Chapter 23

While the two were bickering, the commotion inside subsided, and most of the Imperial Guards withdrew and began to move in an orderly manner under the command of their leader.

The Fifth Prince felt dizzy. He leaned halfway on the edge of the carriage and said in a weak but still sarcastic voice, "Seventh Brother, you're really something. You're going to drive me crazy."

“You’ve lost too much blood.” Xue Jin’an carefully examined his wound, calculated the rate and amount of bleeding, and gave a precise answer: “You can bleed for another three hours before you die.”

These words jolted everyone awake, and they realized that the Fifth Prince was wounded. Amidst the chaos of war, the silent coachman stepped forward and said, "Go and fetch the imperial physician."

The coachman knelt down to examine the Fifth Prince's wounds, methodically applying medicine and bandaging them. As for the medicine—

"Give it to me." The Fifth Prince ordered his men to snatch Xue Jin'an's bag, then reached inside and rummaged through it, naturally pulling out the same wound medicine that the Fifth Prince had hidden in the artificial hill of the abandoned palace.

"Huh?" Fu Lu, who knew everything about Qi Feng Courtyard and had personally watched his master tidy up, exclaimed in confusion.

Xue Jin'an already knew when the Fifth Prince ordered his men to snatch the bag. This man wanted to use his belongings to cover up the fact that he knew martial arts and always carried medicine for injuries. When he saw the man pull out a medicine bottle that wasn't in the bag, he just tilted his head and said nothing. He even exchanged a tacit but knowing look with the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince glared at Xue Jin'an warningly, letting the coachman pour medicine onto his wound. The stinging pain made him break out in a cold sweat, but he didn't utter a sound.

Xue Jin'an looked at the treated wound and said, "You won't die."

"Are you complaining that I'm dying too slowly again?" The Fifth Prince, who didn't want to speak, rolled his eyes defiantly as a sign of respect.

The coachman, who had taken in everything, couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Pfft—"

Xue Jin'an and the Fifth Prince looked over at the same time, the latter's eyes were cold, "What are you laughing at? Do you think I'm funny?"

"Ah, it's just that seeing the two princes joking around reminded me of my cousin, and we have a fairly good relationship," the coachman said.

Whether the Fifth Prince was allergic to the word "brother" or the word "good relationship," his usual sarcastic attitude of treating everyone equally was shattered; in short, he lost his temper.

"Which eye of yours saw that we were on good terms? We wish we could stab each other to death, okay?" The Fifth Prince's brows furrowed and his eyes turned cold as he denied it decisively.

He glared at the coachman, his hands gripping the carriage shaft tightly, unconsciously tightening his grip and leaving deep five-finger marks.

“We have no relation.” Xue Jin’an glanced at the Fifth Prince and nodded in agreement.

Xue Jin'an genuinely felt that he had nothing to do with the Fifth Prince. In his eyes, both the Fifth Prince and the Fourth Prince were just humanoid walking parts depots.

The difference lies in the fact that one is a weakling who can't even control his heartbeat and bleeding, likes to scream and yell, and can be easily subdued; the other is a weakling who jumps back and forth between good guys and scammers, but is very generous and always gives him skills and equipment and takes him to see mobile phone exhibitions. The downside is that he flirts with him but doesn't care if he dies.

Xue Jin'an wanted to leave on his own; he felt that these people and these things were delaying his viewing of the mobile phone exhibition.

"Oh, I see. I misunderstood. I know I was wrong. Please forgive me, Your Highnesses." The coachman said, lifting his straw hat to reveal a handsome face that was incongruous with his attire, as striking as the blazing sun.

He was not very old, just turned 18, with curly hair, blue eyes, deep-set eyebrows, and striking features. When he smiled, his eyes curved and his dimples deepened, giving him a very childlike appearance.

He has a striking, wild appearance, loves reading, and always plays with a jade pendant while reading. He is skilled in archery and horsemanship and can shoot five arrows at once.

Xue Jin'an knew his identity almost immediately—the rebel king Cui Zui.

Cui Zui was born into the Cui family of Jiangnan Prefecture, which was the same family as Cui Pengfei, the only one of the three regents of the late emperor who retired after achieving his goals.

Cui Zui was an illegitimate child born from the affair between the third son of the Cui family and a Hu woman. He grew up in a brothel with his mother and learned some martial arts from the people from the martial arts world who frequented the brothel.

