The Seventh Prince wasn't completely silent; he simply didn't want to pay attention to his brothers.
After the Crown Prince left, Cheng Yulu went to see him again.
He took her hand and said, "A-Luo... you're all I have now."
A Luo held his hand, but remained silent, her eyes red-rimmed, unable to utter a word.
She felt a deep, agonizing pain in her heart.
If I don't see that person, I'll let it go; but once I do see them, I can't stay calm.
But right now, she couldn't show even a hint of sadness; she could only pretend to be sad, and she should be sad.
"Don't be sad, don't cry, it's alright. So what if I'm disfigured? Even if I'm disfigured, I'm still a prince. I'll be granted the title of king in the future. I'll still call you my wife."
“You…you should have…” Aro simply followed his words and started to shed tears.
She suffered hardship in her youth and endured it all on her own; she rarely cries.
But nowadays, crying is useful.
The Seventh Prince said nothing more, instead gently coaxing her. After all, he genuinely loved A'Luo.
On the other side, after washing his hair, Shu Chengfeng leaned comfortably against the small couch and talked to Yan Nangui.
"I have some news that I'm sure Tang'er will be interested in."
"What is it?" Yan Nangui asked.
"Your second brother is getting married. Your grandmother has brought his daughter from her family to live with her."
“Oh? Then the Eldest Princess definitely won’t agree. After all, Second Brother was raised by her,” Yan Nangui said.
"I don't know. Fortunately, your elder brother is far away at the border, so his marriage is not up to them," Shu Chengfeng said.
Yan Nanxu got married in the first month of the lunar calendar. He married the legitimate daughter of a local general. The family was not of high social standing.
"I suppose my father has his own ideas too." He should learn his lesson after ruining one of them.
Shu Chengfeng smiled, put his arm around her, and dropped the subject.
Nothing was said that night.
Of course, nothing's wrong with the Crown Prince.
Meanwhile, after Shangguan Ba and a few others interrogated the Eighth Prince's personal guards, trouble ensued.
Two assassins died, and seven or eight escaped.
Although the manhunt is still ongoing, once they escape, it will be much more difficult to catch them again.
However, since the two who died were related to the Eighth Prince's wet nurse, it would be easy to trace the cause back to the Eighth Prince.
His guards and personal attendants were immediately arrested.
The Eighth Prince himself was also confined to his own courtyard and forbidden from leaving.
At this point, no matter how much he shouted, it was no use.
Soon, he was brought before His Majesty. The Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Third Prince, and others were also present.
The Seventh Prince actually came too.
He couldn't move one arm, and his face was bandaged. His expression was cold, and his eyes were full of hatred.
Shu Zhongjing waved his hand: "Please sit down."
"Father, I am innocent! Father!" the Eighth Prince cried as he knelt down.
"Father... Waaah, I'm truly innocent..."
"The evidence is irrefutable, how can Eighth Brother still deny it?" the Seventh Prince roared. "I am your own brother! And you dare to lay a hand on me?"
The Eighth Prince shrank back slightly after being yelled at, but gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
"Tell me! What exactly did I do wrong to you? Huh?" the Seventh Prince roared.
The Eighth Prince shuddered again, then suddenly smiled.
He hadn't slept all night, and his face was deathly pale. At this point, he didn't want to hide it anymore.
"You say you're good to me? How so? Good because you can marry a daughter of the Ning family, and I have to make do? You wanted to take that lowly woman from the opera house as a concubine, and my mother covered it up for you. But when I took a fancy to a palace maid, my mother scolded me for being unambitious and ordered that palace maid to be put to death."
“We are brothers, only a year apart. We are both princes! We are all the same princes! But you are the one on whom high hopes are placed, and I can only be your follower. Before I left, my mother told me to obey your orders in everything.”
"Why should I listen to you? Why should I bow down to you?"
“There is an order of seniority, Eighth Brother, you really shouldn’t have done this.” The Crown Prince sighed, “If you had any objections, you should have said them to my face, or even just had a fight at the training ground. Why did you do this…”
"The Crown Prince is high and mighty, how could he understand the hardships of us illegitimate princes? I'm even worse off, being illegitimate myself, I'm still treated as inferior." The Eighth Prince sneered.
"You really disappoint me." The Seventh Prince looked at him coldly.
He knew, of course, that his younger brother had always harbored resentment.
The Zhou family, his maternal clan, supported him.
He has always been favored by the emperor, and once the crown prince is deposed, he will have enough strength to compete for the position.
But now...
He gave a bitter smile: "Did you think about your mother's actions today? How heartbroken she must be."
The mother's hopes were completely shattered.
She gave birth to two sons and a daughter; the sixth princess died young. Now, of her two sons, one is a criminal, and the other is disfigured…
"Have you ever thought about how sad I would be?" the Eighth Prince asked softly.
"Since we're going to be sad anyway, let's be sad together."
Shu Zhongjing slammed his fist on the table: "You unfilial son! You show no remorse whatsoever!"
The Eighth Prince, who had been crying and begging just moments before, has now stopped crying and begging.
He felt like a child who was unloved.
He's still young, so calling him rebellious wouldn't be an exaggeration.
At that moment, he truly felt that he was the only lonely person in the world.
"Shangguan Ba, send this rebellious son back to me. Put him in the Imperial Clan Court and lock him up. He is not to be released without my order," Shu Zhongjing said.
Shangguan Ba stepped forward: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will have someone escort the Eighth Prince back to the capital immediately."
He certainly cannot leave; he must stay with His Majesty.
The Eighth Prince did not struggle; he merely glanced at His Majesty a few times, wounded, before being quietly pulled away.
Shu Chengfeng raised his eyebrows slightly, then lowered his head so that no one could see what he was thinking.
His Majesty just let it go like that?
Although he was sent to the Imperial Clan Court, the Eighth Prince was still the Eighth Prince.
We can send him out at any time.
It seems he will continue the investigation, since the assassin has escaped.
They still need to be apprehended.
But it doesn't matter. The people who took action that day, whether they were his men or Lao Ba's men, were all dressed in blue and masked, so no one recognized them.
Now, they've long since vanished without a trace.
His men won't come back easily anymore, but there are still two people with Lao Ba, I wonder if they'll come back.
Coming back won't help.
Shu Chengfeng remained calm and composed.
"Your Highness," Shu Zhongjing called out.
"Your subject is here."
“Yes, such an incident is a disgrace, but it cannot interfere with important matters. It is time for you brothers to go out together and let people see. This will also prevent the world from saying that we, the princes of the imperial family, have no family ties. The inspection is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. You should go with your brothers,” Shu Zhongjing said.
"Yes, then I will make good preparations and set off tomorrow. I should be able to reach Daiyang Pass the day after tomorrow." Shu Chengfeng had no objection to this.
"Well, since that's the case, then go back. Seventh Prince, take good care of your injuries. I'll have someone send you some medicine."
Everyone agreed, and the seventh prince kowtowed to thank his father for his kindness before leaving.
What's the point of using wound medicine? This wound is bound to leave a scar anyway.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
