AHDIBCB Chapter 62

The people outside could say whatever they wanted and be brushed off as mere rumors, but the words spoken by members of the royal family were a different matter.

The Crown Prince hated the maternal family of the Fourth Prince so much he gnashed his teeth. But now that he had lost the helping hands of Li Heng and Jian Qingchuan, he absolutely could not afford to offend more people.

He had no choice but to go see the Fourth Prince and ask him what exactly he was thinking. “Fourth Brother, have you really made up your mind to follow Second Brother?”

The Fourth Prince had been imprisoned for several days, yet there was no sign of him looking haggard in the slightest—he still looked rosy and radiant. He laughed and said, “Big Brother, what do you mean by ‘following’ or not? Aren’t you and Second Brother both my blood brothers?”

At that, a feeling of unease rose in the Crown Prince’s heart. By all reasoning, someone who was petty and couldn’t handle trouble shouldn’t possibly look completely unaffected after being locked up for so long. But this Fourth Brother of his didn’t seem to have lost even a single hair.

The Crown Prince signaled for someone to let his younger brother out and have him sit properly. “It’s already come to this, so stop pretending with me. Speak—how did you get in touch with your uncles?”

The Fourth Prince looked at his smooth fingernails, smiling in a way completely different from how he’d been in the reception hall earlier. A faint trace of disdain and mockery showed in his eyes. “Is there really any wall in this world that doesn’t let wind through? The matter between you and Second Brother has already stirred up a storm throughout the city.”

The Crown Prince’s brows darkened, his expression turning cold. “Were you the one who spread those rumors?”

He had always assumed it was Li Heng. The people under him had investigated repeatedly but couldn’t trace the exact source. At this point, he thought no one else would have done such a thing apart from Li Heng.

The Fourth Prince smiled and said, “You really think it was me?”

The Crown Prince scrutinized him. “If it wasn’t you, then it was Li Heng.”

The Fourth Prince let out a sigh and said, “As expected, you still don’t understand me, and you don’t understand him either. What a pity. I had originally thought you’d lower yourself and offer him a way out, and that way Second Brother would ultimately be defeated, saving me a great deal of trouble. But I didn’t expect you to still act so high and mighty, thinking everyone should revolve around you. How does it feel now? Seeing fewer and fewer people willing to help you—feeling a bit panicked inside, aren’t you?”

For someone who had long acted as though he had no brains to suddenly turn around and mock him like this, the Crown Prince couldn’t even describe how he was feeling at that moment.

“So you and Second Brother aren’t actually of one mind either—just putting on a good act,” the Crown Prince said firmly. “What you said that day was nothing more than an attempt to get the Emperor to lock you up, so you could watch me and Second Brother fight.”

“That’s right. Who would’ve thought you’d put yourself at such a disadvantage so quickly—was a bit beyond what I expected. Oh, by the way, is Father still alive?”

“Hmph. If he weren’t, then by now I should already be called ‘Emperor.’”

“Then I truly feel sorry for you. Big Brother, sometimes if you want to get something, you can’t afford to hold back even the tiniest bit. Your loss lies in the fact that you’re ruthless, but not thoroughly ruthless—do you understand? If this time you had enough decisiveness, you should’ve dealt with the Emperor completely, and used Second Brother’s hand to get rid of me too. Then bring Li Heng back to Star Capital, and just like that, your position as Emperor would have been secured. What a pity, what a pity… such a golden opportunity, and you managed to mess it up like this.”

“…” The Crown Prince’s mouth twitched slightly. “So the one who spread the rumors wasn’t you or Li Heng? It was Second Brother?”

“How could that be possible?” The Fourth Prince gave him a look like you’re beyond saving. “It was someone we all saw that day in the reception room.”

They had all seen him…

That included several people.

After analyzing the motives, the Crown Prince hesitated and guessed, “Yuan Yi?”

The Fourth Prince just smiled—neither confirming nor denying—and stood up, saying, “Originally, I was thinking of waiting a bit longer, but now I really can’t wait anymore. If I had known earlier that he was such an interesting person, I wouldn’t have let someone send him out of the royal court back then.”

