Chapter 19

Zhao Hongrun: This chapter is an extra for the third patron of the book, "ireland353." Additionally, on behalf of the author, I would like to explain that it's not that every patron gets an extra chapter, but the author feels that not showing gratitude for the support would be inappropriate. Therefore, the author has decided to add one extra chapter per patron, as a token of appreciation. The author's stock of chapters is not easy to come by, so please don't push him to the brink. Currently, the three extra chapters for the patrons are complete, so everyone should focus on voting for the book. The book needs a lot of votes, and I hope all readers will give their strong support.

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Two days later, the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, very rarely came to the palace school to attend a lecture.

The palace school, as the name suggests, is a lecture hall built within the palace, specifically for teaching the princes and princesses. Apart from the Crown Prince, who has a dedicated teacher, all other unmarried princes and princesses are required to attend lectures at the palace school every day.

However, as the older princes grew up and moved out to establish their own households, the only ones left in the palace school were the Sixth Prince, Zhao Hongzhao, the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, and the Ninth Prince, Zhao Hongxuan. Additionally, there were a few princesses who were rarely seen.

Unlike the eccentric Zhao Hongrun, the Ninth Prince, Zhao Hongxuan, was a well-behaved and obedient prince who had never missed a lecture at the palace school. Although he was not as talented as Zhao Hongzhao, he was still respected by the lecturers for his diligence and eagerness to learn.

Completely different from Zhao Hongrun.

"Brother, why are you here today?"

Taking advantage of the lecturer not yet starting the lesson, Zhao Hongxuan quietly asked his older brother, who was one year his senior.

Although they were both sons of Consort Shen, since they were eight years old, they had moved out of Consort Shen's Ningsiang Palace, with Zhao Hongrun living in the Wenzhao Pavilion and Zhao Hongxuan in the Tingfeng Pavilion. Unless they had made prior arrangements, they did not see each other often.

After all, Zhao Hongrun hardly ever came to the palace school for lectures.

"Can't help it. Father Emperor and Mother Consort reported me to Mother Consort yesterday, and she scolded me severely..."

Zhao Hongrun rolled his eyes. He hadn't expected that the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty would be so petty, reporting him to Consort Shen with embellishments, which made Consort Shen call him to the Ningsiang Palace early the next morning to scold him severely, ruining his plans for the day.

He had even planned to target a few of the Emperor's favored and arrogant concubines to further irritate the Emperor.

"I heard about it from Sister Xiaotao."

The thirteen-year-old Zhao Hongxuan secretly gave a thumbs up and said in an admiring tone, "Brother, you're really something!"

"Of course!" Zhao Hongrun chuckled and then sincerely advised, "By the way, go see Mother Consort at noon and say some nice things for me. She was really angry yesterday, and I might not dare to go for a while."

"Leave it to me."

Zhao Hongxuan made a solemn promise.

If it were me, even if I knew Mother Consort was angry, I wouldn't dare to go to the Youzhi Palace to seek justice...

Looking at Zhao Hongrun's familiar face, Zhao Hongxuan felt a bit disheartened.

But then he cheered up, thinking that he was fortunate to have such a responsible and capable brother.

"Brother, it's great to have you around..."

"..., Xiao Xuan, are you on drugs? That's so gross..." Zhao Hongrun's eyes showed a hint of shock, and he kept a certain distance from his younger brother.

"Ah!" Zhao Hongxuan immediately went crazy.

Yes, having such a brother was indeed great, but not when he was being mocked with words.

From the side, the Sixth Prince, Zhao Hongzhao, who was known as the "Qilin Child," looked at the two brothers playfully with envy. Although the princes were all considered brothers, in reality, their brotherly feelings were very thin, especially in the face of the temptation of the imperial throne.

They... were the true brothers, weren't they?

Zhao Hongzhao silently observed the two brothers.

For the Ninth Prince, Zhao Hongxuan, Zhao Hongzhao had a good impression. Zhao Hongxuan was a diligent and studious prince, and although his talents were not as great as his, he was still of medium to high caliber and would surely become a pillar of the Great Wei Dynasty in the future.

As for the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongzhao's impression of him in the past was that he was playful and only interested in playing, always enthusiastic about anything related to play, but uninterested in studying. In the past, he had merely been passing the days in the palace school, dozing off under the lecturers' watchful eyes.

For such a self-destructive brother, Zhao Hongzhao had always been "shallow in friendship and shallow in words," and had no particular relationship with him.

After all, the brotherly feelings among the princes were already very thin, and after they moved out to establish their own households and were enfeoffed as kings, they would be even further apart, only seeing each other a few times a year on special occasions.

Every prince throughout history was always busy trying to become the crown prince and the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty.

Under this premise, even if the brothers had the opportunity to interact, it was mostly for the sake of interests.

Zhao Hongzhao did not like that.

However, after the imperial examination in the Wende Hall, Zhao Hongzhao was surprised to find that his Eighth Brother was actually a talented person, perhaps not inferior to himself, and even more surprisingly, he was not interested in the imperial throne. He had even written a satirical essay, "The Chaos Ode," openly declaring his desire to be a leisurely prince in a prosperous era.

