The Empress laughed for a long time before finally stopping. Ling'er was clever and mature for his age, and it had been years since she last saw him act so foolishly.
After her laughter subsided, the Empress asked Ji Lin, "Do you think this will work?"
Ji Lin nodded firmly. "Yes!"
Under the Empress's amused gaze, his confidence wavered, and he hesitated, "It... it will, right?"
Instead of answering directly, the Empress prompted him to think for himself. "Consider it—what difficulties might there be?"
Ji Lin's lips pressed together, his mouth thinner than most children his age, giving him a stubborn look when he pursed them.
"Father Emperor won't agree."
"And there's the matter of Jiang Yunshu's status if she moves into the palace. There's no precedent for a young lady from the Marquis's Mansion to live in the palace."
The more he spoke, the more dejected he became, his voice trailing off.
The Empress spread her arms, wrapping her left around Ji Lin and her right around Jiang Yunshu, pulling both children into her embrace. She felt utterly blissful, surrounded by these two radiant youngsters.
"There's one crucial problem you haven't considered yet," the Empress said to Ji Lin.
Ji Lin frowned. "What is it?"
The Empress smiled gently. "You never asked Jiang Yunshu if she even wants to live in the palace."
Ji Lin froze, then quickly turned to Jiang Yunshu. "Do you want to move into the palace?"
Jiang Yunshu suppressed a laugh and shook her head lightly.
Ji Lin's eyes widened in disbelief. "Why not? Your life in the Marquis's Mansion isn't good!"
The Empress gave Ji Lin a disapproving look, though she too had noticed that Jiang Yunshu likely had a difficult time in the Marquis's Mansion.
During her two visits to the palace, the jewelry adorning Jiang Yunshu's hair, though lavish, was clearly unsuitable for a girl her age—evidently not hers, but merely borrowed for the occasion.
Her relationship with her stepmother and stepsister spoke volumes. Lady Hou was shrewd, maintaining a kind facade in public, but Jiang Zhaohua, still young, lacked her mother's ability to pretend.
When the Empress had called Jiang Yunshu to sit beside her, Jiang Zhaohua had glared the entire time.
A young girl from a concubine's line, with her birth mother long gone, surviving under her stepmother's rule—it couldn't have been easy.
Yet Ji Lin had blurted it out so bluntly.
The Empress shot him a warning glance, then anxiously studied Jiang Yunshu, afraid the five-year-old might feel humiliated or even burst into tears at his words.
But Ji Lin kept going, leaning halfway out of the Empress's embrace to face Jiang Yunshu. "Jiang Yunshu, if you come to the palace, I’ll protect you! I promise you’ll have better food and finer things than in the Marquis's Mansion!"
Jiang Yunshu pressed her lips together, revealing two tiny dimples.
Before, she had thought the Crown Prince was stern, like a little adult. But today, she realized he could be quite childish in some ways.
In her mind, "Crown Prince Brother" had become "Crown Prince Little Brother."
Suddenly, she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. Shaking her head, she replied, "Thank you for your kindness, Crown Prince Brother, but I don’t want to live in the palace."
Ji Lin blurted, "Why not?"
Jiang Yunshu answered, "The Marquis's Mansion is my home, just as the palace is yours."
"Your life in the palace isn’t perfect either, yet you haven’t left."
Being only five, she spoke with striking bluntness.
Ji Lin was stunned.
After a long pause, he sighed deeply. "I’m not as clear-headed as you are..."
Jiang Yunshu covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as she watched the little Crown Prince refer to himself with royal solemnity and sigh like an old man.
Ji Lin realized that Jiang Yunshu faced struggles similar to his own.
Perhaps that was why, the moment he sensed her unhappiness, he had wanted to help her.
She endured life under her stepmother’s control, just as he strived to surpass all his brothers and earn his father’s approval in everything.
He and Jiang Yunshu... were kindred spirits.
