The door was kicked open from outside.
Emperor Zhou's face was icy. At a glance, he saw the Empress Dowager kneeling in abject submission and the Retired Emperor bristling with fury.
Without this business with the Empress Dowager, the Retired Emperor could still have confronted Emperor Zhou calmly. Now, all he wanted was to vent his rage on Emperor Zhou and assert his authority.
"You unfilial wretch! Barging in half-dressed and surrounding my palace in the middle of the night-what are you trying to do?!"
Emperor Zhou set the little Crown Prince down.
The Retired Emperor was his father.
The Retired Emperor had hurt his son.
But no son in the world would turn around and kill his own father just because that father had hurt his child.
Naturally, Emperor Zhou could not either.
But he was a bastard. In his previous life, he had orchestrated fifteen years of nine sons fighting for the throne, letting Great Zhou's nine pythons become flood dragons to prove themselves golden dragons. How could a man like that be anything tame?
His unruly nature had already shown its first signs when he flatly refused to make the little Crown Prince surrender his palace to the Imperial Noble Consort.
Before, he had still worried that his flood dragon had yet to become a dragon, that his fortune's tail was severed, and that he had failed his ancestors.
Now-
A pink dragon of fortune took shape above Emperor Zhou's head.
The Retired Emperor's expression changed drastically. "You've become a dragon!"
Wu Junji had sworn a heavenly oath, drawing on human emperor fortune for his own use. That fortune fed back into and strengthened the nation's fortune. As Great Zhou's reigning emperor, it was hardly surprising that Emperor Zhou had become a dragon through that feedback.
Emperor Zhou approached the Retired Emperor step by step. "Father, I have become a dragon. There will be no need for you to take the field in the battle against the Demon Domain five years from now."
Watching him approach, the Retired Emperor felt a sinking sense of alarm.
"What are you trying to do?! Murder your father?!"
"How could I be such an unfilial thing!"
"Even if you have no regard for the bond between grandfather and grandson, I still have to consider the bond between father and son!"
Emperor Zhou punched the Retired Emperor square in the bridge of his nose.
The Retired Emperor's mind went blank.
Wu Junji's eyes flew wide.
Even the kneeling Empress Dowager was stunned, let alone the Golden Eagle Guards and Chen Yang, who had surrounded the palace.
Clutching his bleeding nose, the Retired Emperor demanded in disbelief,
"You dare strike me?!"
Emperor Zhou laid into him with fists and feet.
"Hand over the secondary seal!"
"Signing a National Pact behind my back! I respected you as the Retired Emperor, and you really started thinking you were the emperor above me!"
Back then, the Retired Emperor had told him they would send the Crown Prince to Jixia Academy, just to start his schooling early and make a few friends!
It would also ease the strain on Great Zhou's finances.
Emperor Zhou had given him flood dragon fortune, arranged for Li Gong to protect him secretly at close quarters, and even bribed the Lord of Changbai Mountain to look after him.
Food, drink, clothes, everything he would use-he had arranged it all! Only then had he felt safe letting the Crown Prince attend!
Now, Li Gong was nowhere to be found, the Lord of Changbai Mountain had fobbed him off, Jixia Academy had deceived him, and the Retired Emperor had stabbed him in the back!
If they aren't mine, then kill them all!
Emperor Zhou put his full strength into every punch and roared,
"Since you don't want to talk things through with me, we'll have our father-and-son talk with our fists and feet!"
Eunuch Qian hurriedly scooped up the stunned little Crown Prince and scrambled outside, shutting the doors of the Palace of Eternal Longevity with his heart trembling.
Unfortunately, the doors did little to muffle sound. The Retired Emperor's furious curses as he lost his composure still reached Wu Junji's ears.
Judging by the noise, what had started as a one-sided beating had become a mutual brawl, with both men overturning tables and smashing vases.
But the Retired Emperor was old.
Presumably because his stamina had given out, their brawl became a chase.
The Retired Emperor's curses grew filthier and filthier, until he was even shouting things like "You're not my son!" and "Bastard!"
Emperor Zhou said nothing. He just kept throwing punches.
Wrapped in an oversized cloak, Wu Junji found an old habit he had long since kicked stirred back to life. He could not help biting his fist.
What species of new human was Emperor Zhou, exactly?
Chen Yang looked at the little Crown Prince with warmth in his eyes, visibly struggling to say something.
Somehow, Wu Junji understood. He wanted to say, Don't copy this.
After all, emperors were very fond of following examples.
The Xuanwu Gate method of succession was a classic case.
Emperor Zhou's furious beating of the Retired Emperor today had very much carried on that tradition.
The commotion inside faded from violent to quiet. Had he beaten him into submission?
Creak-
The doors opened.
Several fresh bruises marked Emperor Zhou's face.
