He Ziming listened to the system and realized that all of this turned out to be a beautiful misunderstanding.
The original Crown Prince did know that Empress Yuan’s death was somehow related to Concubine Rong, but in fact didn’t know much about the truth. Instead, the pot of the empress’s death fell on another concubine’s head. The original Crown Prince had only accidentally learned one or two clues related to the matter, and thought that Rong Fei was merely the pawn used by this other concubine. He didn’t know that this seemingly weak and timid woman was actually the culprit who killed the Empress, and that the concubine was just a scapegoat.
Therefore, he struggled a bit between his conscience and revenge, but ultimately did not want the young He Zisheng to be killed for his mother’s crimes, and so he concealed it. However, he could not totally give up his mother’s hatred for the sake of brotherhood.
As for He Zisheng not being the son of the emperor, but rather the only descendant of the executed prince, the original crown prince was totally ignorant … Otherwise, in the end, he would not watch He Zisheng sit on the throne without exposing these matters.
But while the original He Ziming didn’t know, He Ziming has read the world’s storyline and is clear. He is not a person of this world, and doesn’t care if He Zisheng is truly of the royal bloodline. He Ziming doesn’t want to prevent him from taking the throne. He knows that He Zisheng is the protagonist, and that he is destined to be the emperor.
And his attitude where he seems to know the truth but concealed everything, led to He Zisheng believing that He Ziming knew far more than he actually did… and caused him to believe that He Ziming acted this way because he truly loved him as a brother.
The current He Zisheng even thought that He Ziming was now a moody, violent man because he was torn between brotherhood and revenge. He believes that there are too many troubles in his heart, and that he cannot hide the conflict he feels, turning the crown prince into the man he is now. He truly was moved by He Ziming, and couldn’t feel more grateful towards him.
Although He Ziming clearly knew that the original owner did not know Rong Fei was murderor of Empress Yuan, nor did he know that He Zisheng was not of royal blood. Even the change in temperament from sunshine to surliness was only in small part because of his shame over protecting He Zisheng by concealing Rong Fei’s participation in the empress’s death. In fact, the main reason for the crown prince’s attitude change was his realization that he was a completely gay man, and worse, that he preferred to be the bottom.
However, as a transmigrator, since this effect has been achieved, He Ziming is unlikely to take the initiative to clear up the chaos. Rather, he intends to adapt his plan to make this beautiful misunderstanding deeper and deeper.
After discovering evidence of He Zisheng’s purge of the events of that year, He Ziming immediately participated in one mission to help the protagonist erase the fatal evidence. His actions confirmed that he had known everything and had concealed the evidence in order to protect He Zisheng.
The participation of the Crown Prince’s forces helped to destroy the evidence, which made He Zisheng’s subordinates much more efficient. As the owner of ‘Heaven’s Eye’, He Zisheng soon learned that the Prince’s forces were crucial in helping him destroy those who held the fatal evidence.
“Master, you are so wise that even the Crown Prince’s forces can be used. Your skill is really high.” He Zisheng’s subordinates praised He Zisheng’s cunning.
He Zisheng watched the Prince’s forces take the initiative to help him cover up his non-royal bloodlines and remove the evidence of that year, and his heart was confused.
He Ziming’s affection for him … is it really so deep?
Since then, He Zisheng’s gaze towards He Ziming has become more and more complicated, his eyes focused like he looked at a rare flower.
“His Royal Highness …” He Zisheng called He Ziming unconsciously, wanting to ask why He Ziming should treat him so well and bear so much for him.
He Ziming looked at him fiercely: “What’s the matter?”
But in the end, He Zisheng couldn’t bring himself to ask, because he knew He Ziming would not answer him. So he just shook his head: “Nothing.”
“This prince deigned to respond to you, and yet you can’t speak? You really are rubbish, just as useless as when you were a child!” He Ziming scolded him, then lowered his head and continued working.
He Zisheng looked down at his focused face, but inexplicably felt calmer and more relaxed than he had in years.
