Prince Su really wanted to say that they might as well let him marry into the Xinyuan Marquis Mansion, as he didn't care at all whether he had an heir or not.

However, seeing Emperor Wen Xiao's darkened face, clearly on the verge of erupting, he swallowed this suggestion back into his stomach with rare wisdom.

No matter what, he was currently the most noble prince in the Wen Dynasty. Given Emperor Wen Xiao's temperament, he would never agree to let him marry into the Xinyuan Marquis Mansion.

After all, the current social custom in the capital was for women to marry up and men to marry down, especially between two men. Moreover, he had the status of the imperial family. If he were to marry over, he would inevitably be ridiculed.

Of course, he didn't care whether others mocked him or not. The evaluation of him in the capital had never been good, and he never cared about these things.

But Emperor Wen Xiao cared.

Although his imperial brother would indulge him in many things that could be accommodated, for such a major matter concerning the face of the entire imperial family, Emperor Wen Xiao also had principles that could not be easily shaken.

Regarding whether or not to arrange for women to bear an heir for Xie Ming, the two brothers stared at each other with black faces for a long time, neither willing to compromise.

In the end, Emperor Wen Xiao couldn't stand looking at his imperial brother's stinky and stubborn face any longer. He took the initiative to curse him out, telling him to roll back and discuss with his little lover to solve this matter themselves.

Anyway, if the Xinyuan Marquis came crying to him later, he would directly send those prepared women to the Xinyuan Marquis Mansion!

In the end, it was He Yan who figured out a solution himself.

There was no other way. Although their Prince Su had explosive martial prowess, his mind was rather straightforward. By the time he could come up with a feasible plan, He Yan's child would probably have already been forced out by the basketful.

The method He Yan thought of was actually also extremely simple and crude.

It could be summarized in two words: acting pitiful.

For parents like the Xinyuan Marquis and Madam Xie who were deeply child-obsessed to the bone, there was nothing that couldn't be solved by their son acting pitiful once.

If there was, then twice.

So when Madam Xie found He Yan and hesitantly discussed the matter of an heir with him, He Yan's eyes instantly reddened.

Although Madam Xie was very confused inside, she couldn't bear to see her son upset at all. She clutched the handkerchief tightly and anxiously said, "My child, what's the matter... Tell your mother properly, good boy."

He Yan still didn't speak. He first buried his face on Madam Xie's lap and cried softly for a while, making Madam Xie so sad that her own tears were about to fall. Only then did he stammered out that actually he... was impotent.

Madam Xie's half-fallen tears abruptly stopped.

Her mind went blank for a long time before she tremblingly found her voice again. "This... have you seen a doctor? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Mother will have your father go to the palace to request the grace of an imperial physician from the Emperor."

No wonder her son was always unwilling to get close to women. She had always thought he was just a late bloomer, but had never considered this possibility.

Her son was such a proud person. Suffering from this unspeakable condition and keeping it bottled up in his heart all these years, who knows how much pain and difficulty he had endured...

Thinking of her son's unspoken suffering hidden beneath his carefree exterior over the years, Madam Xie's heart ached incessantly.

He Yan quickly grabbed her hand and choked out, "Mother, do you want to make this matter public? How will I face people in the future..."

Madam Xie was after all the female head of a large marquis household. At this point, she had slowly regained some of her senses and in turn comforted He Yan, "Good boy, don't worry. We'll invite Physician Zhou who treated your sister. He definitely won't leak this matter. To outsiders, we'll say it's because Mother is unwell. No one else will know."

He Yan pondered for a moment, then nodded with two teardrops in his eyes, looking aggrieved.

Madam Xie's heart shattered. Disregarding the propriety between men and women, she hugged her son tightly and started crying.

So when the Xinyuan Marquis arrived at Madam Xie's room led by her head maid, what he saw was his wife and son hugging and wailing together.

After the Xinyuan Marquis understood the whole story, his face also turned unsightly. However, he had a much stronger capacity to bear this than Madam Xie. He immediately went to the palace to request an imperial physician.

Recently, in order to study how to deceive the imperial physician, He Yan had been practicing spiritual power hypnosis with Prince Su for a long time.

Because their spiritual powers were extremely close and held no hostility towards each other, even if He Yan's hypnosis technique was incorrect, it would not cause any damage to Prince Su's mind domain when he wasn't deliberately attacking.

Fortunately, the practice over the past few days had some effect. Under He Yan's hypnosis, Physician Zhou, who was clearly from their marquis household's faction, carefully diagnosed him. Then with a frightened face, he announced that He Yan indeed had some problems, and this condition was congenital. It would be difficult to treat now and he was powerless.

The implication was that Xie Ming's impotence was real, and it was also true that it couldn't be cured. They might as well stop wasting their efforts.

Physician Zhou was already one of the imperial physicians most proficient in treating this kind of condition. If even he said there was no way, there was probably really no way.

