Chapter 239: Return
The main thing is the attitude of the Fifth Prince towards the Sixth Prince. As princes, they all have the same background. No one is willing to watch his brother sit in that position so close to him, so it is normal for them to go against the Sixth Prince.
But the present is different from the past. It’s fine if they are causing trouble to the Sixth Prince now, and the Sixth Prince can’t do anything to them, but what about a few years later? After I die, how can the Sixth Prince let them go easily? Sooner or later, they will end up killing each other.
Enough of his sons have died, and Emperor Jingwen didn’t want this to happen again. It would be better to use this as an excuse to completely end their thoughts, at least they could still keep their lives.
Also, when he was seriously ill, the fifth prince said, “We are both princes.”
Xiaojiu’s actions have really offended his brothers. If he doesn’t do something, his brothers will definitely not let him go when he really goes to hell one day.
Now the Fifth Prince and his companions have been demoted to the rank of Duke. The rank of Duke is a whole level lower than that of Prince, which is a gap that is difficult to cross. In this way, the Fifth Prince and his companions are no longer a threat to Xiaojiu.
After much consideration, Emperor Jingwen issued this imperial edict.
Emperor Jingwen had more or less considered his sons. As for whether the Fifth Prince and others would appreciate it, the answer was naturally self-evident.At this moment, the hatred of the Fifth Prince, the Seventh Prince, and the Eighth Prince towards Emperor Jingwen instantly reached its peak.
No matter what, they have been serving their father every day in recent days and trying their best to make up for it. But their father turned out to be so cruel and heartless. How could the five princes not be angry?
The fifth prince could no longer hold back, and rushed into Chengming Palace almost immediately after receiving the imperial edict.
At that time, Ye Shuo was dozing off out of boredom, while the imperial physician beside him was trembling with fear as he checked the pulse of Emperor Jingwen. Just at this moment, there was a noise outside the door. Ye Shuo looked in the direction of the sound and saw the Fifth Prince rushing in despite the guards’ obstruction, and then… he knelt heavily in front of Emperor Jingwen’s bed with a thump.
Emperor Jingwen, who had anticipated this, did not even blink an eye.
The fifth prince became even more sad and angry when he saw this scene.
“Father, don’t you have any sons in your heart?” The father did not have the slightest fatherly love for them. Instead, he required them to be obedient and filial at all times and in all things. If they were not careful, he would reprimand and scold them. Even a person with a gentle temper could not tolerate this.
At this moment, the Fifth Prince only thought that Emperor Jingwen did this for Ye Shuo, and never considered that Emperor Jingwen was also thinking about them.
The Fifth Prince was overwhelmed by the news and suddenly started to speak without thinking.
“Father, is my ninth brother your only son? If so, why did you give birth to us?”
With a “crash”, the medicine bowl in Emperor Jingwen’s hand fell heavily to the ground.
Meeting the gloomy and cruel eyes of Emperor Jingwen, the Fifth Prince was startled immediately, and then he realised what he had just said, and broke out in a cold sweat.
“I was impolite for a moment, please forgive me, father!”
“roll.”
“Get out.”
Even though Emperor Jingwen is seriously ill now, the Fifth Prince still does not have the courage to act unruly in front of him. The princes’ fear of Emperor Jingwen is almost ingrained in their bones.
After such a fuss that started off well but ended badly, the fifth prince finally left.
Before leaving, he couldn’t help but give his younger brother a vicious look.
Obviously, the fifth prince was completely resentful of him this time.
Ye Shuo: “…”
Wait, what does this have to do with him? No, that’s not right. It seems to be somewhat related.
However, Ye Shuo did not admit that they hated him because he chose to save his stepfather.
The next moment, Ye Shuo was interrupted by his cheap father’s cough.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”
Ye Shuo came back to his senses immediately and sat down beside the bed to pat his cough.
No matter what, the Fifth Prince is still the son of Emperor Jingwen. Emperor Jingwen naturally could not remain completely indifferent. In the end, he was still angry with the Fifth Prince.
When his consciousness was a little fuzzy, looking at his youngest son who seemed casual and calm in front of him, Emperor Jingwen thought in his heart that he did not want to be partial, but his youngest son was too considerate. Looking at the fifth prince and the others, they would only make things more troublesome for him.
After a while, Emperor Jingwen became short of breath and fell into a deep sleep.
The other side.
Upon learning that the Fifth Prince had made such a fuss but got no results and was scolded by his father instead, the Seventh and Eighth Princes had no choice but to give up the idea for the time being.
It has been a long time since the night when Emperor Jingwen had a high fever, and his condition has gradually stabilised. He can be said to have been saved again.
The Sixth Prince could neither say he was happy nor unhappy about this matter. As of now, he had just taken over all the affairs of the former Crown Prince for a year. The time was still short and his foundation was not deep enough. He needed more time to consolidate his position, otherwise, when he succeeded to the throne, there might be trouble again.
What’s more, my father is no longer able to take care of things now, so whether he is here or not doesn’t have that much impact.
The Sixth Prince had no dissatisfaction with Xiaojiu, but it was the Fifth Prince’s words that made him frown.
