Ziwei Palace, the Imperial Garden.
Dressed in mourning attire, the third Prince, Zhao Run, followed a eunuch named Huang through the heavily guarded corridor, bowing as he entered the waterside pavilion.
Inside the pavilion, Zhao Hong, dressed in a round-necked robe with dragon patterns, sat behind a table of wine and dishes, waiting for a long time.
Upon stepping into the pavilion, Zhao Run, with a trembling heart, folded his hands and bowed deeply, "Your subject Zhao Run pays his respects to my Emperor, long live, long live the Emperor, forever and ever!"
"Rise," Zhao Hong said, extending his hand in an inviting gesture he lamented, "I would still like to hear you call me ’Imperial Brother’."
Zhao Run, who had already stood up, immediately bent over again in fear and folded his hands, "Your subject dares not presume..."
Just then, Zhao Miao, also dressed in mourning clothes, entered the pavilion with the guidance of a eunuch, walking slowly.
She glanced at Zhao Hong, who sat as steady as Mount Tai, then at Zhao Run, who was still bowing with trepidation, and feigned confusion as she asked in a hoarse voice, "What are you brothers discussing?"
In just one short month, her face had become haggard and she had grown much thinner; even her baby fat was gone.
As she spoke, the heavy atmosphere in the pavilion instantly relaxed.
Zhao Hong looked at her, a hint of a warm smile appearing on his face, and spread his hands, "I asked the third brother to still call me Imperial Brother, but he says he dares not."
"Aren’t you just bullying the honest one?" Zhao Miao reproached him.
"He has quite the guts, don’t you know that?" Zhao Hong said with an amused smile.
"If all else fails..." Zhao Miao said indignantly as she stepped forward to pull up Zhao Run, "we’ll both kowtow to you then!"
She pretended to kneel, "Long live, the Emperor..."
Zhao Hong quickly stood to support her, "Big Sister, I invited you here to be a witness; don’t join in the chaos..."
He pressed Zhao Miao into a seat, "Third brother, you sit too."
Zhao Run: "Your subject dares not..."
Zhao Hong: "Sit!"
Zhao Run: "Thank your Majesty for this seat!"
Once the three siblings sat down, Zhao Hong picked up a pair of ivory chopsticks and took a bite of the cold, almost congealed vegetables, chewed a few times, and then suddenly sighed with a lack of interest, "In this life, it seems difficult to wish for a bite of hot food fresh from the pot again..."
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The brother and sister at the table cast their eyes down, both feeling he was being somewhat melodramatic.
"Why are you all dazed? Start eating!"
Zhao Hong beckoned, "This is just a small private gathering between us three siblings. There’s no one serving dishes and not so many rules... Third brother, didn’t you want to be an official? Taste what it’s like to be an official!"
As these words came out, the sweat on Zhao Run’s forehead emerged all of a sudden, his pale little face turning red as he stared...
"Stop trying to scare him!"
Displeased, Zhao Miao picked up his chopsticks, rolled up his sleeve, and placed a piece of tofu into Zhao Run’s bowl, "If you really don’t trust the third, just send him to Yunnan or Lingnan, and let him never return to the capital for the rest of his life..."
"Yunnan, Lingnan?"
Zhao Hong said with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Oh, I get it, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, convenient for the third brother to cultivate his own faction, accumulate strength, and then wait for an opportunity to return to the capital to take back the throne, right?"
"This..."
Zhao Run’s red cheeks turned pale in an instant; flustered, he rose to his feet, bumped into the chair, and bowed deeply, "I prostrate myself before Your Majesty, obedient and sincere, with not the slightest rebellious intent, I beseech Your Majesty to discern the truth..."
"Discern what?"
Infuriated, Zhao Miao stood up, pulled Zhao Run to his feet, grabbed his arm and neck, and with a "bang" slammed him onto the dining table. Yanking down his collar to reveal his pale neck, she shouted angrily, "Someone! Bring me a blade, let His Majesty behead this treacherous subject with a single stroke!"
The sudden outbreak of ferocious aura, let alone the confused Zhao Run under her powerful grip, even the usually unflappable Zhao Hong was taken aback.
"Big sister..."
Zhao Hong held his forehead, helplessly and with a headache, he leaned sideways and said with a wry smile, "I was just teasing the third brother a bit, did you really need to react so strongly? When our father was alive, he’d tease us brothers all the time, when have I ever seen you this fierce and terrifying? Aren’t you just bullying the honest man?"
"Is it really the same?"
Angry as she was, Zhao Miao started to cry, "You know yourself, was it just teasing when father played with you brothers? Is this you teasing him? If you keep neglecting your duties in favor of these intrigues, will he still have a life? Whether he stretches out his neck, it’s a slice, or retracts it, it’s also a slice. You might as well just have beheaded him sooner, to spare me from worrying about you day and night..."
Zhao Hong fell silent for a long while, and at last, he let out a tired sigh, straightened his posture, and said solemnly, "Then let’s stop with the jokes, and talk about serious matters."
When he put on a serious expression, an oppressive presence washed over them.
Subconsciously, Zhao Miao released Zhao Run’s neck, and wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve.
Zhao Hong extended his hand, "Sit down and talk."
The siblings took their seats again.
Zhao Hong looked at the shocked Zhao Run and asked in a firm, calming voice, "These past few days, I have driven my other brothers out of the capital to their respective fiefs, but I left only you behind. You must have some misgivings about my intentions, don’t you?"
Zhao Run quickly bowed, "I wouldn’t dare..."
Zhao Hong interrupted him impatiently, "Enough, we’re all of the Zhao Family, who doesn’t understand whom here? Who are you putting on this servile act for?"
Perhaps it was because he was still young, or perhaps it was because he was truly too exhausted...
The talk that day was not at all political.
Zhao Run was silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a long sigh of relief, the look of shock and agitation fading from his face.
With meticulous formality, he bowed deeply and earnestly said, "Regal brother, you are aware of father’s temperament; these years it wasn’t that I wanted to compete with you, but father was the one pitting me against you. I had no choice but to comply even though my heart faltered. Now that the succession is settled and a new era begins, not a shred of ambition remains in my heart. If you truly cannot rest assured about me, confining me to the capital or demoting me to a commoner, whatever it may be, I will accept it wholeheartedly, with not a word of complaint!"