The next day, the Crown Prince personally submitted a memorial of explanation, earnestly admitting that he had failed to judge character and been lax in supervising subordinates, which led to scoundrels among the Eastern Palace officials using his name to grab wealth everywhere. Moreover, after he investigated, he discovered that Chen Dezhong had not only accepted silver from Jiangxi Provincial Governor Yang Yunyong, but many officials who came to the capital wanting to curry favor through the Eastern Palace had all given him large sums of silver to grease the wheels.

Emperor Jianzhang’s fury, accumulated over several days, finally completely vented. He summoned his son to the study and harshly threw all the memorials he’d received these past days at his face in one go. He stared at him coldly for a while, then asked in a gloomy tone, “He collected silver under your very nose for so many years, and you didn’t notice anything amiss at all?!”

The Crown Prince hung his head, his face showing obvious panic. He hurriedly shook his head, “No matters ever came before me. That Minister Yang never mentioned anything he needed help with either…”

Emperor Jianzhang turned his head away. Over so many years, the Crown Prince had always been frail and magnanimous, hardly ever causing any trouble—a most reassuring son and heir apparent. But Emperor Jianzhang could no longer trust him as he had before. The Yangzhou corruption case was still vivid in memory. It was from the Yangzhou affair that he first realized with shock that this son wasn’t as open-minded, magnanimous, and uncompetitive as he’d imagined. He had struck deadly blows at both his younger brothers without hesitation, pushing them into the storm’s eye. Prince Gong was even his own younger brother! Speaking of Prince Gong, Emperor Jianzhang felt somewhat uncomfortable again. His youngest son was both cultured and martial, clever and decisive—most like himself among all his sons. But since being enfeoffed, aside from seeing his son once in the first three years, nine years had now passed without a meeting. Although the Crown Prince sent rewards down along with his own gifts during festivals, those things clearly showed a lack of care. He frowned, feeling his son seemed odd and wrong everywhere. Not only did he have no affection for Prince Gong, his own brother, he didn’t even have much affection for his own son…

He thought of his accomplished and obedient grandson, and his heart felt somewhat sour again. In the past, he too had not been as favored before his imperial father as Prince Tai—

The Crown Prince suddenly began coughing. He came back to his senses and looked at his son gasping for breath, feeling somewhat softhearted again—after all, this was his own son. He didn’t have many sons total, and moreover the Crown Prince was his legitimate son. The one who had suffered the most hardship alongside him back then was also this son. These chaotic thoughts surged through his mind. Thinking again of how the Empress had broken down in tears for the first time in so many years at Qingning Hall, and of Princess Rongcheng’s pleading, he felt investigating further would be meaningless—if he investigated thoroughly and the Crown Prince had truly colluded with Yang Yunyong, accepting his silver to help cover up for him and act as his shield, then as Emperor, could he let it pass lightly? But if the Crown Prince was truly deceived by his subordinates, that would hurt the father-son bond.

He waved his hand somewhat wearily, “Your lax supervision led to such an error. Go back and reflect properly. Write a memorial requesting punishment.”

The Crown Prince responded with trepidation and fear, secretly breathing a sigh of relief in his heart—Fu Youde had gambled correctly. What he said was that with a passable reason on the surface, plus the Empress and Princess Rongcheng helping to plead in the inner palace, Emperor Jianzhang still couldn’t strike a fatal blow.

Emperor Jianzhang waved his hand to dismiss the Crown Prince. When the Crown Prince had walked to the doorway, he suddenly called out to stop him. With a complex expression, he looked at him for a long while before saying, “I once said something to you—I wonder if you still remember it.”

The Crown Prince stood with hands lowered, listening respectfully.

Emperor Jianzhang then said, “I once told you that even ten fingers have different lengths. Though I am the father, I cannot guarantee treating all ten fingers equally. But you should know—I want to preserve each and every finger.”

The Crown Prince’s heart went cold. Not knowing what Emperor Jianzhang was really referring to, he could only fearfully agree, “Your son remembers it all.”

Emperor Jianzhang nodded, “Good that you remember. You’ve made many mistakes before—from now on, change them all. Your mother’s unintentional error back then caused you to harbor resentment to this day. Put yourself in others’ shoes and think about Weizhao…”

The Crown Prince felt every hair on his arms stand on end one by one, his entire body going numb. He stood dazed in place looking at Emperor Jianzhang, not knowing where to even begin explaining. He had thought he’d hidden his resentment toward the Empress well over the years, and his coldness toward the Crown Prince’s Consort and Zhou Weizhao all had passable reasons. But now, his father was laying everything bare before him without concealment. He only felt a bone-deep chill. This feeling of not knowing how many of one’s secrets the other party knew was truly too unsettling. He was so nervous that sweat even began forming on his forehead.

Seeing him standing there dazed, Emperor Jianzhang sighed, “Your mother told me everything. About what happened back then—you were still young, being frightened was unavoidable. But your mother was also young then. Your brother had just been born and was an infant in her arms. Naturally her instinct was to hold him in her arms first…”

The Crown Prince felt somewhat bewildered, while simultaneously couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. So all these words were what the Empress had told Emperor Jianzhang. He thought briefly and understood why the Empress had told Emperor Jianzhang these things—she was using a self-harm strategy, hoping to make Emperor Jianzhang softhearted and let him off. But he didn’t feel grateful for the Empress’s protection—besides wanting him to escape safely, the Empress’s words clearly also had the intent of winning sympathy and favor for Zhou Weizhao. His thoughts ran wild, but the expression on his face was placed with utmost sincerity. This was an expression he was accustomed to wearing—putting it on took no effort at all. “Father Emperor’s instruction is right. Mother spoke with me a few days ago… I’ve already thought it through.”

Emperor Jianzhang said nothing. Only after a long while did he nod and wave his hand for him to leave.

Princess Rongcheng felt somewhat uneasy. Only when she heard Xie Siyi come in to say the Crown Prince had already left the Imperial Study did she breathe a sigh of relief and hold Empress Lu’s arm. “This time was truly too dangerous…”

Princess Rongcheng harbored resentment toward the Crown Prince in her heart. His greed was so heavy, yet his abilities couldn’t keep up. He secretly and stealthily accepted people’s silver while deceiving those above and below, causing everyone to suffer implication along with him.

Empress Lu gave a cold laugh, her brows nearly knitting together. If Fu Youde hadn’t sent word in time notifying them that they’d already agreed to push Chen Dezhong out as a scapegoat, they would still be kept in the dark.

Like Fu Youde, she was already thoroughly disappointed in the Crown Prince. As Crown Prince, he was already beneath one person and above ten thousand. His son was currently receiving Emperor Jianzhang’s great favor. His legitimate mother was still living and serving as Empress. As long as he made no mistakes, that alone would already be a tremendous blessing. But he just couldn’t be content—he just had to reach out everywhere.