DLWAV CH34

But the First Prince was kneeling on the ground; how could he see Emperor Yuanxi’s face?

The thought that the Fourth Prince was about to be deposed made him increasingly excited. “Imperial Father, it was Old Four. It was Old Four who spread the news that Eighth Brother is crippled.”

“Your son originally thought this was the work of remnants from the previous dynasty. After all, besides them, who would dare to commit such an act of contempt against the royal family?”

“So at first, your son focused on those remnants. But unexpectedly, while investigating, your son traced it back to Chen Zhao, one of Old Four’s retainers.”

“Your son initially didn’t believe Old Four would do such a thing. After all, Eighth Brother is his own brother!”

“But who would have thought that this matter was truly instigated by Old Four through Chen Zhao—”

Saying this, he raised the stack of confessions in his hand above his head.

“Imperial Father, these are all Chen Zhao’s confessions. He personally admitted that it was Old Four who ordered him to spread the news of Eighth Brother being crippled.”

“Imperial Father, Eighth Brother is wholeheartedly devoted to the country and the people, and has repeatedly rendered great service to the court. Now he has become the laughingstock of commoners over tea and meals because of this matter. Imperial Father, you must seek justice for Eighth Brother!”

By this point, the First Prince had finally finished his shouting.

He then took two deep breaths, waiting for Emperor Yuanxi’s fury.

—Of course, the truth was that after ordering his men to leak the news of Prince An being crippled to the Fourth Prince, he had kept a close watch on the Fourth Prince. As soon as the Fourth Prince assigned the task to Chen Zhao, he sent people to seize Chen Zhao’s wife, children, and elderly mother. Once the news broke, he immediately arrested Chen Zhao and used his family to threaten him, forcing him to implicate the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince was finished!

Thinking of this, he lowered his head even further.

He worried that if he raised his head too high, Emperor Yuanxi above would notice the ecstasy on his face.

Unexpectedly, after a long silence, Emperor Yuanxi only said, “I know. You may leave.”

As he spoke, the confessions in his hand were taken away by Head Eunuch Yu Zan.

Only then did the First Prince react. He looked up sharply, staring at Emperor Yuanxi in disbelief.

He didn’t understand why Emperor Yuanxi’s reaction was so calm. Shouldn’t he be flying into a rage?

But before he could speak, Head Eunuch Yu Zan, who had delivered the confessions to Emperor Yuanxi, returned: “Your Highness, please!”

The First Prince shouted unwillingly, “Imperial Father!”

But Emperor Yuanxi had already taken the confessions and returned to the adjacent bedchamber.

Seeing this, the First Prince could only grit his teeth and leave first.

After sending off the First Prince, Head Eunuch Yu Zan also returned to Emperor Yuanxi’s bedchamber.

Upon entering, he saw Emperor Yuanxi lying on the couch without even taking off his shoes, the confessions placed beside him.

From the look of the confessions, it was clear that Emperor Yuanxi hadn’t even opened them.

Head Eunuch Yu Zan silently stood aside.

A few minutes later, Emperor Yuanxi broke the silence himself.

He said, “I’m afraid the Eldest thinks his performance was quite splendid, doesn’t he?”

He sneered, “Last year, in the case of the Marquis of Zhen’an’s sudden death, he investigated for half a year without finding a single clue. He even personally supported the murderer to succeed to the Marquisate. If that murderer hadn’t gotten carried away and confessed everything after getting drunk, the entire court would still be kept in the dark.”

“And now he runs over to tell me that something that happened just the day before yesterday, he has already investigated thoroughly today. Ha, does he have that ability?”

Head Eunuch Yu Zan: “…”

The First Prince probably never dreamed he would lose due to his own stupidity, and the key was that he thought himself very clever.

Emperor Yuanxi: “Most importantly, when he kept saying ‘Eighth Brother is crippled,’ the heartlessness hidden beneath his human face was completely exposed.”

—After all, who that genuinely cared for a brother would casually repeat the mocking words of others when that brother was in trouble?

So the truth of the whole matter was actually self-evident.

Emperor Yuanxi slapped the bedside hard: “How did I give birth to two such beasts?”

Most importantly—

“Yu Zan, tell me, they were all born from the same father. How can the Eldest and the Fourth be so stupid?”

Hearing this, Head Eunuch Yu Zan: “…”

Maybe because you aren’t much like your eighth son either.

He thought this was already the most tactful way to put it.

However, he didn’t say this out loud because it was truly too treasonous.

