Ye Jingchen waited for Chenxi to continue, but after waiting for a long time, he still heard nothing more.

He looked up at the dawn, and the dawn looked down at him.

Ye Jingchen suddenly understood why the original owner disliked this personal bodyguard.

Being tall is no big deal!

Don't you know you should bow in front of your master? Especially when your master is shorter than you!

He's just a child. Being short is only temporary. One day, he'll grow taller and taller than this wooden bodyguard!

At that time, he will definitely look down on him every day!

Tell him to stop bullying children!

Ye Jingchen thought bitterly to himself, but seeing that Chenxi had no intention of speaking, he had no choice but to ask, "Why did Consort De do this? Does she want to kill me and make my second brother the crown prince?"

In fact, Consort De's intentions were quite clear. Ideally, she would kill either him or Ye Jingyu. If she couldn't kill him, she could still create conflict and hatred between him and Ye Jingyu. Once their relationship deteriorated, Consort De could sit back and watch the two fight it out, reaping the benefits in the process.

In the novel, Consort De's scheme succeeded.

The Crown Prince tried to push Ye Jingyu but ended up getting himself into trouble. Given his personality, he would never reflect on his own mistakes, but would blame Ye Jingyu for the incident and would try every means to avenge his fall into the water.

As for the Consort and her son, the Consort was forced to kneel and developed a chronic illness. She was also deeply hurt by the Emperor's favoritism, so she naturally hated the original owner of the body. Ye Jingyu had even more reason to hate the original owner, whether it was because of his mother or because of himself.

In the original story, he didn't actually have much ambition for the throne. The reason he opposed the Crown Prince at every turn was simply to avenge him and the Imperial Concubine.

Of course, now that Ye Jingchen has replaced the original owner of this body, it's impossible for him to actively seek to make enemies with the Consort and her son.

After all, the Ji family, as a reclusive family for a thousand years, had accumulated power and wealth that were not much less than that of the Ye family, and Ye Jingchen did not want to offend them.

However, given the original owner's personality, it was impossible for her to take the initiative to befriend the Imperial Concubine and her son; a suitable opportunity was needed.

Now, Ye Jingchen is waiting for Chenxi to deliver this opportunity to him.

A child of a few years old should not be able to see through the conspiracy, but Ye Jingchen's question went straight to the heart of the matter, and Chenxi did not suspect anything.

Although Ye Jingchen was made crown prince at birth and has always been favored by the emperor, his position as crown prince seemed impregnable to outsiders. However, Chenxi could sense that Ye Jingchen was always uneasy. He regarded all of the emperor's other sons as potential enemies and wanted to kill them all.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have harbored malicious intentions towards the Third Prince and wanted to push him into the water to drown.

While this was indeed a scheme set up by Consort De, Ye Jingchen willingly entered into it.

After all, if he hadn't had malicious intentions, he wouldn't have gone near the water, let alone fallen in.

As someone she needed to be loyal to, Chenxi disliked Ye Jingchen's insidious and foolish personality, but what could she do when he was lucky enough to be His Highness's child?

"Consort De did this to sow discord between you and Consort Gui and her son," Chenxi said.

This was an answer that pleased Ye Jingchen.

He suppressed the urge to smile, clenched his fist, and feigned anger, saying, "Since that's the case, I definitely won't let her have her way!"

"Chenxi, how old is Ye Jingyu this year?" Ye Jingchen asked.

Six years old.

"Then isn't that studying?" Ye Jingchen's eyes lit up.

"Just beginning my education."

"Tomorrow we'll go to Weiyang Palace to visit our third brother, he's been wronged!" Ye Jingchen said.

"Isn't this injustice caused by you?" Chenxi couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"What should we do with those palace servants?" he asked.

Ye Jingchen smiled slyly, "I'll bring it to the Imperial Concubine tomorrow, as a gift to apologize to her."

"What about the others?" Chenxi asked again.

"Chenxi, have you ever seen a cat catch a mouse?" Ye Jingchen asked instead of answering.

Having come from a poor background, Chenxi had certainly seen cats catching mice.

Cats are the natural enemies of mice and have an absolute advantage over them. So after catching mice, cats usually don't eat them immediately, but play with them first as entertainment before a big meal.

After pinning a mouse down with its paw, a cat likes to deliberately loosen its grip and let the mouse escape. Once the mouse has run a short distance, it will dart over and pin the mouse down again. After the mouse gives up struggling, it will loosen its grip again and let the mouse escape before catching it again, repeating this cycle over and over.

A cat's claws are sharp, and every time it catches a mouse, it leaves a wound on its body. This happens again and again until the mouse is seriously injured or has lost too much blood and has no strength left to move. Only then will the cat elegantly and comfortably enjoy its meal.

For the cat, this process is just as enjoyable as eating a feast, but for the toy mouse, the constant cycle of hope and disappointment is beyond what can be simply described as 'despair'.

When Chenxi was a child, there weren't many things to entertain him. Watching cats play with mice was a very interesting thing for him. However, he was simple-minded as a child, and all he saw were cats and mice.

But now, putting himself in a human perspective and position, he couldn't help but shudder.

As expected of someone of noble birth, he has been cold-blooded and cruel since childhood, with a very ruthless heart.

only--

"There are no cats in the East Palace, let alone mice. How does Your Majesty know how cats catch mice?" Chenxi asked abruptly.

Ye Jingchen's heart skipped a beat—

He got a little cocky. How could Ye Jingchen, as the Crown Prince, possibly have the chance to see something like a rat?

He remained outwardly calm, feigning innocence as he said, "I saw it in a book! Books have everything!"

The secret guards were all trained as assassins. Before becoming secret guards, they underwent training in the dark and dreary. Reading was a luxury for them; they could only recognize words.

However, Chenxi had heard a saying: "In books, there are houses of gold; in books, there are beauties like jade."

The book has everything.

This is what his sister told him.

My sister was able to learn to read and write, and to live with dignity and integrity, all because of the late Empress's kindness.

That's why he's here now.

The late empress changed her sister's fate, and he will risk his life to protect the late empress's bloodline.

Although the crown prince was not at all as benevolent as his mother.

He was a bad kid from a young age!

The bad apple is thinking about doing bad things right now.

Consort De wanted to see the Crown Prince's Palace and Weiyang Palace become enemies, and he also wanted to see Weiyang Palace and Yichun Palace fight each other.

Consort De's father was the Minister of Personnel, who was in charge of the appointment, evaluation, promotion, demotion, and transfer of officials in Dae-yeon. He was the head of the Six Ministries and his power and prestige among civil officials were second only to the Prime Minister.

In the novel, Consort De is the most ambitious among the emperor's concubines. She is ambitious, shrewd, and decisive, and is the most capable of causing trouble.

Consort De was extremely controlling, and the Second Prince Ye Jingming lived under her control. His greatest wish was to become emperor and break free from her control. For this, the mother and son schemed against each other a lot, but they were united against outsiders, making him a formidable opponent.