Chapter 124 The Crown Prince Whips the Fourth Prince.
At the end of May, Emperor Xianping, who was even more averse to the summer heat than in previous years, once again took his concubines, children, and a group of civil and military officials to the Western Garden to escape the heat. Back at the Marquis's residence, Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun were still busy with their sons' weddings and remained in the capital as usual. Luo Fu was far from being old enough to worry about her children's marriages, so she left Xiao Hong, who went to study at the Imperial Academy early in the morning and returned late at night, in the care of her grandmother, while the mother and daughter went to the Western Garden with Xiao Yu.
Last time, Chengjie had to be taken everywhere by Luo Fu. Now, Chengjie has become very familiar with the little princess of Princess Yi'an's mansion. Every day, the little princess would send a eunuch to pick up Chengjie. The two little girls would run around and play happily in the West Garden. Occasionally, they would also bring along the little granddaughters of Princess Qi and Princess Shun who were close in age.
“Look, we’re all grandmothers now, a whole generation younger than Fu’er.”
Hearing Luo Fu and Princess Yi'an talk about their inseparable children, Princess Qi said with a mixture of envy and emotion.
Although Kangping had no children, she had nieces and grandnieces who were already called "great-aunt" by the children.
Luo Fu looked at Princess Qi suspiciously for a few moments: "Princess, are you trying to take advantage of me? You are a few years older than me, but look at your bright and beautiful appearance. Anyone would think we are of the same generation. So, you can act like a princess to me, but don't expect me to respect you by a generation."
Princess Qi was the oldest among those present, at forty-eight years old, perfectly capable of being Luo Fu's mother. But who doesn't love to hear sweet words? When Luo Fu said that, Princess Qi smiled radiantly.
While Luo Fu was chatting and laughing with Empress Xie and several other noble ladies at the imperial palace, Cheng Jie'er and the little princess were squatting on the ground under the shade of a tree by the West Garden Lake, each holding a small wooden horse. They were imitating the adults' horse racing, and whoever helped their wooden horse to the other tree root first would win.
Standing beside her were Yinxing, the maidservant sent by Luo Fu to look after Cheng Jie'er, and two maidservants and two eunuchs sent by Princess Yi'an to look after the young princess.
With the young masters having a great time, the five members of Ginkgo had an easy job and could even enjoy the scenery and chat.
Suddenly, a group of figures of varying heights appeared in the distance. Lingfeng, the maidservant beside the young princess, craned her neck to look, pursed her lips, and muttered to Yinxing, "It's those two little tyrants again."
Yinxing recognized them as the fourth and fifth princes of Consort Li.
In recent years, Emperor Xianping's harem has seen an increase in young newcomers, but Consort Li is the most favored when it comes to serving him in bed. Following the second prince, the second princess, and the fourth prince, Consort Li also gave birth to the fifth prince, making a total of four children.
Consort Li valued the Second Prince's studies highly. During this visit to the West Garden, the Second Prince rarely had time to play. The ten-year-old Second Princess had her own playmates, who were daughters of officials, and was impatient to help her mother coax her younger brothers. As a result, the seven-year-old Fourth Prince and the four-year-old Fifth Prince always came out to play together, and they especially liked to hang around Cheng Jie'er and the Little Princess.
"Where did this Trojan horse come from?"
After running over, the fourth prince stared at the lifelike wooden horses in the hands of the two girls and asked.
Cheng Jie kept her mother's instructions in mind and tried to speak as little as possible in front of the two princes, letting the little princess, who was of equally noble status and not afraid of being bullied by the princes, deal with the two.
"My mother had it carved for me." The little princess put away her wooden horse, and seeing that Cheng'er was also holding her wooden horse tightly in her hand, she looked at the fourth prince warily.
"I want one too!" The Fifth Prince, who was the least able to hide his thoughts, suddenly walked towards Cheng'er and reached out to snatch her.
Cheng-jie was two years older than the Fifth Prince and much taller, so she easily dodged him.
