The years I was in the human world

This was too much. It seemed like he was flattering the prince, but in fact, it was an intentional humiliation. The prince had never been favored in the past, nor did he have any power to rely on. He had always lived a poor life. What kind of gift could he come up with? For a moment, everyone was laughing secretly, waiting to see Chu Zhaoli's joke.

How could the emperor, who was sitting at the top, not hear these sarcastic remarks? However, it was his birthday after all, and he couldn't ask them not to mock the prince in front of everyone? No matter how dissatisfied the emperor was, he could not do anything. He could only go to see Chu Zhaoli, hoping that he would not be too sad.

"Big brother's gift will naturally be extraordinary." Although Chu Zhaoyun enjoyed seeing the prince's embarrassment at not being able to come up with a decent gift, he wanted even more to see him take out the Yang Ding and be punished by his enraged father for plotting a rebellion. Even if his father liked him much, he would probably not be able to tolerate it.

"Prince, present a white deer."

As the ceremonial officer finished speaking, a snow-white deer was led up. Except for a bandaged wound on its leg, there was no other color on its body. It looked very much like the falling snow outside the Feishuang Palace. The emperor's eyes lit up when he saw the white deer. He looked at the prince with approval. The deer was more capable than he thought.

"Your Majesty, as a humble child, has no gifts to repay His Majesty's grace. However, I heard that there was a white deer in the forests outside the capital, so I chased it with General Xie for seven days and finally hunted the white deer to present to your father." Chu Zhaoli stood up and explained in a lighthearted manner the ins and outs of how he got the white deer.

The emperor showed a look of delight, but Prince Yu's expression changed. He looked at Chu Zhaoli who was sitting calmly, and when he saw him looking at him, he raised his glass to him. How could he not know that he had been tricked? His conspiracy failed, so he was naturally unhappy, and he looked at the national teacher who was under the emperor several times.

The other ministers were not as shocked as Chu Zhaoyun, but they also looked surprised. They all knew that there were white deer roaming the mountains and forests outside the capital, but even the commander of the imperial guards sent by the emperor could not catch the white deer. How could they have expected that the prince, who seemed useless, could catch a white deer?

The emperor naturally had the same doubts as others, but before he could ask, the imperial teacher, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is not good at martial arts, why did you suddenly want to go deer hunting? Are you injured?"

The words of seeming concern were like a bolt from the blue. The emperor was suspicious by nature, so he was happy when he first saw the white deer. He thought that the prince really admired him as a king and father, and actually went to hunt a white deer himself to offer it as a tribute. How could this not be a great act of filial piety?

But the emperor did not feel happy for long, as Chu Zhaoli's actions changed their meaning after a few words from the imperial teacher.

The prince was never good at riding and shooting, so how could he catch a white deer without any injury? So he certainly didn't catch it, maybe someone gave it to him, and he used it to offer a gift to Buddha.

He said he went with General Xie, so it was Xie Yang who sent him. The emperor frowned and thought, when did the prince become friends with the Xie family? Why didn't he come to report to him? The Xie family is in charge of the army, and the prince's behavior is not an attempt to usurp power?

And why didn't Xie Yang give the white deer to him first, but gave it to the prince first? What ability did the prince have to ask others to give him a deer so quietly that he didn't even alarm the three palaces and six courtyards?

The more the emperor thought about it, the colder his eyes became when he looked at Chu Zhaoli. He originally thought that the eldest brother was a well-behaved person, but he never thought that he was an ambitious person. He was not dead yet, but everyone was eyeing the throne he was sitting on.

"When Qin lost its deer, the whole world chased it, so the talented and the swift got it first." The emperor was furious, but Prime Minister Du fanned the flames with a pointed voice, "Your Majesty, now that you have obtained the white deer, I believe you will be able to defeat the barbarians and rule the world in the future."

This was really heartbreaking. The emperor had fought with him for half his life, but he couldn't even control the right to speak within the four borders, let alone rule the world? How could the emperor not hear the sarcasm in the old man's words? However, he had no words to refute, and vented all his anger on Chu Zhaoli.

"What a great thing! The whole world is chasing him. Does the prince also want to follow the example of Han and Chu and drive me off the throne?!" The emperor questioned Chu Zhaoli coldly.

"Father, I have absolutely no such intention." Chu Zhaoli saw that things suddenly took a turn for the worse. Without waiting for a reaction, he knelt down first. He couldn't understand why he was so stupid as to kill a white deer to celebrate the emperor's birthday. The meaning behind the white deer and Yang Ding was actually the same.

"You didn't, so you are colluding with Xie to force me to abdicate?" The emperor kicked Chu Zhaoli on the shoulder, knocking him sideways. "Prince, I thought you were obedient, but you are ambitious! You are plotting rebellion."

A birthday banquet ended abruptly with the prince's attempted rebellion. The emperor left in a huff, and the aristocratic court officials had enough of the excitement and left.

Finally, only King Yu was left, looking at Chu Zhaoli, who was sitting on the ground with a pale face, and gloatingly said: "Brother, you didn't give me the tripod, which shows that you are smart, but you presented a white deer instead, which doesn't seem to be very smart."

Chu Zhaoli ignored him and lowered his head, immersed in his own thoughts. If you look closely, you can find that his hands are shaking. Here it comes again, the feeling of being manipulated and controlled after his mother's burial. He can't understand why he went with Xie Yang to hunt the white deer.

