It wasn’t just Old Madam Song who had fire in her heart. The Crown Prince also emerged from a trip to Qingning Palace harboring immense anger—for no other reason than that his own mother, the Empress, actually wanted him to quietly dispose of Lady Fan, saying that keeping Lady Fan around would be a disaster.
In all these years of favoring Lady Fan, he had never heard his mother speak of this matter so decisively. Now that he suddenly heard it, with just a little thought, he knew it must have been the Crown Princess who had said something to the Empress.
Although he was also angry with Lady Fan, finding her presumptuous actions detestable, to kill her was difficult to accomplish—of course not because the Fan family would stop helping him if he killed her. Since ancient times, no great family truly believed that marrying off a daughter secured their position. The Fan family should have this awareness: if this daughter didn’t work out, at worst they could send another—even if she wasn’t suitable for him, there was still Zhou Weiqi.
The Crown Prince didn’t want to kill Lady Fan. First, before the assassination attempt on Zhou Weizhao and the torment of young Lady Fan, Fan Liangdi had never done anything wrong. Second, she was after all Zhou Weiqi’s mother, and she could restrain Han Zhengqing.
The celebration banquet at Qingyuan Hall was held with great fanfare. Civil and military officials filled the hall, all praising empty words about His Majesty’s wisdom and the Grand Prince’s youthful capability. He found it somewhat vexing to listen to. Having barely managed to get through it, in the evening he was summoned again by his mother.
The Empress truly felt uneasy about the Crown Prince. Though she noticed his expression was off, she still earnestly advised him: “She’s merely a woman. Now she already dares to wildly fantasize about killing the legitimate son to preserve her son’s position. Who knows what other earth-shattering things she might do in the future? You must understand that Weizhao is ultimately your legitimate son!”
The Empress truly felt exhausted. When speaking with her eldest son, she always had to carefully accommodate his emotions. But even so, the words she spoke never pleased him, so she had to be even more careful in her considerations. Back and forth, she no longer knew how to speak with the Crown Prince. If she hadn’t heard the Crown Princess’s words this time and felt that the matter had truly become serious to an uncontrollable degree, she wouldn’t have spoken so severely—she knew the Crown Prince always disliked when she spoke to him this way.
But things had come to this point. She felt her son had already obsessively walked onto a tightrope, where the slightest inattention would shatter him to pieces. She looked at the Crown Prince, her gaze burning as she stared at him. “Don’t blame me for speaking harshly. If you continue to listen to biased counsel like this, you’ll have your regrets in the future. Since ancient times, legitimate and illegitimate children have been distinct. Back when Weizhao was still young and at Longhu Mountain, favoring Dongping somewhat more could still be explained. But now Weizhao has returned. He is the Grand Prince and you are the Crown Prince. Your every move is watched and studied by countless people. Think carefully—isn’t it you who has indulged Lady Fan’s appetite to grow larger and larger? Have you ever thought that you already have few offspring? Altogether you only have two sons. If things truly went as that ignorant, foolish woman Lady Fan wished and something happened to Weizhao, in the future you would only have Dongping left at your knee. What if something happened to Dongping as well?! Who would you rely on?!”
These words startled the already somewhat impatient Crown Prince back to his senses—the Empress was right. He already had few children at his knee. If something happened to his legitimate son leaving only his illegitimate son, and in the future something happened to his illegitimate son, then even if he successfully ascended to the throne, given his health, he might not be able to father another son. Even if he truly did father a son, would his brothers be easy to deal with?
Seeing him hang his head, the Empress sighed and softened her tone. “I know people’s hearts inevitably have their preferences, but you must think—the Crown Princess hasn’t done anything improper, and Weizhao is also your biological son. Why Weizhao went to Longhu Mountain back then—people don’t speak of it, but don’t you know it in your heart? Never mind that you’re the heir apparent of a nation, even in an ordinary household, there’s no one who raises sons with such favoritism, causing sons to turn against each other. You’re harming them and harming yourself!”
The Crown Prince wasn’t ignorant of these principles, but he truly couldn’t claim to have any affection for his legitimate son. He felt awkward even seeing his legitimate son. He had to adjust his facial expression for quite a while before asking Zhou Weizhao to sit, questioning him about the assassination on the road, then saying: “Your Imperial Grandfather is very worried about you.”
Zhou Weizhao also didn’t quite understand how to interact with his father. Sitting opposite him, he respectfully nodded.
The Crown Prince felt even more unable to grow close to this son. But whether they were close or not was one thing—right now the important matter wasn’t this. He looked at Zhou Weizhao, deliberated for a long while, then sighed. “In this matter, you’ve been wronged.”
Zhou Weizhao had entered the palace in the morning to report his mission, then spoke with Emperor Jianzhang for the entire morning. After receiving the midday feast before returning, he had come to find the Crown Prince in the afternoon and told him about the Huangjue Temple incident. “A monk confessed that he was acting on Lady Fan’s instructions. I’ve already executed him, and Commander Lai never learned of it.”
Only then did the Crown Prince’s anxious heart return to his belly. In the next moment, he felt his eldest son was remarkably calm in a rather peculiar way. It wasn’t until after the evening banquet and coming out of Qingning Palace that he felt this calmness was truly spine-chilling. Only now did he think to first offer words of comfort to this son.
Zhou Weizhao shook his head, raised his head to look at his father, thought for a moment, then said: “If the news got out, Uncle Prince Gong and Uncle Prince Su would inevitably incite the court officials and censors, saying that discord in the Eastern Palace and brothers killing each other is not a good omen. Moreover, your son also dare not determine whether what that monk said was true or false. What if he was deliberately trying to sow discord in the Eastern Palace? If I rashly handed him over to Commander Lai, I fear it would be another upheaval. Father’s health is poor—you truly shouldn’t be troubled by these matters.”
These words were said with perfect logic and reason. The Crown Prince felt slightly better in his heart, and the clouds of gloom between his brows dissipated somewhat. He nodded and said: “Your considerations are quite sound.”
Since Zhou Weizhao had already voluntarily mentioned the information the Crown Prince wanted to probe about, he felt there wasn’t much else to say with his son. After saying a few more dry sentences, he sent him away. “The journey was arduous, and you were troubled all evening tonight. Go see your mother and rest early.”
After Zhou Weizhao respectfully took his leave and departed, Fu Youde emerged from the side room and looked at the Crown Prince without mincing words. “Don’t blame this subject for speaking directly, Your Highness. If you would only treat the Grand Prince better, we subjects would have no other requests.”
These were truly his heartfelt words. The Grand Prince truly was no creature meant for a small pond. If he were the Crown Prince and had such a son whom the Emperor valued, who was furthermore legitimate-born, orthodox, and possessed of exceptional intelligence, he would rejoice no matter what. If only the Crown Prince could think it through.