Unlucky Enough to Turn Stupid

Princess Baozhu shrank back in terror in the corner. She had never seen her mother like this...

A madwoman...

Mother had gone mad... Imperial Brother had gone mad too...

Princess Baozhu huddled behind a supporting pillar, her mouth covered and her eyes wide, tears streaming down her face. She scrambled out of the Hall of Nurturing Origin on all fours as a squad of saber-bearing guards charged inside.

Princess Baozhu could not help looking back, only to see blood covering the floor and bodies falling before they could even scream.

"Ah-!"

She cried out, and an unfamiliar matron caught her.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has ordered this servant to take you somewhere to rest."

Baozhu knew her maids were all dead and would never return. These were her imperial brother's people. She dared not struggle as two of them supported her between them and took her away.

The Qi Emperor did not return to his bedchamber. Instead, he forced himself to go to the Hall of Inherited Blessing.

Everyone in the Hall of Inherited Blessing was the emperor's eyes and ears. Ironically, out of the entire Imperial Palace, only the Hall of Inherited Blessing could give him any measure of peace.

With Simiao and Fat Eunuch guarding the door, the Qi Emperor clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood, swaying on the verge of collapse.

Fat Eunuch was horrified!

"Your Majesty!"

Fat Eunuch was about to summon an Imperial Physician, but the Qi Emperor stopped him.

Fat Eunuch was frantic, as though his backside were on fire. If anything happened to His Majesty, there would be no one to hold the palace steady! He hardly dared imagine the chaos that would follow!

The Qi Emperor said, "Summon... the Crown Prince."

At that moment, Qi Yuanzuo had already finished his lessons and was skipping back to his hall with the Eldest Prince.

When he heard that his imperial father was waiting for him at the Hall of Inherited Blessing on some matter, Qi Yuanzuo parted ways with the Eldest Prince.

But the young eunuch's urgency along the way left him uneasy.

The moment he stepped through the main entrance, he sensed something was wrong. Everyone in the hall was on high alert, their every glance full of wariness.

Simiao and Fat Eunuch stood at the door with lowered eyes, nothing like their usual warm selves. They greeted him with strictly formal bows.

Fat Eunuch bent at the waist and said respectfully, "Your Highness, His Majesty is waiting inside. You must go in alone."

Qi Yuanzuo nodded.

As soon as he entered the room, his expression changed drastically!

He hurried to the bedside. "Father!"

The Qi Emperor looked truly frightening. There was blood on his chest, his eyes were crimson, and his hair was disheveled.

The Qi Emperor seized the little Crown Prince in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed with heartrending anguish.

"Tun'er! They all bully us, father and son!"

"What did your father ever do wrong?! Why did Heaven take my imperial grandfather when I was a child, and my empress when I was a young man?! My father never loved me, and my mother never cared!"

"Nobody wants me!"

"Why can't she spare a thought for me?! I have several imperial uncles, every one accomplished in civil and military affairs. Why did Grandfather insist on making the Late Emperor Crown Prince?!"

"I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!"

Having roared until his voice cracked, the emperor vomited another mouthful of blood, rolled his eyes back, and fainted.

Qi Yuanzuo had nearly been strangled by that embrace. He vaguely understood something.

"Summon an Imperial Physician!"

Fat Eunuch raced to the Imperial Medical Bureau.

One group of the Imperial Medical Bureau's physicians had been summoned to the Palace of Nurturing Origin, another by Princess Baozhu, and yet another was trying to save the Third Prince.

Short-handed, the Imperial Physicians carried the Third Prince and ran to the Hall of Inherited Blessing.

They could not neglect the Hall of Inherited Blessing, but they could not leave the Third Prince there either!

Once the Imperial Physicians arrived, the two waited anxiously for their diagnosis.

After a long while, one said, "Extreme agitation has assailed the heart, liver fire has flared, and blood and qi have surged against their proper flow."

"I will prescribe a few doses of medicine. Remember, His Majesty must not be allowed to grow angry again."

His life was not in danger. Qi Yuanzuo finally felt relieved.

Only then did he have the time to check on San'er.

"What happened to my third brother?"

The Imperial Physician's face turned miserable. "He fell."

"An infant's fontanelle has not yet closed, and the skull is soft. His forehead looks swollen where it was struck, but a section has actually caved in. I fear his brain has been injured. I cannot determine whether the Third Prince will be affected when he wakes."

For a moment, Qi Yuanzuo did not know what to say.

Fat Eunuch offered a tactful explanation. "The Empress Dowager and His Majesty argued. The Empress Dowager accidentally knocked the Third Prince against something."

