Chapter 96

As expected, the news of the Ninth Prince being beaten was quickly leaked, and Xue Jin'an was unsurprisingly identified as the culprit. No one believed it was just a beautiful coincidence, so unsurprisingly, he was impeached once again.

However, this time the situation was somewhat different. The emperor, who usually sat firmly on the throne and rarely spoke out, unusually and forcefully suppressed the matter, rebuked the officials who impeached the seventh prince, and dismissed two censors.

Rumors about the Seventh Prince's great favor from the Emperor spread like wildfire, much like the rumors that Consort Zhen was about to be made Empress when she was still alive.

The uproar against the Seventh Prince subsided, and the officials' attitudes shifted from clear to ambiguous, no longer targeting the Seventh Prince—except for the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Rather, when all the court officials were initially condemning the Seventh Prince, the Left Censor-in-Chief remained unusually silent. But when everyone else began to fall silent, the Left Censor-in-Chief stubbornly stepped forward again, disregarding even the Emperor's face, and directly rejected his request.

"...Spoiled children will inevitably lead to disaster sooner or later. They should be nipped in the bud and disciplined and educated more, rather than left to their own devices!" The Left Censor-in-Chief's entire speech can be summarized as a critique of the Emperor's parenting attitude, proposing to strengthen the quality education of the princes and princesses, improve their moral standards, and instill in them a sense of responsibility for their status so that they can contribute to the development of the Great Qi Dynasty, instead of constantly causing trouble and fighting amongst themselves.

Xue Jin'an felt that this was the most comprehensive speech he had ever heard during a morning court session.

"I second that proposal." Chu Wenjing probably thought the same thing, and stood up directly to agree without hesitation.

"Very good, very good." The emperor chuckled twice, his face beaming with delight.

Then, on the spot, it was announced that the two were temporarily suspended from their duties and placed on leave. Immediately, the officials who had originally wanted to say something all shrank back and became quails again.

On the contrary, the two people who were suspended from their posts looked quite calm, standing with their colleagues from various departments who were looking around nervously. Anyone who didn't know better would wonder who the emperor himself had ordered to be suspended was.

[There isn’t a single one who can fight] Xue Jin’an posted a comment during his daily morning training.

Xue Jin'an had unusually attended the entire morning court session today, hoping to see how the court officials would impeach him, but it ended so abruptly and in a rather anticlimactic manner.

However, he always sees things through to the end. Even when he feels bored, he simply minimizes the live stream and hangs it in a corner, focusing on finishing up his morning training with the military training video from the fitness channel.

Speaking of which, although Helian Cheng's channel was doing the same military training as usual today, the instructor supervising the training was not Helian Cheng himself, but Vice General Han, who had been replaced as the head coach of the blue team by Xue Jin'an in the scrimmage.

After finishing the training, Xue Jin'an did not leave immediately, but instead asked Vice General Han a couple of questions.

"Commander-in-Chief Xiaolong!" When Vice General Han saw that it was Long Aotian, his serious and upright expression immediately melted away, and he grinned in a somewhat silly and silly way.

Although the training lasted only a few days, Long Aotian left an extremely deep impression on everyone who participated, especially the Blue Team. They had a very high level of recognition for their Commander-in-Chief, and had already directly regarded him as Helian Cheng's true successor.

As for Helian Yong, the generals and soldiers already knew what he had done: Who is he?

Deputy General Han answered all of Xue Jin'an's questions.

Xue Jin'an then learned that the Russian Empire's envoy delegation had arrived and was staying at the post station. They specifically requested that Helian Cheng accompany them, and that Helian Cheng personally escort them as they would leave Qizhou in two days.

"Helian Cheng agreed?" Xue Jin'an was somewhat surprised. Helian Cheng was not the kind of person who would agree to something just because someone gave him a few orders. Even if he knew that he would have to personally deliver the gifts to the envoy and birthday presents if necessary, he would still need to ensure their safety.

But Xue Jin'an didn't think that this necessary moment could be resolved simply by talking; it seemed that the Tsarist Russian Empire had brought something quite troublesome.

Xue Jin'an did not continue to ask Han, the adjutant, about what gifts Russia had brought. Regardless of whether the other party knew or not, even if he did know, he could not disclose it indiscriminately. If he were discovered, it would be a crime according to the law.

Xue Jin'an exited the fitness app. By this time, the morning court session was nearing its end. Li Hechun sang "Those with matters to report, please do so; those without, court is adjourned" for the last time. After a while, no one else submitted a report. At the emperor's signal, he announced the adjournment of the court and left with the emperor amidst three shouts of "Long live the emperor!"

The court officials began to leave, but Chu Wenjing took his time, showing no hurry whatsoever. He even went to the side to help the compilers of the Hanlin Academy, who were responsible for recording court affairs, organize their papers, clearly indicating that he did not want to leave for the time being.

Xue Jin'an was about to close the live stream when he suddenly heard someone say, "The Fourth Prince is outside again."

The cameras in the morning court livestream always focused only on the Hall of State Affairs, and were completely unaware of who was outside. Xue Jin'an set up the livestream in a corner, returned to the homepage of the livestreaming app, and started switching between livestreams. He quickly found an angle and successfully filmed the Fourth Prince standing under a tree not far from the Hall of State Affairs, staring intently at the entrance of the hall, searching for someone.

