Refusing to Serve Me? Then Off With Your Head!

Crown Prince Qing Jin kicked the entrance gate of the Marquis of An’s manor.  His childish voice pierced through the courtyard, “Grandpa Tong, open the door!”

One of the guards that always followed him immediately stepped forward to stop him, “Careful, Your Highness!  You are hurting your foot!”

The prince frowned from the pain.

The Marquis of An’s manor was strange.  The old master liked to guard the gate.  All of the servants there came from the palace, they were originally not used to having their master guarding the gate, but after time passed, they got used to it.

When the gate was opened, a small body rushed into Uncle Tong’s embrace.  The Crown Prince raised his head to complain, “Grandpa Tong, imperial mother bullied me.  I don’t want to live in the palace anymore!”  His imperial mother who could enrage his imperial father until he stomp his foot on the ground would only lower her head and admit fault when you placed her in front of this old man.

Though the Crown Prince was only 5, he knew that really well.

… Could this be considered running away from home?

Uncle Tong laughed while shaking his head.

Though the Crown Prince and the empress had different personalities, they both tend to leave the palace when angry, and their destination would always be the same:  The Marquis of An’s manor.

“What happened this time?”  Uncle Tong held the Crown Prince’s hand and led him inside.

The Crown Prince’s petal-like lips were pursed in anger, “Imperial mother and I did not share the same opinion.  She punished me to copy books.”  He would have been fine if he was only punished, the problem was he was ordered to copy, ‘The Virtues of Women’ and books like that.

His imperial mother was carrying his one year old little sister while leisurely looking at him, “It is not hard for you to memorize complex subjects in historical books.  Only when you copy all these complicated things will you finally realize the hardship that imperial mother has to endure.  Only then will you become obedient and filial to imperial mother..”

He had always been obedient and filial….

Seems like his imperial mother was idle and was just trying to squander time with him.

And so, Crown Prince Qing Jun skipped class and ran away from home.  He ate lunch with his Grandpa Tong, and then, afternoon tea, and then, he even had a little nap.  When he thought that his Grand Tutor Yan Ping was no longer waiting for him in the palace, he asked his Uncle An Le to send him back to the palace.

Being downgraded to a coachman, the Marquis of An bravely expressed his doubts, “Feng Qing Jun, you must have been too lazy to attend class, so you purposely angered your mother so that she would punish you and give you the excuse to run away from home!”

Feng Qing Jun: “Uncle, can you not be so smart?”

At least, his imperial mother could not see through everything.

The Grand Tutor Yan Ping who was left to dry in the hall where the Crown Prince usually practiced martial arts could only return to his manor with a belly full of tea.

Reporting or complaining would be useless.  Even though the empress would chase the Crown Prince around while waving a cane, it would be useless in the end.

He was stuck between the mother and the son.

The Grand Tutor secretly wept, “The little child is really really hard to handle.  Your Majesty, can I resign?”

The emperor harrumphed coldly, “Why wouldn’t you help raise zhen’s child?  Are you still yearning for zhen’s empress?”

Your Majesty, things like that were better left unsaid though everyone practically knew.

(This was originally a story about Prince Qing Jun running away from home.  It ended up going off tangent and became a verbal spar between the emperor and the Grand Tutor.  Nevertheless, the outcome was the same: His Majesty won!)

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2 – Yearning

On one particular day, General Wu Ke head over to search for the emperor to discuss some things and bumped into the idle and jobless empress.  The empress bullied him and the emperor refused to side with him.  He could only grit his teeth and gave way.  Then, he met Crown Prince Qing Jun.

Crown Prince Qing Jun was around 10 years old.  When he saw the general, it was as though he could commiserate with him.  He stepped forward and tried to comfort the defeated general, “Imperial mother has always liked to bully people.  Besides, I heard that you hit her with a hammer in the head, year ago.  Since she cannot hit you back, she can only pay it back slowly.”

General Wu Ke’s eyes were teary: I was a fearsome general in the middle of a battlefield.  Should I hit her with a soft pillow, instead?

Feng Qing Jun patted his arm (General Wu Ke was too tall, he could not reach his shoulder), his face was full of grievance, “Imperial mother loves to bully me too.  Imperial father would just sit on the sideline, watching us with a goofy smile.”

General Wu Ke could even not picture the emperor with a goofy smile on his face.  The Crown Prince was really pitiful to have a mother like that.

Patriotism and the love for his country suddenly boiled in his heart.  He patted his own chest and exclaimed, “This official will protect Your Highness!”

Crown Prince Qing Jun: You must not blame me, imperial father.  General Wu Ke professed his loyalty on his own!

(It is said to be a taboo for ministers to proclaim their loyalty to a prince when the emperor is still healthy.)

The Crown Prince put on a grateful look, “General Wu Ke, imperial father says that you are the most capable one out of the lot.  When this prince becomes the emperor, this prince will have to rely on you!”

Receiving that much trust from the Crown Prince, the general walked out of the palace in high spirits, completely forgetting about the empress’ mistreatment.

The prince secretly watched him from afar.

