The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

The next night, Shopkeeper Fan took Zhao Yao to see the King of Chu.

Zhao Yao followed Shopkeeper Fan and saw that King Wei did not show up. He asked curiously: "Brother Bage, won't you go with me?"

Shopkeeper Fan walked in front, leading the way for Zhao Yao.

"The prince said that if something happened, he would not go with you to see the King of Chu."

The Fourth Brother and the Eighth Brother have never dealt with each other and dislike each other.If it weren't for him, they wouldn't want to see each other, let alone say a word to each other.Ba Ge doesn’t want to see Fourth Brother be normal.

Zhao Yao followed Shopkeeper Fan to the back door, where a carriage was parked.

Shopkeeper Fan was about to help Zhao Yao get on the carriage, but saw His Royal Highness jump onto the carriage with ease.

Zhao Yao saw that the appearance of the carriage was ordinary, but he did not expect that the interior was very unique and comfortable.Shopkeeper Fan walked in with a bow and sat down on the left side of Zhao Yao.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty told me that Your Majesty King Chu sneaked into Jinling secretly. He is very dangerous and asked you not to stay with King Chu for a long time." Shopkeeper Fan conveyed King Wei's instructions, "Your Majesty said, just talk to King Chu for a while. ."

"I haven't seen Fourth Brother for a long time. It's rare to see him this time. I have to have a good chat with Fourth Brother. It can't be just for a while."

"The prince reminds me that you should go to bed at Haishi and you must be back before Haishi, otherwise the prince will pick you up in person."

Zhao Yao said with a smile: "Then I'll wait for my Eighth Brother to pick me up."

When Shopkeeper Fan heard this, his expression immediately turned bitter: "Your Highness, it's not like you don't know the relationship between my prince and the King of Chu."

"I know what's going on, don't worry."

Hearing what Zhao Yao said, Shopkeeper Fan didn't dare to say anything else.

Zhao Yao opened the curtain and looked outside. He found their carriage walking on the road and couldn't help but feel worried.

"Shopkeeper Fan, is it safe for us to walk on the road so struttingly?" He had not forgotten that Li Jue and the others were still looking for him.

"Your Highness, you are not a fugitive. What are you afraid of?"

"Aren't Li Jue and the others looking for me? Have they given up looking for me?"

"Li Jue and the others don't care about looking for you now." Shopkeeper Fan comforted Zhao Yao, "His Royal Highness King Jing's arrival has made them very anxious. They are now busy dealing with the Song family and His Highness King Jing, so how can they bother to look for you."

"My seventh brother is really capable." Zhao Yao realized that he had underestimated King Jing.I originally thought that the seventh brother was only a little clever and too conceited to accomplish big things. Unexpectedly, the seventh brother secretly had contacts with the Song family, the leader of the Jinling Salt Gang, and the Song family actually gave up the relationship with the Jinling aristocratic families and went all out to Support Brother Seven.

"Yes, I didn't expect His Highness Prince Jing to have such a good relationship with the Song family." The relationship between Prince Jing and the Song family surprised everyone. This was a completely unexpected thing.

"By the way, I forgot to ask you, how did the imperial examination go?"

"It went very smoothly. With the support of His Highness King Jing and the Song family, all the children from poor families signed up, but the children from the aristocratic families still did not sign up."

"It's normal for children from aristocratic families not to sign up for the imperial examination." Zhao Yao said, "The imperial examination was originally for children from poor families. As long as children from poor families can successfully participate, it will be fine. By the way, how is the situation in Suzhou Prefecture?"

"The imperial examination in Suzhou Prefecture is also going on smoothly. In addition to the children from poor families, concubines from aristocratic families also participated."

After hearing this, Zhao Yao sighed in his heart: It is exactly what he thought. As long as the imperial examination in Jinling can be held smoothly, the imperial examination in Suzhou can also be held.

"It's normal for the legitimate sons of aristocratic families not to take the imperial examination. After all, they are arrogant and arrogant. If they fail the examination, it will bring shame to the eighteen generations of their ancestors."

"What His Highness said is that there are still many children from aristocratic families who are uneducated and have no skills. It is right for them not to take the imperial examination."

"As long as the children from a poor family can take the imperial examination." The father is indeed cunning and cunning. He probably knew about the extraordinary relationship between the seventh brother and the Song family, so he specially sent the seventh brother to Jinling to preside over the imperial examination.

By the way, there is also the matter of Suzhou Prefecture.It seems that he is also part of Father's plan.

Tsk tsk tsk, my father is really scheming.

All these things were planned by the emperor. The prince and the Duke of Zhen... he would pity them.

Shopkeeper Fan saw Zhao Yao frowning for a while and smiling for a while, and asked with concern: "Your Highness, what are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing." Zhao Yao mentally sorted out the affairs of Jinling City, Suzhou Mansion and Runzhou Mansion, and found that things were exactly as he thought at first.