How could Qi Yuanzuo fail to read between the lines?

When the city gates caught fire, the fish in the moat suffered.

San'er really was unlucky.

"Have someone brew the medicine and bring a bucket of hot water. I'll stay here and wash Father's face."

Fat Eunuch went to see to it himself.

After cleaning the Qi Emperor up and changing him into nightclothes, Fat Eunuch fed him the medicine. The Imperial Physician administered acupuncture and said he would wake in two hours.

Tears still clung to the sleeping Third Prince's lashes. His Majesty lay unconscious, while the little Crown Prince held a bowl of medicine of his own and stayed beside them without moving an inch.

As Fat Eunuch relaxed, sorrow welled up inside him. What a terrible mess this was.

Holding his medicine bowl, Qi Yuanzuo sank into thought. The original novel had not described the Empress Dowager in much detail. It had only mentioned that she favored the Eldest Prince and had done bad things to the Crown Prince.

What those bad things were, Qi Yuanzuo did not know.

The Empress Dowager had died in a palace revolt.

What sort of revolt, it had not mentioned either.

He had been wondering all along what had caused his father's pathological need for control later on.

When the Qi Emperor held him and cried, he found his answer:

It was his father's way of compensating his childhood self.

The Qi Emperor had been raised by the Great Ancestor. He had only seen his father at court, and his mother once a month.

His longing for familial affection had manifested in pestering the Great Ancestor, but the Great Ancestor was busy with affairs of state and could spare him only a tiny fraction of each day.

His emotional needs had gone unmet, and the absence of maternal love had left the Qi Emperor without a sufficient sense of security.

This showed in his preference for gentle, gracious women after he grew up. Even his taste in men leaned toward gentle gentlemen.

That state of unmet emotional need, provoked over and over by the Empress Dowager, had gathered into a hydrogen balloon on the verge of exploding.

The Empress Dowager had held power for years, and the Qi Emperor had suffered at her hands. He was deeply wary of the Imperial Palace.

They all bully us, father and son.

Father had said "they."

In his eyes, the entire Imperial Palace was a steel trap the Empress Dowager had set to catch him. The Qi Emperor appeared more than composed enough on the outside, but in truth, he was suspicious and sensitive.

And now he had a son who needed his protection, who could survive only by relying on him. It reminded him of himself, once sheltered by the Great Ancestor.

The Qi Emperor personally raised the little Crown Prince and lavished every favor on him. It was a reflection of his own unfulfilled yearning to be protected in this place.

People had both love and hatred. If the Empress Dowager was the focus of the Qi Emperor's hatred, then Qi Yuanzuo was the vessel for his love.

Once his hatred had been vented, the emptiness in his heart immediately turned into control over that "love."

That hydrogen balloon filled with unease exploded, its force engulfing Qi Yuanzuo and leaving him covered in wounds. It also drove father and son to begin quarreling.

Then the Qi Emperor would discover how much their situation resembled his own relationship with the Empress Dowager back then.

That discovery would truly pour oil on the fire...

And so the middle-aged lion, now on the decline, would begin suppressing the young, spirited new heir by any means necessary.

This analysis made Qi Yuanzuo's heart beat a little faster. He hurriedly sipped his medicine, and its nauseating taste jolted him alert.

Holding his breath, he downed it all in one go.

The lingering taste made him retch silently. Reflexive tears blurred his eyes, but Qi Yuanzuo could not be bothered to wipe them away.

He looked at the Third Prince. In just a few days, the plump little dumpling had shriveled. Who knew how much torment he had suffered with the Empress Dowager?

Qi Yuanzuo lifted his damp eyes and unexpectedly met another pair.

The Third Prince opened his eyes to see a child with tears in his eyes.

He must have forgotten something. It felt as though a barrier separated him from the world. His subconscious clearly told him that he knew this person, but before he could think further, he forgot again.

Then the thought repeated over and over.

I should remember this person. He's... I forgot.

Huh? I should remember this person. He's... I forgot.

The Third Prince unconsciously sucked his hand, staring hard at the face before him.

Pretty, and he even cried for me. A good person.

After staring for a while, the Third Prince suddenly jolted. Wait! Why am I sucking my hand?

Isn't this rice-ball face the Crown Prince?!

The Third Prince was overwhelmed with relief. I survived that disaster! I finally escaped that madwoman with my life!

The next moment, the Third Prince's mind went blank. His gaze turned vacant again, and he resumed sucking his little hand.

Oh, this is the person who cried for me. A good person.

Qi Yuanzuo tilted his head. Had the Third Prince... turned stupid?