"Father, I know I was wrong."
Seeing the fourth prince coming in reluctantly and then kneeling down on the ground with his head down, the emperor couldn't help but chuckle, and then looked at the third prince. He saw that his son, who always spoke slowly and hesitated for a while when encountering things, was particularly decisive in pleading for his brother, but for the first time in his life, he did not kneel down with him.
But the next moment, the Third Prince took a step forward, bowed deeply and asked, "Father, I don't understand."
The emperor's smile deepened: "What don't you understand?"
"I don't understand why the emperor chose me." The confusion he had just felt along the way suddenly turned into clarity. Therefore, the Third Prince did not stutter, but spoke in a very organized manner. "I don't understand even more why the emperor let my fourth brother see and hear you talking to those ministers even though he knew that he was impulsive and reckless."
"And they let him escape from the palace, allowing him to rush directly to Jiuzhang Hall and say those words in public!"
The words that had been suppressed in his heart from the beginning, but eventually floated up his throat unconsciously through his chest, were finally spoken out directly at this moment. The third prince felt relieved and just let it go: "I am timid and young, and I have not had the opportunity to show much talent..."
"You also said that it's because you don't have the opportunity to show your talent, not because you don't have talent." The emperor easily caught the loophole in the third prince's words and interrupted him directly, then said calmly, "As for your timid personality, you may have been a little bit timid in the past, but since you and Silang went to Zhang Shou's lecture, not only has your personality become much more cheerful, but also..."
The emperor paused, then suddenly stood up by pushing the armrest, but ignored the Third Prince who was still bowing, and stretched out his arms to pick up the Fourth Prince from the ground. He grabbed his youngest son and put him on the throne, and without saying anything, he slapped him twice on the buttocks.
As expected, the fourth prince, who had been beaten more often since he was a child, immediately howled: "Father, spare my life. I know I was wrong and I will never dare to do it again. Third brother, save me!"
The Third Prince finally couldn't bear it any longer. He rushed forward and threw himself on the Fourth Prince, biting his lip and saying, "Father, since you deliberately let Fourth Brother see that scene and let him leave the palace, why did you hit him! He was only thinking about me... But I, I was not mentally prepared at all!"
Seeing that the Third Prince finally made up his mind and broke the window paper, but did not say that he did not want to be the Crown Prince, or that he was not worthy of being the Crown Prince, the Emperor's remaining trace of worry finally disappeared. He looked at his two sons who were stacked like a pyramid, and suddenly grabbed the Third Prince like an eagle catching a chick and threw him to the ground, followed by the Fourth Prince.
When he saw the Fourth Prince hiding directly behind the Third Prince again, he clapped his hands and said, "Although I have released the news, the most important thing is still you. Think carefully about whether you want to be the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. If you want to be one, how to be one, what to do now, and what to do in the future. And..."