Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Officials whose wives had visited the Yulong Temple were particularly terrified: “No, no! We wouldn’t dare!”

Those previously exposed for using regional slurs slammed their chests with the force of a bear, swearing with all their might: “I swear to the heavens, it wasn’t me!”

Ji’an Marquis, who felt he was the most suspicious, was practically in tears: “It wasn’t me! Truly, it wasn’t me! Even though he exposed that all eight of my children weren’t actually mine, at least I’m no longer in the dark! I’m grateful to him… wuuuu… so grateful! How could I possibly hate him!”

The Crown Prince: “…”

He finally understood—there wasn’t a single civil or military official in this court that Little Bai Ze hadn’t offended.

The Prince of Tang, the youngest of the Crown Prince’s legitimate brothers, who had returned to the capital for New Year’s greetings, whispered mischievously to his eldest brother: “Elder brother, could this person be Father’s illegitimate child?”

The Crown Prince sighed deeply and lamented: “If only he were.”

Such an interesting person! If he were his brother, the palace would surely be lively every day. This attitude only made the other princes more curious. Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao was in a corner, frantically pulling gossip from the system.

[What?! So it’s actually…]

Who!

Who could it be!

[It turns out the Crown Grandson truly acted on his own initiative in this mess?]

[His subordinates even advised him not to do this, but he stubbornly persisted.]

The officials: “…Huh?”

So it wasn’t some calculated plot or devious scheme? It was really just the Crown Grandson being brainless?!

The Crown Prince’s mouth twitched uncontrollably as he looked at his eldest son as though he were a bizarre species.

The Crown Grandson: “…Father?”

Why was he looking at him like that?

“You…” The Crown Prince patted his shoulder, sighed, and shook his head. After hesitating, he simply said: “Forget it, being foolish has its merits.”

At least his empress might finally abandon the idea of keeping him as the Crown Prince. Plus, if he were this foolish, when one of his brothers eventually ascended to the throne, they might be willing to let him have a meal or two.

The Crown Grandson’s face turned beet red. “Father!!!”

[Oh no! Wait! There’s still more to this… Let me see… Holy crap! The King of Jibei is plotting rebellion!]

The room was struck by another revelation.

[So, the Jibei King’s heir came to the capital this time to harm the Crown Prince? He almost succeeded!]

[The Crown Grandson’s actions were his own, but the Jibei King’s heir discovered it and gave the situation a little nudge.]

[He knows the Crown Prince has a weak constitution… or is it a liver problem? Dammit, I can’t read the pulse diagnosis! Something about not tolerating the cold, frequently losing his appetite, and coughing up blood a few times. What is this illness? The only thing I get is excessive internal heat?]

[Anyway, the Crown Prince can’t handle stress. The plan was for the Crown Grandson to cause a scandal, possibly losing his position as heir apparent. That would infuriate the Crown Prince to the point of spitting blood. With the Emperor in disarray, Jibei would seize the opportunity!]

The old Emperor’s face darkened, and he turned abruptly toward the Crown Prince.

Startled by his father’s gaze, the Crown Prince blinked, looking confused.

…Huh? Would losing the throne really make him so angry that he’d cough up blood?

As he processed this, his expression quickly turned icy.

How dare they try to use the loss of his position to manipulate him! Such a cunning mind! Such vicious schemes!

[Hahaha, the Jibei King has been preparing for this for years, hoping to provoke the Crown Prince into spitting blood and even dying. They’ve tried several times to anger him before, but the Crown Prince just wouldn’t budge.]

[They even spread rumors that he was cursed to be childless, thinking this might displease the Emperor and Empress enough to consider another heir. The Crown Prince, annoyed, suggested to Lady Wang of the palace that she dance in the snow to catch the Emperor’s attention.]

[He also taught another consort, Lady Duan, to wake up at the crack of dawn to lift weights, claiming the Emperor admired strength. This led to the emergence of a peculiar trend in the palace.]

[Some consorts began loudly reciting palace rules by the Taiye Pond, claiming diligence. Others proposed eating garlic three times a day to share common tastes with the Emperor. Some simply gave up and embraced hobbies like shuttlecock, croquet, or drama performances.]

The old Emperor, tears welling up in his tiger-like eyes, thought:

No wonder the imperial harem has been so strange these past years!

Had the palace not been so peculiar, would he have been so eager to bring Qin Zhen into the palace after just one meeting? A normal, soft-spoken woman who could dance! So what if she’d had a previous relationship? That’s completely normal!

Empress Dou had even turned a blind eye to the Crown Prince’s antics. She truly had no desire to share a bed with the Emperor at her age, even platonically—he snored.

The old Emperor: …

The Emperor almost cried like a tiger caught in despair.

[They once staged limping acts in front of the Crown Prince, hoping to irritate him. He applauded instead: “Well done! Do it again!” Another time, he corrected someone squatting improperly, scaring the person nearly into the latrine.]

[They tried to create anxiety, claiming other princes were winning imperial favor or achieving great feats in their territories. Some were even said to have multiple sons already, while he had none.]

[But no matter what they tried, the Crown Prince remained calm and carefree. If not finding joy for himself, he sought amusement in others. He procrastinated on official duties to the last moment, yet rushed to watch entertaining scandals, like someone pretending to sell a ‘kirin’ to a noble for gold.]

[The Crown Prince hasn’t been angered to the point of spitting blood, but the Jibei King has coughed up blood three or four times already, arriving at the New Year without energy, forcing his son to come to the capital on his behalf.]

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