Chapter 27
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As soon as they left Pan Palace, Wei Che knelt down to ask for forgiveness.
Zhao Heng impatiently said, “Why kneel? Speak up, what happened?”
“It’s just that there were a few unruly students in the school, and I was unable to avoid them in time.”
This was such nonsense. Seeing Wei Che, who used to be so arrogant, looking so submissive, Zhao Heng couldn’t help but get angry.
“Are all the top experts in the world gathered here in Pan Palace, or are you, Wei Che, too sick to even lift your hands? Do you like being beaten up and have to ask if I’m okay with it?”
Wei Che refused to get up, only raising his head to say, “I did not fight back.”
Zhao Heng was about to burst into anger upon hearing this, his hand pointing out, but then he saw Wei Che’s deep eyes, like amber gleaming under the sun, looking at him with a soft gaze, and suddenly he understood.
Wei Che didn’t fight back because he said listening to lectures in Pan Palace was the most important thing, and he didn’t want to expose the emperor’s identity by showing his martial arts skills. So, regardless of his status as a second-rank military officer, he was willing to be beaten up by those rowdy students.
Not fighting back was a result of Wei Che’s extraordinary skill. If he had fought back, he could have defeated the skilled attackers, but if an ordinary person was in his place, they would likely have been killed or severely injured.
Zhao Heng let out a long sigh, and personally helped Wei Che up. But Wei Che quickly avoided his touch and stood up by himself.
“Your Majesty…I’m fine.”
People who were used to the wild often talked this way.
Zhao Heng didn’t care and asked, “Who did it?”
Seeing the emperor’s face turning blue, Wei Che had no more thoughts of concealing anything and said, “It was the ones who had a fight with Xia Chu the other day.”
Zhao Heng frowned, “What’s the reason for this?”
“They were angry that Your Majesty didn’t join them in their fight. Although many students did not participate, they didn’t dare to offend the families of those students. So, these few boys, unable to vent their anger, could only take it out on me.”
“They want to vent their anger on me? It’s just that fighting openly in the school is not allowed, so they can only beat up a servant like you. They want to show me their power. But you watch, this matter is not over yet. There may be more tricks waiting in the future.”
Wei Che’s eyes turned cold, and he said in a deep voice, “Your Majesty, who dares?”
Zhao Heng sneered, “Let them come. Recently, I have not been in a good mood, and I also want to vent my anger on them.”
When they returned to the palace, Liu Shunzhong helped the emperor change his clothes and kept praying for protection from all the deities. He asked, “Your Majesty, going to Pan Palace is so dangerous, how did even Master Wei come back injured? What should we do?”
Wei Che was injured, and the emperor couldn’t protect him as the master, Zhao Heng was annoyed by the questions and frowned. He fastened his clothes and only asked, “Where is Wei Che receiving treatment?”
Liu Shunzhong saw that Zhao Heng was angry and dared not say anything more. He bowed respectfully and said, “Let me guide Your Majesty.”
Wei Che was applying medicine in a warm pavilion in the side hall. Suddenly, the curtain was lifted, and he quickly covered himself up and stood up when he saw the emperor. Zhao Heng waved to dismiss the people around and pressed down Wei Che before sitting down beside the bed and saying, “Let me take a look.”
Wei Che wasn’t willing.
Zhao Heng glared at him, “Move aside!”
Wei Che hesitated but eventually let go. He was topless with bruises of all sizes on his wheat-colored skin, and there was a palm-sized swelling on his shoulder.
The emperor was annoyed, it was evident on his face.
Wei Che hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, I will try to avoid such incidents in the future. Besides, I have a tough skin, and it’s more important to focus on your studies.”
In other words, the emperor should still go to Pan Palace, and he would try his best to avoid those people. Even if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t be a big deal to get hit a few times.
Zhao Heng did not speak and walked away.
At night, the dragon bed was draped with floral satin curtains, and Zhao Heng laid in the freshly dried bedding, feeling hot without realizing it.
He dreamt of silky, smooth, tanned skin with amber-like glass eyes that resembled an animal’s gaze. The animal with a cat-like and tiger-like figure pressed toward him, and he jumped up to subdue the beast.
In the morning, Liu Shunzhong came to serve, and Zhao Heng, as if casually mentioning it, said to the little eunuch who was making the bed, “Change the bedding.”
