The fact that the emperor asked the fourth prince to accompany him on his outings made all the princes very jealous. Eating and living together for a few days gave the fourth prince too many opportunities.
Previously, Marquis Anchang wanted to cram the illegitimate granddaughter of the third master of Marquis Dongping's mansion into the Fourth Prince's mansion. According to the rules, since Anchang personally asked the emperor for help, the emperor should give him face.
Unexpectedly, the emperor refused, saying that a concubine's status was too low and she was not worthy of the fourth prince.
She is just a concubine and a plaything. The emperor is so disrespectful to her, which shows how much he loves the Fourth Prince.
Several princes were very jealous because he had a favored mother.
The Queen comforted the Prince, "Those favors are just trivial matters. My son, take this opportunity to handle the affairs of the court well, and your father will naturally look upon you with new eyes."
The prince was unwilling to accept this. The emperor was always unfriendly to him, and no matter how well he did, he rarely received praise.
But he is the crown prince, and as long as he doesn't make any big mistakes, he will be able to live until the day he ascends the throne.
The prince said, "Don't worry, mother. I will do my best to do the best I can."
This is a rare opportunity to train, so the prince must of course perform well and let his father know that he is a qualified heir.
"Those princes will definitely try to trip you up. Listen to your uncle and his advice and don't act on your own."
"I've made note of this."
The Queen gave the Prince a few more instructions before letting him leave the palace. This time the Prince's regent role was a good opportunity and must be seized.
After thinking about it, the queen wrote a letter and sent it to Duke Dingguo's Mansion, asking her brother to assist the prince well and not make any mistakes.
After the letter was sent, the queen thought of her nephew who died young and couldn't help crying. Such an excellent child was gone just like that.
All the suffering he endured was for the prince. The queen always loved her nephew and fell ill for several days after hearing the bad news.
She felt guilty and distressed about her nephew, but for the sake of her son, she had no choice but to compensate him and repay his kindness in the next life.
Everything she did was out of necessity. If the crown prince went to Northern Qi as a hostage, he would have no chance of becoming emperor. The crown prince was mediocre and would be ruined if he went to Northern Qi. Her nephew was so outstanding and intelligent, he would be able to live well wherever he went.
Who knew that when the time for his protonation came, his nephew would never come back and would die in a foreign land.
She knew her brother harbored resentment, as his most outstanding son had died young. But what was the point of resentment? They had made the decision together, and it was all for their own gaining a firm foothold in the court.
There is gain and loss.
She was also heartbroken and sad, because that was her own nephew whom she had loved and raised.
Thinking of this, the Queen sent a lot of fresh fruits to Duke Dingguo's Mansion.
Duke Dingguo received the letter, read it, and burned it, and asked someone to send fruits and vegetables to his wife's yard.
Ever since her son was sent to Northern Qi, his wife had hated him to the core and treated him coldly. Over the years, the couple never spoke. Whenever he appeared, his wife would definitely not go.
Alas, he had let his wife and son down. With tears in his eyes, Duke Dingguo stood up and went to his son's yard.
Everything in the yard was exactly the same as it was seven years ago. Duke Dingguo thought that his son would come back and would not be unfamiliar with his home at all.
He also wanted to let him know that he loved and cared about him, but unfortunately he never had the chance to let him know that he couldn't even get his son's body back, and he didn't even have his ashes.
In his son's grave were his childhood clothes.
His son was murdered, but he had no way to avenge him. Northern Qi had Thunder to suppress them.
Back then, Northern Qi wanted his eldest son, Duke Dingguo, as a hostage in order to suppress the military power in his hands.
"Northern Qi is too bullying, brazenly trying to kill my son."
Duke Dingguo's eyes were bloodshot, and his hands were clenched into fists. "I must avenge this vengeance."
Amu woke up from his dream, "Father."
In his dream, his father was covered in blood, shouting his nickname and wanting to avenge him. He wanted to stop it, but was powerless and watched helplessly as his father was blown to pieces by the Northern Qi's thunder bomb.
Linlang was startled awake. Seeing Amu's face covered in cold sweat, she quickly got up, gave him a handkerchief, and poured him a glass of warm water. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"Um."
Amu told Linlang about his dream. "I'm afraid my father will act impulsively for me. Northern Qi's thunder bombs are too powerful. Not only that, Northern Qi's military has developed rapidly in recent years. For the time being, we are no match for them."
"You went back to the capital before, why didn't you go home to recognize him?" Linlang didn't understand. Since Duke Dingguo loved his son so much, why didn't Amu go home after escaping?
Ah Mu smiled bitterly. "At the gate of the mansion, I happened to meet the Duke's wife who was leaving. She saw me and ordered the guards to beat me up. When I woke up again, the poison had taken effect and I was floating in the water and passed out again."
"You know everything that happened next."
Linlang didn't understand, "Why did she treat you like this? Did she recognize you?"
"I recognized you." He opened his mouth and called out "Mom". She was shocked for a moment, and then let the guards beat her severely.
It was obvious that when he left the capital, his mother fainted from crying several times. She hated her father's incompetence and hated the queen even more for sending him to Northern Qi as a hostage in place of the crown prince.
His mother wanted to go with him to Northern Qi to watch over and protect him, but his father knocked her unconscious and took her back.
Ah Mu didn't understand why his mother, who loved him so much, would kill him. He couldn't believe it at all. Being abandoned by the person he loved most made him want to die.
He tried so hard to escape back just to see the person he missed the most at the last moment.
Linlang hugged Amu distressedly, "Don't be sad, you still have us. Besides, maybe there was some misunderstanding at that time. When we go to the capital, we will definitely find out the reason."
"As for your father's affairs, I'll ask my third and fourth brothers to help keep an eye on him. They will definitely prevent him from acting impulsively."
Linlang felt that there seemed to be a big conspiracy behind all this.
Looking back on his previous life, Duke Dingguo seemed to have died in battle very early, and the prince lost his greatest supporter. The result can be imagined.
Linlang looked at Amu's face and said, "It would be great if I could meet Duke Dingguo secretly."
The father and son must look very similar, otherwise, Marquis Anchang would not have prevented Lao Jijiu from seeing Amu. He was afraid of causing trouble.
"Wait a little longer." Amu remembered clearly how cold and murderous the look in his mother's eyes was when she looked at him at the gate of the mansion.
His mother was such a gentle and virtuous woman, with eyes full of love for him, how could she have such a look in her eyes?
But apart from the look in his eyes, it was his mother. Ah Mu really couldn't figure out what had happened in the past few years when he was away.
Linlang also found it strange. If it was someone else pretending to be him, it would be impossible for a smart man like Duke Dingguo, who had lived under the same roof with him for seven years, not to notice the abnormality.
"I'll ask my third and fourth brothers to investigate the Duke's wife's whereabouts over the years to see if there's anything unusual."
Amu nodded, "This is the only way now."
This matter has been buried in Amu's heart for so long. I didn't have the ability to do it before, but now that I have help, I must find out the truth.
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