I Am Pregnant

Outside the spirit screen at the Southern Academy's entrance, the Fat Eunuch's cry of "His Majesty has arrived!" caught in his throat.

The Qi Emperor's face was as black as ink. His gaze bore straight into the Heir of the Prince of Annam, murderous intent spilling from his eyes.

Zhang Yao wanted to slap himself.

You just had to keep hurrying him along! Now you've hurried His Majesty here, and you're about to hurry your official hat right off your head!

The atmosphere froze around those at the center of the storm. Bolao offered a smile that never reached his eyes.

"What are you trying to say, Your Highness? The Crown Prince is as precious as gold and jade. Naturally, he deserves the finest things under heaven!"

Jiang Liang looked at the little Crown Prince, then at the heir. Had these been troubled times, she would have had to cry out, "The heir has the makings of a mighty ruler!"

Qi Yuanzuo's head was full of question marks.

Wasn't this just emotional manipulation?

Was something wrong with this guy? He'd started manipulating me out of nowhere!

Had he really been an ordinary, kindhearted child, this fellow would have had him wrapped around his finger. He probably would have been drowning in guilt and bawling his eyes out!

Shi Yu had imagined that the little Crown Prince would either cry in fright or lash out in anger.

But the little Crown Prince neither cried nor grew angry. Instead, he answered his question as though looking at an idiot.

His childish voice was clear and methodical.

"First, your premise is wrong."

"The imperial family of Great Qi is not a band of robbers or brigands."

"These tributes are neither plundered nor forcibly seized by the imperial family. The local authorities pay to purchase them, with their value measured against the price of silk, and that value must not exceed the price of fifty bolts."

"If they exceed that price, the excess can be offset against taxes."

Shi Yu froze, panic and bewilderment rising within him. This answer was beyond his expectations-or rather, he had never imagined that this was how things actually worked.

As if to emphasize his point, the little Crown Prince held up two fingers before him and waved them, signaling him to listen carefully.

"Second, the court explicitly stipulates that tribute must be locally produced and must not be supplied without payment."

"Rare treasures intended solely for pleasure, and foods meant to satisfy the palate, may not be offered as tribute without an edict from Father."

The little Crown Prince lifted his head and spoke with easy confidence.

"Third, the tribute system exists to give the local people another source of income and reduce their taxes. The quantities are strictly regulated so that tribute does not interfere with their farming or quality of life."

"Of course, I do not deny that some people profit from exploitation along the way, nor are all local officials incorruptible."

"But saying that the things I wear and use were paid for with the common people's lives only makes you look terribly ignorant."

The little Crown Prince raised his chin proudly. "Father purchased the things I wear and use through the resources of the state to lighten the burden on the common people."

"What I wear is not clothing. It is Great Qi's prosperity, and Father's ability to govern."

"The more expensive my clothes, the wealthier the treasury, and the better the lives of Great Qi's people."

Jiang Liang was a blade of grass atop a wall, bending toward whichever side had the stronger argument, wearing a foolish expression as her entire understanding was overturned.

The little Crown Prince was firm in his thinking and clear in his reasoning. His rebuttal was well-founded and without a single flaw.

Originally, Shi Yu had stood on the moral high ground to condemn the little Crown Prince. Now, the little Crown Prince had crushed the Heir of the Prince of Annam with the sheer breadth of his perspective.

It only made the imperial family's bearing-and the narrowness of the heir's understanding-all the more apparent.

Finally, the little Crown Prince showed off with childish pride.

"I know you're simply upset because my clothes look so nice. I understand. What can I do? I have the most amazing father under heaven!"

Shi Yu's young face flushed faintly. Knowing he had made a terrible fool of himself, he felt the heat of shame creep up his spine and into his face. Had there been a crack nearby, he would have gladly crawled into it.

This should have been basic knowledge for any child of an aristocratic family. His question had merely exposed his shallow ignorance.

Suppressing the panic deep inside, he forced himself to remain composed. "I have learned my lesson."

The little Crown Prince had no intention of letting him off. "You've finished asking. Now it's my turn."

Shi Yu felt as though he were facing a formidable enemy, yet he could not refuse.

"I want to know..."

"Doesn't your little willy get cold dangling in the wind?"

