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"What he wants, he can't keep just because I want to."
The couple embraced silently for a long moment before Lü Wenrong broke the long-lost peace. Leaning on her husband's shoulder, she asked, "Establishing or deposing a crown prince are matters of state. Would the Emperor, your father, agree to your resignation?"
Qin Hong held his wife in one arm, holding her hand with the other. After a moment's silence, he looked at the silk cotton curtain in front of the door, which had just been used in winter, and said, "I will agree. Father already knows that I am not qualified to be the crown prince."
When the emperor appointed him as the crown prince, it was not because of his outstanding talents and virtues, but because he was the eldest son of the royal family and was recognized by all the civil and military officials in the court as the candidate for the crown prince.
Over the past decade, Qin Hong has sensed his father's disappointment in him countless times, whether expressed openly or unspoken. So, how could a wise father not see that he was unfit to shoulder the responsibility of being the crown prince of the Great Qi?
But the emperor only had three sons. He had his shortcomings, and his second and third brothers each had their own problems. Together, they were no match for him and the founding heroes around him. They were like three dwarfs; the emperor looked down on all three, yet had to choose one as the crown prince. Before his sister entered the court, he had probably always been the tallest of the dwarfs, which was why he was willing to continue caring about him. But when his sister repeatedly demonstrated her talent for governing the country, as dazzling as the full moon in the night sky that eclipsed the stars, how could the emperor tolerate his weakness?
Qin Hong thought, if Lin'er was not his sister but their fourth brother, his father would have appointed a new crown prince long ago.
But it doesn’t matter that Lin’er is my younger sister. With her assistance, my third brother can also be a good future emperor of Da Qi.
Qin Hong believed that if he continued to be the crown prince, his sister would also assist him, her half-brother, with the same loyalty. However, things would become much more complicated. Not to mention the foreign relatives and ministers, his eldest sister alone would not tolerate him favoring his sister over his older sister. If his older sister came to make trouble with him, he would have a headache. If his older sister started to argue with his younger sister, it would not only cause trouble for her but also chill her feelings. Therefore, it was most appropriate to let his younger sister assist his third brother. No one dared to bully the new emperor's biological sister, and no one could force his third brother to let his younger sister suffer. In this regard, his third brother was more determined than him.
What he could foresee, his father must have foreseen before him and thought further ahead than him.
The emperor's coldness and alienation this year was a hint to him. Today, his father severely punished Fang Ji but did not investigate the crimes of the siblings in depth, which was giving him a way to resign. If he coveted the position of crown prince and pretended to be ignorant and acted against his father, if he first chilled his father's heart, his father would no longer be soft-hearted towards him and his elder sister, because Fang Ji was only the first official to bribe his elder sister. If his father wanted to investigate thoroughly, he could ask him or Yang Zhimin and find out about the others.
Qin Hong was not a good crown prince because he was indecisive, hesitant and constrained by family ties, but his heart was always as clear as a mirror. He could see the affairs of state and family clearly, but he could not make up his mind. Now that he was going to give up the position of crown prince, he could put aside all the complicated government affairs, his father's expectations, and the pressure of the country in one breath, and only think about resigning. Qin Hong could understand his father's painstaking efforts.
In the past few months, he had suffered from severe headaches and longed for his father to come and see him, but no matter how much he hoped, his father never came. When a person cried silently at night, his father must have been sad, so as he became thinner and thinner, his father also had more wrinkles and white hair. So today, when he and his elder sister knelt in the hall to confess their crimes and lost face, his father's sobs and disappointment were real. If he could have been a good prince, his father would not have to endure the pain of having to choose between the palm and the back of the hand to cut the flesh.
There was a sudden gentle touch on his face, and Qin Hong came back to his senses and met his wife's pitying eyes.
He smiled, took the handkerchief from his wife's hand, and wiped away the tears that had fallen without him noticing.
Lu Wenrong did not think that her husband was weak. She would rather he cry than keep it in his heart.
Putting down the handkerchief, Qin Hong took a long breath and put his hand on his wife's forehead with a smile: "I will take care of the resignation, but you will have to work hard for the next period of time."
Among the ministers, he had long lost the dignity of a crown prince, no matter when he repeatedly asked Yang Zhimin to cooperate with his elder sister, or when he asked Yan Xizheng to instruct the Minister of War to obtain the war horse for his uncle during his regent period, or when he repeatedly suffered from headaches due to state affairs. So he was prepared to face the gossip he would have to endure after being deposed. However, Wen Rong was different. She was a noble lady of the Chengguo Mansion. There was nothing to criticize about her before and after she married him. She was just implicated by him.
Lu Wenrong hugged her husband's waist and confided in him, "It wasn't hard at all. If it weren't for the Emperor's support, our Lu family wouldn't be as wealthy as it is today. If it weren't for you, I'd just be an ordinary woman who sounds noble but was actually born in the countryside. I'm very happy to have been born at the beginning of the Emperor's founding of the country and to have received such a blessing. I don't ask for anything else."
Qin Hong kissed her forehead and said, "I'm glad you don't find it hard. When we leave the palace, I'll accompany you to see the mountains and rivers near and far, if possible."
He also envied and yearned for his third brother's leisurely life.
Lu Wenrong liked this fantasy, but she still wanted to remind her husband of one thing: "The life you and I want may not be what Zheng Ge'er wants."
What her husband gave up was not only his position as crown prince, but also the throne that Zheng Ge'er had once been able to reach, just as her husband was the only candidate for crown prince in the minds of the emperor and his ministers.
Qin Hong's heart, which had just been relaxed for a short while, was immediately covered with a layer of haze again. He had not forgotten the resentful look that Zheng Ge'er gave his sister when her sister became famous in the city because of "Travels of Southern Tour".
