Chapter 107
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Xie Duo’s gaze shifted from his handkerchief to Xie An’s handkerchief. He intended to swiftly grab Xie An’s handkerchief once the little child prodigy was done with it.
Well, the colors were all the same.
Unexpectedly, the little child prodigy wiped his nose and tears and then stuffed both pieces of cloth into his pocket without any intention of returning them.
Han Jiao had dirtied the handkerchiefs, so how could he return them to the princes? They might take them or not, so he decided to take them back, wash them, and then return them.
From the adjacent room, the laughter of Prince Yan and his brother occasionally drifted in.
It was truly the most delightful laughter in the world. Han Jiao was thrilled beyond words.
That day, Xie Duo left Prince Yan’s residence and told Han Jiao about Prince Yan’s miserable situation.
Instead of being concerned about Prince Yan’s predicament, Han Jiao was more worried about the resentful words Prince Yan had spoken to the big boss.
This didn’t sound right. If the big boss didn’t turn dark, could Prince Yan have turned dark instead?
Anxious, Han Jiao decided to play his trump card: reconciling Prince Yan with Old Seventh.
The original plan was to let Prince Yan interact with the recovering Xie Xiu first, to better understand the difference between his condition and normalcy. Then, Han Jiao would step in to personally explain the reasons behind Old Seventh’s previous unusual behavior, which would be more convincing.
Little did he expect that Prince Yan would be so easily swayed.
Han Jiao hadn’t appeared to explain things yet. On the other side, when Seventh Brother called Sixth Brother, Prince Yan’s mood went haywire. He didn’t really care about the drastic changes in Seventh Brother’s behavior.
However, explanations were still necessary. After the brothers next door chatted for a while, Han Jiao, along with the princes, sought an audience. He solemnly clarified the detailed process and symptoms of Xie Xiu’s illness, including the treatment, to Prince Yan.
Nevertheless, Prince Yan couldn’t fully grasp what PTSD was, or even accept the reasons behind Xie Xiu’s previous abnormal behavior.
He stared at Old Seventh with a bewildered expression. “Are you afraid of me? Is it because of fear that you shouted loudly?”
Xie Xiu looked completely perplexed.
Han Jiao hastily explained, “It’s not that he’s scared of you. It’s just that when he sees you or thinks of you, it brings him back to the hallucinations of the day something bad happened.”
In reality, it was painful memories and feelings locked within his nerves. Once triggered, they caused extreme fear and physical reactions that couldn’t be controlled. But these principles couldn’t be explained clearly to Prince Yan.
Prince Yan couldn’t understand, and he questioned Old Seventh with some annoyance, “Are you really that scared of me? You brat, do you have no conscience? Who was the one always protecting you when we were kids? You shouldn’t be afraid of anyone, especially not me!”
“…I’m not scared of you,” Xie Xiu explained with difficulty, “I’m afraid of you… disliking me. I’m afraid of Mother Zhen… becoming Mother Empress. I… I’ve lost everything… I… I’m scared…”
“Shut up!” Prince Yan noticed something was off with Old Seventh and hastily interrupted him, grabbing his brother’s shoulder tightly. “You little white-eyed wolf, always having wild thoughts! Being scared all these years is enough. You’re not allowed to be scared anymore in the future, you understand?”
Xie Xiu turned to look at Sixth Brother and, with great effort, said, “Sixth Brother, I’ve missed you so much.”
Prince Yan’s eyes welled up with tears, hugging his brother tightly with their foreheads touching. “I know, I know.”
Xie Xiu was very happy, but with his brother holding him so tightly, he couldn’t move. He looked excitedly around the crowd and immediately reached out to beckon Ninth Brother over.
Xie Duo, with a bewildered expression, obediently walked over to his two brothers. He thought his brothers would cry together with their heads held in sorrow, but to his surprise, Xie Xiu excitedly brought him to Sixth Brother and showed off, “A’Duo has grown so big. He used to love fighting with people, but I taught him well.”
Xie Duo, the “troublemaker” raised by Old Seventh: “……”
Prince Yan, with tears in his eyes, nodded at Xie Xiu. “You’ve been through a lot.”
Xie Duo: “……”
After being showed off and getting abandoned by Seventh Brother, Xie Duo quietly returned to stand aside, not disturbing the two brothers as they reminisced.
As the day grew dark, the two brothers hadn’t had enough time to talk. Prince Yan directly invited Old Seventh to stay at his royal mansion for a few days, and Xie Xiu agreed without hesitation.
Han Jiao quickly intervened, reminding them not to alert others temporarily, so as not to let Senior Minister Li find out.
He was very worried that if Senior Minister Li saw things had reached this point, he might unleash some major move.
It would be best if the two brothers secretly resolved their past grievances. In front of others, they should maintain a facade of being at odds, letting the supporters of Prince Duan and Prince Yan fight each other. This way, it would also satisfy the Emperor’s demands. Once the forces on both sides were exhausted, the Emperor could confidently appoint Xie Duo as the Crown Prince, as long as there was no animosity among the three brothers, preventing fratricide.
Xie Xiu was puzzled by Han Jiao’s concern. “Why not let Senior Minister know?”
