who had participated in the palace examination alongside him said that when the Heir of the Duke of Yongning faced the Prince of Qi, who served as the chief examiner, he had shown not the slightest trace of fear. Instead, it was the dignified and coldly imposing Prince of Qi who had stumbled over his words several times.
In any case, the Heir of the Duke of Yongning had rightfully become the top scholar. Before long, amid the sound of music and celebration and an extravagant bridal procession stretching for miles, he married a beautiful young woman whose name was hardly known to anyone.
Rumor had it that no one knew whose daughter the beautiful bride was. In any case, she did not come from any prominent aristocratic family. The only particularly striking thing about her was her height. When she stepped down from the bridal sedan chair, she appeared considerably taller than the Heir of the Duke of Yongning.
By now, the newly crowned top scholar had entered the imperial court and had spent the past two years serving in the Hanlin Academy. He was regarded as a promising new figure in the government.
When Lord Jun, the Hanlin academician from the Duke of Yongning’s residence, heard the news, he hurried from the Hanlin Academy to the Imperial Study and put a stop to the regent’s practice of spanking children.
Xue Chang was crying so hard that he threw himself straight into Jun Huailang’s arms.
Xue Yan was so furious that his brows and eyes looked sharp and fierce. Four distinct bloody scratches marked his face.
Jun Huailang hurriedly held Xue Chang and patiently comforted him.
“What on earth happened?” Jun Huailang asked with difficulty, caught between Xue Yan’s furious glare and Xue Chang’s heart-wrenching wails.
Through his tears, Xue Chang sobbed and shouted incoherently, “A scholar may be killed, but he cannot be humiliated!”
Jun Huailang suppressed a laugh and asked, “How did he humiliate you?”
Xue Chang was crying so hard that he could barely speak clearly. He struggled for a long time without managing to explain what had happened.
Jun Huailang was extremely patient and continued soothing him gently. Xue Yan, however, had no such patience. After listening to the child wail for ages, he angrily reached out to pull Xue Chang from Jun Huailang’s arms so he could continue the spanking.
Terrified, Xue Chang shrieked and squirmed. At last, he managed to shout clearly at Xue Yan.
“You’re the ugly monkey!”
——
In the end, Xue Chang was not spanked any further. Instead, when Xue Yan left the palace, he wore a dark expression, with several faint, shallow scratches on his cheek.
Even when it was time for bed that night, Xue Yan still had not cracked a smile.
Jun Huailang could not help laughing as he asked him, “He’s only four years old. Is it really worth being angry about this for so long?”
Xue Yan replied, “And you took his side.”
Jun Huailang burst out laughing.
“You were clearly the one at fault,” he said, trying to compose his expression even as the corners of his mouth stubbornly remained turned upward. “Isn’t this all because you keep calling him Little Monkey every day?”
Xue Yan clicked his tongue.
“Just as I thought,” he said. “I can’t let you have children.”
Jun Huailang froze. “What?”
Xue Yan had not yet gotten over his anger. When he was with Jun Huailang, he said whatever came into his head without thinking.
“I said that I used to want you to give me a little brat of our own, too. But now that I think about it, forget it,” he said. “It would only give me more things to get angry about.”
Only after the words left his mouth did Xue Yan realize what he had just said.
He raised his head and looked at Jun Huailang.
Jun Huailang simply looked back at him calmly, his expression unreadable.
After that, Xue Yan spent half a month sleeping in the study.
Xue Chang did not fare much better.
For as long as Xue Yan slept in the study, Xue Chang was made to spend the same amount of time copying the Standards for Students.