To prevent his wife from feeling sorry for Zheng Ge'er, Qin Hong made it clear directly: "What he wants, he can't keep just because I want to give it to him."
He took the initiative to cooperate with his father in resigning, and was able to rely on the father-son relationship and the brotherly love with his third brother to become a rich and idle king, and also leave Zheng Ge'er with the title of prince.
He refused to leave, waiting for his father to convict him and his sister of the serious crime of causing chaos in the court. What awaited them, both families, might be imprisonment or demoted to commoners.
"I'm going to keep my resignation secret from him first. Once Father approves, I'll explain it to him clearly."
Tell Zheng Ge'er now, he is afraid that Zheng Ge'er will go to his father and cry, causing trouble for his father, and at the same time asking for trouble.
.
While the Crown Prince and his wife were having a heart-to-heart talk, Emperor Xingwu, who had just dismissed the court, called Yang Zhimin to the imperial study. No one knew what the monarch and his minister had said to each other. The officials of the Ministry of Personnel only knew that their Lord Shangshu, who had been dismissed from his post but still held the power of the Chancellery, came back crying. When he stepped into the Ministry of Personnel, his cuffs on both sides were wet from wiping his tears. After entering the public housing, he cried for a long time. The cold winter wind added a bit of sadness to the Lord Shangshu's crying.
But no official was worried about their Shangshu. As the emperor said himself, the Shangshu was simply his other brother. Princess Yongkang and the prince had "asked" the Shangshu for help in the Franciscan matter. The Shangshu had just made a mistake at most, and it was impossible for him to lose the emperor's favor because of it. The two prime ministers were already old, and the 53-year-old Shangshu was in his prime with a bright future!
The Minister was crying because he was moved that the Emperor did not punish him severely, and he was crying out of guilt.
Yang Zhimin did feel guilty. He felt guilty that he did not wake the prince up because of his soft heart. He felt guilty that he had watched the prince become more and more cowardly over the years but could not think of any way to help him correct his mistakes. But he felt more sorry for the emperor. He felt sorry for the emperor who had been wise all his life but had to be exhausted by the dethronement and enthronement of the crown prince in his old age. He felt sorry for the emperor in his memory who was ambitious and fearless of obstacles and had become the old and desolate emperor in his later years.
He cried for the birth, old age, sickness and death that he was powerless to stop, and he cried for the happy days that the king and his ministers could never return to.
The next day, on the fourth day of the first lunar month, Yang Zhimin came to the Ministry of Personnel wearing a fine cloth dress and looking normal, and continued to do what he was supposed to do.
However, news came from Qianyuan Palace that the emperor was ill.
Several important ministers hurried to Qianyuan Hall to visit the emperor. When they arrived, they found that the prince was also there. His eyes were red and he started crying again.
Emperor Xingwu sat back on the couch, drinking medicine from a bowl. He glanced at the important officials lined up in two rows, smiled, and said nonchalantly, "I'm old. I always get sick a few times in winter. I'll be fine after some rest. There's no need for you to worry about me. Go back to your work. The same goes for the Crown Prince. Don't disturb my rest."
Emperor Xingwu rested for six or seven days, and the morning court sessions on the sixth and ninth days of the winter month were presided over by the crown prince.
Now that the Crown Prince was able to continue presiding over the court meetings, his complexion had noticeably improved. Although the news that the Crown Prince, Princess Yongkang, and Yang Zhimin had been punished in succession at the third court meeting had spread through the homes of officials and was gaining popularity among the people, most of the civil and military officials who were qualified to attend the court felt that the Crown Prince's heart was still there and his position was still stable.
After a day of rest on the tenth day, Emperor Xingwu recovered from his illness and resumed government affairs on the eleventh day of the winter month. Then there was the morning court on the thirteenth day of the winter month.
It was dark and cold in the early morning of the hour of Mao. Most of the ministers waiting outside the hall hunched their shoulders. Qin Ren was shivering the most. Seeing that his eldest brother was standing next to him motionless, Qin Ren secretly reached out and stuffed a small object into his eldest brother's hand.
The thing was round, hard and warm. Qin Hong did not lower his head to check it, but just looked at his third brother in confusion.
Qin Ren whispered, "I asked the craftsman to make a special little hot water bottle for use just at this time."
Qin Hong's mind immediately flashed with the image of his third brother sitting on the dragon throne, his hands hanging down at his sides, seemingly sitting upright, but in fact, one hand was holding a soup pot like this...
Qin Hong froze.
Before entering the hall, Qin Ren quickly snatched the hot water bottle from his elder brother's hand, lest his elder brother drop the thing due to clumsiness. If his father saw it, he would definitely skin him alive.
After being fooled around like this, Qin Hong's tense nerves relaxed for a moment, but he soon noticed the gazes of the ministers behind him.
Everyone remembered that the prince still had a letter of apology that had not been read out.
During the first two court meetings, the emperor was not present, so Qin Hongcai did not recite the text, and Yan Xizheng and others did not remind him to recite it, as if as long as he played dumb and the emperor did not pursue the matter, the matter could be gotten away with.
But Qin Hong never thought of fooling around.
When the morning court session was about to end and the ministers had finished their discussions, Qin Hong stepped out, took out a memorial from his bosom, knelt on the ground, and said to his father, the emperor, who was sitting on the dragon throne: "Father, I have written this letter of apology. Please review it."
A buzz of discussion suddenly arose in the hall, and the small hot water bottle in Qin Ren's hand almost fell to the ground.
Emperor Xingwu glanced around and finally looked at the Crown Prince and said, "Stand up and read directly."
【Author’s words】
The second update of Abandoned Prince will be around 8pm! [Kiss]
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