Perhaps they all felt they were too young to remember, so during conversation, they were often careless about many things.
His mother, the Princess Consort, would often look at him with resentment and say, "It’s all your fault. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have impulsively abandoned my own daughter."
Then, Nanny Liu would come over to persuade her.
Such incidents mostly happened whenever Mo Ziqiao was brought to the Royal Residence and then left; otherwise, his mother was usually very kind.
Moreover, he had seen his mother coaxing Mo Ziqiao to call her "mother," although Nanny Liu would always remark afterwards, "The Princess Consort really wants a daughter."
Qin Zhou lowered his eyelids, his intent to leave the Royal Residence growing stronger.
He knew he was dim-witted, always failing to meet his father’s expectations, neither excelling in academics nor in martial arts. His mother incessantly scorned him, either intentionally or unintentionally, and sometimes he would think that perhaps he shouldn’t be the Princely Heir.
If only he were an ordinary person, then he could do whatever he wanted. As for the Prince’s Royal Residence, his father had plenty of sons and didn’t necessarily need him to be the heir.
Upon reaching the Imperial Palace, the carriage came to a quick stop.
Ladies of nobility naturally had their own areas for socializing, while the children were grouped together.
At Qin Zhou’s side, leading Laifu and Ye Jiu, several more sons from the Royal Residence followed behind them.
Ye Jiu was not new to the ancient people’s reproductive capabilities, but he was still severely shocked when he realized that several young men behind him were illegitimate sons of the Prince.
Damn, four illegitimate sons in total. No wonder the Princess Consort was so overwhelmed back then.
But that’s not right, Qin Zhou was the eldest son, meaning when the Princess Consort swapped the children back then, these several illegitimate sons weren’t even born yet, so she had no pressure at all!
Thinking about it, Ye Jiu suddenly sensed something was off.
Pulling Laifu by his side, Ye Jiu whispered, "Why are there only gentlemen today, where are the ladies of our Royal Residence?"
It’s the Empress’s birthday celebration; by logic, even if they are just illegitimate daughters, they should appear as granddaughters of Her Majesty the Empress!
Laifu turned his not-so-outstanding face to Ye Jiu and looked at him seriously, "Everyone in the capital city knows that our Prince has sons but no daughters."
I just didn’t know that, but it’s not surprising since I grew up in the capital city!
Out on the corridor, many children were gathered, among them a few older teenagers.
However, Ye Jiu became more aware of Qin Zhou’s status.
Although they were outwardly respectful to Qin Zhou, the contempt in their eyes was quite evident.
Ye Jiu didn’t understand, with the title of the Prince’s Princely Heir, just how had he managed to sink to such a state?
As a servant, he could only come to the Imperial Palace to broaden his horizons, but he wouldn’t be able to witness the real grand events.
For instance, when Qin Zhou took several of his half-brothers to pay their respects, Ye Jiu and Laifu were left outside.
However, this also made it convenient for Ye Jiu to inquire about the affairs of the Prince’s Royal Residence from Laifu.
Despite his young age, this little fellow was quite fond of eating and not very bright. Ye Jiu cleverly tempted him and managed to extract lots of information.
For instance, although the position of Princely Heir was stable, as he was personally appointed by the Emperor, generally he wouldn’t be easily dismissed, but beyond that, things weren’t going well.
In summary, Ye Jiu concluded several points: he was weak and incapable, timid and fearful, and not clever enough.
The Prince was an irascible person who could not stand being cheated, so this made him even more dismissive of the Princely Heir. As for the Princess Consort, she seemed to treat Qin Zhou quite nicely, but who knew about the rest!