Chapter 95 - The Prince Gives Up Treatment 1
On the third day of seven months in the 28th year of Chengde, imperial study room.
This summer is very hot, making everyone felt the heat from the bottom of their hearts.
Emperor Chengde was covered with sweat, and his thin silk clothes stuck to his body but he didn’t ask anyone to fan him.
In the room, all irrelevant court ladies and eunuchs have been dismissed. Now in the imperial study room, aside from emperor Chengde, there’s only Hu Zhongshan, the most trusted eunuch by his side, the prime minister Su Gu, marquis of Qingyuan, Zhao Wangzhi, and the number one scholar emperor Chengde handpicked three years ago, Su Moxiu, the youngest son of Su Gu. Su Moxiu was working in the imperial study room in the present.
When Su Moxiu won first place three years ago, he was only 17 years old. He soon entered Hanlin Academy, then stayed there for three years.
Half a year ago, when emperor Chengde was chatting with Su Gu, he learned that Su Moxiu was about to have his coming of age ceremony, so he called him over to ask some questions.
Su Moxiu was eloquent and handsome. It happened that emperor Chengde’s son upset him at that time, so he kept him by his side to serve him in the Imperial Study.
In the past 6 months, Su Moxiu did a very good job in the Imperial Study. Emperor Chengde also found that he is well versed in song, poetry, and the four arts, lacking nothing, he likes him more and more, so he gives him a 4th rank official uniform.
Emperor Chengde has a good temper. Whether it’s Su Gu or Zhao Wangzi, they can talk freely with him. Hu Zhongshan will even joke beside him. As for Su Moxiu, he rarely speaks but everytime he speaks, it directly touches emperor Chengde’s heart.
However, today, none of these people said a word. Everyone stood silently as if they couldn’t wait to turn into a stone.
Emperor Chengde also had a gloomy expression. Sitting in front of the imperial table, looking at the memorial in front of him, his chest felt constricted and panicked.
There was some noise outside the imperial study room, so Hu Zhongshun trotted over and opened the imperial study’s door.
A young man in his twenties in green robe trimmed with gold thread with a coiling dragon jade pendant hanging on his waist immediately entered.
This young man is 70% like emperor Chengde, his face is like crown jade, and his figure is tall and straight. There was no fear on his face even if he’s going to meet the emperor. After entering the imperial study, he didn’t kneel, but he raised his head and looked directly at emperor Chengde instead.
He is Zhou Zhen, one of emperor Chengde’s favorite sons and the fifth prince the current empress gave birth to.
Emperor Chengde was not the former emperor’s son.
The former emperor was weak, and none of the concubines in the harems were pregnant. In desperation, he can only adopt a child from the imperial family and let the empress raise him.
That child is emperor Chengde.
The late emperor’s empress, that is, the current empress dowager, is very kind to emperor Chengde. Emperor Chengde was also grateful for her kindness, so when he reached the age of marriage, he took her niece as his wife.
She is Emperor Chengde first empress. After the empress gave birth to a son and daughter for Emperor Chengde, because of improper postpartum care, she passed away.
At that time, the first prince was only 2 years old, crying all day long. The newborn little princess is as weak as a cat. Emperor Chengde thought about it, then finally chose the daughter of the Wang family, a scholarly family, to be his empress. She was 22 years old and delayed her marriage due to upholding filial piety for her parents death.
He chose Miss Wang, one is because the Wang family has a good family reputation. Second is because of Miss Wang’s age and steadiness. Third, with the Wang family’s accidents in the past few years, all her young siblings were raised by Miss Wang, and Miss Wang also taught them very well.
Such a stepmother is needed for his eldest son.
Miss Wang then entered the palace to become Emperor Chengde’s second wife, she is the present empress.
Miss Wang’s appearance was average and she had no desire to compete for favor. After entering the palace, she took good care of the little prince and princess. After several years of this, she got pregnant and gave birth to the fifth prince, Zhou Zhen.
