And the real father of the four children—Xiao Changyi—watched this scene with great satisfaction.
At this moment, Xiao Changyi had only one thought in his mind: in the future, he could also leave his four children to be looked after by Su Muchen.
An Jing watched this scene and couldn’t help but smile, "If someone who didn’t know any better saw this, they might even think these five are true brothers."
The Emperor of Xiyun also smiled, "Although Chengyu and Yi Er are not brothers by blood, they are closer than true brothers. I hope that Chen, Jing’er, Star, Qinger, and Yun Er can be the same."
Su Chengyu was genuinely happy about how well his son got along with his Brother Yi’s four children. Hearing the Emperor’s words, he smiled and said, "They are already now. Look how much Jing’er and the others adore Chen! And look at Chen—he’s very fond of Jing’er and the others too. This is the first time I’ve seen Chen smile so happily."
Once he ascended the throne, his son would not only be the Imperial Grandson but also the future Crown Prince, the future Emperor, which meant that the burden on his son’s shoulders would be no lighter than his own.
It was for this reason that he was particularly strict with his son and had very high expectations of him.
The brilliant smile on his son’s face was truly something he had never seen before.
An Jing, hearing Su Chengyu say that this was the first time he had seen Su Muchen smile so happily, couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for Su Muchen.
Life in the Imperial Family is truly not easy.
She felt fortunate that her husband was not born into the Imperial Family.
"Chen, why don’t you take your younger brothers out to play?" Suddenly, the Emperor of Xiyun spoke again with a smile. "Take a few more people with you to look after them. Your younger brothers are still too young; you can’t manage them all by yourself."
"Yes, Grand Emperor," Chen replied.
Then, Su Muchen led the four youngsters out of the Jun Palace to play.
After the four youngsters had disappeared from view, An Jing sat down beside Xiao Changyi and picked a fruit to eat. While smiling, she said to Xiao Changyi, "My dear, our four children are really not shy at all. This is their first time meeting Chen, and not only are they unafraid, they’re actually very fond of him."
Before Xiao Changyi could reply, the Emperor of Xiyun said with a laugh, "That proves that we are supposed to be one family, there are no strangers here, only closeness."
Su Chengyu echoed, "Indeed, one family. Only closeness, no strangers."
An Jing nodded emotionally.
Both of them, despite one being the Emperor and the other the Crown Prince, were willing to let go of their status and interact with them as ordinary folk. She was truly moved.
How could such earnestness exist if their hearts were not sincere?
Xiao Changyi did not speak but glanced at Su Chengyu and the Emperor of Xiyun, then continued to sip his tea in a leisurely manner.
As the conversation went on, Su Chengyu began to talk about farming matters: "Imperial Sister-in-law, the farmers who planted cotton with the ’Nutrition Bowl’ method you taught last year had an excellent harvest. The number of farmers planting cotton is likely to increase this year. The goal for every household to have cotton quilts to keep out the cold may be achieved within a decade rather than ten years."
An Jing smiled and said, "That’s wonderful. There will be fewer people freezing to death then, and both the Emperor and you can worry a little less about such matters."
"Right, Father," An Jing said, suddenly remembering something and immediately looking towards the Emperor of Xiyun, "that cotton cannot be continuously grown on the same plot of land year after year. I’ve mentioned this to you before, Emperor Father. It’s best to practice crop rotation. Have you conveyed this to the farmers across the land?"