Chapter 17 The Prince
The red sun is in front of the fragrant palace, the green willows are outside the beautiful palace. The cold winter snow is gone, and the warm breeze brings spring.
In Chang'an, people all say: "The peach blossoms in the East Palace are the most fragrant, and this is the place where people are most happy and carefree."
Zhao Wenyan is the child of the current emperor Zhao Yu and a palace maid, but he became the current crown prince only because Zhao Yu was over 60 years old this year and had only one son, Zhao Wenyan.
Besides, Zhao Yu was originally the Prince of Xiao, stationed at Heishui, and had always been a prince who pacified border rebellions. The throne itself was not his, but his younger brother Zhao Bing's.
Although Zhao Yu was also the son of his father and a palace maid, he was the eldest son. Unfortunately, Zhao Bing was the legitimate son of the emperor and empress. At that time, the eldest son was always the heir, not the eldest son, so the position of crown prince naturally went to Zhao Bing. However, Zhao Bing was born incompetent, with squinting eyes and a crooked mouth, and was completely incompetent.
If the crown prince is incompetent, won't he have to rule from behind the scenes? Seeing that the world will soon belong to Queen Wang, the various princes began to feel restless and ready to make a move.
Zhao Yu is the eldest of the nine princes, but he has the lowest status. He is often looked down upon and ridiculed. On the surface, Zhao Yu appears honest and simple, but in reality he is cruel and cunning.
When the nine princes fought for the throne, he first kept his troops in place, waiting for the court and several other princes to fight each other and exhaust their troops. Then he sent out his troops, defeated them all in one fell swoop, and finally sat on the throne of the emperor.
He murdered his father and brother, committing the most horrific sin. Perhaps it was God's punishment for him, leaving him sonless and without an heir. Until one day, he received a secret letter saying that if he met a palace maid at a certain time on a certain day and in a certain place, he would be able to have a son if he favored her.
Zhao Yu didn't believe it at first, but later, with the mentality of giving it a try, he ran to the place described in the envelope. Sure enough, he saw a charming woman with a slender waist and graceful figure dancing under the moon.
Zhao Yu was overjoyed, so he went to call the woman over and had sex with her that night. Later, the emperor and the maid made love day and night, and finally, after a month, the woman brought good news: she was pregnant.
After ten months of hard pregnancy, she actually gave birth to a son. From then on, Zhao Yu had his first and only son, Zhao Wenyan.
Not long after Zhao Wenyan was born, the palace maid died. Some said that she died of tuberculosis, while others said that Queen Jiang killed her. In short, after the palace maid died, Zhao Wenyan was adopted by the queen and became her adopted son. From the son of a palace maid, he became the eldest son and grandson, known as: His Royal Highness Prince Fu.
Prince Fu was gifted but frail and sickly. He was nearly dead from birth, and despite repeated dismissals of doctors, none of them could save him. One day, an unknown monk arrived in Chang'an, claiming he could cure the prince's illness.
The emperor initially disregarded this monk, but he unexpectedly cured every patient who sought his help in Chang'an. Determined to save his life, the emperor summoned the monk. A month after the monk's visit to the prince, he truly cured his illness. Everyone praised the prince as blessed. Thus, he earned the name "King of Fortune," meaning that all the blessings of the world rested in his hands.
This monk also stayed in the palace and became the prince's teacher, later known as Fu Yu Imperial Master.
The prince was now lying on a golden couch, surrounded by several handsome men and beautiful women, some holding juicy grapes, some holding silver wine jugs, their voices full of tenderness and vividness.
He was wearing a gauze dress as transparent as flowing water, shimmering and amazing. He was thin, with fair skin and a pair of charming crescent eyes, which made him look a bit like a fox spirit and a bit like a woman.
He was looking at a water mirror, in which were Li Yuanying, Qilang and his group.
"Wanwan, ah Wanwan, you are so beautiful, but why do you disagree when I want to marry you and insist on marrying such a loser!" The prince was originally calm and composed, but suddenly he became furious.
He stood up and overturned the fruit plates and delicacies in front of him. With a clang, the food scattered all over the floor, scaring everyone so much that they begged for mercy.
"Tell me! What is it that I can't give Wanwan, but this man can give it to her? I am second to none and above ten thousand people, who can compare to me?" The prince roared, his voice becoming sharp and piercing.
"You say!" The prince suddenly pointed to a girl squatting in the corner. There was a birthmark between her eyebrows, like a peach blossom.
The woman trembled with fear: "The prince is unparalleled in the world, the best in the world, no one can compare to him. That woman must be blind, that woman doesn't know what is good for her!"
Upon hearing this, the prince became even angrier: "Who are you? How dare you slander the woman I love most? Drag me out and give me thirty lashes!"
"Your Highness, I know I was wrong! Please forgive me!" The woman was so scared that she burst into tears and knelt down to beg for mercy.
But it was of no avail, as two big men came in and dragged the woman away.
"Shut up." The prince shook his head and looked at the rest of the people.
This farce was not the first time that it happened in the Eastern Palace. When the prince was angry, it was common for him to beat people with a stick, behead or kill them. What's worse, he might even implicate his family members.
"Your Highness, this is all Li Zhongdao's fault. Don't be angry." A man dressed in a python robe walked in from outside the curtain. "Miss Li is a young woman. Her marriage was arranged by her parents and the matchmaker. She has her heart set on marrying the prince, but she can't fulfill her dream. This is her pain. Your Highness, you are a daughter of gold. You can have whatever you want. If you like Miss Li, just take her away. Why bother about whether she's married or not?"
The prince, who was originally angry and wanted to arrest someone for execution, calmed down. He felt that what Eunuch Xue said made sense, and then he laughed heartily.
"Eunuch Xue is right, there is a reward!" He happily lay back on the golden couch. At this time, the servants all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Eunuch Xue bowed and glanced at the servants. "You fools, why don't you leave?"
The servants kowtowed and thanked the emperor as if they had been pardoned, and left the bedroom.
Eunuch Xue inadvertently walked over to the Crown Prince's incense burner. He fiddled with it a few times and smelled a strange fragrance. He extinguished the incense burner and said, "Your Highness, I have heard that there is a herb in the Western Regions called Zhuyu. This herb can be used as a perfume. If used, it can grant a person a long life and eternal youth. Zhuyu blooms once every ten years and bears fruit once every fifty years. I finally had someone obtain three or two of these plants from the cliffs of Zhaoyao Mountain in the Western Regions. I made some incense from them and wanted to present them to Your Highness."
"Oh? There is such a good thing? Why don't you bring it to me quickly?" The prince became excited.
Eunuch Xue glanced at the door and gave a wink. A young eunuch brought up a white jade box. He knelt down tremblingly and presented the incense box.
"In addition, this Zhuyu incense is beneficial to humans, but it is deadly to evil spirits. Burning Zhuyu incense can also help Your Highness get rid of evil spirits around him." After Eunuch Xue finished speaking, he poured out the original incense ash in the incense burner, spread new sand on it, picked up the incense box, took a little and sprinkled it on the white sand, and then lit it.
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