Chapter 88

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Chapter 88:

Liang Yongyuan nodded with tears in his eyes.

Liang Yonghan, who is favored by his mother and older brother, often bullies others in the study room and gets away with it. Liang Yongyuan, who has been bullied for a long time, only encourages Liang Yonghan’s reckless behavior by not standing up to him.

The next day, Li Chunzhou followed behind Liang Yongyuan and entered the study room together, where Liang Yonghan once again targeted Liang Yongyuan.

Since Liang Yongyuan did not refuse to see the dowager empress yesterday, Liang Yonghan will definitely not let him off easily.

So, when Liang Yonghan confronted Liang Yongyuan again, Liang Yongyuan nervously repeated the words Li Chunzhou taught him the day before, "I heard that when others mention you to the empress, she changes the subject…"

Although the words were not aggressive, they were highly insulting, almost saying "you’re useless" directly.

Liang Yonghan’s face turned red upon hearing this and he was so angry that he grabbed Liang Yongyuan by the collar, raised his fist, and aimed to hit him in the face.

The other princes and the grand tutor present were surprised that Liang Yonghan would resort to violence. They quickly intervened to stop the fight, as Liang Yonghan’s actions could lead to serious consequences, from harming his own brother to just being a childish dispute.

If the emperor were to hear about this incident, it would surely cause a lot of gossip.

Fortunately for Liang Yonghan, being the son of the empress meant that as long as nobody foolishly reported the incident to the emperor, Liang Yongyuan, as a prince without a mother’s favor, would receive no justice. Ultimately, if he got hit, nothing more could be done.

Li Chunzhou looked at the people around her, some were happy and some didn’t care, she smiled coldly.

Everyone was wary of Liang Yongyuan complaining to the Emperor, but only Li Chunzhou and Liang Yongyuan knew that the Empress had agreed for Liang Yongyuan to have a meal with her today.

So when Liang Yongyuan appeared in front of the Empress with a face full of injuries, even the Empress was shocked. She asked her attendants to bring warm water and a handkerchief to tend to Liang Yongyuan’s wounds, and asked, "Why do you have so many injuries on your face? Didn’t you see the physician?"

Liang Yongyuan obediently said, "Brother Yuanhan… didn’t allow me to go."

The Empress was surprised, "Yuanhan doesn’t usually act like this child…"

Li Chunzhou pinched Liang Yongyuan from behind, causing him to cry out, "I’m sorry, Grandmother, my brother must be angry with me because I saw Brother Yuanhan holding hands and talking with an unfamiliar concubine. That’s why he has been targeting me, but I didn’t mean to see it, I’m sorry…"

The Empress and her attendants’ expressions changed instantly. If it was just a small conflict between the brothers, the Empress might not intervene, but just a month ago there was a scandal in the palace involving the adult prince and young concubine. If something similar were to happen now, not to mention how angry the Emperor would be, the reputation of the royal family would be at stake.

It was a small matter for Liang Yongyuan to get hurt, but it was a big deal for the royal family. The Empress immediately questioned Liang Yongyuan carefully. Liang Yongyuan’s answers were all taught by Li Chunzhou, but coming from a six-year-old child, they seemed particularly genuine.

Nothing was found out about the appearance and identity of that concubine. Liang Yonghan being suspicious of his father’s concubine had gradually become a fixed matter, and Liang Yongyuan’s injuries and his age were a perfect proof.

No matter how the Empress Dowager felt, she kept a straight face and just looked at her poor grandson, sighed, and said, "Your birth mother passed away early, which is also pitiful. Come stay by grandmother’s side for now. Let Qingluan accompany you back to pack your things. No need to inform the Emperor specifically. Tomorrow grandmother will inform the Emperor."

The Empress Dowager let Liang Yongyuan stay by her side, firstly to protect him, and secondly to keep an eye on him, to prevent Liang Yongyuan from being careless with his words, like he did today, revealing royal secrets so casually to the palace attendants below.

Li Chunzhou gently pushed Liang Yongyuan from behind, and he nestled into the Empress Dowager’s arms like a fledgling.

Holding Liang Yongyuan’s slender and warm body in her arms, as she grew older, the Empress Dowager’s heart softened further. She was slightly angry as she said, "The attendants around you are not diligent at all. Look at how they have taken care of the royal heir! Qingluan, send them all away, and have a new group of people from the Office of Internal Affairs come to serve Yongyuan."

Seeing her goal achieved, Li Chunzhou silently drifted away. She played a key role in moving Liang Yongyuan next to the Empress Dowager. Although she had made an enemy of Liang Yonghan, no one would dare to bully Liang Yongyuan openly again in the future.

Regarding Liang Yonghan’s affair with the unknown concubine, the Empress Dowager only told the Emperor in private. The Emperor had the Eastern Factory investigate secretly. After all, it was not a pleasant matter to be spoken of openly, so it did not become widespread knowledge. Meanwhile, Liang Yonghan was confined for three days.

However, the news of Liang Yongyuan moving to Cining Palace caused a great uproar.

