Chapter 1319: Side Story: The Cultivation of Disloyalty (1)
In one’s later years, one would often recall the events of their early years. The Fourth Prince, Qi Wenmi, could not say for sure that he regretted his actions, but the faint sense of disappointment never quite left him.
These years, he had been watching his big brother and his brothers support each other while there was always an estrangement between his big brother and him and his fifth brother. However, his big brother would be crazy to still treat the two of them equally without any ill feelings when they had ulterior motives. If that was the case, even without him and his fifth brother plotting schemes, the other brothers and ministers would pull him down from the throne.
Qi Wenmi would often recall the things that happened when he was very young. At that time, he was truly naive and ignorant.
His big brother doted on his brothers, so although he was the Crown Prince, he was very close to them. Every day after school, he would personally bring them to play for a period of time.
Of course, this was only possible because of the Empress’s magnanimity. After all, not every Empress was willing to let their son play with their half-brothers like this, even if they were related by blood. This was only something he deeply understood after he got married and had many children.
At that time, his maternal grandfather in the Shi family was only a mediocre fifth-grade governor. With his big brother and Cousin Little Bear suppressing the others, no one dared to bully the younger ones. Life was simply too carefree with the group of children spending all day either studying or getting into trouble together.
Due to her lack of a powerful maiden family and lowly status, his mother consort had never allowed him to have a conflict with the Crown Prince, always insisting he follow the lead of his big brother in the Royal School.
As the Crown Prince, everyone recognized that he was the leader to begin with. Even if his mother consort did not mention it, everyone would still listen to him. However, his mother consort’s reminders day after day more or less started to make him feel a little uncomfortable. But because the Crown Prince did treat them younger brothers well, this discomfort could be easily forgotten.