Chapter 186 I regret being born in a royal family
Li Jian is here.
The unlucky prince was very happy, and the smile on his face never disappeared, which made Zhao Yushu feel like he was at a fan meeting.
"Your Majesty, you came without any guards?" From what Zhao Yushu could perceive, not only were there no cultivators, but there wasn't even an ordinary guard. Li Jian actually came alone.
"Hey, I'm having dinner with Mr. Liu. Wouldn't it ruin the mood if I brought other people along? Also, Mr. Liu, let's make a deal. Can you please stop calling me Your Majesty?"
"Okay, then you can't call me Mr. Six anymore."
Li Jian laughed: "Brother Zhao, you are polite!"
"Brother Li, please take a seat!"
Sun Wuyang is indeed a young man who has been living a life of luxury since childhood. The restaurant he recommended is indeed extraordinary. Both the presentation and the taste are first-rate. In his previous life, Lao Zhao would not have dared to eat like this with his meager salary.
"It's not that there is no Jiangnan cuisine in Xijing, and the chefs there are said to be the best in the industry, but the taste of their dishes is always inferior to here. Brother Zhao, why do you think that is?"
"Of course it's a matter of ingredients. Even if we ask an inner scene expert to carry the fish from Jiangning to Xijing, it won't be as fresh as the fish we caught and cooked right now."
Li Jian nodded: "That's right. No matter how fast the things from Jiangning are, they will change when they reach Xijing."
Zhao Yushu frowned slightly, it seemed that the young prince had something else to say.
Li Jian took another bite of food and said, "Brother Zhao, do you know why the crown prince is the third prince? Have you ever wondered where the first and second princes went?"
Zhao Yushu smiled and said, "I have no interest in the secrets of the royal family."
Li Jian also smiled: "Yes, the people in the academy are indeed like this, and the Tianji Pavilion is even more so. Fortunately, it is like this, otherwise we can't sit together to eat and chat."
Zhao Yushu put down his chopsticks and said, "Brother Li, you treat me as a friend, and I treat you as a friend too. Friends shouldn't talk like this."
Li Jian also put down his chopsticks: "Brother Zhao is right, it is my fault, then I will not beat around the bush, Brother Zhao, just be a good friend and listen to my complaints, how about that?"
"If you just want to complain, that's fine."
The two clinked glasses, and Li Jian seemed to be lost in reminiscence: "The eldest prince died young, and we brothers and sisters never met him, and we have no feelings for him, so I won't talk about it. As for the second prince, he was not born to the current queen, but he is my biological brother from the same mother."
Zhao Yushu was stunned. It was nothing that the eldest prince died young. As long as the second prince's mother's status was not too embarrassing, he could basically be trained as the heir to the throne. And this prince's mother at least gave birth to another son, Li Jian, and it didn't look like he was banished to the cold palace. So it was very intriguing what the second prince had experienced.
"My brother died when he was four years old, on the second day after my father ascended the throne. He died silently in his bedroom, with all his meridians severed. This was a warning or revenge."
Zhao Yushu felt a chill in his heart. He knew from his third senior brother's fragmentary words that more than 20 years ago, when the abbot of Dabei Temple came out of seclusion, a bloody coup took place in the Tang royal family, and the current emperor came to the throne. At that time, the emperor was only in his twenties, so it was hard to say that he was not the spokesperson or puppet of a certain faction.
However, this coup did not end with the emperor's ascension to the throne. At least his successor, a four-year-old child who knew nothing, was assassinated in the most brutal way in the safest place in the world.
"External enemy or internal traitor?" Zhao Yushu was unsure.
"Who knows? Father was depressed for a long time because of this, and so was mother. Father felt sorry for mother, so he promised to give her another child, and then he would make this child the most powerful in the world. Three years later, I was born. I didn't become the most powerful in the world, but I became the King of Qiuzi who was laughed at by everyone. Haha, maybe father gave birth to more than 20 children in three years, and he had forgotten who he promised to in the first place."
Giving birth to more than 20 children in three years, even breeding pigs are not so diligent. Zhao Yushu secretly complained in his heart, but he certainly couldn't directly make up stories about the father in front of Li Jian.
"What about your mother?"
"She died of depression after I was crowned queen. Before she died, she held my hand and said she was sorry for not getting me a good fiefdom. In fact, I want to say that what really made her sorry for me was that she gave birth to me in an imperial family."
Li Jian lowered his head, his eyes sparkling.
Zhao Yushu didn't urge him and ate and drank silently.
“But there’s nothing wrong with this King Qiuzi. My mother is dead, and my uncles are all ordinary businessmen with no power or influence. No matter who becomes the crown prince, they won’t take me seriously. Brother Zhao, do you believe it? After the crown prince was named the crown prince, six of my fourteen brothers died in just four or five years!”
I believe it. I know many people who killed all their brothers and sisters. Although your family is outrageous, it is not particularly outrageous. I want to tell you about the weird emperors of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. You will find the prince quite gentle.
"I don't have any aspirations. I just like to read books, including astronomy, geography, law, and craftsmanship. I want to study at the White Horse Academy. Ha, you know, my father is terribly afraid of the old Pavilion Master. How could he let me go?"
Zhao Yushu nodded. If he were the emperor, he would not let his son come.
"Then why did your father, oh, I mean the emperor, let you come to Jiangning?"
"On the surface, it means helping the prince with some paperwork." Li Jian wiped away his tears secretly.
"What does Neri mean?"
"I do not know."
"You do not know?"
Li Jian gave a helpless expression: "I really don't know."
Zhao Yushu was somewhat speechless: "Then why are you talking about superficial meanings..."
"Someone told me that my father sent me here for a reason, but I really don't know."
"You can't say who said this to you, right?"
Li Jian nodded: "Brother Zhao is indeed very smart."
Zhao Yushu spread his hands, motioning Li Jian to continue complaining, and then continued eating.
"Actually, there's not much to say. It's just that what I said just now is not appropriate for anyone to hear. But it doesn't matter if I tell it to you, Brother Zhao. I've been holding it in for so many years, and it feels much better now that I've said it."
Zhao Yushu nodded, "That's right. If anyone else heard this, they would lose their heads. You would probably be demoted to a commoner or stay in the cold palace for the rest of your life. But if I heard this, whether your father kills me or not has nothing to do with what I know."
Li Jian laughed loudly: "No one would have thought that a prince could be friends with a teacher from an academy."
You never imagined that your cousin wants to team up with me to deal with your brother.
"You should know that the prince's behavior is not good, and he may have some thoughts about you."
Li Jian nodded: "I know that any living prince could be a threat, it's just a matter of how big the threat is."
Zhao Yushu was very pleased: "The fact that you can think of this proves that you haven't become a nerd in the palace."
"Hahaha, Brother Zhao, you really have a big mouth. However, I have always had a question that I really want to ask Brother Zhao. I hope you won't be surprised and just think that I said something drunk."
Zhao Yushu nodded: "Go ahead and ask. I wouldn't be surprised even if you ask me if I can help you kill the prince."
Li Jian's whole body froze and he stood there in a daze.
Zhao Yushu picked up the wine glass and said, "Why, that's not the question? Then change it to another one. Does the academy support you being a puppet emperor?"
A drop of sweat dripped from Li Jian's forehead: "You..."
Zhao Yushu sighed: "Is it so good to be an emperor?"