Chapter 57: The Unbearable Weight of Life

  Qin Lei looked calmly at the prince who was walking towards him with a tame stick in his hand. The prince also looked calmly at him.

  The palace ladies-in-waiting and noblewomen in the house were all tensely staring at the two princes getting closer and closer, their eyes fixed on that green bamboo cane. Even Ruhui, who had been sitting upright all along, was staring at the two of them with a complex expression, as well as the bamboo cane.

  Bamboo cane as wished was lifted up, the prince held it with both hands in front of Qin Lei. The two brothers remained calm like still water.

  The people in the house guessed the beginning, but not the end. The bamboo stick did not fall, and the prince firmly passed by Qin Lei's side. In the instant of passing by, Qin Lei clearly saw the prince's slightly raised corner of his mouth due to his mischievous success, and then quickly recovered.

  The people in the house stared blankly at the prince's performance, until he was farther and farther away from Qin Lei, and closer and closer to Li, before Guifei suddenly came to her senses, panting and saying: "Stop him."

  She is not afraid of the prince, but it does not mean others are not afraid of the prince.

  Even if there are those who, like Guifei, have the audacity to defy the prince's authority, there is no one who does not fear the whip of discipline.

  The imperial family has three exceptions for corporal punishment: the first is not to beat the elderly; the second is not to beat the pregnant women; and the third is not to beat those who are ill. All others can be beaten.

  The imperial family's slaves are naturally beatable, and they will be beaten even more fiercely. The crown prince held the tamed rod, narrowed his eyes to scan the several palace maids and eunuchs standing at the door. Without wasting words, he flipped his wrist and lightly tapped the emerald head of the rod on the foreheads of two sturdy palace maids who dared to step forward to block him. The imperial guards in apricot yellow light armor immediately came forward with a ferocious expression, not even the noble consort dared to speak out to stop them.

  These eunuchs were originally guards of the Rulan Palace, but under the cruel whip, they completely disregarded their usual relationships and dragged the palace maidens with hair like clouds out to the palace gate. The sound of wooden clubs hitting flesh kept ringing out, and after a few mournful cries, the two palace maidens fell silent.

  The rest of the palace maids and eunuchs were so frightened that they cowered on the ground, never daring to lift their heads again.

  The prince ignored the trembling man on the ground and used his staff to lift the door curtain, ready to enter the house.

  That Ruhui, who hadn't even budged her butt since the two princes entered, finally erupted. Like a lioness, she sprang up abruptly and shouted loudly: "Qin Feng, you dare...!" Her slender fingers trembled as they pointed at the back of the crown prince.

  The crown prince did not turn his head, and coldly said: "I, the son of the emperor, am carrying out the imperial edict of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, to go and flog that arrogant, ruthless, unscrupulous, lawless thing. What is there to be afraid of?"

  Her whole body trembled with anger, her pale face turned green, and she shrilly said: "Is there such a brother who speaks of his own sister like that? Are you even worthy of being the crown prince?"

  The last sentence hit the prince's weakness, he suddenly turned his head, his eyes blazing with anger as he stared at Ruhui, coldly saying: "Is there any aunt who would say such things about her own child?"

  Qin Lei's mind was clear, the conversation last night had made the crown prince make up his mind about certain things. Today was all about establishing his authority. So he stood quietly on one side, watching the rare clash between the two giants who were currently unbeatable for him.

  She coldly smiled and said, "You'd better tell me how your poor sister is so unrighteous, so cruel, and how she doesn't recognize her relatives and is lawless."

  The crown prince turned around, tidied up his sleeves and loudly asked the Empress: "May I ask Your Majesty, not abiding by the virtues of a woman, inciting the thousands of gold in the capital to form an illegal society, and rashly wanting to leave the capital to join the army, is this considered arrogant and unreasonable?"

  "One who is unhappy often wants to take people's lives. To this day, the blood debts on my body are over a dozen, and there are countless wounded. Is that not ruthless and cruel?"

  "Facing his three brothers with swords drawn, severely injuring more than eight imperial relatives. Is this considered recognizing one's six degrees of kinship or not?"

  "When fighting in the streets, privately casting weapons, forming gangs, and bullying people's property, isn't that being lawless?"

  The crown prince's words came out, and he didn't even mention the almost fainting Rong Gui Fei. Even Qin Lei couldn't help but cover his chest, admiring this younger sister with all his might.

  At this time a loud shout, a white figure rushed out from the inner room, silently stabbed something in his hand towards the back of the prince.

  Qin Lei's eyes were quick and his hands were fast, he waved his hand and a sleeve arrow shot out, just hitting the white jade long object, pinning it to the door frame.

  But the figure's momentum didn't decrease, and he violently collided with the prince's back, sending him tumbling.

  The prince steadied himself and turned to look at the ground, where the Third Princess, whom he had scolded until she was on the verge of collapse, lay prostrate. Her face was bandaged on both sides, her eyes gleaming through the gaps in the gauze as she glared at the prince with a devouring intensity.

