In Love

On the third day of seven months in the 28th year old 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. His thin silk clothes stick 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, Zhao Wangzhi, marquis of Qingyuan, and the number one scholar emperor Chengde handpicked three years ago, Su Moxiu, the youngest son of Su Gu, who was currently on duty in the Imperial Study.

When Su Moxiu won first place three years ago, he was only 17 years old. He soon entered Hanlin Academy, and stayed there for three years.

Half a year ago, emperor Chengde had a talk with Su Gu. Knowing that Su Moxiu is coming of age, he called him over to ask some questions.

Su Moxiu is good at talking and is handsome, it happened that emperor Chengde’s son upset him at that time, so he kept him by his side. According to the order, he is on duty 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 give him a 4th rank official uniform.

Emperor Chengde has a good temper as usual. 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 speak, it all can touch 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 him him, his chest felt constricted.

There was some movement outside the imperial study room, so Hu Zhongshun trotted over and opened the door of the imperial study room.

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, with a face like a jade crown, tall and straight. There was no fear on his face even when seeing the emperor. After entering the imperial study room, he never even knelt down. Instead, he looked up at emperor Chengde.

He was one of emperor Chengde’s favorite sons before. Zhou Zhen, the fifth prince and the current empress child.

Emperor Chengde was not the son of the former emperor.

The former emperor was weak, so none of the concubines in the harems were pregnant. Without any more choice, he can only adopt a child from the clan and let the empress raise him.

This 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 conditioning, 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, in the end, he chose the daughter of the Wang family, a scholarly family, to be his empress. She was 22 years old and wasn’t married yet due to upholding filial piety to the death of her parents.

He chose Miss Wang, one is because the Wang family has a good family reputation. Second is that Miss Wang is old and steady. Third, with the Wang family’s past accidents in the past few years, all her young siblings were raised by Miss Wang, and Miss Wang also educated 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, that is, she became the present empress.

Miss Wang looks average and has no desire for favor. After entering the palace, she took good care of the little prince and princess for several years like that. After she got pregnant, she gave birth to the fifth prince, Zhou Zhen.

There are many concubines in Emperor Chengde’s harem. There are also many people who have borne 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.

As early as 1o years ago, Emperor Chengde had already made the eldest prince the crown prince. After that, he loved Zhou Zhen even more.

However, this became painful, something happened.

Seeing Zhou Zhen coming, he didn’t bow but looked straight at him. Emperor Chengde was very angry from the bottom of his heart. Picking up the memorial in front of him, he threw it over: “Treason! Look what good things you have done!”

Emperor Chengde threw the things at him, although a couple missed, after all, he didn’t hide.

Even some day when he accidentally made a mistake and missed the throw…he doesn’t care. The one who dodge was mostly because they’re afraid. He can’t wait for him to throw it again, it’s better to hit his forehead.

But today’s situation is very different.

Fifth prince Zhou Zhen watched as the memorial flew towards him, not only did he not greet him, he even jumped to the side, dodging it.

In the imperial study, a needle drop could be heard.

Emperor Chengde was so angry that his hands shook: “You bastard!”

Emperor Chengde was furious. 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 eyebrows 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 hand 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, “imperial father should just demote me to be 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? Imperial 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 put 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 went against 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, so no one won’t talk about it. He then 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 weren’t here.

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.

“Imperial father, why are you so angry? 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 let 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, 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 be involved in 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, unable to hold the tea steady but there was a 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, he was extremely trusted by the emperor. He was treated differently by the present emperor, he was fortunate to be on duty in the imperial study.

In the past six months, he has met the fifth prince more than ten times.

Before, he only thought that the fifth prince’s city was extremely deep, 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 this is really the case… 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 against him.

Su Moxiu’s cup of tea made him sober up a lot, so he took a step down.

Emperor Chengde said: “You can even swear such a poisonous oath, but 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 juren who was 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 when he was doing his work. His reputation was damaged, all of which was 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 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. At this time, this matter is very important, 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 there.

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 master Wangs had a good reputation. When they were young, they were almost all 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! Imperial 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. Imperial father, you don’t believe me! You think I will fight for the throne with my elder brother! You think I was responsible for my elder brother’s accident! But I didn’t do anything!”

“You…the evidence for this is conclusive!”

Emperor Chengde said something, and Zhou Zhen answered with continuous words: “You said that the evidence of Cai Tinghe’s crime is conclusive. Didn’t imperial father 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, ‘Let heaven thunder cut off all his children and grandchildren.’

“I swear and 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 elder brother!” Zhou Zhen said again.

“You’re going to reverse heaven!” Emperor Chengde stood up, wanting to beat his son.

But at this time, Zhou Zhen still continues: “Actually, the oath of ‘cutting off children and grandchildren’ 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 hide!

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 they are…The fifth prince, who was always gloomy and quiet, kept talking back. His Majesty wanted to beat him, and he still dared to hide!

1If you want to condemn someone, don’t worry about the pretext