Prince Yan was even more baffled by his younger brother’s question. “Didn’t Senior Minister Li forbid you from getting close to me?”
Xie Xiu firmly shook his head.
Prince Yan had always been unable to understand how Senior Minister Li convinced Old Seventh to willingly be his puppet. Now that the two were reconciling, he decided to ask directly.
Xie Xiu didn’t hide anything and explained all of Senior Minister Li’s teachings to Prince Yan.
All along, Senior Minister Li had told Xie Xiu that Senior Minister Xu’s political strategies and his followers had caused severe harm to the court and the people. He had even deceived and manipulated Prince Yan.
Senior Minister Li had concrete evidence for these matters. It wasn’t merely baseless accusations.
Senior Minister Li hoped that Prince Duan would become a wise ruler, envisioning a time of peace and prosperity with both of them working together.
Xie Xiu had no ambitions for becoming Emperor, but he felt that only by ascending to the throne could Senior Minister Li realize his goals. This made him seem like a puppet in the eyes of others.
The words attacking Prince Yan’s faction were naturally harsh when heard by him. He immediately exposed the true nature of that old fox in front of Old Seventh, revealing the shameful practices of bribery, corruption, and idleness within Prince Duan’s faction.
“Especially the northwest border,” Prince Yan remembered with anger, “The border commanders are all his people, obediently following his secret orders to stand idle rather than fight. This has troubled the people on the border for decades. Is this the peace and prosperity that Senior Minister Li desires?”
Xie Xiu looked at Sixth Brother and firmly replied, “Senior Minister said that we can’t engage in battles in the northwest.”
“You believe that too?” Prince Yan asked urgently. “The Wokou pirates are ruthless, even more than the Tatars. It was our Great Chu soldiers who drove them back to their nests, wasn’t it?”
Xie Xiu wasn’t one to argue. He gazed at Sixth Brother with a somewhat foolish expression, choosing not to speak further.
This matter reminded Han Jiao of something he had been pondering for a long time. He wondered why Senior Minister Li insisted on having the northwest soldiers avoid battles.
Enduring endless harassment from the barbarians was truly baffling.
Han Jiao turned to the big boss and gently asked, “Your Highness, do you think Senior Minister Li’s actions have some hidden purpose?”
Prince Yan immediately retorted, “What hidden purpose could there be? It’s just the old ‘let the enemy thrive and get strong’ tactic!”
“Not necessarily,” Xie Duo calmly responded. “The situations in the northwest and the southeast are different, so the responses should naturally differ.”
Prince Yan furrowed his brow. “How are they different?”
Xie Duo raised his eyes and looked at Sixth Brother with composure. “The Wokou pirates across the sea in the southeast have to go through great trouble to raid us. Once we defeat them and make it unprofitable for them, the harassment naturally decreases. The northwest is a different story. Not only their land borders ours with no natural barriers, there are also the other ethnic tribes. If we were to engage in war, it would be endless. Spending a huge military expenditure to suppress the Tatars might give rise to the Khitans or the Jurchen tribes. Continuing like this would only drain our resources.”
Han Jiao’s eyes brightened. “Makes sense! Throughout history, it seems there’s no way to achieve victory against all those tribes in one go.”
Xie Duo tilted his head and flashed a smile at him.
Han Jiao’s heart suddenly raced.
The big boss had once again become handsome!
Prince Yan frowned. “So, do we just allow ourselves to be bullied and continue draining the military budget in the northwest?”
Seeing the adoring look from the little child prodigy, Xie Duo was in a good mood. He turned to Sixth Brother and patiently explained, “I suspect that Senior Minister Li is waiting for a natural connection to form between the border people and the foreign tribes, preparing for border trade.”
Everyone was puzzled, except for Han Jiao, who grasped it right away.
That’s right! Those foreign tribes have long been raiding the border people mainly for plunder.
In historical dynasties that opened up to foreign trade, such conflicts of plundering became much less common.
Even though the foreign tribes were impoverished and backward, they didn’t want to live a life of constant bloodshed. The reason they risked their lives harassing the Great Chu’s border was because of a national policy set by the ancestors of Great Chu, which called for isolationism to maintain border peace but had the opposite effect.
“Border trade?” Prince Yan furrowed his brow. “Wouldn’t that be inviting trouble into our home?”
Xie Duo: “With ample border preparations, the Tatars won’t be able to provoke a war on their own. They lack the power and ambition for that. If we quietly allow secure trade connections to form at the border, and as long as this doesn’t lead to disturbances over time, Senior Minister Li can then propose abolishing this ancestral policy and opening up border trade. This would gain support from the people and officials. Once trade connections are established, with Great Chu’s strength, we can quickly make the various northern tribes depend on our supplies. In this scenario, we can more easily incite injustice among these tribes, leading to conflicts between them, which is better than personally sending troops to drain our resources.”
Everyone silently contemplated.
Han Jiao, however, had already fully understood and sneakily glanced at Xie Duo.
Xie An was the first to ask in a low voice, “What does this mean?”
Xie Jing: “You don’t need to worry about it.”
Prince Yan took a deep breath and said to Xie Xiu, “I’d like to have a private conversation with Senior Minister Li. Please relay this message to him.”
Xie Xiu happily nodded in agreement.
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