The Crown Prince Is My Mom - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Dog Emperor was probably feeling guilty, because he conferred upon me the title of Princess Yuxi as proof of how dearly he cherished me.

But during the investiture ceremony, my mother didn’t give him a single pleasant look. She didn’t say one word to him the entire time, wearing such a sour expression that anyone who didn’t know better would have thought her husband had died again.

The second my eyes met my mother’s, I burst into tears. I cried with rhythm, with melody, with style. The musicians nearly blew their lungs out on their suonas, but even that couldn’t drown out my thumpa-thumpa sobbing.

The emperor was so embarrassed he didn’t know where to put his hands. He suddenly shoved the Crown Prince forward. “Ah Yu, look, your little sister is so happy she’s crying. Hurry up and comfort her!”

The Crown Prince turned back to look at his father in disbelief, his whole face saying, I am begging you to act human.

But from the day he was born until now, he had never done the job of comforting anyone. He stood stiffly beside me, his brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly.

After a long while, I heard him say coldly, “Stop crying.”

I sniffled. “I’m sad.”

He said, “Stop being sad.”

“I want to die.”

“Don’t die.”

I was stunned by the Crown Prince’s comforting skills.

Through my tear-blurred eyes, I looked up at him. “Is this really the best you can do?”

The Crown Prince was provoked. “Then what will make you stop crying?”

I said, “Kill your father.”

“?”

I immediately changed my answer. “Or give me a broad shoulder to lean on.”

The Crown Prince’s brows smoothed out again. He raised his hand and offered me a handkerchief. Quick as lightning, I grabbed his sleeve and wiped my snot on it with vicious determination.

The Crown Prince let out a shrill, explosive screech. I patted him on the shoulder and left. “Don’t be sad.”

The moment I walked out of the Forbidden City, my tears once again came pouring down like the waters of the Yellow River from heaven, rushing to the sea never to return. I was determined to make every civil and military official, and every commoner in the capital, see that the Dog Emperor had hurt a fragile little girl like me.

For three days after his new marriage, the emperor couldn’t even get through the doors of the Noble Consort’s palace. Then at morning court, he was nearly drowned in the spittle of the hundred officials. At last, he couldn’t take it anymore. With a grand wave of his hand, he sent the Crown Prince to comfort me.

Today, the Crown Prince wasn’t wearing his usual loose robes, but narrow archery sleeves.

If he wouldn’t have been impeached by the censors, he probably wouldn’t even have wanted to wear those. He’d have come in a short-sleeved shirt, then slathered both arms in chili oil.

The moment he arrived, he began negotiating with me. “Tang Xiaoxi, I understand how you feel…”

I cut him off. “You understand nothing! It’s not your father who remarried. You even got an extra mother out of it. Lucky you!”

The Crown Prince’s face turned livid. “Then what exactly do you want?”

I started brewing tears. “I want to be able to see my mother every day…”

The Crown Prince let out a breath of relief. “Father has made you a princess. You can enter the palace and keep your mother company until the day you marry.”

I flew into a rage. “Wouldn’t that mean I’d be imprisoned in the Forbidden City too? I want freedom!”

“Then you can live outside the palace in your princess residence…”

“I want to be able to see my mother every day…”

This conversation repeated itself three or four times. The Crown Prince was so infuriated by my human-recorder routine that he took several deep breaths, stood up, ran through a set of military boxing drills, and only then sat down again.

He tried threats and bribes; I wailed at the top of my lungs.

He tried kind persuasion; I wept like a pear blossom in the rain.

The Crown Prince talked until his mouth was almost dry. He was so exhausted his face went pale and his eyes lost focus, while I only cried with more and more vigor.

In the end, he broke down and asked me, “I possess all within the four seas. Whatever you want, I can give it to you.”

I sighed and pointed at the night sky.

“Your Highness, look. The stars in the sky say nothing.”

“?”

Choking back sobs, I said, “…while Xiaoxi on the ground misses her mommy.”

The Crown Prince fell silent. Especially when I asked him, “Your Highness, don’t you miss your mommy too?” At last, his defenses shattered, and he hugged his head and bawled with me.

Looking at the pain and fragility in the Crown Prince’s eyes, I silently swallowed the words, Sorry, I forgot you don’t have a mother.

After we finished crying, the Crown Prince gritted his teeth and said, “Stop crying! From this day on, I will be your mother!”

I was stunned. Was Helian Yu giving up the path of kingship to cultivate the path of motherhood instead, determined to mother the world?