Chapter 120 The Sickly and Tyrannical Crown Prince 18
However, Xie Rong waited a moment, only to receive the good news that the group of lowly servants had started fighting.
Such good news was unheard of in the original storyline.
After all, the protagonist's group of brothers almost always obeyed Lu Yuanju's orders, but they were united in their hatred for him, the Crown Prince of the Celestial Empire.
Ignoring his lingering cold, Xie Rong shakily propped himself up, his dizziness not hindering his excitement. "Why haven't you brought these lowly slaves up to me yet?"
After a cup of tea.
Several bruised and battered slaves from the northern frontier were bound hand and foot and brought into the hall.
It was already May, and the sun was scorching hot. Although the floor heating and charcoal braziers were no longer burning in the bedroom, the windows were closed, and soon the several strong men were sweating profusely from the heat.
They knelt awkwardly on the ground, feeling none of the exhilaration they had when they were freely sweating on the northern grasslands. They inhaled the faint fragrance, fearing that their sweat would soil the Crown Prince's fragrant and clean bedchamber.
Xie Rong leaned against the edge of the couch, the bed curtains hanging down to cover his figure, and only his voice could be heard.
"Who started it?"
A tall, burly man crawled forward on his knees and said in a muffled voice, "It was I who started it."
Xie Rong stared intently from behind the bed curtains, only to discover that the man had even more bruises on his face than Lu Yuanju.
He can't even win a fight after taking the lead; he's really useless.
Xie Rong rolled his eyes slightly and deliberately said, "Since you took the lead, I'll give you fifty strokes of the cane, and the rest of you thirty strokes. Ah Chou, you carry out the punishment."
He's so clever; he punishes everyone else but not Ah Chou.
Wouldn't this sow discord among these guys and eventually turn them into enemies?
Lu Yuanju knelt at the front, and upon hearing this, he raised his eyes. The burning light in his dark pupils seemed to penetrate the hanging gauze curtain and fixate on him. "Your Highness, why not punish this servant?"
Xie Rong curled her lips into a faint smile, her weak voice drifting out from behind the bed curtains, "Yes."
After all, he still needed this lowly slave to deliver medicine to his father, and then to be his scapegoat.
The more Xie Rong thought about it, the happier he became, and he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth up, "I can't bear to part with it."
He didn't see that the group of slaves kneeling beside Lu Yuanju had eyes that were practically spitting fire.
Brother Lu has actually been lying to them all along! He's been hiding from them his quest for the young crown prince's favor, and maybe, just as the other palace servants in the Eastern Palace have said, he's already climbed into the young crown prince's bed!
"Go."
The group was taken outside the palace to be executed.
Through the palace gate, Xie Rong could still vaguely hear the angry curses of the group of prisoners of war from the northern frontier against Lu Yuanju.
His cold improved considerably in an instant.
Three days later, before Lu Yuanju's patience ran out, he presented a longevity vine.
Xie Rong opened the wooden box, glanced at the brown pill, smiled, and closed the box. "Send it to the Hall of Mental Cultivation."
Lu Yuanju stared straight at him, then answered and prepared to leave.
“Wait a minute,” Xie Rong asked, “Do you know how to say it?”
Lu Yuanju lowered his eyes and stared at the hand that was resting on the wooden box.
The lacquered wooden box was gently tapped by long, pale, jade-like fingertips, as if tapping on someone's heart.
And so he seduced another slave.
The second son scolded him for being the most despicable one, because the little prince loved to seduce him and had even made him do those kinds of things, and more than once.
Lu Yuanju said, "This servant will obey Your Highness's orders."
"I want you to present this medicine in the name of the remnants of the northern tribes, so that I may plead with the Emperor of the Celestial Empire to spare them," Xie Rong said. "Do you understand what I mean?"
"If you dare to be dishonest and say something you shouldn't, I can't guarantee that when you come back I won't cut out your tongue, just like my eldest brother. Poor thing, I heard he was in the Ministry of Justice prison and his tongue was accidentally bitten off by a rat."
Lu Yuanju remained calm, raising his hand to cover Xie Rong's hand. His rough, hot palm quickly turned the back of Xie Rong's hand red.
"Your Highness, I understand your meaning."
Xie Rong withdrew her hand and patted his face. "Go."
Lu Yuanju withdrew.
Xie Rong lowered his head and continued to peruse the troublesome memorials.
Logically speaking, Xie Rong was in poor health, so his cold should have been milder than the emperor's.
But his father was really old, and he was so angry with him that he couldn't get up.
Perhaps God just wanted to lend the protagonist a hand, even if the plot was chaotic, He still wanted to give the protagonist a favorable wind to plunge the Celestial Empire into chaos.
But now, this favorable wind has fallen on him.
These past few days, Xie Rong, despite still feeling unwell from a cold, has been reviewing memorials and attending morning court sessions on behalf of the emperor, finally gaining a clear understanding of the political situation in the court.
The situation in the court was chaotic, with the factions of the First Prince, the Third Prince, and the Fifth Prince locked in a fierce battle.
It seems unlikely that he, as the crown prince, can get involved.
But he had his uncle and the Xue family army, so he didn't need to get involved and stir things up. That's why the emperor kept backing down to the empress.
So as long as he doesn't die, as long as he outlasts his father with this crippled body, the throne will be his.
In that case, it wouldn't be a big deal if he did some things that could only be done after he ascended the throne, would it?
Xie Rong drew a cat's head rolling its eyes and sticking out its tongue on the memorial that the censor handed him, then casually threw away the imperial brush, went into the inner palace, and pulled out a bright yellow dragon robe from under the bed.
The dragon robe was brightly colored and was clearly newly made to his measurements.
Xie Rong put on the dragon robe, walked to the bronze mirror and spun around twice. It fit him much better than the dragon robe he wore when he was a cat demon.
He raised his hands flat and, mimicking his father's dignified manner, said, "Rise."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xie Rong couldn't help but laugh, her cheeks flushed, as excited as if she had done something naughty.
The bronze mirror reflected his beautiful face as he murmured to himself, "If only I could wear this out tomorrow."
Didn't Father say he loved him the most? A king's word is law. He's in poor health and doesn't have much time left. Why not pass the throne to him sooner and let him be emperor for a few more years?
"Father, blame Ah Chou, blame yourself for your feigned compassion in sparing the lives of these foreigners." Xie Rong's eyes turned cold.
"Your Highness," Eunuch Gao said softly through the screen, "A-Chou has returned and requests an audience with Your Highness."
"Let him in." Xie Rong rested his chin on his hand and turned his head as the footsteps approached.
Lu Yuanju was taken aback, his gaze falling on the dragon robe he was wearing.
"Do I look good like this?" Xie Rong stroked the dragon pattern on his robe, his eyes filled with a fervent infatuation with the dragon robe.
The dragon's eyes on the robe were majestic and cold, but Lu Yuanju knew that beneath the cold hem of this dragon robe lay only a soft, boneless body with snow-white skin, so smooth that a man's fingers could slip between its fingers.
Lu Yuanju said in a hoarse voice, "It suits Your Highness very well."
“I think so too,” Xie Rong beckoned to him, and as he crawled closer on his knees, he gently stroked the stubble on his chin, his fingertips slowly moving down his chin, “If I can wear it out of my bedchamber tomorrow, you will be credited with the greatest merit.”
Lu Yuanju's Adam's apple bobbed back and forth under his fingertips, and his rapid breathing was hot and dry.
Looks very thirsty.
But Xie Rong didn't offer him water. Instead, he leaned closer, breathing in the fragrance of the water, and asked softly, "Did Father Emperor eat it?"
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