Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne
Chapter 59: Whoever Treats Me Well is a Good Person

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Whoever Treats Me Well is a Good Person

Zhao Yao originally planned to return to the palace and train the dogs and cats at the secret base, but he forgot about the punishment of copying the Analects. There were only a few days left until the end of the month, and nothing was more important than copying the Analects now.

In the evening, Zhao Yao stayed directly at the Eighth Prince’s place for dinner. Before dinner, he had been diligently copying the Analects. The Eighth Prince was also helping him copy.

At this moment, Zhao Yao was having dinner with the Eighth Prince.

The Eighth Prince specially had the small kitchen make several dishes that Zhao Yao liked. Perhaps because of the fatigue from copying the Analects, or because of the hunger from going out of the city to welcome Prince Dai, Zhao Yao was devouring his food with his head down.

Seeing how deliciously Zhao Yao ate, the Eighth Prince’s appetite greatly improved, and he ate an extra bowl of rice compared to usual. The Eighth Prince usually had a small appetite, eating only one bowl of rice per meal. His small appetite was due to the damage to his stomach from childhood hunger.

When he was young, his mother consort was not favored and was not liked by the Emperor. The people in the palace were used to kicking people when they were down, so they bullied his mother and him in every way, often not giving them food. Even when they did, it was mostly spoiled food.

In recent years, although the Eighth Prince had been nurturing his stomach, his stomach disease was too severe to be completely cured. Fortunately, his stomach was not in as much pain as when he was a child, but he could not indulge like Zhao Yao.

Yu Hai, seeing the Eighth Prince eat an extra bowl of rice tonight, worried he would have stomach pain in the middle of the night, quickly handed a pill to the Eighth Prince.

The Eighth Prince did not refuse and swallowed the pill with soup.

Zhao Yao looked at the Eighth Prince with great sympathy, "Eighth Brother, you can’t eat more delicious food; it’s really too pitiful." Sigh, Eighth Brother was truly pitiful when he was young.

"You can’t eat too much either, or you’ll ruin your stomach and won’t be able to eat good food in the future."

"Eighth Brother, I’m still young and still growing, so I need to eat more to grow taller." Although he had a big appetite, he definitely did not dare to overeat and spoil his stomach, or else his mother consort would punish him.

Just after he spoke, he asked Yu Hai to serve him another bowl of rice.

Zhao Yao ate three bowls of rice in total, only then did he feel full. In fact, he could still eat, but if he ate more, he would stuff his stomach, and he didn’t dare to eat more.

Although Zhao Yao said he wasn’t stuffed, the Eighth Prince was not reassured. After dinner, he took Zhao Yao for a walk in the courtyard to aid digestion.

As they walked into the courtyard, they faintly heard singing and laughter from afar. Zhao Yao stopped, curiously looking in the direction of the sound.

"Eighth Brother, what’s up with Third Brother and the others? Why are they in such high spirits, drinking and having fun?"

"Ignore them." The Eighth Prince slightly frowned, speaking with some disdain, "They’ve been like this these days."

Standing by, Yu Hai interjected, "Tenth Highness, the Third Prince and the others start drinking and having fun as soon as they return from class every day until the hour of Hai."

"Ah?" Zhao Yao looked surprised, "Third Brother and the others didn’t used to be like this." When he visited Xingde Hall before, he didn’t see Third Brother and the others having drinking parties for pleasure.

"It just started these days."

"Could it be because Second Brother is back, so Third Brother and the others are very happy?" For Third Brother and the others, Second Brother’s return to the capital was indeed a good thing. Because with Second Brother back, Third Brother and the others could cause a scene.

"Perhaps." The Eighth Prince, thinking of something, showed a trace of disgust on his face. "Tenth Brother, stay away from Third Brother and the others in the future, don’t get too close to them."

Zhao Yao didn’t understand why the Eighth Prince said this. He shrugged and said to the Eighth Prince, "Eighth Brother, even if I wanted to get close to Third Brother and the others, they wouldn’t want me near." Third Brother and Fifth Brother looked down on him as the youngest brother. "Besides, why should I get close to them? They’re no good." Third Brother and the others, by virtue of their maternal family being noble families, believed themselves to be superior to him and the Eighth Brother, never holding him or the Eighth Brother in regard. They probably even looked down on Second Brother because his maternal family wasn’t a noble family. The only families better than Third Brother’s maternal family were the Crown Prince’s and Seventh Prince’s maternal family, the Xie family.

Compared to the Wang family, Xun family, and Yuan family, they paled in comparison to the Xie family.

Hearing Zhao Yao’s words, the Eighth Prince felt relieved.

"If Third Brother and the others are no good, who do you think is good?"

Zhao Yao replied without hesitation, "Of course, Eighth Brother, you’re the best."