After a while, Zhao Yao opened the curtain and looked outside. Seeing the darkness outside, he asked, "Shopkeeper Fan, where are we going? How long will it take to get there?"

"Your Highness, just wait, we will be here soon."

Zhao Yao thought that King Chu could not "meet people" for the time being, and the meeting place must be secretive.

I don’t know how many detours I took, but I finally arrived half an hour later.

Zhao Yao jumped off the carriage and found that this area was a civilian area, and ordinary people lived here.Although Jinling City is not divided into four cities as hierarchically as the capital city, Jinling City automatically forms a rich and poor area.

Nobles and dignitaries will never step into civilian areas because they feel it is bad luck.People in civilian areas also dare not step into wealthy areas.

Shopkeeper Fan stood next to the carriage and said respectfully to Zhao Yao: "Your Highness, I will not disturb you and the King of Chu to reminisce. I will leave first and pick you up after a while."

"Okay, then you go back first."

Wei Mian heard something moving outside in the yard, and hurriedly came out to see. When he saw that the person coming was Zhao Yao, he was happy and hurriedly saluted Zhao Yao: "I have seen His Highness the Tenth Prince..."

Before he finished speaking, he was supported by Zhao Yao.

Zhao Yao grabbed Wei Mian's hands and looked him up and down.

Wei Mian was puzzled by Zhao Yao's look and hurriedly asked: "Your Highness, why are you looking at this slave like this?"

"Let's see if you're injured." Zhao Yao raised his hand and patted Wei Mian's shoulder and said with a smile, "You're a little thinner, but you look good."

Seeing the concern in Zhao Yao's eyes, Wei Mian felt his heart heat up, and then the tip of his nose became sore.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. My servant is fine, and the prince is also very good. Please go in quickly. The prince has been waiting for you."

"I miss Fourth Brother so much." Zhao Yao said and rushed inside.If he hadn't considered being outside, Zhao Yao would have been running and shouting.

As soon as Zhao Yao walked into the courtyard, he saw King Chu.An ecstatic smile immediately appeared on his face, and he ran towards King Chu quickly.

When King Chu saw Zhao Yao, a smile appeared on his usually expressionless face.He opened his hands, ready to catch Zhao Yao who was running towards him.

Zhao Yao jumped directly onto King Chu, hugged King Chu tightly with both hands and feet, and shouted happily:

"Fourth brother! Fourth brother! Fourth brother..."

King Chu didn't expect Zhao Yao to jump on him.Fortunately, he was very strong, otherwise Zhao Yao would have knocked him down with this jump.

He held Zhao Yao with one hand and patted Zhao Yao's back with the other.

"Fourth brother, I miss you so much."

"Fourth brother misses you too." King Chu carried Zhao Yao into the house, and Zhao Yao was reluctant to jump down.

Wei Mian was considerate and did not follow him in, but stood guard at the door.

Zhao Yao rested on King Chu for a while before coming down, and then looked at King Chu carefully up and down.

The King of Chu allowed Zhao Yao to look at him.

Zhao Yao's brows suddenly wrinkled, and his expression became a little serious.

"Fourth brother, you have lost weight, your face looks haggard, and you have aged a lot."

King Chu stretched out his hand to pinch Zhao Yao's little face, and said with a chuckle: "You look good, you have gained a lot of weight, and your whole face is round. It seems that you have eaten well during this period."

"Hehehehe, fourth brother, there are a lot of delicious food in Jinling City, so I don't want to eat more." Zhao Yao patted his chubby little face and said with a smile, "The meat on my face is really bad. It’s all because of my own hard work that I gained weight.”

King Chu was amused by Zhao Yao's last words: "Then you are really amazing."

"Fourth brother, you didn't eat well. Look, you've lost a lot of weight." Zhao Yao was still a little worried and asked with concern, "Fourth brother, are you not injured?"

"No."

"Really?" Zhao Yao didn't believe it. He walked to King Chu and directly reached out to lift King Chu's clothes to check if there were any scars on his body.

King Chu was startled by Zhao Yao's action: "Tenth brother, what are you doing?"

"Fourth brother, don't move, let me check." Zhao Yao checked carefully and felt relieved when he saw that there were no new scars on King Chu's body. "Fourth brother, you didn't lie to me."

The King of Chu has many scars on his body, mostly from the battles in Shu.

"Why did I lie to you?" King Chu raised his hand and knocked Zhao Yao on the head, and said helplessly, "You are really capable of taking off my clothes as soon as we meet."

"Aren't I afraid that you would lie to me? You lied to me and said it was okay when you were injured before." Zhao Yao still remembered that the King of Chu was seriously injured in a battle in Shu and he hid it from him.