The Fifth Prince wouldn't leave her alone, but the little princess had a temper. She raised the wooden horse in her hand and smacked the Fifth Prince on the shoulder: "Go ask your mother for it. This is mine, and I can give it to whomever I want!"
The fifth prince, who had been beaten, glanced at his brother, let out a howl, and started wailing.
Upon seeing this, the Fourth Prince strode towards Cheng'er. He was seven years old, tall and strong, and Cheng'er, knowing she couldn't match his strength, turned and ran away. The Fourth Prince gave chase. Yinxing tried to protect her young mistress, but was stopped by the eunuchs brought by the Fourth and Fifth Princes. Although the young princess wanted to help, her four attendants were also blocked. They could force their way through, but the servants had their own agendas. After all, it wasn't their young princess being chased. Offending the Fourth Prince for the sake of an official's daughter might not only result in them being beaten and wronged, but it could also give Consort Li grounds to complain to the Emperor about the princess and the young princess.
And so, Cheng'er could only run desperately toward the palace on her own. As long as she reached her mother and the Empress, the Fourth Prince would certainly not dare to chase after her.
The two were only a year apart in age. The Fourth Prince had started learning martial arts, but Cheng'er was also a mischievous little monkey running around in the Marquis's mansion. They chased each other, and the Fourth Prince hadn't caught up with Cheng'er even after she had run far away. However, the distance had already shortened, so even though he recognized the Crown Prince riding on horseback towards them, the Fourth Prince didn't take it seriously. He suddenly lunged forward, knocking Cheng'er down hard, and he himself fell to the ground as well.
Cheng Jie was caught off guard and reacted a moment too slowly. The Fourth Prince stood up first, picked up the wooden horse he had thrown, and smiled triumphantly at Cheng Jie, who was still lying on the grass: "Run, can you outrun me?"
Cheng-jie stood up and glared at him angrily: "Give it back! That was a gift from the princess!"
The fourth prince not only refused to return the money, but also shoved Cheng'er, causing her to fall to the ground. He even tried to kick her again, saying, "Who do you think you are, daring to..."
Before he could finish speaking, and before his foot could even touch Cheng-jie, a whooshing sound suddenly came from behind him.
Before the Fourth Prince could react, Cheng'er saw clearly how the Crown Prince's whip struck the Fourth Prince's arm as he gripped the wooden horse. Then, as the Crown Prince's horse continued to run forward, the Fourth Prince was also suddenly pulled by the whip wrapped around his wrist, and his not-so-large body slid forward a distance along the grass before stopping.
Cheng-jie was dumbfounded!
The fourth prince was stunned after the fall, and it took him a while to realize the pain of his wrist being flung and the grass rubbing against his wrist and face.
"You dare hit me?" The fourth prince, who had stood up crookedly, roared fiercely at the crown prince who was dismounting. He was so angry that his voice cracked.
The Crown Prince was nineteen years old and disdained to argue with a seven-year-old boy. He didn't even look at the Fourth Prince. He simply helped the dazed Cheng'er up, then knelt down on one knee to look at Cheng'er's face and examine her little hands to make sure she wasn't injured.
Cheng-jie shook her head: "I'm fine."
The grass was soft, and she was just scared by the Fourth Prince; she didn't feel any pain anywhere.
Relieved, the Crown Prince straightened up and asked Cheng'er what had happened. Learning that the Fourth Prince had tried to steal her wooden horse, the Crown Prince found the horse that had been thrown nearby, placed Cheng'er on his own saddle, and took her to the young princess's side. The Fourth Prince chased after him, yelling, but his legs were far slower than the Crown Prince's steed, and he was left far behind.
Watching Cheng'er return to the little princess's side, the Crown Prince coldly looked at the palace maids and eunuchs brought by the Fourth and Fifth Princes: "Consort Li arranged for you to take care of the two princes, not only to protect them, but also to dissuade them from doing anything reckless. Yet you have done this kind of thing, acting as accomplices to the tyrant. Do you think you are worthy of Consort Li's good intentions?"
The four men knelt down, their faces pale, and repeatedly admitted their mistakes.
The Crown Prince said, "Each of you shall be punished with fifty slaps to the face. Go far away and have them slapped from behind."
