The late emperor, on the contrary, felt that this was a case of the strong preying on the weak, and since they were royalty, it was normal for there to be infighting. Seeing his concubines and children acting this way, he actually felt comfortable.
Despite his treatment of others, he managed the country very well, not because he valued the people so much, but because he believed that as the ruler of the country, he should govern it well.
He was ruthless in achieving his goals, and he set the precedent of sending princesses to marry foreign rulers.
Each of his daughters was to be sent to marry a foreign ruler after reaching marriageable age, thus strengthening relations between countries through his daughters. This was another form of foreign policy.
In general, the common people, unaware of the true situation, might have thought that the late emperor was an extremely qualified ruler because the country was indeed prosperous.
But to his consorts and children, he was by no means a good bedmate or father.
Therefore, seeing how much her son resembled the late emperor, the emperor and empress felt deeply uneasy. This is why they resorted to such extreme measures to regulate Ni Chengli's behavior.
But they never imagined that Ni Chengli's personality was inherently cold-blooded. Perhaps a gentle approach could have improved things a little, but using this method would only backfire.
Under this extreme educational approach, Ni Chengli harbored resentment towards the Emperor and Empress, but outwardly he pretended to be improved, humble, polite, and gentle, thus deceiving everyone.
It only took him three years to go from a regular visitor to a rare one at Fengxian Hall.
Because of the incident involving Prince Pingyang, he hadn't stepped into the Fengxian Hall for a year, but this record was broken so easily, even because of a trivial matter. He didn't think he was wrong and still stuck to his own thoughts and judgments.
The Prince of Pingyang was a subject, and the Emperor was a ruler. Why should the Prince of Pingyang have a better reputation than the Emperor?
On the surface, he sincerely and apologetically apologized to Prince Pingyang and his wife, as well as Yin Yuyao, but the three of them could see through Ni Chengli's hypocrisy at a glance.
The emperor not only refused to cancel the engagement, but also bestowed upon Yin Yuyao the title of Princess of Shouguang County, saying that the two would be married once she came of age.
Faced with such a tough stance from the emperor, whom he considered like a brother, Prince Pingyang felt the difference between ruler and subject for the first time. In addition, Ni Chengli was so good at pretending at such a young age, and he would be even more remarkable when he grew up. Therefore, he felt deeply sorry for Yin Yuyao.
But if that's the case, it's still acceptable.
Ni Chengli's ambitions extended far beyond this.
He disliked the emperor and the Prince of Pingyang, but the emperor and the Prince of Pingyang had a good relationship. So he tried his best to express his admiration for the Prince of Pingyang in front of the emperor, and also inadvertently revealed that he envied Yin Yulin for being the son of the Prince of Pingyang.
This made the emperor truly dissatisfied with the Prince of Pingyang. It was one thing for his own son to talk about his close friend every day, but he even envied his close friend's son.
The message that reached his ears was that the emperor was not as good as the Prince of Pingyang, nor as good a father.
Although he could accept that he wasn't as good as the Prince of Pingyang, after all, the Prince of Pingyang had fought on the battlefield for many years, and his indomitable spirit was unmatched by anyone.
But as a father, he could not accept his son's behavior. It reminded him of how he was looked down upon by the late emperor, and now he was looked down upon by his son, which made him extremely angry. He was not only more dissatisfied with his son, but also felt some resentment towards Prince Pingyang.
Even so, the emperor did not consider doing anything to the Prince of Pingyang; he simply summoned him back to the capital less often and maintained the same attitude towards them.
Upon seeing this, Ni Chengli understood the difference in status between himself and the Prince of Pingyang in the emperor's eyes. It was unlikely that he could use this method to sow discord between the emperor and the Prince of Pingyang.
So he changed his target to the Empress.
He was the Empress's only child, born after many hardships. Although his personality did not meet the Emperor and Empress's approval, the Empress was his birth mother and would always have some maternal affection for him.
He first feigned extreme obedience, slowly winning over the Empress. Every now and then, he would pretend to be sad, saying with 'strength,' "My father doesn't seem to like me very much... but I will definitely try my best to make him like me!!!"
When the Empress first heard these words, she felt very uncomfortable. After all, he was her son. Seeing her son being treated like this because of the Emperor, she immediately softened.
Later, when he did the same thing again, she felt conflicted and would sometimes blame the emperor. Even if the child didn't meet his expectations, he was still their only son, and no matter how much the emperor disliked him, he had to pretend otherwise.
So she went to tell the emperor about it, but the emperor, who had often been in contact with the late emperor in his youth and had long held a high position, had seen all kinds of people. As soon as he heard about this childish trick, he guessed Ni Chengli's intention.
Considering Ni Chengli's previous unusual behavior, he realized that his son, after being confined, showed no remorse whatsoever and maintained the same attitude towards Prince Pingyang, which actually caused him to become somewhat angry and harsh towards Prince Pingyang.
Thinking of this, the emperor felt remorse towards the Prince of Pingyang's family and was even more troubled by his son.
It was too late to intervene now. Faced with the Empress's dissatisfaction, he simply sighed. He had been married to the Empress for decades, and he had nothing to hide from her, so he told her all of this.
The Empress's first reaction was to refute the Emperor, but after thinking about it more carefully, she realized that it was indeed the case.
After a long silence, the two began to discuss the matter. After understanding each other's thoughts, they came up with a strategy to deal with Ni Chengli.
Ni Chengli only knew that there was a rift between the emperor and empress, but neither the empress nor the emperor showed it.
But he would occasionally hear the emperor and empress having constant little arguments, all of which revolved around him. The empress would protect him, while the emperor would scold him.
He didn't care at all when he heard this; on the contrary, he was quite excited.
This was exactly what he wanted to see—the emperor and empress acting this way. He didn't care at all about the emperor's insults; after all, he had already drugged the emperor, and the emperor wouldn't live for many more years.
As for the Empress, although she only spoke up for him after he deliberately played the victim, it was the first time he had been protected, so the Empress was still alive.
Yin Yuyao still felt a chill when she spoke of this: "Ni Chengli was only eleven or twelve years old at the time. He poisoned his father, the emperor, out of dissatisfaction. Even though he was cured, it caused the emperor's health to gradually weaken and his lifespan to shorten."
"Even so, the Emperor and Empress did not say anything after they found out. They still left room for maneuver for their only child. They paved the way for him and prepared countermeasures."
"After discussing it, the Emperor and Empress told the Prince of Pingyang about the matter. Under the guidance of the Prince and Empress, they realized that their educational methods were too violent. Given Ni Chengli's naturally kind personality, this method would only backfire."
"But it's no use knowing now. They attribute Ni Chengli's behavior to themselves, believing that they used the wrong educational methods and did not raise him properly, which led to this situation."
"But perhaps out of parental love, feeling guilty and helpless, the Emperor and Empress couldn't bear to do anything to Ni Chengli. They only informed the Prince of Pingyang and his wife, and also gave the Prince of Pingyang a secret decree."
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