In the Imperial Study.
Xiao Hongshen crawled on the ground.
The Emperor sat in his chair, his gaze coldly fixed on him.
"All the evidence has been laid out before me, what else do you have to say!"
Bent over, Xiao Hongshen appeared utterly abject: "Your son was misled by Lin Pingzhi, and momentary greed got the better of him. It is all my fault, please punish your son, Father Emperor."
"Will punishing you silence the ministers and the common people’s endless chatter?! Will it restore the face that I’ve lost due to you?! You truly have some nerve!" The Emperor slammed his hand on the table, his corpulent body quivered with rage, and the eunuchs by his side hurried to help him catch his breath, but the Emperor impatiently pushed the eunuch away.
"Seventh son, you managed to oust the Crown Prince by your own wits, and I thought better of you for it. But how could you be so foolish? A mere South of the River, and you’ve caused such a disaster! How do you expect me to clean up this mess now!"
"Father Emperor, please punish me." Xiao Hongshen knew the situation was irreversible and did not wish to quibble further. The physical evidence had been personally handed to the Emperor by the Empress Zhang Lanyi, so anything he said now would be wrong. Better to admit all the faults and let the Emperor vent his anger through punishment.
The Emperor looked at him and his petty, servile demeanor so infuriated him that he grabbed the bowl of silver fungus soup that some concubine had just presented and poured it all over him.
The scalding silver fungus soup instantly left a red mark on Xiao Hongshen’s delicate face.
The Emperor pointed at him and yelled, "Dare to wipe it off and see."
Xiao Hongshen’s rising hand immediately landed on the floor, and the pain in his scalp and face made him clench his hands on the ground tightly, truly not wiping it away.
Seeing this, the Emperor huffed coldly, and his mood improved slightly.
He watched him kneel on the ground as obedient as a dog.
He couldn’t help but wonder what the Crown Prince would look like in this situation.
The Crown Prince would never let such a situation occur.
That seemingly divine child was so perfect that sometimes the Emperor felt unreal in his presence. If it weren’t for his confidence in his unwavering loyalty to his predecessors, he would truly suspect that the child was not his own.
Too perfect—so praised by all the ministers as a divine gift of fortune to Dawei, which only served to make him, the Emperor, seem sordid in comparison.
He neglected the lives and deaths of the people, obsessed with cultivating Immortal Pills and the Daoist pursuit of ascension, hoping to realize the wish of immortality.
He handed everything over to the Crown Prince to manage. Barely sixty, he already looked decrepit...
At this thought, the Emperor felt even more uncomfortable.
The Crown Prince was too good, which is why he liked him the least among all his children.
It was those old ministers who forced him to appoint Xiao Pingfeng as the Crown Prince; otherwise, he would never have made such a decision.
Now the Crown Prince had gone to the northern battlefield, disappearing right before his eyes, out of sight, out of mind.
Honestly, when he saw him kneeling on the ground begging to be sent to war, the Emperor felt a sense of relief because during that time there were many old ministers pressuring him to quickly issue an Imperial Edict for succession to quash the other princes’ wild ambitions.
He would not draft an Imperial Edict of succession.
The Emperor’s gaze fell on Xiao Hongshen still on the ground; this child before him was the best pawn to clear all obstacles.
Until he truly achieved the Dao and ascended, living a long life, the whole of Dawei and even the Six Kingdoms would wait for him to unify. Why should he give away the throne he had worked so hard to secure to someone else?
With a heavy voice, the Emperor finally addressed Xiao Hongshen: "You were originally the most inconspicuous among all my children, but look how well you’re doing now. Keeping a low profile until the time is right; in this aspect, your handling of matters is even more like me than the Crown Prince. You should rest for a while, and stop fixating on the Township Manor and General Residence."
Xiao Hongshen kept his head down, obediently nodding to everything the Emperor said.
Seeing this, the Emperor was finally satisfied.
"I know what you want, rest assured, I will give it to you," he said. After these words, the Emperor had the eunuch escort Xiao Hongshen out.
Xiao Hongshen retreated to the door, then he slowly straightened his body, the malice in his eyes startling.
If the Emperor saw it now, it would chill him to the core.
He stared fixedly through the crack of the door at the scene inside.
The Emperor was coughing, with eunuchs and palace maids hurriedly attending to him, only to be scolded by him in a most absurd spectacle.
Xiao Hongshen narrowed his eyes and turned away.
"Rest?" he muttered to himself.
He could not possibly rest.
Once the arrow is off the bow, it cannot return.
At this moment, anyone who suggested he rest was undoubtedly after his life.
Whoever opposed him in the court, he would deal with them, until the voices of support filled the civilian and military ranks.
As for Township Manor and General Residence.
He recalled the way Yan Wanqing looked at him today, which seemed to take him back to the days when she was full of youthful vigor.
Back then, he was the most insignificant Prince in the palace, his status was like a rat in a sewer, unworthy to show face, and forgotten as the Emperor’s son, while those palace maids and eunuchs insulted and beat him at will.
It was when he lay in pain under the palace walls every day that he could always hear the cheers of young men and women outside.
They were always calling out one name.
Separated by just a wall.
She was the center of everyone’s attention.
He was a despised rat of lowly status.
At that time, he engraved those three words deeply into his heart.
Until later, when she finally entered the palace and saved him, naked as he was, from the hands of an old eunuch.
When she covered him with a blanket and told him that the bad people were dead, the sight of the blood beads splashing on her upturned nose, like a red mole, was shockingly beautiful.
So beautiful that even after so many years, Xiao Hongshen still finds himself itching at the thought.
He wanted to make Yan Wanqing fall from the clouds, into the dirt, shatter her pride, and make her kneel before him obediently and willingly submit to him.
But today’s actions proved that she was still not to be underestimated.
The road to defeating her and making her submit willingly was still fraught with difficulties.
But the more it was so, the more Xiao Hongshen found it interesting.
Not for any other reason, but because she was Yan Wanqing.
Xiao Hongshen reached out to remove the sticky silver hairpin from his hair and walked towards the outside.
Soon after, he stood in a pavilion.
By this time, he had changed into another set of clothes, and his hair was washed clean, feeding the fish in the pond while standing with his back to the pavilion.
The colorful koi frantically devoured the fish food he threw, splashing water on the surface.
At this moment, footsteps came from behind.
Xiao Hongshen did not turn around; his tone was very cold.
"Your plan has failed."
The newcomer took the fish food from his hand and threw it all at once; the pond exploded into action as more koi flocked to the food.
He spoke slowly and deliberately.
"It’s not over yet, child. Everything you want will succeed. I promised your mother that I would take good care of you."