Judging from the temperaments of the Fifth Prince and the others, they would probably hold a grudge against Xiaojiu. Xiaojiu probably didn’t expect that he just wanted to save his father’s life, but ended up implicating himself.
He had never considered these things beforehand, which led to his current embarrassing situation.
Xiaojiu is always like this. He always likes to act impulsively and is never thoughtful in anything he does. He is already twenty-one years old and married, but he still acts like a child.
In the past, he had the crown prince to protect him. After the crown prince was gone, it was his father who protected him. Now if his father was also gone, who could he rely on in the future?
In addition, he was already at odds with the fifth prince, so the sixth prince couldn’t help but think of this problem.
Although Xiaojiu has a reckless personality, he doesn’t have any bad intentions after all… He will be nice to whoever is nice to him, which is particularly valuable.
After a while, the Sixth Prince couldn’t help but sigh.
After about two or three days, the matter of the eldest prince spread throughout the court. The ministers were silent about Emperor Jingwen’s arrangement, but they didn’t say anything in the end.
Another month passed, and the eldest prince returned with injuries and is now on the way.
In the end, as it was natural, it was Ye Shuo who went to pick it up.
When they saw him, Ye Yan and others couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
I thought that given the current situation of Prince Ding’s Mansion, no one would come today, but I didn’t expect that the Ninth Prince would actually come…
Ye Shuo noticed the astonishment on the faces of several people and couldn’t help but say, “Don’t just stand there. There’s news from the posthouse that people are coming soon.”
Knowing that now was not the time to talk about this, Ye Yan and his brothers quickly came back to their senses.
Perhaps because he knew that the eldest prince had committed a crime, his return this time was far less grand than the last time he returned victoriously. He only had a carriage and two or three guards, and from a distance he looked particularly shabby and destitute.
Ye Shuo couldn’t help but recall the time when the eldest prince came back with the army, riding on horseback with high spirits. Now that time has passed, it feels like a lifetime ago.
Ye Shuo was silent for a moment, then ordered the soldiers guarding the city to open the city gates.
The soldier was stunned. Logically speaking, the eldest prince was a criminal, so how could he be treated like this?
But after all, it was His Royal Highness Prince Rui who spoke in person, so the soldier had to obey.
Ye Shuo didn’t know what kind of thoughts had occurred to the eldest prince at the time, but since things had passed, the mistakes made at the time should be offset no matter how serious they were.
The eldest prince lived at the border for ten years and really didn’t deserve to end up like this.
Although Ye Shuo had known about the eldest prince’s current situation in advance, he had only read about it in letters before. Now, seeing the eldest prince’s appearance, Ye Shuo’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.
It was seen that the eldest prince’s entire right leg from the knee down was gone. Now his trouser leg was empty, with a cloth strip wrapped on it. And some yellowish unknown liquid was obviously oozing out of the cloth strip. When Ye Shuo saw this scene, his face changed.
Although it is already late autumn, the wound will still become inflamed and fester if not handled properly. By then, not only will your leg be damaged, but your life may also be lost.
And the eldest prince really doesn’t look like he wants to live.
Falling from a great height into an abyss, the prouder a person is, the less he will allow himself to be imperfect.
Ye Shuo clearly felt that the eldest prince was lying there, his eyes covered with a layer of deathly gray, and his whole body seemed to have been drained of all his energy and spirit, without any life at all.
In this case, it would be strange if those medicines could work for him.
No matter how good a doctor is, he still needs the cooperation of his patients.
Ever since they could remember, in the impression of Ye Yan and others, their father was always a tall and mighty figure. He was even more powerful in Beiting in the past. But now, the thin and decadent middle-aged man in front of them was very different from the father in their impression.
If you count carefully, the eldest prince is already 38 years old this year, almost 40.
Noticing the eldest prince’s premature gray hair and the fine wrinkles caused by the wind and sand at the border, Ye Shuo took advantage of the time when Ye Yan and the other children were stunned to get off the horse and get into the carriage.
“Brother.”
Hearing the noise nearby, the eldest prince only moved his eyes, but in the end, he finally calmed down.
Along the way, Ye Shuo kept trying to talk to him, but the eldest prince rarely responded.
That’s right, a loser, now a cripple, how can he have the extra energy to chat and laugh with others?
After sending the eldest prince to Prince Ding’s mansion, the eighth prince also came to visit his brother, but unfortunately, the eldest prince still didn’t speak.
Ye Shuo and the Eighth Prince finally had no choice but to leave.
However, what Ye Shuo didn’t know was that after leaving Prince Ding’s Mansion, the Eighth Prince turned around and went to Concubine De’s Palace.
Along the way, the Eighth Prince’s mind was full of his eldest brother’s current appearance. The Eighth Prince knew very well that his eldest brother, who had lost one of his calves, had completely lost hope of seizing the throne. In this case, it would be better for him to transfer the power in his hands to himself, so that the two brothers would still have a glimmer of hope.
Rather than giving it to a cheap outsider, it is better to give it to your own brother.
The Eighth Prince couldn’t hold back any longer after receiving the imperial decree that demoted him to a prince.
With his back to the wall, the Eighth Prince decided to go to Concubine De for advice.