June 15th in Shengjing, late afternoon.

A young man dressed in bright yellow sat at the table, absent-mindedly holding a book of policy but clearly distracted. His beautiful eyes kept glancing outside from time to time.

Since Yun Xie told him that Bai Su would be back in three to five days, he sent Xiao Ba to wait at the city gate every day. If Xiao Ba saw Bai Su, he was to report back immediately.

But after three days of waiting, there was still no news.

Today was already June 15th, and they were supposed to depart for the summer villa tomorrow.

If Feng Yao auntie hid Bai Su in the palace, he wouldn’t be able to see his sister even if he knew she was back.

Thinking of this, the young man couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, “Ah…”

Recently, without the comfort of Alpha’s pheromone, the baby in his belly was starting to become restless again. He had already thrown up twice today, and it was very uncomfortable each time.

Eating meat made him nauseous, but he had to replenish nutrition for the baby. He couldn’t take anti-nausea medication randomly, so he had to endure the morning sickness while continuing to eat.

During lunch today, he even cried while eating.

The glands on the back of his neck also seemed to be acting up. He was in the middle of pregnancy, so he shouldn’t be experiencing any heat, but his glands still felt uncomfortable…

Sometimes, there was a damp feeling at a certain place as well.

One morning, he even thought he was bleeding again and turned pale with fright. But after checking himself, he found that it wasn’t bleeding.

He did learn in his biology class before that Omega needed Alpha’s comfort during pregnancy. Without comfort, they could suffer from insomnia, anxiety, depression, and so on. But what was this pseudo-heat situation? Was it because of his belief in Bai Su’s return had caused psychological issues to manifest physically?

Duan Changchuan was even more anxious.

[When will she return? … If she doesn’t return soon, I might go into heat…]

Just as he was thinking, someone appeared outside the window. Covered head to toe in dusty clothes, who else could it be but Xiao Ba?

The young man’s eyes lit up, and he immediately called him in, “Is there news of her?”

Xiao Ba shook his head after entering the door and said, “This subordinate has other things to report. Just now, while waiting for news of the Empress at the city gate, this subordinate saw a carriage leaving the city. Although the carriage looked nothing special, the noise it made was much quieter than an ordinary carriage, and the tremors it caused were also much smaller. This subordinate thought it was suspicious, so I asked a brother I knew at the city gate to watch the city gate and inquire about the carriage. It turned out that the carriage came from the Prince Regent’s Residence.”

Duan Changchuan was initially angry when he heard that Xiao Ba had abandoned his post without permission. But when he heard it was a carriage from the Regent’s residence, he immediately calmed down.

“The Regent’s Residence sent a carriage out of the city? Tell me in detail.”

Xiao Ba immediately replied, “Yes,” and told him the whole story.

“This subordinate followed the carriage for a while and found it was carrying the Regent’s heir and his newlywed wife. This subordinate immediately returned to the city to ask the brothers guarding the Regent’s residence. Only then did this subordinate learn the Regent had hurriedly sent out a carriage from the inner courtyard today. Our men were about to report this when this subordinate believed that this matter was of great importance, so I acted on my own initiative and returned to the palace to report. Please punish me for leaving my post without permission, Your Majesty!”

Duan Changchuan nodded; his expression serious.

It was not because the Shizi and Shizi Fei^[1]世子 shìzǐ – heir of a noble house; 世子妃 shìzǐ fēi – heir’s wife suddenly left the capital, but because Xiao Ba’s ‘abandoning his post’.

Xiao Ba acted out of good intentions and judged the situation’s urgency, but his secret guards had specific roles. Since there were people already monitoring the Regent’s residence, Xiao Ba didn’t need to intervene. But looking at it from another perspective … What if this carriage did not leave from the Regent’s Residence, but from someone he had not assigned anyone to watch and quietly slipped out of the city? If Xiao Ba stuck to the rules, wouldn’t he miss it? Moreover, the matter of ‘waiting for Bai Su’ was indeed not that important.

So, should he reward or punish Xiao Ba?

The young emperor was caught in a dilemma.

[If only Bai Su was here. She would at least give me some advice …]

[No, I can’t rely on her for everything …]

Sigh …

“Your Majesty … Is there something you’re concerned about?” Seeing that he did not speak, Xiao Ba asked with uncertainty.

The young man looked at him quietly for a moment, sighed softly, and said, “Since you came across this, go investigate why the Regent sent his heir and newlywed wife out of Shengjing.”

“This subordinate has already found out a bit. Because the brothers said found nothing at the Regent’s Residence, this subordinate went to the Prime Minister’s Residence. Prime Minister Bai and his wife were furious about this. This subordinate overheard them saying it was to save their reputation by sending Shizi and Shizi Fei to Huainan. Prime Minister Bai seemed to think it was inappropriate, but he could not persuade the Regent and was coughing in anger.”

This was quite intriguing.

Duan Changchuan initially thought he would need to incite more discord between Prime Minister Bai and the Regent, but it seemed they were already internally broken. Then, wouldn’t he be able to take advantage of the situation?

He immediately ordered, “Continue to investigate it.”

Xiao Ba immediately responded respectfully, “Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Wait!”

“Ah … Ei, yes?”

