Chapter 021 What a big love brain!
Prince Ning's Palace.
It was evening, and it should have been time for the whole family to have a lively dinner together, but all the masters of Prince Ning's Mansion gathered in the flower hall. Except for Prince Ning, the princess and the two little sons all lowered their heads and dared not even breathe loudly.
The servants also huddled aside, trying to reduce their presence, fearing that any of their actions would be too eye-catching and cause their masters to vent their anger on them.
Deathly silence surrounded everyone present, and no one knew when this torture would end.
Prince Ning closed his eyes and tapped lightly on his disabled leg with his index finger. His brows were slightly frowned, as if he was thinking hard about something.
As the oldest among the brothers, Prince Ning is now forty-five years old. There is a long scar on his right eyebrow that runs through to the end of his eye. His facial features are rough and regular, and his eye wrinkles are very deep, giving him an aura of majesty without even being angry.
Before he became disabled, he was a well-known general even among the rebel army full of heroes. He had achieved many victories with a smaller force. Anyone who heard of his name would give him a thumbs up.
The fact that the rebel army of the Soumasa family grew stronger year by year was due half of his contribution in the early stage.
Unfortunately, he was ambushed during a rescue operation and lost one of his legs. He could no longer fight on the battlefield and lost the chance to inherit the throne.
After Zong Zhengxiao ascended the throne, he named him Prince of Ning. He did not drive him away to his fiefdom like he did to the third son, but kept him in the capital to recuperate and took good care of him.
Prince Ning is the absolute patriarch of the palace. He is arrogant and gentle to his first wife. He is never polite to others, including his three sons.
Even though he was nearly 30 when his eldest son was born, which was considered an old age in that era, he still never spoiled his children.
He always had strict requirements for his three sons, requiring them to be both civil and martial, have good moral character, not take advantage of their status to do evil, and not bring shame to the family.
More importantly, listen to him.
But high pressure breeds not only absolute obedience, but also rebellion and resistance.
Zong Zheng Lianqi, who is already eighteen years old this year, tried to challenge his father's authority for the first time. He failed and was punished to kneel. From noon to now, he has been kneeling in the yard for three hours.
The origin of this matter has to start with Zong Zheng Lianqi's marriage.
When Zong Zheng Lianqi was ten years old, Prince Ning was ambushed and became disabled. The situation was critical at the time, and it was his deputy general who desperately brought him out of the encirclement and saved his life. Otherwise, he would have suffered more than just a broken leg.
But the deputy general was shot in the chest while trying to save him and died. Before his death, he asked him to take care of his wife and children.
After the adjutant died, only his wife and an eight-year-old daughter were left at home. In order to repay the adjutant for saving his life, King Ning arranged a marriage between his eldest son and the adjutant's daughter, and they would get married when they reached the age.
The deputy general's daughter was well-behaved and was very much loved by Prince Ning and his wife. Even after the Zong Zheng family became a royal family, they never thought of breaking off the engagement and took even better care of the mother and child.
After the deputy general's daughter had her coming-of-age ceremony, the two families were arranging her marriage. However, the eldest son, Zong Zheng Lianqi, suddenly said that he did not want to marry the deputy general's daughter, saying that he had always treated her as a sister and that he had found true love, so he did not want to let her down.
Before Prince Ning could deal with his eldest son, the daughter of his deputy general accidentally fell into the water, caught a cold, and her old illness was triggered, and she ultimately could not be saved.
Now that the person has passed away, the engagement has to be cancelled.
Zong Zheng Lianqi took the opportunity to reveal his true love and asked his father to help them get married.
Seeing that things had come to this, and with his wife's persuasion, Prince Ning, who felt exhausted, no longer objected and agreed to let Zong Zheng Lianqi marry the woman.
The girl's name was Su Wan'er. Her father was a teacher at the Imperial Academy, and none of her ancestors were famous figures.
But the Zong Zheng family itself was once a small family, so they didn't care much about their daughter-in-law's family background.
Perhaps out of guilt towards his deputy general, Prince Ning did not like his eldest daughter-in-law to any extent, and even disliked her a little. However, that was all he thought, and he did not take the initiative to provoke her.
They have been married for two years now and have been living a well-behaved life in their own yard. They seem to be very obedient, so the two sides get along quite well.
Until today, Zong Zheng Lianqi suddenly came to Prince Ning and said that Su Wan'er's father was in trouble and wanted to ask him for help.
After asking carefully, Prince Ning found out that it was Su Wan'er's father who accepted bribes from students and leaked exam questions to them. Now that he has been caught, he will not only be expelled from the Imperial College, but will also face imprisonment.
Su Wan'er fell ill due to the scorching heat a few days ago. After hearing the news, she fainted.
Zong Zheng Lianqi felt sorry for his wife, but he had no ability to save his father-in-law. He had no choice but to ask his father for help.
After listening to Zong Zheng Lianqi's story, Prince Ning slapped him immediately.
The Chief Academician of the Imperial College is the head of the Cui family, and the Cui family is always against the royal family. Su's father is Zong Zheng Lianqi's father-in-law and is related to their Zong Zheng family by marriage. Now that he has committed a crime, it is equivalent to personally handing the handle to the enemy.
Prince Ning didn't even dare to imagine how much trouble the noble families would take advantage of the opportunity to cause.
Zong Zheng Lianqi still wanted Prince Ning to save Su's father, but he didn't know that Prince Ning just wanted to kill the entire Su family at this time.
Of course he would not save them. Prince Ning would only try to get his family out of trouble as cleanly as possible before the matter was completely exposed.
After knowing his father's intention, Zong Zheng Lianqi thought about how sad his wife would be if his father-in-law was in trouble. Impulsive, even though Prince Ning repeatedly said he would not go to save people, he still kept begging and even knelt down to Prince Ning.
Prince Ning was very angry that his son had to kneel before him for a stranger.
He asked Zong Zheng Lianqi to get up, but he refused. His scales were touched repeatedly, and Prince Ning got angry and ordered his servants to drag Zong Zheng Lianqi to the yard to kneel.
Prince Ning looked down at his son and said coldly, "If you want to kneel, then kneel."
After these words were spoken, Zong Zheng Lianqi knelt with his neck stiffened for the entire afternoon. The princess and his sons all came to plead for mercy, but were all scolded back by Prince Ning.
Su Wan'er came once after waking up, but Prince Ning didn't even see her and asked his servants to send her back to his own courtyard.
Seeing that night was about to fall, Prince Ning finally spoke, and said to the butler waiting beside him: "Go and ask the prince if he knows he is wrong. If he knows he is wrong, let him stand up. If not, let him continue to kneel."
The butler responded, walked to the front yard, and asked in a voice that everyone could hear: "Sir, the prince wants to ask if you know you are wrong?"
Zong Zheng Lianqi was exposed to the sun for the entire afternoon without drinking a drop of water. His back and hair were soaked with sweat, his face was pale, and his dry lips were bloodless.
Hearing the butler's question, he raised his head stiffly and said in a hoarse voice: "What did I do wrong?"