"If they want to kneel, let them kneel. What does it have to do with me? Why report it to me?"
As soon as Shun Xi finished speaking, Zhao Huan, who had been sitting there in silence, suddenly stood up. He smashed the blue-and-white teacup he was holding to pieces.
Hearing the sound of the teacup shattering, Shun Xi, who was already flustered, suddenly realized that this was not something he could interfere with.
"Everyone is pressuring me. Is this throne something I wanted to sit on? Why didn't they say anything back then? Why didn't they let Zhao Zhen sit in this position!"
Shun Xi's words seemed to suddenly ignite the grievances in Zhao Huan's heart.
At this moment, he suddenly lost his reason and cast all his scruples aside, finally roaring out the words he had hidden in his heart for so many days.
When he first ascended to the position of Crown Prince, everyone had taught him to be humble and benevolent, and that a Crown Prince should have magnanimity.
From that moment on, he naively believed that as long as he could do these things, he would be a good child. However, when he truly tried his best to move in that direction, he realized how incredibly naive he had been.
Zhao Ji was a sentimental emperor, so it wasn't long before Zhao Huan, as the Crown Prince, had more than a dozen siblings.
Especially after Prince Yun, Zhao Kai, began to shine, the emperor's boundless favoritism towards him made Zhao Huan extremely uneasy.
Faced with the emperor's actions, he, the Crown Prince and son, could only obediently tolerate it.
He did not dare to show the slightest hint of jealousy. As soon as he showed the slightest unhappiness or the slightest inappropriate behavior, countless court officials would quickly impeach him.
To protect his position as Crown Prince, he could only endure and suppress everything, hiding all his thoughts in his heart.
Every day he studied even more diligently, using all his time to curry favor with Zhao Ji.
But alas, no matter how hard he tried, his actions seemed to be unable to enter Zhao Ji's eyes.
The emperor fell ill, and he prayed for the emperor in the Eastern Palace every day. But when the emperor recovered, he only received a plate of gold and silver, while his brother was directly given the position of Director of the Imperial City Department.
It must be known that before this, there had never been a precedent for a prince to hold the position of Director of the Imperial City Department, as it was a perilous job.
Zhao Kai had already repeatedly attacked the position of Crown Prince. Without this position, he had already crushed Zhao Huan, let alone the emperor directly handing him a knife!
Ever since Zhao Kai obtained this position, his nightmare had truly begun.
He himself could not even remember how many nights he had curled up in his bed, crying quietly in his dreams.
To protect his life and not lose his position as Crown Prince, for so many years, he had to think thrice before acting in everything he did.
Apart from the Crown Princess, who shared his plight, when he lay with other women beside him, he did not even dare to close his eyes, for fear that he might accidentally utter something inappropriate in his sleep, which would then be reported to the emperor...
Even now, he still remembered the Mid-Autumn Festival five years ago. The Crown Princess lay beside him and whispered in his ear that she wanted to eat tangerines.
But the very next morning, as soon as the court session ended, Prince Yun, Zhao Kai, dressed in his formal attire, directly brought two large baskets of tangerines to their residence.
Zhao Kai smiled as he spoke, and everyone praised Prince Yun for adhering to etiquette and being affectionate towards his elder brother.
Yet only Zhao Huan understood in his heart that this was Zhao Kai showing off to him. Even in his own palace, even a casual remark between husband and wife could be directly heard by Zhao Kai...
He endured such days, year after year, day after day. When he was almost in despair, Prince Xin, Zhao Zhen, suddenly appeared.
Regardless of what the emperor's initial intentions were, after Zhao Zhen ascended to power, the emperor's trust in Zhao Zhen once again became his nightmare.
There had never been a precedent for a prince to hold the position of guardian of the four capitals, nor had there been a precedent for a prince to personally lead troops, yet the emperor had done so.
Although there were undoubtedly some hardships involved, Zhao Zhen ultimately persevered.
In less than a year, a once idle prince had suddenly soared to prominence, becoming the only prince among all the royal sons with military achievements.
On the day he heard that Zhao Zhen had successfully quelled the rebellion, Zhao Kai, who never drank, got drunk in the Eastern Palace.
He could not remember much of what happened after he got drunk, only that he cried profusely that night. When he woke up the next morning, his eyes were swollen like walnuts.
Only he knew how desperate and terrified he had been that night.
He had thought he was going to be deposed, but to his surprise, just as he had resigned himself to fate with a "broken pot, broken handle" mentality,
The Jurchens suddenly broke their alliance and moved south. He was thus muddled into taking the throne by his father.
On the night he sat on the dragon throne, he felt a strong sense of unreality, especially when Wang Zongxu received the post of Director of the Imperial City Department, he felt even more like he was dreaming.
Unfortunately, happy times are always short. He knew better than anyone that the reason Zhao Ji passed the throne to him was because he himself did not want to bear the reputation of a ruler who lost his country.
No matter how much hatred he harbored for his father in his heart, no matter how unwilling he was to take on this task, once he truly sat on the dragon throne, his mindset suddenly changed. He wanted to do something, he wanted to make some changes, and he wanted to govern the country according to his own ideas.
But reality is often cruel. When he began to sort out the affairs of the court, he suddenly discovered that in the entire court, from the prime minister to the officials below, everyone was waiting to see him make a fool of himself.
Zhao Kai was indeed finished, but Zhao Zhen's threat to him was growing. Zhao Huan understood better than anyone that as the only prince with military achievements, in this time of national crisis, countless people placed their hopes on him...
How ironic!