"The Crown Prince is really something. He should not be spoiled at this time if he wants to rely on his favor." Madam Du passed by Chu Zhaoli and could not help but frown and scolded him, "You made His Majesty so angry. In the end, it is your fault. Go kneel outside Chengming Palace and wait until His Majesty calms down before going back."

Chu Zhaoli showed some reaction. He looked up at Madam Du, but she had already looked away. She called two eunuchs and ordered them, "You accompany the prince to apologize and take good care of him. If there is any mistake, you will be held responsible."

It seemed like he was accompanying her, but in fact he was escorting her. Madam Du was in charge of the harem, and now that Chu Zhaoli had lost the emperor's favor, he had to be controlled by her. Besides, Madam Du's reasons were legitimate, and he had no choice but to listen.

It was midwinter and heavy snow was falling. A thick layer of snow had accumulated on the bluestone slabs outside Chengming Palace. When Chu Zhaoli knelt on them, his clothes were soaked in no time. The coldness almost penetrated into his bones. Chu Zhaoli knelt straight there. The heavy snow soon covered his shoulders and accumulated into a thick layer on his body.

Chen Ping glanced out through the closed window, then turned around and whispered to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has come down and is kneeling at the door."

The emperor was still angry. He just snorted coldly after hearing this and waved his hand, saying, "If he wants to kneel, let him kneel. Do you think you can force me to be soft-hearted? If I let him do this, my former dynasty and harem will rebel in the future!"

Not long after, the emperor went to rest. Chen Ping quietly closed the door and came out. Seeing Chu Zhaoli still kneeling in the snow, he could not help but sigh softly, but in the end he said nothing.

Chu Zhaoli knelt in the snow, staring blankly at the snow-covered ground with his eyes lowered, immersed in his own thoughts. It seemed as if he didn't care about the servants coming and going around him, the noisy voices of people, or the whistling wind. He was like an unconscious piece of wood.

What was he thinking? He felt that nothing had ever been better. He was alone in his loneliness, always wanting to peek at the noise of others. Whether it was Xie Yang or Chu Zhaoyun, each of them was more successful than him. After all the twists and turns of fate, he still had nothing.

If he had a tiny bit of fantasy about his king and father before, then now it was like a big dream ended. He sadly discovered that he was just a pawn for his king and father to weigh the pros and cons from beginning to end. No matter what he did, that person would not be satisfied.

The chill of the snowy night almost penetrated into his bones. The two palace servants who were watching him kneel down to apologize could not bear the cold and had already stamped their feet on the spot. Chu Zhaoli was still kneeling there motionless, as if he had become a sculpture - in fact, he could hardly feel his knees anymore.

He is indeed a waste, Chu Zhaoli thought unexpectedly, otherwise how could he fall into such a situation, unable to even save himself, and could only kneel here cowardly, allowing the falling snow to pile up a cold grave on his body.

……

After the banquet in Feishuang Palace was over, Chu Zhaoyun did not return to his Prince Yu's residence, but instead went to the Imperial Observatory.

Xiao Ling seemed to have expected him to come, and did not even go to bed. He sat quietly waiting under the shrine. The curtains hung down layer by layer, like the white silks used by countless hanged ghosts to hang themselves, dim and desolate in the endless night.

Chu Zhaoyun pushed the door open and came in. The wind behind him brushed past both sides and poured into the room, blowing up the curtains that were blocking the view, revealing the solemn and majestic statue behind it, and the compassionate face of the national teacher below the statue.

"The Imperial Master is truly a prophet." As soon as they met, Chu Zhaoyun bowed and flattered him with a hypocritical smile on his face.

"Look at this." Xiao Ling pretended not to hear Chu Zhaoyun's flattery and handed him a piece of rice paper with words written on it.

Chu Zhaoyun took it with a puzzled look on his face. He only took a quick glance, but his expression changed instantly. The reason was that the rumor written on it was exactly what Chu Zhaoli originally intended to spread in Jiangzhou:

His Majesty the King has brought peace to the country and benefited the people, and brought prosperity to Jiangzhou, so the Nine Cauldrons appeared in the world to show the will of heaven.

"This is..." Chu Zhaoyun looked up at the imperial teacher in surprise and doubt.

"Don't you understand?" Xiao Ling asked back with a confused look on his face, as if he was looking at an idiot who couldn't understand anything.

Chu Zhaoyun became furious when he saw such a look, but because he still needed the other party's help, he had to swallow his anger.

He crumpled up the piece of rice paper in anger and stuffed it into his sleeve, then turned to ask about something else: "This time, thanks to the Imperial Master's brilliant foresight, he predicted that Chu Zhaoli would not celebrate his birthday with a tripod, so he left a backup plan, and did not let the plan go to waste."

"But how can the Imperial Master be sure that Chu Zhaoli will be able to defeat Bai Lu?" Chu Zhaoyun did not think that Xiao Ling's method of harming the prince was much more clever than his plan to raise the tripod, but he could not understand why the latter could achieve its goal.

"The white deer originally belonged to him." Xiao Ling could hear the temptation in Chu Zhaoyun's words. The other party's tricks were not enough in front of him.

It was just annoying to keep suspecting him. He curled his lips and said something suggestive with a forced smile, but he didn't make it clear. He let Chu Zhaoyun guess the rest.