After the emperor read her mind, the salted fish concubine effortlessly won the title of empress.

Chapter 398 A Fierce Fight

The Fourth Prince got angry as soon as he heard this. "I only helped you because you and Dongjun hate the Seventh Prince. You don't appreciate it and you even curse me. You're the one who hates me."

Xihe said, "You're annoying, you're such a nuisance! You either sleep or eat during Master's lectures. I'm going to tell Father Emperor to kick you out of the school!"

The fourth prince was terrified. "You...you...you bully me just because I'm the Empress Dowager's son! I'm older than you!"

"Fourth Prince, you're wrong. So what if you're older than Xihe? Xihe is the legitimate daughter, while you and I are both illegitimate. Hurry up and apologize to Xihe!" the Third Prince said.

The second prince glanced at him and sneered.

This fool will be ruined by his own cleverness sooner or later!

"Hmph, I won't! They're all Father's sons, why should I apologize to a mere girl!" Without his sister's care, the Fourth Prince has been having a tough time lately, struggling with his studies and harboring a lot of resentment towards Dongjun and Xihe.

"You're the one who's a brat, your whole family are brats!"

Xihe rushed forward and delivered a powerful headbutt to the Fourth Prince's protruding abdomen. The Fourth Prince was knocked to the ground and landed on his backside in the snow, shouting angrily, "Xihe has killed someone! Xihe has killed someone!"

Inside the palace, Shen Shixi was handling government affairs, and Li Yuanke was feeding water to the eleventh and twelfth children. They heard everything but didn't bother to do anything about it.

Seeing that no one paid any attention to him, the Fourth Prince was furious. Since he was in the right, he stood up and slapped Xihe across the back. The Seventh Prince, seeing this, quickly hugged Xihe in his arms, taking the blow solidly to his own back.

The Seventh Prince is like a glass doll, fragile and easily broken. One slap and he'll cough up blood.

Xihe was terrified to see a pool of blood on her peach-colored embroidered cotton-padded jacket. She pulled the Seventh Prince behind her, pleading, "Seventh Brother, don't worry about it!"

She jumped up and kicked the fourth prince, knocking him to the ground, shouting, "Brother, brother, come help!"

The other princes dared not interfere. The third prince tried to take sides, but the second prince stopped him, saying, "Third brother, are you going to bully Xihe?"

The fourth prince was four years older than Dongjun and Xihe. He was gluttonous and very large, making it difficult for Dongjun and Xihe to deal with him. Seeing that the fourth prince was even going to fight Dongjun, the ninth prince couldn't help but join the battle.

The Fourth Prince was outnumbered, and seeing this, the Third Prince gave the Eighth Prince a wink. The Eighth Prince then went to help the Fourth Prince, saying, "You're all bullying Fourth Brother, it's so unfair!"

He only plays Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu and the Eighth Prince played a game alone.

Thus, Xihe and Dongjun were no match for the Fourth Prince alone. The Seventh Prince saw that Xihe was about to be beaten by the Fourth Prince again, and tried to rush over, but he stumbled a few steps and fell to the ground, and a few more mouthfuls of blood appeared in the snow.

The palace maids and eunuchs were terrified and rushed to help the seventh prince.

"Quick, quick, go call Father and Mother! Xihe is going to... is going to... be beaten!" the Seventh Prince said.

"I'm not afraid at all!" Xihe shouted.

She angrily grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into the fourth prince's collar. The fourth prince shivered from the cold. Dongjun was also furious. Taking advantage of his trembling, she clenched her little fist and punched him in the eye.

The siblings went up together and used their considerable weight to press him to the ground, then grabbed snow and piled it into his mouth and face, burying him in the snow.

"Alright, alright, brothers, don't let this get out of hand." The second prince stepped forward to mediate, mainly because he was afraid of accidentally killing the fourth prince.

People can't breathe when buried in the snow, and it would be terrible if someone died.

The second prince quickly ordered his men to dig out the fourth prince.

Both the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince had bruises and swelling on their faces, but the outcome was still undecided, and they would have to wait for the next opportunity.

