CH 118.1

The period of time from spring to summer has always been the most comfortable time of the year. But this year, the capital seemed to have entered the period of sweltering heat earlier than usual.

People’s hearts grew impulsive, and many things happened one after another, causing people to be unable to keep up.

Ever since the emperor’s birthday celebration, the palace seemed to have experienced many changes. Empress Wei’s old illness acted up, then Emperor Hongjing’s dragon body also fell ill. Combined with the situation at the time, everyone could feel that there was something strange going on. But then, nothing happened afterwards. They could only chalk it up to people getting older and inevitably suffering from illness.

The dragon body of His Majesty did not show any improvement. As a result, the princes who should have returned to their fiefs naturally stayed in the capital.

Entering the fifth month, the imperial court suddenly became lively. More and more voices began to call out for the crown prince to be impeached.

In the earlier years, it wasn’t that no one tried to impeach the crown prince. With reasons such as lack of talent, virtue or morality, nothing major ever came out of it. Only in that year was the ruckus a bit loud, but with Emperor Hongjing’s forcible suppression and Jin Wang being sent to his fief, the matter soon ended.

Over these recent years, it became more and more obvious that Emperor Hongjing intended to skip over the crown prince and pass the throne to his eldest imperial grandson. Since his grandson, Zhao Zuo, was indeed excellent, people stopped paying attention to the crown prince. But in recent days, there seemed to be more and more problems associated with the crown prince.

At first, there were reports of servants committing violence. Then it became reports of people taking advantage of their connections to accumulate wealth through unjust methods such as selling ranks and titles. The officials then recalled how the crown prince had listened to and trusted the wrong person, causing the extermination of an innocent clan. Suddenly, the number of voices calling for the impeachment of the crown prince increased. At first, Emperor Hongjing turned a deaf ear to these voices, leaving the memorandums to stack up at the side, unread. But then, the voices of dissatisfaction became louder and louder. It even reached the point where the older ministers were threatening the emperor with their lives.

Emperor Hongjing could no longer sit idly by. Meanwhile, Empress Wei had gone to Qianqing Palace to kneel and ask for punishment. As the mother of the crown prince, she asked Emperor Hongjing to abolish the crown prince. Emperor Hongjing waited for three days before he finally issued the edict, calling for the abolition of the crown prince.

The entire capital boiled over with excitement. Crown Prince Tao finally ended his nearly three-decade career as the crown prince and was titled, Hui Wang.

On the day that the imperial decree was issued, Hui Wang ran over to Qianqing Palace. The father and son pair wept bitterly. It was quite a touching scene. Emperor Hongjing even said, “It’s not that my son isn’t incompetent. But the burden of ruling the empire is too heavy and Zhen is afraid of tiring Zhen’s son.”

Everyone knew that they were only putting on this act for appearance’s sake. As soon as the topic of the crown prince being abolished was brought up, everyone was reluctant to discuss it in detail. Actually, to put it in simpler words, after removing his most beloved son from his position, how could His Majesty be happy with them? At this point, the only thing they could do was lie low and not seek attention.

After all, no one had expected that it would be so effortless for the crown prince to be abolished. It was inevitable for them to harbour some guilt over how smooth the process had been.

At the same time, another person was also put into an awkward position. It was the eldest imperial grandson, Zhao Zuo, who was also the crown prince’s heir presumptive.

According to reason, if there was no crown prince, there would also be no heir for the crown prince. If there was an heir for the crown prince, but no crown prince, it would bring about instability to the country. Yet, the crown prince was dull while the crown prince’s heir was clever and astute. Both His Majesty and the high-ranking court officials were full of praise for the eldest imperial grandson. Since it was impossible for the crown prince to abdicate from his position, appointing the eldest imperial grandson as the crown prince’s heir presumptive seemed to be the most logical thing to do.

Therefore, Zhao Zuo was appointed as the crown prince’s heir at the age of fourteen.

But now, there was a problem. Only when there was a crown prince could there be a crown prince’s heir presumptive and the heir must also be the eldest son of the crown prince. But now that the crown prince was abolished, what would happen to his heir?

