The years I was in the human world

The autumn harvest was a great achievement, and Prime Minister Du made a big publicity in the capital, praising Chu Zhaoyun for his achievements at a young age and expressing gratitude for the emperor's grace. Everyone from top to bottom was appeased, and Chu Zhaoyun returned home with honor after presiding over the autumn harvest. After rewarding him according to his merits, the emperor directly made him a prince.

Logically speaking, this should have been an overstep, but Prime Minister Du and the Imperial Preceptor said nothing. Everyone in the court and the country understood the emperor's thoughts, and the visiting cards that had been previously delivered to the East Palace now flooded into the royal palace. Chu Zhaoyun became the talk of the town for a while.

"Your Majesty still loves Prince Yu. My daughter Jin'er was so thin after coming out of the imperial prison, but Your Majesty didn't even come to take a look at her." Madam Du said sarcastically while dyeing her nails.

Du had informed her about his cooperation with the Third Prince. After all, the Fifth Prince had been abandoned by the Emperor, so it would be better to support the Third Prince, who was also powerless. When the Du family was in power, he could push the Fifth Prince to the throne. Why bother fighting for a moment's pleasure?

Mrs. Du also understood this principle, so she did not quarrel with her brother, but she could not help but make a few sarcastic remarks when it was brought up.

"I have already fulfilled Your Highness's request. I wonder when Your Highness will fulfill his promise?" The late autumn wind blew away the last fallen leaf, and the first storm that Prime Minister Du and Chu Zhaoyun had joined forces to stir up in the court was gradually entering the halfway point.

"You will receive news in a few days. Please wait for good news, Prime Minister Du." The former third prince, now the King of Yu, smiled confidently.

……

"Brother, it will be our father's 40th birthday in a few days. Have you prepared the birthday gifts?" Chu Zhaoyun has been enjoying great glory these days and he couldn't help but show off in front of Chu Zhaoli. Although the latter was speechless, he let him do what he wanted, which led to today's conversation.

"Of course, preparations have been made long ago for our father's birthday. As for the gift, why hasn't my third brother prepared it yet?" Chu Zhaoli replied to him symbolically.

"Brother also knows that when I went to Jiangzhou before, I naturally asked my subordinates to prepare the gift. Who would have thought that they prepared something so hot to handle? I am in a dilemma whether to offer it or not." Chu Zhaoyun sighed and pretended to be distressed.

Chu Zhaoli knew he wanted something from him. Although Chu Zhaoyun seemed to have gone astray in the past two years and had targeted him several times, he was still his brother who he had taken care of sincerely. Chu Zhaoli was sentimental and soft-hearted, so he asked, "What is so difficult? What is giving you such a headache?"

"Yang Ding." Chu Zhaoyun looked at the prince and uttered two words quietly.

Yu collected gold from the nine herdsmen and cast nine tripods. All of them were used to worship the gods and ghosts. When a sage came, the tripods prospered, and the tripods were moved to the Xia and Shang dynasties. When the Zhou dynasty declined and the Song dynasty was destroyed, the tripods were lost and disappeared.

Yang Ding is one of the Nine Dings. It has been a symbol of supreme power since ancient times. It cannot be kept in the hands of the emperor. However, if it is handed over, the emperor will inevitably be suspicious of it. It is really a hot potato.

"My subordinates don't know how to do the job, so they found a Yang Ding. This thing can only be presented to my father. But I have just been conferred the title of prince, and if I present a Yang Ding to my father, he will inevitably suspect that I have rebellious intentions. I really have no other choice, so I come to ask for help, big brother." Chu Zhaoyun said sincerely.

Chu Zhaoli put down the empty cup in his hand and looked at his younger brother seriously for the first time. After a moment, he said, "Third brother, you want to use my name to offer this tripod, right?"

"Brother, you are the crown prince. It is not an act of usurpation to present the Yang Ding to our father." Chu Zhaoyun said, and pretended to look at the crown prince opposite him pitifully. "Good brother, please consider it as your beg. Otherwise, I will be in big trouble."

Chu Zhaoli could no longer see the old things in those eyes. He lowered his head and fiddled with his sleeves, but smiled gently as usual and said, "You are always acting cute in front of me. This is just one time, and it won't happen again."

Chu Zhaoli agreed to the third prince's request, and the latter left with satisfaction. Not long after, a cage covered with black cloth was quietly carried into Chu Zhaoli's private residence outside the palace.

"Let's go, Mianmian. It's a rare day that it's not snowing. Let's go and see Third Brother's Yang Ding." Chu Zhaoli put on his cloak, wrapped himself up thickly, and stretched out his hand to Lu Zhouxue from his fox fur sleeves, "Come quickly."

"Do you really want to give him this Yang Ding?" The two of them got on the carriage together. When there was no one around, Lu Zhouxue finally couldn't help but ask, "He knows that whether he gives it to the emperor or not, he will get into trouble. It's obvious that he is setting a trap for you, but you still agreed to it."

"Mianmian, don't worry. My third brother wants to plot against me, but I'm not a fool. I won't let him do it." Chu Zhaoli leaned towards Lu Zhouxue with amusement, looking up at his face with sparkling eyes.

"Then you still..." Lu Zhouxue fell silent halfway through her words, stroked Chu Zhaoli's hair, and sighed softly, "You."

"Just take a look, what can happen?" Chu Zhaoli chuckled.

Prince Chu Zhaoli lived a poor life and bought a house in a remote area, which was already in the suburbs of Beijing. The back door led to deep mountains and old forests. Usually no one came here, so it was a rare quiet place.

As soon as the two entered the door, they saw a cage in the middle of the front yard. There was no cloth covering the cage. A bronze tripod covered with rust was lying there silently, as if it had experienced countless wind and rain baptisms.

