Chapter 39
The Third Prince was already furious when he saw Xue Jin'an bringing food to that little eunuch, but the Fifth Prince shut him up with a quiet "You're so dirty."
The Fifth Prince then pulled out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve, poured out a black pill, and pressed it under his tongue. He said nothing else, yet it was as if he had already spoken a thousand words.
He clearly demonstrated his dislike for the word.
"You little brat, you really think I wouldn't dare touch you?" The Third Prince rolled up his sleeves, ready to give him a good beating.
The Fifth Prince immediately clutched his chest as if his heart condition was about to flare up, took a couple of deep breaths, and looked up at the person with a timid, half-raised face. His voice was weak and pitiful. "Third Brother, you're not going to hit me, are you? It's alright. Although I'm naturally weak and have a heart condition, and the imperial physician has predicted that I won't live past twenty, I'm fine. I can take it. Even if you punch me and take half my life, even if I'm lying on my deathbed, I will never tell Father that you did it."
“Of course, I think even if Father knew you were the murderer, he wouldn’t blame you, right? After all, everyone knows, doesn’t he?” The gentleness in his voice vanished, replaced by a wicked smile. His expression turned mocking as he whispered in his ear, “Third Brother, you are just that kind of tyrannical, incorrigible person.”
"Xue Junjue!" The Third Prince was enraged, his face turning pale and then red. His raised fist clenched so tightly that it made a cracking sound, which sounded quite eerie, but in the end, the fist did not actually fall.
The reason why they couldn't fall was quite simple: the Fifth Prince's words were both a provocation and a warning, and he even brought up the Emperor. The Third Prince was successfully influenced by his words.
However, seeing that the other party's reaction was entirely within his expectations, the Fifth Prince was not very happy, and even felt uninterested: his third brother was always like a puppet on a string, and it was really not interesting to play with him.
As for why the Fifth Prince would do it even though he knew it was pointless... of course, it was for revenge! The Fifth Prince still remembered that person's words about him being a spoilsport!
So when he saw the Third Prince stuck there, unsure whether to make a move or not, he pretended not to know anything and refused to give him a way out.
Just as the Third Prince was about to lose his temper, the Eighth Prince rushed out and hugged his arm, saying with tears in his eyes, "Fifth Brother must not have meant it, Third Brother, please don't be angry."
Hearing these familiar words, the Fifth Prince's lips twitched slightly. He thought to himself: Others change the name but not the substance, but this is completely changing the name. It's just a perfunctory excuse.
The Eighth Prince, with his keen senses, immediately noticed the Fifth Prince's undisguised expression and inwardly groaned: at his age, he hadn't even finished his elementary school lessons yet, and he was already being generous by offering a way out! Moreover, if it weren't for the fact that Consort Xian and his Third Brother were such a difficult pair to find, he wouldn't have even bothered with those two perfunctory words.
Only the Third Prince, who was being treated perfunctorily, didn't feel slighted at all. He jumped down the steps that were presented to him, turned around to change his clothes, and before leaving, he cursed at the Fifth Prince, "A sickly brat who'll die young."
The Fifth Prince didn't even bother to react to this indifferent remark. He turned his head and met Xue Jin'an's gaze, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
After analyzing the information given by the little eunuch, Xue Jin'an turned around and saw the scene of the confrontation between the five princes. He took in all the changes in the fifth prince's expression and tone, and said that the skill had been added to the deluxe package of the mecha.
Xue Jin'an walked over and was met with a sarcastic remark from the Fifth Prince, "Seventh Brother, so you really are a bodhisattva."
"Unfortunately, you can save him once, but not a second time." Although the Fifth Prince did not know who instructed the little eunuch, he could tell that the little eunuch was intentionally leading them to Consort De's horse farm.
As for their purpose, perhaps it was aimed at the third brother, or perhaps at the seventh brother.
The third brother brought this upon himself. Consort Xian offended people with her words, and the third brother's methods were too ruthless. As for the seventh brother, the only people he offended were himself and the fourth brother. Neither of them carried out this attack, so it could only be because of the Consort Zhen case.
Of course, it's also possible that she was targeting the Fourth Brother. After all, Consort Zhen, as the "victim" of the case, is the key to the truth, and someone might want to silence her.