There are many concubines in Emperor Chengde’s harem, so there are also many people who have given birth to children for him. The current empress appearance looks very ordinary among all his concubines, but she was gentle and virtuous and held onto principles. After Emperor Chengde got old, he would rather go sit in her palace. He is very fond of the fifth prince Zhou Zhen, who she gave birth to.
As early as 10 years ago, Emperor Chengde had already made the eldest prince the crown prince. After that, he loved and became more fond of Zhou Zhen.
However, it was this pampering that caused trouble.
Seeing that Zhou Zhen came and didn’t bow to him but look straight at him instead, Emperor Chengde was furious. Picking up the memorial in front of him, he threw it over: “Treason! Look what good things you have done!”
Emperor Chengde seldom missed his throw because no one dared to hide.
Even some day when he accidentally makes a mistake and his throw misses…he doesn’t care but the person who escaped the catastrophe would probably be terrified, wishing he would throw it again, it’s better to hit their head.
But today’s situation is very different.
Fifth prince Zhou Zhen watched as the memorial flew towards him, not only did he not let it touch him, he even jumped to the side, avoiding it.
In the imperial, a needle drop could be heard.
Emperor Chengde was so angry that his hands shook: “You bastard!”
Emperor Chengde was furious but the fifth prince, Zhou Zhen, looked indifferent and even a little dazed.
His gaze fell on Su Moxiu, who was behind Emperor Chengde, who had lowered his head and didn’t dare raise his head.
Emperor Chengde didn’t notice this, and seeing his son’s appearance of not taking himself seriously, he was furious: “Look at what stupid things you have done! Disrespecting your elder brother, taking bribes, framing important officials in the court… ”
“I didn’t do it.” Zhou Zhen finally spoke. Not only was his tone bad, he also directly interrupted Emperor Chengde, “You wronged me again!”
Seeing him like this, Emperor Chengde’s chest felt even more uncomfortable: “You…”
“Give a dog a bad name, then hang him1If you want to condemn someone, don’t worry about the pretext! So much dirty water was poured on me one after another this year that I can’t even wash it off…I quit!” Zhou Zhen grabbed the coiling dragon jade pendant that only princes can wear from his waist and threw it on the ground, “Emperor father should just demote me to a commoner! They target me everywhere, are they afraid that I will rob them of the throne? I don’t want to be the emperor at all! Whoever loves to be can be it! I’m not interested anyway!”
Zhou Zhen has committed crimes, he even beat and framed others!
Emperor Chengde grabbed the papers on the table and threw them at his son: “Beast!”
Zhou Zhen dodged again, sneered and said: “I am a beast, then what are you? Emperor father, if you don’t want to demote me to a commoner, lock me up, or let me guard the imperial tomb, anything is fine! But I beg you, don’t stick things I haven’t done on me!”
This little beast implied that he was also a beast!
Emperor Chengde has been emperor for more than 20 years. No matter how good his temper is, because of his high position that no one has disobeyed him before, he can’t stand when someone doesn’t listen to him.
Zhou Zhen showed no respect to him at all, he also confronted him everywhere. He really wished he could find someone to beat this brat hard.
But, he is his son after all.
He suppressed this memorial in the court, instead of discussing it in court, he privately called his son to talk, all this was for Zhou Zhen’s sake.
He never thought Zhou Zhen would be like this!
Not only were Emperor Chengde shocked, even the others present were also shocked.
Emperor Chengde educated his son, they can’t do anything and can’t control it too. Therefore, since the fifth prince entered this imperial study, they all lowered their heads, as if they didn’t exist.
But now the fifth prince is openly confronting Emperor Chengde…Whether it’s the prime minister Su Gu or Marquis Qingyuan Zhao Wangzhi, they all looked up.
Even Su Moxiu looked over.
