CH 34

Chapter 34 Too Petty

The crown prince bowed his head to cover up his shame and embarrassment: “Please give me advice, Royal father.” 

The emperor only said two words: “Too petty .” 

The crown prince’s mind was spinning, and his purple eyes showed helplessness. The meaning of the emperor’s verbal edict was unclear, but the prince who has been with the emperor for many years has already understood everything, undertanding the emperor’s meaning instantly.

The emperor always taught the prince that as a king, he should not indulge in material desires, but should be frugal and abstinent. But when dealing with courtiers, you need to reward them more, reward and motivate them. Therefore, the little eunuch earned more with his monthly salary than the crown prince. In this way, the little eunuch will be more willing to accept his anger and work harder.

Power alone cannot be exchanged for loyalty.

What the emperor said was to request the prince not to play with things and lose his ambition, and not to be so stingy to the Taifu. Shan Weiyi was nothing more than cats and dogs. If the Taifu likes it, why doesn’t he reward him generously?

To be a king, one must be willing to give up one’s own possessions and be generous to others in order to win the hearts and minds of his subjects.

A wave of emotions surged in the prince’s heart, and the waves fighting were in his weak breathing, and his chest heaved in an absurd and anxious curve. Like resentment, like fear, like confusion, like helplessness, he became the child who didn’t know the rules at the beginning, standing tremblingly in front of the culprit who made him suffer from touch deprivation.

The prince had lived a hard life since he was a child. Proficiency in a subject lies in diligence and neglect of play. As a crown prince, he should not be playful and arrogant, so the prince was never allowed to play and enjoy life.

It seems that he should not have any strong desires or ardent pursuits other than the empire.

Except the empire, he should be able to abandon everything without blinking. If you can make a capable minister loyal to you, then even if you cut off a piece of your body, you should decisively swing the knife.

The emperor had indeed been educating him in this way.

He had also been obedient.

From top to bottom of the East Palace, it was resplendent, same with the crown prince’s purple robe and jade crown. However, they were not for extravagant enjoyment, but for the dignity of the royal family, which makes worshipers feel admiration. But in real life, the prince was quite simple, high-profile and simple. The people who depend on him can get high salaries and high official positions, even the families of the little eunuch’s in the East Palace had enough food and clothing, and were above the middle class.

Not to mention the Taifu. Shen Yu was the prince’s teacher personally selected by the emperor, and at this level alone, the prince had preconceived respect for Shen Yu.

In the bit by bit of getting along with each other, a true friendship developed between Shen Yu and the prince. It was even said that the existence of Shen Yu made up for a little bit of the prince’s desire for fatherly love.

However, Shen Yu betrayed him.

The prince both pained and hated it.

Suffering.

But at this time, the emperor said “too petty” lightly.

The prince looked at the emperor annoyedly, but he still didn’t dare to raise his head, so his eyes could only stay on the emperor’s nightgown. The white satin was dazzlingly bright under the lights in the room, making the prince’s eyes feel astringent.

Perhaps it was the resentment that had been squeezed for too long, or perhaps it was an adult’s rebellion that courage suddenly emerged. The prince suddenly raised his head and met the emperor’s golden eyes: “Father meant that I should not only not pursue the Taifu’s disrespect, and reward Shan Weiyi to the Taifu?” 

The emperor looked at the prince and said in a non-judgmental tone: “You don’t want to.”

There was no criticism in his tone, but he stated calmly and objectively, conclusions drawn from observations.

But such a calm sentence was enough to make the prince feel extremely upset.

The prince wanted to sneer, but he didn’t dare, the coldness was in his chest. His courage was not enough to support him to look at the emperor’s pair of golden pupils for too long, and soon he turned his gaze away, and happened to land on the Empress’s coffin covered with a pearl sea veil. Maybe he was out of his mind, he actually said: “If it was Royal Father, would you give your lover to your subjects?”

As soon as he said this, the prince regretted it—and then he was afraid.

Fear froze every blood vessel in him like ice.

He was terrified, like a frightened beast. The hairs all over his body were about to explode, but his ears were erected vigilantly, to catch any signal that might indicate danger—but there was no such signal.

After he issued that bold question, the surrounding air became extremely quiet, and even the air didn’t seem to flow. The pearl sea veil hung motionless on the coffin, adding a bit of frightening death to the complete silence.

The dull aura pressed down to the prince’s head like a mountain, making the prince feel like a fragile bamboo chopstick and the emperor’s gaze was like a palm falling from the sky. The thick heel of the palm pressed on the top of the chopsticks, and then slowly exerted downward pressure, which the chopstick could not bear. The force of destruction came from the top of the head, but the first to be overwhelmed was the middle and lower sections. The chopsticks will first break in two in the middle, leaving ugly bamboo thorns. Corresponding to the prince, it may be the heart that almost jumped out of the chest, or it may be the weak knees.

He knelt on the ground, bending over quickly and fragilely, like a fallen straw in a storm.

The fury of the thunder that could knock down the prince just by imagining it——hasn’t come.

The emperor’s silence was not the calm before the storm, but the simplest and most direct expression of calm.

The prince raised his head tremblingly, and saw his father’s face – there was no anger, even a smile. It’s hard to describe that smile, it was a bit similar to the amused and angry smile that parents show when their children ask, “I get a headache when I read books, can I stop studying in the future?”

