Chapter 115 The Sickly and Tyrannical Crown Prince 13
In previous years, when the emperor went to offer sacrifices to Emperor Taizu, Xie Rong was bedridden with illness, so the imperial advisor would make a small paper effigy of Xie Rong and hold it in his palm to represent him.
This year, Xie Rong had just caused trouble for the Fifth Prince because of this matter, so no one dared to compete for this job anymore, and those in the court who had their own agendas dared not utter a word.
After all, no one can guarantee that if His Highness the Crown Prince gets angry, he won't just go to their residence to arrest people and torture them.
Upon hearing this, the Grand General who protected the nation burst into laughter and went to the Eastern Palace to deliver a small trinket to Xie Rong.
Xie Rong was pondering matters of the sacrificial ceremony in his study when he glanced at the jade tiger carving in his arms and pursed his lips, displeased. "Uncle, I'm not a child anymore. Who still plays with such little things?"
The Great General who protected the country came up and ruffled his hair, his laughter like thunder. "I have heard about what happened yesterday. Your Highness is indeed a child of the Xue family. Your courage and spirit are exactly the same as mine when I was young! They had ill intentions, but our Xue family will not tolerate this! Your Highness is just like this little tiger, born to be a king."
"Compared to His Highness, Fei Bai is far too mild-mannered."
Xie Rong reached out and touched the jade tiger's head with his fingertips, and sneered: "My cousin injured my slave with his sword last time, and he was anything but gentle."
“This old minister has already given this brat a beating, Your Highness can calm down,” the Protector General said kindly, looking at him.
Xie Rong had lunch with his uncle, and then went to his study to think about going to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
At the Imperial Ancestral Temple, one must first offer sacrifices to Heaven and then to one's ancestors, fast for five days, and recite scriptures and pray for blessings day and night.
Let alone five days of fasting, Xie Rong couldn't even endure one day of it.
He already had a poor appetite due to illness, and couldn't eat a single bite of the vegetarian dishes on the table.
"Your Highness, your health is important, please eat something," Eunuch Gao advised him worriedly.
Xie Rong smashed his bowl and chopsticks, "I want to eat meat."
Lu Yuanju squatted down at Xie Rong's feet, his ravenous eating motions pausing.
"You can even eat these rotten vegetable leaves with such gusto," Xie Rong said, in a bad mood, taking his anger out on anyone he disliked. He kicked the bowl out of Lu Yuanju's hand and said fiercely, "Xifeng wouldn't eat like this. You're not allowed to eat anymore!"
Lu Yuanju stared at the overturned bowl, his stomach growling twice.
This bowl was a gift from Xie Rong to humiliate him, and it had two large, crooked characters engraved on it—'Dog Bowl'.
He had to do so much hard work every day, and at night, the little prince would still pester him to warm his bed.
In the northern frontier, he could eat four or five lamb legs by himself. This bowl of rice was not enough to fill him up, and now there was nothing left to eat.
Seeing the Crown Prince's face clouded with gloom, as if he were about to erupt, Lu Yuanju knew that either the Imperial Ancestral Temple would suffer, or he and the palace servants would be in for a beating.
But in the end, Xie Rong put on a stern face and asked Eunuch Gao to serve him rice again. He then slowly picked up a piece of asparagus and stuffed it into his mouth.
Lu Yuanju tugged at the hem of his crown prince's python robe.
"What are you doing?" Xie Rong asked impatiently.
Lu Yuanju tapped the empty bowl in his hand.
Xie Rong turned his head and snatched the bowl from his hand.
"My dog can only eat meat, you're not allowed to."
Lu Yuanju narrowed his eyes and ground his canine teeth:
"Even dogs wouldn't eat it, how could Your Highness possibly eat it?"
Xie Rong certainly didn't want to eat it.
But before he came to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, he promised his mother that he would take good care of himself before returning to the palace.
He picked up a green rice dumpling with silver chopsticks, took a bite, glanced at Lu Yuanju, and began to have a wicked thought.
"Here, eat this." Xie Rong poked at the leftover green rice dumpling and offered it to Lu Yuanju's mouth.
As the man lowered his head to bite, he moved back a little, like teasing a dog.