With a box tucked against his chest, he picked up his son without a word and left the Palace of Eternal Longevity.
Wu Junji sneaked a look. The Retired Emperor lay on the floor, looking rather like a scrap of burlap.
Back at Taiji Palace, they summoned an imperial physician, bathed, applied medicine, and bandaged his wounds.
Wu Junji's head was swathed in white cloth.
The bruises on his body gouged at Emperor Zhou's eyes, leaving him unable to sit still.
Emperor Zhou regretted it. He should have landed a few more punches earlier.
He watched the little Crown Prince noisily fill his belly, then flop onto the bed, ready to sleep.
Emperor Zhou paced beside the bed before finally plopping down on it and saying quietly,
"Give me a beating."
With an air of surrender, he said, "I won't fight back. I'll let you hit me."
Wu Junji: "..."
The little Crown Prince slowly sat up and looked at him with open eyes. The longer he remained silent, the more stifled Emperor Zhou felt. He would rather the little brat make a fuss and cry at him than stay so quiet.
Like a sinner seeking atonement, Emperor Zhou extended a finger and cautiously poked his son's little belly, round from his meal.
"Say something. Don't shut me out."
He lowered his head and mustered all his patience, reasoning with him and coaxing him.
"A real man has to say it when he's angry or scared."
"You have to keep our three rules in mind at all times. If you don't speak, I have no way of knowing what you're thinking."
"If I don't know, I'll start imagining things, and I'll lose my temper. You can't stand seeing me lose my temper, either. Back and forth it goes, until we grow distant."
"Am I right?"
The Crown Prince was small, and so was his capacity for forgiveness.
He held grudges and kept his thoughts buried deep.
He never said what had upset him, only recorded it in his little ledger. Then, one day, he would suddenly take revenge, and only then would you realize that something you had done on some particular day had displeased him.
Emperor Zhou was afraid that even complaining that the Crown Prince's heart was narrower than a needle's point would earn him another entry in that ledger.
Anyone else, and Emperor Zhou would have had them dragged out and beheaded long ago.
Only this little brat could leave him scratching his head every day.
The little Crown Prince sank into thought. Whatever was on his mind, he asked quietly,
"Did I cause trouble?"
He counted on his little fingers.
"Jixia Academy is gone, and I offended so many people."
"The great vow I made seems to have caused a lot of trouble, too."
"I think I caused an enormous disaster-"
A suffocating embrace closed around him, so tight that Wu Junji's bones hurt.
The faint scent of sandalwood incense carried Emperor Zhou's own mellow richness. He heard the old man grit his teeth and growl, straining to hold back his fury.
"Forget everything those running dogs taught you!"
He had wanted the little brat to come to him with complaints, to cry to him-not to jab at his heart and drive a knife into him.
He seemed certain his son had learned something he should not have during that day at Jixia Academy.
"Jier, Great Zhou is like a ship. If you cannot control its rudder, if the people aboard will not obey your commands, then kill them. Sink them!"
"Never be afraid of too many people dying. You can never kill them all!"
"If you don't understand what I'm saying..."
"Then remember this: everyone under heaven is your dog! If you feel like it, toss them a few bones. If you don't, drive them away, kill them, eat them!"
"If Jixia Academy is gone, then it's gone. I'll settle the storm."
"If you've made your great vow, then you've made it. Even if the nation falls and the sky collapses, I can hold it up for you."
"Jier, answer me. Were you happy when Jixia Academy burned?"
Wu Junji tightened his hands. "Yes."
"Were you happy when I beat your imperial grandfather?"
Wu Junji said, "Yes."
Emperor Zhou held him, rocked him, soothed him, and softened his voice.
"Being happy is enough."
"My power exists so you can do anything that makes you happy."
Wu Junji clutched his clothes and buried his face in his chest.
"Even if I cause a really enormous disaster, it's all right?"
Emperor Zhou chuckled. "How enormous? The fall of the nation?"
He said calmly, "Then let it fall. It'll happen sooner or later."
"But let's settle this first: even if I die, I'm going into the ancestral shrine. If you're willing, we can set off together, father and son. If you think that's unlucky, I'll find somewhere else for you."
Emperor Zhou seemed truly prepared for the worst. Wu Junji's eyes silently reddened.
"Father, I love you."
Emperor Zhou stiffened, then laughed and scolded him.
"So mushy. You're just trying to make me squirm!"
"Hurry up and sleep! One day away from me and you end up in this sorry state. Now you know how well I treated you before, don't you?"
As Emperor Zhou tucked the little Crown Prince into the blankets, he kept muttering with calculated intent.
"I scold you for your own good, and I hit you for your own good, too. No holding grudges from now on, understand?"
The little Crown Prince closed his eyes and answered perfunctorily, "Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm..."
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