blogombal Chapter 389 Siblings Join Forces
Chapter 389 Siblings Join Forces
Xihe smashed an inkstone at the Eighth Prince, shouting, "Brother, hit him!"
The Eighth Prince was two years older than Dongjun and Xihe, and his height was also normal. He could definitely beat Dongjun by himself. However, the siblings had been fighting since they were young, and Li Yuanke often gave them pointers, so their fighting skills were quite extraordinary.
The siblings quickly pinned the Eighth Prince to the ground and beat him. The Eighth Prince cried out, "Third Brother, save me!"
Just as the Third Prince was about to step in to take sides, the Second Prince pulled him back and called to the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Prince, why aren't you going to fetch the masters!"
The princes each had a eunuch by their side, but they were not allowed to enter the school. If a fight broke out inside, their respective eunuchs could only watch anxiously from outside.
The masters arrived quickly and saw the Crown Prince sitting on the Eighth Prince's stomach, with the Princess sitting on his lap. The two siblings had the Eighth Prince pinned down, their four hands fighting against the Eighth Prince's two hands.
Today, the instructors at Chongxian Hall are Scholar Yan Xuegu and Zhang Wencong. Both are learned men, great Confucian scholars, and quite old. They each came over and pulled the Crown Prince and Princess apart.
The Eighth Prince scrambled to his feet and threw a punch at the Crown Prince, but the Crown Prince was faster and kicked him, sending the Eighth Prince sprawling to the ground.
Xihe was furious. How dare he hit her brother! She broke free from her master, rushed over, and scratched the Eighth Prince's face, leaving him bruised.
The Eighth Prince was furious and cried, "Xihe, I hate you, I hate all of you, you all deserve to die!"
The Third Prince quickly pulled Xihe away, saying, "Xihe, Dongjun is your younger brother, but the Eighth Prince is your older brother. How can you help Dongjun beat your older brother? There is an order of seniority, don't you understand?"
Xihe slapped him back, an indiscriminate attack, and angrily said, "My brother is also your brother, and the myna is also your brother. Why don't you speak up for my brother?"
Xihe was very eloquent; it seems that girls have a natural talent for language than boys.
She's a bit like her dad, with a sharp tongue.
"Do you dislike my brother?" Xihe retorted.
The third prince vehemently denied it, saying, "No, I'm just acting on principle, not personal connections."
Although Xihe didn't quite understand the meaning of the words, she instinctively felt they weren't a good thing. She cried angrily, "You all bully me and my brother! Fine, I'll tell Father that you're all unreasonable!"
She took her younger brother's hand and started to walk out. The Third Prince panicked, "Xihe, how could you tell Father about matters between brothers and sisters so casually?"
The Eighth Prince panicked. Regardless of whether he was in the right or not, he had a feeling that his father would side with Dongjun and the others. But he was quite proud and stamped his foot, saying, "Let them complain. Anyway, I didn't start it."
The Emperor had arrived. He had heard that his two children had gotten into a fight with their brothers and had been beaten, so he left his court officials behind and rushed over. The three of them met at the entrance of Chongxian Hall.
Xihe's hair was all messed up, and Dongjun's big, watery eyes blinked, looking extremely aggrieved. When they saw their father, the two siblings burst into tears, rushed over, one on each side, and hugged their father to complain.
"The myna bird hit us and said that Father wants to depose the Crown Prince," Xihe complained.
Dongjun remained silent, clinging tightly to his father's neck, tears welling in his eyes. Li Yuanke turned and pressed his face against his son's, whispering, "Don't be afraid, Dad's here!"
If it were just a simple fight, that would be understandable; siblings fighting is commonplace. Dongjun and Xihe even fought when they were still in their cradles. But the idea of "deposing the crown prince" was something Li Yuanke couldn't tolerate.
He stormed in, carrying his son and daughter, ignoring the severe scratches on the Eighth Prince's face and his murderous glare. "Eighth Prince, did you say that?"
A group of people were kneeling in the Chongxian Hall. The Second Prince looked at the Eighth Prince and saw him trembling. He then looked at the Third Prince and thought to himself, "The Third Prince is really good at pretending."
The eighth prince, like a rooster being choked, cried out, "Father, Your Majesty, your son... didn't, didn't say anything!"
