For Prince Chen, this sixth brother, Zhao Yao doesn’t have any feelings. Regarding his death, Zhao Yao doesn’t really have any sympathy, because Prince Chen had colluded with the Right Virtuous King a few years ago.
After learning this, Zhao Yao finally understood why the Emperor was indifferent to Prince Chen’s death.
If Prince Chen were still alive, he would leverage the Right Virtuous King’s power to snatch the throne from other princes. By then, a few border cities of the Great Zhou might be given to the Right Virtuous King. Of course, this was merely Zhao Yao and others’ speculation. Whatever agreements Prince Chen had with the Right Virtuous King, they couldn’t know.
"Uncle, do you think father knows about the existence of Southern Wei?" And, does father know about what happened to the eighth brother?
He Lianfang glanced at Zhao Yao and said indifferently, "Why don’t you ask your father yourself."
"Uh..." Zhao Yao frowned, looking somewhat troubled, "It’s not easy for me to ask."
"Not easy to ask?" He Lianfang raised an eyebrow in surprise at this remark, "Why is it not easy to ask?"
Zhao Yao scratched the back of his head with a conflicted expression, "It’s...a bit hard to say..."
He Lianfang was quite intrigued by Zhao Yao’s reaction. He asked with interest, "Why is it hard to say, what’s going on between you and your father?"
Zhao Yao chose his words cautiously, "It feels a bit awkward, I can’t bring myself to ask."
"Awkward?"
"In the past, I always felt that father didn’t love me, his youngest son, and I also believed I was not to his liking."
He Lianfang’s expression turned quite peculiar upon hearing this.
The Emperor doesn’t like him? How did he e to that conclusion?
Zhao Yao continued, "I even thought my mother didn’t favor me either, so I figured that for us to live well in the palace, we had to act harmless and useless so as not to get caught up in the prince’s struggle for the throne. That’s why I did many things secretly."
Only now did He Lianfang understand why Zhao Yao did so many things secretly at such a young age.
"I just thought if my father doesn’t like me, then I won’t like him either, and if I don’t need to seek his favor, I could wait to be titled a prince upon ing of age and then go to my fiefdom. By then, staying away from the capital would also keep me far from my father, and we could be like two parallel rivers."
He Lianfang, holding back his laughter, said, "You really thought that?"
Zhao Yao, a bit embarrassed, replied, "That’s what I truly thought before."
"Generally speaking, if your father doesn’t like you, shouldn’t you try your best to win his favor? Why are you unwilling to try to please your father?" Usually, children would try their hardest to gain their parents’ favor and affection. A mindset like Zhao Yao’s—"If you don’t love me, why should I please you?"—was indeed rare.
Zhao Yao retorted, "Why would I bother doing something so thankless?"
"You should know that winning your father’s favor would bring many benefits, like making life easier for you and your mother in the palace."
"I’m not interested in that, my mother and I just want to live quietly in the palace, not attract attention."
He Lianfang was slightly startled by this response, and subsequently asked with a bit of a perplexed expression, "You don’t care whether your father likes you?"
Zhao Yao shrugged and said, "I don’t care because I’ve long known my father isn’t just my father; he has ten sons, and surely he can’t treat us all equally. Besides, even fingers vary in length." He really hadn’t considered trying to please his father before; he preferred if his father just ignored him. "If others are good to me, I’ll be good to them. If not, why should I be good to them?"
He Lianfang felt somewhat plicated hearing this, though he didn’t show it on his face. He then asked, "So how did you find out your father didn’t ignore you the way you thought?"
"It was that time when Noble Princess Consort Rong sent people to assassinate Noble Princess Consort Ying at the Taoist temple, and I got involved, almost silenced by the assassin, when suddenly four Hidden Guards appeared. Only then did I realize Father had been secretly protecting me all along." Zhao Yao scratched his face and said, "That’s when I realized father wasn’t pletely indifferent to his youngest son."
He Lianfang, upon hearing this, asked with some confusion, "Knowing your father cares about you this much, shouldn’t you be happy? Why does it make you feel awkward?"
"I am happy, but I also understand why father doesn’t show his affection overtly. So, for the past few years, I’ve pretended to know nothing and continued to treat Father as I always have."
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