good season

The old man looked at him with eyes full of disgust, as if he were looking at a piece of rotting flesh crawling with maggots.

"Just a house arrest? Three to five years? You're so confident, what's your backing?"

The fourth prince was taken aback, feeling a little regretful. Why did I bring up the fifth prince?

That fifth brother is definitely going to be grounded until he dies.

This prince must have been so angry that he compared himself to the fifth prince. What bad luck!

He took a deep breath: "Fifth Prince is not worthy to be compared with me. He will never leave the Prince's residence in his entire life, while I will definitely turn danger into safety."

These words seemed to be addressed to the old man, but it was as if he was encouraging himself.

He will definitely turn danger into safety, he has in the past, he is now, and he will always be in the future.

His first hardship came when he was young. Consort You was out of favor, and as a result, he was neglected by his father, the Emperor. For the sake of his future, he took the initiative to approach his father and let him know that he was the most obedient son.

As expected, the emperor noticed him and gave him several tasks, and he finally gained recognition throughout the court.

The second time he encountered a predicament was at Shiji Mountain, where he was ordered by his father, the emperor, to put Xiao Zhen to death.

Xiao Zhen is dead, he is crippled, and his father has forgotten him!

Those were the darkest days of his life, but he eventually stepped forward again through his own strength and his guilt towards his father.

The third time he encountered a predicament was at the Dongxian Temple. He thought he was doomed, but he once again survived thanks to his father's guilt towards him. He even gained the favor of the Empress and got closer to his father!

The fourth time is right now. Compared to the previous times, this time the situation is just beginning. The Emperor is unaware of it yet. Currently, he is only facing a fourth-rank garrison commander and a fifth-rank prefect.

As for the old man in front of him, the Fourth Prince didn't take him seriously at all!

His gaze swept contemptuously over the old man before settling back on Prefect Qian's face.

This cuckold is the key figure in this incident.

What kind of bottom line does a person have who disregards his wife and is willing to wear a green hat for more than ten years for the sake of his future?
"Prefect Qian, I will definitely fulfill my promise to you. Do you really not want that position?"

Prefect Qian felt a sudden jolt in his heart; of course he wanted that position.

Once he sits in that position, he won't have to put up with the Yue family's attitude anymore. No, he can completely sever ties with the Yue family and that harlot!

He will remarry a woman from a noble family, and he will have his own bloodline, with sons and grandsons, bringing glory to his ancestors.

Thinking of this, Prefect Qian stood up as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He looked at the Fourth Prince, but before he could utter the word "think", he heard a cold laugh.

Prefect Qian subconsciously looked towards the source of the laughter, which was the old man who had torn off a layer of skin.

His attention had been focused on the Fourth Prince until now, when Prefect Qian finally got a good look at him.

Upon seeing this, he was stunned!
Immediately afterwards, his mind went blank, his legs went weak, and he knelt down.

"Too, too, too much the emperor"

During the last imperial examination held during the reign of the retired emperor, he ranked thirty-second in the second class!
He also attended the Qionglin Banquet!

The reason I didn't recognize him at first glance is that after more than ten years, the Emperor Emeritus has not only aged, but he has also lost his beard. You know, a person who grows a beard at the age of thirty looks like a completely different person once he loses it.

More importantly, the retired emperor that Prefect Qian saw back then was dazzling and arrogant, while the old man in front of him was dressed in coarse linen clothes and appeared here. Who would associate him with the retired emperor?

But once you connect the dots, they look more and more alike!
Prefect Qian knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "This humble official was blind and deserves to die a thousand deaths. I beg the Emperor Emeritus for forgiveness!"

The fourth prince was stunned when he uttered the words "Emperor Emeritus".

His gaze gradually shifted from Prefect Qian to the old man who had spoken rudely.

The retired emperor.
No wonder he felt the old man looked familiar. Of course he did. More than ten years ago, he and his brothers had also competed to be the ones to entertain their parents.

More than a decade has passed; he has grown from a child into a young man. His memories remain, but the face in his memory has gradually become blurred.

The retired emperor! This is the retired emperor!

Qian, the prefect, was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). Although he had never served as an official in the capital, he must have met the retired emperor.

He said that since this was the retired emperor, he wouldn't mistake him.

At that moment, the Fourth Prince's mind suddenly cleared up. He remembered that the old man had just called him "Little Fourth"!
Aside from his father, only the retired emperor would call him "Little Fourth" directly!
The fourth prince swayed. His body had been weakened by the injury he suffered, and he had fallen ill again in Yanzhou Prefecture. In recent days, he had been having nightmares and had no appetite. At this moment, his mind was blank, and he could no longer hold on, so he collapsed straight down.

Zhao Xingzhou was surprised that the Fourth Prince would faint. He cursed, "Useless thing. He has no other skills, but he has mastered the ways of the women in the inner quarters."

