On March 20th, in the Pengxian Temple of the capital.

Emperor Jingxiao walked out of Sanqingguan Hall with his hands crossed behind his back and with his concubines accompanying him.

In recent days, so many weird things had happened in the imperial harem. Last night, Empress Qian of the Eastern Palace had a bad headache. Emperor Jingxiao believed that the Palace was plagued by evil things, so he planned to go out of the Palace at the auspicious time of this day and go to the imperial Dao Temple in person to pray for blessings.

When they came, the sky was covered by dark clouds and the cold wind was so fierce. But after a religious rite, the sky turned clear when they came out of the hall.

In the queue, Maiden Yang said happily,

"Oh, absolute sincerity will really move a heart of stone! God must have been moved by His Majesty's absolute sincerity! I've thought it would rain heavily, but it is sunny now. It's all right now. The Seventh Prince won't be frightened by thunder anymore."

Emperor was surprised. He stopped and asked.

"What are you talking about? What's wrong with Lin'er?"

Maiden Yang blinked in panic and smiled awkwardly.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my talkativeness!"

Emperor turned around whose yellowish face showed a little more anxiety. He frowned slightly and said.

"Is anything wrong with Lin'er? Just say what you know."

Maiden Yang clasped her hands and shrank her body deliberately, saying in panic.

"Yes, Your Majesty. My Weiyang Palace is close to Duanben Hall. In the past two days, I often heard the crying of a child, especially at night. Sometimes the cry even made me not able to sleep all night. The Seventh Prince is the only child in Duanben Hall, so I think maybe he is frightened by the thunder..."

Emperor's eyes turned bloodshot. He waved his sleeves angrily and scolded.

"Why you didn't tell me it earlier?"

Maiden Yang's eyes turned red. Her lips trembled, and she explained aggrievedly at once.

"The Seventh Prince is the son of Concubine Xu, so I dare not ... "

"He is also my son!"

Emperor Jingxiao glared at her and shouted.

"Your Majesty, please calm down."

The Imperial Noble Concubine Wan Yuyao was with Emperor, comforting him in a soft voice.

"Sister Yang is still young, so she is not considerate enough. Your Majesty, don't care about it. She will get enlightened after this. The most urgent thing now is to visit the Seventh Prince. Shall I go to Duanben Hall with you?"

After she finished speaking, a faint gleam flashed past her drooping eyes. She looked at Maiden Yang quietly, which showed that she was very satisfied with her great performance.

Emperor Jingxiao pondered for a while and then turned to look at the concubines.

"Alright. Concubine Ye, Concubine Shu， and the Imperial Noble Concubine will follow me to Duanben Hall later. Other people can just leave after coming back to the Palace."

Wan Yuyao was delighted as things were progressing smoothly according to her intentions.

She turned around and said to Lihu.

"When you return to the Palace, go to Yongning Palace to get some dried goat milk sticks newly made in our small kitchen first. Goat milk is more nourishing than cow milk and is most suitable for children."

The chief maid nodded and helped Wan Yuyao to the State Landau.

The honor guards returned to the imperial city mightily. Passing Yongtai Gate that separated the inner palace from the outer court, Emperor and the concubines got out of the State Landau, and the sedans were waiting there.

Emperor and the three concubines took a sedan to Duanben Hall. As Maiden Yang said, they heard the crying of a child when they were a hundred meters away from the gate of the hall which sounded so heart-wrenching.

Emperor Jingxiao entered the hall with an angry face, and the nannies were totally unprepared. They knelt down to prostrate themselves to welcome Emperor.

Concubine Ye looked at Nanny Tong who was holding the little Prince Huanan Lin, trying her best to comfort him and sweating profusely with shock and exhaustion. Concubine Ye frowned and asked.

"Why he cries so badly? Is there something wrong with him?"

She then turned to look at Emperor who looked so sulky with watery eyes after speaking that, seemingly unintentional.

Nanny Tong was so frightened. Because she was holding Prince in her arms, she couldn't bow to the emperor. And so she could only lower her head and say in panic.

"Your Majesty, the little prince was still young, and there were always thunderstorms in recent days, so he was a little frightened. Yesterday, we called an imperial doctor over, and he said that nothing was wrong with the prince."

The emperor snorted coldly.

"Nothing was wrong? They will only report the good news and not the bad and deceive me with fine-sounding words every day! I will kill them sooner or later!"

Emperor Jingxiao was irritated by the crying of the child, and his fleshy fist slammed firmly on the table.

With a big noise, the cups shook on the table.

Lin'er stopped crying abruptly, looking at the fierce man and then the familiar faces with heavy makeup around him with watery eyes. Then his mouth widened, and he cried louder and louder, almost losing his breath.

"Mu ... I want ... Mu ... "

Nanny Tong was shocked and her eyes turned red when she comforted him.

Emperor Jingxiao was stunned when he heard this. He pointed at Lin'er and asked the nanny.

"What is he talking about?"

The nanny looked so pale. Her eyes flickered with great panic in them. She lowered her head slowly.

