Chapter 8

"Who was it that said the princes have so many beauties around them every day that they forget about their homeland? Step forward, and this prince guarantees not to beat you to death."

In the imperial garden, by the fish pond, the eighth prince of the Great Wei, Zhao Hongrun, sighed deeply.

It wasn't that he was angry for no reason. After all, he had lived in the Great Wei palace for fourteen years. Apart from the times when he visited the Virtuous Consort, his adoptive mother, and could catch a glimpse of the beautiful palace maids from a distance, Zhao Hongrun never saw any other women.

Rumor had it that the princes were served by beautiful palace maids?

Pfft!

Zhao Hongrun wished he could spit in the face of whoever said that.

After all, not only in his Wenzhao Pavilion, but in the living quarters of other princes, there were no palace maids at all. This was a tradition of the Great Wei.

Every day, he either faced a group of eunuchs with high-pitched voices or a group of robust and strong imperial guards. This made Zhao Hongrun worry from time to time that his aesthetic might change in a strange way.

After all, some of the eunuchs were really handsome, with fair skin...

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Zhao Hongrun quickly expelled that dangerous thought from his mind.

Everyone said being a prince was great, but who knew how hard it was to be a prince? Zhao Hongrun wasn't just saying this. The Great Wei court had always implemented strict elite education for the princes. All princes who turned six had to attend the palace school, getting up at dawn and not leaving until dusk. Looking back, Zhao Hongrun really couldn't imagine how he had managed to endure all these years.

But after enduring for eight years, he couldn't take it anymore.

In his eyes, the palace was like a combination of a prison and a monastery, boring, suffocating, and uninteresting. If he could, he would rather be a commoner than stay in this place without freedom.

The only pleasure Zhao Hongrun had in recent years was the brief moments when he visited his adoptive mother, the Virtuous Consort, and could catch a glimpse of the beautiful palace maids from a distance. Otherwise, his eyes would have been blinded by the handsome eunuchs and the robust imperial guards.

Unfortunately, even though he was a prince, and even though those beautiful palace maids might have wanted to serve him, the Great Wei court had a tradition that strictly prohibited any unmarried prince from coming into contact with palace maids. If any misconduct occurred, the prince would be sent to the black room of the Zongfu to reflect, and the offending palace maid would be executed.

Therefore, no palace maid dared to approach Zhao Hongrun, an unmarried prince. They could only glance at him from a distance and then quickly flee, fearing that other palace maids or eunuchs might see them.

"What kind of day is this!"

Sighing deeply, Zhao Hongrun turned the fish he was roasting over the campfire.

Wait, where did the campfire come from in the palace?

That's a good question.

As the Right Chancellor Yu Ziqi reminded the Great Wei Emperor, the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun was not someone who would easily give up.

After enduring for eight years, he finally got the chance to leave the palace early. How could Zhao Hongrun let this opportunity slip away?

As the saying goes, "No one knows a son better than his father." Although Zhao Yuansi didn't interact with Zhao Hongrun much, they were still father and son, and the Great Wei Emperor had a good understanding of Zhao Hongrun's character.

Indeed, Zhao Hongrun had long planned that once he left the palace and established his own residence, he would no longer stay in the palace. From then on, he would be like a fish returning to the sea or a tiger returning to the mountains, far from the emperor's reach. He could go wherever he wanted and do whatever he pleased. That was the true meaning of freedom!

But who would have thought that his father, the Great Wei Emperor, would break his promise and not allow Zhao Hongrun to leave the palace, even sending a group of imperial guards to change his Xiaoyao Pavilion back to the Wenzhao Pavilion.

Perhaps the Great Wei Emperor's intention was to discipline his son, but in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, this was a provocation.

War had begun!

If the emperor made the first move, the prince would make the fifteenth. Let's see who would give in first!

The fish in his hands, roasted over the campfire, gradually emitted a tempting aroma. Zhao Hongrun sniffed it and wore a contented expression.

"Do you want to try my cooking?" Zhao Hongrun asked Shen Yu, the imperial guard beside him.

"No, no, no need, Your Highness, you keep it..." Shen Yu swallowed and said awkwardly.

Shen Yu wasn't being polite. The key was the origin of the fish in Zhao Hongrun's hands.

It was a golden carp, also known as the golden-scaled red-tailed fish, a tribute from the regions to the Great Wei Emperor, raised in the imperial garden's fish pond. It was one of the Great Wei Emperor's favorite ornamental fish. No one in the vast palace had ever dared to have any ideas about it, but today, the bold eighth prince Zhao Hongrun had ordered his imperial guards to catch it from the pond and roast it right there.

The golden-scaled red-tailed fish, the most precious fish in the world, a royal tribute, even if Shen Yu had ten lives, he wouldn't dare to take a bite.

Unable to bear seeing the most precious fish in the world being chewed by Zhao Hongrun, Shen Yu quickly lowered his head, only to see the campfire again.

The campfire, made of split bamboo, crackled and burned, emitting a mysterious fragrance.

Mysterious?

No, no, no, this was to be expected!

Because the firewood was the two most precious types of bamboo in the imperial garden. The purple bamboo, with its purple stems, and the tear bamboo, with its black spots, were both among the Great Wei Emperor's favorite ornamental plants.

