Consort Lin still remembered the time when she and Consort Shu gave birth to princes in the same year. When she discovered that the Fifth Prince, who was half a year younger than her own son, could already speak fluently while her son couldn't even say "Father" and showed no interest in laughter or playfulness, she couldn't help but complain in front of her son to the close palace maids.
"Neither I nor my elder brother are foolish people, so how did I end up giving birth to an idiot who can't even speak?!"
Consort Lin vaguely remembered that she had complained like this.
She was born in poverty and didn't have the same wealthy and knowledgeable background as Consort Xian and Consort Rong. It was a joyous occasion for her to finally give birth to a son. However, that happiness turned into resentment when her son turned three and still couldn't speak.
Why did it have to be her son with problems?
Why did it have to be her?
At that time, she felt that the entire harem was mocking her for giving birth to a foolish son. She even felt that this foolish and dull son was her shame.
Later, it was the Emperor who brought him into the Chengyang Palace for a period of time and renamed him Qichen.
The Emperor said that the name Qichen represented a new beginning and conveyed hope and blessings. The child was still young, perhaps he was just a late bloomer in terms of intelligence.
Unexpectedly, after the Emperor brought Qichen to the Chengyang Palace and raised him together with the Crown Prince for some time, Qichen actually learned to speak.
According to the palace maids in the Chengyang Palace, Qichen was originally playing with a wooden horse in the corner when he overheard the Crown Prince's tutor speaking continuously. Unable to bear it any longer, he suddenly spoke up and said, "Shut up."
Since then, although Qichen still didn't like to talk, everyone stopped calling him a fool behind his back.
Consort Lin had already forgotten about this old story, or rather, she deliberately wanted to forget that time which was a great humiliation for her. However, she never expected that Qichen would still remember this.
She looked at her expressionless son with a pale face, "Qichen, what I said back then was just out of anger. Don't take it to heart. Your mother loves you. I will help you reclaim anything you want."
The Fourth Prince looked at Consort Lin calmly, "Mother, I could remember things from an early age," He could understand adults' words from an early age and sensibly perceive the emotions of people around him. However, talking was too tiring for him, and he didn't want to talk to these mediocre people.
He didn't like Consort Lin, but he didn't feel any resentment either. Who said that a mother must love her own child?
He just didn't like Consort Lin wrapping her ambitions in a cloak of motherly love and imposing them on him.
There wasn't much, to begin with, so why bother to force oneself to be a loving mother?
"Life is short, Mother, you don't need to burden yourself," the Fourth Prince's eyes were pitch black, "I don't want to be the Crown Prince, nor do I want to be the Emperor. Mother, there's no need to waste your efforts."
There were so many fools in the court. If he had to talk to them every day, it would be a fate worse than death.
Consort Lin suddenly understood that she couldn't hide anything from her son. Her ambitions, her lies, and even all her disguises were seen through by him.
She felt like a fool, performing in a ridiculous manner. And her son just looked at her calmly, without any emotions, reactions, or even a normal person's anger.
What kind of monster had she given birth to?!
Consort Lin felt extremely embarrassed, almost furious, "Are you a monster? All these years, have you been watching me make a fool of myself?!"
The Fourth Prince furrowed his brow. Facing his mother's reprimands, he didn't show the slightest sign of sadness on his face, "Even if I am a monster, you cannot blame me because you gave me."
Consort Lin trembled with anger. Her many years of scheming had turned into nothing but a joke. She spoke without thinking, "If I had known you were a monster, I shouldn't have given birth to you."
After this outburst of anger, Consort Lin realized what she had said. She looked at her only son in a panic, not knowing what to say to salvage this already false mother-son relationship.
After a moment of silence, the Fourth Prince simply said, "Oh."
"It's alright," A tiny smile appeared at the corner of the Fourth Prince's mouth, "The Emperor told me back then that I was a gift from heaven to him. The Crown Prince also said that although I may be a bit slow, he wouldn't let others bully me."
"Although you hoped to never give birth to me, at least there are two people in the palace who wish for my well-being," Seeing Consort Lin's expression turning uglier, the Fourth Prince comforted her openly, "Don't get angry just because others have different opinions from you. There are too many people in this world with different views from yours, and you won't be able to get angry at all of them."
