Song of Adolescence

Chapter 149 Prince of Poetry and Wine

The White Prince, Xiao Chong, was Mingde Emperor’s second prince. Due to the early death of the first prince, he became the oldest surviving prince. He had a gentle nature, was gifted and studious since he was a child, and had always been loved by Mingde Emperor. Until a sudden serious illness befell him in his youth when he lost his eyesight and was bedridden for a while. Until one day, he finally opened the door in his room and once again walked out into the sun.

From that day on, he was always blindfolded as he walked through the corridors of the imperial palace. However, even though he was blind, he was superior in every way to most of the other princes, and eventually, was also the first of the princes to be conferred the title of Prince.

A suit of white, unstained by the imperial court.

A blindfold, not seeing the people in front of him, yet hearing everything about the world.

This was a verse Mingde Emperor conferred onto Xiao Chong. From that day on, the second prince Xiao Chong became the White Prince.

"We heard that you were sick, so we came to see you," Mingde Emperor said softly, walking forward in slow steps.

When he heard the voice, Xiao Chong was taken aback for a moment, before he hurriedly prepared to kneel.

"As you were." Mingde Emperor gestured at Xuan Tong, who was standing next to Xiao Chong, to help him up. Xuan Tong acknowledged the order, and immediately supported Xiao Chong who was about to kneel.

"Chong\'er, what was your illness? We have just returned to Heavenly Revelations and heard that you were afflicted with a terrible illness, so we came to see you first." Mingde Emperor\'s voice was calm, not revealing any specific mood.

"Replying to Father, it was simply a cold, except it became more serious and caused a relapse. I have been recuperating till now," Xiao Chong replied with his head lowered. "I have caused Father to worry."

Mingde Emperor nodded, reached out and patted Xiao Chong\'s shoulder lightly. "Chong\'er, you have a poor constitution, so you don\'t need to push yourself so hard. Continue to rest for a while longer. When we visited the Western Regions on this trip, we brought you a gift. Present it."

Li Changqing responded, took out a jade flute from his sleeves and handed it over. Mingde Emperor took the jade flute, lightly stroked the flute, and said with a smile, "From whose house does this melodious flute sound, it flutters with the spring breeze throughout Luo City. This is the Luoping flute used by the lord of Cheng Ping, Xie Mu, who was an envoy to the Western Regions. We know you have admired the lord of Cheng Ping since you were a child, so during this visit to the Western Regions, I specially found this long lost flute."

"Thank you, Father." Xiao Chong accepted the jade flute, his expression showing a little joy.

"Chong\'er, rest well. We will return to the palace now." Mingde Emperor turned around and walked away, with Li Changqing following behind. Only Lanyue Marqius did not leave immediately, but with his hands in his sleeves, he gazed at Xiao Chong with a lazy smile, as if he was watching a ray of sunshine shining down on the kneeling Xiao Chong.

"This son and subject respectfully sends off Father."

"He’s really an interesting prince." Lanyue Marquis threw down this ambiguous word, and slowly followed after the Emperor.

After walking out of the White Prince Residence, Lanyue Marquis suddenly asked, "Huang-xiong, where are we going next?"

"Red Prince Residence," Mingde Emperor said slowly.

"Very well." Lanyue Marquis nodded and flipped onto his horse.

Unlike the good reputations of everyone from the imperial court to the commoners, the second prince to be conferred the title of Prince, the Red Prince, Xiao Yu, was notorious for his misdeeds. From the age of six to thirteen, no less than ten teachers were driven away, and he’d never once worked hard in his academic work. However, when he was thirteen years old, he wrote the book, 《Hundred Flowers Record》, which shocked the entire Jixia Academy and every Prince wanted to read it. At that time, the grand teacher Li Yuantang, who was in charge of Jixia Academy, was also shocked. He obtained a copy from one of the students, and after reading it, he almost died.