“Ding! You have increased the favorability of the character He Zisheng by 5 points. At present, the favorability towards the host is 75 points.” The system’s prompt for increased favorability sounded again in He Ziming’s mind.
He Ziming didn’t react on the surface, but he excitedly said to the system, “Hey, in just a few days, He Zisheng has such a high degree of affection for me. It seems that the tasks in this world are quite easy, and I can quickly complete the task. “
He Ziming, who narcissistically loves himself, feels that his capability is getting higher and higher! Nobody can compare to himself.
“He Zisheng’s favorability towards you is really increasing by leaps and bounds, and is very high. But, stupid host, you need to know that your target is Gu Chen, not He Zisheng … Prince Li wants to become Gu Chen’s Bai Yueguang, not He Zisheng’s! “However, the system hit He Ziming’s face ruthlessly and broke his fantasy.
Yes, the target is Gu Chen, not He Zisheng.
“Of course I know that my target is Gu Chen, not He Zisheng. The son of destiny has such a high affection towards me, can the favorability of his suitor, Gu Chen, not be affected by his feelings? Surely an increase in his favorability isn’t far behind.” He Ziming was also worried about his own IQ for a second, but in order to maintain his dignified image in front of the system, he still pretended to have an inscrutable plan.
He Zisheng’s favorability is so high, can Gu Chen’s favorability be far behind? It’s an artificial intelligence, but even its brilliance can’t understand the causality and logic between these two sentences.
Gu Chen secretly loves He Zisheng. The stupid host brushed He Zisheng’s favorability so high, isn’t he worried about becoming the target’s love rival and being hated?
He Ziming didn’t talk to the stupid system any more, but started to make a plan for the next step in capturing Gu Chen.
The world’s plot has now progressed to the conflict in the court between the Crown Prince He Ziming and the second prince because of their conflicting political opinions. The second prince was resentful but did not dare to move directly against the crown prince, so he instead taught a fierce lesson to his running dog, He Zisheng. The fourth prince, without any support, was forced to endure a beating.
In order for He Ziming to brush a wave of goodwill from Gu Chen, he rushed to the fourth prince’s palace with Gu Chen. He Zisheng was being pressed to the ground by the second prince’s men, and the second prince was wantonly beating He Zisheng.
“Your Royal Highness, Fourth Prince …” Gu Chen was shocked when he saw this, and rushed to separate He Zisheng from the second prince and his entourage.
He Ziming’s reaction was much more exaggerated than Gu Chen’s. Gu Chen watched him rush forward and flatten the second prince to the ground with a vicious punch to the nose: “Fuck your mother, He Zizhang!”
He Zizhang nose was bleeding profusely and he was dazed from the punch. His guard recognized He Ziming as the crown prince, and no one dared to come forward and stop him.
He Zisheng was still a teenager who had just been cruelly beaten. As the bottom of the food chain among the royal princes, he couldn’t climb up off the ground for a long time.
Gu Chen helped He Zisheng up, supporting him. He Zisheng watched with amazement as He Ziming viciously punched He Zizhang. He never expected that He Ziming would give his political opponent in court such a handle by protecting him this way.
“Brother Huang, what are you doing?” He Zizhang had no idea that He Ziming would actually come forward to beat himself to protect He Zisheng.
He Ziming looked at the poor, beaten He Zisheng, and kicked the lower abdomen of He Zizhang, kicking the second prince far away: “Of course, what you do, I dare to return towards you.”
“Cough, cough, Emperor-Brother, He Zisheng was disrespectful to me. As his elder brother, I taught him a lesson, but it is too much for elder brother to treat me like this to protect him! My mother is Concubine Guo Guifei” He Zizhang coughed up a mouthful of blood and managed to stand up from the ground, saying,” Isn’t the Crown Prince afraid of being unsightly in front of the Emperor and the court? For your dog, you treat your true brother like this. It’s really ugly. “
After the death of Empress Yuan, the old emperor did not enthrone a new consort. Guo Guifei was the highest ranked concubine in the harem and ended up being placed in charge of the harem. Even if He Ziming was the crown prince, she was powerful with a strong political background, and beating her son in this way would surely harm He Ziming in court.