King Chu didn't expect Zhao Yao to still remember it, so he quickly changed the subject: "Tell me, how did you get caught?"

Zhao Yao's face instantly became stiff and he smiled coquettishly: "Well, it's a long story."

"Then make a long story short."

"Fourth brother, didn't Eighth Brother tell you?"

"I want to hear what you have to say." Seeing King Chu's serious look, Zhao Yao knew that he couldn't do it without telling him, so he could only reluctantly tell King Chu about the process of his arrest and imprisonment.

After King Chu heard this, he raised his hand and hit Zhao Yao on the head again.

"I remember my father told you that he would leave Jinling after attending Mr. Meng's funeral. Why didn't you obey?"

"That..." Zhao Yao's eyes dodge with a guilty expression, "I just..."

King Chu looked at Zhao Yao with sharp eyes, and asked with a cold face: "You think you have become more capable, do you want to stay in Jinling and do great things?"

It was the first time that Zhao Yao saw the King of Chu treating him so seriously. He quickly put on a well-behaved posture, lowered his head and whispered: "I'm just curious..."

King Chu asked coldly: "What are you curious about?"

"I'm curious about what big things will happen in Jinling City..." Before Zhao Yao could finish his words, King Chu slapped his forehead hard with his fingers, causing him to cry out in pain. "Ouch! It hurts!"

King Chu ignored Zhao Yao's pitiful look and said with a straight face: "Continue talking."

Zhao Yao rubbed his forehead and said pitifully: "I've said it all, what more can I say."

"Don't you have the ability to stay in Jinling to investigate the situation? Tell me what you found out, and then provoked those people, who have to arrest you?"

"I didn't find out anything." Zhao Yao's expression was extremely innocent. "I didn't know why they wanted to arrest me at first. Later, Bage told me that they arrested me because I was a prince and wanted to threaten my father. Emperor. As it turned out, my father didn’t care about my little son at all, so they thought I was useless and wanted to kill me. Fortunately, I was clever and pretended to be poisoned and deceived Li Jue, otherwise I would have been thrown into the river by them. It’s fish.”

Seeing Zhao Yao still looking proud, King Chu hit him on the head several times angrily.

"You're quite proud of yourself."

"Fourth brother, don't you think I'm smart?"

"If you were really smart, how could you be caught? What do you have to be proud of..."

Next, the King of Chu gave Zhao Yao a severe lesson for an hour.

Zhao Yao sighed in his heart: Fourth brother is still as eloquent as before.If this was going to be in Prince Chu's Mansion, it is estimated that the fourth brother could talk for another hour.

After King Chu finished speaking, Zhao Yao thoughtfully poured him a cup of tea and smiled flatteringly at him: "Fourth brother, drink tea."

King Chu did not take the tea cup, but his expression remained stern: "Do you know you are wrong?"

Zhao Yao nodded quickly: "Fourth brother, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong." He was afraid that King Chu would not believe him, so he hurriedly raised his hand and swore, "I promise I will never do it again in the future."

Only then did the King of Chu take the tea cup and drink tea.

"Fourth brother, have you encountered a lot of dangers along the way?"

"Fortunately."

"Fourth brother, you lied to me. You went to Pengcheng to do business. Can the prince and the king let you go?" Zhao Yao said with an expression of "Don't try to hide it from me." "They must have sent someone to assassinate you."

When King Chu heard this, his face darkened again: "Did King Wei tell you?"

"Bag didn't tell me anything, I guessed it." Seeing King Chu's disbelief, Zhao Yao pouted and said, "Fourth brother, I'm not an idiot. I don't understand anything."

"What do you know?"

"Fourth brother, you and the prince are competing for the throne."

The King of Chu was not surprised that Zhao Yao knew that he wanted to seize the throne, after all, everyone could see it.

"anything else?"

"My father values ​​you very much. Everyone says that you will definitely replace your eldest brother as the prince in the future, so your eldest brother and second brother regard you as a thorn in their side and want to get rid of you." Zhao Yao said, "You go to Pengcheng to do business, you are so easy to kill. How could the prince and the king miss your opportunity?"

"What else do you know?"

"I don't know about the other things. It's all my guess."

"Guess what?"

"Fourth brother, I didn't dare to ask Bage, is Bage working for the prince on the surface, but in fact Bage is the same as you?"

This sentence shocked King Chu: "How do you know?"

"You guessed it, how could Bago be willing to be the prince's younger brother when he is so capable?" Zhao Yao deliberately exaggerated, "I wouldn't have known that Bago was so capable if I hadn't come to Jinling."

"I didn't expect that your little head is quite bright." King Chu really didn't expect it, because Zhao Yao usually looks innocent, and the most important thing he thinks about every day is to eat delicious food. .