The bedding had been newly changed the day before yesterday, and Liu Shunzhong did not react for a while. He casually asked, “Did Your Majesty not sleep well?”
Zhao Heng was too lazy to answer him, threw the towel and went to have breakfast in the outer room.
Liu Shunzhong noticed that the little eunuch making the bed was gesturing secretly to him. It turned out that there were some of His Majesty’s treasures stuck to the bedding.
Liu Shunzhong suddenly realized that His Majesty had grown up, which was a great joy.
With a smile on his face, Liu Shunzhong went to serve in the outer room.
When Zhao Heng went to Pan Palace again, he was cautious and left halfway through the lesson, claiming to be unwell. He quickly went to the garden to find Wei Che.
Zhao Heng heard a commotion near the pond and, passing through the artificial mountain, saw several servants surrounding Wei Che, beating him fiercely while shouting, “You d*mn thing, how dare you come here? Didn’t we tell you to get lost?”
Zhao Heng shouted, “Wei Che!”
Seeing the master had come, the group of thugs dispersed in panic.
Zhao Heng didn’t bother to go over and turned to run towards Exhorting Virtue Building. Wei Che realized that things were not looking good and didn’t bother holding back his skills. He leaped out and followed Zhao Heng.
Just as the hall was being released, the young masters and scholars were coming out of the building in groups of two or three. Zhao Heng kicked two of them away as soon as he approached. Although he was a thin and weak teenager, everyone felt like a smaller version of the Regent Prince had arrived, with the same kicking posture.
The recent events had left a deep impression on everyone’s mind, and when they were faced with Zhao Heng, they instinctively wanted to escape. It was only after they had taken a few steps that they realized it wasn’t the real Regent Prince but a useless sickly boy.
Several of them regrouped and encircled Zhao Heng.
Li Yi walked out of the building a step slower, and what he saw was this scene:
A young man was surrounded, with no way out, but he didn’t show any fear on his face. He clenched his fists and confronted the group!
In an instant, time and space overlapped, memories that Li Yi had suppressed for years flooded back, like a torrential flood, sweeping over him.
In the early summer of the twenty-seventh year of Guanghua.
The emperor’s grandson Li Yi was granted permission by the Emperor to attend lectures in the Pan Palace in addition to his studies at the Eastern Palace.
The day Li Yi first walked across the Pond, the sky was clear and cloudless, and the golden light shone so brightly in front of the Great Hall that it was almost blinding.
As Li Yi walked, the first person he saw was not Guo Jijiu, nor any of the scholars, but a young man with jet-black hair standing in the scorching sun in front of the hall.
People came and went on the square in front of the hall, but this was no different from a prisoner standing in front of a courthouse for public shaming. Such punishment was not only a loss of face but could also cause severe illness, and those who received it would be immediately expelled from their studies.
Scholars could be killed, but not humiliated.
This was ancient times, and in the Pan Palace near the capital, the students were either from aristocratic families or future pillars of the country, who would dare to treat them so harshly?
Li Yi was surprised and shocked, and as he passed the young man, he couldn’t help but take a closer look. Unexpectedly, the young man who had been standing with his head bowed suddenly looked up, and their eyes met.
Li Yi had never seen such a pair of eyes before. Like mountains and rivers meeting, the young man’s eyebrows were not like distant green peaks, but like a sheer black cliff that made people hesitate to approach. His eyes were not like autumn water with ripples, but like a deep sea before a storm, with waves and tides, thousands of feet beneath the surface.
The young man stared at Li Yi as if he were a flat-bottomed boat beneath a cliff, being tossed up and down by the waves.
The attendant who was following saw that the Prince’s expression was wrong and quickly stepped forward, and sternly scolded the young man, saying, ‘How dare you! You’ve seen His Royal Highness the Crown Grandson, why haven’t you kneeled and paid your respects?'”
Li Yi saw the young man bow his head and was about to kneel down slowly. Suddenly, he had a strong intuition that he couldn’t allow this to happen. If he let him kneel, he would lose something that he couldn’t bear to lose.
In a sudden change of mind, Li Yi rushed forward and said, “No need for formalities!” Then, he quickly walked away, pulling the attendant who had been following him far behind.
It wasn’t until Li Yi’s back disappeared completely in the side hall that Zhao Yuan withdrew his gaze, raised the corners of his mouth, and stood up straight again.
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Thank You for the new chapter (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