Consort Lin's emotions collapsed, "Leave my palace!"
The Fourth Prince glanced at Consort Lin, whose face contorted with rage, and obediently left.
Leaving Consort Lin's palace, the Fourth Prince felt that the night was beautiful. He dismissed the idea of taking a sedan chair back to his own palace and walked slowly with his hands behind his back.
The stars in the sky were shining brightly, but there was no sign of the moon.
"Fourth Prince?" Hua Liuli held a lantern and was surprised to see the Fourth Prince walking alone on the palace path. She asked, "Why is Your Highness alone here? Why are there no palace attendants attending Your Highness?"
The Fourth Prince turned his head and looked behind him, then shook his head slowly, "Benwang doesn't know."
Hua Liuli sighed and brought the lantern closer, illuminating the path for the Fourth Prince, "I will be worried if Your Highness walks alone in the palace. Allow me to accompany Your Highness back."
The Fourth Prince looked at Hua Liuli's fair cheeks, "You're younger than Benwang."
"Your Highness is a prince, it is my duty to protect Your Highness," Hua Liuli chuckled. Seeing that the Fourth Prince didn't want to say a word, she said directly, "Let's go."
The Fourth Prince thought that Fushou Junzhu would soon become the Crown Princess, which meant that she would soon be his third sister-in-law. It was reasonable for his third sister-in-law to escort him back to his palace.
Yuan Yi and Yurong followed behind the Fourth Prince, protecting him closely. It wasn't that they were overly cautious, but there were too many assassins in the capital city recently, which forced them to be vigilant.
"Your Highness seems unhappy. Did something happen?" Hua Liuli saw that the Fourth Prince had been silent the whole time, not even speaking when a fruit fell on his head from a tree, so she couldn't help but ask.
"Unhappy?" The Fourth Prince stopped and looked at Hua Liuli with a puzzled expression. He reached out and touched his own face, "Not unhappy."
Hua Liuli looked up at the sky, "Then why was Your Highness looking up at the sky just now? Was Your Highness looking at the stars?"
"Yes."
"In that case, why not come to the viewing platform with me? It's the best place to enjoy the night scenery."
"Not suitable," the Fourth Prince glanced at Hua Liuli. As a younger brother-in-law, how could he go to watch the stars with his future sister-in-law? The Crown Prince held grudges, and it could bring trouble.
"Your Highness misunderstood," although the Fourth Prince didn't show much expression, Hua Liuli surprisingly understood his thoughts from his dark eyes, "The Crown Prince is also at the viewing platform."
If the Crown Prince was also at the viewing platform, then he definitely couldn't go. The Crown Prince liked Fushou Junzhu so much, and if he went there at this time, the Crown Prince might add a few talkative subordinates to assist him.
"No," the Fourth Prince shook his head repeatedly.
Leading a peaceful life was not easy, but he felt that the current situation was just fine.
"Liuli?" The Crown Prince had been waiting for Hua Liuli for a while and came down from the viewing platform. He saw the Fourth Prince with Hua Liuli and gave the Fourth Prince a closer look.
As the Crown Prince's gaze met his, the Fourth Prince took a step back, feeling unsafe, and took another step back. After thinking for a moment, he took three more steps back.
Hua Liuli looked at the distance between herself and the Fourth Prince and raised an eyebrow.
Did she look like a villain who would eat people?
"Why is Fourth Brother here?" The Crown Prince approached and held Hua Liuli's hand. Seeing that there was no attendant around the Fourth Prince, he asked, "Where are the people who attend to you?"
The Fourth Prince shook his head.
The Crown Prince frowned and said to the attendant eunuch behind him, "Have the people from the Palace Administration investigate. Those palace attendants who are negligent in their duties cannot stay by the Fourth Prince's side. Replace all the people who were attending to the Fourth Prince tonight."
Although his brothers were all odd characters, he was the only one who could find fault with them. He couldn't tolerate others mistreating them.
Upon hearing that the Crown Prince intended to punish the attendants by his side, the Fourth Prince didn't react. He remained silent, lowered his head, and still had that gloomy expression.
Just as they were about to have someone accompany him back to his palace to rest, the Fourth Prince suddenly looked up at the Crown Prince, "Third Brother, I want to see the stars."