"Your ... Your Majesty, the little prince learned to speak not long ago. He ... He called mom just now ... "

Concubine Xu was a sinner, so Nanny Tong didn't dare to mention her before the emperor easily, for fear of annoying him.

As she expected, the emperor immediately put on an angry face, looking at the nanny furiously. He stretched out his hands and shouted.

"Give me!"

"Yes. Yes."

The nanny was so frightened that she hurriedly handed the prince over to Emperor.

Emperor Jingxiao took over the soft child, regardless of whether his hugging posture was right or not, kept shaking him, and chattered.

"Oh, oh, you are a good boy, Lin'er. Father is here. Don't cry. Don't cry..."

The little prince cried with greater grief. His little hands kept waving, pushing the emperor’s cheeks as if to protest from time to time.

"Mu ... Mu ..."

"Lin'er, good boy. Don't cry!"

Emperor Jingxiao was on the verge of losing patience with his own son, and he could not help shouting sternly.

How could an emperor who was the leader of the whole country be good at comforting children?

Concubine Shu and Concubine Xu always had a good relationship with each other. At this time, facing such a chaotic scene, listening to the little kid crying for his mom, Concubine Shu's eyes suddenly became wet and she turned her head away in the crowd quietly.

"Your Majesty, let me comfort him!"

Wan Yuyao suddenly walked over and volunteered with a smile.

The emperor seemed to clutch at a life-saving straw, putting the child into Wan Yuyao's arms without saying a word.

"Lin'er, good boy. I will treat you well. Don't be afraid."

Wan Yuyao looked down at the crying prince, comforting him softly and lovingly. Her beautiful and soft eyes were just like a pair of crescents, and her red lips turned more charming when she smiled.

After she held him for a short while, he really stopped crying. His immature little head was leaning against her shoulder, looking peaceful and content.

It was wicked!

The concubines and nannies were all dumbfounded after seeing it.

Wan Yuyao walked to the front of the emperor, raising her brows and eyes, and smiled with a hint of complacency.

Looking at the child in her arms again, she caressed the child's forehead lovingly with her soft and delicate hand. She shook her upper body gently, humming a gentle tune.

The child calmed down completely, lying obediently in the woman's arms. As if sniffing something, he rolled his dark eyes as if he was reminiscing.

Lihu walked into the hall, holding the food box in her hands, and said respectfully.

"Your Grace, here are the dried goat milk sticks."

"Take one to feed the Seventh Prince."

The chief maid followed her words obediently. She opened the box to pick out a porcelain-white milk stick, put most of the stick into the mouth of the prince, and broke off the end of it which was touched by her fingers in case of any hidden danger of unclean food to the prince.

Emperor Jingxiao watched their meticulous movements, stretched his eyebrows, and nodded with satisfaction.

The little prince had the milk stick in his mouth, taking a long time to swallow the melted milk with his little pink mouth. He then stretched out his little hands to Lihu.

"Feed him another milk stick."

Wan Yuyao said, and her eyes turned complicated.

Lihu took out another stick and put it into the child's mouth. Not long after he ate it, he closed his eyes in a daze and fell asleep on Wan Yuyao's shoulder.

I don't expect that the Imperial Noble Concubine is so good at taking care of children!"

Emperor Jingxiao's eyes widened in surprise, and he breathed a sigh of relief then.

Wan Yuyao smiled.

"Your Majesty, do you forget that I've been a mother already? I raised the Fifth Princess and the Sixth Princess all by myself!"

Emperor laughed, and then he thought of something. His eyes turned sharp when he looked back. He pointed at the nannies and shouted angrily.

"You are really useless! Why do I have to keep you here since you can't take good care of the prince at all?"

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please forgive us!"

Knowing that catastrophe was imminent, they all prostrated themselves on the ground and kowtowed again and again.

Your Majesty, keep your voice down! Lin'er just fell asleep."

Wan Yuyao grumbled in a coquettish manner and walked a few steps back while patting the little prince with her white hand, deliberately staying a long distance away from Emperor.

Emperor's anger disappeared suddenly, and he stroked his forehead.

"Yes. Yes. I was confused just now. You are so thoughtful!"

Concubine Ye stayed beside Wan Yuyao, and a sly light flashed past her narrow eyes. She smiled then.

"Your Majesty, you can't blame the nannies for this. Everything is destined in the world. The Seventh Prince and Her Grace must be destined for each other, so he is willing to get along with her. Come and see. Now he is stuffed and has a good sleep in Her Grace's arms! People who don't know the truth will really think that she is his biological mother!"

"Sister Ye, you're always good at making fun of me."

Wan Yuyao glanced sideways at her with a smile and sighed with a pretended look.

"Alas! I don't have the heart to see little children suffer! This child is only two years old, but his mother... It's really pitiful... "

Her voice was choking suddenly. Wan Yuyao turned her head away, shedding hypocritical tears.

"Yuyao, if you really like this child, I'll let you raise him. How do you think of it?"