Xihe said, "I did say that you said my younger brother would be crippled sooner or later. I heard you say it, and my second brother and the others heard it too."
Dongjun hugged his father's neck and said in the same tone as his mother, "Father, don't cripple me!"
Li Yuanke's heart was broken. He hugged him tightly, "Don't listen to his nonsense!"
The second prince said, "Father, don't be angry. Tenth brother is not angry either. Eighth brother has always been like this; he just can't keep his mouth shut."
Li Yuanke laughed in anger, "Fine, your mother had you punished before, haven't you learned your lesson? Guards, give him a good beating, break his legs."
Upon hearing this, Shen Shixi quickly sent someone to tell the nanny in the Censorate not to actually break the Eighth Prince's legs.
It wasn't that the emperor felt sorry for the dim-witted prince; he was in a fit of anger right now. If he really had a disabled son, even the most hard-hearted emperor would regret it. The guilt of an emperor is not cheap, and it would be unfair to blame Dongjun and Xihe later.
Besides, what would a child who's only six years old (by Chinese reckoning) know?
They were at that age when everyone hated them.
Shen Shixi hadn't finished her postpartum confinement yet, having completed a full month, but the imperial physician and Li Yuanke insisted that she stay for two months. She figured that once she finished her confinement, she might have to review memorials again, so she decided to stay for two months as she pleased, having learned her lesson.
With her children at school, she wanted to come and see them, so she took the opportunity, freshened up, and came over.
The nannies of the Imperial Penal Office were beating the child, and Li Yuanke sat under the eaves watching, while the princes and attendants also knelt down.
After thirty strokes of the cane, the maids stopped, and the Emperor angrily shouted, "Strike him! Break his legs for me! How dare you defy my decree?"
The Eighth Prince was so frightened that he fainted.
The third prince pleaded for his brother's life, but the emperor looked at him coldly. "What, you want to break his leg instead?"
The third prince dared not do it again.
The old woman hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please forgive us. Her Majesty the Empress has decreed that we are not allowed to hurt the Eighth Prince, not even to the point of injuring him. We dare not disobey."
The Crown Prince said, "Father, I will not depose you."
Li Yuanke wished he could hit him himself, "No, I won't be crippled, don't be afraid."
"I'm not hitting the myna anymore."
Li Yuange stroked his son's back and asked in a low voice, "Did he hit you?"
The prince said, "One day I will be able to beat the myna bird and make it never dare to bully me again. I don't need Father's help!"
Li Yuanke said, "Alright, I'll leave him to you to deal with in the future."
He then said, "Release this damned creature!"
Shen Shixi rushed over, and seeing that Li Yuanke had released the Eighth Prince, she didn't bother to say anything more. When Li Yuanke saw her arrive, he quickly put his children down and hurried over to help her. "What are you doing here? Are you out in the wind? What's the big deal that you had to come all this way?"
Shen Shixi glanced at her son and daughter and asked, "Are you hurt?"
She ruffled her daughter's messy hair, which had been re-tied and hadn't been combed—clearly her father's handiwork—and asked, "Does anything hurt?"
Xihe said, "We won! No one was injured!"
A pair of eyes that looked remarkably like Li Yuanke's gleamed with a pleading light. Shen Shixi smiled and said, "It's good that you're not injured. If you were, you deserved it!"
The emperor was furious. He glared at her fiercely. He was heartbroken, and yet she said such cruel things.
Xihe and Dongjun, on the other hand, are used to it.
The princes and their tutors were stunned. They had thought that the Empress would be angry, furious, and would severely punish the Eighth Prince, and would complain to the Emperor. But to their surprise, nothing happened at all.
The Eighth Prince was sent back to recover from his injuries. When Consort Yuan heard that the Eighth Prince had fought with the Crown Prince and Princess and had been severely beaten by the Emperor, she felt like the sky had fallen. She still had to go see the Eighth Prince, after all, he was someone she had raised. She couldn't just ignore him, even if he was a cat or a dog.
Li Yuanke was still furious. He first protected Shen Shixi and took her back, then ordered the wet nurse to examine the two children thoroughly to see if they were injured. He also wanted to punish Consort Yuan and demote her.