Power Up, Artist Yang!

A few long moments of chasing and beating later, Yushang finally couldn't take it anymore. 

He dropped down on the floor, completely out of breath. "Can we— pause— c— call a truce or— something?" 

He expected to receive another slap, but instead, Yunhe actually paused. He seemed out of breath as well. Running circles around a spacious courtyard was a bit of an exercise. 

"I only want you to leave," Yunhe said, his breath heavy, "You could've ran out of here a whole fifteen minutes ago— and there would've been none of this." 

Yushang was about to retort, but he froze, realizing that Yunhe was right. He kept receiving warnings to leave, so why didn't he just leave? Why did he stay to get smacked a hundred billion times? 

But then, he was filled with indignation as he thought of the fact that Yunhe was truly smacking him for no reason! He told the truth in the end, didn't he? 

At this, Yushang's face scrunched up. He eyed Yunhe, then blurted out, "I'm not lying! I really am the crown prince!"

Yunhe flattened his lips into a straight line. "I don't know how you expect me to believe you."

Believe him? Well, that was easy. He had plenty of evidence, but most of all…

Yushang sat up straight and rummaged in his pockets, yanking out a jade pendant. This pendant was made of gold and white jade, swirling patterns carved into it, befitting of the crown prince and the royal family. 

He held it up for Ye Yunhe to see, declaring, "I'm really the crown prince! See!" 

Yunhe grabbed the pendant from him, scrutinizing the details for a few seconds. Then, he flipped it over and observed the back as well. 

Once he saw the back and front, Yunhe's expression froze onto his face. He immediately took three steps back, dropped the scroll in his hands, fell to his knees, and bowed deeply. 

"Crown Prince. It was… my mistake for not recognizing you."

At last!

Yushang finally grinned, delight rising up across his face. At last, he saw the sight that he was waiting for. This was the stance that Ye Yunhe should've taken all along!

Seeing Yunhe fixed in place, Yushang slowly rose up, stretching out his sore arm and back. He took the pendant back from the kneeling other,  swinging the jade around and around. 

"Do you regret now?" he mused, "Imagine the treason you would've committed just now… what kind of sentence would you get for laying your hands on the crown prince of the empire?"

Yunhe stayed silent.

Yushang admitted that he enjoyed this. He enjoyed every moment of this thoroughly. It was so satisfying to see Ye Yunhe like this. The contrast between before and now was stunningly hilarious. 

He wondered what this young man was thinking right now. He wondered if he would be filled with regret, panic, terror, or any other emotion that had to do with suffering. 

This was karma! 

Nonetheless, he didn't make Yunhe squirm for too long. He leaned over, gesturing for Yunhe to rise, commanding while he did so, "You may get up."

A moment of hesitation passed between the two of them. Yunhe then stood up, keeping his posture still at a bow, however. 

Yushang plastered on a bright, genuine smile on his face and informed, "I'm not going to punish you. We will treat the events that have occured this day as a… joke. Between friends."

Yunhe looked up, his eyebrows knitted "Friends?"

"Indeed, friends!" Yushang nodded, clasping his hands together. "You are Miss Yang's senior brother. I am her business partner. Hence, we are friends from now on."

Eyes narrowed, Yunhe backed away. "What is your exact relationship with my junior sister?"

"I told you. Business partners and friends," Yushang answered with a shrug. 

That was all. Nothing more, nothing less, right…?

But for some reason, Yushang's gaze was cast down and he couldn't quite bring himself to look at Yunhe in the eyes. 

A moment later, fixing his gaze back on Yunhe, Yushang crossed his arms and explained, "I don't want her to know who I really am. I have my reasons for doing so." 

Yunhe was smart. He caught on quickly. "So, the whole reason for why you're letting me off is as a bribe, just so I can keep the secret for you?"

"Something along those lines, yes. You'll keep quiet about my true identity."

This wasn't a question. Yushang knew that Yunhe would have to keep a secret if he wanted to keep himself alive. 

Yushang racked his mind for anything else he might need to ask or say. "Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed, realizing that he forgot one major question. "How did you not recognize me? You've been to the palace before, haven't you? I remember seeing you."

Yunhe just shrugged. "Oh. I'm just bad at remembering faces."

…

Yujia returned to see Yunhe and Zhizhong getting along as well as brothers. While she was gone, it seemed like the two of them smoothed out any conflict they may have had, since they were now just talking and laughing like normal people. 

She grinned at the sight of this, "I'm glad you two are getting along well."

Zhizhong smiled a smile that was unnaturally wide. "Yes. We got along very well."

"Very, very well." Yunhe agreed, adding on, a wide smile plastered on his face as well.