Chapter 111 Running into the Bullet's Mouth

"What is he doing here? Tell him to go back." Yinzhen was in no mood for this, and since he hadn't seen him so many times before, he naturally wouldn't see him today either.

Su Peisheng gave Xia Zi a subtle glare. How could this silly apprentice be so clever one minute and so stupid the next? If this continued, he wouldn't even know how he died. The Emperor was currently worried about the Crown Prince, so why was he reporting something on behalf of the Fourth Prince?

Feeling his master's gaze, Xia Xiazi shrank back and was about to go out to report when he heard the emperor suddenly speak again—"Wait, wasn't he supposed to pay his respects? Let him in."

"Huh? Yes." Xia Zi's eyes widened, and Su Peisheng also raised his eyebrows in shock, wondering to himself, "Why is the sun rising in the west today?"

Yinzhen, however, had his own considerations. Hongshi's words yesterday had deeply moved him, and Hongzhou and Hongyan were still young. Only his rarely seen fourth son, Hongli, was someone he wanted to hear his thoughts on regarding the Crown Prince's punishment.

He thought so himself, but Hongli did not think so.

For several years in a row, he had been repeatedly denied an audience, but today, the Crown Prince had just been punished and left, and his father, the Emperor, had agreed to see him. What did this mean? This was the first step in his return to the palace.

His breathing quickened with excitement, and he couldn't quite hide the gleam in his eyes. As he walked inside, he thought to himself, "The Imperial Noble Consort has fallen out of favor, the Crown Prince has been punished, and naturally, even the Imperial Noble Consort's own sons, the Sixth and Seventh Princes, are no longer favored by Father Emperor."

I heard that yesterday, the Third Prince Hongshi, without thinking, pleaded for the Crown Prince when the Emperor was furious, which also angered the Emperor. Does that mean... only my son can catch the Emperor's eye? I really made the right choice to come today!

He tried his best to suppress his light steps, but being young, he was not good at hiding it. As soon as he entered, the joyful aura emanating from him almost reached Yinzhen's face.

Yinzhen frowned immediately, silently watching as he watched Yinzhen enter and immediately and respectfully performed a grand salute.

"Your subject greets Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be blessed with ten thousand years of happiness and peace."

He bowed and kowtowed, a gesture that allowed him to clearly hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears like a drumbeat, and he could even feel his blood rushing to his face, making his face flushed with excitement, and his ears burning.

"Get up." It took a long time for the Emperor to tell him to get up. He stood up in the hall. He had finally been summoned by his father, and he did not want to leave after just paying his respects. Recalling the way he had seen the Crown Prince in his father's arms that day, he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he felt the same filial affection.

Unfortunately, his pupils weren't as large as Hongzhao's. Or perhaps it was because from the moment he entered, Yinzhen couldn't stand looking at this son. The pure admiration on Hongzhao's face just didn't feel right when it was similarly expressed on his face.

As the child grew up, he rarely had the opportunity to examine him closely. Now, looking at him carefully, he felt that he didn't resemble himself at all. His eyes didn't look like his nose, his mouth, or his birth mother, Li Jingui Yinzhen, only caught a fleeting glimpse of him after she regained consciousness, leaving her with only an impression of extreme ugliness. She couldn't even remember what he looked like now.

Does this son resemble his biological mother, or...?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel even more resentful towards the Eighth Prince, Yinzhi. Unwilling to look at the child's burning gaze any longer, he closed his eyes, raised his hand to rub his temples, and said in a rather cold and hard voice, "You must still know about what happened yesterday. What do you think about the Crown Prince being punished?"

All he wanted now was to get the answer he wanted and get him to leave as soon as possible. Every extra moment he looked at him reminded him of the Eighth Prince's insidious schemes against him that day, and of his father's furious scolding.

Hongli thought to himself, "I must not be like that foolish third brother, who would abandon his promising future to speak up for others, especially when Father Emperor is in a bad mood."

He solemnly cupped his hands, his face serious and somewhat annoyed. "Your Majesty, I have been unable to see you for a long time while I am in the Yuanmingyuan Garden. I have been thinking of you constantly and would be content to kowtow to you from afar. However, the Crown Prince is by your side every day but cannot share your burdens. He even takes advantage of your favor and angers you. I think he is too insensible."

"Father is very busy with many affairs every day. The Crown Prince cannot share the burden with Father. When I grow up, I will help Father manage them."

With each sentence the Fourth Prince spoke, Su Peisheng's eyes widened. By the time the Fourth Prince had finished speaking, Su Peisheng had resigned himself to his fate, lowered his head, closed his eyes tightly, and his knees buckled as he knelt on the ground.

Tell me, where did you get this idea? The Emperor is already troubled by last night's drama and the Crown Prince's forced departure this morning, and this Fourth Prince, for some unknown reason, comes to add fuel to the fire. The Emperor is just looking for someone to vent his anger on, and now this guy is delivering himself right to his doorstep.

Even the most favored crown prince, who was vying for the position of heir apparent, wouldn't dare to say such a thing directly to the emperor!

Yinzhen didn't know what Su Peisheng was thinking; he only knew that he almost laughed out of anger. Yinzhen's face was frighteningly gloomy, and the low pressure emanating from him was chilling. His eyes, filled with icy coldness, shot towards the person in front of him, and his tone was neither warm nor cold, devoid of any emotion—"Is this what you wanted to say to me after so many times of requesting an audience?"

Although Hongli rarely saw the Emperor, he could still sense such obvious emotions. Seeing that Eunuch Su had already knelt down beside the Emperor, he knew that he must have said something wrong to anger his father. His mind was blank, so he knelt down as well, not daring to answer his father's question.

"Good, well done!" Yinzhen leaned back in his chair, his brows furrowed, exuding imperial authority. "If I hadn't summoned you today, I wouldn't have known you harbored such thoughts!"

Upon hearing this, he immediately kowtowed – “Father, I was wrong, Father, please calm down!”

Seeing his belated realization of fear, Yinzhen felt a surge of anger. He silently stood up, picked up the bright yellow teacup in front of him, and threw it forcefully to the ground.

The porcelain cup shattered beside Hongli, the ear-piercing sound of breaking ringing in his ears. The flying shards made him instinctively lean back, then he forced himself to kneel upright. The already cold tea gradually soaked his knees, but he dared not move, as if he had been frozen in place.

"Your brothers were reprimanded and punished, and instead of showing brotherly affection and pleading for them, you couldn't hide your joy and came to me to stir up trouble, even uttering disrespectful words in front of me!"

Yinzhen pointed at him fiercely, his breathing ragged with anger—"I'm not dead yet, and you're already coveting my empire? That's way too early!"

The more Yinzhen spoke, the angrier he became. He pointed at his nose and shouted angrily, his red eyes revealing his raging emotions.

"No! That's not how it is, Father! Your son has no intention of disrespecting you! Father, please understand!"

"Even if I really die, the Qing Dynasty will be handed over to the Crown Prince, and it will never be your turn!"

Yinzhen leaned on the table, and Su Peisheng quickly stepped forward to comfort the emperor.

After catching his breath, Yinzhen spoke again—"Fourth Prince Hongli, as a prince you cannot love your brothers. As a son you cannot be filial to your father, you shall be punished with twenty strokes of the cane and sent to the Imperial Clan Court for discipline. All the teachers and servants who serve you shall be beaten to death."

"Since you don't know how to be a subject or an elder brother, then you should learn properly in the Imperial Clan Court. You can come out when you've learned it."