The matter of adopting a child was quickly settled.

The chosen one was the only son of Prince Jing.

Emperor Wen Xiao had many children. Including Prince Su, Emperor Wen Xiao currently had seven living brothers. Among them, Prince Jing was undoubtedly the most unremarkable one.

Prince Jing's fate was truly lamentable. He was originally the eldest son of the previous emperor, two years older than Emperor Wen Xiao. As the first son of the previous emperor, he should have had some innate advantages.

But firstly, Prince Jing's mother was only a consort who came from a palace maid background, without the support of a powerful family behind her. Secondly, Prince Jing himself was dull-witted, and his talents were mediocre at best. So from a young age, he was never valued much by the previous emperor, always being the least prominent among the princes.

Fortunately, he had no great ambitions. After Emperor Wen Xiao ascended the throne, he was granted the title of a prince and lived quietly in his own princely manor, not participating in any entanglements. Except for attending family banquets held in the palace during holidays, he rarely showed his face in the capital.

When people occasionally mentioned him, they would just sigh and say that Prince Jing was born with thin blessings. Not only was he not favored as a prince, but after getting married, the two legitimate sons born to Princess Jing within three years both died young one after another. After that, no more children were born in the manor.

Until three years ago, Princess Jing unexpectedly became pregnant again. However, Princess Jing was not young anymore, and this pregnancy was extremely difficult. She had been lying sick in bed since giving birth, and finally passed away not long after her youngest son's first birthday.

After Princess Jing's death, many people advised Prince Jing to remarry, as the young legitimate son in the manor couldn't be without a mother's guidance.

But for some unknown reason, Prince Jing kept delaying it until now without taking another wife. Perhaps it was because he was hit hard by the death of Princess Jing, but since her passing, Prince Jing's health had also deteriorated day by day. In two years, he aged more than a decade, looking like he belonged to a different generation than Emperor Wen Xiao despite being of similar age.

Prince Jing was already showing signs of old age, yet there was still a young son not even two years old in the manor, unaware of the ways of the world.

Judging from Prince Jing's attitude, he likely had no intention to remarry. Without a mistress in the Prince Jing Manor, and with Princess Jing's maternal family already in decline, many people in the capital speculated that if Prince Jing were to pass away one day, this child would have to be sent to be raised in another prince's manor.

For the prince who would have to take care of this child in the future, it was not a good task.

First of all, with Emperor Wen Xiao watching from above, they definitely could not mistreat this child. It was said that the child was not in good health, so if something were to happen it would be hard to explain. The most vexing thing was that if it was their own child, they could just carefully raise him, but this child was Prince Jing's only son and couldn't be adopted under their name. After raising him to adulthood, he would still have to return to inherit the Prince Jing Manor. It was simply raising a child for someone else with painstaking effort!

So the princes all sincerely hoped that Prince Jing could live a long life and delay dumping this mess on their heads.

It was precisely for this reason that when the news of Prince Su adopting Prince Jing's young son came out, their first reaction was that it was impossible!

Not to mention whether Prince Jing could bear to have his only son adopted by someone else, just based on Prince Su's current age, he still had a long time ahead of him. Why would he be in such a hurry to adopt a child so early? If he had his own legitimate son in the future, what would he do with this child?

This rumor was just too outrageous...

Until Prince Jing happily and publicly acknowledged it, people were shocked to find that it was actually true!

Could it be that both Prince Jing and Prince Su had gone mad together?

Emperor Wen Xiao was also completely baffled by this.

Not to mention Prince Su, ever since this younger brother of his got married, it was as if he lost his mind and was tightly controlled by a male spouse, doing who knows how many perplexing foolish things.

What he couldn't understand was, how could the usually well-behaved Prince Jing go along with Prince Su's antics?

Was giving away his only son to be adopted a joke?

Once this child was adopted, after Prince Jing's death, the entire Prince Jing Manor would be left without an heir!

So Emperor Wen Xiao, unable to figure out a reason no matter how much he thought about it, summoned Prince Jing into the palace.

Upon meeting, Emperor Wen Xiao looked up and down at this elder brother whom he had never been close to, and couldn't help frowning, "What happened to Imperial Brother? Sit down quickly, I will summon the imperial physician to take a good look at you."

He remembered that when they met at the Mid-Autumn family banquet last time, Prince Jing didn't look so lifeless. His whole person had thinned a lot, even his back was hunched over.

"Your Majesty, there's no need to trouble them," Prince Jing sat somewhat uneasily on the edge of the chair..

Unlike Prince Su's casual attitude, he had always been very respectful in front of Emperor Wen Xiao.

"This subject knows his own body. It's the same whether the physician examines it or not."

Emperor Wen Xiao pursed his lips and insisted, "No, let the imperial physician take a look first."

Prince Jing had no choice but to comply with Emperor Wen Xiao's wish.

The imperial physician arrived very quickly. However, after carefully examining Prince Jing, he didn't find any major illness, only saying that Prince Jing appeared so weak due to excessive mental strain and advanced age. In the future, he must pay attention to recuperating well and regulating his mood.