To be honest, back when Emperor Hongjing issued the edict to abolish the crown prince, many officials had already guessed that it was the eldest imperial grandson who had angered His Majesty, causing the crown prince to be abolished.

But too many people were involved in this matter and no one dared to come up with random conjectures. Now that the crown prince was abolished, it was unknown whether this heir of his could be kept.

To no one’s surprise, heated discussions rose in court over whether Zhao Zuo should be able to keep his position as the crown prince heir. Many officials stated that Zhao Zuo should be titled as Hui Wang’s heir instead. However, there were also officials who would rather protect the eldest imperial grandson. Unfortunately, their thoughts were against the fundamental laws of the land. There were also too many voices of dissension so these thoughts of theirs were finally suppressed.

The following day, Emperor Hongjing summoned his grandson Zhao Zuo to Qianqing Palace.

“You must understand that this is the most suitable method.”

“Grandson understands.”

One could only imagine the kind of thoughts that were running through Zhao Zuo’s mind and the feelings of struggle and pain he had gone through during the period.

Emperor Hongjing nodded, his face seemed to have suddenly aged several decades. “You’re a good child, but the imperial family must never be disgraced. Zhen is also getting old. Your various imperial uncles are all starting to have different thoughts. Your Emperor Grandfather wants to protect you, and only wishes that you won’t experience any heavy criticism.”

“Sun’er knows and only hopes that Emperor Grandfather will pay more attention to his dragon body after Sun’er leaves the palace.” Zhao Zuo, who was kneeling on the ground, looked as if he was very reluctant to part.

“You foolish child, your father and you are only moving out of the palace, not the capital. You can still come back to visit your Emperor Grandfather and Empress Grandmother from time to time.” Emperor Hongjing sighed then waved his hand weakly, “Leave.”

Zhao Zuo bowed once again then stood up and walked out slowly.

The moment he walked past the palace gates, Zhao Zuo clenched his hands under his sleeves into fists, his face full of unwillingness and ridicule.

Protect him?

What a joke.

If his grandfather truly wanted to protect him, would he abolish his father, the crown prince? If he truly wanted to protect him, his good sons wouldn’t be asked to remain behind in the capital.

To be honest, Zhao Zuo had already thought it through over these past few days. It was more beneficial for him to leave the Easter Palace. This way, the shadow left behind from the scandal could be completely wiped clean. But in the end, he was still unwilling. He was so close to his goal that he could nearly reach out and grab it, but was yanked back by someone out of nowhere.

Those good uncles of his, he won’t let go of a single one!

Standing on the stone steps in front of Qianqing Palace, Zhao Zuo swore to himself in his heart.

As Hui Wang and his family moved into the hastily cleaned-up Hui Wang Manor, the imperial court became quiet again.

Time passed by and it soon became June, the hottest month of the year.

Yaoniang had always been tolerant of the heat, but now that she was heavily pregnant, she would start sweating as soon as she moved. It’d be as if she had just come out of the bath

She wanted to use ice, but Hong Chou and Yu Chan refused, fearing that she would catch a cold. They asked her to endure it until the child was born. To be honest, Yaoniang also understood that they were only saying it for the sake of coaxing her. She still had to go through confinement after giving birth and by the time she was done, summer would be over.

Irritated by the heat, her temper worsened. In the past, she would still put on a gentle and meek facade. But recently, whether it was because of Jin Wang’s doting or mood swings that pregnant women had, she even bickered with Jin Wang.

The first time it happened, Jin Wang was astonished.

Once he was over his shock, he still couldn’t bear to reprimand her because of how guilty she looked.

The second time it happened, he was still astonished.

But then thinking that she was pregnant and about to give birth, he acted as if it didn’t happen.

After a first and a second time, there was naturally a third, a fourth and so on. Yaoniang was now less and less afraid of Jin Wang. For example, last night, the heat made her so uncomfortable that when Jin Wang tried to wrap his arm around her to sleep, Yaoniang turned around and bit him.