Chapter 48: The Case of the Disputed Colt

"Well then, Your Majesty, knowing full well that I was talking nonsense, you still went along with it and threatened to penalize my foal—isn't this also... uh..."

Cheng Yaojin seemed to have completely lost his temper, recklessly and incoherently bickering with the emperor seated above. He almost blurted out the words "tearing your ministers," but managed to swallow them back just in time, changing his phrasing instead. "Isn't this also... rather inappropriate?!"

"Your Majesty, please spare that nonexistent foal of mine!" he pleaded, putting on the shameless, rolling-on-the-ground act of a rogue as he thrust out his neck and whined. "Or... perhaps Your Majesty would rather just give old Cheng a good beating with the paddleboards to vent your anger?"

"Anyway, old Cheng has thick skin and calloused flesh—I can take a beating!"

With that, Cheng Yaojin violently thumped his chest, striking the heroic posture of one about to sacrifice himself for a righteous cause.

"You!... Absurd!" Li Shimin was left momentarily speechless by this infuriating display of roguedom and nonsensical bickering. His original intention had been to use Cheng Yaojin to muddy the waters, but he had never expected this old rascal to be so impossibly difficult to deal with when acting up, spewing twisted logic that left people temporarily unable to refute him.

There stood the sovereign and his subject, right in the solemn and majestic Taiji Hall, in full view of the assembled civil and military officials, arguing fiercely back and forth over a completely nonexistent foal.

Cheng Yaojin gave full play to his verbal prowess beyond his famous "three axes," his booming voice rattling on ceaselessly. He pivoted from sovereign-subject camaraderie to the merits of warhorses, and from personal grievances to judicial unfairness, quoting classical texts intermixed with earthy slang. Though mostly fabricated on the spot, the argument grew intensely heated.

In an instant.

The grand momentum previously stirred up by the Prince of Wei’s faction—impeaching the Crown Prince and demanding severe punishment—was completely drowned out.

The entire imperial court was left echoing only with Cheng Yaojin's booming voice and Li Shimin's alternating scolds and rebukes.

The Crown Prince breaching the palace gates? The capital crime of treason?

Before this absurd "dispute over the ownership of a foal,"

all of it seemed to have been reduced to inconsequential background noise.

The officials standing below the steps wore a myriad of complex and fascinating expressions.

Many veteran ministers twitched at the corners of their mouths, desperately suppressing their smiles. Clearly, they were long accustomed to this spectacle; after all, during the Zhenguan reign, the scene of the Duke of Lu throwing a tantrum and giving the Emperor a headache was bound to be reenacted every few days—truly a perennial classic of the Great Tang court.

Meanwhile, several young officials stood dumbfounded.

Witnessing the legendary might of the "demon king who wreaks havoc on the world" for the very first time, their worldview seemed to have suffered a considerable shock.

At the front of the crowd, however, Changsun Wuji’s tightly locked brows slowly relaxed amidst this seemingly absurd sovereign-subject dispute, a flash of brilliant insight cutting through his eyes!

The hand hidden within his wide sleeves, previously clenched into a tight fist out of tension and worry with his fingernails nearly digging into his flesh, slowly loosened, even trembling slightly with excitement.

*So that’s how it is! The Emperor is truly wise!* Changsun Wuji felt a sudden clarity of mind, as if parting the clouds to see the sun. Earlier, watching his young nephew Li Tai’s exaggerated and theatrical performance, he had felt both hatred for Crown Prince Li Chengqian’s recklessness in handing others a weapon to use against him, and even greater fury at Li Tai’s vicious hypocrisy in kicking a man while he was down!

And more than anything else, there had been a profound sense of deep anxiety...

He feared that the Prince of Wei’s faction would press their advantage step-by-step under the guise of "righteousness and high principles." Amidst the surging public outrage, even if the Emperor wished to protect the Crown Prince, he might be driven into a corner where he could not back down, ultimately forcing him to issue a severe punishment...

If that truly happened, the position of Crown Prince... would genuinely be in dire peril!

Yet at this moment, Cheng Yaojin's seemingly reckless jest, coupled with the Emperor making a mountain out of a molehill and even lowering his own status to wrangle with a minister in open court, had a profound meaning that went without saying!

