Be His Servant Part 1

Palace of Tranquil Longevity.

The Empress Dowager was helped to her seat by the Eldest Princess and Xihua, her expression filled with sorrow.

She had been holding herself together at Xingqing Palace, but now she could no longer bear it, choking back sobs and shedding tears.

Xihua frantically helped wipe her tears, coaxing in a low voice, "Grandmother, you must take care of your health..."

After a long while, the Empress Dowager finally calmed herself slightly. She summoned the head eunuch of her Palace of Tranquil Longevity and instructed, "Prince Yu is currently in the Hall of Morning Splendor. Send a few more people to keep an eye on things over there. Pay attention to everyone entering and leaving the Hall of Morning Splendor. Don't let anyone from the Palace of Phoenix Grace inside. Anything sent in from the outside, especially food, must be checked and rechecked. If Prince Yu needs anything, have someone come to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity to fetch it for him."

The head eunuch agreed profusely, "This servant will see to it at once."

Hearing this, the Eldest Princess asked hesitantly, "Mother Empress, do you think that the Empress will..."

The Empress Dowager was utterly exhausted. With reddened eyes, she said, "She is a petty person and hates Lady Yun and Yan'er to the bone. If we don't watch closely, there's no guarantee she won't secretly order someone to harm him. All these years, she has held a grudge against this old woman, all because someone let it slip back then, and she found out that I had once taken an imperial decree intending to bring Lady Yun out. I considered the suffering she went through back then and didn't hold it against her, which is why she has become more and more audacious. But now, with things as they are, I can't say anything to her. After all, the one who was switched was her biological son."

"As for Lady Yun, send someone to keep an eye on her as well. Try to spare her life."

The Eldest Princess was confused. "Ling Qiyan is one thing; after all, he's the child we watched grow up. But Lady Yun... Mother Empress, are you not going to hold her accountable either?"

The Empress Dowager shook her head numbly. "Forget it, forget it. In the end, it is our imperial family that owes her Marquis Zhenbei's Manor. Since things have come to this, what's the use in killing her? The way she has lived all these years is retribution in itself."

For a moment, the Eldest Princess didn't know what to say.

She still felt that after the child had been switched for twenty years, not holding that woman accountable was a hard pill to swallow. But since the Empress Dowager had given the order, she could only accept it and carry it out.

Thinking of Ling Qiyan, the Empress Dowager's heart grew uneasy, and tears once again blurred her vision. She murmured, "Suddenly learning all this, I wonder what Yan'er will think. Although he's not my biological grandson, I raised him with my own hands from when he was just a tiny thing. I still remember how he looked when he first learned to speak and called me 'Grandmother'. I have so many grandsons and granddaughters, but he was the closest to me. Without him, my heart aches as if a piece of flesh has been carved out..."

"But when I think about how my biological grandson suffered so much on the outside, and I knew nothing about it, my heart aches too. It feels like nothing is right."

Xihua gently patted the Empress Dowager's back to soothe her, comforting her, "Grandmother, don't be too anxious. According to Fifth Uncle's suggestion, Elder Cousin will surely be able to survive. Afterward, we can just give him a fiefdom and let him go into seclusion. This way, His Majesty's honor will also be preserved. As for Her Majesty the Empress, as long as she doesn't see him, with time, her anger will surely pass."

The Eldest Princess, however, dismissed her words. "The Empress can hold a grudge against your grandmother for twenty years. Do you think her hatred for Lady Yun and her son can be erased simply by not seeing them? Even if Ling Qiyan were sent to the ends of the earth, she would continue to cause trouble. It's more likely she'd risk mutual destruction, making the child-swapping incident known to everyone, forcing His Majesty to have no choice but to kill Ling Qiyan."

Xihua was instantly speechless. The character of Her Majesty the Empress did indeed seem capable of such a thing.

The Empress Dowager's eyes were bloodshot, as if she had aged decades overnight. Not wanting to cause the old woman too much grief, the Eldest Princess changed her tune, "But there's no need to worry too much. If Mother Empress insists on protecting Ling Qiyan, there will be a way. The key is His Majesty's stance. From what I observed, it doesn't seem like he is absolutely determined to kill him. There will be a way."

The Empress Dowager said no more, staring blankly into space and weeping silently.

In the afternoon, Wen Ying came to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager had just managed to close her eyes for a short nap. Upon hearing that Wen Ying had arrived, she immediately had someone help her up and summon him inside.

The Eldest Princess and Xihua had already been sent away by her, so there was no one else in the great hall.

Wen Ying entered, and before he could perform the greeting ceremony, he was interrupted by the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager called him over to sit before her. She reached out to caress his face and asked him, "Have you spoken with your Father Emperor and Mother Empress?"

"I have," Wen Ying nodded.

The Empress Dowager dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. Wen Ying's steady and calm demeanor was both a comfort and a source of heartache for her; she couldn't imagine how much this child must have suffered on the outside to develop such a temperament.

The one they had wronged the most was this child.

"Has your Father Emperor arranged a residence for you?"

"He has. Father Emperor said I will be staying in Yong'an Palace. People have already been sent to tidy up. Mother Empress has also assigned some people over, and all the necessary items have been delivered." Wen Ying said this with a calm expression, as if he didn't care much about these things.

"That's good, that's good." The Empress Dowager felt slightly relieved upon hearing this. She then ordered people to open the storerooms and pick out all the best things to be sent to Yong'an Palace.

