Due to the special instructions of His Majesty the Emperor, the carriage carrying Huo Ling and Huo Hong directly entered the imperial palace and stopped in front of the Qianqing Palace.
In order to prove that he really was a caring elder to the younger generation, Huo Ling personally untied Huo Hong. However, due to the tight and skillful binding by Ye Xiao, as he untied it, Huo Hong's face gradually turned pale.
Huo Hong, almost breathless from Huo Ling's fussing, asked, "When you said you would untie one of the knots if my answer satisfied you, were you just speaking casually?"
The red walls and yellow tiles, the clusters of palaces, made people both yearn and tremble.
Glancing at the plaques above the palaces, Huo Hong finally had a tangible feeling about entering the imperial palace. He had imagined the scene of entering here countless times, but at this moment, all he could see in his heart and eyes was Huo Ling in front of him.
"I won't die at your hands before meeting my so-called grandfather… right?"
"Call him Grandfather, or Grandfather Emperor." Pointing out the mistake in the other's words, Huo Ling continued his actions without any hint of guilty conscience, denying, "How could I be that kind of person?"
At the low reminder from Ye Xiao, Huo Ling finally untied the other before he ran out of breath.
"I knew I was awesome. How could a simple rope possibly defeat me?"
Huo Ling often exhibited skewed self-awareness, and since Ye Xiao never thought there was anything wrong with Huo Ling's words, Huo Ling seldom had the correct understanding of himself. As for the only one who thought there was a problem, Huo Hong… he didn't even have the energy to refute anymore.
In line with his determination that he would become a pig if he spoke to Huo Ling again, Huo Hong allowed Ye Xiao to rebind his hands and lead him forward, paying no attention to Huo Ling. Unaware of Huo Ling's feeling of being rejected, Huo Ling walked ahead and spoke to him from time to time. Even if he didn't get any response, Huo Ling could still talk to himself.
"I'm telling you, don't be afraid." Rubbing his chin, Huo Ling reminded him as an elder, "My father, your Grandfather Emperor, is a good person. Don't worry, he won't do anything to you. Considering you're the only son of my third brother, even if you betray the Great Zhou, he'll probably leave you with a complete corpse."
The more he talked, the more he sounded off. Ye Xiao couldn't help but clear his throat.
Huo Ling quickly shut his mouth and, walking with Ye Xiao who was leading Huo Hong, entered the hall together.
The Emperor, seated high on the dragon throne behind his desk, watched the long-unseen Huo Ling approach him, while Ye Xiao forced Huo Hong to kneel down.
As the captain of the Jin Yiwei, Ye Xiao was well aware of what he could know and what he couldn't. Without the Emperor's instructions, Ye Xiao bowed and then silently withdrew. The Emperor wasn't in a hurry to hear the report, and he had plenty of time to polish up the documents upon his return.
Not noticing Ye Xiao's departure, Huo Ling bowed to the Emperor and then stood up without waiting for permission. He smiled and walked toward the Emperor, trying to give his long-unseen father a hug.
However, the result of Huo Ling not paying attention to the road was that he was suddenly tripped by a step, stumbled, and fell at the feet of the Emperor, who consciously stood up.
"Huo Ling?"
Before the Emperor could ask if he was okay, Huo Ling reached out and hugged the Emperor's big leg. "Father, I'm innocent... ick, I misspoke." Huo Ling quickly corrected himself, "Ignore what I just said. What I really want to say is—"
"Father, I've missed you."
"Really, it's more genuine than the gold you've plated me with."
Being more committed in his actions this time, Huo Ling didn't give the Emperor any worry that his undergarments might drop, and instead of rolling his eyes at the sentiment expressed, the Emperor just bore with Huo Ling.
Kicking Huo Ling mercilessly, without a shred of affection left for him, Huo Jian, deviating from "get lost," conveyed his "emotion" of Huo Ling missing him.
Unyielding to his attempt to show affection, the Emperor stood before Huo Hong, who was kneeling, and said patiently, suppressing his dissatisfaction at the other's experiences over the years, "Look at me."
Huo Hong raised his eyes and looked directly at the Emperor.
Furrowing his brow, the Emperor, Huo Jian, thought of the other's experiences over the years and suppressed his dissatisfaction, patiently saying, "Look at me."
