Chapter 90 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
Si Yuan did not discipline Zhou Jing much and let him do whatever he wanted. Zhou Jing was not a self-conscious person either. He studied for three days and slacked off for two days. He skipped classes to fool the teacher. At first, the teacher disciplined him, but he relied on the fact that the emperor loved him, and after making the teacher angry, he ran to see the emperor to seek protection. According to Si Yuan's random fabrication, the emperor thought that the teacher invited by Si Yuan was too strict, and he always felt guilty towards Zhou Jing, so the emperor favored Zhou Jing without any principles.
The emperor's favor, which was carried out with a sense of guilt and compensation, directly spoiled Zhou Jing. He felt that since he had the emperor's favor, he would definitely inherit the Dukedom of England in the future, so it didn't matter if he didn't study hard or practice martial arts.
Zhou Jing was like this in the original plot, but the original owner, Duke of England, was a good father who loved his son dearly. Of course, he would not allow his legitimate son to be spoiled. He doted on Zhou Jing but was strict with him. Zhou Jing wanted to ask the emperor for help, but the Duke of England was not like an ordinary gentleman who could not see the emperor in person, so he could only let Zhou Jing arrange things.
The emperor found out the truth as soon as he confronted the Duke of England. Although the emperor doted on Zhou Jing, he was not the kind of doting on him to the point of thinking it was a good thing for a child not to study. He knew that it was good for Zhou Jing if the Duke of England disciplined him to study hard, so he did not interfere with the Duke of England's education of Zhou Jing.
In the original plot, Zhou Jingcai was educated by a British prince and became proficient in both literature and martial arts.
But now Si Yuan traveled through time and became a Duke of England. He let Zhou Jing's studies go on his own. Zhou Jing exaggerated in front of the emperor how strict the teacher Si Yuan hired was to him. The emperor believed it and called Si Yuan to order him to dismiss the teacher and replace him with a less strict one.
If the original owner was unaware of Zhou Jing's background, he might have told the truth. After the emperor knew that this was Zhou Jing's little trick to avoid studying, he would not really indulge Zhou Jing.
But Si Yuan had no intention of training a son for the emperor, so he agreed directly.
After returning to the Duke of Ying's Mansion, Si Yuan looked at Zhou Jing, who was uneasy because he had just complained to the emperor, but did not punish him. He pretended that nothing happened. He then transferred the teacher who taught Zhou Jing to teach other illegitimate sons and hired a gentle teacher for Zhou Jing again.
The new teacher's teaching philosophy is "a master leads you to the door, but practice depends on yourself". As a teacher, he just needs to teach well, and studying hard is the students' responsibility.
Mr. Xin’s teaching level is excellent. As long as students study hard, they will definitely gain a lot.
But unfortunately, Zhou Jing is not the kind of student who is self-motivated to study hard.
Zhou Jing saw that Mr. Xin had a gentle personality and was easy to fool. He slept in class today and pretended to be sick to ask for leave to go out and play tomorrow. When Mr. Xin found out, he told Si Yuan. Si Yuan just said distressedly, "This kid has the support of His Majesty behind him. I can't do anything about him. Let him be." '
The new teacher knew what he should do and turned a blind eye to Zhou Jing's various little tricks. Naturally, Zhou Jing became more bold. If he wanted to go to class, he would go. If he didn't want to go, he was too lazy to even ask for leave from the teacher.
At this time in the study, Zhou Jing heard Si Yuan telling him to study hard. Thinking that he had skipped class again today, he was shocked and worried that his teacher had told his father about his frequent skipping of classes.
But after waiting for a while, Zhou Jing didn't see Si Yuan scolding him, so he immediately felt relieved. It seemed that his master didn't complain.
Zhou Jing was worried that if he stayed any longer, Si Yuan would test his knowledge, and his skipping classes and not studying hard would be exposed, so he quickly left.
As for persuading Si Yuan to switch to the eldest prince's camp... he did this simply because he hated the prince. It didn't matter if he failed. The worst that could happen was that he would hate the prince even more.
After Zhou Jing came out of the study, he did not listen to Si Yuan and study hard, but took his servants out to play.
As soon as Zhou Jing stepped out of the gate of the Duke of Yingguo's mansion, his whereabouts were reported to Si Yuan by the servants.
Zhou Jing thought that he had hidden the fact that he skipped classes to go out and play every day from Si Yuan. In fact, he didn't know that his every move and even every word he said would be reported to Si Yuan.
The servants around Zhou Jing were all people Si Yuan placed beside him to monitor him.
Although Si Yuan seems to be very doting and laissez-faire towards Zhou Jing, he will not really let Zhou Jing go out and mess around. After all, Zhou Jing is still the legitimate son of the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion in name, and his words and deeds represent the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion to a certain extent. It is impossible for him to completely let Zhou Jing do anything outside that would damage the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion.
This is why although Zhou Jing is a playboy, he is not a complete vicious person.
Si Yuan would not allow Zhou Jing to do things like gambling, fighting, robbing women, and bullying others. If Zhou Jing showed any signs of doing so, Si Yuan would stop him in time.
So Zhou Jing is at most just an ordinary playboy who likes to eat, drink and have fun.
Si Yuan, who was in the study, was not surprised to hear that Zhou Jing had skipped classes and left the house again. He said calmly, "Keep watching him and report anything immediately."
The servant respectfully agreed.
Zhou Jing was in a bad mood when he left the house because of his previous encounter with the prince and his disapproval from Si Yuan, so he went to Qianqi Pavilion to play.
Qianqi Pavilion is a comprehensive restaurant that integrates catering and entertainment opened by the eldest prince's subordinates. It is specially used to entertain dignitaries. The eldest prince had hosted Zhou Jing for banquets in Qianqi Pavilion several times before. He fell in love with Qianqi Pavilion, and whenever he wanted to eat or play, the first thing he thought of was Qianqi Pavilion.
