tkworld Chapter 390 With Mother around, I can do whatever I want
Chapter 390 With Mother around, I can do whatever I want
Shen Shixi stopped her, saying, "Don't frighten Consort Yuan. She raised her child with so much care, and it turns out to be this kind of child. She must be heartbroken. It's not fair to rub salt into her wounds."
At least leave people a way to survive!
"How old is he? He's a prince, not a princess. These days, he's taught by lecturers and students. Are you going to punish those two old men who are teaching him too?"
Li Yuanke was furious. "What utter nonsense is he spouting? He said I'll depose the Crown Prince sooner or later. Who taught him such a thing?"
"That definitely isn't Consort Yuan. She helped you raise your child, and not only did she not receive any credit, but now she doesn't even deserve any reward for her hard work, right?"
"I didn't give her any benefits? If I hadn't agreed, would her position have been promoted?" Li Yuanke was furious. "Investigate! Xuan Cen Yin, investigate thoroughly for me! Who in the palace said such things!"
Shen Shixi didn't care anymore. It was time to investigate properly and stop this trend. However, he knew they wouldn't be able to find out who it was.
Sure enough, the investigation eventually revealed that it was a eunuch close to the Eighth Prince who had instigated him. The Eighth Prince complained that his father was biased, and the eunuch comforted him, saying that there was plenty of time in the future. As long as Your Highness behaves well and studies hard, the Crown Prince will be deposed sooner or later, and the position of heir apparent will be yours.
The emperor was furious, and all four of the eighth prince's close attendants were beaten to death.
That night, Dongjun wouldn't sleep and insisted that Shen Shixi coax him. Shen Shixi would sleep with him. At night, when no one was around, he would secretly ask his mother, "Mother, will Father depose the Crown Prince?"
Shen Shixi then asked him, "Do you know what 'deposed crown prince' means?"
He shook his head, though he didn't know, he was afraid.
Shen Shixi hugged her son and patted him gently. "What the deposed crown prince means is that your father will no longer like you and will like your brothers."
There are only two situations in which your father will depose the crown prince: either you are incompetent enough to be the crown prince, or you really dislike being the crown prince.
"Then tell me, do you have the ability to be the crown prince?"
Dongjun didn't actually know what it meant to be the crown prince, but he felt that the title was his and no one could take it away from him. He said, "I can, Mother, I can!"
"Mother also thinks you are capable. In this world, if even my Dongjun (the Crown Prince) can't be a good Crown Prince, then no one else can."
Xihe crawled over and said, "Mother, my eighth brother said that Father likes Brother Wangshu. Will Father depose Dongjun and make Brother Wangshu the crown prince?"
Dongjun then said, "Mother, I can give the crown prince to my younger brothers, but not to anyone else."
Shen Shixi kissed her son and said, "Only you can be the crown prince. No one else can, not even your brothers! Unless you really don't want to be the crown prince, as long as you want to be the crown prince, the crown prince position is yours. Your mother will not allow anyone to take away your crown prince position."
Dongjun relaxed, hugged his mother's neck, and laughed, "Mother, I want to be one!"
"Alright!" Shen Shixi patted her son's back. "If you want to, then do it; if you don't, then don't. With your mother here, Dongjun can do whatever he wants. Xihe too!"
Xihe then asked, "Mother, why can my younger brother be the crown prince, but I can't?"
Shen Shixi laughed and asked, "Xihe wants to be the crown prince?"
Xihe shook her head, puzzled, and said, "I don't know either, but why can't I be one?"
Shen Shixi said, "The purpose of becoming the crown prince is to become the emperor in place of your father when he gets old. If you want to become the crown prince, you have to think it through. You will become the emperor of this country in the future, and you will have to deal with a lot of court affairs every day and fight against people with wit and courage."
"If you like, I can think of a way to let you become an empress in another country. However, that will be very, very hard. Think it over first, and then tell me when you've made up your mind."
Xihe shook her head again. "I don't want it anymore. I want to help my brother. If I become empress, I won't be able to help him anymore. Mother, I think Eighth Brother definitely wants to be the crown prince. He wants to compete with my brother for it."
Shen Shixi said, "Your eighth brother is also your father's son, so it's normal for him to want to be the crown prince. Although your younger brother has gained an advantage, it's normal for any of your brothers to want to be the crown prince."
After the two children fell asleep, Shen Shixi got up and returned to her bedroom.
Li Yuanke had put the two younger children to sleep and was waiting for her when he asked, "What did our son say to you?"
It's infuriating that he raised all the children, but when they have something on their mind, they don't talk to him but insist on talking to their mother. Even with Shen Shixi's parenting style, the children are still closer to her.
Li Yuanke felt uneasy.
Shen Shixi knew perfectly well that he was jealous, and gave him a once-over. "I only realized today that the Emperor has an aura of imperial power! He's quite majestic!"
What did my son say to me? He asked me if his father would depose him from his position as crown prince.
Li Yuanke was furious. "He doesn't trust his father? Why should he trust you?"
Shen Shixi rolled onto the bed and lay down. "What you're saying is really funny. You're not just his father, but I'm the mother of him and his siblings!"
Li Yuange was in the wrong, but still wanted to save face, so he hugged Shen Shixi and said, "How was I supposed to know you were so fertile? Why didn't you say you wanted to have more children?"
[What business is it of yours how many children I want to have? This is my belly, I can have as many as I want. You have so many sons, I only have two, what am I going to do if I can't compete?]
Shen Shixi leaned against him, closed her eyes, and said, "Oh, so you won't keep nagging me every day about not giving birth to your child."
Li Yuanke laughed in exasperation. He didn't care what Shen Shixi was thinking; she had given him four children, both sons and daughters, and he was very grateful and content.
The next morning, Li Yuanke escorted Dongjun and Xihe to the school and arranged to pick them up after school.
They were mainly afraid that their older brothers would bully them again.
The third prince then said to the fourth prince, "Father said he might send my tenth brother and fifth sister to school every day from now on, and pick them up after school. I wonder if Father will test our knowledge?"
The fourth prince was born with a dislike for studying and was not good at it. He wasn't stupid; if he had put his mind to it, he could have learned well. The key was that he focused most of his attention on eating.
He goes to Consort Xian's palace every day, as if he wants to live there all the time.
Consort Xian loved cooking and often sought advice from the Empress. Although she didn't have a natural talent for cooking, she managed to say goodbye to disastrous dishes. In addition, she had three children to feed, so she didn't dare to cook carelessly.
When it was time to dismiss school as usual, the instructors hadn't announced the end of class yet, and the Fourth Prince asked anxiously, "Master Yan, why isn't school over yet? I'm starving!"
Yan Xuegu glanced at him. "Fourth Prince, you should eat less. There's an old saying, 'To maintain good health, one should be slightly hungry and slightly cold.' You need to exercise more and not just think about eating all day. You eat far too much!"
The fourth prince didn't like hearing this and was about to say something when his father arrived. Sure enough, his third brother was right; his father was going to test their knowledge.
He glared resentfully at Dongjun and Xihe.
If Dongjun and Xihe don't come to study, Father Emperor won't visit Chongxian Hall for eight hundred years. It's all Dongjun and Xihe's fault.
Li Yuanke kept Shen Shixi's words in mind: the Crown Prince is still young, so don't give him any special treatment. In addition, the father was afraid that the Crown Prince would be nervous, so he said that the older brothers would recite the texts to the younger ones.
Li Yuanke only knew the Four Books, and he wasn't even very familiar with them. However, he was quite shameless and took a book and made the Second Prince start memorizing it.