Wen Ying thanked her for her grace. The Empress Dowager waved her hand and sighed, "What is there to thank me for? This is all what you deserve. If there's anything else you want, just tell your grandmother directly. You can also ask your Father Emperor and Mother Empress. Don't feel embarrassed."

Wen Ying thought for a moment, then asked her, "Grandmother, regarding Prince Yu, what will be the final decision?"

The Empress Dowager was taken aback, hesitating on how to respond. "...What are your thoughts?"

Wen Ying lowered his voice, "At the very least, let him live."

The Empress Dowager's heart relaxed upon hearing this. This was the second time Wen Ying had said such a thing. He truly did not want Ling Qiyan's life. Pleading for Ling Qiyan was not something he had to do, but he did it, and that was enough.

"You are a good child. Grandmother thanks you on his behalf." The Empress Dowager couldn't help but feel a little self-reproach. She was indeed biased. Even now, she still favored Ling Qiyan, but this was all she could do. So she assured Wen Ying, "Rest assured, in the future, I will have him sent far, far away. He will never get in your way again."

Wen Ying did not reply, a fleeting darkness in his eyes.

After spending half the afternoon with the Empress Dowager in the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, Wen Ying was summoned by the Emperor to Xingqing Palace for dinner. It was not until dusk that Wen Ying left Xingqing Palace. The head eunuch of Xingqing Palace, having received the Emperor's order, respectfully escorted him personally to Yong'an Palace.

Wen Ying sat on the palanquin, gazing intently at the last trace of fiery clouds in the sky. With a somber gaze, he remained motionless for a long time, his thoughts unknown.

The head eunuch from Xingqing Palace accompanying him chattered nonstop along the way, diligently reminding him of all the rules and regulations of the palace that required attention.

Wen Ying listened distractedly. When they passed the Hall of Morning Splendor, the eunuch casually mentioned its name. Wen Ying's expression faltered, and he ordered the palanquin to stop.

Seeing Wen Ying stand up as if to go inside, the eunuch subconsciously reminded him, "Your Highness, it's getting late. It would be best to return to your sleeping palace..."

Wen Ying turned to look at him, a slight chill in his eyes. The eunuch was stared into silence. It wasn't until Wen Ying had walked inside that he came back to his senses. 'This new prince... doesn't seem like someone to be trifled with either.'

There were guards outside the Hall of Morning Splendor. The men sent by the Empress Dowager recognized Wen Ying and did not dare to stop him, letting him enter.

Ling Qiyan was sitting on the floor with his head lowered, staring blankly. He hadn't had a drop of water all day.

The people here hadn't mistreated him; it was he himself who refused to eat or drink.

Only today did he understand what it truly meant to find life devoid of interest. All his past feelings of boredom and ennui now seemed pretentious and extravagant.

He wanted to give a bitter smile but couldn't even lift the corners of his mouth. In a daze, he recalled the events of the past twenty years, only to realize he could remember very little. He had truly wasted this stolen fate of his.

Hearing footsteps, Ling Qiyan looked up in a daze and met Wen Ying's assessing gaze looking down on him. After a moment of shock, he finally smiled.

"Poor scholar, how does it feel to be a prince? Are you happy?"

Ling Qiyan asked, then immediately shook his head. "No, that's not right. Why am I still calling you a poor scholar? You're not a poor scholar anymore. Now you're the treasured and noble Eldest Imperial Son, the Emperor's son. What a pity. If only we had switched back sooner. If it were you, that dog Ling Qiyu would never have become the Crown Prince. With his petty cleverness, he isn't even worthy of carrying your shoes, you who are a genius in both literature and martial arts."

"Actually, you're quite pitiful too. A perfectly fine Eldest Imperial Son, and so accomplished. You should have been the designated Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, but you were switched with me. It caused you to have to take the imperial examinations and join the army, and the Crown Prince's position was taken by someone else."

"Luckily, it's not too late. You're so capable. You were always instigating me to fight for the throne before. Now you can do it yourself. That dog Ling Qiyu is no match for you. Sooner or later, that position will be yours."

Ling Qiyan spoke slowly, as if talking to Wen Ying, yet also as if talking to himself. "I used to always say you had a bad fate, that you were born into the wrong family. Tsk, in reality, I'm the one who was born into the wrong family. How ironic."

"My luck was only better than yours for the first twenty years. But as of today, my good luck has run out. What's yours should be returned to you."

"Do you resent me terribly? I stole twenty years of your glory and wealth. I used to beat and curse you, made you kneel and kowtow to me, and then drove you away. You must be full of pent-up anger. You're so petty and have such a bad temper; you must have been holding a grudge against me all this time."

"...But I didn't do it on purpose."

As he said this last sentence, tears of laughter appeared in Ling Qiyan's eyes. His beautiful peach-blossom eyes drooped, devoid of their former brilliance.

He raised a hand to wipe his eyes, choking out, "It's not like I wanted to steal your fate. I didn't know either that I would be switched with you."

"Your Mother Empress was not good to me at all. She never liked me and treated me like an enemy. Your Father Emperor, because I didn't live up to his expectations for the Eldest Imperial Son, felt ashamed and always found opportunities to scold me. They didn't want a son like me, but did I want parents like them?"

"Just because you are a prince and I am a hunter's son, it becomes my fault for stealing your things. But you stole my father! I've never even met him once."

"No wonder that old monk said I was a calamitous lone star, with no father or mother, and that I would never have a wife or children in the future. I thought he was talking nonsense, but it turns out he was telling the truth."