The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 9: A Hidden Arrow Appears in Silence

The west courtyard of Prince An's residence.

The sun was high in the sky, and Tu Chengyu was still catching up on sleep in his bedroom. He had been woken up early last night and was busy until dawn before he could finally get back to sleep.

I was sleeping soundly when I felt someone pushing and shoving me.

"Fifth Brother, wake up quickly."

He got up again in a fit of anger, wanting to teach these maids a lesson, but when he turned around, he saw that it was not the quail-like maid Xiao Xing who had bothered him, but Xiao Liu.

Tu Chengyu said, both amused and exasperated, "Why aren't you catching up on your sleep? What are you doing here?"

Xiao Liu ignored Tu Chengyu's words and said happily, "Get up quickly, someone from the palace has come. Mother Consort wants us to go to the front courtyard to receive the imperial decree."

"It's just receiving an imperial decree, is there any need to be so excited?" Then, Tu Chengyu thought of a possibility and whispered to Xiao Liu, "Father has been appointed Crown Prince?"

Xiao Liu grinned and said with a hearty laugh, "No."

Tu Chengyu asked, puzzled, "What are you happy about without it?"

Xiao Liu said, "My father didn't become the crown prince, but he became the emperor."

Tu Chengyu stood up abruptly, jumped off the bed, and looked at Xiao Liu, who didn't seem to be lying. He felt a mixture of excitement and doubt.

How did Father ascend the throne so quickly? Grandfather is in such good health, he doesn't seem like he'll pass away anytime soon. Could it be that the Crown Prince rebelled and killed Grandfather?
Tu Chengyu asked in a low voice, "Has the Emperor passed away?"

This question startled Xiao Liu quite a bit. He quickly covered Tu Chengyu's mouth, looked around to make sure no one was there, and then said, "Fifth Brother, don't talk nonsense. Grandfather is fine!"

Tu Chengyu asked, "If that's the case, how did Father ascend the throne?"

Xiao Liu replied, "It's all that old bastard from the Shi family, the Duke of Shan. He didn't enjoy his good life and instead started a rebellion. After the Crown Prince saw through his scheme, he became ruthless and killed the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince's death caused my grandfather great sorrow. I heard that he fainted several times last night. After examining him, the imperial physician said that my grandfather was emotionally distressed and needed to rest. That's why he passed the throne to my father."

After hearing this carefully crafted story, Tu Chengyu refused to believe it no matter what.

The rebellion was clearly committed by the Crown Prince, but to save face for the royal family, the blame was shifted to the Duke of Shan, and the defeated Crown Prince was portrayed as being killed by the Duke of Shan.

This kind of claim can only fool ordinary people and naive children; no one who knows the inside story will believe it.

It should be noted that the Duke of Shan is the Crown Prince's father-in-law and the leader of the Crown Prince's faction.

If they hadn't been so deeply entangled with the Crown Prince, the Shi family wouldn't have fared well if the Crown Prince had been deposed. Why would a Duke's mansion, whose fate was intertwined with the nation's, rebel for no reason?

Furthermore, the later claim that the Emperor abdicated due to grief over the death of the Crown Prince is even more impossible.

Not to mention that in the past two years, the emperor and the crown prince have been at odds with each other, to the point of fighting each other, and the father-son relationship has long been gone.

Take the emperor, for example. He held absolute power and ruled the country for twenty years. How could he abdicate and pass the throne to Prince An, a leisurely prince, just because the crown prince was killed?

There must have been some unknown events that forced the emperor to abdicate and become the retired emperor.

"Fifth Brother, what are you spacing out for?" Xiao Liu asked, tugging at Tu Chengyu's sleeve when he saw Tu Chengyu still on the ground.

Tu Chengyu snapped out of his daze and said, "It's nothing. You wait outside the door, I'll go change my clothes right away."

Xiao Xing had disappeared, so Tu Chengyu had no choice but to find some clothes to change into.

After leaving the house, Xiao Liu looked at Tu Chengyu's clothes and asked, "Fifth Brother, aren't you wearing a formal suit?"

Tu Chengyu said, "It's just receiving the imperial decree, there's no need to go to such trouble." With that, the two of them arrived at the Fengsheng Hall.

Upon arrival, one sees many figures in the hall, including a group of unfamiliar eunuchs who are setting up an incense table.

Behind the incense table stood a well-to-do middle-aged eunuch in a bright red robe, his hands clasped over his stomach, his eyes lowered in a deep gaze. Beside him stood a young eunuch in a green robe, holding a royal edict aloft with both hands.

On the side of the hall, Princess Liu and her family of Prince An were present. When they saw Tu Chengyu and his companion enter, Princess Liu beckoned them over.

The two brothers quickened their pace and were arranged by their second brother, Tu Chengming, to stand among the brothers. Their casual clothes also attracted the attention of their second brother.

Tu Chengyu turned around and looked around. Apart from his father and eldest brother, everyone else in the family was here. Even the little twelfth child who had been sent away last night was wearing a little dress and standing next to the princess, making faces at her.

In less than fifteen minutes, the incense table was set up.

Led by a young eunuch, everyone in the Prince's mansion knelt before the incense table. A middle-aged eunuch took the imperial edict from the young eunuch and stood behind the incense table to read it aloud.

The middle-aged eunuch spoke at length, but it all boiled down to one thing: Prince An had ascended the throne and would hold his coronation ceremony in three days. Prince An's family members needed to move into the palace as soon as possible within the next two days.

Before the imperial edict was even finished, everyone below was already beaming with joy, and even Tu Chengyu was secretly delighted.

As soon as the eunuch delivering the imperial decree left, the news spread, and the entire Prince An's residence erupted in cheers.

While others were making a fuss, Tu Chengyu only wanted to go back to sleep.

But just as he was about to leave, Princess Liu called out to him, "Xiao Wu, don't go yet."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu could only stop and ask, "Mother, what is it?"

The princess did not answer Tu Chengyu's question first, but waved for the servants in the hall to leave before saying to Tu Chengyu, "It's not me who's looking for you, it's your uncle from the Liu family."

This Uncle Liu is not Tu Chengyu's biological uncle; he is only called Uncle by Tu Chengyu and his brothers because he is the elder brother of Princess Liu.

Because of his young age and his deliberate low profile over the past few years, Tu Chengyu had only met his uncle a few times and didn't know what he wanted to see him about.
Tu Chengyu was making wild guesses when he heard footsteps. He looked up and saw two people coming in through the door.

Leading the group was Liu Chengru, the uncle of the Liu family, followed closely by Liu Shigui, a man who made Tu Chengyu frown.

After exchanging greetings, Liu's uncle said to Tu Chengyu, "Fifth Prince, I have come to apologize to you."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu's first reaction was that he was being addressed as a prince! Only then did he notice the Liu family's apology.

He said with a puzzled expression, "My uncle and I have always been close and have never had any conflicts, so why should I apologize?"

Uncle Liu said, "It is not your humble servant, but my unworthy son."

Tu Chengyu said, "What wrong has my cousin done?"

Uncle Liu said, "I just heard that last night when my son led archers to rescue the Second Gate, the arrows almost accidentally injured the Fifth Prince because it was dark. Therefore, I brought my son here to apologize."

Tu Chengyu's face darkened after hearing this.

Last night, my father told me not to get involved in these things anymore, in order to pull me out of the vortex of trouble. Now, they've come to apologize, pulling me back into the vortex.

Moreover, my father and elder brother are not here, and I am just a ten-year-old child. This is not an apology; they clearly have ulterior motives.

(End of this chapter)