Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

Due to the unexpected death of the crown prince, the third prince was demoted to the remote Changye, and the fourth prince was disabled and unable to inherit the throne.

Emperor Jing suddenly realized that if he died now, there would be no one to inherit the throne.

Only then did he remember that he had two sons, the eldest son who was in his fiefdom, and the fifth son who was in the cold palace.

Because the eldest prince was older than the crown prince, Emperor Jing was worried that he would develop improper thoughts, so he trained him as an idle prince since he was young.

Before he reached adulthood, he was sent to his fiefdom.

As for the fifth prince, when Emperor Jing was drunk and Concubine Qin was unable to sleep with him, he arranged for the palace maid beside him to climb onto the dragon bed.

Therefore, Emperor Jing always believed that the fifth prince was framed, and he ignored him and placed him in the cold palace.

In his early years, a concubine tried to adopt the fifth prince, but was not only rejected by Emperor Jing, but also lost his favor.

Therefore, everyone in the harem knew that the Fifth Prince was a taboo, and anyone who dared to mention him would be punished.

Even the Empress Dowager only watched over it in secret.

However, now the only sons available to Emperor Jing are the eldest and the fifth.

In desperation, he had to frequently go in and out of the harem and try hard to give birth to new children.

On the other side, the tallest ones are picked out from the short ones.

The eldest prince is already in his thirties, and everything about him has basically been finalized, making it difficult for him to change.

The fifth prince is only ten years old. If he is taught well, he may be saved.

What surprised Emperor Jing was that he had never hired a teacher for the fifth prince, but the fifth prince's speech and behavior did not seem like that of an unenlightened child at all.

Shen Chuning once told Xiao Yuanyi not to tell anyone about what she and Zhou Lin had taught him.

So when Emperor Jing asked, Xiao Yuanyi simply said that the eunuch Cui An beside him had taught him some characters, and that he had also read some books. Although he did not fully understand the contents of the books, he had some knowledge of them.

Emperor Jing believed that Xiao Yuanyi was very talented, so he paid more attention to him.

However, even so, no concubine was willing to take the fifth prince into her own palace to take care of him.

Concubine Qin is currently the highest-ranking concubine in the harem, but she is the biological mother of the third prince. If the fifth prince is given to her to raise, Emperor Jing is worried that she will deliberately raise Xiao Yuanyi to be useless.

Originally, Concubine Hui was below Concubine Qin, but Concubine Hui had faked her death and escaped from the palace.

Next is the eldest prince’s biological mother, Concubine Li.

The women in the harem were all as shrewd as foxes. They knew very well that Emperor Jing's release of the fifth prince from the cold palace meant that he had the possibility of inheriting the throne.

If anyone dared to propose to adopt the fifth prince at this time, it would be equivalent to openly opposing Concubine Qin and Concubine Li.

After all, it is still uncertain whether the fifth prince will have a bright future, but his own life may be in danger.

Isn’t Concubine Hui a vivid example?

Emperor Jing had no choice but to place Xiao Yuanyi in Shoukang Palace and have him temporarily cared for by the empress dowager.

……

At the same time, in the Shen family's study, Shen Huaizhong sat opposite his eldest son Shen Qinghai and second son Shen Qinghe.

Shen Huaizhong said slowly, "Your Majesty intended to let Qinghai be the fifth prince's tutor, but the Empress Dowager refused."

Shen Qinghai nodded in agreement. "The Empress Dowager is indeed very thoughtful. The Fifth Prince is being fostered by the Empress Dowager, and this is also a helpless move. The current situation is still unclear, and our Shen family must not be too involved with the prince anymore."

Shen Qinghe echoed, "The reason the Shen family has enjoyed a century of glory is because we never participate in factional disputes and serve His Majesty as loyal subjects. If we agree to let my eldest brother teach the Fifth Prince now, then if the First or Third Prince ascends the throne in the future, they will inevitably have to liquidate the Shen family."

Shen Huaizhong nodded with relief. "I was worried that you would feel it was a pity to miss this opportunity. Now that you can let it go, it's great."

He paused for a moment and continued, "It is far better to offer timely assistance than to add icing on the cake. When the Fifth Prince was in the cold palace, Xiaojiu would secretly go to teach him his lessons from time to time. He can be considered as a half-mentor to the Fifth Prince. As long as he is not too heartless and disloyal, he should not make things difficult for the Shen family if he can inherit the throne in the future."

After hearing what Shen Huaizhong said, Shen Qinghe puffed out his chest proudly, "It turns out that our Xiaojiu has done so many things silently, and is even more far-sighted than me, his father."

Shen Qinghai glanced at Shen Qinghe and said, "I gave Xiaojiu to you."

Shen Qinghe retorted, "My daughter chose me herself."

"Ahem..." Shen Huaizhong coughed lightly, interrupting the two men who were about to bicker. "The eldest prince will be returning to the capital soon, and the situation in the capital will only become more and more complicated. Your father is currently in a high position, and many of our Shen family's sons are serving in the court. They are bound to be involved in the struggle for power."

"Father is right. Our Shen family holds an extremely important position in the court. We will inevitably become the target of enticement and attacks by various forces." Shen Qinghai nodded in agreement.

"So you must be extra careful and cautious, and also remind the younger ones who have tasks to do not to be negligent in the slightest." Shen Huaizhong warned seriously.

"Don't worry, father. We will always remain vigilant and won't be easily tricked." Shen Qinghe solemnly promised.

After a moment of silence, Shen Huaizhong said in a serious tone, "If they come openly, it would be easy to deal with them, but I'm afraid they won't be able to win them over on the surface, but will use some shady tactics behind the scenes. Although we have many men in the Shen family, every loss is a huge loss for the Shen family."

After hearing this, Shen Qinghe reached out and touched his nose, then smiled and said, "That's not the way to say it. If someone really wants to win over our Shen family, they might consider giving our third brother to them. Although he might not be of much use, he's very good at causing trouble."

Hearing this, Shen Qinghai couldn't help laughing out loud and quickly covered his mouth with his hands to prevent his laughter from being too exaggerated.

Seeing this, Shen Huaizhong glared at the two of them fiercely.

Shen Qinghe immediately stopped smiling and said seriously, "Dad, I want to find an opportunity to be sent out."