Women in the palace wouldn't faint easily, otherwise they would be considered "ill," and unless they had special favor, it would be difficult to get the emperor to choose them again.

However, this tactic is always effective for women in the inner quarters of the house.

However, it was somewhat ridiculous that the Emperor Emeritus had placed him on the Fourth Prince's head at this moment.

The fourth prince did not fall to the ground. Li Qing, quick-witted and agile, stretched out his leg first, and the fourth prince fell onto his leg.

Li Qing sighed. In this matter, the Emperor Emeritus had wronged the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince was genuinely dizzy, not faking it.

He reached out and pinched the fourth prince's philtrum hard. The fourth prince slowly woke up and was facing the face that was reaching out to investigate—the face of the retired emperor.

The fourth prince almost fainted again.

He struggled to his feet, knelt before Zhao Xingzhou, and wept bitterly: "Grandfather, Liu Wang and Zhang Hui deceived the higher-ups and colluded with Ding Gao to resell disaster relief grain. By the time I found out, it was too late. They threatened me and wanted me to take the blame. I had no choice!"

Back then, Crown Prince Zhao Xian and Emperor Yongjia Zhao Yu married one after the other. However, Zhao Xian had two daughters before finally having a grandson, Zhao Yuan, many years later. Meanwhile, Zhao Yu had five sons, both legitimate and illegitimate, while still in his princely residence. At that time, Zhao Yuan had not yet been born.

Therefore, long before Zhao Yuan was born, these five grandsons had already secured their place in their grandfather's heart.

When Zhao Yuan finally grew to the age of three, he died before he could even fawn over his grandfather.

The Emperor Emeritus had a faint impression of Zhao Yuan, only remembering that he was a very handsome child. However, he had watched all five of his grandsons, including the Fourth Prince, grow up.

In the past, even if the Fourth Prince had made a serious mistake, he could have knelt down, cried, and begged. Given Zhao Xingzhou's usual behavior, he might have been given a lenient punishment.

But things are different now. Ever since Zhao Xingzhou learned the origin of the hooked nose, even if the Fourth Prince is completely innocent, he will still throw stinky excrement all over him.

Moreover, the fourth prince was not innocent at this time.

The retired emperor was grabbed by the legs by the fourth prince. He struggled a few times, but his old legs were unable to move. He glared at Li Qing: "Li Qing, what use are you to me? Pull this wretched child away!"

The word "I" was deafening, and Li Qinghu's body trembled. It had come, it had come, his chance had come!

He rushed up and pried open the fourth prince's fingers one by one. The fourth prince cried out in pain. Was this guy surnamed Li trying to break his hand?
The Emperor Emeritus's legs were finally freed. Panting, he pointed at the Fourth Prince and said, "Guards, throw him into the heavens!"

Suddenly remembering that there was no prison here, he said to Li Qing, "Gag him, keep a close watch on him, and don't let anyone near him except you."

Li Qing clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Your subject obeys!"

Zhao Xingzhou then looked at Prefect Qian, unable to recall his name: "Where is the Prefect of Tongzhou?"

Prefect Qian was still kneeling on the ground. Upon hearing this, he crawled a few steps on his knees, raised his face, which was already pale with fright, and revealed his swollen forehead: "Your subject is here."

Seeing his utterly terrified state, Zhao Xingzhou felt a wave of disgust. The bastard son of the second son had appointed only lowly and worthless people.

He forgot that the person surnamed Qian was the official he had appointed.

"You did very well today, and I am very pleased."

The weight that had been hanging over Qian's heart finally lifted, and he breathed a sigh of relief; his head was safe.

Yes, things had come to this point, and he no longer cared about his official position; as long as he could save his life, he would be content.

Thankfully, he wasn't misled by the Fourth Prince, otherwise he might have had to take the blame for the Fourth Prince.

"This is my duty. From the day I passed the imperial examination, I made a solemn vow that as long as I am an official, I will share the emperor's worries and relieve the people's difficulties. For more than ten years, I have reflected on myself three times a day and dared not slack off."

Zhao Xingzhou finally looked at Prefect Qian with some satisfaction: "What a fine way to share the emperor's burdens and relieve the people's troubles! Prefect of Tongzhou, I hope you will remember my words today and not disappoint me."

"Your subject will remember!"

Zhao Xingzhou waved his hand: "Remember to do your job. You may leave now."

Prefect Qian had been kneeling for so long that he tripped and fell when he got up, and scrambled out of the room.

Zhao Xingzhou looked at Jiang Ping: "The matter here has been settled. Let your young master come over. I have something to entrust to him."

Li Qing's spirits lifted. Sure enough, the Emperor Emeritus trusted Xiao Zhen the most.