Then, they saw the young man, who looked very much like Emperor Chengde, suddenly stretch out his hand and swear: “I, Zhou Zhen, swear here that if I covet the throne, I will be struck by lightning! If I become emperor one day, I’m bound to be riddled with all kinds of diseases, won’t have a good death, and have all children and grandchildren cut off…”
“Shut up!” Emperor Chengde suddenly stood up. This time he threw the brush holder.
“Emperor father, why are you so angry? If this little beast is dead, shouldn’t you be happy?” Zhou Zhen dodge to the side as usual.
Emperor Chengde clutched his chest, falling back dejectedly, sitting on the dragon chair.
He no longer felt any anger at this moment. He was sweating profusely but there was a burst of coldness from the bottom of his heart.
Before Zhou Zhen came, he was very irritated. He thinks that Zhou Zhen is too ambitious. He even made up his mind to make Zhou Zhen reflect behind closed doors for a year, he would even fine him, etc.
As for the people around Zhou Zhen, who led Zhou Zhen down this path, they must be severely punished. Maybe he could even kill chickens to warn the monkeys.
He made a lot of preparations, but Zhou Zhen came in and made such a fuss, then even swore such an oath. It suddenly made him realize something.
His son is so angry at him like this. When he swears, he is also very cruel to himself…could it be that the crimes really have nothing to do with him?
“Your majesty, drink some tea.” A cup of tea was handed to Emperor Chengde.
Emperor Chengde took a sip of the tea and took a deep breath. He then heard Su Moxiu, who bought him the tea, said: “Your majesty, calm down. It’s because the fifth prince is also close to you that he has no scruples.”
Su Gu didn’t want his son to get involved with the imperial disputes, so he secretly winked at his son. However, Su Moxiu still stepped forward to persuade Emperor Chengde.
After Emperor Chengde drank the tea, he set the teacup aside again.
His heart beat too fast, but his hand holding the tea was still steady, with a light smile on his face.
It’s just that he was unable to control the corner of his eyes and fell on the fifth prince.
It was not the first time Su Moxiu met the fifth prince.
His father was born in a poor family, but he was single-handedly promoted by the present emperor, so he was extremely trusted by the emperor. He was also treated differently by the present emperor, and fortunate to work in the imperial study room.
In the past six months, he has met the fifth prince more than ten times.
Previously, he only thought that the fifth prince’s mind was so deep that he just wanted to keep him at a respectful distance, but today…
When he raised his head, when the fifth prince’s gaze met his eyes, he suddenly had a different feeling.
Seeing the fifth prince arguing with Emperor Chengde in such a reckless manner, his heart ached even more unconsciously.
He couldn’t help worrying about the fifth prince, fearing that the fifth prince would be punished by Emperor Chengde.
If that really happens…how sad the fifth prince would be.
Emperor Chengde’s mind was in a mess.
He had a vague feeling that his son might not be as unpredictable as he thought, but his more than 20 years of imperial career also made him angry because his son was confronting him.
Su Moxiu’s cup of tea made him sober up a lot, so he took a step back.
Emperor Chengde said: “You can even swear such a poisonous oath, then explain to me why your uncle wanted to frame Cai Tinghe and withhold military expenses?”
This year, the fifth prince, Zhou Zhen, was involved in many things.
Emperor Chengde first discovered that he had secretly made friends with the jurens who were coming to the capital for the exam, and then discovered that he had received ‘filial piety’ from many people in the court.
These are trivial matters, Emperor Chengde helped him clear up the first and last, but he couldn’t help paying more attention to him. With this attention, he found that his son is very ambitious.
This year, the crown prince had frequent accidents while doing his work. His reputation was damaged, all of which has his son’s handiwork behind it.
He was worried that the crown prince would hold grudges, and secretly helped the child wipe away many traces, but the anger in his heart became more and more intense. He even reprimanded the child many times when there was no one around.