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes slightly. “Where are you going?”

The Crown Prince turned around. “What? Are you afraid I’ll go out and confirm the rumors about you and Second Brother?”

The Crown Prince snapped angrily, “What’s going on between me and him! Stop spouting nonsense here!”

The Fourth Prince said, “Well then, if nothing’s going on, why are you getting so worked up? Don’t worry—I won’t go over to his side just to suppress you. But Big Brother, you’d better rein in that temper of yours. When the Emperor was awake, you pretended well. Now that he’s no longer waking up, you should be pretending even better. Otherwise, you won’t be able to beat Second Brother. Oh right—so the Emperor really won’t ever wake up again?”

Although that final sentence was spoken with a smile, for some reason, the Crown Prince suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

He began to doubt whether releasing this younger brother had been a mistake—but if he didn’t release him, those uncles couldn’t be dealt with that easily either.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but secretly start blaming Li Heng again. Back then, since he had allowed Yuan Yi to successfully leave the royal court, Li Heng should have been grateful and taken the initiative to return and assist him in securing the throne, instead of waiting for him to offer a way out.

Without a sense of rank and respect, without putting himself in the right position from the beginning, of course someone like that couldn’t be trusted.

The Crown Prince looked at the back of the departing Fourth Prince, took a deep breath, and slowly followed behind.

Starting from the next day, there were no more people from the Fourth Prince’s maternal family accusing the Crown and Second Princes of having an improper relationship. However, no one made any effort to clarify the matter either.

At first, the Crown Prince was still anxious watching this, but soon he calmed down—because after the Fourth Prince was released, he did not seek to appear in public. He remained in the royal court and, apart from a few close uncles, he didn’t let anyone know he had been released, not even the Second Prince.

Not long after, another piece of news broke out online. It said the Emperor’s coma was due to poisoning, and the name of the poison was “Sangmeng” —a toxin that only the Brute Barbarians possessed, and only the Brute Barbarians had the antidote.

The royal court’s physicians had already confirmed that as long as the antidote could be obtained, the Emperor could be saved. Since Li Heng pledged loyalty to the Emperor alone, he ought to find a way to obtain the antidote and return to the royal court to prove his loyalty.

But previously, Li Heng had long delayed agreeing to do so, and only then did the Royal Council, in anger, suspend him from duty.

The Crown Prince then seized the opportunity to issue a new announcement: as long as Li Heng could bring the antidote into Star Capital and save the Emperor’s life, he would believe in Li Heng’s absolute loyalty to the Empire, reinstate his official position, and at the same time promote him to the rank of lieutenant general.

The internet was in an uproar. Li Heng’s Zhenyuan Fleet was fighting Zerg forces at Gallech. Now that the Crown Prince had made such a statement, it meant Sirius would have to handle this matter.

So—would Sirius remain loyal to the Empire, or had he really defected?

Zhenyuan Fleet Command Center

Winter Wolf said, “This kind of move doesn’t really seem like something the Crown Prince would come up with.”

Li Heng continued carving the stone sculptures for the children’s fifth month as he spoke: “The Fourth Prince has finally come out.”

His expression didn’t change in the slightest, as if he had long foreseen this matter. “It still had to be my wife.”

Crimson Snake asked, “You mean… Madam had predicted this too?”

Li Heng lightly brushed off the limestone dust from the carving. “The power struggle between the Crown and Second Princes has been out in the open from the beginning. And over all this time, we’ve more or less gotten a feel for their patterns. The only one who’s never revealed his true face is this Fourth Prince. As long as he keeps pretending, we stay in the light while he remains in the dark—and that’s never a good thing.”

Winter Wolf said, “While Madam forced him, she also gave him a chance to ‘step out.’”

Li Heng said, “Exactly. Things had come to this point—if he still didn’t step forward, by the time he did, the Second Prince would already have a firm hold on power, and there’d be nothing left for him. It’s a pity our dear Crown Prince has really let him down. He originally intended for the Crown Prince to ascend to the position of Emperor, and then find a way to eliminate him, so that he could logically and naturally take that spot himself. But now, whichever way he looks at it, that path won’t work.”

