He had plucked the whiskers from a tiger's head. The Qi Emperor grabbed a teacup and smashed it at the Eldest Prince's feet.
Xi Ming lay prostrate on the floor, well aware that saying nothing was his best choice at this moment.
The fat eunuch's pupils trembled violently. The crown prince was His Majesty's untouchable reverse scale-who at court did not know that?
Dragging the crown prince into such filthy business was courting death.
The Qi Emperor's hands shook with anger. He flung his long sleeve fiercely, then regained his composure within a breath.
"Minister Xi, you tell me."
Xi Ming relaxed slightly. His Majesty still called him "Minister Xi," which meant he had not believed the child's nonsense.
"Your Majesty! Today, I guided the Eldest Prince through a review of the Thousand Character Classic. I intended to teach him to write after leading him through the reading."
"The prince has always had servants attending him. I feared he would not know how to grind ink, so I held his hand and taught him, just as I would teach my own child. It was then that the Eldest Prince suddenly flew into a rage!"
"As for the insults against the crown prince that the Eldest Prince mentioned, I never uttered them!"
"I beseech Your Majesty to judge clearly!"
Naturally, the Qi Emperor would not listen to his account alone.
The fat eunuch understood the emperor's wishes best. At a gesture from His Majesty, he went out to summon the eunuchs, palace maids, and guards on duty in the Imperial Study.
Sure enough, just as Xi Ming had said, none of them had heard any remarks about the crown prince.
The Eldest Prince regretted his haste. In his previous life, his imperial father and the crown prince had grown estranged, and dragging the crown prince into everything had become a habit for them.
Whenever anything bad happened, they had to splash some dirty water on the crown prince.
Now, his imperial father doted on the crown prince, cherishing him like a pearl, like a treasure. How could he tolerate such words being attached to him?
Had ten years of being dead made me stupid? How could I underestimate my enemy like this?
Ice spread through the Qi Emperor's eyes.
"So young, yet every word out of your mouth is either seduction or slander."
"When a child is ill-behaved, the fault lies with his mother. Confine Consort Xian to her quarters for six months so she may reflect!"
"As for you, copy the Three Character Classic a hundred times and reflect on yourself."
The Eldest Prince could do nothing. This was clearly not the time to ask for a different teacher. Had he not dragged the crown prince into it without evidence, his imperial father might have believed him a little. Now, that was impossible.
The stifling frustration he had not felt in so long made him hate Xi Ming all the more.
"Yes, Imperial Father."
After the Eldest Prince left, Xi Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He had known his method would work every time. So what if the other party noticed? No one would believe him.
The Qi Emperor offered Xi Ming words of reassurance and had someone escort him out of the palace.
After pondering for a while, the Qi Emperor summoned the servants to question them again. Xi Ming had indeed said nothing obscene, much less insulted the crown prince.
The Qi Emperor sighed.
"This child truly takes nothing after me."
The fat eunuch did not even lift his eyes. His Majesty had never liked the Eldest Prince, and now he liked him even less.
"Xi Ming also has a reputation outside the palace as an upright scholar."
"Although Chengyou lied this time, inventing trouble out of thin air brings him harm and no benefit."
"Have someone investigate Xi Ming, and keep an eye on the Eldest Prince. Where did a child so young learn to lie-and learn the word 'seduction'?"
The fat eunuch immediately went to carry out the orders.
Without the emperor suppressing the news, word that the Eldest Prince had beaten his Junior Tutor soon spread throughout the palace.
When Qi Yuanzuo heard, he pestered the system inside his head, cackling with laughter. A silly grin spread across his face, and his heart brimmed with schadenfreude and delight.
88 munched on data fries and sipped data cola, with a burger combo on the table as well. Its little life was even more comfortable than Qi Yuanzuo's.
"Are you happy, host?"
Qi Yuanzuo nodded furiously.
Once he finished enjoying himself, his expression abruptly sobered. Puzzled, he said, "Wait, that's not right. Qi Chengyou and I have no grudges against each other. Why am I so happy that he's frustrated?"
Before he could think it through, his thoughts took another turn.