When he was eight years old, his mother died of illness. In order to support himself, he started working as a errand boy in a brothel. Just then, the third branch of the Cui family came to his door to take him back. It turned out that the young master of the third branch had been indulging in too much debauchery and had damaged his health. Over the years, he had only had one child, Cui Zui.

Cui Zui returned to the Cui family, but because of his background and appearance, he was not well received, and even his own father did not like him. The Cui family was a powerful clan that had prospered since the previous dynasty, and everyone there was literate and had achieved official rank. Cui Zui wanted to integrate into this family, so he abandoned martial arts and pursued a literary career.

He was intelligent and quick to learn. In just three years of schooling, he passed the imperial examinations, rising from a junior scholar to a county-level scholar, always coming out on top. He was incredibly successful and even began to be known as a child prodigy. But then, as if cursed, he failed the provincial examinations three times in ten years. Seeing his younger brother, who was even younger than him, pass the provincial examination and go to the capital for the next year's metropolitan examination, Cui Zui could no longer bear it. He packed his bags and went to the capital with him, hoping to find an opportunity to enter officialdom.

During this trip to the capital, Cui Zui witnessed the prosperity and glory of the imperial city, and learned what it meant to be a powerful official. He also learned that his failure to pass the exam was not due to a lack of knowledge, but simply because he had Hu (non-Han) blood and his mother had been sold into prostitution in a brothel.

His background and the mother who raised him became a stain on his reputation. Cui Zui was not satisfied. He desperately wanted to stand out and look down on everyone. His background was not wrong, and background and talent are not the same.

Knowing that it would be difficult for Cui Zui to pass the imperial examination and become an official, he worked hard to showcase his talents at literary gatherings. Finally, after a few years, he succeeded. With the recommendation of a longtime friend who worked for Prince An, he became a staff member of the Fifth Prince. He wanted to realize his ambitions, but the Fifth Prince only valued his martial arts skills and kept him by his side as a good-looking and useful bodyguard.

After the Fifth Prince was defeated by Chu Wenjing's insane attack, all of his connections and resources were inherited by his younger brother, the Ninth Prince, as an "inheritance," including Cui Zui.

At that time, the Ninth Prince was in need of manpower and showed him great favor. Cui Zui thought he had seized the opportunity, but he did not expect that the Ninth Prince only liked his face and knew his background, and wanted to train him to be a plaything.

Cui Zui angrily left the Ninth Prince's camp and finally decided to take another path to officialdom, which was to join the army. He then sought out his longtime friend who had recommended him to the Fifth Prince.

He thought the matter of the Ninth Prince was over, but he underestimated power and human nature. He was betrayed by his friend, his tendons were severed, and he was sent to Princess Baoyi's bed.

The novel doesn't say what kind of mistreatment Cui Zui suffered in the Princess's mansion, but when Cui Zui reappears later, he has seized military power in the Northwest Army, declared himself king, and rebelled.

The commander of the Northwest Army at that time was Helian Yong, the adopted son of Helian Cheng. As for Helian Cheng himself, he was besieged in a lonely city two years ago during a major battle with the Rongdi army. He refused to surrender and died for the city.

In fact, Cui Zui's anti-king cause was quite successful. Although he didn't achieve much in domestic politics, he was a master at external expansion, driving the barbarian enemies to their knees and achieving the goal of having no royal court in the northern desert. Then, the Eighth Prince was ordered to quell the rebellion and subdue the Northwest Army. He used a series of stratagems, including sowing discord and killing three soldiers with two peaches, and directly caused the anti-king team to fall apart.

Cui Zui became the Eighth Prince's experience guide, laying a solid foundation for the Eighth Prince's later success in seizing the throne.

In conclusion, Cui Zui is a villain who was gradually forced into a corner.

Xue Jin'an didn't expect this person to appear here.

Considering that the imperial examinations will be held next March, and it is already the end of October, the capital is far away and difficult to travel in winter. Most students will travel to the capital in advance. Cui Zui set off with his cousin who was also going to take the exams, which is not unusual in the capital at this time.

But how did he end up in the palace? If Cui Zui had connections to gain favor with the emperor, he wouldn't have wasted so many years despite his talent and reputation, and would have had to go through a roundabout route through a friend to be recommended.

Cui Zui came with someone who was granted special permission to ride in a carriage within the palace, and whose carriage could even stop alongside the imperial carriage—a person respected by the emperor.

Cui Pengfei, the last prime minister of the Great Qi Dynasty. Xue Jin'an looked at the carriage and was 70% certain of its owner.