"Fourth brother, I'm not very smart in studying, but I'm not a fool. Besides, everyone knows about your affairs. It's hard for me not to know. Of course, few people know about Bago's affairs."

"Whether it's my affairs or your eighth brother's affairs, it's not your business to worry about. Do you understand?" King Chu would rather Zhao Yao didn't know these things. He hoped that Zhao Yao could always smile so heartlessly, every day. I only care about what is delicious and don’t care about other things.

Zhao Yao shrugged and said, "Fourth brother, I don't have the ability to worry about you."

"You know about your eighth brother, don't tell him." King Chu was worried that if King Wei knew that Zhao Yao knew about him, it would be detrimental to Zhao Yao. "You act like you don't know what to do."

Zhao Yao looked puzzled: "Ah, do you think you don't know?" He originally planned to tell Brother Ba, but he didn't expect Brother Four to object to him.

"Listen to Fourth Brother, treat it as if you don't know anything, and don't ask anything of your Eighth Brother." King Chu said again, "You don't want to get involved in the affairs between us adults, do you understand?"

Zhao Yao pretended to understand and nodded: "I understand."

"My brother and I just hope that you can grow up safely. We don't want you to be caught and in danger to happen again."

Zhao Yao nodded obediently: "Fourth brother, I understand, I won't let you worry anymore."

"I will be returning to the capital in a while, and it is not convenient to take you back." King Chu's journey back to the capital was more dangerous than his journey to Pengcheng.If the King of Chu takes Zhao Yao back to Beijing, Zhao Yao will be assassinated. "When I return to the capital, I will send someone to take you back."

"Fourth brother, I haven't gone to Yangzhou to visit my grandfather and the others yet." Zhao Yao had already made a decision before going to Jiangnan and would not return to the capital until he reached adulthood. "My mother-in-law has always been thinking about my grandfather and the others. If I go back without seeing my grandfather and the others, how can I explain to my mother-in-law?"

"Then let your eighth brother send you to Yangzhou as soon as possible. Jinling is not safe and you can't stay any longer." King Chu felt uneasy when he thought that the emperor was indifferent to Zhao Yao's arrest.

"Isn't Bage busy? When Bage is finished, I will ask Bage to take me to Yangzhou."

"There are many dangers in Jinling. You can't stay any longer. You have to leave as soon as possible."

"But fourth brother..."

King Chu's eyes sharpened: "Do you listen to Fourth Brother?"

Zhao Yao was so frightened that he quickly said: "Listen, I listen."

The King of Chu stopped talking about business and asked Zhao Yao what delicious food he had eaten, what good story books he had seen, and whether he had bought anything interesting.

When Zhao Yao mentioned something delicious and fun, he immediately became elated and started talking to King Chu with great interest.

Wei Mian stood at the door and heard Zhao Yao and King Chu talking and laughing, and couldn't help laughing.

With His Highness around, the prince's mood will improve.

The prince came to Jinling regardless of the danger just to see His Highness the Tenth Highness, but the prince still refused to admit it.

Also, the prince usually talks very little, even with the princess, but he has endless words to say with the tenth highness.Wei Mian found it funny when he thought that Prince Cai had scolded His Highness the Tenth Prince for an hour.If others knew that the prince also had such a talkative side.It is estimated that... in the words of His Highness the Tenth Prince, his jaw will drop.

The brothers hadn't seen each other for several months, and they had endless things to talk about, and they lost track of time as they talked.

King Wei had already guessed that Zhao Yao would not return before Haishi, so he had to come to pick him up in person.

"Bago, I knew you would come to pick me up."

"If I don't pick you up, you won't go back, right?"

"Yes, if you don't pick me up, I won't go back."

King Wei laughed and scolded: "You stinky boy!"

King Chu looked at King Wei and said, "Jinling is not safe. Send your tenth brother to Yangzhou as soon as possible."

King Wei ignored King Chu, gave him a cold look, then took Zhao Yao's hand and walked out.

Zhao Yao turned around and waved to King Chu: "Fourth brother, I'm leaving first, you have to be careful."

King Chu didn't say anything and nodded to Zhao Yao.

On the carriage back, King Wei did not ask Zhao Yao what King Chu had said to him.King Wei knew in his heart that King Chu would not talk to Zhao Yao about court affairs, but would only talk to him about private matters.He was not interested in the private affairs of King Chu.

King Wei didn't ask, and Zhao Yao didn't say anything.

"I have to go out tomorrow. When I come back, I will take you to Yangzhou."

"Bago, please do your business first. When you're done, it won't be too late to send me to Yangzhou."

"I will send you there myself then."

King Wei felt uneasy if he did not send Zhao Yao to Yangzhou in person, but he did not expect that something would happen to Zhao Yao just after he went to Pengcheng.