“Did you hear what Luo Ze said just now?” Inside the inner chamber of the bedroom, Luo Wei asked Wei Lan after he finished his medicine.

“Mm,” Wei Lan nodded and took the empty bowl from Luo Wei.

“I won't find a wife,” Luo Wei said, “Perhaps before, but not now, there's no chance.”

Wei Lan put the bowl outside to be collected, and when he returned, he watched Luo Wei in silence, as if deep in thought.

“What's wrong?” Luo Wei asked.

“Young Master,” Wei Lan sat at the bedside, asking, “Why are you so good to me?”

“Why?” Luo Wei smiled, “I don't know either.”

Wei Lan didn't know what he was hoping Luo Wei would say, but this “I don't know either” sent his mood into a free fall. He opened his mouth to say something to hide his disappointment, but in the end, he didn't know what to say.

Luo Wei reached out to press his hand against Wei Lan's, feeling the contours of his face, “Lan, you're the only one who has no connection to me in the past. You can be with me, always be with me. You don't know this, but there was someone else I was good to before, but all that managed to do was annoy the person I was good to. I wasn't good enough, I was…”

“How could the young master not be good enough?” Wei Lan held onto Luo Wei's hand and interrupted him. His heart ached at how cold Luo Wei's hand was, “Who was this person?”

“It doesn't matter who they were,” Luo Wei said, “It's all in the past now. At least you wont be annoyed with me, right?”

“How could I be annoyed with you? As long as the young master won't be tired of me, that's all I want.” Wei Lan quickly answered, “Before I met you, I was just a…”

“Let's not talk about the past anymore,” Luo Wei rested his head on Wei Lan's shoulder. He didn't want to think about all of the rights and wrongs of the past anymore. Now, when he sees Long Xuan, he still wasn't able to quell those emotions in his heart, but the obsession and single mindedness to do whatever the other one pleased was gone, “I only want to find someone who's good to me now,” Luo Wei's voice was quiet, as if he was murmuring something from a dream, “Lan, you're unlucky to meet someone as selfish as me.”

All Wei Lan could do was hold the youth tight against his shoulder. Luo Wei always met people with a smiling face, but as someone who followed him as closely as a shadow, Wei Lan knew that Luo Wei had never been truly happy. There were too many things going on in his mind for him to be happy. Wei Lan thought that perhaps even the counsellor of the nation, Luo Zhi Qiu, might not even have as many things on his mind as Luo Wei did. “Young master, what's wrong? Why are you saying these things?”

“Let's go to sleep,” Luo Wei didn't want to answer, “We'll go to Hu Guo Temple tomorrow. I want to see Grand Master Fu Yi.”

“The high priest?”

“Yes, but I don't know if he'd be interested in seeing me,” Luo Wei s.h.i.+fted down to lie on the bed, “Sleep.”

Wei Lan nodded, “I'll go wash up.”

“Mm.” Luo Wei closed his eyes.

When Wei Lan returned after was.h.i.+ng up, Luo Wei looked to already be deep in sleep. Wei Lan didn't know if he ought to sleep in the daybed near the window or on Luo Wei's bed. As he was making up his mind over this dilemma, Luo Wei opened his eyes, “Young master,” Wei Lan said quietly.

“Why aren't you coming to sleep?” Luo Wei had half an eye open, a little groggy as he spoke, “Isn't it cold standing there?”

It was only after this that Wei Lan laid down beside Luo Wei.

Luo Wei mumbled quietly, “It's a lot warmer with you in bed.”

Wei Lan pulled Luo Wei into his arms then, and the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.

At around midnight, a senior eunuch from the palace arrived, knocking on the front door of the senior chancellor's estate.

Luo Zhi Qiu was already asleep by then, but the overseer of the estate woke him up, and he dressed in a rush before coming out to greet the eunuch.

“Chancellor,” The eunuch put a smile on when he saw Luo Zhi Qiu arrive, “His Imperial Majesty commanded me to come and deliver news to you.”

Luo Zhi Qiu quickly stood straight, “Please, sir.”

The eunuch cleared his throat, “An hour before midnight, Consort Li has given birth to the tenth prince.”

