"But even if the Second Prince, who has the best chance of inheriting the throne, fails, you will also fail. But for the Fourth Prince, there are still four other brothers left. He may not be the biggest beneficiary."
Lu Anyuan sat back at the end of the bed, crossed his legs and placed his hands on them properly, like a little girl, almost making Xu Yixing laugh.
"The eldest prince is kind and honest. In prosperous times, he would have been a wise ruler. But now that Great Xia is at war, military commanders are paramount. I don't think even your father's group of veteran generals can handle them, let alone others."
Xu Yixing nodded. It was indeed true. The eldest prince's advisors were quite capable, but unfortunately, his master was weak and often lacked decisiveness. Achieving great things was not easy.
"What about the Third Prince? Although I've never met him, I know that among all the princes, only his ancestors have portraits left in the Hall of Meritorious Officials."
"That's true, but let me be frank. My father's family background is not high. If it weren't for the support of my grandmother, it would have been difficult for him to ascend the throne. So, he has always been a little jealous of people like my third brother, so he doesn't like him very much."
"Did I hear it right? The father is jealous of his son?" Lu Anyuan still dares to tell me anything. Does he really treat me as his own?
"Yes." Lu Anyuan smiled mysteriously, with the candlelight behind his back, and said mysteriously: "Don't think that the emperor is the supreme ruler and there is nothing to envy. Some injuries suffered in childhood can never be repaired in a lifetime."
As soon as these words were spoken, it seemed as if they touched upon the sorrows of both of them, and no one spoke for a long time.
Xu Yixing: Humph, you know childhood trauma can't be healed, right? Then what about that time you pushed me down the well?
Lu Anyuan: I didn’t choose Concubine Ying as my adoptive mother back then. How do I know it wasn’t for this reason?
"Ahem! Keep going." Lu Anyuan was the first to break away from the emotion of his mother's early death and continued:
"The Fifth Prince's business acumen is hardly considered noble, and the Sixth Prince's future as a romantic prince is far superior. To put it bluntly, neither of these two has their heart set on the throne. So, do you understand?"
"But the biggest obstacle for the Fourth Prince to ascend the throne is Concubine Ying. Even if the Second Prince is no longer capable, she can't allow the Fourth Prince to ascend the throne, right?"
"You are very clever, but you may have underestimated Concubine Ying's stupidity and cruelty. Once she knows for sure that her own son will never ascend the throne, she will definitely strongly support the Fourth Prince and train the Second Prince's sons."
Lu Anyuan only said half of the words, and used his eyes to signal Xu Yixing to think about the rest himself.
"You're saying that as soon as the Fourth Prince ascends the throne, he'll definitely honor Concubine Ying as the Empress Dowager, sidelining the Empress Dowager. Then, Concubine Ying can use the opportunity to support her own grandson to succeed the Fourth Prince on the throne. This is too cruel!"
If this is the plan, then it is very likely that Concubine Ying will ensure that the Fourth Prince will not have his own children after he ascends the throne, and can only adopt children from the royal family. Then, once the time is right, she will kill the Fourth Prince and re-enthronize a new king.
"That's not quite right. This is a very clever trick. How can you say that Concubine Ying is stupid?"
"Hahaha, of course it's because my fourth brother is smarter than her, and more ruthless. He figured out all of her tricks long before he planned them. As long as he succeeds in leveraging her power, let alone being honored as the Queen Mother, he might not even leave her an intact corpse."
Lu Anyuan seemed really happy when he said this. Xu Yixing's heart was beating wildly when he heard it. You royal family members are really a bunch of lunatics.
"So how do you deal with this incident?"
Lu Anyuan leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice: "He touched my weak spot this time, so I will definitely retaliate, don't worry."
Xu Yixing pulled the corners of his mouth hard, revealing an ugly smile: I can’t be his Achilles’ heel...
"But I'd rather deal with the Second Prince first. Yixing, do you have any objections?"
How could I possibly have an opinion! We talked about dealing with the Second Prince before, it's been so long I thought you'd forgotten.
"I'm fine with either."
"Okay." Lu Anyuan smiled easily, as if relieved of a heavy burden. He stretched out his hand, as if wanting to shake Xu Yixing's hand. However, he realized it was inappropriate as soon as he moved it, and put it down again, sticking to the quilt.
"But this plan might take a long time, maybe one or two years or even longer. Do you mind?"
Xu Yixing certainly didn't mind. A year or two of party struggle was too short. What bothered her was why Lu Anyuan told her all this. It was uncomfortable to be trusted by someone she shouldn't trust.
"Are you saying this to tell me that you're planning to get involved in the party struggle?"
Lu Anyuan was stunned by Xu Yixing's straightforwardness. It had been a long time since he had spoken to someone so directly.
When I first decided to compete for the throne, I took a lot of effort to explain it to my aunt tactfully and carefully. Fortunately, my aunt supported me.
It’s not like today, where he’s almost talking about exterminating the entire clan.
"I have my own plans for these things. I just want you to be at peace and happy."
Xu Yixing didn't want to respond to this. Lu Anyuan's words were too ambiguous and she couldn't agree to them now.
"Should I sleep here tonight? Isn't that inappropriate?"
"Of course it's not appropriate. Come on, I'll take you to your aunt."
"Mrs. Jing is here too?" That's great. If she is taken out by Mrs. Jing tomorrow morning, the persuasiveness and proof will be much stronger!
Xu Yixing was sent to Madam Jing's place by Lu Anyuan. Although the lights were off there, she came out quickly after hearing the voices. It seemed that there were quite a lot of people who couldn't sleep tonight.
"Aunt, please take Yi Yan here to stay for one night. It's not convenient for me to stay here."
When Mrs. Jing saw that he actually brought the second lady with him, she was surprised at first, but she didn't ask anything and welcomed Xu Yixing into the hall.
"Good boy, you will sleep here with me tonight. You have to attend the banquet tomorrow, so you can't look too haggard."
"Okay. But it's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"As we get older, we sleep less. I've had this problem for a while, but if I really have to stay up all night, I feel sorry for the girls."
It turned out that Madam Jing suffered from insomnia every night, but she didn't want her maids to stay up with her, so she pretended to sleep with the lights off.
"Madam is a very kind person, but you don't ask me why..."
"There's nothing to ask. Yuan'er behaves in a measured way. I'm not worried about him doing anything out of line. Go to sleep quickly, or you'll really have two black eyes tomorrow!"
Xu Yixing readily followed suit and slept in her clothes on a small couch in the outer room of Madam Jing's palace. She was not affected by insomnia, but fell asleep very quickly because of the day's fatigue.
When he opened his eyes again, sunlight shone into the hall through the large windows. It seemed that it was already very late. Xu Yixing raised his head slightly and saw Siqin in the hall. He didn't know when she came.
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