After all, if Cheng Yaojin could perceive this, how could he—the head of the civil officials and the Emperor's most trusted confidant—fail to see it?

The Emperor was clearly using the most direct and unquestionable manner to make his declaration.

What happened last night ends right here!

Whoever dares to tangle further is treating my patience as thin air!

Whoever continues is forcing me to accompany you all in performing this farce of a "stallion giving birth to a foal"!

The heavy boulder that had been suspended in Changsun Wuji's heart finally landed firmly in place, accompanied by Cheng Yaojin's booming "horse debate."

He lowered his eyelids slightly, concealing the lingering sense of fortune in his eyes.

In stark contrast to Changsun Wuji's current profound sense of relief,

however, were several seasoned and steady chancellors, including Fang Xuanling and Gao Shilian.

Watching the court's atmosphere shift in the blink of an eye—plunging abruptly from a grim, sorrowful tragedy into an absurd farce—their brows only knitted tighter.

While the Emperor's move temporarily suppressed the Prince of Wei faction's offensive and protected the Crown Prince, would such a child's play method of handling things leave behind even greater hidden dangers?

After all, the Crown Prince forcing his way into the palace was an undeniable fact. If they failed to provide the court and the country with a sufficiently weighty explanation and relied solely on muddying the waters to let the matter rest, it was unlikely to be a long-term solution.

The two veteran ministers exchanged a pair of worried glances, remaining silent as their inner anxieties deepened.

As for Chu Suiliang, the censor who had charged forward earlier during the impeachment of the Crown Prince with tearful, fearless zeal as the vanguard, his face had long since turned as pale as paper, devoid of a single trace of blood!

His body, which had already been prostrated deeply on the ground, was now trembling like a sieve, his forehead pressed hard against the chilling golden bricks as cold sweat poured down, soaking the collar of his official robe.

He realized that the high-stakes gamble into which he had thrown his pristine reputation and future had not only been a complete defeat, but a terribly ugly one at that—he had become the most ridiculous background prop in this farce!

The Emperor's attitude was already so unequivocal, and his own passionate, soaring performance—even willing to remonstrate with his death—was probably viewed by the Emperor as no different from a clown putting on a show!

A wave of immense terror and humiliation seized Chu Suiliang, leaving him nearly limp against the floor.

Yet, without a doubt, the person suffering the greatest shock of all was the Prince of Wei, Li Tai!

He knelt there, his body as stiff as a stone carving.

Imperial Father... Imperial Father had not taken up his cue at all!

He had not given him, nor Chu Suiliang and the others, a single word of response!

No anger, no inquiry, no pacification—only a despairing, crushing silence.

And then, this sudden, utterly absurd "dispute over a foal"?

Having gone to such meticulous lengths, willing to cast aside the dignity of an imperial prince to shed tears before all the civil and military officials, painting the Crown Prince's breach of the palace as an unforgivable treasonous crime while casting himself as a loyal, filial, and deeply anxious virtuous prince...

All of these meticulously calculated schemes and deeply invested performances now appeared, in the face of his Imperial Father's silent indifference and Cheng Yaojin's vulgar bickering, so pale, so laughable.

So... utterly worthless!

Was this merely indifference?

This was unmistakably a humiliation a hundred times harsher than a scolding!

It was silent mockery!

It was his Imperial Father telling him in the most ruthless way possible:

*Your little tricks and your ambitions—I see them clearly!*

*And your performance in my eyes is nothing more than child's play!*

*Imperial Father has no desire whatsoever to discuss last night's events ever again!*

*Imperial Father intends to protect that damned cripple!*

This realization struck Li Tai's heart like a white-hot branding iron!

Why?!

A wave of bone-gnawing, soul-consuming unwillingness bit at his entrails like a poisonous snake!

Why?!

Why was it that even when that cripple had dared to lead troops to breach the palace—an act tantamount to rebellion—an opportunity once in a millennium to cast him permanently into the abyss of eternal damnation, his Imperial Father was simply going to brush it aside so lightly?

Why had he plotted and schemed every single angle, only to end up playing the part of a buffoon?

Could it be that the position of Crown Prince, which had already seemed within his grasp, was truly going to slip through his fingertips like this?

No!

Never!