"It really is a bronze tripod." Chu Zhaoli raised his eyebrows. "It seems that although Third Brother's subordinates are not aware of the emperor's thoughts, they have put a lot of thought into their work."

"I've seen it, what should we do now?" Lu Zhouxue asked, "What do you mean the servants can't do it? It's obvious that Chu Zhaoyun wants to harm you."

"Mianmian, Third Brother's plan isn't very clever, is it?" Chu Zhaoli yawned softly, "He wants to use Yang Ding to trap me, but isn't this thing something that emerged from the mud in Jiangzhou after a heavy rain?"

"Xiao Li'er, this is a great idea." Lu Zhouxue understood the implication of Chu Zhaoli's words and couldn't help laughing, "You are really smart. It seems that my worry is unnecessary."

"My father's birthday banquet is still more than half a month away. I'll send someone to deliver this tripod to Jiangzhou and spread some rumors saying, 'Your Highness the Prince has brought peace to the country and benefited Jiangzhou, so the Nine Tripods appeared to show the will of heaven.'" Chu Zhaoli winked at Lu Zhouxue playfully, like a cunning little fox.

"If this happens, the emperor and Chu Zhaoyun will probably have trouble sleeping." Lu Zhouxue gloated over the misfortune, but was also afraid that Chu Zhaoli's men would be unreliable and mess things up, so she said, "This is a serious matter, I'll deliver it for you."

"It's just a tripod. Why does Mianmian need to go there in person?" Chu Zhaoli shook his head. It would take at least ten days to go from Yiyang to Jiangzhou and back. "The journey from the capital to Jiangzhou is long. It's too hard to sleep in the open air. Why should Mianmian go through this?"

"I don't trust your men." Lu Zhouxue said bluntly, "You and I both know what the consequences will be if the emperor determines that you have rebellious intentions. That's why I have to go there in person to ensure that everything is foolproof. Otherwise, I won't be at ease, Xiao Li'er."

Chu Zhaoli was unable to persuade Lu Zhouxue, and sent Lu Zhouxue to Jiangzhou in a depressed mood: "Mianmian, come back soon, I will miss you."

"It's only been a dozen days, there's no need to miss me." Lu Zhouxue walked away, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

At that time, Xie Yang came to the East Palace to drink tea and play chess with Chu Zhaoli as usual. He couldn't bear to see him sighing and half-dead after Lu Zhouxue left, so he simply pulled him aside and said, "Come on, let's go hunting. A few days ago, I found a forest and someone said there was a white deer."

"Thank you, General. Please go by yourself. My body cannot withstand the shaking on horseback." Chu Zhaoli smiled and politely declined.

"Don't give me that crap. Others may not know, but don't I know?" Xie Yang hooked his hand around Chu Zhaoli's neck, not treating him as the crown prince at all, but just as a good brother. "My father said that you have been sneaking out of the palace to learn riding and archery from him in the past few years. You have kept your skills hidden for so long, why don't you show them out to test whether they are good or not?"

Who would be willing to pretend to be stupid and hide their incompetence unless it was absolutely necessary? Xie Yang's words undoubtedly moved Chu Zhaoli's heart. Seeing that he was wavering, the former continued: "Besides, His Majesty's birthday is just around the corner. Don't you want to kill the white deer and give it to him as a birthday gift?"

My father has been obsessed with taking back the imperial power all his life. If he can get a white deer that symbolizes power, he should be happy, right? Chu Zhaoli felt that his thoughts seemed to be in chaos. Thinking of this, he unconsciously agreed to Xie Yang's words: "Okay."

Qin Tianjian.

A piece of ember fell from the burning incense in the incense burner. The priest kneeling at the foot of the shrine casually threw a witchcraft doll with complicated Sanskrit written on it into the fire. The doll turned over as it fell, and three iron-stroked and silver-hooked characters faintly appeared from the burning flames: Chu Zhaoli.

After doing all this, Xiao Ling stood up, pinched off the burning incense, and threw it back into the incense burner. Suddenly, a dark shadow fell from the dim light and called out softly, "My lord."

"Before the birthday banquet of Your Majesty, try to detain this person in Jiangzhou." Xiao Ling threw a portrait with a motto to the black shadow, "And Yang Ding, since it has been returned to Jiangzhou, just sink it into the river and never let it see the light of day again."

……

Because it was his 40th birthday, and because there was a surplus of grain from the previous autumn harvest, the emperor held a grand birthday banquet. Chu Zhaoli did not wait for Lu Zhouxue to come back, so he only brought a eunuch and quietly found a seat to sit down.

After a while, the ceremonial officer began to call out the names. As the list went on, countless expensive curios and utensils were brought up. Many of them were treasures worth a fortune. It seemed like a unique competition, and the superiority of family background was fully revealed at this moment.

"… Your Majesty, I present to you a pair of East China Sea clam pearls."

Two pearls as big as human heads and shining with a lustrous luster were brought up on a tray. Everyone in the room was amazed and praised them. Clam pearls are not priceless, but it is rare to find pearls as round and smooth as these two.

"Your Highness the Prince's move is truly extraordinary. Such a gift makes the congratulations we have given pale in comparison." The minister who wanted to make friends with Chu Zhaoyun had already begun to flatter him.

Chu Zhaoyun did not get carried away at the emperor's birthday banquet. He said a few words to evade the emperor's request: "You are too kind, too kind."

It seemed to be a harmonious scene, but there were some people who wanted to sow discord between the Prince and the Crown Prince, and they even said fearlessly: "Your Highness the Prince is so generous, I wonder if Your Highness the Crown Prince is better."