"Still, the plot of the book really has gone off the rails."
Xi Ming, who should have become the crown prince's Grand Tutor, had become the Eldest Prince's teacher instead.
"Let Qi Chengyou tangle with Xi Ming. He's been reborn, after all. Dealing with Xi Ming should be more than within his abilities."
"I'll lie low for a few days and recover."
After all, the body was the capital of revolution.
Though he spoke of recovering, his eyes remained fixed on Bolao, who was sweeping outside the window in the autumn wind.
Several servants stood in the trees and on the eaves, holding palm-leaf fans and scattering leaves below.
Through the square window, red walls and dark roof tiles brimmed with autumn's spirit. A few crooked branches traced evocative strokes of ink across the red wall, and the Chinese aesthetic that swept toward him made all worldly cares fall away.
It would have been even better without someone deliberately interfering with his view.
Bolao appeared to sweep diligently, yet he always made the noise of stepping on twigs at precisely the wrong moment.
And he stayed right beneath Qi Yuanzuo's eyes, darting left and right like a fly within the autumn scene framed by the window.
Qi Yuanzuo pointed his little finger, lifted his chin, and called out the window.
"Scatter more leaves! I want to see autumn leaves dancing in the air!"
The servants scattered and fanned the leaves with all their might, leaving Bolao below scrambling after them like a dog being taken for a run.
The young eunuch attending him fawned, "Look, Your Highness. That man is as stupid as a dog. How amusing."
The smile vanished from Qi Yuanzuo's face, and he cast the eunuch a cold, sidelong glance.
His pale little face was round and childish, without a trace of majesty. Yet the imperious disdain in that glance came so naturally that it was as though His Majesty stood before him.
The young eunuch's smile froze. He hurriedly knelt and slapped his own mouth. "Forgive me, Your Highness!"
Qi Yuanzuo continued watching outside and paid him no further attention.
He privately chuckled with the system.
"Don't feel sorry for this boy. He's sinister. I guarantee he has blood on his hands."
"He might well be thinking about how to hurt me right now."
Bolao was a born manipulative psychopath. If you talked to him about affection or gratitude, he took you for a fool.
Small favors could not win him over. Even if you saved his life, he would only think you were supposed to save him.
In the book, Bolao met the crown prince when the latter saved his life. Bolao knelt in submission and said he wanted to repay that kindness, but in truth, he had discovered the crown prince's claustrophobia and deliberately drawn close to him.
Later, not only did this bastard worsen the crown prince's condition, he also tried to psychologically condition him into bloodlust. He got halfway there before the crown prince killed him.
The original owner's psychological illness was the main reason he later met such an end.
In the book, had the heroine not seized on that weakness and coordinated with others inside and outside, even the tottering Great Qi might not have been overthrown.
This man sought neither fame nor profit, only danger and excitement.
He had even helped arrange for the crown prince to be cuckolded, just to see him fall apart when he found out.
A pure psychopath.
"Dealing with someone like this is like training a dog or breaking a hawk. But you can only give him the stick, never the carrot."
"Trample him beneath the earth and grind him into the mud, then raise a towering mountain before him. Drive him to despair and collapse, make him fear you on sight, and carve submission into his instincts. Only then have you succeeded."
88 quietly listened to the childish yet cold-blooded voice in its ears, chewing its fries and tasting sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and spice.
After finishing, Qi Yuanzuo hissed softly. "Why do I feel like I'm the psychopath?"
88 comforted him. "Youth is wasted if you're not a little twisted."
Bolao ran back and forth sweeping, outwardly panting with exhaustion, while inwardly not a single ripple stirred.
A fiery red maple leaf landed beside his feet, and Bolao could not help thinking of splashing blood.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the little crown prince at the window. Beneath a cap adorned with silver figures of the Eight Immortals was plump flesh nourished on the people's blood and sweat. In the sunlight, he looked like a golden boy from heaven.
Dressed in a vermilion, cloud-patterned jacket trimmed with rabbit fur, he looked even more like blood.
If I slit his throat, drained his blood, and treated him with a secret method, he would be an absolute masterpiece!
Before you continue