As the saying goes, "The behavior of a dog reflects the owner." Many people started to reconsider Liang Yongyuan’s status and position. His same blood half-brothers, who usually ignored him, suddenly changed their attitudes.

Liang Yongyuan felt like the world had suddenly become friendly towards him. He didn’t understand why, but he was happy nonetheless.

The first prince who approached Liang Yongyuan was the Twentieth Prince. When Liang Yongyuan was being bullied, he always stood by and watched, but this time he was the first one to step in.

Twentieth Prince was about the same age as Liang Yongyuan, and his mother’s status was not very high, but at least his mother was still alive, so his life was not too bad. It’s just that some of his tactics seemed quite low to Li Chunzhou.

This child always dragged Liang Yongyuan into gossiping about others. Liang Yongyuan was too weak and gentle. He couldn’t completely accept the behavior of Twentieth Prince, who gossiped behind people’s backs. He wanted to say something from time to time, but never found the opportunity to jump in.

When he was in trouble, he subconsciously looked at Li Chunzhou, who only he could see. Li Chunzhou lowered her head to give him a calm look and said, "As long as interests don’t clash, there’s no need to refute what he says, and don’t take it to heart."

A person like Liang Yongyuan, who is weak, is more likely to be bullied when alone. So, Twentieth Prince taking the initiative to befriend Liang Yongyuan was actually a good thing. Also, with Liang Yongyuan’s current status and position, he didn’t have the capital to choose friends actively. So, he didn’t need to get too close to Twentieth Prince. Just maintaining a superficial harmony was enough.

Liang Yongyuan’s popularity in the study room improved. Perhaps the most annoyed person was Liang Yonghan, who was young and hot-tempered. As soon as the three-day confinement ended, he rushed over to block Liang Yongyuan and said, "Don’t think you can be proud just because you complained about me to the Empress Dowager! Little wild seed! Do you have a mother as I do? My mother will definitely stand up for me in front of the emperor and get justice for me. You just wait!"

Li Chunzhou thought to herself quietly that this silly boy still thought that Liang Yongyuan was brought closer to the Empress Dowager simply because of his beating. And now he dared to show off.

But indeed, he was a bit smarter than Liang Yongyuan, knowing exactly how to sting people with his words.

Liang Yongyuan was scared and upset, tears welling up in his eyes, he looked at Li Chunzhou in distress, "Lady Chun… What if the emperor finds out… What should I do?"

Li Chunzhou noticed that he didn’t even call the emperor "father", it seemed like their relationship was really distant.

A child who never received fatherly love, how could they possibly give their own child the right fatherly love in the future?

The sorrow of the royal family will continue to pass down from generation to generation, until monsters like Liang Changfeng are nurtured, destroying everything.

"Emperor? Even if he’s ‘Emperor’, he’s just a mortal body after all…" Li Chunzhou lowered her eyes, touched Liang Yongyuan’s head, "Ahu, don’t be afraid, I will help you deal with them."

That night, Li Chunzhou floated to the window of the Heartnourishing Palace with a few small stones.

Whenever the emperor was about to fall asleep, Li Chunzhou would use small stones to wake him up, then hide the stones in her hand invisibly, tossing and turning all night. The emperor not only couldn’t sleep well, but also felt that the Heartnourishing Palace was haunted.

The next day, the emperor didn’t attend court, but chose to sleep in a different place. However, Li Chunzhou didn’t give up on him, until half an hour before the empress came, she stopped throwing stones and let the emperor sleep for a while.

The empress arrived at the palace gate but was stopped by the eunuch beside the emperor. She was usually greatly favored in the harem and had borne two princes, never experiencing such treatment. Unable to bear it, she asked the chief eunuch a few more questions.

As the noise outside grew louder, Li Chunzhou started throwing small stones at the emperor’s face, waking him up again.

The emperor heard noises outside the door and opened his eyes in pain. He looked angry but controlled his temper to let someone in, planning to patiently listen to what the noble concubine wanted. However, when the noble concubine began talking about Liang Yonghan, the emperor remembered something from a month ago that made him lose his temper. He grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it, shouting, "I don’t want to listen, leave!"

The most basic desire of people is sleep. When one cannot satisfy their need for sleep, it is rare for them to control their emotions well, especially someone like an emperor used to luxury and obedience from others.

After getting angry, the emperor added, "Noble concubine and the seventeenth prince, confined for three months! Without my permission, neither of you can step out of the palace!"

The noble concubine did not understand why the emperor was so angry, nor did she realize she was being unjustly punished. She cried as she left, supported by the palace maids.

Li Chunzhou achieved her goal, but she didn’t leave immediately. She stood by the bed, deep in thought. Did the noble concubine really commit a serious mistake? Not really, it’s just that the emperor has the final say in the palace.

Because the emperor was unhappy, the noble concubine had to endure his unreasonable mood.

It’s really unfair… Li Chunzhou thought expressionlessly, then she used a small stone to wake up the just-fallen-asleep emperor.

***

After Liang Yongyuan moved to Cining Palace, his living standard improved significantly, his cheeks filled out, and the new palace attendants around him were reserved and quiet.

