Chapter 607: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 607: Rewards (1)
Chu Heng's mocking expression only deepened Emperor Huian's anger, yet he found himself at a loss for words to refute. As his sons grew older, he was well aware that their facade of brotherly harmony was just that—a facade. He, too, had risen from the ranks of an ordinary prince, neither firstborn nor of noble birth, to the position of crown prince, and ultimately eliminated those brothers who sought to usurp him, finally ascending to the throne.
From prince to crown prince to emperor, every step had been a blood-soaked ladder, a difficult journey that seemed an inevitable fate for each generation of rulers.
Over two decades had passed, and now it was his sons' turn. However, he was first and foremost the emperor of a nation, and only secondly a father. As the ruler of Da Chu, he had to not only care for the empire but also wield an iron fist to deter any who might threaten it. As long as their actions weren't too extreme, he would turn a blind eye, seeing it as a test of their mettle.
He often comforted himself with this reasoning, but when he saw several of his sons gravely injured and lying on the brink of death before him, he was frightened and furious. He was desperate to find and severely punish the culprit, to teach him the meaning of benevolence and brotherly love.
But the culprit was none other than the child he had with the woman he loved, a child into whom he had poured all his paternal affection. Even though this child was declared unlikely to live past twenty-five at birth, he had insisted on making him the crown prince, against all opposition.
Aside from his frail health, Emperor Huian had no complaints about Chu Heng. From a young age, Chu Heng had demonstrated the skills expected of a ruler. Emperor Huian had always believed that Chu Heng was different from his other sons and princes; he was a capable crown prince and a loving older brother. He never imagined that today, nearly half of his sons had nearly died at the hands of the son he took pride in.
Emperor Huian closed his eyes in exhaustion, hiding the pain in them, and looked at his unrepentant son with a stern voice: "Even if they covet your position as crown prince, if you wanted to teach them a lesson, I would have no objections. But why must you push them to the brink of death? They have never tried to kill you!"
Hearing this, Chu Heng's mocking smile faded, leaving only a cold expression. But in his eyes, there was a deep-seated hatred: "Because Consort Lin caused my mother's death, and those other women were either accomplices or stood by and did nothing! A mother's debt should be repaid by her child—this is only just! They owe my mother and me, so their sons must pay the price!"
Seeing the shock and disbelief on Emperor Huian's face, Chu Heng guessed what he was thinking and smiled mockingly again: "I should thank you, Father, for giving me a team of secret guards. Without them, I might never have known who truly murdered my mother."
From the moment he was born, he had been burdened with a frail body. As a child, he overheard palace servants gossiping that his life would last no longer than twenty-five years. No one knew that each time he was tortured by illness, he harbored a deep resentment toward his birth mother, the late Empress Chunyi.
It wasn't until later that he learned how his mother, poisoned and too weak to give birth, had ordered her own abdomen cut open to bring him into the world.
He couldn't imagine the pain his mother endured to give birth to him, and at that moment, he realized how absurd and unfilial his previous resentment had been. From then on, he no longer wallowed in self-pity and tried to live as normally as possible, not for himself, but because a woman had wanted him to live. Only by living did he have a chance for a healthy life; in death, everything would be lost.
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