The four men exchanged glances, not daring to disobey the Crown Prince. They crawled back twenty or thirty steps on their knees, then turned around and slapped each other's faces repeatedly.
When they finished fighting and wanted to come back to kneel again, the Crown Prince ordered them to take the two princes away.
With the annoying person gone, the little princess happily rushed into the crown prince's arms, looking up at him with admiration and saying, "Uncle is so amazing!"
The three princes on Consort Li's side weren't very afraid of their mother. She hadn't seen how they behaved in front of their uncle, but today her uncle had whipped the fourth prince and punished both the fourth and fifth princes. She figured they wouldn't dare bully her and Cheng'er anymore.
The crown prince smiled and patted his niece's head.
Cheng'er, who was also frightened by the Crown Prince's imposing manner of beating and punishing people, was stunned when she suddenly saw the Crown Prince's smiling face. For the first time, she felt that there was someone in the world who could smile even more beautifully than her father.
Upon learning that the Fourth and Fifth Princes frequently disturbed his niece and Cheng'er's playtime, the Crown Prince specially transferred one of his eunuchs to serve temporarily by his niece's side until everyone returned to the capital.
With someone backing them up, Chengjie was very happy. After playing, she returned to her own courtyard and excitedly told her mother about the prince's majesty.
Luo Fu smiled, but was shocked. That was the Crown Prince! In her limited understanding, he had grown from a child fairy to a young male immortal. He was a cold and aloof prince, like Empress Xie, who seemed untouched by worldly affairs. How could he have made such a move as whipping a seven-year-old child?
When her beloved daughter was bullied, Luo Fu naturally thought the Fourth Prince deserved to be beaten. However, she couldn't imagine the Crown Prince beating someone. In her imagination, the Crown Prince would at most stop the Fourth Prince from horseback, or jump off his horse to stop the Fourth Prince's violence, and then give him a serious scolding.
That night, Luo Fu told Xiao Yu about it and asked her question: "You spend a lot of time with the Crown Prince. Has the Crown Prince ever punished any of the palace servants around him?"
With Xiao Yu's return to the capital, his status as the Crown Prince's tutor was restored. It was clear that although Emperor Xianping was often angered by Xiao Yu, he recognized Xiao Yu's character as worthy of being the Crown Prince's tutor.
Xiao Yu was equally shocked, because the Crown Prince he often interacted with was intelligent, diligent and studious, and respected the virtuous and loved scholars. He was flawless in every word and deed, which almost overturned Xiao Yu's belief that "no one is perfect and no ruler is a saint." However, in a place where he could not see, the Crown Prince was able to whip a seven-year-old child.
It is certainly wrong for the Fourth Prince to bully his daughter, but the Fourth Prince is still young. If the news of the Fourth Prince bullying his daughter and the Crown Prince whipping the Fourth Prince were to spread, it would certainly receive different opinions from the world.
Before the world knew about this, Emperor Xianping listened to his fourth and fifth princes crying and pleading with him, especially the fourth prince, whose face was covered in tears.
"You deserve to be hit. Who told you to bully people?"
Emperor Xianping said with a stern face, even feeling fortunate that the Crown Prince was present and prevented the Fourth Prince from making an even bigger mistake. Otherwise, if Cheng'er had really been seriously injured by the Fourth Prince, Xiao Yu would definitely have come to him to seek justice for his daughter. How could a dignified emperor raise two scoundrels? Did he not have any face in front of Xiao Yu?
The fourth and fifth princes not only failed to receive comfort from their father, but were also punished by being confined to their quarters for ten days and required to copy an article every day.
The two brothers ran back to Li Fei's side and cried again.
Consort Li nearly died of anger. That despicable old emperor, his heart is almost completely swayed towards Empress Xie's hometown!
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Author's Note: Single update tonight, but double updates will resume tomorrow, continuing until the second generation is knocked out and goes offline in the final battle. I've set this flag here, and everyone is welcome to supervise!
100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow! And while you're at it, keep asking for nutrient solution! [shy]
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