CH 10

With such a good mood, even if he suddenly received the emperor’s order to enter the palace, Yuan Buwei had a slight smile on his face, and it was completely sincere.

As if very happy that the emperor called for him.

When the emperor saw the prince in the Tai Chi hall, he saw a tall and straight young man with a healthy spirit. Just standing quietly in the hall, he became the brilliance of the room.

With a smile on his lips, the arrogance and indifference between his eyebrows melted away. The sharp evil spirit formed on the battlefield was tucked away. He looked like a noble child without the strength to bind chickens, gentle and harmless.

The emperor inadvertently frowned.

He intuitively felt that the crown prince was different from the past, but he couldn’t tell what the change was.

Now he can’t see through the crown prince.

Suppressing the doubts, the emperor laughed and said, “The crown prince has arrived. Come to zhen1.”

As usual, he cordially called the prince to the imperial table. The emperor asked, “A few days ago, you said you were ill, that your old disease relapsed again? Are you better now?”

Yuan Buwei responded softly in accordance with the original’s tone: “Thank you, father emperor. Er Chen did2 not suffer a relapse of old wounds this time, but was poisoned.”

“Poisoned?!”

The emperor’s voice was raised by a degree.

… how did you find out?!

Seeing that the crown prince was still looking at him strangely, he realized his gaffe, coughed twice and asked eagerly, “Did you find out who is so bold that they dared to poison this country’s crown prince? Has the poison been resolved? Will it leave future trouble?”

He is really eager.

——What should have accumulated for a long time was discovered by the crown prince in advance. Will this affect the follow-up plans?

In the eyes of others, this anxiety which looked completely sincere, is due to outrage over his child’s health. If it is Qi Mo, who doesn’t know the inside story, he may be very moved.

After asking several questions, the emperor shouted again:

“Where’s the imperial physician? Still not calling for  the imperial physician!”

Neither helping nor hindering, Yuan Buwei observed the sincere anxiety on the emperor’s face.

… it is estimated that the emperor will not believe anything he said. Maybe only after the imperial physician has diagnosed it, will the other party be completely relieved?

When the imperial physician was summoned, he had no time to answer the emperor’s questions.

“Several imperial doctors sent by the father emperor to the mansion have skillfully solved the poison temporarily, but this poison is rare and there is currently no method to completely get rid of the aftereffects. As for the culprit…”

It seems that he coincidentally raised his eyes and looked at the emperor. Under the tense gaze of the emperor, Yuan Buwei said in a soft voice: “There were too many people in the eldest princess’s house that day, and the culprit has not been found.”

“Eldest princess’s house? Is this related to the eldest princess?”

The emperor showed surprise.

“According to the length of time of poisoning found by the imperial physicians, that should be the case.”

The imperial physicians arrived soon. After some diagnosis and treatment, the final conclusion was no different from what Yuan Buwei said.

As for dissolving the residual poison?

The Royal physicians knelt down on the spot: “Ministers are incompetent…”

Before the sentence was finished, the emperor flew into a rage and waved his hand to drag out the waste and behead them. On the contrary, the poisoned crown prince calmly persuaded the emperor to spare the lives of these imperial physicians.

After this incident, it seemed that the emperor was no longer in the good mood at the beginning. His eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and his face was shrouded in a layer of haze.

As for whether this unhappy mood is because the prince was almost murdered or his plan deviated, only he knows.

But——

“… secretly murdering the crown prince of a country. This matter cannot be tolerated. Zhen must investigate carefully.”

With that, the emperor took out a volume of blank imperial edicts to order people investigate the matter. Yuan Buwei volunteered himself.

The emperor was surprised, but he didn’t hesitate much. He smiled and promised: “That’s good. Crown prince, you only focused on military affairs. Now you have left the army, zhen planned to let you work in the six departments and get familiar with the affairs of the court… Since you want to investigate, join the ministry of justice for the time being.”

… as for the military power in hand, it was already handed over.

Yuan Buwei didn’t leave, but stood where he was looking hesitant.

The emperor asked patiently, “Is there something else?”

“On the day the eldest princess held a banquet. Many guests had special identities, and several royal uncles were also among them…”

The emperor understood.

This is to worry that the identity of those people is too special. Even if he is the crown prince, it is not easy to investigate them without conclusive evidence.

He immediately wrote down the Edict and said, “Zhen confers you the authority to make arbitrary decisions. If there is a connection to the case, no matter who the suspect is, you can arrest them on the spot and send them to detainment.”

As for whether the crown prince would offend a group of princes and nobles if he did use the imperial edict and arrested people indiscriminately. Or whether those people would hate the crown prince…

The imperial edict was written happily, as if it solved a major headache. Even the haze shrouding the eyebrows dissipated a lot.

Yuan Buwei was about to leave when he was stopped by the emperor, who handed him a memorial.

The person who wrote this memorial was Prime Minister su.

“One more thing, the prime minister wanted to invite the crown prince over today…”

It turned out that Su Mingyou was going to get married today. The prime minister specially hoped to invite the crown prince to the scene and eliminate all previous misunderstandings face to face.

The memorials sounded earnest and modest in tone. There was no intention of relying on age to pressure him, nor any resentment. It seemed that the prime minister was not dissatisfied with the red string that Yuan Buwei attached that day.

With a smile the emperor exhorted, “The prime minister is the pillar of the country. Since the crown prince is the heir apparent to the throne, there is no need to create disputes over trivial matters. Take this opportunity to dispel past misunderstandings.”

