Prince Qui and Tianshi Xue were up early the following day. They stayed up until midnight to join the celebration of welcoming Prince Xiaodan's birthday. Right after he blew the candles, the couple retreated to their bedroom.
Prince Qui had been sure that he could still hear the party going on until four in the morning. He had not slept that much the night before—which was nothing new—but this time he had not slept because he had insomnia. He could not sleep because he was excited for the tournament.
Prince Zixin from a young age had been known as the kind of person who loved to play pranks on everybody. Until he pulled a prank on the emperor—replaced his food with live frogs so when the servant lifted the lid, they all jumped out. The emperor only laughed, but had the whole kitchen fired that very day because how else could a small kid slip past their supervision? If the food had poison, the emperor would have been dead by now.