Most importantly, he knew Emperor Yuanxi was just talking to himself and wasn’t really asking for his opinion.

Sure enough, after another long silence, he heard Emperor Yuanxi say again, “Heavens, why couldn’t you treat me just a little bit better?”

He was just thinking of Prince An again.

Thinking of how he single-handedly resolved the Yunzhou flood, how he dealt with the court’s major trouble Liu Chaoying in just a few moves, how he opened two financial paths for Great Yang within three months, and thinking of the suggestions he just made that could leave a lasting good name for the Great Yang imperial family for generations…

The key was, he did all this less than half a year after entering the court.

Prince An was outstanding, so outstanding that one couldn’t help but feel jealous, including him!

So these past few nights, he kept thinking how great it would be if he could make Prince An the Crown Prince.

But Prince An’s body just wasn’t up to it—since the Heavens had already removed the poison from his body, why couldn’t they also cure the aftereffects?

Thinking of this, Emperor Yuanxi couldn’t help but cover his eyes.

But even if the First Prince and the Fourth Prince were useless, he still had to cover this up for them.

Because he only had these two intact sons now, and the future of Great Yang would still have to be handed over to them.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but wipe his old face again.

“Go, strip the Fourth Prince’s father-in-law, the Duke of Li, and his family of all titles. As for the reason, just come up with something.”

“Then go arrest all those retainers and advisors of the First Prince’s Manor, along with their families, and send them to Haizhou to build official roads. Tell the First Prince to let this matter rot in his stomach for me.”

“And fine them both ten years of salary.”

But how could these make up for the harm Prince An suffered—

Emperor Yuanxi fell silent.

Then he said directly, “Reward Prince An with double salary, and bestow all the remaining manors by the Li River upon Prince An—”

“Then go arrest all the officials who mocked Prince An behind his back and send them to Haizhou to build official roads too.”

“Taking my Zhao family’s salary and mocking my Zhao family’s prince—is this the way of loyalty and patriotism they learned?”

He wanted everyone to know that even if Prince An’s health was truly poor, he was still a noble prince of Great Yang, not to be offended by them.

“Go check which officials and scholars still visited Prince An after this happened. I want to promote them, promote them heavily—”

In the Fourth Prince’s mansion, learning that Emperor Yuanxi only fined him ten years of salary, the Fourth Prince, who originally thought he was doomed and was preparing to rebel, instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing that the First Prince was also fined, he immediately knew that Emperor Yuanxi realized the First Prince was the one manipulating this behind the scenes.

He was instantly overjoyed.

Because this meant he was back on the same starting line as the First Prince.

And even more so because he seemed to have guessed Emperor Yuanxi’s bottom line—as long as he didn’t rebel, the fact that he was one of Emperor Yuanxi’s only two intact sons was enough to be his death-exemption medallion.

In the First Prince’s mansion, seeing a large group of imperial guards suddenly rush in, the First Prince was completely dumbfounded. By the time he reacted, the retainers and advisors sitting below him, analyzing Emperor Yuanxi’s intentions with him, had all been gagged and tied up like pigs by the guards and dragged away.

It wasn’t until one retainer broke free from the guards, rushed to him, hugged his leg in a wretched state, and begged for help that he suddenly reacted: “What are you doing?”

Head Eunuch Yu Zan then walked out from behind the guards and politely relayed Emperor Yuanxi’s decree.

After speaking, he called two guards to drag away the advisor hugging the prince’s leg.

With a bang.

The First Prince collapsed into his chair.

Watching how, in less time than it took to burn half an incense stick, the originally bustling study became empty, and the servants of the manor knelt trembling outside the door, only one thought remained in his mind: Emperor Yuanxi indeed knew he was the one who leaked the news of Prince An being crippled to the Fourth Prince. Otherwise, how could Emperor Yuanxi issue such a decree—

But soon, he sat up straight again.

Because what the Fourth Prince could think of, he naturally could too.

“Fortunately, fortunately Old Eight is already crippled.”

Otherwise, his fate today probably wouldn’t be much better than his retainers and advisors.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but reach out to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

But this didn’t mean he could relax.

“No, I must redeem my image in Imperial Father’s heart as soon as possible.”

The First Prince subconsciously wanted to find his retainers and advisors to discuss, then remembered they had all been dragged away.

No one could help him anymore.

But the Fourth Prince still had a bunch of old-fashioned Confucian scholars supporting the primogeniture system to advise him. If the Fourth Prince got ahead—

The First Prince immediately became anxious.

Wait, there was still one person who could help him—

The First Prince instantly thought of someone: Xia Jingyao.

