Well, damn!

A strange look flashed through Xi Ming's eyes. "This subject greets Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Qi Yuanzuo waved a hand. "Rise. I came to keep my eldest brother company. Teach as you normally would."

Xi Ming continued his lesson as usual, while Qi Yuanzuo propped his chin on his hand and stared at him without blinking.

His gaze passed over the man's beard, then moved to his fingernails. A little disgusting.

What normal person grew out only his pinky nail? Those who did generally had two uses for it: one, digging out earwax; two, picking their nose.

The more Qi Yuanzuo thought about it, the more his skin crawled.

The Eldest Prince finally understood why the crown prince had been so extreme in his previous life. He had known full well that Xi Ming harbored sinister intentions, yet had nowhere to voice them. Who would willingly shoulder the infamy of murdering his own teacher unless he had been disgusted beyond endurance?

After Xi Ming died, his family had not taken his body home. Their imperial father had disposed of it in secret. The Xi family had initially wanted to make a scene, and the court officials had intended to condemn the act loudly, yet somehow everything had fallen deathly silent.

Only during the fiercest years of the struggle for the throne had the incident been dragged out again to smear the crown prince's name.

The Eldest Prince had enlisted his maternal relatives to investigate Xi Ming, but they had found nothing.

Strange indeed.

When the lesson ended, Xi Ming spread his feathers like a dung beetle pretending to be a peacock and asked what impression he had made on the crown prince:

"What does Your Highness think of my teaching?"

Qi Yuanzuo backed away three steps in disgust. "What does your teaching have to do with me?"

Xi Ming's pride smarted. "His Majesty once praised my learning as enough to fill five cartloads of books. I was meant to share a bond with Your Highness, but alas, fate brought us together without allowing that bond to bear fruit."

"Still, the Eldest Prince is clever, and his studies advance a thousand miles a day. Truly a blessing for Great Qi."

Xi Ming meant that his scholarship had earned the emperor's approval, and that he should have been Qi Yuanzuo's teacher.

Anyone hearing that would have asked more.

Qi Yuanzuo, however, said, "Earning my imperial father's favor is your privilege. Being grateful to him is only right. Not becoming my teacher was your own bad luck, and being able to teach my eldest brother is your good fortune."

"You look filthy, and your breath stinks. Stay away from me!"

Fire blazed through Xi Ming from head to toe.

He considered himself elegant and graceful, comparable to an immortal crane, yet today he had been trampled into the mud. Indescribable shame and anger left him staring, tongue-tied, as he pointed a finger at Qi Yuanzuo.

"You... you!"

Qi Yuanzuo snorted coldly. "I don't think you're fit to be a teacher, either. You haven't even grasped 'heaven, earth, sovereign, parents, and teacher.' Where do you get the nerve to teach?"

The crown prince was the future sovereign. Even the greatest scholars of the age could not point a finger at their ruler. Having lost his manners in his shame and fury, Xi Ming hurriedly withdrew his finger in alarm, knowing he could not let himself be subjected to any more of this unreasonable pestering.

"Despite your tender age, Your Highness speaks with such insolence and lacks any of the magnanimity befitting an heir to the throne. I merely expressed a few sentiments, yet Your Highness has humiliated me like this. I shall report this to His Majesty!"

Qi Yuanzuo turned around. Dawn spread behind him, maids and eunuchs stood to either side, and his bright yellow robes carried the majesty of one who ruled the nine heavens.

He raised his chin proudly. "Go ahead and report me. I'll be waiting."

The Eldest Prince's heart jolted violently.

The scene overlapped with his memories. On the hunting grounds, the young dragon's scales had been a tender yellow. Treacherous winds and clouds shifted there, webs of intrigue stretched everywhere, yet he had charged in with his bow drawn and an arrow nocked, dazzling enough to inspire envy.

"The greatest prize is here with me. I'm waiting for you to come take it!"

They had risked their lives to take it.

They had failed.

And ended up handing the advantage to a pair of shameless lovers.

The Eldest Prince clenched his hands gloomily and watched the crown prince leave.

The eunuch beside the Eldest Prince cautiously studied his expression and ventured a suggestion.

"Your Highness, the crown prince is putting you in a difficult position."

