As before, Xu Zang hugged Yi Mu's waist and buried his head deeply in his senior brother's arms.
However, Yi Mu did not hold him in his arms as he used to.
"I have something to ask you."
Xu Zang smelled faintly of alcohol, and he was so happy that he drank a little more.
He nudged Yimu's neck like a giant dog, his hot breath spraying onto Yimu's exposed skin.
"What does Mumu want to know?"
"The Seventh Prince died long ago, didn't he?"
Xu Zang toyed with the jade coin on his wrist with his fingers, nodding without any attempt to hide his agreement.
"Two years ago, my grandfather chopped off his head and dumped his body in the wilderness."
Therefore, the "Seventh Prince" who joined forces with the foolish crown prince was actually someone else in disguise.
Xu Zang had been planning for this day for two years, or even longer.
Even though Yi Mu guessed that the silly little boy who always followed him around calling him Mu Mu was not a simple person, he couldn't help but feel a chill.
How deep must a person's mind be to feign madness, endure humiliation, and deceive everyone?
Yi Mu fell silent. Xu Zang opened his eyes, smelled the warm fragrance emanating from his senior brother, and chuckled softly, "Why did you suddenly ask that, senior brother?"
Yi Mu closed his eyes, wide awake, but said, "Go to sleep, you have to attend court early tomorrow."
Xu Zang held him, gradually tightening her arms around him.
Yi Mu felt the pain, and heard the most noble man in the world say in his ear with a trembling voice, "Mu Mu, don't be afraid of me."
Yi Mu was not afraid of Xu Zang, but he was a little surprised and had mixed feelings.
Xu Zang was like his younger brother. Imagine the younger brother he had taken care of since childhood, who turned out to be not the innocent child he knew.
Behind the facade of naiveté lies a deep and calculating imperial mind.
In his entire life, Yi Mu hated the emperor who killed the entire Yi family with a single sentence.
Although the emperor was dead, Yi Mu still sincerely despised His Majesty the Emperor, who could decide the life and death of everyone with a single sentence.
He didn't want Xu Zang to become such a ruthless emperor, but the reality was quite the opposite.
Xu Zang was born to be an emperor; his ruthlessness and coldness were already beginning to show. Yi Mu only hoped that he wouldn't become as cold as that imperial throne in the future.
Xu Zang was very busy. He was busy purging the court and the country, cutting off the dead branches and grafting new ones to make Xu Kingdom grow again and become the most powerful empire in the Central Plains.
In recent years, Xuguo has been frequently plagued by floods. The southern region experiences floods every year, resulting in the drowning of many people.
The dikes are repaired every year, yet they collapse every year. No one cares about the lives of the people; the officials only care about whether their pockets are full of silver.
The officials appointed by the imperial court were all incredibly wealthy, while the national treasury was so empty that even rats wouldn't bother with it.
With another flood looming, Xu Zang ordered his troops to head south to build dikes for flood control. The Ministry of Works asked him for money, but the Ministry of Revenue cried poverty, claiming the national treasury was empty and they had nothing to offer.
Emperor Xu Zang had only won one brilliant battle since ascending the throne; he couldn't do anything else.
The officials in the capital city disregarded human life and forced innocent women into prostitution.
That official has powerful backers; if he gets involved, it will involve the power of an entire group.
Not only are high-ranking officials of the imperial court involved, but also dukes and marquises. If they are implicated, it would be tantamount to stripping the face of the Xu Kingdom and exposing its bloody and stinking flesh to outsiders.
In this great nation, corruption has spread from the sacred court to the noble and aloof aristocratic families, who collude with each other to oppress the people. The law only governs ordinary citizens; for these privileged classes, it is nothing but a piece of waste paper.
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