A brother who was equally talented and equally uninterested in the imperial throne was, in Zhao Hongzhao's view, a gift from heaven, the best companion. Therefore, he had taken the initiative to help Zhao Hongrun in the Wende Hall, preventing him from being punished by the Emperor and gradually gaining more attention.

Unfortunately, this Eighth Brother did not seem to appreciate his help and did not come to thank him afterward.

Of course, Zhao Hongzhao did not mind. He just hoped to deepen his relationship with this Eighth Brother and discuss some academic topics together. After all, he had heard that this Eighth Brother's knowledge could even make the three chancellors in the Chui Gong Hall admire him.

Due to Zhao Hongrun's recent busy schedule of challenging their father, Emperor Zhao Yuansi, Zhao Hongzhao had not approached him.

However, today, unexpectedly meeting this Eighth Brother in the palace school, Zhao Hongzhao could not miss this opportunity.

"Your relationship... is really good."

Zhao Hongzhao finally couldn't help but interject.

However, unexpectedly, his attempt to break the ice had the opposite effect.

Zhao Hongxuan mistakenly thought that this Sixth Brother was annoyed by their noise and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Sixth Brother, we won't talk anymore."

"Ah?" Zhao Hongzhao was taken aback.

He hadn't realized that, due to his status as the Emperor's favorite, the other princes, except for the Crown Prince, Zhao Hongli, were somewhat afraid of him.

Of course, this did not include Zhao Hongrun, who had always ignored this extremely favored elder brother.

Zhao Hongrun gave Zhao Hongzhao a displeased glance.

This Eighth Brother... seems to have a strong prejudice against me.

Zhao Hongzhao was somewhat surprised.

Actually, this was easy to understand. Just like how underachieving students in school instinctively resent the top students, as a prince who was once not favored by the Emperor, Zhao Hongrun naturally had a repulsion toward this extremely favored Sixth Brother.

"Hongrun, I at least helped you in the Wende Hall, why are you looking at me like that?" Zhao Hongzhao asked with a bitter smile.

Zhao Hongrun gave him a look that said, "Do we know each other well?" and said coldly, "Is that even called helping? It's more like hindering."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"With Sixth Brother's intelligence, how could you not understand?"

"..."

Zhao Hongzhao looked at his Eighth Brother, who seemed to be full of resentment, and frowned, thinking.

Suddenly, he had an epiphany.

Oh no... From the "Chaos Ode," it's clear that Hongrun doesn't want to be favored by Father Emperor. In other words, if Father Emperor scolded him and lost hope in him, that might be what he wanted... But I thought I was helping him, and instead, I made him more noticeable to Father Emperor, which is contrary to his original goal!

"Uh..." Zhao Hongzhao was at a loss.

"It seems Sixth Brother has figured it out." Zhao Hongrun gave a disapproving glance at the "culprit."

"Forgive me, I am slow-witted and only now understand the deeper meaning." Zhao Hongzhao said apologetically to his Eighth Brother, feeling both amused and embarrassed.

"..." Seeing that this Sixth Brother, who was always favored by the Emperor, was so reasonable, Zhao Hongrun was somewhat surprised, and Zhao Hongxuan was even more surprised, his eyes wide open.

"Those who do not know are not to blame, Hongrun. I apologize to you, and I hope you will no longer resent me, okay?"

Zhao Hongrun was speechless, looking Zhao Hongzhao up and down, and asked, "What do you want?"

"I just want to get closer to Eighth Brother."

"..." Zhao Hongrun stared at this Sixth Brother for a moment, then suddenly moved back a seat.

Zhao Hongzhao was puzzled and was about to ask why when he saw Zhao Hongxuan point to his left sleeve with his right hand and ask cautiously, "Brother... is it this?"

Sleeve? Sleeve?

Zhao Hongzhao, being an exceptionally intelligent person, immediately understood the brothers' strange and somewhat fearful looks and the "hidden meaning" of Zhao Hongxuan pointing to the sleeve. He blushed and quickly explained, "No, no, no, I just want to discuss some academic topics with Eighth Brother."

"Phew..." Zhao Hongrun and Zhao Hongxuan sighed in relief.

It wasn't that they were deliberately teasing this Sixth Brother. In fact, in the Great Wei Palace, there were historical examples of princes having such preferences.

Think about it, with ample nutrition, the princes developed early, but their sleeping quarters had no female attendants, only young and handsome eunuchs. In such a situation, if they were not strictly supervised, it was easy to imagine what might happen.

It's worth noting that in this world, such preferences existed among the upper class, but they were not widely accepted due to their violation of moral norms.

However, after this incident, although Zhao Hongzhao felt somewhat embarrassed, he had achieved his goal of deepening his relationship with Zhao Hongrun and Zhao Hongxuan.

At least Zhao Hongrun no longer resisted him, and Zhao Hongxuan no longer feared him.

At this moment, the lecturer, Mr. Zhang, entered the classroom to begin the day's lesson.

He who uses force to pretend to be benevolent is a hegemon, he who uses virtue to be benevolent is a king!

The teachings of Confucius and Mencius!

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