Hearing the imperial physician's statement, Emperor Wen Xiao looked at this elder brother who was only two years older than him yet already had a face full of wrinkles and eyes showing a hint of dullness. He felt somewhat powerless, and the original anger in his heart seemed to be doused by a basin of cold water, unable to flare up in the slightest.

Prince Jing was also a strange person. He only married Princess Jing in his life. Even after Princess Jing injured her health after giving birth to two children, leaving the manor without an heir for nearly ten years, he never took a concubine.

How come one after another, they were all hopeless romantics?

His foolish younger brother gave up having an heir for the sake of a Xie Ming. Prince Jing appeared proper on the surface but was even more extreme than Prince Su. For the sake of his deceased wife, he drove himself to lose half his life in just two short years. Now looking at him, it seemed he was barely clinging to his last breath.

Faced with such an elder brother, even if Emperor Wen Xiao had pent-up anger in his heart, he really couldn't say anything reproachful. He gave up the idea of questioning and only gently advised Prince Jing to take care of his health, not daring to say a single harsh word, fearing that Prince Jing would be provoked and something would happen, which would make him regret it.

However, the matter of adoption could not be brushed over like this. After Prince Jing left, he would summon that troublesome younger brother into the palace to settle the score properly!

Halfway through, it was Prince Jing who took the initiative to bring up the topic.

He stood up tremblingly from his chair and bowed deeply to Emperor Wen Xiao.

Emperor Wen Xiao immediately stood up, helped him up, and showed some displeasure: "What is Imperial Brother doing? Quickly sit back down."

Prince Jing was forcibly pressed back into his chair by Emperor Wen Xiao. He gasped for breath and said, "Your Majesty summoned this subject to the palace this time, presumably for the matter of this subject's young son being adopted by Prince Su."

Emperor Wen Xiao originally didn't want to mention this sensitive topic again, but since Prince Jing himself had brought it up, he didn't mince words either and nodded, "That was the original intention."

Prince Jing's expression was miserable: "This subject, this subject wants to say a few words, and asks Your Majesty to allow it."

Emperor Wen Xiao sat back in his seat, his hands resting on the armrests of the chair, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on them. He said softly, "Imperial Brother need not be so circumspect, please speak."

Prince Jing pondered for a while and said slowly, "This subject feels that he does not have many days left and has no one to entrust his young son to. Prince Su is willing to adopt him into his household. This subject is extremely grateful. When he goes underground to meet Youning in the future, he can also be free of regrets. This time, for Prince Su, it is just fulfilling a wish for this subject, so this subject earnestly requests Your Majesty not to blame Prince Su for this. If punishment is to be meted out, this subject is willing to bear it all."

Youning was the courtesy name of Prince Jing's wife.

This elder brother, who had always been silent and respectful in Emperor Wen Xiao's memory, spoke such a long passage in front of him for the first time, and also mentioned his princess consort for the first time.

Emperor Wen Xiao and Prince Jing looked at each other in silence for a long time, their expressions changing again and again, before Emperor Wen Xiao sighed and said, "Then why bother with the adoption? If you are worried that there will be no one to take care of the child in the future, I can also take him into the palace and raise him personally."

"Your Majesty," Prince Jing said, "My son is not worthy of such great fortune. Besides, this minister has already figured it out. Power and influence are things that cannot be brought in at birth or taken away at death. This minister would rather have his son live an ordinary and safe life."

Prince Jing was clear in his heart. As long as his young son had the title of heir to Prince Jing's household on his head, no matter where he was sent, it would be impossible for him to have a peaceful life.

As for the imperial palace, that was an even more man-eating place. What Emperor Wen Xiao promised at this time was quite good, but people are forgetful. He could protect his young son for a while with that little bit of brotherly affection, but it was impossible for him to watch over him all the time.

He did not dare to send his son, who was less than two years old, into the palace.

So when Prince Su came to the door and proposed to adopt his legitimate son, he considered it for a while and still agreed to this somewhat absurd request.

Although this younger brother of his looked fierce, based on his observations and understanding over the years, Prince Su was actually a very upright person in character. It seemed that after the adoption, he would not mistreat his child either.

Moreover, from the current perspective, Prince Su was not fond of women, so there would definitely not be many offspring in his household in the future, which was undoubtedly a good thing for his child.

Prince Jing had already spoken to this extent, so Emperor Wen Xiao naturally could not really punish him. He could only gloss over the topic, express concern for Prince Jing's health a few more times, and then let him return to his residence.

As for Prince Su, who had already completed the adoption at lightning speed, he was currently in his residence, at a loss with his consort, facing the two-year-old child sitting on the bed.

This child from Prince Jing's family must have taken after the appearance of Prince Jing's wife. Although he was still young and his features had not fully developed, it could already be seen that the child had very delicate features between his eyebrows and eyes, and did not have any resemblance to the somewhat honest and simple-looking Prince Jing.

Perhaps it was due to the lack of maternal love since childhood, the child looked a little timid. He was wrapped in a small quilt, curled up in the corner of the bed, revealing only a pair of dark, big eyes, secretly observing them.

Author's Note: Actually, in the minds of ancient people, the emperor's way of thinking was the normal one. Prince Su and Prince Jing were the abnormal ones _(:з」∠)_

The little one is really super cute. All little ones should be loved and protected QWQ