“There’s a man named Fang Pu by the Crown Prince’s side—this person isn’t exactly stupid, but he’s still just a bit short of being able to help the Fourth Prince achieve anything substantial.”

If Fang Pu could have guided the Crown Prince to see things clearly, the current situation would surely be completely different.

Scarlet Snake said, “It’s just that now this is a bit troublesome too. If you don’t go back, then the accusation of betrayal will be nailed down for sure.”

Right now, many of the citizens who trusted them still believed it wasn’t that they didn’t want to return, but that the Crown Prince wasn’t giving them a chance to. But now that the Crown Prince had come forward to speak, it wasn’t that he didn’t want them to return—it was that he wanted them to return with the antidote to save the Emperor. If they still didn’t go back, wouldn’t that be slapping their own face?

Li Heng said, “Xuan Ying, connect to Immortal Mountain, see what my wife is doing.”

Yuan Yi had been closely following public opinion online, so naturally, he also knew the reaction from the other side at the first moment. It was just that Li Heng was at Gallech, and he wasn’t sure when Li Heng was commanding battles and when he was resting, so he usually didn’t take the initiative to contact him.

He still read when he needed to read, studied when he needed to study, because Li Mian and Flight Wolf were keeping an eye on things—if anything happened, they would let him know immediately.

Li Mian said, “Brother Yi, Master requests a holographic call.”

Yuan Yi said, “You’re getting bolder and bolder. Your primary master asked to see me, and you actually dared not to answer immediately.”

Li Mian chuckled, “Now my primary master is you—not him anymore!”

Yuan Yi poked its little curls, then saw Li Heng’s holographic projection appear. He asked, “Saw the news online?”

Li Heng said, “Yeah, I’m having a headache over it. Wife, help me think of something—see if there’s a way I don’t have to go back, and still shut them all up.”

Yuan Yi’s belly was already quite large by now—sitting upright in a chair was difficult, and he tended to get lazy. But he still made sure to get some activity in every day. Right now, he was picking vegetable leaves in the garden. The vegetables were planted by He Yanwu and his people—he mostly just picked and ate them.

In the past, working every day left him so busy he could barely keep up, like his feet were kicking the back of his head—there was simply no time to relax like this. Now, he was finally living all the days he used to think he’d never get to enjoy.

He placed a handful of perilla leaves into the floating basket of the machine. “Haven’t you already thought of an idea? Why are you still coming to me for suggestions?”

Li Heng’s holographic image followed beside him. “I did think of one, but what if your idea is even better? I just want to hear more perspectives. Be careful.”

There was a water reservoir nearby that Yuan Yi was walking past. Li Heng instinctively reached out with a phantom hand to steady him.

Yuan Yi walked around the pool and sat down on a wooden bench beside the garden. Right now, Star City had already seen its first snowfall, while his place was still filled with birdsong and flowers in bloom.

While picking long beans, he said, “If I’m not mistaken, you already had the Sangmeng antidote in hand a long time ago, didn’t you?”

“How did you guess?”

“You’ve always been someone who looks far ahead. If the Emperor were truly dead, that would be one thing. But if he’s not dead, sooner or later this matter would need to be used. Saving his life would be a great merit. You could choose not to save him—but knowing your nature, there’s no way you wouldn’t hold on to such an opportunity. You probably had someone investigate whether there were any other hidden dangers when you were figuring out how to deal with Aminanka, right?”

“No one understands me better than my wife. Yes, I do have the antidote. But I really don’t want to go back. Of course, I could just pretend I didn’t hear anything and simply not return—they still wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.”

“The problem is winning public support,” Yuan Yi said. “And even if you deliver the Sangmeng antidote, how do you know they didn’t poison him with something else? If the Emperor doesn’t wake up and they pin it on you, it’ll only hand them a weapon against you. But once you go back, it won’t be easy to leave again. Honestly, after all is said and done, the most important thing is whether the Emperor himself wants to wake up.”

“He definitely wants to wake up. But he absolutely doesn’t want me to continue growing in power.”