But at the same time, new questions arose. How did Cui Pengfei, who only appeared in a dead-end state when Cui Zui rebelled, save the Cui family with his own life, the lives of his sons, and a will that three generations of the Cui family would not serve in government, allowing the Cui family's grandchildren to return to their hometown intact?

Shouldn't Cui Pengfei's character be a retired old man with a white beard who indulges in nature, occasionally guiding students through their confusion, and a travel writer who doesn't concern himself with politics?

Although the butterfly effect means that the flapping of a tiny butterfly's wings can cause a huge hurricane, the plot will begin to deviate from the moment he enters this world in the book.

But Xue Jin'an, who considered himself to be law-abiding, had no idea where his butterfly wings were flapping.

Looking at Cui Zui in front of him, he vaguely felt that something seemed to be wrong.

Xue Jin'an, who hadn't yet figured out what kind of strange wind his wings were producing, recorded this bug.

The imperial physician arrived late, and after taking the fifth prince's pulse, he was ushered inside.

The eunuch who rushed out was none other than Li Hechun. "Imperial Physician Hu, there is another injured person inside, the Sixth Prince. He was slashed in the neck by an assassin's knife..."

No wonder the Imperial Guards reacted so slowly, they all looked like they were throwing the game. Turns out there was an assassin inside. But how come that one was also holding a prince hostage?

Was the assassin targeting the emperor or a prince? And it's also strange that, having gone so far as to kidnap a prince, he didn't take anyone with him when he was about to die.

As Xue Jin'an was writing a plausible conspiracy theory, she suddenly felt a faint, scrutinizing gaze coming from... Li Hechun.

Xue Jin'an always felt that this person seemed to be thinking about something that could cause the opportunity to become infected with a virus.

The human and the machine sensed something was wrong and wanted to know.

Xue Jin'an turned on Bluetooth without hesitation and connected to Li Hechun.

Then a dialog box pops up: "Hello, this service requires payment."

Xue Jin'an: "..."

He recalled Li Hechun's account that sold information about the emperor, and silently reached into his sleeve to find the fifty coins he had earned.

Click to pay, and the fifty coins disappeared.

[Bluetooth connection successful, time limit 30 seconds]

In an instant, Xue Jin'an shared Li Hechun's perspective and thoughts.

Li Hechun wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes subtly scrutinizing the two princes, especially Xue Jin'an.

Li Hechun was somewhat dazed. He hadn't seen the Seventh Prince for two years, yet the other was still wearing the same clothes he had worn two years ago.

He remembered that there was a banditry in Sichuan that year, which greatly reduced the production of Shu brocade, and the tribute was no exception. In total, only five bolts of cloth were received.

Unfortunately, the Shu brocade had a beautiful and vibrant pattern, and few of the ladies-in-waiting in the palace disliked it. In the end, the emperor decided to give two bolts to the Cining Palace, one and a half bolts to the Imperial Noble Consort, half a bolt to Princess Baoyi, and the remaining bolt was supposed to be kept in the treasury. However, the emperor personally took it to the Zhaoyang Palace that very night and gave it to Consort Zhen.

Later, Consort Zhen used the fabric to make two outfits for the Seventh Prince: one for his birthday banquet and one for the New Year. The leftover scraps were used to make two hats, one large and one small, with rabbit fur added. On New Year's Eve that year, His Majesty and the Seventh Prince wore them together.

Looking back now, it's truly heartbreaking. Li Hechun snapped out of his reverie, looked the Seventh Prince up and down, and lingered for a moment on the lotus-carved hilt of the sword at his waist.

His Majesty is already aware of the commotion outside. It is said that the assassin originally took the Fifth Prince hostage. The Imperial Guards were caught off guard and the Seventh Prince pretended to assassinate the Fifth Prince. He unexpectedly wounded the assassin and fought him for several moves without being defeated. The assassin was forced to use his killing move, but the Seventh Prince quickly retreated to avoid vital points, which gave the assassin an opportunity to escape.

Ultimately, the Seventh Prince didn't lose; it was the Imperial Guards' failure to provide timely support.

The Seventh Prince, whom he hadn't seen for two years, had grown taller and thinner, with features resembling Consort Zhen, especially his captivating eyes. His aloof demeanor and overall aura reminded him of His Majesty in his youth.

The Empress of that time...

Li Hechun was startled and quickly stopped thinking, not daring to think any further. The thirty seconds were up.

Xue Jin'an seemed to be deep in thought.

Li Hechun bowed slightly and said with a smile, "Fifth Prince and Seventh Prince, His Majesty invites you both to enter as well."