After sending off the imperial physician, Madam Xie couldn't control herself and hugged He Yan while wiping her tears again. Although the Xinyuan Marquis wasn't as emotionally expressive as Madam Xie, he also sighed at the side for a long time.

After this night's long ordeal, only after the Xinyuan Marquis and Madam Xie had finished grieving and finally let him go, it was already late at night. He Yan returned to his room, did a simple wash, had the servant bring cold water, and soaked a towel to place over his slightly swollen eyes. He dismissed the attendants and lay alone on the bed to rest with his eyes closed.

Although the tears were forced out using spiritual power, seeing the Xinyuan Marquis and Madam Xie so heartbroken, He Yan actually also felt uncomfortable.

For ancient people who placed extreme importance on passing down the family line, the magnitude of the blow dealt by learning their only son had an incurable condition and could never leave behind an heir was imaginable. But this was indeed the most suitable method He Yan could think of.

He had once considered cooperating with the family's arrangement, pretending to be close with a woman, then arranging for another man to impregnate her. But this idea was snuffed out as soon as it emerged.

Firstly, although this kind of thing was all too common in this era, in He Yan's view, he really could not calmly adapt to this custom of cheating for the sake of having an heir with peace of mind. No matter what, the existence of that child would make him very uncomfortable.

Secondly, although Prince Su knew that he had not done anything with those women and the children were not his own flesh and blood, and he would never complain about it on the surface, his beloved had a petty heart and might secretly become depressed about it.

In the end, no matter what, he was going to do this. In fact, it would muddle the bloodline of the Xie family. If the ancestors of the Xie family knew about it, they would probably be so angry that they would want to crawl out from the underworld to beat him to death for being an unfilial descendant. It was not very decent of him.

So in the end, between making himself and Prince Su uncomfortable and making Xie Ming's parents uncomfortable, He Yan selfishly chose to take care of his own and his lover's feelings.

Although since he came to this world, Marquis Xinyuan and Madam Xie had always been extremely good to him, in his heart, the lover with whom he had gone through three lifetimes still carried more weight.

However, after truly making the decision, seeing the sad appearance of Marquis Xinyuan and Madam Xie, he inevitably felt some guilt in his heart.

A thought vaguely arose in his mind, but before he could think carefully, there was a slight movement from the window. Then someone came to his bedside, gently touched his face with a warm palm, and carefully removed the towel on his eyes, touching his eye sockets with fingertips.

He Yan knew it must be Prince Su without even opening his eyes.

Since the two had torn through the window paper, as long as He Yan did not stay overnight at Prince Su Mansion and returned to the Xinyuan Marquis Mansion to live, eight out of ten nights, His Highness the Prince would sneakily climb through the window of his room and squeeze into the same nest to sleep with him.

He Yan slapped away the big hand that kept harassing him, and said lazily, "Your Highness, please don't bother me. Kindly return the towel to me, my eyes hurt."

Prince Su felt a little depressed in his heart. Upon hearing this, he silently and carefully covered the towel on the youth's obviously swollen eyes after crying, and said in a low voice, "It's all my fault. I brought you some ointment, apply it?"

If it weren't for his status as a prince pressing down, Emperor Wen Xiao would have agreed to let him marry into the Xinyuan Marquis Mansion, and would not have made his Ah Ming's life so difficult.

He Yan snorted lightly, "It's good that you know. What are you standing there for? Hurry up and apply the medicine for me."

With that, he raised his hand.

Prince Su immediately understood and held his hand, helped him up from the bed, removed the wet towel from his eyes, took out a small medicine bottle from his bosom, carefully dipped it with his thick fingers, and applied it around his eyes.

This ointment was for reducing swelling and relieving pain. It was very soothing and cool. After applying it, the discomfort on He Yan's eyes almost immediately subsided, and he even let out a couple of comfortable hums.

Prince Su felt a little restless from his soft hums, but he did not dare to take advantage of him out of guilt, so he endured it silently.

After a while, He Yan spoke again, "I am unwell today, so I have to trouble Prince Su to take off my clothes."

Prince Su stared at the frank-faced youth for a while, and finally reached out his hand after the youth urged him again.

These days, after a lot of practice, Prince Su's skill in helping others change clothes had become very proficient. In a few moments, he took off the youth's outer and inner clothes and put them aside. Then he shook out the quilt and was about to tuck the person into the bed.

But unexpectedly, He Yan tugged at his collar on his own, kicked him on the leg, and said with narrowed eyes, "Why don't you take off the undergarments together? Is Prince Su not up to it today?"

Prince Su, who rarely restrained himself from touching the youth out of guilt: "........."

Since his Ah Ming had said so, if he still did not make a move, it would be inexcusable!

So Prince Su immediately listened obediently and stripped the youth's undergarments clean, embracing and pressing him down on the soft bed...

On the thirteenth day of this month, Emperor Wen Xiao issued a decree to bestow marriage between Prince Su and Xie Ming, the legitimate son of Marquis Xinyuan.

The wedding date was set for two months later, on an auspicious day when everything would be propitious.