I became the God Brother of the Regent King after Transmigration!-Chapter 251 - 179: Utilization

Ten years ago.

"Jing’er, why can’t you win your father’s favor! Do you know that Xiao Ning and Rong Heng have already overshadowed me in the palace!

I am the queen of the harem, Xiao Ning is just a concubine, why, why!"

Su Xinyu screamed in despair in her sleeping quarters. She looked at Rong Jing’s expressionless face, picked up a jade cup beside her, and threw it at him in anger.

Rong Jing looked at his hysterical mother. Over the years, he had become used to it and was tired of it. Although he was now the Crown Prince, he still had to endure Su Xinyu’s abuse and venting.

He stood firm like a pine tree, unflinching, as the jade cup brushed past his cheek and shattered, leaving a bloody mark on his forehead.

"Why, why didn’t you dodge?" Su Xinyu asked in a daze.

Rong Jing raised his head, his narrow peach-blossom eyes slightly squinting, and said, "It is my incompetence that angers you, Mother. Are you satisfied?"

"You are the Crown Prince; how can you have injuries on your face!"

Su Xinyu hurried to Rong Jing’s side, took out a handkerchief, and wanted to wipe the wound on his forehead.

Rong Jing slightly turned his head, avoiding her hand.

Su Xinyu froze, looking at her hand suspended in mid-air, and her emotions erupted again: "Why... Rong Jing, why have you become like this now!"

Rong Jing looked at her and said calmly, "I have always been like this. Mother, are you satisfied now?"

"I am not satisfied!"

Su Xinyu’s chest heaved violently, anger coloring her already lean face with more harshness. She threw the handkerchief at Rong Jing’s face, and her slender hand held tightly onto the collar of his robe.

"The Emperor now complains every day in court that you, the Crown Prince, are not doing well and are nothing like him. How could I be satisfied? Yesterday, he even went out to see the lanterns with that little wench Xiao Ning, and he took Rong Heng with him. How can I feel at ease knowing this? Have you forgotten that when Rong Heng was three, the Emperor planned to make him a prince?"

A glimmer of shadow flickered in Rong Jing’s eyes as he asked, word by word:

"I remember, so I will keep an eye on Rong Heng to prevent him from developing ambitions against me.

But Mother, don’t you know why I am not like Father?"

Su Xinyu’s hand loosened weakly, her expression shifting, and she asked hoarsely: "Jing, Jing’er, have you learned something?"

"When I was young, you said I was not as good as Rong Shuo. You asked me to take Rong Shuo’s mother as leverage, and I did it. Now, Rong Shuo has already left the Capital City. Bearing his identity, he could never compete with me for position."

A sense of despair flitted through Rong Jing’s eyes, his voice low, like a thunder from deep within his chest.

"Later, you said my literary talent was not as good as Rong Jue’s. You secretly harmed Rong Jue’s teacher but didn’t do it cleanly, leaving me to clean up the mess. You wanted to consolidate the Su Family’s position, so I married Su Zhixue, and I did... Now, your hatred for Princess Consort Xiao and Rong Heng is nothing more than because you cannot win the Emperor’s favor!

Why am I not like them? Because I have a crazed mother, isn’t this what you taught me?"

"Rong Jing, you ungrateful son!"

Su Xinyu somehow let out a sigh of relief, but she still couldn’t control herself and slapped Rong Jing across the face.

She steadied herself, and her eyes, filled with panic, also showed a trace of disgust:

"Why make yourself sound so innocent? I made you marry Zhixue to secure your position in the Eastern Palace. I asked you to keep an eye on Rong Shuo, and you went as far as to control Consort Jia for yourself... Jing’er, you are even harsher than I am."

Rong Jing forcefully withstood this slap, yet he laughed, a laughter that made Su Xinyu uneasy.

Su Xinyu finally realized, that he was harsher than she was. He was destined to become an Emperor; why should he be limited by his birth mother in everything? Especially such a rebellious and unbearable mother?

Rong Jing remembers, from that day on, his mother never hit him again. Instead, she became cautious and tried to please him.

With a trace of blood seeping from his cracked lips, Rong Jing raised his hand, wiped it casually, and left Su Xinyu’s quarters with a flick of his sleeve.

On the way, Rong Jing’s steps grew faster and faster, his sleeves billowing in the wind. The palace attendants he passed by, upon seeing the Crown Prince’s swollen face, lowered their heads in panic.

"Crown Prince Brother!"

A clear child’s voice sounded beneath him.

In a daze, Rong Jing suddenly realized that he had unwittingly walked to the entrance of Xiaoxiang Palace.

Was it because even knowing the palace was filled with intrigue, Xiaoxiang Palace was still the warmest and cleanest place among the Six Palaces?

Rong Jing lowered his head, looking at the small Rong Heng.

Rong Heng’s face always wore a smile, as if he never had any worries.