  Qin Lei's attention was completely drawn to the object nailed on the door frame.

  The originally still somewhat rational Ruhui, after her daughter rushed out, or to put it more bluntly, after that thing was nailed to the wall, completely went mad. Only this thing could make the one and only Ruhui of Great Qin thoroughly abandon all face, reputation, dignity and whatnot.

  She tore off the phoenix hairpin on her head, and with a shrill cry, she shouted: "You two killers, taking advantage of my son and His Majesty not being at home to bully us weak women. I'll fight you to the death!" As she spoke, she jumped down from the phoenix bed, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws, and in two steps, she pounced on the Crown Prince and Qin Lei.

  No wonder she gave birth to the famous General Taizi and two female bosses of the underworld, this generation's fierce woman. Over 40 years old, still vigorous and agile.

  At this time, the prince also saw the object nailed to the door frame and stared at Qin Lei with his mouth agape. Qin Lei was also looking at the third princess on the ground with an incredulous expression, unable to imagine how this little girl could have thought of using such a... unique object to commit murder.

  The prince smiled bitterly and said, "Run quickly!" After finishing speaking, he turned around and ran with the green bamboo stick. Qin Lei didn't slow down either, and followed closely behind the prince as soon as he started running.

  The prince's guards on the side looked like they were going crazy and rushed up like Rong Gui Fei, none of them dared to stop her.

  Guifei, the first of the four madams, is second only to the empress in terms of prestige.

  And she was also the mother of two princesses and the Crown Prince.

  With such an identity, even if these guards take a glance, it's a crime; if they touch once, the whole family will be executed.

  Similarly, for the palace guards of Rulan Palace, holding a tamed spear and wearing the emperor's granted sword, the crown prince who oversees the country is also unstoppable.

  The only one who dared to provoke him was Qin Lei, the fifth son of the imperial family, and so the guards rushed towards Qin Lei with a loud shout. It seemed that they were about to surround him.

  Who would have thought that the crown prince took off the sword from his waist and threw it to Qin Lei. As he ran, he said: "This is the emperor's granted sword, as if my father is here in person, who dares to move you?"

  As soon as Qin Lei received the sword, the guards' footsteps slowed down, allowing him to easily escape from the tight encirclement. He then followed the crown prince and ran towards the gate of the courtyard.

  Behind them, Guifei and the three princesses who had already gotten up were chasing after them relentlessly. The situation was completely out of control.

  Four dignitaries, each more noble than the last, vanished at the gate. The guards on either side exchanged a bitter smile, their eyes involuntarily drifting to the object still stuck there. Inwardly, they all sighed at the imperial majesty.

  Then they rushed out of this damned Rulan Palace as far away from the eunuchs and palace maids who were doomed to die inside.

  Although they saw that thing, they were not afraid. The guards on duty in the palace were all sons of old aristocratic families in the capital, and their families were intertwined. If the royal family wanted to silence them, it would almost certainly lead to the extinction of their own relatives.

  Although it's a must to eat some bitter fruit, this life can see that scene, that object. The guards in their hearts all say: "It's worth dying for."

  …………

  The four main characters of that scene are unfolding a life-and-death chase in the vast Forbidden Garden. Qin Lei and the Crown Prince are running ahead, Qin Lei insists on exercising, has good endurance, and is still talking. The Crown Prince has been chased by those two women to the point where he can't catch his breath.

  After running for a while, he stopped and panted: "Can't... go on, can't run anymore."

  Qin Lei turned his head to look at the two women running behind him, their speed was like flying, and they didn't show any signs of fatigue. Except for lamenting the abnormal genes of Xiao Pang's family in his heart, there was no other way. He gritted his teeth and said: "Why don't we..."

  As he spoke, his eyes darted towards the riverbank, and the prince caught on, exclaiming with joy: "Right, let's jump into the river!" But immediately afterwards, he made a bitter face and said: "But I don't know how to swim."

  Qin Lei originally wanted to say 'push them into the river and run', but seeing the crown prince's appearance, he knew he couldn't be relied upon. So he patted his shoulder and said: "Second brother, you go first, I'll delay for a while here, anyway there's the heavenly sword."

  The crown prince smiled bitterly and said: "Those two women have gone mad, even if Father Emperor came in person, it would be of no use."

  Qin Lei pushed him hard and said with a smile: "Losing my face is better than losing your brother's face, let's go quickly."

  The prince was about to respond when an old and angry voice rose up: "Do you still know what shame is?"

  Two people turned their heads and looked over. An old lady wearing a dragon and phoenix patterned imperial robe appeared at the front intersection, supported by a concubine.

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  An evil chapter. The little monk was thoroughly frightened by the Little Palace Girl incident, and deliberated for half a day. At this time, he suddenly received a notice that the book would be recommended next Wednesday.

  Overjoyed, doesn't matter, sent it.

  Everyone please continue voting, anyway I'm overjoyed.

  Still the same, 100 votes per chapter. I've recovered now and will go write.