"I am entrusting this child to you, Zi Xi, I have no one else, I can only trust you, you must take care of him for me...," Emperor Yuan He's voice grew thinner and thinner, his words became quite incomprehensible near the end. Gu Yun somewhat understood what he meant with difficulty.

"I want to give him his royal status... Where did you find him?"

Gu Yun: "Yanhui Town of the Northern Frontier."

"Yanhui...," Emperor Yuan He repeated this name to himself:

"I have never been to that area, how far away would that be... then... pass...pass on my decree...the fourth son of the Emperor, Li Min, will be titled Yan Bei* Wang, but... but not now, we must wait until after his coming of age ceremony..."

*Yan (bird) from 'Yanhui town' (bird returning) and Bei from 'Northern', Yan Bei means Northern Bird.

Gu Yun listened quietly, normally for royal statuses of Great Liang, a title of one character would be Qin Wang. For example, the Second Prince was granted the title of "Wei Wang". A title made up of two characters was called Jun Wang — they were slightly lower in status compared to the former, usually separated from the members of the royal family by a grade.

*Qin Wang and Jun Wang are other ways to say 'Prince'.

Emperor Yuan He: "I do not wish to wrong him, but I can no longer defend him, I must prevent his older brothers from feeling dissatisfaction in the future ...... Zi Xi, do you understand why we must wait until he comes of age to inherit his title?"

Gu Yun nodded after a pause.

Chang Geng did not know what kind of riddles they were playing at, his heart involuntarily beat like mad, as if he could sense something incoming.

Emperor Yuan He: "Because I want to make a decree, let my Chang Geng be your adopted son. This was not the custom, but I have no one else I can count on. I must break the practice of former generations and let him rely on you for a few years with no title and no status...

"Zi Xi, you must be kind to him, even if you have your own children in the future, don't mistreat him, he is already in his teens, he won't trouble you for much longer... When the time comes for him to be crowned, he will depart to his own manor as a prince ... I have already selected the proper location for it as well..."

Upon getting to this part, Emperor Yuan He was suddenly struck with a violent coughing fit, Gu Yun wanted to reach out and help him but the man waved him off.

The old Emperor looked at Chang Geng’s inexplicably pale complexion, and the more he looked, the more heartbroken he became.

He thought, why can't such a good child like this stay by his side?