“How are things on the Gallech side?”

The fighting had gone on for some days, but it was mostly robotic soldiers being deployed. Since they were quickly repaired when damaged, Yuan Yi didn’t hear anything about casualties, so the war didn’t feel as heavy as he had initially imagined—it actually felt much lighter.

Even so, he still asked now and then how far along things were.

Li Heng said, “Overall progress is promising. Right now, Sirius is blocking the Brute Barbarians but not falling for their tricks. They can’t get through, and neither can the Zerg army at Gallech. Plus, using robot soldiers this time has obviously made things easier than before. But it’s burning money like water, wife.”

Yuan Yi asked, “So can you still afford to support me and the babies? If not, should I remarry?”

Li Heng instantly stepped forward in a big stride to face Yuan Yi, making a gesture of poking his face. “Winter Wolf and the others are behind us—can you at least save me a little face?”

Yuan Yi smiled and said, “Alright, back to the main topic. My suggestion is: go back—but not you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since the Crown Prince and the others said they want you to return to save the Emperor to show your loyalty, then the most important thing is to wake the Emperor up. But if you don’t go back, people will still talk. So I’ll go back in your place.”

“No way!” Li Heng rejected it without a second’s hesitation. “Don’t even think about it. Unless I’m dead—no, even if I’m dead I wouldn’t let you go back alone.”

“What are you panicking for? I haven’t even finished speaking. And who said I’d go back alone? Listen to me. I study medicine—whether the antidote can wake the Emperor, I have my own way of confirming it. And in the future, you’ll need a reason to fight your way back into the royal court.”

Yuan Yi poked Li Heng’s hand—he couldn’t actually touch it, but Li Heng could feel it on the other end, thanks to an embedded microchip that transmitted the sensation.

“Li Heng, think about it.”

“What is there to consider? If that’s the only way to fight our way back smoothly, then I’d rather not go back at all. Haven’t you thought—if something really happened to you and the child, what would all my hard work mean?”

“But this is the only plan that aims the furthest.”

“No matter how far it aims, it’s still not acceptable. There’s no room for discussion on this. If you dare to even think along these lines again, I’ll have someone watch you 24 hours a day and not let you take even half a step out of Immortal Mountain!”

“You’re so fierce—then there’s only one other way left.”

If they couldn’t let the Emperor live, then they could only let the Emperor die.

Yuan Yi wasn’t quite used to this line of thinking. In his past life, he had saved countless lives and had never harmed a single person. But with his current identity, it wasn’t that he wanted to harm someone—it was that others refused to let them go.

Li Heng said, “Pei She’s people are almost at Aysdiya. Yanwu needs to make a trip to Star Capital.”

Yuan Yi said, “That’s too slow, and too conspicuous. If we’re going to act, we have to do it fast. See if there’s anyone else suitable—best if they have some connection to the Fourth Prince.”

Li Heng asked, “Why not someone connected to the Second Prince?”

Yuan Yi said, “Because we want to give the Second Prince a chance to break into the Imperial Court—not give the Fourth Prince a chance to strike at the Second Prince.”

He didn’t believe that after all these years, the old man or Li Heng hadn’t arranged for other people at the Emperor’s side. Excluding Mo Ting, there should still be someone—so this shouldn’t be something completely impossible to accomplish.

He added, “By the way, we need to pay attention to identifying the Emperor’s true identity. If we can think of this, the Fourth Prince has probably prepared as well. Maybe he’s already hidden the real Emperor somewhere else.”

Li Heng watched him stroking his belly while coming up with ideas for him and said, “Even carrying two, you still can’t take it easy, huh?”

Yuan Yi asked, “Who was it that sent me a communication request first?”

Li Heng, knowing he was in the wrong, waved his hand behind him. After everyone had gone out, he squatted down and gently touched Yuan Yi’s belly. Just as he was about to say something to please Yuan Yi, he suddenly felt a light kick from under his hand.

It felt like a little foot lightly pressed against his palm.

He was stunned for a moment, then saw Yuan Yi smile and say, “See? Even your son is unhappy with you.”