Smack! The Eldest Prince struck him with a backhanded slap, and the eunuch hurriedly dropped to his knees.

The Eldest Prince stared at Xi Ming and grinned, looking wild and untamable.

"A dog ought to act like a dog. Slap your face twenty times."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

A string of slaps rang out. Xi Ming felt as though fire scorched the soles of his feet. The eunuch was the one being punished, yet every slap seemed to land on his own face.

Xi Ming gritted his teeth and headed outside. Estimating that court would soon adjourn, he intended to complain to the emperor before the crown prince could get there.

The Qi Emperor spoiled the crown prince without restraint. Xi Ming genuinely feared he would not even have a chance to defend himself!

Once everyone had left, the Eldest Prince listened to the slapping with a sense of satisfaction.

They were imperial princes, noble beyond compare. Servants were not worthy of being punished by their own hands.

The crown prince liked slapping people himself.

All the brothers had been slapped by him. Nursing their grudges, they had started slapping others, too.

He had to admit, it felt pretty good.

"This brat was already so arrogant as a child. No wonder nobody could stand him later."

Muttering under his breath, the Eldest Prince also hurried off to see his ready-made imperial father.

If Qi Yuanzuo ended up getting the short end of the stick, he would grudgingly lend him a hand.

Qi Yuanzuo leisurely returned to the Hall of Inherited Blessing.

He wanted to use this incident to see just how much the Qi Emperor would tolerate from him, and also to gauge his eldest brother's intentions.

The moment he entered the Hall of Inherited Blessing, he caught a familiar aroma that made his mouth water.

His eyes lit up, and he followed the scent into the room, secretly brimming with excitement.

Bolao came forward to greet him. "This servant welcomes Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Qi Yuanzuo looked past him. "What smells so good? Let me see."

Bolao smiled obediently. "Your Highness mentioned soup-filled buns several times a few days ago. This servant worked out how to make them today and had the private kitchen give it a try."

Qi Yuanzuo pressed him. "Did it work?"

Bolao replied, "Thanks to Your Highness's good fortune, it certainly did."

A steamer of bowl-sized buns was brought out, their soup sloshing and wobbling inside. Bolao helped him take a sip of the broth from one bun, and it was so delicious his tongue nearly fell off.

This was the taste!

He had missed it to death!

He had never imagined he would get to eat such authentic soup dumplings again!

He kept pestering 88 in his head, and 88 simulated a soup dumpling for itself, too. One human and one system ate to their hearts' content.

With his belly warm, Qi Yuanzuo gave Bolao a searching look.

"You're not bad."

"What reward would you like?"

Bolao immediately knelt. "This servant dares not harbor extravagant wishes. If I could serve at Your Highness's side, I would die without regrets."

Die without regrets.

Those words rolled through his heart.

Should he use him or not?

He just feared the dog might turn around and bite its master.

"You have my permission to attend me personally from now on."

Bolao was delighted. "Thank you, Your Highness!"

He had saved the little crown prince in the Empress Dowager's palace, yet the boy had not even shown him a pleasant expression.

No matter how he tried to attract his attention, the little crown prince looked at him as though he were a dog.

Serving him personally meant being able to get close.

Through his meals, clothing, lodgings, and travel, given enough time, Bolao would surely see what lay at the little crown prince's core.

"Does Cousin Yin have some, too?"

Yin Shouzhi was his own cousin. Afraid the servants might neglect him, Qi Yuanzuo had specifically instructed them to treat Yin Shouzhi just as they treated him.

"Rest assured, Your Highness. Everything is ready. As soon as Young Master Yin gets up, he will have some to eat."

"Make a few more portions for me to take to my imperial father and eldest brother."

Bolao naturally agreed.

Simiao felt no displeasure at having her work snatched away. She firmly believed no one could replace her abilities.

The timing was perfect. Just as the buns came out of the steamer, a summons arrived from the Hall of Bright Virtue.

The Fat Eunuch had come in person.

He wore a kindly, beaming smile.

"Your Highness, His Majesty says to come watch the show."

Inwardly, Qi Yuanzuo exclaimed, Well, damn.

"System! Even my own dad never spoiled me this much!"

88 smoked with world-weary resignation. Exactly. So how could this still turn into a tragedy?