Chapter 349: Your Majesty, Who Do You Want Me to Be?
Zhao Mingyan turned his head to look at her hand, his breath growing heavier.
"I come from the Ji Family. The Empress Dowager in the palace is my paternal aunt, and now I am a wife of the Wei Family."
Ji Qingwu’s fingers pressed harder on his shoulder, her fingertips sinking into the muscle beneath the brocade robes.
They were so close, yet it felt as if they were miles apart.
Ji Qingwu asked, "Your Majesty, who do you want me to be?"
Her voice was soft as she asked.
Ji Qingwu’s eyes were fixed on him stubbornly, without a trace of fear or hesitation.
Zhao Mingyan’s breathing clearly grew a little heavier.
It wasn’t just because of her question, but also the pressure of her fingers. He could feel the turmoil in her heart.
Ji Qingwu continued on her own, "Your Majesty acts on his whims. Is your next step to simply send a letter of divorce to Wei Ting at the Northern Border, and then announce to the world that I am Yuan Heng’s birth mother?"
Although Emperor Wu Su had never revealed his intentions, Ji Qingwu could guess the general idea.
Ji Qingwu then asked, "How will the world see Yuan Heng? Has Your Majesty considered that?"
"So what?"
The voices of an adult and a child rang out in unison—one cold and steady, the other crisp and youthful.
Ji Qingwu turned her head in surprise to look at the little one who had spoken.
Yuan Heng lifted a corner of the blanket and poked his little head out.
"I don’t care. Mother, you don’t have to worry about me." After saying this, he ducked back under the covers.
Ji Qingwu reached out and gently patted the small body under the brocade quilt, her voice soft. "Heng’er, you don’t have to hide. Come out and get some air."
’This isn’t a good time to discuss this. It will only worry the precocious Yuan Heng.’
But without Emperor Wu Su’s permission, Yuan Heng didn’t dare make a move.
Ji Qingwu looked up at him, and only then did Zhao Mingyan say, "Come out."
Yuan Heng came out from under the covers and sat up straight, cross-legged. But because he was wearing a loose inner tunic without any pants, his two pale, tender, radish-like legs were exposed.
Seeing this, the crease between Zhao Mingyan’s brows deepened.
Ji Qingwu helped the little one pull down the wide hem of his tunic, covering his legs and knees to keep him from catching a chill. Yuan Heng’s gaze followed her movements intently, a little mesmerized.
Zhao Mingyan said, his patience exhausted, "Put on your own clothes."
Yuan Heng’s dark eyes darted, and his small hand quietly tugged on Ji Qingwu’s sleeve.
Ji Qingwu patted the little one’s back comfortingly, then turned her head, her eyes flashing. "Your Majesty, what did you come here for, exactly? Was it just to come to my rooms and scold Heng’er?"
Zhao Mingyan watched her spread her wings to shield the one behind her, as if she saw him as the source of danger. He was the third party, shut out from the mother and son.
He quirked his lips. "Yuan Heng slipped out of the palace without permission. I’ve only said one sentence, and you’re already defending him like this."
Even though Ji Qingwu felt immense pressure under the Emperor’s frigid gaze, she still said, "This has nothing to do with them. The fault is all mine. Heng’er didn’t know beforehand, and it was I who asked Si Hai to help bring him here."
Zhao Mingyan asked, "Why, of all days, did you want to see Yuan Heng today?"
Ji Qingwu took Yuan Heng’s small hand and said softly, "Because I missed him very much. I wanted to know if he was doing well."
Zhao Mingyan stared at their joined hands, and his eyes turned cold.
"You showed no concern for four years, and only now do you remember you have a son? Is that what a mother’s longing is supposed to be?"
Ji Qingwu’s expression froze. The guilt in her heart magnified a hundredfold, and the color drained from her lips.
A flash of annoyance crossed Zhao Mingyan’s eyes, and he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Father Emperor, please quell your anger."
Yuan Heng scrambled to his knees between the two of them. His posture was humble, but his words were incredibly impactful.
"It’s just that... no mother wants to leave her child."
"Doesn’t Father Emperor think that perhaps it was something you did wrong that made a woman who bore your child harden her heart and abandon her husband and son?"
Zhao Mingyan lowered his hand, his eyes narrowing—a clear sign of his anger, an expression Yuan Heng was very familiar with.
’He steeled himself. The worst that could happen was a beating on the hands.’
"Your son misspoke. The phrase ’abandon her husband and son’ was used incorrectly. Father Emperor is not Mother’s husband."
Ji Qingwu blinked slowly, her gaze fixed on the small figure shielding her. She took a deep breath.
Yuan Heng wanted to redirect the Emperor’s anger onto himself, and there was a hint of defiance in his dark eyes.
"But I was born of my mother. No matter what, I am her son."
Zhao Mingyan’s expression turned utterly foul, and he was so angry that his lips curled into a smile. ’How long have they even been together?’ he thought. ’And yet Yuan Heng is already completely on her side.’
He stood up and said, "Good. Very good. This is the Prince I raised—daring to defy his superior and commit insubordination."
Yuan Heng swallowed nervously but stubbornly stuck his neck out, refusing to retreat even half a step or to apologize and beg for mercy.
Just as the atmosphere grew taut enough to snap, Ji Qingwu muttered something under her breath.
"...Good... shoot..."
Her voice was so quiet that neither of them heard her clearly.
"What?"
Ji Qingwu’s expression returned to normal. She raised her voice and said, "Your Majesty need not be angry. I was just saying, ’a good bamboo cannot produce a bad shoot.’"
Zhao Mingyan was so angry he could feel his teeth grinding, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsh to her.
"Are you implying that I am the ’bad bamboo’?"
Ji Qingwu shook her head. "I never said that. It is Your Majesty who insists on interpreting it that way."
Zhao Mingyan said in a low voice, "Then what did you mean?"
Ji Qingwu didn’t answer directly. Instead, she said pointedly, "I am the good bamboo, and Yuan Heng is the good shoot."
As for who the bad one was, it went without saying.
Zhao Mingyan’s gaze shifted to Yuan Heng, who was looking down and feigning obedience. He said coldly, "Yuan Heng is not some bamboo shoot. He is a Prince. He slipped out of the palace without permission and talked back to the Emperor. He deserves to be punished."
Punished? Ji Qingwu’s eyes widened.
"After returning to the palace, he is to copy his lessons two hundred times and reflect on his mistakes while facing a wall in the confinement chamber for three days."
In front of Ji Qingwu, Zhao Mingyan still showed some leniency. The punishment was already reduced.
Yuan Heng sighed and let his small shoulders slump, not putting up a fight. Compared to a beating on the hands, this was already an act of mercy.
Of the three, Ji Qingwu’s displeasure was about to blow the roof off. She stood up directly on the bed.
Her eyes met those of Emperor Wu Su, who was standing on the floor.
’No one was allowed to punish her son. Yuan Heng had already suffered enough. How could she stand by and watch the little one be forced to copy texts and be put in confinement just for a few words?’
Ji Qingwu grabbed the little ball of a boy kneeling on the mattress, clutched his arm, and pulled him to her side.
Yuan Heng looked up at her in astonishment. ’Angering Father Emperor at a time like this isn’t a wise choice,’ he thought. ’It’s very likely we’ll both be punished.’
He struggled, trying to get his mother to let go of him, but when Ji Qingwu was serious, her strength was not something a child could easily break free from.
Yuan Heng heard a mellow and pleasant female voice from above him.
"Your Majesty’s reasoning is completely illogical."
Zhao Mingyan looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
Ji Qingwu said, "What kind of revered Emperor comes onto his subject’s bed to punish a Prince?"