Ten years have passed, and Cheng Xijiu's youngest brother, the eighth prince Ziyu, is now 29 years old.

His father's hair is gray, his brothers are fighting in all directions, and Cheng Xijiu is just 13 years old, so tender that you can pinch water out of him. And the eighth prince Ziyu really pinched Cheng Xijiu's little face. This little thing has grown up and is no longer a little bun. It is good-looking, but the little chin is pointed and there is no flesh on the face. The touch is not very good.

"Don't pinch, don't pinch!" Cheng Xijiu glared angrily, and the prince Ziyu reluctantly withdrew his hand. He rubbed Cheng Jiujiu's head, "I see you look so energetic, you don't look sick."

"It's just a congenital deficiency, just replenish it, it's not a big deal." Cheng Jiujiu wanted to say that she was sick, seriously ill, but she was afraid that if she really said that, her life would be even more difficult, so she could only say it lightly.

"Could it be that you are poisoned like the eldest brother?" His Highness Zi Yu rubbed Cheng Jiujiu's head, always feeling that this little thing was hiding something in his heart, and there was always light in those big eyes. He couldn't imagine what he would do when those eyes dimmed.

Cheng Jiujiu has been in good health all these years, why is he suddenly seriously ill now? Could it be...

The Eighth Prince Zi Yu thought of many conspiracy theories in his heart, but he didn't say them in front of Cheng Jiujiu.

"No, no, this is just an old problem of mine. I am just born with a deficiency." Cheng Jiujiu shook his head decisively, "Eighth brother, please don't cause trouble for her, okay?"

Prince Zi Yu let Cheng Jiujiu perfunctorily answer, but he made up his mind to interrogate Ouyang Yue tonight.

Others were thinking of ways to treat Cheng Jiujiu's illness, but he was the only one who wanted to start with Ouyang Yue. However, Ouyang Yue was still favored by the emperor in the court and was still the sixth princess's husband, so he couldn't catch him for a while.

When Cheng Jiujiu came, he thought that his plan to arrest someone had been discovered, but he didn't expect that the child came to escape from marriage. His ninth brother is really different from everyone else. He

doesn't like power and doesn't like to fight. It seems that he is vying for favor, but when something happens in the court, this little thing will slip away at the first time. He even looks for various opportunities to throw his brothers up.

Cheng Jiujiu's favorite thing to do on weekdays is to lie there comfortably in the sun, and then act coquettishly beside the empress, looking like a complete loser.

But this little thing is extremely smart, so you can't say anything wrong with him, you can only let him go. Then he silently convinced himself that this little thing was still young, and as long as he worked hard, this little thing could comfortably bask in the sun for a few more days.

Cheng Jiujiu was the only ray of light in this huge palace. Although he did not fight or compete, it made the people around him forget the intrigues unconsciously.

If possible, he believed that each of his brothers was willing to protect this only light.

Because, before Cheng Jiujiu, they had all experienced the darkest things. The reason why the relationship between the brothers was not harmonious was not because of various conflicts of interest, and they had fought openly and secretly with each other many times?

If it weren't for their good luck, they would have died at each other's hands.

It was because of the darkness that they understood the importance of Cheng Jiujiu after getting the light of Cheng Jiujiu. In order to make that little thing happy, although the eight brothers could not put aside their past grudges, they were willing to give Cheng Jiujiu a peaceful and prosperous life.

The Eighth Prince Ziyu was in charge of the Shengxingsi of the Sheng Dynasty, responsible for punishments and trials, and mainly managed dignitaries and foreign spies. All kinds of heinous tortures came from his hands, and there was no mouth in the world that he could not pry open. At the same time, he was also the one with the strictest mouth.

In addition to light, every dynasty has someone to shoulder the responsibility and move forward. The Eighth Prince Ziyu was responsible for all kinds of dark things. Those who had experienced the hands of the Eighth Prince Ziyu gave him the title of the Eighth King of Yan behind his back.

Those spy translators back then were defeated by the Eighth Prince Ziyu. After being unable to live or die, they finally told the truth.

Ouyang Yue couldn't resist and he confessed.

At first he wanted to play dumb, and considering how important he was to Cheng Jiujiu, the Eighth Prince Ziyu would not kill him.

But he forgot that the man in front of him was the Eighth Prince Yan.

His Highness Ziyu would not kill him, but would take action against his children. He wanted to say that he was the Sixth Princess's consort, and his children were also your nephews.

