Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 560: Chapter 293 No Territory_4

The Eighth Prince interrupted Yu Hai’s words, glaring at Yu Hai sternly.

Yu Hai was so frightened that he didn’t dare to speak any further.

"Seventh Brother is staying in the capital, doesn’t he also have a fief? Why doesn’t Father give you a fief? Father is too excessive." He couldn’t understand why Father disliked Eighth Brother so much when Eighth Brother hadn’t done anything wrong, let alone anything heinous. Over the years, at least on the surface, Eighth Brother had been very honest and had always done his best to assist the Crown Prince. Even if Father was angry at Eighth Brother’s mother, he shouldn’t always take it out on Eighth Brother. It was too unfair to Eighth Brother.

"Eighth Brother, I’ll ask Father for you tomorrow and ask him why he hasn’t given you a fief."

Seeing Zhao Yao looking so furious, the Eighth Prince quickly said to him, "Tenth Brother, don’t ask Father. If you ask him, you’ll make him angry. Besides, I don’t care about having a fief or not." Whether he had a fief didn’t matter to him.

"But..."

"No buts, listen to your Eighth Brother, don’t interfere with this matter." The Eighth Prince was pleased that Zhao Yao was angry and indignant on his behalf, but he didn’t want to involve his Tenth Brother. "If you anger Father, you’ll be punished by having to copy books."

"Eighth Brother, even if Father punishes me with copying books ten thousand times, I will still stand up for you," Zhao Yao said hesitantly, because the Emperor was quite partial to him as his youngest son.

"I’m really fine, you don’t need to get angry for me." After a long time of soothing, the Eighth Prince finally quelled Zhao Yao’s desire to vent his anger for him.

"Eighth Brother, I just feel upset for you." Eighth Brother thought he wasn’t favored by Father either. If, in the future, Eighth Brother realized that wasn’t the case, he wondered if Eighth Brother would resent him. "Father is unfair to you."

"I don’t care." The Eighth Prince reached out and ruffled Zhao Yao’s hair. "Having you as my little brother is enough." He had long given up hope for Father’s affection. For him, having Tenth Brother’s kinship was enough.

"Eighth Brother, if I have a fief in the future, I’ll give you half of it."

"Alright." The Eighth Prince didn’t want to continue this topic any further, so he changed it to something else. After chatting for a bit, he reminded Zhao Yao that it was getting late and he should go to bed.

Zhao Yao originally planned to stay the night with the Eighth Prince, but feeling guilty, he dared not stay over.

The Eighth Prince coincidentally had matters to attend to, so Zhao Yao not staying over suited him well. He asked Yu Hai to see Zhao Yao out.

"Yu Hai, did the Crown Prince try to secure a fief for Eighth Brother?"

"Yes, but His Majesty still said that a fief for His Highness would be granted later." Yu Hai felt stifled with injustice for the Eighth Prince. "The Crown Prince said that in the future, he will find a good place for a fief for His Highness."

"Luckily, the Crown Prince treats Eighth Brother well."

Zhao Yao said a few more words to Yu Hai, asking him to take good care of the Eighth Prince, and then left.

Back in his own courtyard, Zhao Yao let out a heavy sigh, "Sigh..."

"Your Highness, do you feel guilty towards Eighth Highness?" Tong Xi, being the attentive eunuch, asked Zhao Yao.

"A bit." Zhao Yao, feeling guilty, rubbed his nose. "If Eighth Brother finds out the truth in the future, I’m afraid he’ll hate me."

"That shouldn’t be the case, and after all, Your Highness, it’s not like you were intentionally hiding it from Eighth Highness. After all, you didn’t know either before," Tong Xi said. "Besides, no one can tell, Eighth Highness couldn’t possibly know."

Zhao Yao thought about it and agreed. If it weren’t for that assassination attempt, he wouldn’t have realized that Father cared about him.

"Sigh, Father really... makes it seem like Eighth Brother was just picked up."

"He really does." Tong Xi, curious and puzzled, asked, "Your Highness, what exactly did Eighth Highness’s mother do to make His Majesty so detest her and her son?"

"I asked my mother, and she only knew that back then, Eighth Brother’s mother climbed onto the Dragon Bed when Father was drunk, nothing more."

"Your Highness, if that’s the case, it shouldn’t make His Majesty dislike Eighth Highness and his mother so much, should it?"

"There must be other reasons." Zhao Yao had a suspicion that it might be related to the Southern Wei. Although Eighth Brother’s mother wasn’t a Southern Wei person, there must be some connections with Southern Wei. Otherwise, Father wouldn’t be so angry.

"Your Highness, Eighth Highness, although formidable, is really pitiful." Having neither the love of his father nor mother.

Zhao Yao looked distressed and sighed again, "Sigh..."

Tong Xi said, "Your Highness, if you feel guilty, then be even kinder to Eighth Highness."

"Do you think I should ask Father tomorrow?" Zhao Yao was torn. He had been pretending to be oblivious for years, and if he went and asked Father, would it break the unspoken agreement? In truth, he felt comfortable with how things were with Father now. If he broke that implicit understanding, he wasn’t sure how to face Father; it would be quite awkward.

"Your Highness, Eighth Highness told you not to interfere. I think Eighth Highness must have his own ideas, and it’s better not to interfere. Otherwise, you might inadvertently cause trouble for Eighth Highness."

"You’re right, then I won’t ask tomorrow." He could see that Eighth Brother genuinely didn’t care about having a fief. With Eighth Brother’s means and the support of Southern Wei’s influence, perhaps Eighth Brother already had his own ’fief.’

Speaking of which, what did Eighth Brother let Wuwei do, and succeeded at?

Just then, Xiao Jin flew back in from outside and landed on Zhao Yao’s arm.

Zhao Yao saw a letter tied to Xiao Jin’s foot and hurriedly took it to read.

Seeing Zhao Yao’s face suddenly turn very shocked, Tong Xi quickly asked with concern, "Your Highness, what has happened?"

Zhao Yao, with a solemn expression, said, "Sixth Brother’s second cousin, who is the legitimate second son of the Yuan Family, has died."