Since it couldn't possibly be aimed at him, it doesn't matter who it is; he can just watch the show from the sidelines.
"...Even if Third Brother is stupid, he would never let a servant who dares to slander him get away with it. He has no choice but to die." The Fifth Prince spoke casually, as if he were not talking about a human life. He also commented, "Making an enemy of Third Brother is the worst possible strategy. His uncle is the benchmark that Father Emperor set up to appease the 50,000 military households on the border. As long as he is there, the military households will have hope and will not cause chaos."
"Qian Dezhong and his Tiger Battalion are still useful, and he's an extremely protective and reckless man. If you offend Third Brother, you'll offend him, and your martial arts lessons will be in trouble from now on." The Fifth Prince sneered at him, "It's not worth it for a eunuch."
The Fifth Prince believed that Xue Jin'an and the Third Prince fought to save someone, or rather, everyone present thought so.
However, in reality, Xue Jin'an simply couldn't stand seeing good batteries being violently destroyed; otherwise, he wouldn't have let the Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince cause trouble for so long.
It's just a matter of replacing parts; a short hibernation period would be fine, right? However, humans' hearts race uncontrollably at the sight of blood, and battery health will decline as well.
Humans are so fragile. Let's wait until he recovers some of his magic and can use his abilities more stably before replacing him all at once.
The Fifth Prince suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were being stared at by some ferocious beast. However, the feeling quickly disappeared as if it were an illusion. He looked around warily and strangely.
They saw the Fourth Prince, who was moving in this direction, get so frightened by an insect that he retreated a few steps back to his original position, cowering under the tree and peeking out like a thief.
The Fifth Prince withdrew his gaze in disgust and stared at Xue Jin'an again.
“He was going to die anyway.” Xue Jin’an first briefly explained that he, the King of Hell, had no intention of writing his name in the Book of Life and Death, and then answered his last question, “All humans are the same; there is no such thing as worth it or not.”
In his eyes, they were all just humanoid self-propelled parts depots.
Xue Jin'an was stating the facts, but to the Fifth Prince, it sounded like he was proclaiming some ideology.
"...You actually think that way?" In ancient times, when imperial power was supreme and humanity was divided into different classes, the idea of equality for all was not only heretical, but also unheard of and unbelievable.
This was the first time the Fifth Prince had heard such an idea. He was so shocked that his mind went blank for a moment. He pressed his fist to his lips and after a long while, he said hesitantly, "You don't really want to become a Buddha on the spot, do you?"
He looked Xue Jin'an up and down, and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Can he produce relics? I want to see."
Xue Jin'an, who heard everything, was speechless.
Sarira (relics) are Buddhist artifacts, and those he knows and can access are people who practice vegetarianism and chant Buddhist scriptures...
Xue Jin'an asked earnestly, "Should we burn Consort Zhen's body?"
The fourth prince, who had just walked over and heard this, exclaimed: "No!!!"
The Third Prince went to change his clothes, just like bending down to pick up a pen in math class; when he came back, no one could understand what had happened.
The fourth prince clung to the fifth prince's leg, wailing, "I won't get up unless you agree, waaaaaah! No, you really can't! Take it out on me, waaaaah..."
The Fourth Prince originally intended to hug Xue Jin'an's leg and howl, but Xue Jin'an, in his anti-fall mode, dodged him several times and instead let out a "whoosh" and hugged the Fifth Prince, who was watching the schadenfreude from the side.
"You, let go of me!" The Fifth Prince failed to pull his leg back again. His jaw tightened and loosened repeatedly. He really wanted to crush the Fourth Prince's head. However, seeing the Fourth Prince's tearful appearance, he withdrew his outstretched hand, clenched it into a fist in front of him, and closed his eyes tightly.
The Third Prince couldn't understand what was going on, but given the hatred the Fifth Prince had stirred up earlier, he chuckled and stood there with his arms crossed, watching leisurely. "Fifth Brother, isn't this retribution coming a bit too fast? How about you beg me, maybe I'll take pity on you and help you out?"
The Fifth Prince smiled insincerely and said, "It's alright, Third Brother. Fourth Brother can hug me if he wants. It's just a bit noisy, but we are brothers and sons of Father. We should help each other. Since Fourth Brother has a need, I, as his younger brother, will satisfy it. He can cry and scream for as long as he wants."
