He truly did care for Xie Zhixue, and he had even considered making her his Crown Princess. It was only the discovery that she had a child that caught him off guard; at the time, Yuwenzhang had been quite surprised. But last night, he had re-examined his feelings for her and reached a conclusion: he still did not want to let Xie Zhixue go.
If he were to keep her by his side in the future, the boy, Ping'an, would need an identity. Even if the child was not his own flesh and blood, he could be an adopted son. And since he would be an adopted son, he would be a minor prince of the Crown Prince's Mansion, and thus, entitled to wear the four-clawed python robe.
His gesture was intended to please Xie Zhixue, not the boy. At only three years old, what could the child possibly understand? But Xie Zhixue was different. As a legitimate daughter of the Xie Family, she had the rules of propriety etched into her heart. Yuwenzhang wanted to tell her, in a roundabout way, that he did not mind her having a child. What of the python robe? If he wanted to wear it, he could; as long as he was happy, that was enough.
Chapter 66