After the milk ball arrived, the father who had no heirs had a string of good luck.

They had already recognized the voices of several princes and the crown prince; even if they hadn't, their companions who had would have alerted them.

Seeing that the princes and the crown prince were fighting, none of them said a word.

The prince's vision blurred, and he nearly fainted several times.

Seven thousand taels of gold!

Seven thousand taels!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this was all his wealth.

Situ Wei's eyelids twitched as she listened, and she kept urging him, "Father, why don't we just forget about it?"

"Let it go? If I let it go this time, won't I become their laughingstock?"

This is no longer about money; it's about his reputation, the reputation of the Crown Prince.

He can't possibly give in!

The servant also advised, "Your Highness, we only brought 80,000 taels of silver with us, this..."

"Add more, keep adding, isn't there still ten thousand taels we can add?"

The crown prince was nearly driven mad. He shoved the servant aside, swallowed the metallic taste in his throat, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Eight thousand taels! Gold!"

The outside fell completely silent, and everyone stared at the carved windows of the five private rooms, waiting for the princes to raise the price again.

however…

Situ Che chuckled lightly, "A gentleman does not take what others cherish. Since you desire it so greatly, then I will grant it to you!"

Prince Chen understood and said, "I won't add any more!"

Prince Rui: "Sigh... I'd like to add more, but I'm out of money. There's nothing I can do..."

King Xiang: "Tsk tsk tsk... Your Excellency is truly wealthy and powerful; I humbly admit defeat!"

The crown prince couldn't hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood. His head felt like it had been punched, buzzing loudly.

"Father!" Situ Wei exclaimed in shock.

The servant was extremely anxious and pinched the prince's philtrum!

But at this moment, the waiter had already brought over the eight thousand taels of gold worth of Xiaoyao Pills, and handed them over with a smile: "Sir, here are your Xiaoyao Pills."

When the prince saw the tiny pill on the tray, he finally fainted from anger.

The waiter panicked: "Hey, sir, please don't!"

Pay first!

You need to pay me, you know?

...

The auction concluded successfully, and the princes rode in a carriage on their way back.

The women of the Prince Li's residence rode in another carriage, and laughter could be heard from the prince's entourage's carriage from time to time.

It seems they really enjoyed playing pranks on the Crown Prince tonight.

Tang Rui leaned against the car window, looking at the carriage in front of her, and sighed like a little adult.

Qin Zhiyan smiled and asked, "Rui Rui, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Tang Rui shook her head and spoke her mind: "I just think that the Crown Prince is really annoying. None of his brothers like him. He's such a failure as a person."

In the Qing Dynasty, during the struggle for the throne among nine princes, even the fourth prince had the thirteenth prince by his side to help him!

The eighth brother also has the ninth and tenth brothers assisting him!

In contrast, the Crown Prince was all alone, fighting a lone battle, and was also targeted by a group of his brothers.

That's so pitiful!

Gu Ruoxue felt nauseous at the mere mention of the Crown Prince, and said coldly, "He deserved it! His despicable behavior and lack of virtue befitting his position only incited public anger!"

"That's right!" Consort Zhu...

Oh no, now we should call her Consort Zhu.

Consort Zhu clearly disliked the Crown Prince as well, nodding vigorously: "Back when I was still unmarried, my father was a supporter of the Crown Prince and wanted me to become his concubine. Guess what happened?"

"I know that!" Consort Zhang said calmly, "The Crown Prince said you are as fat as a pig and unsightly."

"That's right!" Consort Zhu slapped her thigh, her teeth itching with anger at the thought of it. "That bastard Crown Prince actually talked about me like that in public, saying my father was humiliating him. It made my father faint with rage. As for me, no one dared to propose marriage during that time. Later, when I was twenty-three, the Emperor betrothed me to Prince Li. Because I was too old, I only became a concubine. My father was at least the Minister of Revenue, right? As the legitimate daughter, I could have been a prince's principal wife, or at least a concubine, right? But because of my age, I became a concubine. Do you know how miserable I was?"