Upon hearing this, the Eighth Prince smiled, reaching out to pinch Zhao Yao’s cheek gently, "I haven’t spoiled you for nothing."

"Fourth Brother is also good," Zhao Yao added.

Upon hearing this, the smile disappeared from the Eighth Prince’s face. He never liked the ostentatious Fourth Prince and couldn’t understand why someone who pretended to be so upright was appealing. However, since Zhao Yao liked the Fourth Prince, he couldn’t say much.

"Who else is good?"

Zhao Yao counted on his fingers, "Mother Consort, Second Mother Consort, Third Mother Consort, Fifth Sister, Mr. Xiao, and Tong Xi and Tong Le." After saying this, he saw Yu Hai and added, "And Yu Hai."

Yu Hai didn’t expect to be considered a good person by Zhao Yao, which made him both surprised and honored. He quickly thanked him, "Thank you, Tenth Highness, for the compliment."

"Whoever is good to me is a good person."

"I thought you disliked Mr. Xiao, but you consider him a good person," the Eighth Prince said in surprise.

Mr. Xiao was one of the teachers for Zhao Yao and the Eighth Prince, primarily teaching them the Book of Documents. He was rigid and very strict in teaching the princes. If anyone made a mistake in class, he would sternly criticize them and even slap their palms, without fearing the high status of the princes.

Although Zhao Yao was the most foolish reader among the princes, Mr. Xiao didn’t dislike him as a student. On the contrary, Mr. Xiao was very patient with him. If there was something he didn’t understand, Mr. Xiao would teach him repeatedly until he understood.

Mr. Xiao often encouraged Zhao Yao and advised him not to feel inferior due to his foolishness. In Zhao Yao’s mind, Mr. Xiao was a very good teacher.

"Mr. Xiao is a good person; he doesn’t think I’m stupid at all." In the entire palace, besides Mother Consort and Eighth Brother, only Mr. Xiao didn’t mind his foolishness. As for the other teachers, although they hid it well, he could see their dislike for him.

"Is that so?" Although Mr. Xiao didn’t mind Zhao Yao’s foolishness, he didn’t like the Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince felt Mr. Xiao looked down on his background just like the others.

Noticing the cold tone in the Eighth Prince’s words, Zhao Yao remembered that Mr. Xiao didn’t favor the Eighth Prince. Quickly, he changed the subject to something else.

The Eighth Prince followed along with him, without mentioning Mr. Xiao again.

The two walked in the courtyard for half an hour before returning to the study to continue copying the Analects.

At the fourth quarter of the hour of Xu, Zhao Yao left Xingde Hall with Tong Xi. On the way back to Kunde Hall, they heard someone crying.

The road back to Kunde Hall was somewhat secluded, and it was late at night. Suddenly hearing the cries made Tong Xi’s scalp tingle with fear.

"Your Highness, is that a person or a ghost crying?"

Seeing Tong Xi’s fearful expression, Zhao Yao teased him, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"

"Afraid... Your Highness, let’s go quickly."

"There’s no such thing as ghosts in this world." Zhao Yao said and walked toward the direction of the crying.

"Your Highness..." Tong Xi was terrified but had no choice but to follow Zhao Yao.

Zhao Yao followed the cries and found an eunuch crying in a corner.

The eunuch had his back to Zhao Yao and the others, hugging his knees and curling into a ball, crying so hard he didn’t even hear their footsteps.

"Why are you crying?" Zhao Yao asked.

Startled by the voice while he was crying, the eunuch nearly screamed. Seeing it was Zhao Yao, he hurriedly saluted Zhao Yao, "Greetings, Tenth Highness."

Under the moonlight, Zhao Yao noticed that the eunuch in front of him was very delicate-looking.

"Why are you hiding here crying alone, were you bullied?"

The eunuch quickly lowered his head and said fearfully, "No, no, Your servant wasn’t bullied."

As he lowered his head, Zhao Yao noticed the red marks on his neck, varying in size. They didn’t look like mosquito bites, nor like finger marks.

"What is your name, and from which palace are you?"

The eunuch knelt on the ground, silent.

Tong Xi, however, remembered, "Your Highness, he is an eunuch by the Third Prince’s side."

"Someone under Third Brother?"

"He was originally an eunuch by the Fifth Prince’s side but was later given to the Third Prince by the Fifth Prince." Tong Xi explained, "It’s said he’s good at painting, so the Third Prince specifically asked for him."

"You’re with Third Brother, how come you’re hiding here?"

"Your, your servant..." The eunuch trembled, unable to speak a complete sentence.

Seeing the eunuch kneeling on the ground shaking so badly, Zhao Yao was slightly stunned and then thought of something. He asked, "Are you afraid of Third Brother?"