However, the cold and cruel Eighth Prince was unmoved.

In the current Sheng Dynasty, even Emperor Mingsheng is not taken seriously by him, but Cheng Jiujiu is an exception. For Cheng Jiujiu, what else matters?

Even his mother was killed by him, and he didn't even feel anything inside.

Unlike all the other princes, the Eighth Prince Ziyu had the most miserable childhood. His mother had an obsessive love for power, and she cultivated him so that he could seize the throne and then become the empress dowager.

The reason why she entered the palace was because Emperor Mingsheng was old and wanted to become the empress dowager above all others. She had suffered too much, and she wanted revenge like crazy, and wanted to make life difficult for those who looked down on her.

But what could she do in this era where men were respected? She pinned her hopes on her belly, thinking that she could become an imperial concubine, and then she became an imperial concubine through some means, and gave birth to a son, but she was not satisfied again. She wanted to use her son and climb up step by step.

Her heart became more and more out of control, and her thoughts became more and more terrible.

However...

can't you, a woman, do whatever you want in this palace?

What's more, Emperor Mingsheng is not senile yet. What he hates most is people who want to seize power from him, otherwise he would not have chosen Cheng Jiujiu's mother, Empress Xiande.

The mother of His Highness Ziyu was born a concubine's daughter and has no support from her family. Not to mention that she can't beat the mothers of those princes, she can't even beat those concubines who gave birth to princesses.

Every time he was wronged outside, his mother acted as if she didn't care, but when she returned to her own bedroom, she would stab him with a real knife. She blamed him and hated him, saying that it was because of his incompetence that his mother suffered so much grievance.

If he had a promising future, how could his mother be looked down upon by others?

Especially after Cheng Jiujiu was born, the mother of the Eighth Prince Ziyu was jealous and crazy compared to Cheng Jiujiu who was loved by everyone. She abused and scolded the Eighth Prince Ziyu almost every day.

Hatred grew, and the Eighth Prince Ziyu hated Cheng Jiujiu the most.

He kept an eye on Cheng Jiujiu, unwilling and dissatisfied. But as he watched, he found that the child was like a beam of light, illuminating his dark life.

Zi Yu felt like a person who had lost his way in the darkness. Only by looking at Cheng Xijiu could he see hope for the future.

However, his mother seemed to be crazy and could not stand Cheng Xijiu's good. At first, she only gave him some needles that others could not see, and then she directly tortured him.

She asked the Eighth Prince Zi Yu to kill Cheng Xijiu, so that Prince Zi Yu would be the youngest son of Emperor Mingsheng.

However, Prince Zi Yu refused. He liked to look at Cheng Xijiu's carefree and heartless smile, and he refused to agree no matter what.

Then, the jealous woman caught Cheng Xijiu and wanted to kill him with her own hands. One was the mother who had been abusing him since he was born, and the other was Cheng Xijiu who would sweetly call him the Eighth Brother.

At the time of the final choice, he pushed his mother away. His mother's head hit the corner of the table, and then she died.

Looking at the bright red blood, Ziyu had no regrets, and even felt a little relieved. He hugged Cheng Xijiu, threw the silver needle in Cheng Xijiu's hand, looked at Cheng Xijiu's little hand carefully, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Cheng Xijiu did not have even a needle hole injury.

"..." Cheng Xijiu, who was preparing to use the silver needle to calm the crazy woman, hugged the head of the eighth prince.

Ziyu, who did all this, hugged Cheng Xijiu's chubby little body and told him everything he had experienced over the years. If he didn't say it, he would go crazy, and even showed Cheng Xijiu the injuries on his body.

Seeing all this, Cheng Xijiu felt distressed. Not everyone is worthy of being a mother. She knew clearly that the Eighth Prince had a difficult childhood in the plot, and that his mother was crazy. But she just wanted to live comfortably and didn't care. Maybe she couldn't change what that crazy woman had done, but she could save the Eighth Prince from the sea of ​​suffering.

Watching the Eighth Prince, who always had a smile on his face and always showed gentleness and harmlessness, crying helplessly like a child, Cheng Xijiu slowly closed her eyes, "Brother, don't bear the name of matricide. Maybe she was not good enough, but now she is dead and everything is over. Jiuer will protect you in the future."

The Eighth Prince Ziyu hugged Cheng Xijiu and cried even more sadly.

At that time, Cheng Xijiu was only five years old.