LRAB Chapter 416 Background
Chapter 416 Background
Fu Guang and Wang Shu didn't want to go to school.
When the prince and Xihe were their age, they both took the initiative to study.
Li Yuanke wouldn't use his older siblings as an example for the two children. "If you don't want to go to school, then you don't have to. But you can't bother your mother. Play well. If your mother gets tired, go find your father. Don't let your mother get tired."
"Yes!" the two little ones replied in unison.
In the sixteenth year of the Yongxi reign, a family of six planted their twenty-third peach tree in the peach orchard.
The peach trees planted in previous years have all blossomed.
Shen Shixi had his second uncle graft the peach trees, and the peaches that grew were sweet, large, thin-skinned, tender, and juicy. The peaches that the palace ate every year came from the peach orchard.
The flowers were blooming beautifully, with a sweet fragrance. Fu Guang and Wang Shu quickly climbed up the peach tree and reached the top in no time. Fu Guang swiftly broke off a peach blossom and gave it to his mother.
Wang Shu was playing hide-and-seek with her father among the peach blossoms. In a daze, Li Yuanke seemed to have returned to the past, to the peach tree in the Shen family mansion, where there was such a delicate person talking to him.
She was only three years old that year, swinging her short legs like an adult, "Li Yuanke, being an emperor is very painful, are you ready?"
"Daddy, hug me!" The little peach blossom spirit stretched out her hands to him. Li Yuanke came back to his senses and hugged his son down from the tree.
He said, "Back then, when your father first saw your mother, she was sitting in a tree, just like Wangshu."
Li Yuanke pointed to the peach tree branches, which elicited a "Wow!" from the children. Several children then scrambled to climb the tree. Shen Shixi came over and hugged Li Yuanke's arm as she watched.
Li Yuanke turned to look at her, cupped her cheek, and kissed her.
Since receiving guidance from his mother, the Fifth Prince has stopped caring about his birth mother. What does it matter who gave birth to him? He is himself.
On his day off, he went to a martial arts school in the city. The school's owner was a close friend of his maternal grandfather. He also had a martial arts master in the palace, and he would come out every five days to learn martial arts from this school's owner.
The curator then asked him, "I've heard that the imperial court is going to implement a military examination to select military officers. Has Your Highness heard of this?"
The Fifth Prince said, "I haven't heard about it, but I'll ask about it when we get back to the palace."
Knowing that several of his fellow disciples at the martial arts school wanted to change their status through the martial arts examination, the headmaster stood up and thanked him, saying, "We await Your Highness's good news."
As the Fifth Prince emerged from the martial arts school, his carriage was stopped. The people from the school who had escorted him dared not make a move, for the person who stopped the carriage was the steward of the Prince of Xun's mansion, a prominent figure in the capital.
"Fifth Prince, His Highness Prince Xun requests your presence at Qingfeng Pavilion. After a few words, we will escort you back to the palace." The steward appeared respectful, but was actually quite arrogant and looked down on the Fifth Prince.
The Fifth Prince was already ten years old. He was a very intelligent child who could read people's expressions. He had a premonition, so he raised his hand to stop his own people from blocking him and went up to Qingfeng Pavilion.
Qingfeng Pavilion is a teahouse with private rooms upstairs. Prince Xun was already waiting. "Come, Fifth Brother, let's have some tea together. Although I am not your biological elder brother, we are still related by the same grandfather, so don't be so formal."
The fifth prince was still somewhat afraid, but then he thought, could he really take his life?
So, I relaxed.
But he didn't dare drink the tea, and the Prince of Xun didn't force him. Instead, he took out a hairpin from his robes and handed it to him, saying, "This is a keepsake from your birth mother!"
The Fifth Prince was stunned for a moment, staring at the hairpin. What did a ten-year-old child care about his birth mother?
"To be precise, you are not your father's son, you should be my son. Before your mother was selected to enter the palace, she was my concubine."
This is not true, because the current emperor was very strict in selecting his concubines, refusing any who were not virgins. But the fifth prince did not know that this statement would be enough to fool a ten-year-old child.
The fifth prince was struck dumb and stood up abruptly. He couldn't imagine whether he would still be alive if his father found out.
"Don't worry!" Prince Xun patted his shoulder. "No one knows about this except your mother and me. She was put to death by the emperor, who is your father's killer!"
