Chapter 30: The Fight and the Tenth Brother's Lazy Conflict

The Sixth Prince had just arrived near the side hall when he overheard the Fourth Prince's last, incoherent sentence at the entrance.

He was unaware of the cause and effect, and did not know that the Fourth Prince was actually criticizing the Third Prince.

The Sixth Prince only heard the last half of the sentence, and because of this half sentence, he misunderstood the Fourth Prince's meaning, thinking that the Fourth Prince was dissatisfied with him and Consort De, and he immediately exploded.

Without even taking off his outer cloak, the Sixth Prince rushed to the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) like a small cannonball.

He raised his head and glared angrily at the Fourth Prince, his face flushed red. His eyebrows and eyes, which bore some resemblance to the Fourth Prince's, were filled with dissatisfaction and resentment, and his eyes burned with a fierce flame of anger.

The Sixth Prince's gaze toward the Fourth Prince was complex, containing anger, embarrassment, and resentment at being hurt, as well as barely concealed jealousy and resentment.

Gritting his teeth, the Sixth Prince clenched his fists, suppressing the urge to strike directly: "Mother is not feeling well and has been in pain for several days. But she has been thinking about your birthday and has repeatedly told me to come and celebrate it for you."

But how did the Fourth Prince repay them? He said that if it were up to him, he wouldn't have wanted to invite them at all, and he wouldn't want to have any dealings with Yonghe Palace!

Thinking of his mother's concern for him, and the hard work and care she had put into preparing the gifts over the past two weeks, the Sixth Prince felt uneasy and resentful. He could no longer treat the Fourth Prince calmly, nor could he be close to him anymore.

Even though he and the Fourth Prince were brothers from the same mother, they should have been each other's closest relatives.

Seeing the Sixth Prince suddenly burst into the side hall, the Fourth Prince felt a moment of annoyance and regret.

He didn't dislike the Sixth Prince, nor did he want to avoid contact with his sixth brother. He was simply annoyed by the Third Prince's incessant nagging and didn't want the Third Prince to continue making a fuss over nothing, which is why he impulsively said those words.

By listening to the entire conversation and understanding the ins and outs of the matter, one can determine that what he really meant to criticize in his previous statement was the Third Prince.

The reason the Fourth Prince mentioned the Sixth Prince was ultimately because the Third Prince wanted to use the Sixth Prince's delayed arrival to stir up trouble. The Sixth Prince was merely implicated, and the Fourth Prince's mention of him was unintentional.

But the Sixth Prince arrived at such a coincidence, and only happened to hear the last half of the sentence, and the misunderstanding was formed by chance.

He pursed his lips, climbed down from the heated kang, and stood in front of the Sixth Prince. With a look of regret and guilt, he said, "I'm sorry, Sixth Brother. I misspoke just now. Please don't misunderstand. It's not that I didn't want to invite you, and what I said just now wasn't directed at you."

"Not targeting me?" The Sixth Prince gritted his teeth, looking at the Fourth Prince with undisguised sarcasm. "I heard you clearly. The person you're talking about is me, your 'Sixth Brother.' What are you still trying to deny? You might as well just admit it; that would be much more agreeable."

The Sixth Prince was so persistent and wouldn't listen to any explanation. The Fourth Prince, who was originally very remorseful and guilty, also got a little angry. He frowned and his expression showed some impatience.

With a sullen face, the Fourth Prince glanced at the Sixth Prince, whose face was full of resentment and anger. He was both annoyed and puzzled. He didn't understand why the Sixth Prince was so angry when it was just a misunderstanding, and he didn't understand why the Sixth Prince specifically mentioned that Consort De cared about him.

Although Chengqian Palace and Yonghe Palace were adjacent to each other, in the memory of the Fourth Prince Yinzhen, his mother had never had much contact with Consort De of Yonghe Palace. The two palaces rarely interacted, and as a result, the Fourth Prince was also very unfamiliar with Consort De and the Sixth Prince, only having a shallow impression of them.

At this moment, the Fourth Prince's confusion was genuine: "I am grateful that Consort De remembered my birthday, but she didn't have to do this."

The Fourth Prince genuinely didn't believe he had such a relationship with Consort De and the Sixth Prince, and his face showed obvious confusion: "If Consort De is unwell, Sixth Brother can stay in Yonghe Palace to take care of her. He doesn't have to come to Chengqian Palace for the banquet. He can just send someone to inform her."

Although Consort Tong extended an invitation, she did not force anyone to attend the Fourth Prince's sixth birthday banquet.

The Fourth Prince felt that neither he nor Consort Tong were unreasonable people. If there was a reason for the incident, they would certainly not hold the Sixth Prince's absence against him, nor would they be angry or hold a grudge over it.

The eldest prince and the third prince, sitting at the head of the table, exchanged a glance and both knew why Consort De was so concerned about the fourth prince—after all, she was the fourth prince's birth mother.

But knowing this was one thing; even the Third Prince only hinted at it vaguely and never intended to reveal the secret directly.

Firstly, this matter involves many people. Consort Tong had no children, and Consort De was granted the title of Consort alone in the eighteenth year of Kangxi's reign. Both of these are related to this. Secondly, the Fourth Prince obviously did not know about this matter. If they rashly exposed it, they would not only offend Consort Tong, but Kangxi would also be furious if he found out.

Although he couldn't tell the Fourth Prince the truth, the First Prince didn't want to watch the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince continue arguing. He frowned, stood up, and intended to stop the farce.

On the other hand, the Third Prince reacted in stark contrast to the First Prince. He was all smiles and watching the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince argue with great interest, completely unaware that he was the one who started it all.

