Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Chapter 15

In the midst of spring's vibrant life, Fang Zhihe had fully recovered. A few days prior, he had sent for some chefs and written out a list of dishes for them to study daily, planning to host a banquet at the beginning of spring.

Qi Guan, seeing how seriously he took the matter of food, frowned in disdain and said sarcastically, "Someone just got better and is already trying to waste my hard work."

The emperor, holding a teacup, glanced at him and took a sip unhurriedly before saying calmly, "I'm perfectly fine."

Qi Guan rolled his eyes. "Your Majesty's been talking crazy lately."

Fang Zhihe chuckled. "Why has Lord Qi been so 'harsh' with me ever since he had that talk with me?"

Qi Guan pricked him with needles. With a light touch of his fingers, several silver needles were inserted in sequence into Fang Zhihe's upper arm. "Didn't you ask me to treat you like a brother? This is how I treat my brothers."

Fang Zhihe found it secretly amusing. Bantering with Qi Guan in his free time was one of his few pleasures, and he quite enjoyed it.

"Enough, I can't outtalk you." He shook his head with a smile, then changed his self-reference. "Tomorrow I turn twenty-four. I wonder when I'll be able to do whatever I want..."

Qi Guan's eyelids twitched. He glanced at him and said with a dark expression, "What nonsense is this?! With your status, why would you need to have things your way?"

Fang Zhihe lowered his eyes. "...Nothing. I just thought that in these decades of life, one can neither eat what one desires nor love as one wishes. In the end, one sits alone in the hall, utterly solitary."

"What's so bad about being a man without love?" Qi Guan said loudly.

Fang Zhihe was dazed for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing. It's just that I'm unwilling. In this life, nothing has gone right for me. Only that time when he pulled me back and swept away the ice in my heart."

Qi Guan raised his voice. "What do you mean you haven't accomplished anything? You've accomplished everything!"

Fang Zhihe looked up and met his eyes. Softly, he said, "My parents didn't love me, my brothers didn't like me, everyone hated my nature. Only him... I love him. I want him. In this life, I've had everything, but I've never had anything fully..."

He let out a light sigh. "What I couldn't have, I let go. I had them, but it turned out badly, so I gave up."

Qi Guan fell silent for a moment, then spoke. "What if he truly doesn't love you?"

A faint glimmer flickered in Fang Zhihe's dark eyes. He stared solemnly at Qi Guan's worried face, pursed his lips, and said coldly, "Then I'll give up."

Abandon him, or abandon himself.

*

Lu Yuan had put on a wonderful play in the palace. The script had been obtained from the best theater troupe in the capital, and it was said to be a new play called "The Magpie in My Heart," which told the story of a man in love with another man—ever since the emperor made his love for his beloved public, a craze for men loving men had swept the city, and the popular theaters naturally kept up.

Lu Yuan felt the play was excellent. It was about love, and his father would definitely like it.

Tomorrow was his father's birthday. Thinking this, he clutched the script and prepared to leave the palace for the Lu residence to visit his elder father. He had heard his elder father was ill. Lu Yuan was worried but afraid Fang Zhihe would mind, so he came up with an excuse to visit now.

Arriving at the gate of the Lu residence, he heard some arguing. Frowning like a miniature adult, Lu Yuan stepped into the mansion with his guards following.

A woman came forward and let out a shriek upon seeing him. Lu Yuan frowned in displeasure and said coldly, "Who is making such a racket here?"

The woman was beautiful and, startled by Lu Yuan, turned pale as if about to cry. Lu Yuan was disgusted by her and immediately raised his hand to signal the guards to throw her out.

How dare some ill-mannered woman be in his elder father's home!

But just as the guards stepped forward, Lu Wuyou, dressed in a black-gold robe, walked out from the backyard. Seeing the armed guards, his brows furrowed immediately. "What's going on?"

Seeing him, Lu Yuan's expression softened, and he called out sweetly, "Elder Father!"

Lu Wuyou saw his smiling face and his heart softened. He stepped forward and picked him up, saying warmly, "Xiaoyuan came to see me. I'm so happy."

Lu Yuan wrapped his arms around his neck and leaned in to whisper, "It's Father's birthday tomorrow—I thought you would surely go, so I came first to see what gift you're going to give him!"

Lu Wuyou tilted his head as if thinking, but in reality, he had no clue about Fang Zhihe's birthday and had no intention of giving any gift. He wasn't even sure if he would go.

He turned to glance at Fang Minshu, who resembled Fang Zhihe, and said lightly, "What could your father lack?"

This implied that since he lacked nothing, he wouldn't give anything.

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then heard Lu Wuyou continue: "During my leave, I met a woman outside the city who looks like you. She's probably your birth mother?" His tone was indifferent, as if stating a fact.

Lu Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked up, but his elder father's handsome face was impassive as he calmly said, "If she is, I will marry her."

Gasps could be heard all around. Who in the entire Fang Dynasty didn't know that the emperor's beloved was the owner of this estate? And now this man said he was going to marry a woman? And so nonchalantly?

Lu Yuan stared at the woman for a long time. She did resemble him, but wasn't he even more like his father?

A surge of fury welled up in Lu Yuan's heart. He raised his hand to hit the man holding him with the script in his arms, but then stopped mid-motion. He stared into the man's dark eyes and said coldly, "Lord Lu, I am of high rank and will not tolerate such a common woman as my mother. Show some respect and stop this nonsense!"

With that, he broke free from Lu Wuyou's embrace and turned to leave without even glancing at the pale-faced woman.

Lu Wuyou watched his disappearing figure, half-closing his eyes. A strange sense of pride swelled in his heart.

What a pain. He glanced at the woman beside him and said lightly, "Miss Fang, Xiaoyuan has become increasingly spoiled from being raised by that bad-tempered father of his. Don't mind him."

Fang Minshu answered weakly, pale-faced, "But His Majesty..."

"That is my son, and you gave birth to him. What does that man have to do with