Gu Chen and He Zisheng both anxiously opened their mouths and wanted to persuade him.
“Shut up! Who are you calling brother? Did this dog eat the rules instead of learning them? Have you forgotten?” He Ziming stared fiercely at He Zisheng, who quickly knelt, before he turned his eyes to He Zizhang and said, “First, He Zisheng is listed on the clan’s family tree and is acknowledged as our Emperor-Father’s son. He is your brother. Second, this prince didn’t beat you to protect him, but because you did not respect this crown prince, and did not treat me as a brother. Naturally, I will give you a lesson, so that you will remember that a monarch and his subjects are different! “
He Zizhang asked: “Elder brother, why don’t you speak sense? Aren’t you afraid I will go seek justice in front of our father?”
“If you want to make trouble, you can make trouble. This prince would like to see if the Emperor-Father will stand on my side or yours! This prince isn’t afraid.” He Ziming sneered, truly fearless.
He Zizhang had to grind his teeth and swallow the bitter water into his stomach.
Given the love of the old emperor for He Ziming, He Zizhang knows without a doubt whose side the emperor will stand on.
“He’s just a dog of the Crown Prince. Doesn’t the Crown Prince himself often humiliate him? Why can Elder Brother teach him, but this prince, as the true brother of the Crown Prince, can’t educate this bastard of a cheap maidservant?” Being beaten because of the lowly fourth prince, He Zizhang’s heart was restless. He couldn’t help but glare at He Zisheng as he opened his mouth.
He Ziming glared at him fiercely, spitting out: “You know that he is this prince’s person. This prince can dare to teach him a lesson, but it does not mean that any other member of the court can dare to move against him.”
“The person who moves against the Crown Prince’s people has to pay the price, otherwise he is hitting the face of this prince… this time, this prince is just taking a tooth for a tooth, to teach you a lesson, but what will happen next time, this prince can not guarantee.” He threatened.
He Zizhang was not his opponent. He was wrong to raise his hands against the fourth prince, and it would not go well for him if this matter was to end up in front of the emperor. He had no choice but to swallow his teeth and blood down into his stomach, and left with only one sentence: “The green mountains will not change, the green river will flow for a long time, big brother, let’s see what will happen!”
He walked away with his own followers.
The previous Crown Prince had often done this kind of thing. He Ziming could even be said to be copying the original’s behavior.
However, the thoughts of people in different moods will naturally be different. He Ziming had also beaten the second prince in the last life. However, the past He Zisheng had believed that He Ziming only slapped He Zizhang to maintain the crown prince’s face. He Zisheng, who was beaten by He Zizhang and treated as a dog by He Ziming, hated the two elder princes even more after He Ziming defended him…
Now that He Zisheng believes that He Ziming’s fierce appearance hides a caring heart, he feels that the crown prince did it to protect him. He even feels moved that He Ziming did not hesitate to offend He Zizhang and Concubine Guo Guifei on his behalf.
“Brother Huang, you shouldn’t do this for me.The Guo family is very powerful in court. It is not good for you to hit the second prince …” He Zisheng stood up and walked to He Ziming’s side to coax him.
He Ziming shook off his hand rather impatiently: “Get away! You’re truly self-confident, who would offend the second prince and the Guo family for you? Guo family and the second prince dared to stand up against this prince, so this prince slapped him back into place. This prince did not move casually. The Guo family and the second prince cannot even enter this prince’s eyes.”
He couldn’t help but correct He Zisheng’s words.
He Zisheng looked at him acting like this, and suddenly grinned.
He used to feel that He Ziming had a disgusting face and treated him fiercely, but in fact the prince was just proud and treated him as lovingly as he was capable.
TN: Hashed this one out fairly quickly! Hope there aren’t too many typos. I also love that He Ziming’s performance as a tsundere. Tsunderes just have a special place in this bitter old lady’s heartttttttttt.