Chapter 3 The Grand Coronation

  Ye Wen looked at the girl with some confusion, in his impression, not knowing the other's name after sleeping together was absolutely unforgivable, except for a one-night stand. But at this time, the girl's reaction made Ye Xiang somewhat at a loss, subconsciously raising his hand to touch the girl's forehead, muttering: "You're not feverish, are you?"

  Li Ran was somewhat surprised at her own man, what's wrong with him? She also looked at Ye Xiang with some incomprehension, her eyes full of questions.

  Actually, Ye Xiang didn't know that in Li Lan's impression, this man seemed to be uninterested in women. In the entire imperial palace, there were countless people who paid attention to him, but he seemed to have no interest in romantic matters. It had been three months since her uncle arranged for her to enter the palace, and because of her uncle, she was able to come into contact with him every day. Although he promised to keep her by his side, not only did he not do anything to her, but he even rarely spoke to her.

  In Li Ran's view, it was normal for Ye Xiang not to know his own name, otherwise there would be a ghost! But Ye Xiang didn't know that.

  Two people's minds are different, and the things they think of are naturally different. The two of them were chatting and laughing here for a short while when the eunuch returned. After eating lunch with the eunuch, Ye Xiang pulled Li Ran back to his own room. At this time, Ye Xiang knew that he was talking too much and it's better to move less and speak less.

  The next morning, Ye Xiang got up very early and looked at Li Ran sleeping beside him. He felt a surge of joy in his heart, thinking that he was now considered a family man. Just as he was about to call out to the eunuchs outside to attend to him, one of them rushed into Ye Xiang's bedroom - it was the eunuch known as Li Gonggong.

  The eunuch rushed to Ye Xiang's side after entering, and respectfully saluted Ye Xiang with a big bow, smiling: "Your Highness, it's time to get up. The coronation ceremony is about to begin."

  "The grand ceremony of ascension, what kind of ritual is this?" Ye Xiang looked at the eunuch kneeling on the ground with some confusion, could it be that he was going to become the emperor? Although his heart was racing with excitement, his face didn't show any signs of emotion. In fact, Ye Xiang's heart was tense with anxiety at this moment.

  "Your Highness, it's the Emperor's ascension to the throne! As the Crown Prince, you must attend." The eunuch found it somewhat strange that the prince was acting this way, but he didn't get up and his expression didn't change in the slightest as he respectfully replied.

  As soon as the words came out, Ye Xiang felt a bit inappropriate. What Ye Xiang needs to do now is to listen more and speak less, and quickly figure out his own identity. The previous words were not asked in vain, at least one problem was understood, that he is the crown prince, which means the future emperor.

  He knew he was the crown prince Ye Xiang excited after it was just fear, a chilling fear. How many princes in history were abolished? How many princes died unjustly? Now he really wants to know which prince he is, so that he can find a way out as soon as possible.

  Taking a slight breath, Ye Xiang said to the eunuch kneeling on the ground: "Get up! Let them come and help me change clothes." Ye Xiang tried his best not to make any mistakes in his performance, while gently calling out to Li Ran beside him, saying softly: "Get up."

  After hearing Ye Xiang's words, the eunuch who was kneeling on the ground got up and immediately summoned the palace maid to help Ye Xiang wash and dress. This was the first time in his life that Ye Xiang had been served like this, even having someone brush his teeth for him. Looking at the little maid brushing his teeth, Ye Xiang's heart felt extremely happy.

  After everything was ready, accompanied by the eunuch surnamed Li, Ye Xiang and Li Lan simply had some breakfast, and then followed the eunuch to the place where the coronation ceremony was held.

  Xie Xiang walked slowly in the palace, occasionally glancing around, sometimes looking at the pillars of the corridor, and sometimes looking at the marble table, as if he wanted to study this palace carefully.

  "Mr. Li, how many years have you been in the palace?" Ye Xiang seemed to ask unintentionally as he gently handed the flowers in his hand to Li Lan.

  The eunuch didn't know why the prince asked this, but he also didn't think much of it. The master was always a bit abnormal and had many strange questions, so he just sighed and said with some emotion: "It's been over ten years, and I've followed Your Highness for seven years now."

  Ye Xiang didn't know what to say either, although Ye Xiang was a scholar who knew some history. But now Ye Xiang didn't even know who he himself was, let alone this eunuch, one of the many eunuchs in the imperial palace with the surname Li, who would know who he was?

  Since this topic doesn't need to be continued anymore, Ye Xiang said in a soft voice:

  "Where are we going now? Are we just going to keep walking back and forth in the palace?" As a university student from a later generation, Ye Xiang was used to taking cars when he went out, even if it was just a public bus. He had never walked like this before. At this point, his feet were already hurting, and his words naturally carried a hint of impatience.

  "Your Highness, you should go and pay your respects to the Emperor now." The eunuch's heart skipped a beat as he glanced at Li Ran on the side, and seeing him shake his head only made him more perplexed.

  Suddenly, Ye Wenchao remembered that he was now the crown prince and couldn't use such casual language anymore. He recalled that as the crown prince, he should refer to himself as "Ben Gong" instead of "I". This mistake absolutely cannot be made again.

  "How much further? Why am I so tired?" Gently pulling Li Ran to sit on the corridor, slowly rubbing her knees, her eyebrows also slightly furrowed.

  "Your Highness, it's just ahead, not far from here." The eunuch knelt on the ground and gently patted Ye Xiang's knee while flattering him.

  After a while, Ye Xiang felt better and said: "Let's go! It's not good to be late." After finishing speaking, he went out again.

  Following the eunuch through the endless corridors of the imperial palace, Ye Xiang couldn't remember anything. If he were to go back now, he would definitely get lost.

  After turning a corner, Ye Xiang suddenly saw a familiar building. It was a huge city gate, over ten meters high, with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, sitting on a white marble base more than one meter high, surrounded by carved stone balustrades. In front of the gate were three levels of stairs, with the middle level made of imperial road stone, and a pair of bronze gilded lions on either side. The back eaves were painted with golden dragons and colorful paintings, while the two sides of the gate had eight-character-shaped glazed tiles, with glass flowers decorating the center and corners of the walls. The flower shapes were lifelike and the colors were bright and beautiful, shining brightly in the sunlight. Ye Xiang was naturally not unfamiliar with this building, and he believed many people were not either, because it was the Gate of Supreme Harmony, which was the inner city gate of the Forbidden City.

  At this time, Ye Xiang finally knew which dynasty he was in. In history, there were only three dynasties that really established their capital in Beijing: Yuan, Ming and Qing. The Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, was built by the Ming Dynasty and inherited by the Qing Dynasty. Since he didn't have a queue behind him, it was clear that this wasn't the Qing Dynasty. So there was only one possibility - he was the prince of the Ming Dynasty.