The Crown Prince stared at the Fourth Prince for a moment and nodded, "Come with Gu."
The Fourth Prince silently followed behind the Crown Prince. If he didn't speak, he would hardly be noticed. He looked up at the Crown Prince holding hands with Fushou Junzhu and felt somewhat puzzled.
The Crown Prince usually had a bad temper and spoke rudely, so why was he completely different when he was with Fushou Junzhu?
Could this be what they called affection?
As they climbed the stairs to the viewing platform, the Fourth Prince saw the Crown Prince bend down and naturally lift the hem of Fushou Junzhu's dress, then hold her hand as they ascended slowly.
The Crown Prince's behavior was so beyond his expectations that he had forgotten about looking at the stars.
After they finally reached the viewing platform, the Fourth Prince saw Fushou Junzhu taking out a small bag of snacks and giving half of it to the Crown Prince.
She then handed the other half to him.
Snacks like these, he had eaten them during the few months when he was raised in the Chenyang Palace after being taken in by Father Emperor. After his mother brought him back, he never touched these things again.
He glanced at the Crown Prince and reached out to take the snacks. Following the Crown Prince's lead, he sat on the stone bench at the viewing platform and slowly enjoyed eating the snacks.
Hua Liuli sat down next to the Crown Prince. She glanced at the Fourth Prince sitting on the other side and smiled, "Your Royal Highness, don't we look like children sitting in a row, sharing snacks?"
"Mmm," The Crown Prince nodded and smiled, "In my heart, you will always be a child who needs protection."
The Fourth Prince shifted his buttocks slightly to the side of the bench, expressing through his actions that he found these words somewhat cheesy.
He remembered when he was in the Chenyang Palace, the Crown Prince would divide the date pastries with him. Their father didn't allow them to eat many snacks, so there was always a limited amount.
Every time they divided the pastries, he found that the Crown Prince would take two or three more from the share. However, the Crown Prince would always leave these extra snacks he took for himself to their father.
At that time, he didn't understand why the Crown Prince did that. The snacks were given to them by their father in the first place. Why would he want to give them to their father?
What he couldn't understand even more was that their father was always happy about it, as though the snacks the Crown Prince left for him were something rare and precious.
Now he understood why. He no longer found it strange why their father favored the Crown Prince a lot.
What was more peculiar were those court officials who wished for his father to depose the Crown Prince. Why would these outsiders hope for a strained father-son relationship? Wasn't that immoral?
"Fourth Prince, would you like more?" Hua Liuli noticed that the Fourth Prince had silently finished all the snacks and took out another handful from the pouch, "Here."
Seeing the beaming smile of Fushou Junzhu, the Fourth Prince accepted the snacks and turned his head to see the Crown Prince's gaze fixed on him. His mind flashed, "Thank you, Third Sister-in-law."
"Huh?" Hua Liuli thought there was something wrong with her ears.
"Fourth Brother is still young and sometimes speaks without thinking. Don't take it to heart," the Crown Prince said with a smile that understood people's feelings, "Liuli, don't be mad at him, okay?"
Hua Liuli coughed and pretended as if nothing had happened, looking up at the sky, "Your Royal Highness, look, a shooting star just passed by."
The Fourth Prince also looked up, but he only saw the tail of the shooting star.
He glanced at the Crown Prince, eating the snacks given by Fushou Junzhu, and his lips curved slightly upwards.
The Crown Prince turned his head to look at the Fourth Prince, his crooked smile was slightly more pleasant than when he didn't smile at all.
In the Chenyang Palace, Emperor Changlong sighed after looking at the investigation report on the night of the Hundred Nations Banquet for a long time.
"Zhao Sancai, summon Consort Lin without alarming others."
"Yes," Zhao Sancai looked at Emperor Changlong with concern and respectfully withdrew from the room.
Two-quarters of an hour later, Consort Lin pushed open the half-closed door and saw Emperor Changlong sitting upright. The smile on her face gradually disappeared.
"Greetings to Your Majesty."
Krish728
Author's Note:
Crown Prince: It's not that Gu is singling out any of my brothers. In Gu's eyes, all of you are odd characters.
Ying Wang: Hmph!
Ning Wang, Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince: Oh.
