"opposite?"
Chu Hong laughed, and there was an indescribable sadness in his laughter.
"Where can I go after rebelling? Back to the Western Regions? Do you think Amur will recognize me as the prince of the Great Chu?"
"If I stay in Da Chu, my father has already laid the plan. If I make the slightest move, I will be doomed."
He stood up at the prison door, looking at the dark sky outside, and muttered:
"I used to think I wasn't good enough, and that's why my father didn't like me. Even when I broke my leg while practicing archery, I still gritted my teeth and got up. I read military books until dawn, and I didn't dare sleep even when my eyes were red. I always thought that if I worked harder, I would finally get a look from him."
"But it wasn't until I heard the rumors that day that I suddenly figured it out. Ha!"
He suddenly turned around and looked at Chu Lang. "It's not that he doesn't like me, but he doesn't need to like me at all. I'm just like the Ferghana horses in the horse farm outside Beijing. As long as I can run and fight, who cares if the horse is happy or not?"
Chu Lang sat on the ground, looking at the scarlet in Chu Hong's eyes, and suddenly felt a little scared.
This younger brother, whom he had always looked down upon, seemed like a different person at this moment. There was only death and calmness in his eyes.
"Then...what are you going to do?" Chu Lang hesitated for a while, but still asked the question in his mind.
Chu Hong laughed at himself, "What else can I do?"
"Of course I will continue to be my father's 'good chess piece'. If he wants to use me to annex the Western Regions, I will help him. If he wants me to deal with Amur, I will go. But..."
He suddenly leaned over and patted Chu Lang's face. "I'll let him know that even chess pieces have their own tempers. If he wants to use me to gain control of the Western Regions, he'll have to pay a price. For example... starting with you?"
Chu Lang's pupils trembled violently, and instantly enlarged more than ten times.
"W-What do you want to do?"
Chu Hong looked at him expressionlessly, "What do you think? I just praised you for being smart, but you always act stupidly at the critical moment."
Chu Lang was horrified and backed away with his hands, "You, don't come over here..."
"I, I was wrong. If you're willing to let me go, I will never target you again. I swear..."
Chu Lang kept begging for mercy, but he couldn't get any sympathy from Chu Hong.
He stepped forward, holding the bottle of poison in his hand, murderous intent suddenly flashing in his eyes.
When Chu Lang was forced into a corner with no way to retreat, he suddenly reached out, clamped the other person's jaw, and forced the other person's mouth to open.
Just as Chu Hong opened the lid of the medicine bottle and was about to take action, footsteps were heard outside the prison door again.
"Your Highness Prince Rui."
Liu'er, Chu Qingluan's maid, came in with a letter in her hand: "The princess asked me to give this to you. She said that after you read it, you will know what to do."
Chu Hong took the letter from Liu'er and opened it. It contained only a few words: "Chu Lang, it will be useful to keep it. Don't lose the big picture for the sake of the small. The affairs of the Western Regions require long-term planning."
Chu Hong's eyes darkened, and the letter paper was instantly crumpled into a ball in his hands.
The imperial sister is always like this, always pouring a bucket of cold water on him when he is about to lose control.
"Tell my sister, I know."
He threw the crumpled letter into the corner.
The maid retreated in response.
Chu Hong took a last look at Chu Lang lying on the ground. There was no hatred or anger in his eyes, only cold indifference.
"Live well." Chu Hong turned and left, leaving behind one last sentence.
"Living and watching all this might be more painful than dying."
The prison door closed again, and Chu Lang collapsed on the ground, looking at the ceiling above his head, his mind in a mess.
He suddenly felt that he, Chu Hong, and even his mother were all pawns on his father's chessboard.
And in this game of chess, none of them can escape, no matter how hard they try...
——
After coming out of the prison, Chu Hong still felt depressed, so he turned around and headed towards the princess's mansion.
As soon as the guard finished his report, he strode into Chu Qingluan's study with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
"Imperial sister knows about this too, right?" His voice was filled with restrained anger, and he looked at Chu Qingluan with burning eyes.
"You already knew that I'm not our father's bloodline, right?"
Chu Qingluan paused holding the pen and frowned slightly: "Who allowed you to trespass into the princess's mansion?"
"You believe such groundless things?"
Chu Hong suddenly took a step forward, placed his hands on the edge of the desk, and trapped her in his arms. "Then why did you stop me, sister? And why did you help me out at the banquet? You already knew that you and I are not related by blood, right?"
His breath caressed Chu Qingluan's ears, carrying the young man's fiery paranoia: "Since we are not blood-related, then we can be together legitimately. Father's kingdom can also be given to you. I only want you. Isn't this good, sister!"
"You're crazy!" Chu Qingluan slapped his hand away. "Even if we're not related by blood, I'm still your sister! There's a distinction between ruler and subject, and there's an order of seniority. How could you have such a ridiculous idea?"
Chu Hong was pushed back half a step by her, and the blood color on his face faded instantly.
He clenched his fists and was about to retort, but his eyes suddenly caught sight of the celadon vase in the corner of the desk. In the vase were a few dried foxtail grasses, and the grass stems were tied with red knots unique to the North.
Chu Hong's eyes suddenly became sharp.
"Oh!"
"I was wondering why my sister refused. So, you already have a crush on someone..."
He walked to the vase and reached out to touch the foxtail grass, as if considering whether to crush it.
"I'm walking on thin ice in this imperial city, but my sister is here communicating with Xie Yun and Qi Hongyan. It's really wonderful!"
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