The Fifth Prince subtly planted the seed in the Third Prince's mind through his words that "the Fourth Prince cries loudly and for a long time."
The Fifth Prince believed that the Third Prince would be the first to lose patience.
As expected, the Third Prince couldn't stand it for long and strode over with a look of annoyance.
Xue Jin'an smelled a scent emanating from him, like the pheromones of insects in nature, mixed with a fresh grassy fragrance. It was probably the scent of a sachet or the fragrance of perfumed clothes, completely different from the scent on the Third Prince before.
The Third Prince grabbed the Fourth Prince by the back of his collar and lifted him up, saying, "Stop making so much noise, if you cry again I'll beat you to death."
With a fist the size of a clay pot placed in front of him, the Fourth Prince immediately fell silent, his entire demeanor exuding docility.
They headed towards the horse farm of Consort De in the Imperial Beast Garden. The little eunuch leading the way cleaned up the bloodstains on the Third Prince's body while he went to change his clothes. He also changed into a new set of clothes, which were a bit too big and didn't fit him well, so they must have been someone else's.
He seems to be fine now, except for his pale complexion; he's even walking normally.
The fourth prince stared in disbelief, then quietly nudged the fifth prince and whispered, "He recovered so quickly, did seventh brother give him some kind of magic pill?"
The Fifth Prince also lowered his voice, "I don't know what kind of elixir I fed you, but I know I'm going to break your fingers."
The fourth prince quickly withdrew his finger, daring not to act rashly again.
However, he was a restless soul, and after a short while of quiet, he reverted to his old ways. This time, however, he chose to talk to the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince had to keep an eye on the Third Prince and also had to talk to the Fourth Prince. He was really overwhelmed and could barely maintain his smile.
Fortunately, the distance between the Imperial Beast Garden and the Imperial Horse Stable was not too far. After walking for about 15 minutes, they saw the stone tablet with the four characters "Qilian Horse Farm" engraved on it.
Qilian was the name given to the horse farm by Consort De, supposedly to commemorate a rockery in her old residence.
—The Lin family's old residence is in Yangzhou. Lord Lin Ruofu worked in the Ministry of Rites for many years, responsible for envoys to foreign countries. He also served as the representative of the Great Qi Dynasty and signed a fifty-year peace treaty with the powerful empire that dominated the north. He reached a cooperation agreement with the other side before the Rong and Di peoples, thus maintaining the stability of the border.
After Lord Lin was promoted to Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he received a large mansion bestowed by the emperor and basically settled down in the capital. Only then did he bring his daughter, who had been raised in his hometown, to live with him. Soon after, the imperial concubine selection took place.
In other words, Consort De actually lived in her old residence in Yangzhou before entering the palace, so it's understandable that she would miss the plants and stones of her old residence.
Qilian Horse Ranch is an open ranch, surrounded only by a wooden fence without any walls. The only two buildings inside are the stables and the warehouse. The entire ranch is covered with high-quality pasture. It is said that in addition to horses, Consort De also raised some cattle and sheep there.
Without the obstruction of walls, they could see everything within their field of vision. They saw Consort De, dressed in riding attire, sitting upright on a large horse of dark, snow-white color, her head tilted and eyes lowered, while the eldest prince held the reins and looked up to speak to his mother.
Perhaps fearing to startle the horse, the eldest prince deliberately controlled his voice, and even the third prince, who had achieved minor mastery of internal energy, couldn't hear him for a long time.
However, the Third Prince's thoughts were not on the First Prince, but rather he was staring intently at the horse. Wasn't it the Black Cloud Snow Treading Horse that he had been thinking about for a long time and had someone take good care of? But he hadn't been able to see it at the Imperial Horse Stables just now!
This horse is indeed well cared for. Not to mention its glossy coat, it has grown quite a bit in size. If it weren't for its extremely rare coloration and the fact that it was a wild horse presented as tribute, which had fought with all the horses in the Imperial Stables due to its fierce nature, resulting in a damaged tail that was cut off, making it a short-tailed horse, the Third Prince would have thought that it was actually the mother horse that gave birth to it.