Consort Lin still remembered the time when she and Consort Shu gave birth to princes in the same year. When she discovered that the Fifth Prince, who was half a year younger than her own son, could already speak fluently while her son couldn't even say "Father" and showed no interest in laughter or playfulness, she couldn't help but complain in front of her son to the close palace maids.
"Neither I nor my elder brother are foolish people, so how did I end up giving birth to an idiot who can't even speak?!"
Consort Lin vaguely remembered that she had complained like this.
She was born in poverty and didn't have the same wealthy and knowledgeable background as Consort Xian and Consort Rong. It was a joyous occasion for her to finally give birth to a son. However, that happiness turned into resentment when her son turned three and still couldn't speak.
Why did it have to be her son with problems?
Why did it have to be her?
At that time, she felt that the entire harem was mocking her for giving birth to a foolish son. She even felt that this foolish and dull son was her shame.
Later, it was the Emperor who brought him into the Chengyang Palace for a period of time and renamed him Qichen.
The Emperor said that the name Qichen represented a new beginning and conveyed hope and blessings. The child was still young, perhaps he was just a late bloomer in terms of intelligence.
Unexpectedly, after the Emperor brought Qichen to the Chengyang Palace and raised him together with the Crown Prince for some time, Qichen actually learned to speak.
According to the palace maids in the Chengyang Palace, Qichen was originally playing with a wooden horse in the corner when he overheard the Crown Prince's tutor speaking continuously. Unable to bear it any longer, he suddenly spoke up and said, "Shut up."
Since then, although Qichen still didn't like to talk, everyone stopped calling him a fool behind his back.
Consort Lin had already forgotten about this old story, or rather, she deliberately wanted to forget that time which was a great humiliation for her. However, she never expected that Qichen would still remember this.
She looked at her expressionless son with a pale face, "Qichen, what I said back then was just out of anger. Don't take it to heart. Your mother loves you. I will help you reclaim anything you want."
The Fourth Prince looked at Consort Lin calmly, "Mother, I could remember things from an early age," He could understand adults' words from an early age and sensibly perceive the emotions of people around him. However, talking was too tiring for him, and he didn't want to talk to these mediocre people.
He didn't like Consort Lin, but he didn't feel any resentment either. Who said that a mother must love her own child?
He just didn't like Consort Lin wrapping her ambitions in a cloak of motherly love and imposing them on him.
There wasn't much, to begin with, so why bother to force oneself to be a loving mother?
"Life is short, Mother, you don't need to burden yourself," the Fourth Prince's eyes were pitch black, "I don't want to be the Crown Prince, nor do I want to be the Emperor. Mother, there's no need to waste your efforts."
There were so many fools in the court. If he had to talk to them every day, it would be a fate worse than death.
Consort Lin suddenly understood that she couldn't hide anything from her son. Her ambitions, her lies, and even all her disguises were seen through by him.
She felt like a fool, performing in a ridiculous manner. And her son just looked at her calmly, without any emotions, reactions, or even a normal person's anger.
What kind of monster had she given birth to?!
Consort Lin felt extremely embarrassed, almost furious, "Are you a monster? All these years, have you been watching me make a fool of myself?!"
The Fourth Prince furrowed his brow. Facing his mother's reprimands, he didn't show the slightest sign of sadness on his face, "Even if I am a monster, you cannot blame me because you gave me."
Consort Lin trembled with anger. Her many years of scheming had turned into nothing but a joke. She spoke without thinking, "If I had known you were a monster, I shouldn't have given birth to you."
After this outburst of anger, Consort Lin realized what she had said. She looked at her only son in a panic, not knowing what to say to salvage this already false mother-son relationship.
After a moment of silence, the Fourth Prince simply said, "Oh."
"It's alright," A tiny smile appeared at the corner of the Fourth Prince's mouth, "The Emperor told me back then that I was a gift from heaven to him. The Crown Prince also said that although I may be a bit slow, he wouldn't let others bully me."
"Although you hoped to never give birth to me, at least there are two people in the palace who wish for my well-being," Seeing Consort Lin's expression turning uglier, the Fourth Prince comforted her openly, "Don't get angry just because others have different opinions from you. There are too many people in this world with different views from yours, and you won't be able to get angry at all of them."