Li Qing decided that once he returned to the capital, he would definitely have his wife set up a longevity tablet for Xiao Zhen. Xiao Zhen was his benefactor, as was the Fourth Prince, but Li Qing just wanted to cut ties with him completely right now.

Although he was a military man, he had been in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for so long that, although he had not yet had the opportunity to fathom the emperor's intentions, he was good at reading people's expressions. The Emperor Emeritus looked at the Fourth Prince with eyes full of hatred, without a trace of affection.

Regardless of whether the emperor would show leniency to the fourth prince, in the eyes of the retired emperor, the fourth prince was already a useless person.

The future of the fourth prince is obvious.

They would either be like Prince Jing, sent to a barren land to serve as a fiefdom, and become marginalized members of the royal family; or like the Fifth Prince, confined to his residence and never seeing the light of day again.

The Emperor Emeritus waited for two full hours before Xiao Zhen finally arrived.

The Emperor Emeritus originally wanted to reprimand her, but just as he straightened his face, he saw Zhao Shiqing who had come with Xiao Zhen, and his face immediately wrinkled up: "Granddaughter, you're here too? Are you worried that your grandfather will get sick from anger?"

Li Qing, who was standing to the side, stared wide-eyed; the change of expression was faster than turning the pages of a book.

Zhao Shiqing smiled and said, "Yes, I hope you're not upset. Don't be angry anymore. It's not worth it for those irrelevant people."

She held up the oil paper package in her hand: "These are tea eggs that Xiuxiu cooked. Please eat them while they're hot."

The Emperor Emeritus felt a pang of sorrow. Tea eggs! His granddaughter had brought him tea eggs from so far away!

Everything is available here, even seasonal vegetables that haven't been seen for days.

I heard from those people that that wretched child is picky. The kitchen prepares all sorts of delicious food for him, but he only touches it a couple of times before having it taken away, either to be given to the servants or thrown away.

These unassuming tea eggs wouldn't even be served to that wretched child.

But on the mountain, tea eggs are the most precious food. Only grandchildren and some elderly people can get eggs. Even a strong old man like me can only get eggs because of my granddaughter.

Even the granddaughter herself couldn't bear to eat it.

Although my granddaughter is not my biological daughter, she is Ruyi's daughter, and Ruyi is my own flesh and blood.

Why should that bastard be able to throw away plates of food that she can't even get to eat?

"Pass down the decree: that wretched child must not be given anything good to eat, not even a drop of meat. He shall eat whatever the people of the village eat, no, reduce his food by half!"

Li Qing's lips twitched. Although there was grain in the manor, apart from the grain that each family brought, the grain distributed by the public was all coarse grain mixed with rice bran. Otherwise, they would have run out of food long ago.

"I will go and give the order immediately," Li Qing replied.

After Li Qing left, Zhao Shiqing asked curiously, "Grandfather, this house is really big and luxurious. Will you live here from now on and not go back to the mountain?"

Who would want to go up a mountain to smell stinky feet when they can live in a luxurious mansion?

Just as Zhao Xingzhou was about to speak, Zhao Shiqing continued, "You'd better not stay here. I've heard that this is a haunted house where many people have died. Before it was requisitioned by the government, this house had been vacant for many years."

Zhao Xingzhou was startled. It wasn't that he was afraid of ghosts, but he didn't expect that Xiao Si, that spineless coward, would dare to live in a haunted house. He hadn't realized that Xiao Si had any guts.

Zhao Shiqing's little mouth never stopped, chattering on and on: "Oh dear, how could I forget? You have cultivation. As the saying goes, if the devil is one foot tall, the Tao is ten feet tall. You are not even afraid of the devil, let alone a dozen little ghosts. When are you going to subdue the ghosts? Your granddaughter wants to broaden her horizons."

Zhao Xingzhou: When did I ever say I could catch ghosts? I only seek immortality in my cultivation, not to slay demons and monsters. That's Zhang Tianshi's business. What does it have to do with me?

However, I really don't want to live in this haunted house. No wonder I've felt uneasy ever since I came here.

Alas, my legs, which were perfectly fine, have lost all their strength. Just now, I was held by that wretched creature and couldn't move at all.

Think about it, normally I can carry one in front and one on my back on the mountain and still walk as fast as I can.

I thought I was getting old, but it turns out the bad feng shui here is bringing me bad luck!
He looked at Xiao Zhen: "I entrust you with full authority over the four regions of Tongzhou. I grant you the power to act as you see fit. Xiao Zhen, you have grown up and must learn to share my burdens. Yuan'er is still young, and you are his elder brother. You must set an example for him. Remember, no matter what, you will always be my most valued grandson. Do not disappoint me."

Xiao Zhen knew immediately that the Emperor Emeritus wanted to slip away. The old man would rather go back to the mountain to take care of the children than stay in the haunted house for another day.

They'll need him now, so he's their most valued grandson. (End of Chapter)