He wants the child to admit his mistakes but he said nothing, and his methods are getting more and more drastic.
The reason for this incident was that someone reported that Cai Tinghe and the soldiers in the army did not have enough food or clothing to keep warm.
Cai Tinghe is the crown prince’s uncle and an important minister in the court. This matter is very important in the present situation, so he asked someone to investigate secretly.
However, before he found out about this matter, the story of Cai Tinghe’s embezzlement of military expenses and enriching his own pockets had spread. Some people had even presented evidence of his crime.
The officials in the court were furious and begged him to punish Cai Tinghe severely, so he could only imprison Cai Tinghe.
However, just today, the person he sent to investigate sent a secret document. It turned out that Cai Tinghe was framed by someone, and the person who framed Cai Tinghe was Zhou Zhen’s uncle!
He was so disappointed for a moment that he even called Zhou Zhen over despite Su Gu and Zhao Wangzhi still being here.
As a result, Zhou Zhen made such a fuss!
When Emperor Chengde asked this question, he stared at Zhou Zhen, waiting for Zhou Zhen’s answer.
The current empress is the eldest daughter of the family, she also have two younger brothers and two younger sisters who are born of the same mother as her.
After she became the empress, both younger sisters married into high families, and her two younger brothers also achieved success in their education and are now officials in the court.
The two young master Wangs had a good reputation. When they were young, they were almost all single-handedly raised by the empress, so they obeyed the empress’s orders and treated Zhou Zhen, their nephew, very well.
If Zhou Zhen asked them to do something, they would definitely do it.
Zhou Zhen said: “How would I know! Emperor father, if you want to ask, go and ask my uncle! If you want to check, go and check my uncle!”
When Emperor Chengde heard this, his face turned dark.
However, Zhou Zhen still continued: “It’s just that someone framed me again. Emperor father, you don’t believe me! You think I’m fighting for the throne with my big brother! You think I was responsible for my big brother’s accident! But I didn’t do anything!”
“You…the evidence for this is conclusive!”
Emperor Chengde said something, then Zhou Zhen answered with continuous words: “You said that the evidence of Cai Tinghe’s crime is conclusive, didn’t emperor father also find out that he was framed after? Now that I have been framed, why don’t you investigate? Why insist that I did it?”
Emperor Chengde was silent.
Zhou Zhen continued: “Anyway, I don’t care about the throne! If you don’t believe me, I can swear again!”
“Shut up!” Emperor Chengde said angrily. No father would like to hear his son say, ‘Struck by lightning and have all children and grandchildren cut off.’
“I swear already but if you don’t believe me, then you can throw me out! Then you don’t have to worry about me fighting for the throne with big brother!” Zhou Zhen said again.
“You’re going to reverse heaven!” Emperor Chengde stood up, wanting to beat his son.
However, Zhou Zhen still continues: “Actually, the oath of ‘children and grandchildren cut off’ is not poisonous to me. I like men, I have no feelings for women. I will never marry a wife and have children in this life! I am destined to have no children and grandchildren! I won’t have children, so what am I going to do as an emperor!”
“What nonsense are you talking about!”
“I’m not talking nonsense, I’m telling the truth! Anyway, I won’t marry a wife in my life!” Zhou Zhen said.
“I’ll beat you to death, you bastard!” Emperor Chengde really made a move now. He didn’t have anything in hand, so he chased and beat Zhou Zhen.
But Zhou Zhen dared to avoid it!
Emperor Chengde was old after all, after chasing him around the imperial study for a few times, he was out of breath, and immediately said: “Stop him!”
Su Gu and the others had a bitter face, but they dared not disobey his orders. They could only drag their handful of old bones, trying to stop the fifth prince, who was young and strong and more agile than a monkey.
What the hell is with them…The fifth prince, who was always gloomy and quiet, kept talking back. His Majesty wanted to beat him but he still dared to dodge!1If you want to condemn someone, don’t worry about the pretext