Faced with Xuan Yuanpeng's question, Xuan Yuanyu remained silent.
If it were him, could he do it?
After thinking for a long time, his answer was no!
Regardless of whether he can effectively manage the floods in Xiangnan after being sent there, or relieve the people of Xiangnan from their plight, he remains to be seen.
If Xiangnan had truly been well-governed by him and had the ability to generate tax revenue, he probably wouldn't have been so foolish as to hand over all the tax revenue!
That was his fiefdom! He put so much effort into controlling the floods in his fiefdom, ensuring the people had enough to eat and wear, and even generating tax revenue. Why should he hand it over?
He was the local tyrant of his fiefdom, and the taxes from that fiefdom should naturally belong to him.
Ultimately, he couldn't be like Xuan Yuanzhan. But that didn't mean he was willing to be replaced by Xuan Yuanzhan. He couldn't bear to let Xuan Yuanzhan so easily take away everything that belonged to him.
"Father is determined to make Xuanyuan Zhan the crown prince, isn't he?" Xuanyuan Yu suddenly said in a gloomy tone.
Xuanyuan Peng was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting Xuanyuan Yu to say these things. After a moment of silence, he said, "Yes, I want to wait for Zhan'er to return so that he can be recognized as his ancestor and made the crown prince!"
He didn't want to hide these things from them, since they would find out sooner or later anyway.
He was truly eager to acknowledge his son and marry Ya'er.
Even though he had already guessed this answer, Xuan Yuan Yu's heart still ached. It was as if his beloved, who had once deeply loved him, had finally left him, and the happiness he could have grasped had been lost. That indescribable sense of powerlessness made it hard for Xuan Yuan Yu to breathe: "Does your son have no chance at all?"
Xuanyuan Peng sensed Xuanyuan Yu's sadness and helplessness. After all, he was his own son, whom he had raised from childhood and wanted to entrust with important responsibilities. Seeing him like this, Xuanyuan Peng felt bad too: "Yu'er, you don't have the talent to be an emperor. It's not so bad for you to be a carefree prince. Zhan'er is kind and magnanimous. He won't hold grudges against you for small things. As long as the three of you don't do anything rebellious, given Zhan'er's temperament, he won't treat you unfairly."
This is actually one of the reasons why he wanted to pass the throne to Zhan'er.
It's safe to say that if any one of the eldest, second, or third sons were to sit on the throne, they would not let Zhan'er go and would definitely target the Holy King's Mansion first.
Su Huiyan and Consort Liang will not let Ya'er off the hook either.
But none of the three of them could match Zhan'er's abilities. If they really wanted to kill Zhan'er, he probably wouldn't just sit and wait to die. Besides, he also had to protect Ya'er, his wife, and his son. He had no choice but to fight desperately.
The final result will only be a lose-lose situation.
But passing the throne to Zhan'er would be different. He knew Zhan'er's temperament best. Like Ya'er, he was stubborn but soft-hearted. Although he never admitted that Zhan'er was his biological son, he always considered his father-son relationship with him and his brotherhood with Xuan Yuan Yu and the others.
So every time they fought, Zhan'er would hold back and wouldn't actually hurt the three of them.
He believed that such a broad-minded, kind, and generous child would not harm those three even if he ascended the throne in the future.
Of course, the premise is that they don't cross Zhan'er's bottom line.
Seeing that Xuanyuan Peng was determined to pass the throne to Xuanyuan Zhan, a dark glint flashed in Xuanyuan Yu's eyes, and he suddenly pulled out a dagger from his sleeve.
Xuanyuan Peng was startled by Xuanyuan Yu and immediately stared at him warily: "What do you want to do?"
Seeing Xuan Yuanpeng lean back warily, Xuan Yuanyu suddenly turned the dagger around and held it to his own neck.
"Yu'er!" Xuan Yuan Yu's sudden change of heart terrified Xuan Yuan Peng: "Are you crazy? Put down the dagger!"
Xuanyuan Yu looked at Xuanyuan Peng with a resolute expression, as if he were saying goodbye to him: "Your subject has lost everything. Your subject embezzled disaster relief grain. Your subject is guilty. Your subject will atone with his death!"
As he spoke, Xuanyuan Yu pretended to raise the dagger high and stab it into his own neck!
"Yu'er!" Xuan Yuanpeng was terrified and immediately rushed over to snatch his dagger.
Xuanyuan Yu stared at Xuanyuan Peng's hand and seized the opportunity to make a heavy slash.
Crimson blood gushed out instantly, but Xuan Yuan Yu seemed stunned by the sight. He immediately dropped the dagger in a panic and took Xuan Yuan Peng's hand in his own: "Father, your hand... Your son didn't mean it, please forgive me, Father!"
Xuanyuan Peng didn't care about his hand at this moment and immediately kicked away the dagger that had fallen at Xuanyuan Yu's feet.
Xuanyuan Yu then took the opportunity to drip the blood that Xuanyuan Peng had shed onto the small black jar in his sleeve pocket.
The hot blood seeped into the small black jar little by little. No one noticed that the little insects that were dormant in the jar suddenly seemed to smell something that could excite them and became restless.
Having squeezed out enough blood, Xuanyuan Yu held Xuanyuan Peng's hand with fear and guilt: "Father, you have lost so much blood, let your son bandage you."
Xuanyuan Peng hadn't expected to get injured, but as long as Xuanyuan Yu didn't do anything foolish again, that was fine: "It's just a minor injury, the imperial physician can handle it. As for you, your body and hair are gifts from your parents, so don't do things like this again!"
Feeling Xuan Yuanpeng's concern, Xuan Yuanyu struggled internally once again, finding it difficult to bring himself to do it.
But when he thought of Xuanyuan Zhan, he hardened his heart again and looked at Xuanyuan Peng with guilt, saying, "Father, it was all because I was momentarily confused and hurt you. Please let me bandage you up, so that I can feel better."
Seeing Xuan Yuan Yu's guilty and remorseful appearance, Xuan Yuan Peng sighed softly: "Alright, there's a spare medicine box over there. Go and get it to bandage me."
"Yes." Xuan Yuan Yu was delighted and immediately went to get the medicine box.
The wound was on the palm of Xuanyuan Peng's hand. Xuanyuan Yu first used a cloth to wipe away the blood before taking out some ointment from the medicine box.
After applying the medicine to Xuanyuan Peng, Xuanyuan Yu began to bandage him with gauze.
What Xuanyuan Peng didn't see was that while Xuanyuan Yu was getting his wound bandaged, he slipped something into his sleeve.
The lid of the small black jar in the sleeve pocket was opened, and a small, eerie green insect flew out and burrowed directly into the gauze.
Xuanyuan Peng seemed to see a flash of green light, but when he tried to look closely, it disappeared. He thought he was seeing things and didn't think about it further.
Xuanyuan Yu, however, was overjoyed when he confirmed that the little insect had flown into the gauze. He pretended to bandage Xuanyuan Peng, but actually kept an eye on the little insect the whole time.
The little insect seemed to have just tasted Xuanyuan Peng's blood, so it followed the blood and burrowed into his wound.
Under the layers of gauze, Xuanyuan Peng didn't notice anything unusual. He only suddenly felt a sharp pain in his wound, as if he had been pricked by a needle.
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