However, Qianqi Pavilion is also a den of money, with extremely high consumption. Every time you come in and order a random table, you cannot leave without hundreds of taels of silver. If you want to treat others to something new or invite someone to perform, you will need thousands of taels of silver.
As the legitimate son of the Duke of Yingguo, Zhou Jing was favored by the emperor. Si Yuan gave him a lot of pocket money on weekdays, and the emperor also gave him a lot of rewards, which were enough to support Zhou Jing's expenses in Qianqi Pavilion.
Zhou Jing, who has never lacked money since he was a child, has a shallow concept of money. He spends money lavishly and wants the best of everything.
Si Yuan didn't care about all this. He only gave Zhou Jing his monthly allowance according to the rules of the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion. The main reason was that the emperor felt that his beloved son should have the best of everything. The emperor thought that Si Yuan always sticking to the rules was really unfair to his beloved son, so the emperor gave Zhou Jing even more rewards.
Zhou Jing had money, so naturally he spent it lavishly when he came to Qianqi Pavilion. As soon as he entered the door, he directly asked for a private room and asked for the best of everything with a wave of his hand. The waiter of Qianqi Pavilion was so happy that he went to arrange everything for this big fat sheep with a smile on his face.
The eldest prince, who was entertaining his die-hard supporters at Qianqi Pavilion, heard that Zhou Jing had also come to Qianqi Pavilion. He also knew about Zhou Jing's generosity, and said with a bit of sourness in his heart: "This kid Zhou Jing is really valued by the emperor."
The eldest prince had known Zhou Jing for such a long time, so naturally he learned from Zhou Jing that the Duke of England was not so generous to Zhou Jing in terms of money. Zhou Jing was able to spend money lavishly, and all of it was rewards from the emperor.
When the eldest prince heard this, it was as if Zhou Jing was saying to him, "Are you envious? I'm spending money like water, and all I'm squandering is the money your father gave me!"
The eldest prince was so damn envious because his father was not so generous to his own son, but was so generous and doting to the Duke of England's son.
However, although the eldest prince was envious, he did not hate Zhou Jing. After all, the other princes did not have the same treatment, not even the crown prince. Although the emperor valued the crown prince, this value was for power and honor, but he had never given him such a large amount of money.
The eldest prince naturally thought that the emperor gave Zhou Jing so many rewards because of the Duke of England. After all, the Duke of England held military power and had great influence in the court. It was normal for the emperor to want to win over the Duke of England, and he himself also wanted to win over the Duke of England.
It’s a pity that he is just a prince, and he can’t win over the Duke of England, so he can only win over the Duke of England’s son.
The Duke of England had several sons, but he only had one legitimate son. Naturally, the eldest prince focused all his attention on winning over Zhou Jing, the Duke of England's legitimate son.
The eldest prince's staff heard the sourness in his words and hurriedly comforted him, "Zhou Jing is just a dandy boy. What your majesty really values is the Duke of Yingguo behind Zhou Jing. Isn't it the same for your highness? If Zhou Jing hadn't been born into a good family, how could he have achieved his current glory?"
The eldest prince was indeed envious of Zhou Jing, who could secure his position as heir without having to compete with his brothers and who didn't mind being a playboy.
Of course, what he envied was Zhou Jing's situation, not his identity. In terms of identity, his status as a prince who could inherit the throne was much higher than that of a duke's legitimate son.
After all, as a prince, he has now been conferred the title of king, and his rank is much higher than that of a duke.
The eldest prince sighed and said, "I have been trying to win over Zhou Jing for so long, and Zhou Jing has indeed shown an attitude of getting close to me, but the Duke of England remains unmoved..." What's the point of winning over Zhou Jing? The key is to win over the Duke of England behind Zhou Jing.
The staff said, "Your Highness, don't worry. The Duke of England has only one legitimate son, Zhou Jing. In the future, the Duke of England's Mansion will definitely be inherited by Zhou Jing. Even if the Duke of England is unmoved now, when Zhou Jing is completely on our ship, can the Duke of England still not consider the future of the Duke of England's Mansion?"
The eldest prince said with some concern: "Although the Duke of England has only one legitimate son, Zhou Jing, he has more than one son. He also has other illegitimate sons." As a prince, the eldest prince would not think that the difference between legitimate and illegitimate sons was so difficult to cross. He himself was a illegitimate son born to a concubine. The emperor had no empress, and all of them were illegitimate sons.
The aide comforted him, "Your Highness, don't worry. If a bastard inherits the title, the rank will be downgraded by three ranks. And only when the legitimate son cannot inherit the title will the bastard inherit the title. Not to mention that the Duke of England has always favored the legitimate son and has an indifferent attitude towards the bastard son. Even if the Duke of England values the bastard more than the legitimate son, according to the law he cannot pass the title to the bastard son instead of the legitimate son." Unless the Duke of England can cruelly abolish the legitimate son, such as when the legitimate son has a bad reputation, or when the legitimate son is disabled and dies, the title will of course only fall to the bastard son.
But who would be so stupid as to rather abolish the healthy legitimate son and pass the title down three ranks to the illegitimate son?
You should know that when a title is passed on to a legitimate son, it only needs to be downgraded by one rank. If the emperor shows mercy, it does not even need to be downgraded and he can directly inherit the original title.
The emperor dotes on Zhou Jing so much that if Zhou Jing inherits the title of Duke of England in the future, he will most likely become the next Duke of England without being demoted, rather than being demoted to Marquis of England.
Therefore, the eldest prince and others did not think that Si Yuan was crazy enough to let a bastard inherit the title. They all felt that Zhou Jing was the definite heir to the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion.
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