When the Fifth Prince left the teahouse, he was in a daze. Sitting in the carriage, tears streamed down his face. He hated Xue Wanrong and the Prince of Xun.
Fear gripped his young heart, and upon returning to the palace, he fell ill.
Consort Shu was terrified and came to find Shen Shixi again, "What should we do? What happened? I only heard the eunuchs say that Prince Xun invited him for tea, and he's like this! I don't know what he said at all, sob sob sob, what kind of plague-inducing thing is it that scared him like this!"
Unfortunately, smallpox had been eradicated in the Great Zhou Dynasty, so she had no way to infect that person with the plague.
Shen Shixi knew what was going on without even asking.
"Let the imperial physician bring down his fever first. Once it's gone, I'll come and talk to him."
Consort Shu didn't know Xue Wanrong's background, but she did know that Prince Xun was indeed a formidable figure. A move he made more than ten years ago could still serve as a means of containment and suppression today.
Consort Shu breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good that Chen Yuan is here.
When the Fifth Prince woke up and saw his mother, he was terrified. Shen Shixi dismissed everyone and patted his head. "Do you remember what I told you last time? It doesn't matter where you come from, or who your parents are. What matters is that you are you."
The Fifth Prince's tears streamed down his face. It wasn't like that, it wasn't just like that. He wasn't his father's son. If anyone found out this secret, he would die.
His biological father wanted him to find a way to poison his adoptive father.
Seeing his expression, Shen Shixi knew things weren't simple and said, "It was Prince Xun who came to see you and spoke to you, telling you about your background, right?"
The Fifth Prince was struck dumb, "Empress Dowager knows?"
Shen Shixi didn't actually know, but she nodded, "That's right, I know everything he told you. Your father knows too!"
"Father...Father, will he kill me? Waaah, I don't want to die, Mother, I don't want to die, please save me!" The Fifth Prince was still a child, and he knelt on the bed and kowtowed to Shen Shixi.
Shen Shixi lifted him up and said, "Although your father is not close to you, he is not a bad person. As long as you do not do anything immoral, he will never do anything to you."
"But I am clearly not Father's son. The Prince of Xun said I am his son, and he told me to kill Father," the Fifth Prince cried. "But I dare not. He said that if I don't kill Father, Father will kill me. But how can I kill Father?"
Shen Shixi cursed the Prince of Xun in her heart, then patted his head and said, "You are your father's son. The Prince of Xun lied to you. He bet that you would not dare to tell anyone about this and would only be able to do as he said."
But you're a good person. You didn't hide anything, and you didn't do what he said. You're a filial child.
If the Fifth Prince can poison Li Yuanke to death, that would be good. But if he can't, Li Yuanke's reputation will be ruined by his own son's poisoning.
The Prince of Xun sacrificed a prince, tearing a piece of Li Yuanke's flesh from his body; it was truly a clever scheme.
After Lu Zhou's scheme was exposed, Li Yunjue's actions were a desperate act.
The Fifth Prince was overjoyed and asked, "Mother, is this true?"
Shen Shixi said, "How could it be fake? If you weren't your father's son, you wouldn't have had the chance to live in this world. What your birth mother is like has nothing to do with you. Just focus on getting better and don't worry your mother."
"Your Majesty, I thank you!" The Fifth Prince kowtowed again.
He suddenly remembered the "military examination" and took the opportunity to ask about it.
Shen Shixi said, "Starting next year, it will be held every October. In addition to tests such as horseback archery, archery, sword dancing, and stone lifting, there will also be military strategy and policy discussion. If you have friends who want to participate, you should prepare in advance. The recruitment is for military positions, so it is impossible to be blind."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand!" The Fifth Prince was quite moved. He couldn't really explain it himself, but he had an inexplicable trust in his mother.
Li Yuanke ordered Cen Yin to arrest Li Yunjue, but he and his steward fled overnight, leaving behind his wife and children, and the mansion was in chaos.
Cen Yin dug three feet into the ground before discovering that there was actually a tunnel in his room leading to the suburbs. This tunnel was ancient and must have been dug a long time ago.
The Southeast Province has been closely monitoring news from the Silla battlefield. The King of Silla had long ago sought help from the Great Zhou, but Shen Shixi has consistently refused to allow the Great Zhou to send troops and has issued an edict that no aid should be provided to Silla as long as it has the strength to spare.