Chapter 35 Zhao Mu: Li Chengqian, you bastard, you really are a...

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Ever since Zhao Mu had met Li Chengqian, he had never intended to become too deeply involved with him. But fate had a way of toying with people, with the same caprice that had tossed him from the later age into the Great Tang of the Zhenguan era.

And somehow, for no reason he could explain, he had become close friends with Li Chengqian—the Crown Prince of Great Tang, who had originally been destined to become an abandoned pawn. Since things had come to this, he might as well lend the boy a hand.

And so, under Zhao Mu’s casual guidance, Li Chengqian had gradually transformed from a crippled crown prince who was proper to the point of blandness, yet excessively timid and cautious, into the Crown Prince he was now: one who carried the world in his heart and possessed boundless vision.

Compared with the past, the difference was like heaven and earth!

Still, that lunatic streak buried deep in the boy’s bones seemed to be exactly the same as before....

In the original history, all it had taken was a little goading from Hou Junji for him to raise troops and rebel against his own father.

Now, after Zhao Mu had given him the slightest provocation, he had gone mad enough to charge straight to the palace and pick a fight with his father, Emperor Li Er....

The boy’s motto was clearly: do exactly as instructed!

It was obvious that he had suffered from a lack of love since childhood.

So long as someone treated him well, he became extraordinarily soft-hearted toward that person.

So soft-hearted, in fact, that even Zhao Mu—who cared little about most things—could not help feeling a trace of concern for him.

After all, Zhao Mu knew very well that Li Chengqian was merely a madman.

But his father, Li Er, was the real thing!

When that man went mad, he had killed brothers, murdered kin, imprisoned his father, and violated his sister-in-law....

Who knew whether this time his eldest son would drive him mad once again?

Surely.... Surely not?

Zhao Mu had only been acting on a whim when he provoked the crown prince into fighting his imperial father, yet he could not help feeling somewhat uneasy now....

But soon, Zhao Mu shook his head.

“Really, what a meddlesome fool I am. It’s a quarrel between father and son—why am I getting anxious?”

“Is the wine not good enough, or are these soybeans not tasty?”

Muttering to himself, Zhao Mu swept away the last of his worries.

In truth, however, he did care about what would become of Li Chengqian.

It was simply that, being intimately familiar with history, he understood Li Shimin far too well.

Whatever praise or criticism had been heaped upon him, Li Shimin was still one of the rare emperors in history worthy of being called an eternal sovereign. A ruler of such stature admired tigers that dared bare their fangs at him—not timid rabbits trembling in the safety of their cages.

Yet the crown prince’s closest friend was precisely such a benevolent, filial, and gentle man.

He lacked the fierce blood and iron will to face his sovereign father and defend his own position.

Or perhaps he simply did not realize that such blood and iron lay within him....

So Zhao Mu had prescribed a remedy tailored to the illness for his only friend, Li Chengqian—a remedy that was simple and brutally direct:

Go argue! Go make a scene! Slam your hand on the table and glare!

Take every grievance, every unwillingness, and every ounce of fury you had bottled up over the years, and hurl it all before your father, Li Er!

Let Li Er take a good look at the crown prince he had chosen, and see whether he truly resembled what his father wanted him to be.

“I’ve given you the spark. Whether it sets the plains ablaze, and what kind of fire it becomes, will depend on your own fortune.”

Zhao Mu took a sip of wine and toyed with the jade pendant in his hand. His voice was low, but it still carried the amused, expectant tone of a spectator waiting for a good show.

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At that moment, a signal came from outside the courtyard—three long calls and two short ones, like the cry of a night owl.

“Come in.”

Zhao Mu did not even raise his eyelids. He remained absorbed in shelling soybeans.

The instant the words left his mouth, a dark figure silently vaulted over the wall.

It was Night Owl, the man responsible for gathering intelligence on Zhao Mu’s behalf.

Before he could even clasp his hands in greeting, Zhao Mu began hurling the soybeans he had just shelled at him one by one.

As he threw them, he scolded him with exasperation:

“How many times have I told you? How many times?”

“I told you not to keep climbing over the wall!”

“What, do you still think you’re some flying bandit who robs the rich to aid the poor?”

