The Crown Prince truly was a genuine idiot!
Why would he forcibly sever such a powerful arm of support? Why would he chill his own son’s heart like this?
She was trembling all over with anger.
Yet the Crown Prince did not feel the slightest bit of regret.
Xiao Yunting did not seem like his son at all, but rather like a great mountain pressing down on top of his head, blocking him completely.
So much so that throughout the court, there was almost a tendency to know only of the Imperial Grandson, but not of the Crown Prince.
From the moment Emperor Yongchang brought Xiao Yunting to his side to listen to state affairs, the Crown Prince had already decided he did not want this son anymore.
Now hearing Xiao Yunting say this, he carried several parts disdain and cold mockery: “You are utterly outrageous! What kind of beast would say such things to his own father?!”
Empress Feng could no longer endure it. She rushed forward and fiercely slapped the Crown Prince across the face, sternly rebuking him: “Shut your mouth for this Empress!”
Calling him a beast every other sentence, this was truly, genuinely trying to destroy this son!
She pointed at the Crown Prince, her voice choked with emotion: “Even a tiger does not eat its cubs, do you understand that or not?!”
The Crown Prince refused to yield in the slightest: “Then why doesn’t Royal Mother discipline him? My chief eunuch, my personal attendant, he killed him whenever he pleased. Where has he ever shown even the slightest awareness of being a son?!”
Empress Feng’s head ached so badly it felt like splitting apart.
Never in her dreams had she imagined that after enduring Noble Consort Xiao Liu, after enduring Duke Chu’s household, in the end she would still have to face such an impossible situation.
And all of this had been caused by a single wrong thought from the Crown Prince.
She closed her eyes and softly called to Xiao Yunting: “Yunting…”
Xiao Yunting likewise showed not the slightest retreat.
In this regard, although the father and son loathed one another, they nevertheless shared the exact same stubbornness.
He coldly tugged at the corner of his mouth, confronting the Crown Prince head-on: “The reason Royal Father is so furious is merely because you yourself are incompetent, and resent my Royal mother’s natal family for falling into disaster and dragging Royal Father down! You ask me how I deserve to be a son, but I also want to ask you, how do you deserve to be a husband and a father?!”
Rebellion!
This truly was rebellion!
Originally, the Crown Prince had merely intended to deliberately provoke Xiao Yunting into anger, then pretend to collapse from illness himself.
That way, with Ren Zhong remonstrating unto death in the previous court, and Xiao Yunting angering his own father into fainting afterward.
Then no matter whether it was Emperor Yongchang or the officials of the previous court, absolutely none of them would agree to Xiao Yunting investigating the Lu family case again.
But now things had reached this point, and he had truly been provoked into fury.
This wretched creature!
He actually dared to speak with such disrespect, such disregard for his elders!
He looked left and right, so enraged he was practically gasping for breath. Catching sight of the treasured sword hanging on the wall, he immediately rushed over and snatched it down, roaring: “I’ll hack you to death, you unfilial son!”
Empress Feng instantly cried out loudly: “Old Second, put it down for this Empress!”
But the Crown Prince was in the midst of towering rage, how could he possibly listen?
At once he charged forward, rushing straight at Xiao Yunting.
In that instant, Empress Feng felt as though all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
Yet Xiao Yunting still stood there like a straight green pine, not moving in the slightest.
Terror instantly appeared in her eyes. Subconsciously, she wanted to rush over and shield Xiao Yunting.
Seeing the Crown Prince’s sword about to pierce Xiao Yunting’s chest, she was so frightened her heart nearly stopped beating, her eyes filling with horror and despair.
Though the Crown Prince appeared incomparably enraged, inwardly he knew perfectly well what he was doing.
Naturally, there was no way he would truly stab this sword in.
He did not wish to become another Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, killing three sons in one day and leaving behind everlasting infamy.
He merely intended to put on a show. Just as he was preparing to release the sword and pretend to faint, Xiao Yunting suddenly advanced one silent step toward him.
With just that single step, the tip of the Crown Prince’s sword pierced into Xiao Yunting’s chest.
Empress Feng screamed sharply.
A trace of shock appeared on the Crown Prince’s face, and immediately afterward he realized something was wrong.
This wretched creature had done it deliberately!
Deliberately provoking him, waiting for him to make some excessive move.
A chill suddenly crawled over his entire body.
Then he heard a familiar voice ring out: “What are all of you doing?”
Clearly it was only a very light sentence, but to the Crown Prince’s ears, it sounded no different from a thunderclap.
Cold sweat instantly burst out all over the Crown Prince’s body. Looking at Xiao Yunting once again, a trace of viciousness flashed through his eyes.
From this moment onward, between father and son, it was likewise a situation where only one could survive.
Emperor Yongchang’s gaze landed on Empress Feng’s face, pale beyond human appearance, when he heard a bang.
Immediately afterward Eunuch Xia cried out in alarm: “His Highness the Imperial Grandson has fainted!”
Empress Feng had originally seemed as though someone had struck her pressure point. Only at this moment did she belatedly react, rushing toward Xiao Yunting.
Emperor Yongchang immediately turned his head: “Go summon the Imperial Medical Bureau!”
The Crown Prince panicked and released his hand, retreating a step. Wearing the appearance of someone equally frightened, he anxiously staggered backward two steps and collapsed onto the ground, then clumsily and laboriously crawled back up: “Royal Father…”
Emperor Yongchang lifted his foot and fiercely kicked him, coldly staring at him: “You can still be considered human?!”
Then he walked over to Xiao Yunting’s side. Seeing Xiao Yunting’s condition, his gaze darkened.
The Crown Prince had likewise fainted.
Empress Feng clenched her fists tightly. For the first time in her life, she felt that giving birth to the Crown Prince truly would have been worse than giving birth to a flatbread.
How could a person create such an enormous disaster?
Clearly they could have worked together properly. Qi Wang was already dead, and the only little prince she had left was still so young, what could he possibly do?!
Yet the Crown Prince insisted on courting death!
Fortunately, earlier when the Crown Prince and Xiao Yunting had clashed, Empress Feng had already ordered everyone to withdraw. Only because of that had everything in the great hall not spread outside.
Otherwise, the father-son rupture within the Eastern Palace…
Of course, things were not much better now. She looked at Xiao Yunting with a complicated gaze, her whole body trembling faintly out of control.
Worried for the future of the Eastern Palace, and also worried for Xiao Yunting.
Things had escalated this badly, how was it supposed to end?
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