"You too? Me too!" Consort Li was taken aback upon hearing this, and immediately seemed to have found a kindred spirit. She took Consort Zhu's hand and whispered, "My father used to favor the Crown Prince and gave him plenty of gifts every year. In the end, he spent 100,000 taels of silver to try and secure me the position of Crown Prince's concubine. But that scoundrel Crown Prince took the money but refused to accept me. He even said that a mere merchant was not worthy of being Crown Prince's concubine."

"As a result, my father thought that it was a bit too much for our Li family, which are just merchants, to seek the position of the Crown Prince's concubine. So he settled for second best and only wanted me to be the Crown Prince's concubine."

"Guess what? The Crown Prince still refused, saying that our Li family is not worthy."

"Hilarious! How is our Li family unworthy? Even if we are unworthy, then give us back the money! We take money from the Li family every year and yet we look down on them. What kind of logic is that?"

Consort Zhu exclaimed in surprise, "How can he be so shameless?"

Consort Li nodded vigorously: "That's right. My father was so angry back then that he fell ill, and he stopped sending tributes to the Crown Prince's palace after that."

What she didn't say was that all these tributes were given to her every month, so that she could help Prince Li and treat her husband as her heaven.

Despite Consort Li's extravagant spending sprees and wealth, she actually saves a portion of her silver every month, just in time for the day when Prince Li urgently needs it!

Consort Zhu and Consort Li hit it off immediately, chatting more and more amiably, and hurling insults at the Crown Prince.

Gu Ruoxue's face paled slightly as she witnessed the Crown Prince's character once again!

The thought of liking this bastard for so many years made her want to vomit again.

Tang Rui was also amazed by what she heard.

Shamelessness knows no bounds!

No wonder she has such a bad reputation; it's all because of her own actions.

I bet Grandpa is already thinking of an excuse to depose the Crown Prince.

Most importantly... it turns out that the women of the cheap dad were all unwanted by the crown prince?

Tang Rui guessed correctly; the emperor did indeed want to depose the crown prince, and had already begun to take action.

The Xiaoyao Pill was indeed smuggled into the Great Xia by spies from the Northern Barbarians.

However, his entry into the Zhencui Pavilion was approved by the emperor.

...

More than half a month later, the status of several women in the Prince Li's mansion was elevated.

The imperial decree had already been issued, and for the time being, the Prince Li's mansion would no longer have concubines, only secondary consorts and concubines of lower rank.

Not only that, Situ Che also went to the palace to tell the emperor about the dangers of the Xiaoyao Pill.

The emperor told him not to make a fuss.

Sending poison pills to the emperor—is that a serious crime for this deposed crown prince?

The emperor was getting impatient and planned to depose the crown prince on his birthday.

Looking at his father's eager expression, Situ Che asked suspiciously, "Father, did you do something?"

"What can I do?" Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately became serious: "I already know about this matter. You may return!"

"..." You still say you didn't cause any trouble?

Why does he seem a little skeptical?

That's what he thought, but Situ Che didn't ask any further questions.

His father was very tight-lipped; if he didn't want to talk, no one could get any information out of him.

Situ Che left the palace, preparing to investigate on his own.

The emperor also secretly looked forward to his birthday, when he would depose the crown prince.

Unexpectedly, before his birthday even arrived, the Crown Prince started causing trouble again.

The Crown Prince finally found out who was behind Zhencui Pavilion and took the matter directly to the Emperor.

The arrival of someone from the palace to summon Gu Nanyu startled the Gu family.

Gu Nanyu remained calm, saying that the Emperor probably had something to ask him, otherwise it wouldn't have been an eunuch summoning him, but rather the Imperial Guards.

Prime Minister Gu thought about it and agreed.

So the question is, why would the emperor summon his grandson?

Gu Nanyu gave a sinister smile: "It's a secret!"

Prime Minister Gu: "..." Who taught you to laugh like that?

It's a bit scary to feed them like that.