Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 594: Chapter 303: Paving the Way for Prince Chu

On the day Mr. Meng left the capital, the Emperor led the civil and military officials to escort him out of the city gate. The Emperor bid farewell to Mr. Meng as a student, expressing his gratitude multiple times.

Before departing, Mr. Meng solemnly saluted the Emperor and presented him with a poem, which praised the Emperor as a wise ruler.

The scene of the Emperor bidding farewell to Mr. Meng was captured by many artists and passed down through generations, becoming a well-known tale. Of course, that’s another story.

As Mr. Meng departed, the scholars of the capital followed him. They intended to go to Liangzhou to continue learning from Mr. Meng.

During this time, the capital became very lively due to Mr. Meng’s lectures. Now, with Mr. Meng’s departure, the city suddenly felt very quiet, which made the citizens of the capital somewhat unaccustomed. These days, they had grown used to seeing scholars on the streets.

However, Mr. Meng’s departure did not affect the ministers at court. In fact, it could be said that they were indifferent to Mr. Meng’s departure.

Of course, regarding Mr. Meng coming to lecture in the capital, the ministers still had to make a show of expressing their gratitude. Many ministers went out of their way to write poems or articles praising Mr. Meng’s selfless teaching.

The Emperor was too busy to write, so he read the poems and articles written by the ministers. Those written well were not only praised by him but also rewarded with gifts.

Zhao Yao sighed, noting that when it came to putting up appearances, his father was the most adept. Mr. Meng’s departure did have some impact on him because he could no longer witness the lively events.

During Mr. Meng’s lectures, many interesting things happened in the capital, and Zhao Yao would even go out of his way to watch the excitement. Among the events, none was more entertaining than those involving the Crown Prince. Now that Mr. Meng was gone, Zhao Yao felt that his daily life had lost some of its joy.

Zhao Yao also noticed something: after Mr. Meng’s departure, the atmosphere in the capital became more subtle. When the bodies of Yuan Family’s two legitimate sons were sent back to the capital, the atmosphere suddenly became very calm.

"Your Highness, it’s getting late, you should rest," Tong Xi reminded Zhao Yao, noticing the late hour, "You have to go with the Eighth Prince to the Marquis Jingyang’s Mansion for the memorial service early tomorrow morning, so you should sleep soon."

Although the Yuan Family secretly colluded with the Xiongnu, on the surface, the Yuan Family was still the Marquis Jingyang’s Mansion and remained one of the founding contributors. With the Yuan Family losing two legitimate sons, it was both emotionally and logically obligatory for the Royal Family to send someone to the funeral.

The Emperor could not attend the funeral, so he sent the Crown Prince. Naturally, the other Princes also had to go.

Zhao Yao did not stop his actions, "Let me finish writing this."

"Your Highness, you can continue writing tomorrow, it’s not too late."

"Just a little bit more, wait for me a moment." Zhao Yao quickly sped up to finish what he was writing. After a quarter-hour, he finally finished. Having written too quickly and urgently just now, his wrist felt sore. Seeing this, Tong Xi hurried over to massage his wrist.

"Your Highness, why are you in such a hurry? You can finish writing tomorrow," Tong Xi said while keeping his head down, seriously massaging Zhao Yao’s wrist and not looking curiously at what Zhao Yao had just finished writing.

"It has to be finished tonight to be given to my second uncle tomorrow."

"Your Highness, is your wrist better now?"

"It’s much better now," Zhao Yao said, flexing his wrist, then standing up and stretching his arms, "I’m exhausted; I’ll need a good bath later."

"By the way, Your Highness, Yu Hai just came by and told the servant that we don’t need to prepare anything for the memorial, they will take care of it."

"Eighth Brother is considerate as always," Zhao Yao said, his smile suddenly vanishing, replaced by a somber expression. He sighed, "The storm is coming."

"Your Highness, what storm?"

Zhao Yao replied with deep meaning, "A tempest." The capital had suddenly become incredibly calm these past few days, so calm that it seemed to be brewing a storm.

Tong Xi didn’t understand, thinking it was meant literally.

"Then we’ll need to bring an umbrella to the funeral tomorrow."

Zhao Yao: "..."

He looked at Tong Xi with some helplessness, then said, not in the best mood, "I mean a bloodbath."

Upon hearing "bloodbath," Tong Xi immediately understood, showing the same serious expression on his young, delicate face as Zhao Yao had a moment ago.

"Your Highness, is the Marquis Jingyang’s Mansion about to..." He paused there, then mimicked a gesture of slitting his throat.

Zhao Yao thought for a moment and said, "Probably within the next few months." The news from the Western Regions indicated that most of the Yuan Family’s business there had been seized. This time, the Yuan Family suffered significant losses, losing not only two legitimate sons but also more than half of their business. "Sixth Brother is already on his way back to the capital."