Shen Shixi came out and ordered someone to send the Seventh Prince back, to quickly summon the imperial physician to treat his illness, and then to have the Fourth Prince change his clothes.

After the exchange was completed, the Fourth Prince, acting like a villain, accused Xihe of striking first.

The Third Prince also testified, "My fourth and seventh brothers were joking around when Xihe came out and started hurling insults. She even started a fight. However, it's not right for my fourth brother to hold a grudge. Xihe is, after all, my sister. As her elder brother, you should have been more lenient with her."

Shen Shixi smiled. This third brother was tea-talking and had a big heart.

"Second Prince, you are the eldest brother, you tell me what's going on?" Shen Shixi's words were tantamount to establishing the Second Prince as the eldest brother.

The second prince was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Your subject obeys the decree. Your subject believes that the fourth brother bullied the seventh brother first and also intended to smear the Empress Dowager. Afterwards, he deliberately sowed discord between Dongjun and Xihe and the seventh brother. His intentions are malicious."

The fourth prince angrily retorted, "You're talking nonsense! I didn't! You always favor Dongjun and Xihe!"

Shen Shixi said, "Fourth Prince, would you prefer me to handle this matter, or would you prefer your father to handle it?"

The fourth prince replied without hesitation, "Your subject wishes to make the decision, Father."

Shen Shixi nodded and said, "Okay!"

Li Yuanke came out carrying a child in each arm. Fu Guang was quite obedient and just watched, while Wang Shu smiled at the Fourth Prince, which made the Fourth Prince feel challenged, so he glared at Wang Shu fiercely.

Li Yuanke happened to see it.

He flew into a rage. "You worthless wretch! As an elder brother, you have not shown the slightest bit of love or affection for your younger siblings, yet you dare to ask me to punish you? Guards, beat him severely until he admits his mistake!"

Li Yuanke still held some belief that "spare the rod and spoil the child," but this belief was only applied to his children other than his four legitimate sons.

The fourth prince was caught off guard and never expected that he would be in a worse situation than his eighth brother.

If it were the Empress Dowager who dealt with him, he might have been forced to face the wall in confinement, or at most, he would have been punished with thirty strokes of the cane. But when it came to him, it was "until he admitted his mistake."

It was the same punishment of caning, but with his pants down, the Fourth Prince's plump white buttocks were exposed in the freezing cold snow. With each stroke of the cane, the Fourth Prince knew the severity of the punishment and let out a miserable howl that almost echoed throughout the entire harem.

Jin Tao rushed back, nearly tripping over the threshold. "Lady, something terrible has happened! The Fourth Prince has been flogged! The clerks from the Imperial Prison are going all out!"

Consort Du was drinking her medicine when she vomited it all up, including several mouthfuls of blood. "Quick, quick, help me up! Help me to see someone! I need to... to beg the Emperor!"

How are we supposed to help him across? We'll exhaust him to death!

Although Consort Du was so thin she was practically skin and bones, she was still quite strong. She had no strength at all and had to be carried around, which was exhausting.

Jin Tao regretted tipping him off, but she couldn't not do it; she had taken his money and had to do his bidding.

Consort Jing, lying in bed, laughed herself to death and ordered, "Give her half of the carriage. While others die on the road, I'm waiting to see the show. By the way, how's the First Princess doing?"

While feeding her medicine, Granny Qu said, "Your Highness should just focus on taking care of your health. The eldest princess is quite restless, and with the people from the Prince of Xun's residence stirring things up, there's more to come."

After drinking the medicine, Consort Jing said, "Yes, I will die after that vile woman no matter what. I'll live as long as I can. After she dies, I'll go to the underworld and tell her about the good things her children did. Let's see if she'll be happy then!"

"I am relieved that Your Majesty thinks this way."

Consort Jing held Granny Qu's hand, "It's just that you've suffered so much, Granny. All these years, you haven't had a single day of peace because of me."

"It's good as it is now!" Granny Qu said with a smile through her tears.

Quan Degui came in to report, "Your Majesty, the Seventh Prince was injured by the Fourth Prince and vomited blood."