That bright smile could illuminate the darkest heart, making one feel ashamed, yet it was so warm that he couldn’t help but want to get closer and absorb some of its warmth.

"You got it right this time." Rong Jing crouched down to align his gaze with little Rong Heng’s.

"I’m very smart," little Rong Heng said, blinking his eyes, and then asked, "Crown Prince Brother, I asked Third Imperial Brother a few days ago, and he said that Big Brother never received the fan I sent him."

Rong Jing recalled the fan he had torn to shreds and replied: "You still remember that, it was a long time ago."

"Of course, Crown Prince Brother forgot that I am the prodigy of Dayan and remember everything at a glance? I still remember that what I wrote for Crown Prince Brother was ’Humble oneself to cultivate morality, conceal brilliance to carry oneself with dignity.’

Little Rong Heng replied in his childish voice, proudly puffing up his chest.

Rong Jing lowered his eyes: "I forgot about it. The fan you gave Big Brother was lost by me."

Little Rong Heng widened his bright eyes, as if he had already guessed that the fan was not lost but that Rong Jing didn’t want to give it away.

"If it’s lost, then it’s lost. Big brother is so fierce. I don’t like big brother either, so I’m not giving him my fan."

Rong Jing narrowed his peach blossom eyes, looking at the child in front of him with a complicated expression, muttering, "How nice if you weren’t so smart."

Little Rong Heng was taken aback, raised his hand, gently touching the red mark on Rong Jing’s face from being slapped, and said:

"But if I’m not smart, I wouldn’t be able to see that Crown Prince brother is unhappy. I want everyone to be happy—Crown Prince brother, wait a minute, I’ll have Xia He get you some medicine."

Rong Jing smiled, his long, narrow eyes curving, a gentler warmth than his usual jade-like demeanor as the Crown Prince: "Thank you, Wu, I feel much better now."

...

Rong Jing gazed at the imperial edict in his hand, staring blankly at the eight characters on it.

His fingertip gently rested on it, the events from years past resurfacing in his mind, the people he had once ignored reappearing.

The same Su Family, the same Wu, could this be the hand of fate? Making him think of Rong Heng in his anger at Su Wenzhong.

After a while, he set down the edict.

The body of the palace maid he had just killed in his rage had been cleaned up.

The air lingered with a faint scent of blood, which would soon be masked by the rising ambergris.

"What orders do you have, Your Majesty?" Zhang Fengcai carefully asked as he refilled Rong Jing’s tea.

"Bring Wu here."

He thought of Rong Heng, suddenly realizing that Rong Heng was the best choice to deal with the Su Family.

This blade he held in his hand finally had a use.

Though he was reluctant to use it because, even after all these years, he was still unsure if the blade had truly acknowledged its master.

"Yes."

Zhang Fengcai acknowledged cautiously, preparing to go to Xiaoxiang Palace to call for him.

"And also..."

A trace of a dim light flashed in Rong Jing’s eyes.

Zhang Fengcai quickly turned back, silently waiting for the Emperor’s instructions.

Rong Jing pointed to the edict on the table, and said, "Investigate, find out who drafted the words on Marquis Zhongcheng’s edict."

Zhang Fengcai said, "This edict was agreed upon by the Ministry of Rites and Princess Ning’an, all just ordinary words of praise—"

"Find out whose hand each sentence originated from, one by one, especially check the relationship between Wu and Ning’an."

He could use it,

But he had to be certain,

If this edict was a coincidence or a deliberate act.

*

Soon, Zhang Fengcai brought Rong Heng to Qianyuan Hall.

"Fifth Young Master Rong, please wait a moment."

Zhang Fengcai walked in and whispered, "Your Majesty, I have brought him."

Rong Jing turned the ring in his hand, his gaze deep, asking, "Where did you find him?"

"In Xiaoxiang Palace, Fifth Young Master Rong was dining, not eating particularly well," Zhang Fengcai said, "I also asked the little eunuch at Xiaoxiang Palace, who said that Fifth Young Master usually does as he pleases and doesn’t study hard, choosing not to attend the Imperial Family school."

"Oh, who knows if Wu is just pretending?"

Though Rong Jing said this, he felt a sense of relief.

He hoped Rong Heng wouldn’t be as smart as he was as a child,

Yet he didn’t want him to be truly foolish,

Now that he seemed to have really given up on himself, it was what he most wanted to see.

After all, he still had many uses for him, with few people useful in the court, and Rong Heng was the most suitable for what he intended to do.

A moment later, Rong Jing looked at Rong Heng kneeling before him and softly said:

"Wu, I remember when you were young, you told me you wanted me to be happier."

At the corner of his eye, Rong Heng had already seen the edict on Rong Jing’s desk; he knew Rong Jing had already read its contents.

He was betting that, upon seeing those eight characters, Rong Jing would surely think of him.