“If you dare climb over the wall like this again, don’t bother following me!”

“Go back and continue roaming your martial world!”

“I’ve spoiled you rotten!”

Only after nearly emptying the entire dish did Zhao Mu finally stop, thoroughly annoyed.

Night Owl stood there in stunned silence. Several soybeans had struck his face, and his expression had become indescribably strange—part astonishment, part helpless amusement.

Fortunately, he soon remembered the news that had excited him so much he had forgotten all proper etiquette.

He casually wiped a soybean from his forehead and hurried forward to report, “Sir, something happened at the palace.... There’s been a real show.”

Night Owl’s voice sounded somewhat airy.

“Oh?” Zhao Mu, who had still been wearing a stern expression, immediately looked at him with renewed interest. “Tell me. Did His Highness win the argument, or did His Majesty curse him so thoroughly that he slunk back to the Eastern Palace with his tail between his legs?”

“His Highness the Crown Prince did indeed ‘argue,’ but.... The way he did it was somewhat.... unusual. Yes, unusual!”

Night Owl stumbled over his words, then paused to reorganize them so that his report would sound less absurd.

“After leaving Heaven on Earth, the Crown Prince took only several dozen guards from the Eastern Palace. They were fully armed and armored, and they galloped straight toward His Majesty’s Grand Bright Palace!”

“Then.... Then he went in!”

“Pff—what!?”

The mouthful of wine Zhao Mu had just put in his mouth nearly sprayed everywhere.

He set down his cup and wiped the wine from the corner of his lips. The lazy smile on his face was instantly replaced by utter disbelief.

Blinking as though he suspected he had misheard, he asked again and again, “How many did you say?”

“Several dozen guards from the Eastern Palace?”

“Fully armed and armored?”

“And they actually made it into the palace?”

“Absolutely true!”

Night Owl nodded vigorously, the strange look on his face growing even more pronounced.

“I saw it with my own eyes. His Highness led his men straight to the towering palace gates.”

“Their bearing.... It didn’t look like they had come to argue. It looked more like they had come to stake their lives!”

“There were more than a hundred powerful crossbows mounted on the walls, all with their strings drawn!”

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“They were just about to turn the Crown Prince and his men into pincushions, and I was already worried.”

“But not long afterward, the palace gates suddenly opened from within.”

“Then His Highness entered the palace alone.”

A brief silence followed.

“Ha!”

Zhao Mu suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into laughter!

The expression on his face was no longer one of astonishment.

Instead, it was filled with pure, almost delighted surprise and admiration.

He slammed his hand against the table again, making the few remaining soybeans in the dish jump.

“Good! Very good, Li Chengqian!”

Zhao Mu clapped his hands and laughed heartily. The languor that had filled his eyes moments earlier had vanished, replaced by the exhilaration of witnessing a brilliant change of tactics.

“Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”

“I told him to go argue, but this fellow went and flipped the entire table over!”

“He actually upgraded an argument into a military remonstrance!”

“Hahaha! He dared charge straight into the Hall of Supreme Harmony with only a few dozen men!”

“That nerve.... That reckless, unrestrained madness!”

“Wild enough! Bold enough!”

For a while, Zhao Mu laughed so hard he bent double, slapping his thigh without the slightest concern for appearances.

Before long, he began muttering to himself.

“I wonder what kind of expression Li Er is wearing right now.”

“I imagine his jaw must have nearly hit the floor!”

“His Majesty probably never dreamed that his usually mild and tepid crown prince could give him a surprise like this!”

“Haha!”

“Li Chengqian, Li Chengqian—you really are a genius!”

In his excitement, Zhao Mu cast every rule of Great Tang etiquette, every notion of duty to Heaven, Earth, the sovereign, one’s parents, and one’s teacher, straight out of his mind. He even called the names of the two most exalted men in the empire without the slightest restraint.

At first, Night Owl had been delighted to see his master laughing so freely, and had even begun to share in his amusement.

But the longer he listened, the more uneasy he became—even a former wandering bandit like himself felt his legs turn weak.

He hurried closer and poured cold water on Zhao Mu’s excitement.

“Sir, this.... Doesn’t this count as taking things too far?”

“The Crown Prince acted so recklessly. What if His Majesty flies into a rage....”

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