Chapter 3: Second Brother Blocks the Door

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Chai Xiao’s heart trembled violently, large beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as he flailed his hands desperately.
“No, no, no! You should come! Your child is just playing around with them!”
“Playing around?”
Consort Yun snorted coldly through her nose.
“You’re playing around with them, and the Great Xu Kingdom, the Great Qi Dynasty, even the entire realm is playing around with you! Do you think you can afford to play?”
“I thought that today’s enthronement would mark your complete repentance, that you would learn decorum and propriety, and become a fierce tiger worthy of fear. But now, it seems you haven’t changed at all—truly a hopeless case!”
Desire is a double-edged sword.
All this effort, destroyed by a moment’s impulsiveness.
Alcohol is a deceiver.
It seems I must control my drinking in the future, lest I lose all restraint.
Right now, the most important task is to dispel my mother’s anger and regain her trust.
Chai Xiao hurriedly knelt down. “Mother, your son knows his mistake! I won’t dare do it again!”
“Know your mistake? Not dare? How many times have I told you since you were young? Never once a true repentance, only escalating every time!”
“Your child truly knows his fault; this is the last time!”
Consort Yun refused to listen.
“Losing control because of wine—that’s how many wise rulers began their descent into tyranny, losing the hearts of the people and ending in ruin! King Zhou of Shang, Emperor Yang of Sui; are those lessons not enough?”
Anger finally overtook her, and she raised her hand to strike.
Thinking of his father, Emperor Yuan, who was just as foolish in the past, the memories of the courtyard made her push him down and drag him into the room.
Truly, like father, like son!
Even now, this son is entangled daily by a few fox spirits barely eighteen years old, never leaving the palace, perhaps to be drained of vitality any day now!
The more she thought, the angrier she became, but she withdrew her hand and gestured to the two maids.
“Go! Summon the Grand Tutor and all the ministers. Tonight, I shall hold a memorial in this new prince’s mansion for our ancestors, depose this unrighteous sovereign, and then petition for the six-year-old Aman to ascend the throne of Great Xu!”
He Yunyun and Lan Zhi were frightened, not daring to rise or leave, their heads bobbing like pecking chicks.
Chai Xiao sat dumbfounded on the floor!
Just having ascended the throne, and now, because of a drunken whim, he might be deposed?
Even worse than that useless predecessor!
He clung tightly to his mother’s leg, crying out loudly.
“Mother! Please forgive your child! Just this once, I swear it, mother!”
Consort Yun pressed her lips tight, tears streaming down her face.
Who wishes to depose their own son?
Her son’s desperate pleas, especially the repeated “Mother,” struck her heart like surging waves.
She truly could not bring herself to be ruthless!
Sensing her wavering, Chai Xiao cried even more bitterly.
“Mother! Mother!”
Consort Yun finally lost control, bending down and weeping together with him.

