Chapter 269 The Past of the Crown Prince and Second Brother
Xie Xuchi remembered that before he developed epilepsy, Concubine Zhang loved him very much.
But when he was seven years old, he suffered an epileptic seizure.
It was a very ordinary afternoon. The emperor came to Hanshuang Palace for lunch. At the request of Concubine Zhang, he recited "The Analects of Confucius" to the emperor. Everything was fine at first, but halfway through the recitation, he suddenly foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground convulsing.
The whole palace was in chaos.
Concubine Zhang hugged him and cried, anxiously calling for the imperial physician.
She took care of him day and night. In order to cure his illness, she invited famous doctors from all over the world and spent money like water. She had no idea how many sleepless days and nights she had.
Xie Xuchi will never forget that concerned and distressed face.
But a year later, knowing that there was no hope of curing his illness, Concubine Zhang never came to his bedroom again and never sang a lullaby for him to sleep again.
Whenever they met in the palace occasionally, he would always see Concubine Zhang holding his younger brother, as patiently and gently as she had treated him before he fell ill.
He wanted to go up to her and talk to her, tell her that he missed his mother.
However, every time Concubine Zhang saw him, her face was filled with fear, as if he were some kind of monster. She was afraid that he would infect her younger brother with epilepsy, so she always hurried away with her younger brother in her arms.
In the year when her younger brother was able to recite the Analects of Confucius, Concubine Zhang could not wait to send him to be fostered by Empress Mei.
He moved out of Hanshuang Palace.
Concubine Zhang no longer had to worry about him infecting his younger brother with the disease.
Empress Mei initially invited famous doctors to treat him, but the result was always the same: his illness could not be cured.
So Empress Mei no longer treated him with all her heart.
The young boy was like a silent ghost, wandering alone in the palace of the capital with high walls and magnificent houses, becoming a shadow against the bright and beautiful princes of the same age.
Until Xie Yanchen appeared.
That day, the teacher asked him a question about "The Four Lines of Hengqu". Xie Yanchen, the new neighbor at the table, quietly told him the answer. After he answered it safely, he quietly looked to his side. The young master from Chengdu was neat, clean, dignified and gentle, and his smile was like the first ray of sunshine in spring.
After class, Xie Yanchen treated him to some honey cakes made by his aunt.
They became good friends who could talk about anything.
He thought that he and Xie Yanchen would always be on good terms, but during the exam a month later, when everyone was answering the questions seriously, he suddenly had an epileptic seizure, foaming at the mouth and twitching uncontrollably.
All the children were frightened and looked at him with fear and curiosity.
He didn't want this.
A nine-year-old child already knows what dignity is. He doesn't want to get sick in public, he doesn't want to be watched and talked about by children of the same age, and he doesn't want to be embarrassed and humiliated!
But he couldn't control himself!
He thought Xie Yanchen would despise and fear him like everyone else.
He was afraid to see that expression, so he hid himself in his bedroom and did not go to the Imperial College to study for three days.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yanchen came to the door.
He carried a clean little bag and knocked on the door of his palace.
He didn't ask why he didn't go to class. He just smiled and placed the cakes in the bundle on the table, saying gently, "This is the honey cake that my aunt has just steamed. My aunt asked me to bring it to Your Highness to try."
Seeing that he was disheveled and untidy, Xie Yanchen tilted his head, took the initiative to get a basin of water, washed his face and hands, and combed his hair.
He took good care of him.
Freshly dressed, he sat at the table, holding a honey cake, and asked hesitantly, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
Xie Yanchen shook his head and held up a medical book seriously. "Auntie said that sick children are pitiful and need a lot of love to recover. So I bought some medical books. I want to learn medicine by myself. Maybe I can cure your illness in the future."
Xie Xuchi looked at him blankly.
He said, love.
No one had mentioned this word to him for a long, long time since he fell ill.
He lowered his head, tears mixed with his eyes, and quickly chewed and swallowed the cake in his hand.
With Xie Yanchen, Xie Xuchi suddenly no longer felt so inferior.
He still went to the Imperial College to study every day. During the holidays, he didn't want to be in Kunning Palace with Empress Mei, so he often sneaked out and ran to the bamboo house where Xie Yanchen and his aunt lived.
The bamboo house was remote and dilapidated, but it was decorated cleanly and warmly by Xie Yanchen's concubine.
Xie Yanchen told him that his aunt was his stepmother's maid, and she grew up with his stepmother since childhood. Later, she accompanied his stepmother to marry into the Zhenbei Palace and became the Zhenbei Prince's concubine.
As a child, Xie Xuchi was very curious. While chewing on a honey cake, he asked, "So, you are a bastard? Will your father and your brothers treat you badly?"
Xie Yanchen looked surprised and replied, "How could that be?! My stepmother and my aunt are best friends. Whatever my eldest brother and two younger brothers have, my stepmother will definitely give me a share. My grandmother and father treat the four of us brothers equally and have never shown partiality to anyone."
Xie Xuchi didn't understand.
How can there be a family in this world that loves each other so much?
For example, his family, even his biological mother wanted to drive him away.
He thought sourly that Xie Yanchen must have deliberately deceived him.
He asked again sourly, "So, do you and your three brothers have a good relationship?"
When Xie Yanchen thought of Xie Guanlan and the others far away in Rongcheng, he couldn't help but arch his brows and nod vigorously, "That's great! I miss them so much!"
His smile hurt Xie Xuchi's eyes.
He really wanted to ask Xie Yanchen if, in his heart, he, as a friend, was far less important than his brothers.
But when he looked at Xie Yanchen's smile, he didn't dare to ask.
Their friendship lasted for several years.
As they grew up, voices began to emerge in the court asking for the appointment of a crown prince. It seemed that their father began to take notice of his so-called "eldest son" and specially assigned several eunuchs to serve him.
Xie Xuchi had not received his mother's love in these years, so he wanted to perform in front of his father in order to gain his approval.
He increasingly trusted Xue Min, the eunuch assigned to him by his father.
Under Xue Min's instigation, he did many things, including colluding with officials and framing his brothers. His status among the princes rose rapidly, and no one dared to laugh at his embarrassment when he was ill.
He is deeply loved by his father and is becoming more and more like a qualified crown prince.
But for some reason, he seemed to have not spoken to Ah Yan for a long, long time.
When he came to his senses and looked back, he discovered that Xie Yanchen had a very good personal relationship with a half-brother whom he disliked.
At such a young age, he couldn't accept this.
Xue Min whispered in his ear, "Any emperor cannot tolerate betrayal. Xie Yanchen has betrayed you, so you should punish him severely and teach him the true meaning of loyalty and loyalty."
He hesitated, "Ayan is my best friend."
"Best friend?" Xue Min laughed sarcastically. "Don't you know, Second Prince? Every emperor is alone. You are no exception. You should teach a disobedient dog a lesson."
He believed Xue Min's words.
He was determined to teach A'yan a lesson, so he allowed the eunuchs to bully him.
The eunuchs had thousands of ways to torture people. They locked Ayan in a narrow wooden box, which was pitch black and filled with countless spiders, snakes and toads.
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