Emperor Yong’s punishment on the second prince was not made public, and the only person in the palace who knew about it was the crown prince.

Although he never formed cliques for personal gain, he kept a strict eye on the Eastern Palace and the Yikun Palace.

Although only a few insignificant cleaning servants were missing, he still saw some clues from it.

Because of this, his heart felt even colder.

The Emperor had long known that my second brother had placed people in various palaces, but he chose to turn a blind eye. It was not until now that my second brother had crossed his bottom line that he took action to punish him severely.

This indulgence sent chills down the prince's spine, but it also strengthened his resolve.

————

Five days later.

General Guo handled everything properly, handed over the Guo Mansion to his eldest son, and headed for the southern border with the troops granted by Emperor Yong.

The prince was sent to the city gate on behalf of Emperor Yong.

After General Xiao gave up his military power, Emperor Yong conferred upon him the title of Duke of Dingguo. Now he is accompanying the Crown Prince and seeing General Guo off together.

Qiao Zhongguo was unable to be present and could only bow deeply towards the city gate at home.

————

After the Second Prince fell silent, all his men stopped moving.

The days seemed to calm down all of a sudden.

So Qiao Jiaojiao’s biggest task became to eat well and grow taller!

The Fourth Prince had to come to the Qiao Mansion to "seek abuse" every other day.

During the day, he would go back to Qiao Mansion with Qiao Zhongguo after court, and train until late afternoon near dinner time, when he would be taken back to the palace by people sent by the Crown Prince.

So he had lunch at the Qiao Mansion.

At the beginning, Madam Qiao and the two brothers Tianjing and Diyi were a little reserved. After all, no matter how young the Fourth Prince was, he was still a member of the royal family.

As a result, after seeing the cowardly look of the Fourth Prince being scolded by Qiao Zhongguo all day long, they gradually got used to it and even developed deep sympathy for the Fourth Prince.

Just as Qiao Zhongguo said when the Fourth Prince became his apprentice, once the teaching time comes, there is no monarch or subject, only teacher and student.

When Qiao Zhongguo got serious, he was extremely strict and often scolded the Fourth Prince severely.

Qiao Jiaojiao was honored to witness the whole process.

Since she had nothing to do, she just sat aside and watched, eating some cookies and fruits to kill time.

Then she watched as her father started calling the Fourth Prince "Little Four" at first, then "boy", and finally, when he got emotional, he changed it to "waste" and "bastard"...

Such a heinous act was fortunately happening in the Qiao Mansion. If it had happened in the Imperial Palace, it would have been impossible.

Qiao Diyi has been running around the Xiao residence all day recently. When he is occasionally at home, he stays beside Qiao Jiaojiao and watches with her with great interest.

You know, he also received such devilish training since he was a child. Now looking at the Fourth Prince, he feels gloating but also has a feeling of sympathy.

The Fourth Prince was a promising man. He had fulfilled his promise when he became a disciple and never complained.

No matter how strict Qiao Zhongguo was, he endured it all silently. His small body swayed as he stood on the wooden stake, and he didn't even cry out in pain even when he fell down.

Sometimes Qiao Jiaojiao would grimace in pain for him, but he would get up and grin at her.

During this period, the person who cared the most about the Fourth Prince was the Queen Mother.

Her son Xiao Si used to eat slowly and chew his food carefully. In the evening, sometimes after practicing his calligraphy, he would chat with her for a while.

Now, every time he came back from the Qiao Mansion, he would take a bath, eat a quick meal, and then fall asleep.

However, the Queen also knew that learning martial arts meant suffering, not to mention that a strict teacher produces excellent students. The suffering that Xiao Si endured now was all for the purpose of having better self-protection ability in the future.

Thinking of this, the Queen Mother could only harden her heart. After the Fourth Prince fell asleep, she sat by his bed for a while and covered him with a blanket.

Qiao Zhongguo had never praised him in front of the Fourth Prince, but in front of his family, he praised the Fourth Prince highly.

"That boy is really good, comparable to the second brother when he was a child, but the second brother is very noisy, while he is silent."

"Tsk, his physique is also excellent. If he had fallen into my hands earlier, I would have trained him since he was three years old!"

"Wow, that kid is making rapid progress. No, I have to make it more difficult for him!"

.......

Mrs. Qiao looked at Qiao Zhongguo's beaming face, picked up a piece of food for him with chopsticks, and teased:

"I know, I know. My husband is very happy to have accepted a beloved disciple. Come and eat quickly. The food is getting cold."

When Qiao Zhongguo looked up, he found that everyone had finished their meal and put down their chopsticks, and he couldn't help but laugh.

Probably all seniors would be unable to help but feel happy when seeing such a talented youngster.

This is also Xiao Hongda’s current mood.

He would often boast about Qiao Diyi in front of Mrs. Xiao.

"Old Qiao's Erlang is really a man with a solid foundation! He handed such a good seedling to me, which makes me feel a little pressured."

"Don't underestimate Erlang because he seems to be a simple-minded kid. He is actually a very talented person! Old Qiao was just like that back then. He had no distractions and was very fast and accurate in learning military tactics!"

"Tsk tsk, that's great! He might become the next Joe in the future!"

Mrs. Xiao looked at her husband's admiring expression and shook her head secretly.

Why don't you open your eyes and see that your second daughter's soul is about to be taken away by someone!

The second son of the Qiao family is really something. Every time he sees Yue'er, he smiles foolishly. You say he has no manners, but his eyes are clear and extremely sincere.

Well, since my husband likes Qiao Jia Erlang so much, let’s just go and see.

It just so happened that the Qiao family had two sons. The eldest son of the Qiao family was a promising one and was about to get married. When the time came, the second son of the Qiao family could just support their Xiao family!

Thinking of this, Mrs. Xiao suddenly felt that this was a wonderful arrangement.

The days passed in an orderly manner, and in the blink of an eye it was July, and Qiao Jiaojiao was eleven months old.

Now she could stand on her own and occasionally take a few unsteady steps, but she was so unskilled in taking those small steps that she would fall on her butt if she wasn't careful.

Today, the Fourth Prince came to the Qiao Mansion for training again.

He was standing on two adjacent wooden stakes with his legs apart, doing horse stance.

In more than a month, the Fourth Prince had grown taller and darker, and his teeth looked especially white when he smiled.

Qiao Zhongguo brought a small stool for Qiao Jiaojiao and sat her not far in front of the Fourth Prince.

Qiao Jiaojiao is a dedicated "little supervisor". She used to be unable to speak fluently, but now she can call her family members "Xiao Si" as well.

Every time she saw that the Fourth Prince couldn't hold on any longer, she would shout, "Little Fourth!"

The chubby finger pointed at the Fourth Prince, and the eyes were round and bright, very cute.

The Fourth Prince was startled every time. Sometimes he held on, and sometimes he couldn't hold on and fell down. Qiao Jiaojiao would laugh at him.

The Fourth Prince was not annoyed when he was laughed at. He ran to Qiao Jiaojiao, squatted down, and gently poked her face.

"Sister Qiao, please don't laugh at me. I will definitely do better next time!"

He really did what he said. He stayed on the stake for longer and longer periods of time, and Qiao Jiaojiao could no longer find any reason to laugh at him.

At this moment, she was chewing on a biscuit, feeling bored, when she suddenly saw her eldest brother walking through the corridor towards her.

Her eyes suddenly lit up.

[Big brother doesn't come here very often, is there something new? ]