He immediately said, “Quick, prepare the carriage. I want to go to the Duke of Wei’s Manor. No, prepare water first. This Prince needs to take a bath. By the way, light the sandalwood incense sent by Wanxin Temple a few days ago. The Duke of Wei likes the scent of Wanxin Temple’s sandalwood the most…”

Learning of the First Prince’s visit, Xia Jingyao, who was discussing something with the steward, laughed outright.

“Invite him in.”

Before the First Prince even entered, Xia Jingyao smelled the strong scent of sandalwood.

A trace of mockery flashed in his eyes.

After all these years, the First Prince’s brain hadn’t improved at all. When he had nothing to ask, he avoided him like the plague; when he needed something, he burned Wanxin Temple’s sandalwood as if it were free.

Unfortunately, what he didn’t know was that Xia Jingyao’s favorite scent was no longer Wanxin Temple’s sandalwood. What he liked most now was the scent on Ao Ruize’s body, especially after sweating profusely…

Thinking of this, the mockery in Xia Jingyao’s eyes paused.

He subconsciously added a sentence in his mind: Of course, he only liked the scent on Ao Ruize’s body.

But after saying that, his interest suddenly waned significantly.

Naturally, the First Prince wouldn’t tell Xia Jingyao the truth. He only said he had recently done something wrong that angered Emperor Yuanxi and asked if there was any way to salvage the situation.

Xia Jingyao thought for a moment: “Regarding the Ministry of Justice, you must watch it very closely recently. Do not let any more mistakes happen.”

“Isn’t the little imperial grandson in the First Princess Consort’s belly almost seven months old? Have her feign illness appropriately. The Emperor has always been soft-hearted…”

“Besides that, you must achieve some political achievements as soon as possible. Coincidentally, I thought of a few methods to eliminate chronic illnesses in the Ministry of Justice a few days ago and have already written them down. You can take them and present them to the Emperor.”

The First Prince couldn’t wait to take the memorial and opened it to read.

His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and finally, he couldn’t help saying, “Good, good, good.”

With these, was there any fear that Emperor Yuanxi wouldn’t forgive him?

Thinking of this, the First Prince couldn’t help but reach out to hold Xia Jingyao’s hand: “Jingyao, I knew you would have a way to help me…”

Fortunately, Xia Jingyao reacted quickly and immediately took two steps back.

Only then did the First Prince react.

He was stunned for a moment, then a strong feeling of disgust followed by an even stronger feeling of triumph surged in his heart.

Disgust because he thought of Xia Jingyao’s affection for him.

Triumph because he assumed Xia Jingyao retreated out of shyness.

He thought, so what if the Fourth Prince had a bunch of people advising him? Having Xia Jingyao, who was devoted to helping him, was already worth a hundred of them.

But the First Prince didn’t really want to flirt with Xia Jingyao, so he immediately forced a smile, pretended nothing had happened, and said, “Thank you, Jingyao, for helping me. It’s getting late, so I’ll go back first.”

Xia Jingyao nodded.

The First Prince left in high spirits.

Watching his back, Xia Jingyao smiled directly.

Although the First Prince would definitely submit that memorial in his own name.

But Xia Jingyao didn’t care at all.

Because Emperor Yuanxi would surely compensate him in other ways later.

After all, Emperor Yuanxi wasn’t stupid; how could he really believe that those methods were thought up by a fool like the First Prince?

The steward, who hadn’t spoken since the First Prince arrived, asked at the right time, “My Lord, should we still release the news that it was the First Prince who revealed Prince An’s infertility to the Fourth Prince to frame him, and then the Fourth Prince spread it to suppress Prince An?”

“Release it. Why not?”

Xia Jingyao said.

Emperor Yuanxi wanted to cover up for his two stupid sons, but he was determined to tear off their fig leaf.

Thinking of this, Xia Jingyao glanced in the direction of the bedroom.

Those two night-luminescent pearls were sitting at his bedside right now.

So, this was also to vent some anger for Ao Ruize.

Now he didn’t owe Ao Ruize anything.

However, there was still one point—

That was the matter of Ao Ruize’s foundation being destroyed.

When others’ foundations were destroyed, they usually couldn’t get it up. Even if they could, their essence was extremely thin.

But with Ao Ruize, why did his belly swell up every time they finished?

And he was suddenly a little curious about just how big his belly could swell.

Xia Jingyao thought unhurriedly, his neck flushing red.

Just then, Ao Ruize, who had just returned, felt his legs tremble.

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