Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne
Chapter 111 - 106 Diary

Chapter 111: Chapter 106 Diary

Zhao Yao naturally noticed Prime Minister He’s wariness toward him. He grinned and said to Prime Minister He, "I’m here to find Fourth Brother."

"Here to find Fourth Highness?" Prime Minister He was skeptical.

"Yes, I’m here to find Fourth Brother. I heard that he is compiling history in the Lanyuan Pavilion, so I came to see him." Zhao Yao said, cupping his hands and apologizing, "Prime Minister He, a couple of days ago, I didn’t know that the pot of Silver Edge Royal was yours, nor did I know it was a tribute orchid. I thought it was an ordinary orchid, so I ate a few flowers from it. I’m here to apologize."

Prime Minister He felt pained thinking of his Silver Edge Royal, which had finally bloomed a few flowers, only to have Zhao Yao eat all but two or three of them.

"Your Highness, you speak too heavily."

"Prime Minister He, rest assured, I only came to see Fourth Brother, and I will absolutely not steal your orchids." He won’t steal the precious orchids, but he still plans to take the others. "Really, you can trust me!"

Seeing Zhao Yao’s sincere and clear eyes, Prime Minister He softened and unwittingly believed him.

"Since Your Highness says so, then I feel relieved."

Zhao Yao asked obediently, "Prime Minister He, may I go find my Fourth Brother now?"

"This way, Your Highness." Prime Minister He personally escorted Zhao Yao to find the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince and other ministers were on the second floor of Lanyuan Pavilion.

Currently, they had not officially started compiling history yet. Before beginning, they had to first organize and collect historical materials. The Fourth Prince and his team had been busy sorting books since early that morning.

"Fourth Brother, I’ve come to see you." Zhao Yao shouted loudly before he even reached the second floor.

The Fourth Prince, hearing Zhao Yao’s booming voice, slightly raised the corners of his mouth and hurried over.

Thump thump thump... Zhao Yao ran up the stairs.

"Fourth Brother, I’m here."

The ministers, including Kong Taichang, quickly greeted Zhao Yao with respect upon seeing him.

"Please rise, my lords." Zhao Yao returned their greetings as a junior would.

The Fourth Prince pulled Zhao Yao forward and carefully examined his complexion. Seeing that he looked healthy and spirited, he felt relieved.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Fourth Brother, I’m all better." Zhao Yao said with a chuckle, "Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to find you."

"Did you have any fever again last night?"

"No, if I had, I wouldn’t be here today."

"That’s good to hear."

Zhao Yao, seeing the many books on the floor, curiously asked the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Brother, are you sorting books?"

The Fourth Prince replied, "Yes, we need to first identify books related to history."

"Fourth Brother, let me help you."

"Alright."

The ministers were somewhat surprised to see the good relationship between the Fourth Prince and the Tenth Prince.

The Fourth Prince was responsible for finding historical books related to the previous dynasty. Zhao Yao was familiar with the history of the previous dynasty, having just finished reading its historical records over the past two days.

"Fourth Brother, you’re amazing, being able to participate in the historical compilation with the ministers." I heard that our Third Brother and Fifth Brother wanted to join in too, but Father refused them.

The Fourth Prince humbly said, "I’m just here to lend a hand."

Zhao Yao’s eyes sparkled with admiration as he looked at the Fourth Prince, flattering him, "Helping out is still impressive. You truly are my Fourth Brother."

The Fourth Prince subtly smiled and praised Zhao Yao: "Tenth Brother, your suggestion to compile history is also remarkable."

"I just mentioned it casually. I didn’t expect Father to decree its compilation." Zhao Yao said while sorting books, "Fourth Brother, you know how I love reading historical books. I recently finished reading the history of the previous dynasty and wanted to read the Zheng dynasty’s history, but Mother told me there’s little of it left, and even less of the Chen dynasty’s history. Hearing that, I thought it’s such a pity. Why hasn’t anyone collected and compiled the historical materials into a thick book, to be passed down like The Analects, so that history wouldn’t be broken off and future generations could see and learn about our past?"

The Fourth Prince was deeply moved by Zhao Yao’s words, and so were the ministers. They hadn’t expected the young Tenth Prince to be so insightful.

"Tenth Brother, your thoughts are excellent, and in this aspect, I’m not as good as you." The Fourth Prince had never considered such things about compiling history.

"Fourth Brother, I’m just lazy and don’t want to keep searching for history books. If all historical materials could be compiled into one book, then I wouldn’t need to search everywhere." Zhao Yao said while casually opening a history book he had picked up. The cover read "Diary," and upon opening it, he saw it was the Diary of Emperor Xia Ling.

"Fourth Brother, are all the books in Lanyuan Pavilion originals?" The books in his study weren’t original but handwritten copies.

"Some are, some aren’t." The Fourth Prince glanced at the book in Zhao Yao’s hand and said, "The ’Diary’ you’re reading now is an original, not a copy."

"Originals must be well preserved."

"When the history is being compiled, these originals will all be transcribed, and then stored away."

"That’s good to hear." Zhao Yao, who hadn’t read the ’Diary’ before, curiously read a few pages and found it recorded the minutiae of Emperor Xia Ling’s private life. He found it amusing and showed it to the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Brother, look, this records how many times Emperor Xia Ling used the bathroom in a day, even the quantity each time, isn’t that peculiar?"

The Fourth Prince had previously heard the term "peculiar" from Zhao Yao and knew what it meant.

"The ’Diary’ is meant to record the emperor’s life."

"Even bathroom visits?" Zhao Yao suddenly thought about the current emperor and began laughing mischievously. He tugged on the Fourth Prince’s arm, signaling for him to lower his head.

The Fourth Prince lowered his head, and Zhao Yao, leaning close to his ear, whispered, "Then isn’t it recorded how many times Father uses the bathroom each day."

"I suppose it is recorded."

"Hahahaha..." Zhao Yao burst into laughter with ill intent.

The Fourth Prince looked at him in confusion, "Why are you laughing?"

"Anyone who sees Father’s ’Diary’ in the future will definitely laugh." Zhao Yao pointed to Emperor Xia Ling’s diary in his hand and said, "See here, it records the duration of each of Emperor Xia Ling’s bathroom visits. On this day, he was in the bathroom for half an hour, then it states he was constipated. It’s hilarious." Just thinking about Father being recorded in such a way made Zhao Yao want to laugh.

The Fourth Prince understood Zhao Yao’s point. Frankly, having such detailed records was indeed rather embarrassing.

Zhao Yao read a little more of Emperor Xia Ling’s diary, then found something odd.

He felt like something was missing?