The eunuch first brought in the prepared pastries and cooked food, but the hot soup and rice would take a while.

Chu Zhaoyou tested the Regent’s limits and decided to stop. He took the towel handed to him by Eunuch Xue, wiped his hands, and picked up a few pieces of pastry from the plate. “That’s enough.”

After quickly swallowing a piece and drinking a cup of hot tea, Chu Zhaoyou ate rapidly. After all, the Regent had mentioned that the ministers were already waiting.

Chu Zhaoyou wasn’t accustomed to making people wait, and he figured that Xiao Heng was also upset for this reason.

As he stuffed a piece of sticky rice cake into his mouth, Chu Zhaoyou noticed several beautifully presented osmanthus cakes in the plate. Even from a distance, the rich fragrance of freshly picked osmanthus flowers was discernible.

Each piece was delicate and exquisite. He took one, two, three, four, five pieces to eat on the way.

Cui Geng quickly wrote: “The Regent personally escorted His Majesty to the morning court. His Majesty had a nightmare, and the Regent woke him up, tidied the sleeping quarters, added plum blossoms and bamboo, and His Majesty was hungry, so the Regent Prince brought food.”

Chu Zhaoyou stood up and walked outside. There was a distance to cover between the Funing Hall and the Xuanzheng Hall.

Xiao Heng stepped away and walked on Chu Zhaoyou’s right side, not looking at him. “Regarding the matter of Zhang Huiji, you need to bring it up at the morning court—”

He paused, staring blankly at the hand extended in front of him. The fingers were slender, the skin delicate, and the wrist revealed a faint blue vein beneath the fair skin.

The focal point was the palm, where two pieces of tender osmanthus cake lay.

Was the young puppet trying to please him?

Could he tell that the Regent hadn’t eaten either?

Was he feeling guilty for causing a fuss about breakfast after oversleeping?

Chu Zhaoyou took a piece in his mouth and held two more in his hand, not displaying any regal demeanor. He raised his hand.

To eat or not to eat? If he didn’t want to, that was fine.

After all, he had said he would bring Xiao Hei to eat osmanthus cake, and he had forgotten.

Chu Zhaoyou’s arm grew tired from holding it up, but the Regent maintained his icy demeanor. He withdrew his hand, ate the piece, and fulfilled his words. He didn’t owe Xiao Hei anything from now on.

Suddenly, the warm palm grasped his wrist, and Chu Zhaoyou’s hand froze in mid-air. He saw the Regent condescend to pick up a piece of osmanthus cake and take a disdainful bite.

The strong scent of osmanthus mixed with winter honey blossomed on the tip of the tongue. Xiao Heng’s Adam’s apple moved, and his left hand continued to hold onto Chu Zhaoyou.

Chu Zhaoyou was dragged along for several steps before belatedly realizing that the Regent was using his hand as a plate? If he had known, he would have just given him a piece.

His wrist began to ache, but seeing the bite marks on the Regent Prince’s wrist, he resisted the urge to react. It was definitely not submission to the Regent’s authority.

He moved his wrist, and Xiao Heng’s fingers shifted to grab him from below. They looked as if the Regent was holding the Emperor’s wrist while they walked and ate.

The passing Imperial Guards were left dumbfounded.

What kind of modern-day master-servant relationship was this?

Moreover, forgive their bluntness, but the Regent never ate outside of the dining table, let alone while walking.

Chu Zhaoyou noticed the dumbfounded expressions of a couple of guards that caused him to spit out the last piece of osmanthus cake after taking a bite. He seemed to have lost his appetite after eating too much.

He wanted something salty and hot.

Seeing the reaction of the guards, Chu Zhaoyou realized that they probably hadn’t seen the Emperor being held by the Regent before. Eunuch Xue’s surprised reactions indicated that the young Emperor had interacted more with the Empress in the past, and the Regent had largely ignored him.

Xiao Heng, noticing Chu Zhaoyou’s slowed movements, looked over in confusion. He saw that Chu Zhaoyou was still holding the last piece of pastry, which had a bite mark on it.

Chu Zhaoyou’s gaze also lingered on the bite mark. Suddenly, he remembered something and swiftly stuffed the entire piece of osmanthus cake into his mouth, chewing it vigorously.

His heart raced rapidly. The osmanthus cake and the bite mark on the Regent Prince’s wrist were less than twenty centimeters apart!

Just because he overslept, he was nearly strangled. If Xiao Heng had known it was him who bit him, would he have removed his jaw?

Although most people wouldn’t compare bite marks for no reason, the two bite marks weren’t clear, and the one on the Regent Prince’s wrist was already fading.

But was Xiao Heng an ordinary person?

Xiao Heng’s gaze met Chu Zhaoyou’s, and Chu Zhaoyou promptly finished the osmanthus cake. Xiao Heng furrowed his brow. Was he… afraid of it being snatched?

He released Chu Zhaoyou’s hand and said coldly, “I granted you the throne. Would I still covet a piece of osmanthus cake from you?”

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”

Always resorting to threats.

Chu Zhaoyou was so infuriated that he choked on the sticky osmanthus cake, turning red in the face.

The sudden, earth-shattering coughing fit from the person beside him momentarily threw Xiao Heng into disarray, but the feeling passed too quickly for him to register. He quickly lowered Chu Zhaoyou’s upper body and vigorously patted his back until he stopped coughing.

Chu Zhaoyou’s eyes were filled with tears.

The Regent’s patting was so forceful, it was as if he didn’t have a wife.

Chu Zhaoyou said, “Don’t pat so hard. It’s not like you’re swatting a fly. When it’s not serious, pat gently. When it’s serious, this method isn’t very effective. You should hug me from behind and push upwards between the navel and the ribs.”

He taught Xiao Hei to develop a conditioned reflex, gesturing and pointing to the locations, switching between the navel and the ribs, very earnestly.

Xiao Heng kept a poker face, suspecting that Chu Zhaoyou was treating him like a fool. This thought reminded him of a real incident where he had indeed been foolish, and it was just a warning to scare off the tiger.

The beneficiary of his misfortune was the person beside him.

Xiao Heng’s eyes darkened, and he looked past the chattering Chu Zhaoyou, not saying another word.

Chu Zhaoyou silently watched Xiao Heng walk away, feeling the palpable hostility emanating from him.

Quite difficult to handle.

In the Xuanzheng Hall, the civil and military officials waited, but neither the young Emperor nor the Regent appeared.

Weren’t they supposed to make an important announcement?

If they both failed to show up, would they directly announce the usurpation of the throne?