The title was 《Hundred Flowers Record》, but it was actually a book full of commentary and observations of the ladies of many reputable families in Heavenly Revelations. It went so far as to rank the ladies on a list and wrote poems for each of them. One of the verses was probably like this: light eyebrows over beautiful eyes, jade flesh accompanied with a light breeze. The grand teacher immediately took the book, took off his shirt, and with great burden, he crawled on his knees up to the Hall of Calming Purity. By the time he was kneeling before the Hall of Calming Purity, the grand teacher’s body was already stained with blood. This abject display of public apology shocked Mingde Emperor so much that he ran out of the Hall himself and helped the grand teacher up with his own hands. Although Li Yuantang was not considered an important minister in the court, he was still a great scholar of his generation. After learning the cause of the incident, Mingde Emperor was so furious he placed Xiao Yu in confinement for nine months. However, Li Yuantang still resigned from the post of Chancellor and left Jixia Academy. A young scholar replaced him as Chancellor for half a year.

Nine months later, Xiao Yu was released from confinement, and his first words were, "Let’s go drinking."

The new Chancellor of Jixia Academy, the young scholar, with a bookcase on his back, stood at the door to his palace hall, and smiled back.

"This little teacher, do you want to reason with me?" Xiao Yu asked.

"Yes," the young scholar took out a sword from the bookcase and knocked Xiao Yu to the ground with a single sword. "Let’s talk reason!"

But, it was this ignorant and incompetent seventh prince who became the second prince to be conferred the title of Prince. Everyone from the imperial court to the commoners had only one opinion on this, and that was Xiao Yu\'s mother, Consort Xuan. Unlike the other concubines who were from prestigious families, Consort Xuan came from the martial world and was low-born. Mingde Emperor wanted to pronounce her as Empress but couldn’t manage to do it, so the remorse he felt for Consort Xuan was transferred onto Xiao Yu.

"Huang-xiong, how about you take a guess what that brat, Xiao Yu is doing?" Lanyue Marquis asked quietly, as he rode on his horse in an unhurried manner.

"Didn\'t you say he was sick?" the voice in the carriage answered calmly.

"Among the princes, he has the weakest constitution and is often sick. When he was a child, he would fall sick when he went to school and now, he’s still sick when he has to attend court." Lanyue Marquis pulled on his reins and looked ahead at the plaque.

Red Prince Residence.

"Go." Mingde Emperor stepped out of the carriage and walked into the Prince’s residence.

Lanyue Marquis flipped off his horse and followed along with Li Changqing.

The chief steward of the residence was so frightened that he immediately turned around and ran away. This was thousands of times more improper when compared to the chief steward of the White Prince Residence who came forward to kneel. The chief steward ran and shouted at the same time, "My Prince, my Prince! The Emperor is here."

"Stop him," Mingde Emperor stated mildly.

Li Changqing stepped forward, leaped, and landed right in front of the chief steward. With a wave of the sword in his hand, he blocked the path in front of him. "Are you so anxious to inform your Prince? Do you know that to meet the Emperor and not kneel is punishable by execution?"

"This one…… this one dare not." The chief steward knelt on the ground and trembled all over.

"Go on, go and see what Yu\'er is doing." Mingde Emperor slowly walked past the chief steward and headed straight towards the inner courtyard.

Lanyue Marquis patted the chief steward\'s shoulder regretfully. "It\'s hard on you, serving such a master."

Mingde Emperor arrived at the inner courtyard and heard a whistling sound. A feathered arrow split through the air, aiming straight for Mingde Emperor.

"Stop," Lanyue Marquis called out softly. His long sabre left its sheath, a silver light flashed, and it returned to its sheath in an instant.

The feathered arrow was split into two pieces and fell to the ground.

"Aren’t you supposed to be sick? You look like you’re full of energy," Mingde Emperor raised his head and chided mildly.

In the center of the inner courtyard, there was a neat row of archery targets. It was obvious that a group of people were practicing their archery here, but everyone else was already kneeling on the ground in fright. Only the Red Prince Xiao Yu was still holding a bow in his hand as he looked at Mingde Emperor with embarrassment.

"Fa-Father, how are you, ah!"

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