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At that moment, a voice rang out like a stone thrown into a calm lake, bursting suddenly.
“Sire! Consort Yun! The Second Prince has arrived!”
The Second Prince?
Damn it! What is he doing here?
A fake display of sorrow, just to watch the show!
Just after disposing of the eldest prince, now coming after me?
Chai Xiao sprang up with a start, ordering the approaching messenger, “If you say I’m asleep, don’t let me see you!”
“Son, you?”
Consort Yun was taken aback. She didn’t expect this worthless son, just moments ago clinging and crying, to suddenly become so firm.
The messenger was a Yellow Chamberlain.
His face showed fear, as if this weren’t Chai Xiao ruling Great Xu, but the Second Prince commanding Great Wu.
“Sire, the Second Prince’s nighttime visit must concern urgent matters. Moreover, the Emperor has just decreed his title as the Eighth Pearl Prince, only one pearl away from the long-vacant Crown Prince.”
Chai Xiao’s face grew as cold as Tianshan’s ice, and he cursed openly.
“Whether nine pearls or eight, to me, he’s just a pig! The farther he is, the better!”
Then, looking at the hesitant Yellow Chamberlain with indifference, he said, “If you can’t even deliver messages properly, you can leave with him!”
“Sire!”
The Yellow Chamberlain lowered his head, stammering, “The Second Prince’s visit is by imperial commission, bearing the Emperor’s decree.”
“An imperial decree?”
Chai Xiao’s heart jolted, exchanging a glance with Consort Yun.
If it’s an imperial decree, there’s no stopping it.
But what does it say?
The Second Prince has already schemed so cruelly, pushing the eldest prince from the largest Great Wu to the third poorest Jin territory, accusing him of mustering forces for rebellion, and confining him to Jin, forbidding him to leave.
Could this decree forbid me, the newly appointed ruler of Great Xu, from leaving Xu as well?
That would be absurd!
The Emperor’s actions are so heartless.
It’s hard to say—lately, this younger prince has been constantly around the old man, commanding a group of young, beautiful women to tend to him.
A deadly “soft trap,” easy to enter but hard to escape!
No wonder mother hates those who cannot control their desires!
Consort Yun spoke sharply, “Since there is an imperial decree, bring it forth!”
“You two, help the sire dress properly and receive the decree in the main hall!”
“Yes!”
The two women hurriedly wiped away their tears, helped Chai Xiao dress, and followed him to the hall.
...
“Ninth brother! Aunt Yun!”
The Second Prince Chai Huo wore a splendid robe, his eyes shining with a strange cold light.
It was unclear whether it was pride or some secret, sinister intention.
“Chai Huo, what’s the matter?”
Chai Xiao yawned widely, pressing his temples hard.
Hearing someone call the Second Prince “Chai Huo” stunned everyone present, and they burst out laughing like pigs.
Chai Huo’s face fell, bruised and discolored.
“Chai Huo” was his childhood nickname, used only by his brothers.
In word-chain games, any phrase involving ‘firewood’—‘chai huo’—was used to tease him.
Phrases like “a cup of water on a burning cart” or “pulling the fire from under the pot” were all jokes at his expense.
Especially the eldest brother, Chai Zhen, who only knew martial arts and few idioms, laughed the hardest.
Laugh all you want!
This Second Prince will make you never laugh again!
Now, not only has Great Wu’s fief returned to me, but the one banished to barren Jin is also under restriction.
Let’s see who dares laugh now!
Yet, he never expected even the timid, useless Ninth Brother to dare call him that!
Just because you have a fief, you think you’re something special and act impatient?
“Oh! Ninth brother, now that you are the sovereign, you’re different, joking even?”
If Chai Huo was the second most sarcastic person alive, no one dared claim the first.
His words were like a wolf’s teeth, hidden but ready to bite.
“I have no time to joke with you! If you have business, say it; if not, I’m going back to sleep. Mother just made me recite twenty times: ‘Early to bed, early to rise, full of spirit; late to bed, late to rise, drooping and dull.’ You’d better recite it twenty times too, then go to sleep!”
Chai Xiao swung his sleeves and turned to leave.
“Early to bed, early to rise?”
Chai Huo snorted coldly. “I wonder if Ninth Brother sleeps like a soft jade or wakes embraced left and right?”
This remark struck like thunder from a clear sky.
Chai Xiao, Consort Yun, He Yunyun, and Lan Zhi stood frozen like charred stumps.
Good news doesn’t leave the door, but bad news travels a thousand miles.
If there’s a traitor in the house, bad deeds spread before they’re done.
Chai Xiao glared fiercely at the Yellow Chamberlain quietly retreating, murderous intent rising.
“I’ll deal with you later! I’ll make sure you lose your head!”
“I sleep with whoever I want, none of your business! Chai Huo, can’t sleep alone in Great Wu, come here to find a pillow to hug? Fine, one hundred taels of silver each, take as many as you want!”
“Pfft!”
Consort Yun nearly burst out laughing.
When did this worthless son become so sharp-tongued?

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