Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Contempt

Huangfu Yuxuan raised his voice, “I have something to say to Father, all of you step back!”

The Crown Prince smiled, looking at Huangfu Yuxuan’s serious demeanor, and replied, “Step back, step back!”

The Crown Prince’s followers and those involved in the disaster relief all stepped back.

Fei Liang stepped back five steps, standing aside.

Huangfu Yuxuan looked at the Crown Prince, his expression neither joyful nor angry, and said properly, “Father, please disembark from the carriage and walk into the city with your child!”

The Crown Prince frowned, confused and dissatisfied, looking at Huangfu Yuxuan as if he were an idiot, “Walk into the city? How can we walk such a long way?”

Huangfu Yuxuan patiently said, “Father, you’ve already completed your mission. Let your child accompany you on foot into the city, and then return to the palace to report to Grandfather!”

He guessed in his heart that something bad must have happened, and that it must involve the Crown Prince.

If the Crown Prince agreed to walk into the city, from the city gate to the palace gate, it was indeed not a short distance. He would surely arrive looking dusty and exhausted, even sweating profusely. Entering the palace in such a state, even if the Crown Prince had done something wrong, it would show sincere remorse, and Grandfather might show some leniency, perhaps favoring the Crown Prince a bit more.

Unhappy, the Crown Prince said, “Are you joking? Not riding the carriage? Crazy?”

Huangfu Yuxuan felt utterly helpless and whispered, “Father, can’t you see that something is amiss? If you refuse to walk this distance, do you want to endure more suffering?”

The Crown Prince became furious, shouting, “Nonsense, I am the Crown Prince. Who dares to make me suffer?”

A deep sense of powerlessness surged in Huangfu Yuxuan’s heart. In all of Nanxia, it seemed only he had his father and elder brother left. He stood by the carriage, refusing to leave. The beauty resting her head on the Crown Prince’s lap seemed a bit impatient, rubbing against him and coquettishly said, “Your Highness, didn’t you say you would take me to see the splendor of the Capital City? Why stop here?”

The Crown Prince gently patted her back and laughed merrily, “Is my darling impatient? We’re already at the city gate.”

The woman was very pleased, her eyebrows and eyes filled with smiles, though it was unclear what the Crown Prince had promised her.

Huangfu Yuxuan’s expression turned cold, killing intent flashing in his eyes. His hand moved faster than his gaze, drawing a sword from the waist of a nearby attendant, and thrusting it forward.

Blood splattered, and the enchanting woman collapsed weakly into the pool of blood. Blood stained the cushions, smeared the small table, soiled the snacks, delicacies, and wine, and splattered onto the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince turned pale with fright, screaming in shock, trembling as he asked, “You…what are you doing? Do you want to kill me?”

Huangfu Yuxuan discarded the sword, kneeling on one knee, and said, “Father, your child was saving your life!”

The Crown Prince became furious, yelling, “How dare you speak such words? I am the Crown Prince, of what noble status? When was my life ever in danger?”

Huangfu Yuxuan couldn’t help but raise his eyes, his dark, sinister gaze fixed tightly on the Crown Prince. The gaze was filled with the previous murderous intent, dark, cold, and chilling, seemingly wanting to devour someone. The Crown Prince, startled by this gaze, leaned back slightly in fear, and nervously said, “What…what do you want to do?”

A speck of blood was on his cheek, conspicuous against his pale fat face, with its crimson starkly contrasting with his shocked and pale demeanor, his nervous panic, his anger, and the indignation of being offended…

These expressions were all seen by Huangfu Yuxuan, filling him with a sense of forlorn disdain. He lowered his eyes, his voice cold and hard, “Father, you returned from the disaster relief with no one to greet you. Did you not notice any oddity?”

The Crown Prince was stunned.

Huangfu Yuxuan’s voice became even lower, with guidance and earnest persuasion, “Father, do you remember the situation when Assistant Minister Yuan Yanbo returned from disaster relief in Yan State three years ago?”

A sheen of oil surfaced on the Crown Prince’s white, fat face, a sign of the fright just now. He raised his hand to wipe it off, steadying himself, and recalled, saying, “Back then, Yan State’s Pingkang County had a severe drought. Yuan Yanbo went for disaster relief, staying two months. Upon his return, Father ordered me to personally lead Ministry of Rites officials to welcome him at the West City Gate…”

At this point, he also realized something.

Sitting as the Crown Prince, no matter how dimwitted, he wasn’t completely ignorant.

His expression changed slightly, “As the Crown Prince, my status is even more esteemed than Yuan Yanbo. Why was there no one to greet me? Where are the people from the Ministry of Rites? Do they not care about this Crown Prince anymore?”

At this point, even with a beauty’s corpse in his carriage, surrounded by blood, he also forgot it all.

Huangfu Yuxuan’s expression darkened, speaking in a deep voice, “Father, did anything happen during the disaster relief? Was the mission unsuccessful?”

“Unsuccessful? It went very smoothly!” The Crown Prince replied grumpily.

Before this journey, Huangfu Yuxuan had repeatedly warned him, insisting he accomplish the mission at all costs and not embezzle a single bit of relief silver. After all, the National Treasury would be his eventually, and taking relief silver would be no different from transferring silver from one pocket to another.

The Crown Prince remembered this and followed through during the mission.

Huangfu Yuxuan did not believe! But now he had no way.

He had already explained the stakes of this matter to the Crown Prince numerous times. Moreover, without his personnel in Ningzhou and the Crown Prince forbidding his people to follow along, the lack of timely information left him feeling out of control and at a loss.

“Father, please change clothes and walk into the city with your child. Along the way, your child has some things to ask you!”

The Crown Prince was not very willing, but there had already been a death in this carriage, so inauspicious! He lowered the curtain, removed his bloodstained clothes, hastily grabbed an outer coat to wear, and immediately disembarked.

Huangfu Yuxuan told Fei Liang, “Take care of things here!”

The Crown Prince’s followers remained behind, having seen Huangfu Yuxuan’s actions earlier, yet without the Crown Prince’s command to step forward, and since the Crown Prince seemed fine, they dared not approach.

Along the way, Huangfu Yuxuan meticulously asked about the occurrences during the disaster relief.

The Crown Prince recounted all the undertakings in the afflicted counties upon arriving in Ningzhou. As the Crown Prince, he naturally didn’t need to personally attend to everything, merely playing a supervisory role.

Huangfu Yuxuan analyzed the situation: besides misguiding which led to some chaos and wasted time, there were no major errors.

If this was the only reason, it wasn’t enough to cause Grandfather to embarrass the Crown Prince by having him return to court in such disgrace.

Disgrace?

Indeed, Grandfather no longer cared about Father’s dignity, what does this imply?

An emperor has the dignity and form of a crown prince, and if he loses these, who would still regard the Crown Prince seriously?

Could it be that Uncle Li in the Capital had spoken ill?

Even so, although Grandfather was getting on in years, he wasn’t a fool, and wouldn’t ignore the Crown Prince’s efforts in disaster relief without giving him any credit for his hardships, on the word of a slanderer.

What exactly happened?

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