Consort Lin's emotions collapsed, "Leave my palace!"
The Fourth Prince glanced at Consort Lin, whose face contorted with rage, and obediently left.
Leaving Consort Lin's palace, the Fourth Prince felt that the night was beautiful. He dismissed the idea of taking a sedan chair back to his own palace and walked slowly with his hands behind his back.
The stars in the sky were shining brightly, but there was no sign of the moon.
"Fourth Prince?" Hua Liuli held a lantern and was surprised to see the Fourth Prince walking alone on the palace path. She asked, "Why is Your Highness alone here? Why are there no palace attendants attending Your Highness?"
The Fourth Prince turned his head and looked behind him, then shook his head slowly, "Benwang doesn't know."
Hua Liuli sighed and brought the lantern closer, illuminating the path for the Fourth Prince, "I will be worried if Your Highness walks alone in the palace. Allow me to accompany Your Highness back."
The Fourth Prince looked at Hua Liuli's fair cheeks, "You're younger than Benwang."
"Your Highness is a prince, it is my duty to protect Your Highness," Hua Liuli chuckled. Seeing that the Fourth Prince didn't want to say a word, she said directly, "Let's go."
The Fourth Prince thought that Fushou Junzhu would soon become the Crown Princess, which meant that she would soon be his third sister-in-law. It was reasonable for his third sister-in-law to escort him back to his palace.
Yuan Yi and Yurong followed behind the Fourth Prince, protecting him closely. It wasn't that they were overly cautious, but there were too many assassins in the capital city recently, which forced them to be vigilant.
"Your Highness seems unhappy. Did something happen?" Hua Liuli saw that the Fourth Prince had been silent the whole time, not even speaking when a fruit fell on his head from a tree, so she couldn't help but ask.
"Unhappy?" The Fourth Prince stopped and looked at Hua Liuli with a puzzled expression. He reached out and touched his own face, "Not unhappy."
Hua Liuli looked up at the sky, "Then why was Your Highness looking up at the sky just now? Was Your Highness looking at the stars?"
"Yes."
"In that case, why not come to the viewing platform with me? It's the best place to enjoy the night scenery."
"Not suitable," the Fourth Prince glanced at Hua Liuli. As a younger brother-in-law, how could he go to watch the stars with his future sister-in-law? The Crown Prince held grudges, and it could bring trouble.
"Your Highness misunderstood," although the Fourth Prince didn't show much expression, Hua Liuli surprisingly understood his thoughts from his dark eyes, "The Crown Prince is also at the viewing platform."
If the Crown Prince was also at the viewing platform, then he definitely couldn't go. The Crown Prince liked Fushou Junzhu so much, and if he went there at this time, the Crown Prince might add a few talkative subordinates to assist him.
"No," the Fourth Prince shook his head repeatedly.
Leading a peaceful life was not easy, but he felt that the current situation was just fine.
"Liuli?" The Crown Prince had been waiting for Hua Liuli for a while and came down from the viewing platform. He saw the Fourth Prince with Hua Liuli and gave the Fourth Prince a closer look.
As the Crown Prince's gaze met his, the Fourth Prince took a step back, feeling unsafe, and took another step back. After thinking for a moment, he took three more steps back.
Hua Liuli looked at the distance between herself and the Fourth Prince and raised an eyebrow.
Did she look like a villain who would eat people?
"Why is Fourth Brother here?" The Crown Prince approached and held Hua Liuli's hand. Seeing that there was no attendant around the Fourth Prince, he asked, "Where are the people who attend to you?"
The Fourth Prince shook his head.
The Crown Prince frowned and said to the attendant eunuch behind him, "Have the people from the Palace Administration investigate. Those palace attendants who are negligent in their duties cannot stay by the Fourth Prince's side. Replace all the people who were attending to the Fourth Prince tonight."
Although his brothers were all odd characters, he was the only one who could find fault with them. He couldn't tolerate others mistreating them.
Upon hearing that the Crown Prince intended to punish the attendants by his side, the Fourth Prince didn't react. He remained silent, lowered his head, and still had that gloomy expression.
Just as they were about to have someone accompany him back to his palace to rest, the Fourth Prince suddenly looked up at the Crown Prince, "Third Brother, I want to see the stars."