Judging from the Third Prince's excited expression as he craned his neck to watch the spectacle, he probably wished that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince would immediately have a big fight, and even wanted to fan the flames, preferably to the point of no return, and that would suit his taste.

Before the eldest prince spoke, the eighth prince crawled to the edge of the heated kang and knelt down. His delicate and lovely face was full of worry. He looked at the sixth prince and whispered, "Sixth brother, fourth brother is right. You have really misunderstood."

Compared to the Eighth Prince, who was actively involved in mediation work, the Fifth and Ninth Princes, sitting opposite each other at the small table, seemed quite out of sorts.

One of them couldn't understand Manchu at all and was holding half a pastry, looking completely bewildered, unsure whether to continue eating it; the other was not familiar with the Fourth Prince or the Sixth Prince, and was not interested in their conflict, so he continued to struggle with the pastry, oblivious to everything else.

Looking left at Yinzhen and right at the Fifth Prince, Yin'e blinked his bright almond-shaped eyes, sandwiched between the two brothers, and decided to follow their lead and be a lazy bum who doesn't get involved in anything.

The Sixth Prince glanced at the Eighth Prince, recalling how he and the Fourth Prince had sat intimately side by side on the heated kang earlier, and couldn't help but sneer, emphasizing his words as he mocked, "You really are the Fourth Prince's good younger brother."

The Fourth Prince's already gloomy face darkened further. He frowned and glanced at the Sixth Prince, feeling that he was being unreasonable. He suppressed his anger and said, "I said something wrong and offended you. Why are you making trouble for the Eighth Prince? He was just explaining things for me."

Seeing the Fourth Prince's completely bewildered and clueless expression, and considering his ignorance of his mother's good intentions and his brotherly demeanor towards the Eighth Prince, the Sixth Prince, already furious, became even more enraged. He lost all reason and impulsiveness took over, raising his fist and lunging at the Sixth Prince.

Bang!

Caught off guard, the Fourth Prince was punched by the Sixth Prince, causing him to stumble and bump into the heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed) behind him. He nearly lost his balance and fell, hitting his head on the kang.

The Fourth Prince, who was already holding back his anger, was punched by the Sixth Prince who suddenly attacked him.

He straightened up, ignoring the sore knee from bumping into the heated kang, and charged at the Sixth Prince aggressively, fighting with him on all fours.

In an instant, the two half-grown children rolled around in a ball.

The Sixth Prince attacked desperately, though without any strategy, his stance was frantic and his momentum was overwhelming. He had completely grasped the essence of fighting: those who make Mother sad are bad people, I'll beat you to death!

The Fourth Prince silently retaliated. He was determined to hit back twice as hard after being punched, and he didn't care about the principle that an older brother should give way to his younger brother. Every punch and kick was real, and he showed no mercy: That's the kind of man I am!

The eldest prince, who was getting up and walking this way, suddenly widened his eyes and quickly stepped forward to try to separate the fourth prince and the sixth prince. At the same time, he shouted loudly in his hoarse voice, which was still going through puberty, "What are you doing? It's just a little quarrel, how did it turn into a fight? Separate them!"

The Third Prince was taken aback, his mouth agape. He never expected that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince would skip the arguing part and start fighting right away.

The Third Prince couldn't sit still any longer. He quickly stood up and ran towards the Fourth and Sixth Princes, who were rolling around in a heap. In his haste, he almost knocked over the mahogany chair he was sitting on.

The eldest prince pulled the fourth prince back, and the third prince stepped forward and hugged the sixth prince, preventing him from colliding with the fourth prince. He murmured, "Stop fighting! Stop it! We're all brothers, how can you fight like this?"

The Third Prince was stunned by the turn of events. He felt flustered, wiped his sweat, swallowed hard, and felt a pang of guilt.

After glancing at the Fourth Prince, who was being held back by the First Prince and was still struggling, and then trying his best to control the Sixth Prince, who was wildly waving his arms and legs and trying to continue fighting, the Third Prince thought to himself with a lack of confidence: This...this, this development of things has nothing to do with him, right?

He just said a few words out of turn, stirring things up a bit, I never expected it to escalate to this point.

It wasn't a big deal that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were fighting, but the Third Prince was afraid that he would be blamed in the end, accused of stirring up trouble and being the cause of this farce.

The Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were both seething with anger. Even though the First Prince and the Third Prince pulled them apart, they refused to give up. They both tried their best to break free of their restraints and wanted to continue fighting, using their fists to vent their dissatisfaction, anger, and frustration.

The eldest prince was already a handsome young man, tall with broad shoulders and long arms.

He easily grabbed the six-year-old Fourth Prince, controlling him with one hand so that he could hardly break free. No matter how much he struggled, he could not get close to the Sixth Prince who was right next to him, and they started fighting again.

The Third Prince was not yet eight years old, and unlike the First Prince, he was not tall and strong. He struggled to hold onto the Sixth Prince, who was almost five years old.

Although the Third Prince was prone to panic and kept muttering to himself, he didn't falter. Even when the Sixth Prince struggled so fiercely that he was in a sorry state, he didn't let go and did his best to pull the fight apart.

The Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince, who were under control, were waving their limbs and fighting in the air near the heated kang. The Eighth Prince stood by and repeatedly advised, "Fourth Brother, stop fighting, calm down; Sixth Brother, you really misunderstood, Fourth Brother didn't mean it."

I tried to persuade them for a long time, but it was no use at all.

After thinking for a moment, the Eighth Prince climbed off the heated kang and ran out of the side hall to find Consort Tong to stop the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince. The palace servants inside had already left. When the Sixth Prince barged in, his wet nurse and others were locked outside along with the other palace servants.

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Author's note: Chapter Two will be released at 6 PM.

Pass: I need nutrient solution at the end of the month, it would be a waste not to use it~