Three people with a combined age of nearly a hundred still getting beaten—what a spectacle. Li Chengqian was beaten by his father so badly he couldn’t get out of bed. Li Tai received the fewest beatings. As for Yun Ye, Li Er hadn’t beaten him too severely, but Zhangsun’s whipping left his legs covered in bruises.

A cowhide whip wielded by Zhangsun, a woman who had practiced martial arts—each strike left a welt. Yun Ye had examined them carefully. His legs had a total of eight such welts, the whip’s pattern clearly visible. This woman ultimately still favored her own sons. Li Chengqian, as the chief culprit, only had six welts on his legs and body. Li Tai had the fewest—just three. He was truly most beloved by Zhangsun.

This period was both heartbreaking and physically damaging. They couldn’t even sleep well at night. The Imperial Clan Court’s prison was close to Qujiang. Every night, mosquitoes would attack in overwhelming swarms. Without their mosquito-repelling beads from home, they woke up in the morning covered in huge welts.

Now their only entertainment was beating up the jailers. They had nothing they wanted—couldn’t even get a bite of spring cake. Food from outside wasn’t allowed to be sent in either. With assassins having appeared in the palace, there were fears the three in prison might accidentally be poisoned to death by someone with ulterior motives.

Damn it! The ones with ulterior motives were locked in the prison. Who would want to finish off the three of them? If these three were truly poisoned to death in prison, Li Er would probably set Chang’an City ablaze to watch the fireworks.

With nothing to do, the three could only play with resurrection fern. Zhangsun had only taken away the one that had unfurled its leaves. The rest were left in the prison. Now three resurrection ferns, green and lush, covered the teacups—looking quite nice.

“How can Nine Deaths Resurrection Grass only treat women’s blocked menstruation? Can’t it actually resurrect the dead or something? That would make it valuable.” Li Tai carefully placed the three resurrection ferns in a sunny spot, muttering his question to Yun Ye.

“The person who discovered this medicinal herb was probably even more depressed than you. Seeing such a miraculous thing only able to do this little—who knows how vexed they were.” Yun Ye carefully broke apart the leftover steamed buns that had been sent in and placed them in the sunlight to dry. Food must not be wasted.

They’d been locked up for three days already. Only Zhangsun had come once. Apart from jailers and imperial physicians, they’d seen no one else. The wolf-eats-baby chess game drawn on the ground was now ignored—Yun Ye had already beaten these two brothers eight times, so everyone had lost interest in playing.

The bruises on Yun Ye and Li Tai’s bodies had faded considerably. Only Li Chengqian still needed to continue drinking medicine, so the cell was always filled with a strong medicinal smell.

Li Chengqian pillowed his hands behind his head, a stalk of straw in his mouth, and said to Yun Ye and Li Tai: “Actually, I think being in prison is pretty good. These three days I’ve slept so comfortably I don’t even want to leave. I feel like I’ve returned to over ten years ago—you know? Ye Zi! When I came back from Longyou, I got into a group fight with you. Not only was I put in confinement at the military camp, but when I returned to the palace I got beaten again. I was young then and always felt wronged. Now thinking back, I realize—it was all blessing!”

“These years my father emperor hasn’t beaten me, but the affection between father and son seems to have thinned. Have you felt this way? Punishment with words is actually much heavier than physical punishment.”

Li Chengqian spoke of the past with deep sighs, but Yun Ye and Li Tai had completely different views on this.

“Your perversion of enjoying beatings is your business. I’m in my thirties and still have to accompany you in getting beaten—you don’t even feel sorry for me. Qing Que is also thirty this year. Our mother beat him with a whip until he cried—this is all karma you created.”

“And those two hundred-plus corpses lying before Wanmin Palace—how do you explain to their families? Even if they’re death-sworn warriors, aren’t you keeping too many? The Yun family has four death-sworn warriors—me and my wife. The death-sworn warriors in Qing Que’s household are probably just his foolish guard captain. Hypatia probably won’t die with you.”

Li Chengqian shook his head: “Those death-sworn warriors—I haven’t wronged them. They willingly exchanged their lives for their descendants’ futures. The promises made to them have been fulfilled, so I owe them nothing. Delaying the order actually made them uneasy. They’d long viewed themselves as dead men. Living was just a burden.”

“What were you doing when Master taught imperial statecraft? How can you still ask such pointless questions?”

“I was busy watching your sister and Lingdang plant flowers. Who knew what Yu Shinan was lecturing about? I generally only use those three words—precise, accurate, ruthless—at the dinner table. My hands would tremble killing even one of my family’s dogs, so I can’t stand your disregard for human life. Of course, if it were Japanese or some other people dying, I wouldn’t feel this way.”

Just as the three lazily spoke meaningless words to pass the time, they heard a group of people enter the prison. This was rare—when had the Imperial Clan Court’s prison become a marketplace where anyone could enter?

Not only were Yun Ye and Li Tai curious, even Li Chengqian, lying on the bed, climbed up and gripped the bars to look outside. Seeing the first person walking in front, Yun Ye laughed. This fellow should have returned from Shu today—how did he end up in prison as soon as he arrived?

