20demayo Chapter 442
Chapter 442
the little child tried his best to act with an air of authority, puffing up his cheeks and shouting, "how dare you! i am the fifth prince. this is my father's residence. why can't i come here?"
though only three years old, the child was already articulate and clear in his speech, though he still acted a bit spoiled in front of his aunt, fen yun.
to outsiders, however, he appeared fierce and intimidating.
the guard was charmed by his outburst: "even if you are a prince, you cannot barge into the emperor's resting place without a summons or prior notice."
"then help me announce my arrival. i'll wait here. is that acceptable?"
"this..."
the guards exchanged uncertain glances, unsure of what to do.
the problem was that announcing arrivals was the duty of eunuchs, and they were not qualified to do so.
"then i'll just go in myself,"
he said, pretending to jump down, which startled the guards into catching him. "wait, wait, your highness, please wait. this servant will go and announce you."
the emperor tucked the small portrait of jiang xinyue into his robes and frowned at tang shiliang. "what did you say? who wants to see me?"
the fifth prince?
what did he want?
he had almost forgotten he even had this son.
"this servant does not know, but i noticed that his highness the fifth prince has a wound on his forehead. could it be that he was bullied?"
when children are bullied, their first instinct is to seek out their parents and complain, isn't it?
it was normal for the child to know about the emperor's grand arrival at the imperial mausoleum, as adults might have mentioned it.
the emperor's frown deepened. "when we first arrived, didn't jiang xinyue arrange for someone to look after them? how could they still be bullied?"
asking tang shiliang was pointless; he had only just arrived at the mausoleum himself.
the emperor didn't press for an answer, rubbing his temples instead. "let him in."
after the deaths of the empress's two sons, the emperor had not invested much emotion in his other sons.
at one point, he had been somewhat fond of the third prince, but after all of consort de's schemes were exposed, his affection for that son had waned.
consort de had orchestrated the deaths of his beloved eldest and second sons in her bid to secure the throne for the third prince.
as for the fourth prince, if it weren't for jiang xinyue adopting him, he might have perished in the cold palace alongside that old eunuch.
the fifth prince was already over three years old. if they didn't explain things to him now, who knew what version of events he might hear from others in the future?
besides, the emperor didn't trust fen yun.
"cough, cough... fifth prince... where is the fifth prince? has anyone seen the fifth prince?"
fen yun woke from her sleep in a panic, only to find the fifth prince missing from the room.
struggling against her illness, she stepped out and asked everyone she met if they had seen the fifth prince.
but few in the mausoleum were willing to pay attention to a disfigured woman they considered mad.
"oh! look who's talking to us today—the former chief maid of the late empress. lost your airs, have you?"
"have you... have you seen... cough, cough... have you seen the fifth prince?"
"how could we lowly servants possibly have seen the fifth prince? weren't you protecting him like he was the apple of your eye?"
fen yun, wracked with pain and exhaustion, had no energy to argue. she turned to leave.
"thud!"
after only a few steps, someone tripped her, and she fell to the ground.
already burning with fever, she couldn't get up after the fall.
the maid who had tripped her leaned in and hissed, "don't even think about taking the fifth prince back to the capital. her majesty the empress doesn't want to see you again. the throne is not for you to covet."
fen yun, dazed and confused, murmured, "i... i haven't... you're not..."
it couldn't be...
those who had bullied the fifth prince couldn't possibly be empress zhu's people.
her mistress couldn't have been wrong about her.
had those people already moved against them, trying to sow discord between the fifth prince and empress zhu?
no!
she hadn't yet told the fifth prince the truth!
"aunt fen yun!"
at the sound of the call, fen yun's vision darkened, and she fainted.
when she opened her eyes again, the emperor was standing by her bedside, holding the fifth prince's hand and looking down at her coldly.