All the ladies of duke and noble families had almost all arrived, and many children were there as well, all boys, ranging from three years old to no older than ten. As Emperor Xiyun was present, the originally boisterous children stopped their play at their parents’ scolding until the Emperor of Xiyun opened his mouth to allow them to play freely. Only then did the children resume their play.
Emperor Xiyun also encouraged the ladies to continue admiring the flowers.
While the children, still too young to understand, played unrestrainedly, the presence of Emperor Xiyun meant that the ladies couldn’t enjoy the flowers with ease—they were particularly restrained, even occasionally glancing towards the various entrances of the Imperial Garden.
It was obvious they were looking to see why An Jing and Xiao Changyi had not yet arrived.
Empress Yu, as the organizer of the flower appreciation event, was naturally in attendance. However, she no longer mingled and laughed with the other ladies while admiring the flowers but sat beside Emperor Xiyun, conversing with him.
Emperor Xiyun had grown accustomed to waiting for Changyi and so was not in a hurry. If he did become impatient, he would simply go to Fenghua Palace and drag people here himself.
To be honest, he hoped that his Yi Er would take a liking to one of these children.
Even if not for the sake of having an heir, at least to have someone to look after him in his old age and send him off at the end of his life. He did not want his Yi Er to leave this world without a son to perform the final rites.
In the past, his greatest concern was for Chengyu. Now, his greatest concern was for his Yi Er, just because he knew that if he died, his Yi Er would certainly protect Chengyu.
But who could protect his Yi Er? Who was capable of protecting his headstrong Yi Er, who never listened... who never regarded anyone highly... who always did whatever he wanted...
Pondering this, Emperor Xiyun sighed deeply in his heart.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi had not yet entered the Imperial Garden when they heard the noise of many children playing. They exchanged a glance and then moved forward.
As soon as they entered the Imperial Garden, they saw many ladies of duke and noble families, as well as many children—all boys, and all quite young—interspersed with quite a few Imperial Consorts and Princesses.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi understood a bit more. They exchanged another glance before walking in the direction where Emperor Xiyun was.
Emperor Xiyun was very happy to see Xiao Changyi and An Jing arrive.
However, Xiao Changyi was not pleased. He glanced sideways at the seated Emperor Xiyun, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, and said, "Is this how you enjoy the flowers?"
Emperor Xiyun gave an awkward laugh, "I was waiting for you both to join me in admiring them."
After saying this, Emperor Xiyun stood up, and Eunuch Fu promptly supported Emperor Xiyun’s arm, afraid that anything might go amiss.
Xiao Changyi didn’t want to deal with Emperor Xiyun and turned around, pulling An Jing to leave.
Emperor Xiyun hurriedly grabbed Xiao Changyi, apologized, "Yi Er, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have deceived you by saying we were just coming to admire the flowers. I couldn’t bear to think of you and Jingjing passing away without a son to perform your last rites. So, when Empress Yu suggested organizing a flower appreciation event and bringing in suitable-aged children from the families of dukes and nobles for you to choose one to adopt as your son, I agreed."
Although what Emperor Xiyun said was true, Empress Yu always felt she was being schemed against, yet she couldn’t figure out what exactly she was being schemed about.
An Jing had already heard about Empress Yu’s demotion to Imperial Consort, so she knew who this Empress Yu was. Upon hearing Emperor Xiyun say that, An Jing looked at Empress Yu with a smile, "Madam Yu Fei, you have gone to such lengths to consider me and my husband. I don’t know how to thank you properly."
Upon hearing An Jing call her Empress Yu, Madam Yu clenched her teeth. If it weren’t for you, how could I have been demoted to Imperial Consort?