“Ask your superior for a reward, say it’s from me.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

–

After Xiao Ba left, Duan Changchuan realized there was no one to keep an eye out for his sister now …?

He knocked his head in annoyance. How could he forget such an important matter?!

[Could I going to be … stupid for three years because of pregnancy?]

He thought of calling Xiao Qi, but then heard Chang Le announcing from outside, “Lord Yun from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau is here!”

Then, he saw Yun Xie, who was dressed like a colorful butterfly, approaching with a smile on his face.

“Great news, my dear Majesty!” Without even entering the room, he directly jumped to the window and called out to him.

Duan Changchuan immediately leaped from his couch and hurriedly ran to the window, “Is she back?”

Then, he saw the youth raise his eyebrows and wave the fan in his hand pretentiously, “Indeed.”

Duan Changchuan: !

Just now, he had been worried he wouldn’t see his sister before leaving for the summer villa! Xiao Ba, who had been unreliable, was supposed to wait for his sister but ended up chasing a carriage!

In an unexpected turn of events, Bai Su had indeed returned!

“Where is she?” He hurriedly asked.

The youth immediately folded his fan and leaped into the room, “At the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. She has just arrived! Auntie took her to a secluded courtyard and prepared hot water. I sneaked out while Auntie was busy. We can go through the secret passage that leads straight to the Astronomical Bureau.”

Duan Changchuan immediately opened the entrance to the secret passage and swiftly descended the stairs. Despite being four and a half months pregnant, with his belly starting to show, he showed no signs of caution.

Yun Xie was so frightened that he hurriedly went to help him, “Slow down, little ancestor! If you accidentally fall, I’ll be in big trouble!”

“Ancestor! Little ancestor! Your aunt is bathing right now, you won’t be able to see her even if you go fast.”

The young man responded confidently, “Who says I can’t see her just because she’s bathing?”

Yun Xie, “…”

[Alright, I was being rude.]

[You indeed can …]

He hurriedly ran after him and held his arm, “Then can you slow down a bit? Have you forgotten what Elder Huang warned you about? Do you believe that I won’t complain to your empress right away? I can’t do anything about you, but your Empress certainly can. If you don’t believe me, keep running!”

The young man rushed forward without thinking, and it was useless to say anything else. But when he heard the words “empress”, he reluctantly slowed down.

“That’s better! Your empress is at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, she can’t run away! Bathing will take some time, and I heard from aunt that they still have to discuss some matters. In any case, she won’t run away.”

“Speaking of which, you two haven’t seen each other for more than a month, right? Your belly has changed quite a bit compared to a month ago. I wonder what your empress’ expression will be when she sees it.”

With Yun Xie’s constant chatter, walking through the secret passage didn’t seem long. Soon, the two appeared in the innermost courtyard of the bureau.

“Where are they?” Duan Changchuan asked anxiously.

Yun Xie hurriedly made a shushing gesture and whispered, “Shh, your empress is just next door. Keep your voice down. Let’s go out first and listen to what’s going on over there. Then I’ll peek over the courtyard wall for you.”

The young emperor immediately shut his mouth and nodded obediently.

He also whispered back, “Alright, I understand.”

He didn’t realize there was no need for such secrecy if he wanted to see his sister, and there was no need to be so sneaky.

Thus, the two sneaky little people sneaked into the courtyard.

Yun Xie quietly climbed up the wall and peeked inside.

[How is it?] Duan Changchuan stood below and communicated with him using lip movement.

Yun Xie made a cross gesture at him and mouthed back, [Only Auntie is here.]

[Bai Su is not here?]

[No, she should be inside!]

The two communicated with their hands and spoke quietly when they suddenly heard a voice from the courtyard next door, “Auntie, Her Majesty says she’s ready. You can go in now.”

“Mm, I understand. You may go.”

“Yes.”

Duan Changchuan: !!!

He gestured at him with both arms, [Auntie went in, didn’t she?]

Yun Xie quietly climbed down and whispered, “She went in. Your empress must be inside. There’s no one in the courtyard now. Come, I’ll take you there and surprise her!”

After he finished speaking, he hurriedly pulled him out. The young emperor followed hurriedly.

When he reached the door, he hesitated and stopped.

“Why did you stop?”

The young man lowered his eyes and smoothed his clothes nervously. He asked softly, “Do I … do I look alright? Is my outfit wrinkled?”

Yun Xie, “…”

“You look fine, very fine, everything is fine! Let’s go. They’ll be leaving after they’re done with their discussion.”

Only then did Duan Changchuan follow him out the door.

The Imperial Astronomer Bureau wasn’t like the palace where there were guards everywhere. After the two sneaky little ones entered, they didn’t see a single person in the courtyard.

Thus, the two of them swaggered into the house.

The door creaked open …

The first thing they smelled was the medicinal herbs’s fragrance.

The light conversation inside abruptly stopped.

“Who is it? What’s the matter?” Feng Yao was the first to speak.

Duan Changchuan and Yun Xie exchanged glances, but neither of them spoke.

The next moment, a familiar voice sounded from inside the room, “Wasn’t it supposed to hide from him? Why bring him directly here?”

The voice was as gentle as ever. In the soft sigh, there was a helpless doting.