Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 591: Chapter 302 He Can’t Meet the Fourth_2

"Your Highness, aren’t you afraid of being with Mr. Meng? Are you sure you want to travel all the way with Mr. Meng to find Prince Chu?"

Zhao Yao, upon hearing Tong Xi ask this, imagined a scene in his mind and got scared. He immediately deflated like a wilted eggplant, downcast, and said, "I can’t travel with Mr. Meng."

"Your Highness, the eldest and second sons of the Yuan family are dead. Now the atmosphere in the capital is so peculiar, I believe the emperor will definitely not allow you to go to Liangzhou," Tong Xi said, "I also think that Liangzhou might not be safe."

"Sigh..." What Tong Xi said made a lot of sense, so Zhao Yao felt very melancholic.

"Your Highness, you’d better stay honestly in the capital." Although the atmosphere in the capital isn’t great, staying there is safer than traveling far. If anything were to happen to the prince on the way to Liangzhou, he wouldn’t be able to bear the blame.

Zhao Yao puffed up his cheeks and said, "I don’t want to stay in the capital, I want to go play in Liangzhou." He had never been outside the capital all these years, even though Great Zhou was so vast, he had always been confined to the capital.

"You should just give up on that idea."

"No way, I’ll go ask for permission, otherwise, I won’t give it up," said Zhao Yao. With that, he stormed off toward the Imperial Study. Tong Xi, seeing this, quickly followed. "Your Highness, wait for me."

The emperor had been waiting for Zhao Yao to come to him ever since he received a letter from Prince Chu. As expected, his youngest son came to see him.

Zhao Yao entered the Imperial Study and first properly saluted the emperor: "Your son greets Father Emperor..."

But before he could finish speaking, the emperor interrupted him. He then heard the emperor say, "Don’t even think about it."

Uh... he hadn’t even spoken yet.

"Father Emperor, what did you say?" He had to pretend not to understand.

With a kindly face, the emperor said to Zhao Yao, "I will not agree for you to go to Liangzhou."

Zhao Yao: "..."

"The fourth prince wrote to me, hoping I would agree for you to go to Liangzhou," the emperor said with a smile, "I don’t agree, so don’t even think about it."

Although he had long known that the emperor would say this, hearing it with his own ears still made him angry.

"Why can’t I go?"

"No reason," the emperor said deliberately to provoke Zhao Yao, "You just can’t go."

"Father Emperor, why are you so annoying?" Zhao Yao puffed up his cheeks like a pufferfish, glaring fiercely at the emperor.

"And don’t think about secretly sneaking away to Liangzhou," the emperor perfectly guessed Zhao Yao’s little plan and, feigning a fierce demeanor, warned him sternly, "If you dare sneak to Liangzhou, the consequences are beyond what you can bear."

Frightened, Zhao Yao gulped a mouthful of water, but he still stubbornly said, "Father Emperor, I’m already eleven, half an adult. Why can’t I go out? You went to the battlefield with Grandfather Emperor when you were eleven."

"Can you be compared to me?" The emperor looked Zhao Yao up and down, with a tone of disdain, "When I was eleven, I was half a head taller and much sturdier than you. Before I went to the battlefield, I led a gang to fight bandits. Can you do that?"

"How do you know I can’t?" Zhao Yao retorted, "Let me try, and I’ll prove it to you."

"Trying to provoke your old man, huh?" The emperor saw through Zhao Yao’s little trick at a glance, "You’re still too green."

Seeing through his plan, Zhao Yao wasn’t embarrassed or awkward. He continued, "You haven’t even let me try, how do you know I can’t? If you have the guts, test me."

The emperor, being quite cold-hearted, said, "No test, I don’t have time to deal with you. Go cool off somewhere else, stop bothering me."

Fuming, Zhao Yao ran in front of the emperor, angrily grabbed the memorial the emperor was holding, and slammed it hard on the imperial desk.

With a thud, the sound startled Sun Kui, who was standing off to the side.

The emperor pulled Zhao Yao into his embrace, letting him lie on his lap, then raised his hand to spank his youngest son’s behind a few times.

Zhao Yao was no match for the emperor; no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free, and ended up getting spanked a few times on the bottom.

"Naughty Father Emperor, let me go... it tickles... hahaha..."

The emperor tickled Zhao Yao’s underarms, making him laugh while pleading for mercy.

"Father Emperor, I’m wrong, please spare me." Zhao Yao wasn’t afraid of being spanked, but he was afraid of being tickled.

Only then did the emperor stop and let him go.

Zhao Yao, lying on the emperor’s lap, angrily opened his mouth and bit down hard on his thigh.

The emperor sucked in a breath from the pain, "Hiss, brat!" The emperor pinched Zhao Yao’s mouth, "Are you a dog?"