Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

After leaving the imperial city, the waters became vast, the mountains ahead were majestic, and the sky and earth were boundless.

The wind on the river was strong, making her clothes flutter. The empress stood at the bow of the boat with her hands behind her back. Faint lines appeared at the corners of her eyes, which had been weathered by time, but her gaze was sharp and bright.

Cang Shuyue stood behind her, his dark green robes fluttering.

"Do you see this? This is the land of Dayong, the place my parents dedicated their lives to protecting." The Empress pointed ahead.

"I know." Cang Shuyue lowered his eyes.

It is precisely because I know this that there is a thorn in my heart.

"Cang Shuyue, raise your head and take a good look at this beautiful landscape." The Empress's voice was cold and stern.

"I don't want to watch."

"But I want to see." The Queen turned around, her sharp gaze meeting his eyes, and spoke with longing.

"Every day and night in the palace, I longed to go out and see the world, to see the sunrise on the mountaintop, the moon setting over the sea, and the stars hanging low over the plains. I wanted to ride a horse across the grasslands, to sail thousands of miles, and to climb dangerous peaks with my bare hands. I wanted to see every corner of this vast land."

With her fingers clenched tightly at her sides, Cang Shuyue said in a hoarse voice, "It'll be soon, elder sister. Just wait a little longer. Once Yunli ascends the throne, you won't have to be trapped by..."

"What has trapped me is always myself," the queen interrupted him with a soft sigh.

"When my parents were still alive, I was attached to them and did not travel far. After they passed away, I pitied you for being young and confined myself to the inner palace. Later, I fell in love with someone, hated and resented him, but could never let go, so I imprisoned myself within the palace walls."

"I longed to travel, but I never took a single step because there was always something more important in my heart than traveling. Everything was my own choice, and I have never regretted it."

Cang Shuyue slowly closed his eyes. "So?"

The Empress wiped away her tears, took his hand, and said, "A-Yue, you've grown up. I know everything you've done for your elder sister and Li'er. I just want to tell you that the world is big, and you're not the only one. You should live for yourself."

The thought of her husband saying that her younger brother's legs were crippled while saving Yunli, and that he committed suicide on the battlefield because of her, made her heart feel like it was being tightly gripped, and the pain was so intense that she could hardly breathe.

Looking at her elder sister's tearful eyes, Cang Shuyue couldn't help but have tears well up in her eyes as well. "But I only have one elder sister."

From as far back as he can remember, his world consisted only of his older sister.

His older sister raised him, taught him martial arts, read to him, protected him during the day, and comforted him to sleep at night. She made up for everything he had lost; to him, his older sister was his everything.

He clutched the Empress's robe. "I know you and Xiao Yan have reconciled. I can let go of my opposition to him, but sister, you can't abandon me. We're family."

The scene before her eyes overlapped with the memories in her mind, and the Empress's tears flowed even more fiercely. "Just now you said you had grown up, how come you are acting like a child again now? How could your elder sister not want you?"

The Empress raised her hand to wipe away the tears on his face. The face that she used to have to bend down to wipe, she now had to stand on tiptoe to reach. The little crybaby who used to always tug at her clothes had grown up, but not completely.

A flood of emotions welled up in my heart.

Knowing that it would be useless to say anything more to him now, the Empress wiped away her tears and changed the subject.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. I have something else to ask you."

"Sister, please speak." Cang Shuyue nodded, her expression returning to its usual cool indifference, as if the one who had just cried out for her sister was someone else entirely.

The Empress didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "On the way to Xiangyang, take good care of Xiao Lu. That child is delicate and must not be hurt. You must protect him."

She paused for a moment before firmly stating, "If anything happens, between Li'er and Xiao Lu, you should choose Xiao Lu first."

Cang Shuyue fell silent. "My sister likes him very much."

It's not a question, it's a statement of certainty.

Mentioning that mischievous child, the Empress couldn't help but smile. She glanced sideways into the cabin, finding the boy playfully fighting with Su Yan'an, and said with a smile, "Isn't the little deer adorable?"

She said those last words while looking into Cang Shuyue's eyes.

"..." Cang Shuyue couldn't bring himself to deny it.

"My elder sister loves this land very much, and she also loves the child Xiao Lu very much, so he cannot be harmed." The Empress smiled, "I hope one day you can hear this too."

A hint of doubt flashed in Cang Shuyue's eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I understand. I will protect him."

The Queen nodded. "When everyone around you thinks you dislike someone, what you actually think becomes irrelevant. I only recently came to understand this myself."

"Over the years, I've been lukewarm towards Ayan, which has led people around me to think that I resent him. As a result, they always find fault with him and have treated him coldly. But he has never resented me and has tolerated your rudeness time and time again. I hope you can be kinder to him in the future."

Cang Shuyue pursed her lips and nodded reluctantly.

The Queen patted him on the shoulder and walked past him toward the cabin. "I feel that Little Deer likes you quite a bit, but everyone tells me that you're very averse to her. Is that true?"

Leaving that question behind, she waved and went into the cabin.

Cang Shuyue stood alone at the bow of the boat, the river wind howling, making his mind go blank. After a long while, he managed to squeeze out two words: "...No."

The two soft words were blown away by the wind, and only he himself heard them.

Just as the Empress returned to her cabin and sat down, Emperor Wulong and the eldest prince also returned. The eldest prince's eyes were red and swollen, and he kept wiping away tears after entering, looking quite pitiful.

Youlu handed the lychees that Su Yan'an had peeled to the eldest prince and asked with concern, "Eldest brother, did Father hit you? Or scold you? Tell me, and I'll help you get revenge!" He pounded his chest loudly.

Emperor Wulong rolled his eyes. How could he possibly hit someone for no reason? Was he really that cruel?

The eldest prince shook his head, crying.

Su Yan'an glanced at the lychee that had been given away, then at her friend's red eyes, and comforted her, "If you cry again, Xiao Lu will become my younger brother."

What is written as comfort is read as a threat.

The eldest prince indeed stopped crying.

The Empress pinched Emperor Wulong's thigh and whispered, "Why didn't you let him finish crying before he came back?"

It hurt a lot, but he dared not utter a sound. Emperor Wulong explained aggrievedly, "I wanted to, but he just couldn't stop."

What can he do if he has a son who cries all the time?

The eldest prince grasped Youlu's hand, tears streaming down his face, "Seventh brother, you've suffered so much—"

He was dragged away by Emperor Wulong after he had covered his mouth halfway through his sentence.

The Empress chuckled and said, "It's windy outside, your eldest brother has gone mad from the wind."

Deer: "??"

[What's going on? Has the eldest brother lost his mind? What is he saying out of the blue? Pixiu—] He urgently called for Pixiu.

The Pixiu crawled out from under the low table. "Boss, what happened?"

The deer's vision blurred. [I thought you weren't there and had followed me out to eavesdrop, but it turns out you were hiding down there stealing food?]

"There were fewer people around earlier, making it easier to sneak a bite." The Pixiu wriggled shyly.

A deer laughed; people can really laugh when they're speechless.

The empress, who was pretending to drink tea, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.