Such a smile embarrassed the prince more than angered him.

The prince became that child who didn’t understand anything and couldn’t do anything.

However, the Emperor was more patient with him than ever before.

In his memory, the emperor always expressed disappointment and impatience to the prince, repeatedly saying “you are not like him” and “you let me down very much”, which broke the prince’s heart.

In recent years, the emperor seldom mentioned such words, and he gave more patient advice and guidance to the prince. Although the crown prince made occasional mistakes, the emperor would not accuse, criticize, or punish him.

Those who don’t know will say that the emperor was getting older and his heart was softening.

But the truth was probably not that.

The prince could feel that the emperor was becoming less and less humane, and thus less and less emotional. Therefore, he will not be angry with the prince, nor will he be disappointed.

Even… Now that the crown prince was openly disobedient and talking about the former Empress in front of the coffin, the emperor was not angry.

The emperor only smiled lightly and said, “Do you like him so much?”

This sentence hit the prince’s heart like a heavy hammer.

The prince’s heart was shocked, as if he only now understood what the most inappropriate part of this was! What the prince said just now was “If it was Royal Father, would you give your lover as a gift to your subjects?” 

Didn’t he put Shan Weiyi in the position of “lover” when he said that?

How was this appropriate?

The prince subconsciously denied it, he shook his head: “No…” 

The emperor still looked at him with that funny and angry look: “Go.” 

The prince left the central hall.

The tunnel between the central hall and the east palace was weightless. When the prince passed through, his body floated in the vacuum, like a green duckweed floating on water, without roots or stems. His heart seemed to be the same, a look of bewilderment on his face.

When his body crossed the bridge and came to the East Palace, the simulated gravity grabbed his feet again and pulled his body down. He was down-to-earth again, and the aloofness of self-arrogance appeared on his face again.

No one can know the embarrassment and fragility of the prince in the central hall.

As long as he left the central hall, the prince was still the mighty heir apparent, and no one was allowed to see any cracks on this golden body.

The two rows of servants in front of him greeted him respectfully.

The prince said in an arrogant tone: “Which of the two of them is dead?” 

‘Two of them’ was spoken vaguely but everyone knew that he was talking about Shan Weiyi and Master Taifu.

The prince deliberately spoke so lightly and casually, as if he really didn’t care.

The bionic servant said: “The door hasn’t been opened, so they are probably still alive.” 

The crown prince ordered that only one person between Shan Weiyi and Shen Yu could get out alive. The bionic housekeeper naturally faithfully executed his instruction. He has entered the command, and the smart door of the palace was locked. It will only open automatically when it detects that one of the people’s vital signs disappeared.

No one knew what the prince was thinking when he issued this order. Even the prince himself was not very clear.

Almost at the moment when the order was delivered, the prince began to feel torment in his heart-this kind of emotion may be called regret, but the prince would never admit it.

“Go and have a look.” The prince tried his best to speak casually.

Naturally, the bionic servant would not disobey the prince’s words, and he led the prince forward.

The prince thought for a while, then asked four mechanical guards and the little eunuch to follow.

When the little eunuch stepped forward, his heart was as messy and hurried as his small steps.

He actually didn’t know what happened, but he could tell that something big had happened, and the prince was in an extremely bad mood. He served by the side and can easily become cannon fodder.

However, he had no choice but to follow with his head down.

The little eunuch followed behind the bionic servant. The little eunuch had always called this bionic servant “Big Brother”, because “Big Brother” entered the East Palace the earliest, had the most experience, was the oldest, most qualified, and was indeed bigger than him. The body of the bionic servant was made with reference to the terracotta warriors, so it was naturally tall and mighty.

What the little eunuch admired even more was that the temperament of “Big Brother” was also very terracotta warrior-like, with a kind of perseverance that was indestructible.

The bionic servant walked ahead and led the crowd to the gate of the palace. But seeing that the palace gate was still closed, that was to say, the two were still alive.

The prince didn’t know whether he was willing to see the result of this.

Shan Weiyi was an A-level fighter, and Shen Yu was an S-level reformer. Once they fought, life and death will be revealed soon, and it was impossible to delay it for so long.

After so long, both of them were alive, what does it mean?

It shows that the two did not kill each other at all!

—Why not kill each other? It must be because of love!

——Anyway, the prince guessed this way and he even made up the scene in his mind: in the palace, Shan Weiyi and Shen Yu cuddled each other, and neither of them took the knife. Maybe they were still talking about love, and agreed to die together.

Thinking of these scenes, the prince clenched his hands tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Just when he was furious, his father’s indifferent sentence “too petty” sounded in his mind.

It was like pouring cold water into his head to extinguish his anger.

His heart was cold, and his expression was even colder. He just said, “Open the door.”

“Understood.” 

After responding, the automatic door opened slowly. The prince with a keen sense of smell immediately smelled the smell of blood coming from inside.

What he saw in front of him was completely beyond the prince’s expectation.

The bionic servant remained calm, but the little eunuch opened his mouth wide in fright, and was about to scream impolitely, but his mouth was covered by the bionic servant. The little eunuch hurriedly cast a grateful look at “Big Brother”, if he dared to call out at this time, he would definitely not be able to escape the crown prince’s anger.

The prince stepped into the palace with a frozen face.