—— Were the crown prince not poisoned, the two sides may have already cleared up their differences. But now… The prime minister’s house is a probable suspect. Should the crown prince go to the wedding banquet and create another conflict, forget eliminating resentment rather wouldn’t it become complete enmity?

Yuan Buwei calmly accepted.

“Imperial father has good intentions, Er Chen understands.”

He nodded seriously, clearly the tone was most sincere, but the emperor heard a bit of ridicule. Flickering past, it seems like an illusion.

“However, where can there be grievances to dispel? Er Chen just acted as match maker for a couple of lovers. Is it because the prime minister is too traditional in his family views and is angry about it?”

Speaking of this, Yuan Buwei looked helpless and sighed.

“… If so, Er Chen will have a proper talk with him.”

The emperor looked at him like this. For a moment, he didn’t know whether he was actually this unreasonable or pretending to be a fool.

He could only smile in agreement: “The crown prince is right. Zhen was mistaken.”

For a time, the atmosphere in the hall was harmonious.

Tap tap tap tap.

At this time, a series of footsteps suddenly came in from outside the hall, breaking the atmosphere of “fathers kindness and son filial piety” in the hall. Before their arrival, the voice could already be heard.

“Imperial brother! Has the imperial brother entered the palace today?”

With the sound of footsteps, a round meatball rushed in, wrapped in a red silk dress, just like a festive glutinous rice ball.

Yuan Buwei: “…?”

Looking at this round little ball, Yuan Buwie falls into a rare silence.

… is this the future protagonist who overthrows the tyrant and creates a legendary prosperous era?

The meatball raised its head, first saluting the emperor with pudgy claws. And then looked eagerly at the still Yuan Buwei, completely throwing the emperor aside.

“Imperial brother, you finally entered the palace!”

Qi Yu has worshipped his imperial brother who is known as the god of war for a long time. However, elder brother has been fighting from north to  south, and has little free time. Even if there is spare time, most likely it’s due to situations like being too seriously injured or old injuries relapse. Almost always returning to the capital for recuperation. 

Today, as soon as he heard the news that the crown prince had entered the palace, he hurried over to block him!

He had accumulated a lot of questions he wanted to ask brother.

So, YuanBuwei immediately had a little round dumpling attached to him: “Imperial brother, can you tell me how you attacked the enemy camp at night with a hundred horses and won in one fell swoop in the last battle of Youyan? Also, the battle of Heyang three years ago, you were thousands of miles away from backup, and still came out victorious. I heard that the majority of Jiehu didn’t understand what was going on until their final moment. Oh, and…”

This is the first time Yuan Buwei met someone who was more talkative than system 999, and it seemed that he could speak excitedly without needing answers at all. He couldn’t help dropping his eyes to shoot a glance at him.

Qi Yu didn’t notice at all. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the clothes of Yuan Buwei. He recounted the achievements of his imperial brother the crown prince one by one, and the more he said, the brighter his eyes were.

What he didn’t notice was that as the stories came out of his mouth, the face of the emperor sitting at the top became more and more gloomy. Even if he tried to suppress it, a little unhappiness overflowed from the tip of his eyebrows.

“Enough!” The emperor suddenly yelled, “Yu’er, don’t fool around! The crown prince still has matters to attend to.”

Qi Yu raised his head in fear.

Compared with the gentle affection when he had first arrived, the emperor scolded him severely and his face was so gloomy it could almost drip water..3

Qi Yu, who had always been lawless in ordinary days, keenly realized that the emperor was in a bad mood. He shrank behind Yuan Buwei and only peeped his head out tentatively after a long time:

“What matters does the imperial brother have to attend to? Isn’t he back for recuperation?”

His suspicious eyes were directed at the emperor, as if he suspected that the emperor deliberately abused the injured and asked the sick to work overtime.

The emperor almost laughed from anger at his careless son. Waving his hand he said angrily, “The crown prince is not like you. Someone who only knows to play in the palace all day. He is going to the prime minister’s house to attend the wedding banquet.”

Qi Yu’s eyes lit up and immediately raised his little fat hand: “Then I’m going too. I haven’t been out of the palace before.”

He looked up at Yuan Buwei again. His eyes were full of longing: “Bring me with you, imperial brother!”

Yuan Buwei looked down at him, a smile hanging on his lips: “Bring you?”

Qi Yu nodded fiercely, “Uh huh, take me.”

Looking at the scene of peaceful brotherhood in front of him, the frown line between the emperor’s eyebrows deepened a bit unconsciously.

He was about to ask Qi Yu not to continue fooling around. When Yuan Buwei straightforwardly agreed.

“It’s just a wedding banquet. Since the sixth brother wants to go, let’s go together.”

Qi Yu immediately cheered happily. Then he felt that he was picked up by someone.

Suddenly pinched on the fragile back of his neck, the cheering turned into exclamations. Just as he was about to struggle fiercely, his feet suddenly felt the ground again.

Puzzled, he raised his head and looked at his imperial brother.

… too fat to carry.

Qi Yu: “…”

←_ ← humph!

1Zhen= the imperial way to refer to themselves

2儿臣 = Er Chen = this son minister subject of the emperor

3脸色更是阴沉得几乎要滴出水来。His face was gloomy like the sky densely covered with dark clouds, as if it was going to rain, but it didn’t fall. There was water in the dark clouds, and his face was wrinkled as if to rain, there drip water.