When their eyes met, Huo Peng suddenly sneered, "Humph."
"Bold!" the steward An De next to him coldly scolded.
Before An De could react, Huo Jian nonchalantly waved his hand, "It's nothing."
An De bowed and quietly returned to his original position, standing behind Huo Ling, watching his nose, observing his mouth, and pondering his heart, seemingly unaware of Huo Ling's sideways glance.
Huo Ling, leaning on the chair with his chin supported, twisted his head to assess Steward An De, attempting to learn from the latter's behavior towards the emperor and reduce the number of times he is disdained by the emperor.
On the other side, Emperor Huo Jian continued the conversation with Huo Peng, who, despite the emperor's attempts to convince or coerce him, only responded with a cold smile and, "I'm not one of you Huo family members."
Apart from that, he had nothing else to say.
Although his uncle was annoying and spoke rudely, he was right about one thing—Huo Peng, relying on the fact that he was Huo Yang's only son, had no fear.
Facing Huo Peng, who wore a look of "ask me anything, if I respond then I've lost," the emperor suddenly smiled, "Since you don't want to speak with me, let's find someone else." If he couldn't handle Huo Ling, how could he handle this little rascal?
The emperor flicked his sleeve, walked back to his seat at the head, and raised his chin toward Steward An De on the side.
Huo Peng thought the person the emperor was switching to was Huo Ling. Just as he was about to mock him, he abruptly closed his mouth due to his determination—not to talk to Huo Ling again, or he'd be a fool. Steward An De instructed someone to move the elaborate dragon and cloud screen on the side.
With the screen moved aside, the figure of Princess Deyang, An Shi, was revealed.
Dressed in a princess's crown attire, Princess Deyang An Shi only occupied a third of the chair. She sat extremely upright, with an expression of extreme dignity. Her delicate makeup concealed the traces of time at the corners of her eyes, and the ornate hair accessories did not weigh down her neck, but rather made her back as straight as a solitary pine tree.
An Shi raised her orchid finger, brushing the reddish-gold phoenix tail agate tassel at her temple—this was a gift from Huo Yang when they were newlyweds. Seeing her, Huo Peng smiled at her, despite her wide-eyed gaze.
No reveal of the feet, no show of teeth, the manners were ingrained. Even though An Shi had once wished to strangle Huo Peng, the existence she shouldn't have, when she saw him, the variations in the curve of her lips were no different from when she faced others. Only from the first glance she exchanged with Huo Peng, could one glimpse a hint of An Shi's thoughts.
Only then did Huo Ling notice Princess Deyang was also present, "I thought there was an extra screen."
Thinking that his recent performance was all being noticed by her, Huo Ling couldn't help but cover his face, but quickly dropped his hand without a care. Even the slouched position in the chair remained unchanged—it's not like losing face was anything to worry about after getting used to it.
No one paid any attention to the sigh from Huo Ling, not even the Emperor sitting at the head of the throne. Huo Jian kept his hands crossed, quietly watching the "reunion of the mother and son" in front of him with an unchanged expression and unwavering gaze.
Huo Peng stared blankly at Princess Deyang An Shi and didn't realize he had already gone from kneeling to sitting.
Glancing past the seated Huo Peng, An Shi lightly raised her eyes and asked the Emperor at the head, "Is it really so important to have a son?"
After enduring and enduring, enduring until Huo Peng appeared in front of her again, An Shi, who had instinctively maintained her manners, finally asked this question. She asked everyone present, asked herself, and also asked Huo Yang, who was no longer able to answer any of her questions.
Married to Huo Yang for three years without a child, she was upset that her cousin, whom she had treated so well, was pregnant now. Believing the story of being attacked during incense offerings, An Shi not only helped to suppress the news and finished things for her, but also helped her find a place free from gossip to give birth. After miscarriage, she attended to her recovery, then found someone to marry so that no one would find out what was wrong with her usually unassuming cousin.
She never expected that all her kindness was a waste on the "ingrate."
It was only when Huo Peng appeared in front of her, looking at his eyes and brows that were just like Huo Yang's, that An Shi realized that what she thought was affection was just a joke, and everything was illusory.
"To think that I found someone else because I couldn't bear a child, and then ended up despising them for not being respectable...how ridiculous," she said.
She was a joke, Huo Yang was, and her cousin was too.
As De