The palace maids around the empress often brought new things to amuse her. One day, they brought a kite to make her happy. Liang Yongyuan struggled to fly the kite, looking worried.

Watching nearby, Li Chunzhou calmly said, "Liang Yongyuan, it’s normal to not do well the first time flying a kite."

Then she took the kite and helped him fly it. Once the kite was up in the air, she handed him the string and reel.

Liang Yongyuan slowly let out more string, watching the kite fly higher. Li Chunzhou looked up at the kite in the sky and said with a smile, "Liang Yongyuan, you’re doing great."

Liang Yongyuan watched her carefully, his shy face slowly breaking into a bright and shy smile. It was as if he was a child who had never been praised before, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sudden attention.

He gazed at Li Chunzhou with shining eyes, almost everything he felt written in his gaze – "Thank you, thank you for saving me."

Li Chunzhou didn’t notice Liang Yongyuan’s gaze. After a while watching the kite, she hugged the black cat in her arms and looked around for Jian Hou.

She had always kept it in a fish tank, but today, when she wasn’t looking, the tank was empty.

But fish can’t grow legs or fly, so they couldn’t have escaped. Li Chunzhou held Li Zhexuan up, searching for Jian Hou’s presence like she was looking for a signal with an antenna.

"Meow…" Li Zhexuan looked steadily in one direction, softly meowed, and Li Chunzhou squinted her eyes to look where he was staring, seeing a beautiful orange cat instead of a fish.

Li Chunzhou understood in her heart that this cat was most likely Jian Hou.

Probably, Jian Hou got eaten by the orange cat just now because he wasn’t careful, and then his consciousness transferred from the fish to the orange cat.

Li Chunzhou put down Li Zhexuan from her hand, Li Zhexuan landed gracefully on the ground, body slightly bent, eyes excitedly wide, tail swaying slowly, low, and he made quick and continuous meows, then rushed to fight with the orange cat.

He had been a cat for a while, but it was Jian Hou’s first day as a cat, not even able to walk well on all four legs, so Li Zhexuan’s victory was overwhelmingly certain.

Li Zhexuan pinned Jian Hou down with his little paws, then turned back to Li Chunzhou proudly and haughtily meowed, inviting her to share his prey,

Li Chunzhou picked up the orange cat by the nape of its neck, locked eyes with Jian Hou’s golden eyes for a moment, and then smiled, saying, "I thought you had run away."

Possessively, Li Zhexuan leaped onto Li Chunzhou’s shoulder, calmly sniffing at Jian Hou in Li Chunzhou’s hand.

Even though Jian Hou changed from a fish to a cat, there was still no expression on his face, no emotions mixed in. However, now he could understand Li Chunzhou’s meaning. When he was a fish, limited by the fish’s brain, he hardly remembered his identity, only following instincts to seek benefits and avoid harm.

"Meow…" Jian Hou opened his mouth, realizing he spoke in cat language, then closed his mouth, typed on the floating screen, "Since you have already avenged me, let’s forget the past conflicts and focus on getting back as soon as possible."

"I never said I’m not angry." Li Chunzhou still had a smiling face, but her eyes turned slightly cold, "What do you mean by ‘we’? Do you think I will keep you around forever? How amusing, I will play with you until I’m bored and then feed you to A’xuan."

Jian Hou looked at her with big round eyes, his appearance as an orange cat greatly reduced his aggression and coldness. The screen text showed no emotion, but Li Chunzhou still sensed his genuine confusion, "Why? My memories have been copied by the Time Beast, there is nothing left for it to learn or imitate from me. Killing me now, does it bring any benefit to you?"

For Jian Hou’s species, all their actions revolved around survival and benefits, so he couldn’t understand why Li Chunzhou would kill herself in a situation without any benefit, just as he couldn’t comprehend Li Chunzhou’s "emotions."

Li Chunzhou watched him and suddenly felt uninterested. Jian Hou didn’t feel fear or regret, he didn’t even know how those emotions felt. Li Chunzhou’s revenge was like punching into cotton for him.

Li Chunzhou placed the orange cat in her hand on the ground, and Jian Hou sat elegantly on the ground, looking up at Li Chunzhou, and continued, "If I collect consciousness with the Time Beast, the time needed to adjust the timeline will be significantly shortened, and we can return quickly."

Hearing him repeatedly saying "we," Li Chunzhou raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you so eager to help? Aren’t you from the Main God System?"

"My consciousness was consumed by the Time Beast, memories leaked out, Main God System won’t spare me, so if I want to survive, I can only join you." Jian Hou lacked emotion, so he also lacked morals and sense of responsibility. His sole guideline for all actions was survival.

Previously, working for the Main God System was to survive, now trying to join the Time Beast’s side is also for survival.

Li Chunzhou was surprised for a moment, then confidently refused, but did not continue to bother him.

She left with Li Zhexuan, leaving Jian Hou sitting alone, with a puzzled expression.

***

Life in the palace was so boring that it made people tired of it, and in the past six months, only one slightly interesting thing had happened.

The emperor started selecting study companions for the prince and princesses.