His imperial father told him that showcasing appropriate weakness at the correct time was a needed skill to win over other people’s hearts.

Besides, he hammered his imperial mother in the head once.

Though his mother was a little stupid, only he could bully her.  If other people dared to, he would make them pay tenfold.

The emperor:  “What if it was zhen who bullies her?”

The Crown Prince turned his head and said, “The wind is too strong.  I cannot hear you properly, imperial father!”

———– Once General Wu Ke found out about the Crown Prince’s intention, he ran to the author tearfully and said, “I am begging you, ma’am, let the empress hammer me on the head….. She can hit me 10 times, just don’t make the Crown Prince target me….”

Being targeted by the Crown Prince was really scary!

Author: “……………”

It was said that cruel people did not pay it as it was.  They would rather inflict fear so that their target would live in constant fear and trepidation…..  Crown Prince Qing Jun had became quite familiar with how things worked.

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3 – Puppy Love

The 10 year old Crown Prince went to the imperial library to read books.  He would be accompanied by the sons of noble families there; they would become the kingdom’s future foundation.

Behind him was the reluctant-to-part Princess Xin Rui.  She was wearing a little pink dress.

The little princess: “Gege, I want to go to the imperial library to study as well.”

Prince Qing Jun: “Meimei, all the brothers in the imperial library are bad.  They would pull girls’ hairs and pinch their cheeks.”

His sister being too beautiful was giving him headache.  If those wolf cubs in the imperial library ended up taking a liking at her, it would be really bad.

But, Your Highness, you were only 10 as well, the same age as those ‘cubs’.

The princess (with a face full of fear): “Just like mom?”

The empress regularly pinched the little princess’ cheeks until her eyes became watery.  She was so pitiful.

The prince: “Their’s are more painful that mom’s!”

—– Other than the empress, no one else would dare to pinch the little princess (unless they didn’t want to live anymore).

The princess:  “Gege, I don’t want to go anymore…..  I’ll just go and keep imperial father company.” (Why not imperial mother?)

The empress who was busy playing with Prince Qing Yu had a different view, “I am not afraid of my daughter having puppy love.  According to latest research—- ‘The Empress’ First Love In-Depth Report’ shows that if a daughter is attached to her father and keeps hugging him, it is very unlikely for her to develop puppy love towards other boys.  She fits the bills.  Who can one trust more than one’s own father—– unless she meets a boy more charismatic and handsome than her father of course!  Otherwise, it is very unlikely for her to develop puppy love!”

—– Empress, no one could win over you when it came to how early the puppy love was.

The emperor happily opened his arm, “Come, my precious Xin Rui!  Give imperial father a hug!”

The emperor who was very pleased with his daughter sent a sharp look to those rascals in the imperial library, “Is there any brat out there who dares to say they are more handsome and charismatic than zhen?”

The late regent who was sleeping in his coffin climbed out of his grave and glared at the emperor, “You rascal, you dare to say that you are more handsome and charismatic than this king?”

The empress wiped her sweat.  Under the threat of being hit by the late regent, she tried to explain, “But, if it is like that, the daughter may develop attachment to the father.  It will be hard for her to get married in the future!”  Then, she presented fruits in front of the Regent’s grave, before flattering him, “Father, you are the best person in the world for me.  No man is better than you!  I admit to having Electra Complex!”

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4 – Uncle

The Crown Prince’s relationship with his uncle had always been good.  There was nothing they couldn’t talk to each other.

Crown Prince Qing Jun: “Uncle, I heard you used to be an emperor.”

This kind of things naturally could not be openly discussed.  Only the idle and jobless empress who loved to talk about ‘remember that year??’ was the one who ran her mouth off.

She loved to tell her children bed-time stories and it usually started with ‘back then…..’

Back then, there was a fat emperor.  There was also a heroic Crown Prince.  That empress and that certain Crown Prince fell in love and went through many obstacles together before finally having their happy ever after.

Whenever she told that story, a certain emperor who was reading memorials on the sideline would look so satisfied before saying: Though the empress’ memory loss was bad, he was really happy after seeing her getting over some people and some things.

That fat emperor was now a handsome lad, and Xiao Wu had to guard him tight day and night.  That certain Marquis who was queen-controlled looked pretty prideful as he said, “Correct.  I slept on the throne everyday.”

Prince Qing Jun: “No wonder your kingdom perished.  I had never seen imperial father sleeping on the throne.”

A certain Marquis: “………..” You rascal, you were comparing me to him?!

Your Father was a bandit.  Not only did he stole my land, he also stole my beautiful jiejie.  I originally wanted to make jiejie my empress.

Qing Jun was surprised and horrified; he immediately covered his uncle’s mouth.  He solemnly admonished his uncle, “Uncle, you must not say things like that…. If imperial father overheard you, you will not get to see imperial mother anymore.  Not even during the New Years….”

A certain Marquis earnestly admitted fault, “I will not say that anymore!  Even if I think of it, I will not say it out loud.  Though your imperial father is a bandit, he can be pretty generous.  If I ask him for money, he will give me, I must not ruffle his feather!”