The workload at the Imperial Study has not been heavy recently, and the textbooks have not been changed yet. Xue Jin'an has not been there to check. He heard about the relevant matters from the information collected by Fu Lu, such as the fact that the Fourth Prince had been on sick leave for a long time and had not gone to school since the Tenth Prince was born.

Come to think of it, the last time Xue Jin'an saw the Fourth Prince was at a palace banquet. He remembered that the prince was a bit thinner then, but still much stronger and healthier than he is now.

The fourth prince has lost a lot of weight. His once chubby cheeks have completely disappeared, and his facial features have become more sharp. He purses his lips tightly, his face is pale, and his brows are filled with a sense of obsession and gloom.

He stubbornly waited outside, even after everyone in the Hall of State Affairs had left and no one had come out for a long time. He still stared intently at the door, trying to find something out.

Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed. The person he was waiting for, Chu Wenjing, had already left through the side door.

This small door was specifically reserved for the Hanlin Academy staff who compiled the court proceedings. Today, there were two Hanlin Academy staff on duty, one of whom was Qin Lian, who had shone brightly in Xue Jin'an's question-and-answer session at the palace banquet. He was an official who performed exceptionally well that day, and naturally gained some favor from the emperor. Recently, whenever there was a matter of compiling and reading, the emperor would summon Qin Lian.

Chu Wenjing deliberately avoided seeing the Fourth Prince. It wasn't the first or second time that the Fourth Prince had come to block him outside the Hall of State Affairs. Each time, Chu Wenjing left through a side gate with people from the Hanlin Academy. As they spent more time together, they inevitably became familiar with each other.

Qin Lian glanced at the Fourth Prince outside the Hall of State Affairs, feeling a pang of pity for his pitiful appearance. "Are you really not going to see him?"

"The past is past, why dwell on it?" Chu Wenjing shook his head, his tone relatively calm.

Everyone naturally assumed that Chu Wenjing was acting in the best interests of the Fourth Prince. After all, it was common knowledge how serious the matter involving Chu Wenwan was. The Emperor had already used this as an excuse to strip the Chu family of their titles, and it was hard to say whether this matter would be brought up again, and Chu Wenjing would also be implicated and punished.

They all agreed that Chu Wenjing's refusal to meet with the Fourth Prince and his disownment of the Fourth Prince were all for his future and for his own good.

Xue Jin'an, who already knew that Chu Wenjing was actually Zhou Yushu, would have slowly typed a question mark and sincerely said if he heard their thoughts: You're really overthinking it.

Chu Wenjing lowered his eyes slightly to conceal a fleeting emotion, so that Qin Lian would not notice anything amiss.

Qin Lian's mind was still focused on the Fourth Prince outside, and he did not notice the subtle changes in Chu Wenjing. He just sighed and said, "Why be so heartless? He is still your nephew. You should talk to him clearly to his face."

Face to face? Zhou Yushu thought silently: I'm afraid that by then I'll be collecting the Fourth Prince's corpse.

From the day his sister was framed and killed, Zhou Yushu harbored equal hatred towards everyone with Chu family blood, including Old Master Chu and the Fourth Prince.

However, Old Master Chu had a relationship with his elders and was the only one in the Chu family to stand up for his sister after the incident. But after learning that Chu Wenwan had been involved, he still chose to protect his family ties.

This was an understandable choice. Afterwards, the other party clearly realized that his identity was different, but remained silent. Zhou Yushu remembered his protection, so he did not wipe out the Chu family. Instead, he used various excuses to empty the Chu family's wealth and used this as a means to rise to prominence.

As for the Fourth Prince, Zhou Yushu simply felt that it was tasteless to lay a hand on a child.

But when the truth was revealed, and when he learned of the miserable life his sister's only bloodline was living in the palace, and after discovering the Fourth Prince's bullying of his nephew, Zhou Yushu truly regretted it.

He regretted not having killed the damned mother and child sooner; they deserved to die.

Zhou Yushu remained silent, calming his emotions. In an instant, he put on Chu Wenjing's mask and said in a gentle tone, "I'm not seeing him for his own good." At least he can save his life.

Xue Jin'an surprisingly understood the unspoken meaning behind someone's words.

Qin Lian, however, thought Zhou Yushu's silence was a sign of wavering, and sighed as he patted him on the shoulder, "He'll understand you when he grows up."

Zhou Yushu gave a noncommittal smile, pushing the matter of the Fourth Prince out of his mind. Thinking of his real nephew, a genuine sorrow appeared between his brows.

He had already keenly sensed that the emperor was intentionally praising the seventh prince to his detriment. He was very worried that Xue Jin'an would become immersed in this false fatherly love, truly offend everyone around him, and become isolated and helpless.

After thinking for a long time, Zhou Yushu finally decided to use his secret contacts to contact Xue Jin'an and try to meet him.

Unaware of his thoughts, Xue Jin'an turned off the live stream after the two left through the side door.

Two days later, Cui Zui ran into a palace maid on his way to Zhaoyang Palace.