The Crown Prince stared at the Fourth Prince for a moment and nodded, "Come with Gu."
The Fourth Prince silently followed behind the Crown Prince. If he didn't speak, he would hardly be noticed. He looked up at the Crown Prince holding hands with Fushou Junzhu and felt somewhat puzzled.
The Crown Prince usually had a bad temper and spoke rudely, so why was he completely different when he was with Fushou Junzhu?
Could this be what they called affection?
As they climbed the stairs to the viewing platform, the Fourth Prince saw the Crown Prince bend down and naturally lift the hem of Fushou Junzhu's dress, then hold her hand as they ascended slowly.
The Crown Prince's behavior was so beyond his expectations that he had forgotten about looking at the stars.
After they finally reached the viewing platform, the Fourth Prince saw Fushou Junzhu taking out a small bag of snacks and giving half of it to the Crown Prince.
She then handed the other half to him.
Snacks like these, he had eaten them during the few months when he was raised in the Chenyang Palace after being taken in by Father Emperor. After his mother brought him back, he never touched these things again.
He glanced at the Crown Prince and reached out to take the snacks. Following the Crown Prince's lead, he sat on the stone bench at the viewing platform and slowly enjoyed eating the snacks.
Hua Liuli sat down next to the Crown Prince. She glanced at the Fourth Prince sitting on the other side and smiled, "Your Royal Highness, don't we look like children sitting in a row, sharing snacks?"
"Mmm," The Crown Prince nodded and smiled, "In my heart, you will always be a child who needs protection."
The Fourth Prince shifted his buttocks slightly to the side of the bench, expressing through his actions that he found these words somewhat cheesy.
He remembered when he was in the Chenyang Palace, the Crown Prince would divide the date pastries with him. Their father didn't allow them to eat many snacks, so there was always a limited amount.
Every time they divided the pastries, he found that the Crown Prince would take two or three more from the share. However, the Crown Prince would always leave these extra snacks he took for himself to their father.
At that time, he didn't understand why the Crown Prince did that. The snacks were given to them by their father in the first place. Why would he want to give them to their father?
What he couldn't understand even more was that their father was always happy about it, as though the snacks the Crown Prince left for him were something rare and precious.
Now he understood why. He no longer found it strange why their father favored the Crown Prince a lot.
What was more peculiar were those court officials who wished for his father to depose the Crown Prince. Why would these outsiders hope for a strained father-son relationship? Wasn't that immoral?
"Fourth Prince, would you like more?" Hua Liuli noticed that the Fourth Prince had silently finished all the snacks and took out another handful from the pouch, "Here."
Seeing the beaming smile of Fushou Junzhu, the Fourth Prince accepted the snacks and turned his head to see the Crown Prince's gaze fixed on him. His mind flashed, "Thank you, Third Sister-in-law."
"Huh?" Hua Liuli thought there was something wrong with her ears.
"Fourth Brother is still young and sometimes speaks without thinking. Don't take it to heart," the Crown Prince said with a smile that understood people's feelings, "Liuli, don't be mad at him, okay?"
Hua Liuli coughed and pretended as if nothing had happened, looking up at the sky, "Your Royal Highness, look, a shooting star just passed by."
The Fourth Prince also looked up, but he only saw the tail of the shooting star.
He glanced at the Crown Prince, eating the snacks given by Fushou Junzhu, and his lips curved slightly upwards.
The Crown Prince turned his head to look at the Fourth Prince, his crooked smile was slightly more pleasant than when he didn't smile at all.
In the Chenyang Palace, Emperor Changlong sighed after looking at the investigation report on the night of the Hundred Nations Banquet for a long time.
"Zhao Sancai, summon Consort Lin without alarming others."
"Yes," Zhao Sancai looked at Emperor Changlong with concern and respectfully withdrew from the room.
Two-quarters of an hour later, Consort Lin pushed open the half-closed door and saw Emperor Changlong sitting upright. The smile on her face gradually disappeared.
"Greetings to Your Majesty."
Krish728
Author's Note:
Crown Prince: It's not that Gu is singling out any of my brothers. In Gu's eyes, all of you are odd characters.
Ying Wang: Hmph!
Ning Wang, Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince: Oh.