"Hey, you guys, move faster."

After wolfing down a golden carp, Zhao Hongrun casually threw the fish bones on the ground and said to the imperial guards who were catching fish in the pond: "Speed up, try to catch all the fish in the pond before Father Emperor comes."

The imperial guards almost fell into the pond when they heard this.

"Your Highness, isn't this going too far?" Mu Qing, holding a fish basket, walked to Zhao Hongrun and said awkwardly, "The Emperor is your biological father, and you are his son. If things get too bad, this..."

"What's the problem?" Zhao Hongrun glanced at Mu Qing and snorted, "He took down the sign of my Xiaoyao Pavilion, that's a declaration of war! You want me to slink away and pretend nothing happened? I tell you, it's impossible! Unless he allows me to leave the palace, this war won't end!"

The imperial guards looked at each other and sighed silently: They had to accept their fate, having such a prince as their master was their bad luck.

"Come on, roast all the fish you catch, don't hide any!"

Zhao Hongrun called the imperial guards to roast the fish. Although they knew that stealing fish from the imperial garden was a serious crime, they had no choice, being the imperial guards of this prince.

While they were roasting the fish, the eunuchs who passed by were shocked and hurriedly reported the incident to the Chui Gong Hall.

At that moment, the Great Wei Emperor Zhao Yuansi was reviewing documents with three chancellors in the hall. Suddenly, a middle-aged eunuch rushed in, knelt down, and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

"What is it?" Zhao Yuansi was startled, instinctively thinking something major had happened.

The eunuch, out of breath, said, "The eighth prince, it's the eighth prince..."

"Speak slowly. What happened? What's wrong with the eighth prince?"

Hearing it was about the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Yuansi immediately understood a bit.

Actually, the Great Wei Emperor had guessed that his son wouldn't give up easily and would cause some trouble, but he never imagined that his son would have the audacity to catch and roast all the golden-scaled red-tailed fish in the fish pond.

"The eighth prince is roasting fish and eating them by the fish pond in the imperial garden..."

"Oh."

This wasn't a big deal, Zhao Yuansi relaxed, thinking that roasting a fish was nothing to be alarmed about. As long as the imperial garden wasn't set on fire, he would let it go.

Just as Zhao Yuansi was about to continue reviewing the documents, a sudden unease came over him, and he slowly turned to the eunuch.

"What... what kind of fish is he roasting?"

"Golden-scaled red-tailed fish!" the eunuch said urgently.

The Great Wei Emperor drew a sharp breath, feeling the veins on his forehead tighten: "How many... how many did he roast?"

The eunuch hesitated for a moment and said, head lowered, "The ground is covered with fish bones."

The Great Wei Emperor's heart sank.

'This rebellious son... so ruthless! He... he's venting his anger on the golden-scaled red-tailed fish I love the most?'

Zhao Yuansi felt a sharp pain in his chest, unable to continue reviewing the documents. He quickly put down his pen and hurried to the imperial garden.

The three chancellors and the chief eunuch Tong Xian exchanged glances, all realizing the situation was serious, and followed him.

Rushing to the fish pond in the imperial garden, the Great Wei Emperor indeed saw his mischievous son roasting fish by the pond.

Seeing the ground covered with fish bones, the Great Wei Emperor felt like his heart was bleeding.

But when his gaze fell on the campfire, he felt a darkness in his vision.

'What a rebellious son! What a rebellious son!... Truly vicious!'

The Great Wei Emperor's heart ached, but as the emperor, he couldn't just rush over and slap his disobedient son.

So, he walked over with a dark face.

Behind him, Tong Xian, He Xiangxu, Lin Yuyang, and Yu Ziqi also arrived, and when they saw the scene, they were stunned.

"His Majesty has arrived!" Tong Xian called out, reminding the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun and his group.

After all, they were so busy roasting and catching fish that they hadn't noticed the Great Wei Emperor's arrival.

"Father Emperor?" Zhao Hongrun seemed surprised to see the Great Wei Emperor, showing no sign of the resentment he harbored.

"Why are you here, Father Emperor? Hehe! Just in time, I've just roasted a fish. If you don't mind, try my cooking, how about it?"

Zhao Hongrun smiled and offered a fragrant roasted fish to the Great Wei Emperor, showing his two little tiger teeth, looking very cute and likable.

But the Great Wei Emperor didn't see it that way.

'This boy is a demon!'

Looking at the fragrant roasted fish in front of him, and thinking about its origin, the golden-scaled red-tailed fish he loved, the Great Wei Emperor trembled with anger.

Whether it was the emperor or the people behind him, they all realized at that moment that the prince in front of them was not someone who would easily give up.

'He did this on purpose...'

Seeing the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun's smile, but the lack of joy in his eyes, the three chancellors felt a chill run down their spines.

Yesterday, the emperor took down the sign of the eighth prince's Xiaoyao Pavilion.

Today, the eighth prince roasted the fish, burned the bamboo, and destroyed three of the emperor's favorite ornamental items.

Indeed, this was a blatant act of revenge!

As the three chancellors had predicted, the conflict between father and son had escalated and was now unstoppable.