Not only Cheng Chumo entered the prison, but Zhangsun Chong came with one eye bruised black, cursing Cheng Chumo as he walked. Seeing the three brothers clinging to the bars, he immediately assumed a righteous and stern expression. Li Huairen was carried in with bloodstains at the corner of his mouth not yet cleaned—probably intentional, to make these three grateful.

With a “clang,” the three were pushed into the cell opposite. Li Huairen, limping on one leg, turned to sit up and cupped his hands toward the three speechless people opposite, appearing extremely bold.

“Do you recognize those three idiots across from us?” Li Tai looked at the three grinning fellows opposite and asked Yun Ye.

“Don’t know them!” Yun Ye answered very decisively. He knew these three had come in to gather information. After he, the Crown Prince, and Prince Wei entered the palace and disappeared, the outside had probably turned upside down. Having learned some information from the palace, the three had decisively committed minor offenses to come in and ask questions.

Li Chengqian gripped the bars with tears streaming down his face. Of the three, only he most needed comfort. Seeing his close friends dare such risks to visit him, the emotions pent up these days burst forth all at once, impossible to suppress.

Seeing him weep, the three opposite also felt uncomfortable. But Zhangsun Chong had come with a mission. He quickly asked: “What exactly happened? My father only said you were detained by His Majesty and your days probably weren’t easy. Why does this prison reek of medicinal decoctions? Could someone in this broken prison dare torture you?”

“Yes, twice!” Yun Ye answered irritably. After speaking, he lifted his and Li Tai’s robes to show them their bruise-covered bare legs.

Zhangsun Chong’s expression immediately became grave. Being tortured meant the situation was serious. They needed to reconsider this matter, because Father had said beforehand this matter couldn’t be that serious—the Emperor had no plans to replace the Crown Prince.

“We were beaten by my father emperor and mother empress, not tortured. At most it counts as family discipline.” Li Chengqian knew the stakes and quickly explained to those three.

Hearing Li Chengqian say this, Zhangsun Chong exhaled a long breath and said to Yun Ye: “Don’t scare me in the future. I thought you three had truly fallen deep into this matter. Chengqian’s position as Crown Prince cannot be lost. If we brothers want good days ahead, he must be emperor. Saying it this way is correct—His Majesty was just angry. Getting beaten is getting beaten. Which of us wasn’t kicked and kicked into adulthood by him from childhood? Over two hundred assassins—you know? My father said when he saw the courtyard full of corpses, he nearly fainted. Those capable of getting so many assassins into the palace number no more than three. From the moment he saw the corpses, my father knew it was Chengqian’s doing.”

Cheng Chumo ignored these matters and gripped the bars to ask Yun Ye: “Ye Zi, is that monk really that miraculous? Can revive withered grass and resurrect dead fish? I looked specifically—the grass he revived had truly been dry and completely dead. Those fish were left on the grass for a full two days. In such weather, not stinking would be a miracle. But that old monk chanted some scripture, put the grass in his bosom with most of it exposed, and within three hours it turned green. Within two days it formed buds. It’s probably flowering now. Those fish also swim lively and energetically in the glass tank, living vibrantly.”

The three opposite nodded in unison, confirming what Cheng Chumo said was indeed true.

“Chengqian saw this scene, which is why he resolved to eliminate that barbarian monk. That’s how this disaster came about. However, I also have that kind of resurrection ability. Look at those three plants—they’re dried medicinal herbs that the Empress ordered brought from the medicine shop. Look, aren’t they living quite vigorously now? So in the future, if someone chops off your heads, no problem—just find me to sew your heads back onto your necks with a needle, water you a bit, and you can live.”

“Really?” The three men’s eyes widened like copper bells, all staring at those three plants on the ground.

“Fake! That grass is called Nine Deaths Resurrection Grass. Even dried, it lives when it meets water. I was deceived so badly by that demon monk that I did such a foolish thing.”

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly and handed the three plants to the three opposite for inspection. Seeing the three treasure the plants like precious items, Yun Ye said helplessly: “Medicine shops have plenty of those things. One silver coin can buy many. If you like playing with them, buy some complete ones yourself. I just can’t understand—others might not know, but wouldn’t medicine shop owners know this thing exists? The demon monk shaved himself a bald head, put on monk’s robes, chanted some scripture, and could deceive everyone to this extent. Truly absurd.”

Zhangsun Chong looked at the resurrection grass in his hands and said easily: “So Chengqian’s behavior has a reasonable explanation, right? To prevent Father Emperor from being deceived and disgraced, he boldly tried to kill the demon monk. This is filial piety!”

“Correct. As long as you’re shameless enough, saying it this way definitely works. I imagine your father is already spreading it this way outside?” Yun Ye really wanted to know to what extent Zhangsun Wuji could be shameless.

“No, my father released word, but didn’t say it that way. My father said you three coveted His Majesty’s newly selected palace women. For an absolutely beautiful woman, each of you brought a group of people to brawl in the palace…”