Xue Jin'an did manage to read his lips, but to his surprise, the lip readings he produced were completely garbled and unrecognizable. Excluding the possibility that the Crown Prince's Mandarin accent was too heavy, it was as if the language was mismatched.
Xue Jin'an switched his input method to a "Speak Any Dialect" mode, but didn't have time to use it.
Consort De, who had been listening without saying a word, used her riding whip to push the eldest prince backwards against his forehead. She then nimbly dismounted, tossed the whip to a maid behind her, and walked out.
The eldest prince looked helpless and took two steps to catch up, saying, "Mother, I'll see you off."
"No need." Consort De left the horse farm without even turning her head, not even glancing at Xue Jin'an and the others.
The eldest prince was quite courteous, performing the farewell etiquette of a junior, bowing and standing until Consort De's figure had disappeared into the distance before standing up.
He then addressed each of them by their titles, not even missing Xue Jin'an and the otherwise unremarkable Eighth Prince. A perfectly curved smile appeared on his lips, making him look as gentle and refined as jade. "You've arrived."
The Fifth Prince also laughed, but his laugh was not a pleasant one; instead, it carried a strangely malicious undertone.
“Our eldest brother doesn’t seem surprised that we’ve come,” the Fifth Prince said, pointing at him.
"Xiao Wu looks much better. Is the wound on your side any better? Has your angina been relieved? I recently acquired a century-old ginseng. I'll have it made into Ginseng Nourishing Pills for you." The First Prince first inquired about the Fifth Prince's health before answering his question, "My mother likes spirited horses. I think Xiao San will definitely come to see them."
The Third Prince said in an unpleasant tone, "And you say that? If you hadn't taken all the good horses, would I have even come here?"
"That's just because the hay at this horse ranch is better, so we plan to keep them here for a while." The First Prince was good at tailoring his approach. To the Fifth Prince, who was sarcastic and ill-intentioned, he would first show concern before answering the question. To the Third Prince, who was hot-tempered and impatient, he would answer the question first and then ask with concern, "Third Prince, what happened to the injury on your face?"
"I was beaten by my seventh brother." The third prince showed no shame whatsoever, not feeling that there was anything wrong with being beaten by his younger brother who was several years younger than him. Instead, he raised his chin and said with inexplicable pride, "Although my seventh brother doesn't have internal strength, he's a good prospect. He hits pretty hard."
"Little Seven is so powerful? It seems that our Great Qi will not lack military generals in the future." The First Prince's few words completely dispelled the Third Prince's dissatisfaction, and the latter was so happy that he would be wagging his tail if he had one.
After the eldest prince finished speaking, his gaze fell precisely on Xue Jin'an. He looked him up and down and said with a smile, "Little Seven, you seem to have grown taller since last time I saw you, but you are still too thin. You need to eat properly."
The eldest prince appeared very gentle, and his voice was low and soft, like a breeze entering the ear without any aggression. Before one knew it, people had taken his words to heart. Even the usually irritable and easily angered third prince seemed to have calmed down.
Xue Jin'an didn't dislike him; in fact, she found his unchanging tone somewhat endearing, just like that of the AI lifeforms.
When Xue Jin'an didn't mimic others' tones of voice, his tone was quite steady. His voice and the First Prince's voice were like different voice packs; his was the "male voice," while the First Prince's was a "gentle male voice" with a prefix.
Xue Jin'an observed him carefully and found that although his smile was different from the standard smile, with the corners of his mouth being about five points higher than the standard, he could always keep the smile in a roughly the same position after speaking.
This is a perfect match, it just might have some flaws in the data it includes, but that's not important.
It was rare to encounter someone so agreeable, so Xue Jin'an was in a good mood. He was so pleased that he even carefully sensed this part of the emotional garbage and then saved the data named "happy". In the future, if he had such an emotion, it would not be directly thrown to the cleaning station and cleared away by a rocket, but would become emotional garbage that needed to be manually cleared.
"I haven't grown taller, but I've gained weight." Xue Jin'an was tolerant of this fellow human's flaws. He answered the question seriously and accurately reported his own height and weight data to fill in the database for the other person.
The eldest prince's smile faltered slightly, perhaps realizing his mistake and undergoing a self-examination.
"I'm truly a great phone, a great mentor, a great code life," Xue Jin'an thought.
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