Before Shi Yu could react, the little Crown Prince crouched down and pointed beneath the robes Shi Yu had bunched up, his expression brimming with amusement.

"Aren't you embarrassed?"

Shi Yu went blank, as though struck by lightning.

The little Crown Prince blinked, as if confronted with an incomprehensible puzzle, and asked hesitantly, "You aren't?"

Shi Yu's face turned scarlet. He hurriedly dropped his clothes, lost his balance in his crouch, and landed on his backside.

Just as he was about to get up, the little Crown Prince looked down at him with smiling eyes.

"Hey, you just squashed a whole lot of ants with your backside."

"The common people are different. They could squash you with theirs."

In a roundabout way, this answered his original question too.

Like some creature of darkness dragged out of a rat hole and suddenly exposed to sunlight, Shi Yu felt its glare wound him in body and soul. He covered his face and fled.

Familiar laughter came from behind the spirit screen.

Qi Yuanzuo saw only a flash of yellow before he was airborne.

The Qi Emperor gleefully tossed the little Crown Prince into the air. At the sight of the world from this new angle, the little Crown Prince cried out in wonder.

"Wow-so high! Father, again!"

The Qi Emperor threw him even more enthusiastically!

"Father! There's a bird in the tree!"

The Qi Emperor roared with laughter and turned, switching places with his son so that father and son could see the scenery through each other's eyes.

"That's a cuckoo!"

The little Crown Prince shouted, "Again, again! Fly!"

The Qi Emperor tossed him up once more.

"What did you see this time?"

"Eggs! Cuckoo eggs! Hahaha!"

The Qi Emperor laughed again. "The cuckoo in the magpie's nest!"

Zhang Yao stroked his beard and watched the scene with a kindly expression, finding it surprisingly harmonious.

The Eldest Prince stood a short distance away. His classroom was beside the little Crown Prince's, and he had witnessed everything that had just happened.

He thought of the insidious Third Prince, the rabid-dog Fourth Prince, the possibly impotent Fifth Prince, and the hypocritical, pretentious Sixth Prince.

The Crown Prince was like a clear breeze beneath a bright moon, the same inside and out. His bearing and breadth of vision utterly surpassed theirs.

He himself was not of imperial blood. At most, he could spend his life as a worthy prince. Why abandon the Crown Prince to support a lunatic?

With that thought, the Eldest Prince settled himself comfortably at the bottom of the Crown Prince's camp.

Having surrendered completely, he recalled the Crown Prince's affection for him in his previous life and could not help feeling hopeful.

But something unexpected had happened in this life: the little Crown Prince could not practice martial arts. All of their brothers were capable fighters, and the Eldest Prince considered himself the best among them. Yet the thought of protecting the little Crown Prince against several of them in the future filled him with a sense of danger.

San'er hasn't grown up yet. Why not... strike first?

Although San'er was close to him, even brothers had varying degrees of closeness.

Compared with his future with the little Crown Prince, his affection for San'er was just a fart. Holding it in was a burden; letting it out would be a relief.

The more he thought about it, the more tempting it became.

Give it a try?

The little Crown Prince had performed so well that the Qi Emperor waved his hand and ordered him to attend lessons alongside the Eldest Prince.

The Eldest Prince once again remembered the terror of having the Crown Prince catch up with him. He had originally thought the Crown Prince had been studying like mad in secret, deliberately trying to embarrass him.

Now it seemed that even that had been the result of the Crown Prince sparing his dignity.

The little Crown Prince hugged the Eldest Prince and smiled. "I want to sit in the same classroom as my eldest brother."

The Eldest Prince instantly forgot his little bit of awkwardness, unable to suppress the upward curl of his lips.

He likes me!

While those two were wrapped up in brotherly affection, the Third Prince, who was being raised by the Empress Dowager, was having a thoroughly miserable time.

His suffering was not merely physical, but mental too.

Who knew what the Empress Dowager was thinking? She insisted on holding him while discussing every sort of sordid secret!

At night alone, he had already listened to several live erotic performances!

The secrets he had heard over the past few days were enough to overturn everything the Third Prince had known in his previous life.

Take this moment, for example.

Holding him in her arms, the Empress Dowager said with breezy indifference,

"I am pregnant."

"Summon the emperor and Princess Baozhu so we can celebrate."

The Third Prince's soul went numb. Has this world finally gone mad?