Lu Yuanju missed several times, and when he looked up, he saw Xie Rong leaning lazily in the armchair, laughing so hard that his shoulders trembled and his eyes were red.
"Your Highness," the Imperial Advisor stepped in from outside, his voice cold and flat, "it's time to go to the Fengxian Hall to pay our respects."
Xie Rong suppressed his smile. He didn't give Wu Miao, this pretentious and aloof old man, a pleasant look. His expression turned completely cold.
From a young age, people told him that the imperial advisor had divined his noble destiny, which is why he became the crown prince at the very beginning of his life.
It was clearly his destiny to be noble, but it all became the credit of this imperial advisor. He deserves to die.
Even the Empress Dowager trusted this family implicitly!
"Imperial Preceptor, I have something to ask you."
"Your Highness, please ask," Wu Miao, dressed in white, stood in the magnificent royal ancestral temple, looking out of place like a hermit.
Xie Rong asked, "Is the Crown Prince more senior, or the Imperial Preceptor?"
Wu Miao replied, "Your Highness is the Crown Prince, and I will always be your subject."
"Oh," Xie Rong rolled his eyes, chuckled, grabbed Lu Yuanju's collar, and pulled him close. "Then, between my dog and you, who is more lowly?"
Wu Miao remained silent, his eyes behind the white cloth meeting Lu Yuanju's gaze.
A wolf forced to crawl at Xie Rong's feet appeared to be bowing its head, but in reality, it was constantly arching its back and staring with its beastly eyes, as if if Xie Rong relaxed his vigilance and failed to hold the rope tightly, he would be eaten by the wolf without leaving a trace.
Such a gaze has been passed down through generations in the northern frontier, behind which lies the ambition to conquer the Central Plains.
It's just that the Central Plains took the lead.
“Your Highness, all that is under your feet is dust. How can there be any distinction between high and low, noble and base?” Wu Miao said.
Xie Rong burst out laughing.
However, he was physically weak, and after a few laughs, his breathing became uneven, and his voice quickly weakened.
"You became the Imperial Advisor in front of the Emperor by using this mouth, didn't you? Seeing that the Emperor is getting old, you come to curry favor with me," Xie Rong said, narrowing his eyes. "You're really something."
Wu Miao's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't speak or explain.
"Come here." Xie Rong beckoned to Wu Miao.
Wu Miao approached, lifted his robe, and knelt down.
"Eat up, this is a reward for you." Xie Rong picked up a green rice dumpling from the table and threw it onto the floor in front of Wu Miao, where it rolled in dust. "After you finish eating, I can go with the Imperial Advisor to get down to business."
Wu Miao picked up the green rice dumpling, seemingly oblivious to the dust on it, and calmly opened his lips, swallowing it bite by bite.
After Xie Rong finished eating, he glanced at Lu Yuanju and said, "Now you know how a dog should eat the food I gave you?"
Lu Yuanju chuckled and knelt down as well. Seeing that Xie Rong was about to take the green rice dumplings from the bowl and plate again, he quickly grabbed Xie Rong's hand, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed the bitten green rice dumpling on Xie Rong's silver chopsticks in one gulp.
Despite being slapped in the face by Xie Rong in a fit of anger, the qingtuan in her mouth did indeed taste quite good.
He licked his canine teeth and glanced at the incompetent imperial advisor.
The incompetent imperial advisor rose indifferently. "Your Highness, it's time to depart."
"Understood," Xie Rong took the handkerchief from Eunuch Gao, wiped her hands clean, and stood up unhurriedly.
...
Inside the Fengxian Hall are the memorial tablets of the emperors of the Xie imperial family throughout history, with eternal lamps on both sides, swaying slightly in the wind.
Several senior officials were kneeling before the prayer mats, tears welling in their eyes, offering incense to the ancestral tablets.
You'd think this belonged to their ancestors if you didn't know better.
Xie Rong approached and immediately noticed the five oranges placed on the offering table.
A bunch of memorial tablets that can't even be called ghosts, do they deserve to eat oranges?
Xie Rong casually walked to the offering table, picked up an orange, peeled it under the astonished gaze of the old minister, and stuffed a piece of orange flesh into his mouth.
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