Luo Zhi Qiu didn't know how to feel when he heard the news that there was yet another imperial prince in he world. The emperor needs to have heirs, but once there were too many in the race, it wasn't necessarily a good thing for either the ministers or the population of the nation. Not only that, this was a son borne of Consort Li, the n.o.ble consort currently in charge of the Back Palace. There was one more strong contender for the crown prince's future. “You can head back to the palace first, sir,” Luo Zhi Qiu forced a smile at the eunuch, “I shall head in once I've made myself ready.”

“His Imperial Majesty has other requests,” The eunuch smiled even more when he received the reward from Luo Zhi Qiu for the news, “Since it's frigid outside these days, and the third young master is not of good health, he doesn't need to head into the palace for the time being.”

“I thank his Imperial Majesty,” Luo Zhi Qiu quickly took a bow towards the direction of the palace.

Once the eunuch has left, Luo Ze rushed over and saw the dark look on his father's face, “What happened now?”

“Consort Li has given birth to the tenth prince,” Luo Zhi Qiu answered, “Go change into your uniform and come with me to pay our congratulations in the palace.”

“Consort Li has a son now too?” Even one so blind to the politics of the court as Luo Ze knew that a birth of a new prince was nothing good for the crown prince.

“Go get dressed,” Luo Zhi Qiu rushed Luo Ze.

“What about Xiao Wei? Should we wake him up?” Luo Ze asked.

“His Imperial Majesty has generously given him leave for the night,” Luo Zhi Qiu answered.

“Ok, wait for me a bit, father,” Luo Ze walked back to his rooms quickly to change.

Luo Zhi Qiu went to change as well. Looks like neither Bo Hua or Xu Yun Miao were going to get any sleep tonight. The overseer of the house would also need to wake some of the servants to prepare a palanquin for Luo Zhi Qiu as well as a horse for Luo Ze. The guards that often came with them would also need to prepare themselves. Everyone was busy doing something, and the Luo Estate became a flurry of people heading this way and that.

The only part of the estate that remained quiet was Luo Wei's quarters. There were no sounds of people in the depths of his courtyard.

“Wait until Wei Er gets up tomorrow morning before you tell him about this,” Luo Zhi Qiu reminded Bo Hua as he left the gates, “If he doesn't wake, don't go and bother him.”

“Wei Er's not feeling well,” Bo Hua said, “Why would I go and bother him for this? You should hurry.”

It was only after this exchange that Luo Zhi Qiu got on his palanquin. Luo Ze mounted his horse at his father's side, and went off to the palace with their retinue of guards.

As the father and son arrived, there were already a group of ministers waiting outside of the Hall of Eternal Light. Worried that some of these ministers were going to freeze in tonight's weather, Emperor Xing Wu had the palace servants place coal heaters outside the hall for them to warm up.

“Chancellor,” Grand Scholar Zhou got here earlier, and was speaking to someone else when he saw Luo Zhi Qiu arrive. He quickly got himself in front of the chancellor and put his hands together for a sign of respect, “You've arrived too.”

“Master Zhou,” Luo Ze was of a younger generation, so he bowed for the Grand Scholar.

The various other ministers all paid their respects to Luo Zhi Qiu one by one, and Luo Zhi Qiu returned their gestures with good cheer. Luo Ze found Zhao Jun Bo and Zhao Jun Yi in the crowd and started to catch up with them, leaving the scholarly ministers that often annoyed him.

“How's Xiao Wei doing?” Zhao Jun Bo opened the conversation by asking about Luo Wei first.

“Still not eating,” Luo Ze answered quietly as he shook his head, “Doesn't seem too good still.”

The Zhao brothers could only worry along with Luo Ze. As for the new prince who'd just been born, they had no feelings about one way or another. It wasn't as if this prince had anything to do with them. It was Luo Wei who they worried about.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES:

hi everyone! I half finished translating this chapter when my grandma had a turn for the worse… she pa.s.sed away at the beginning of last week and we've been busy in the family preparing for everything after. I have been trying to get into the mood to translate again, but it has been really difficult. I will definitely keep going, but its very hard sometimes when so many things are happening, and in the middle of it you lose someone very, very important to you. Thank u all for reading, and i hope you all say love you to people who are important to you today. <>