Zhao Yao originally planned to go to the secret base to train dogs and cats after returning to the palace, but he didn't expect that he forgot to punish him for copying the Analects. There are only a few days left before the month-long period, and nothing is more important now than copying the Analects.

In the evening, Zhao Yao stayed directly in the Eighth Prince's house to eat. Before dinner, he had been carefully copying the Analects. The Eighth Prince has also been helping him with his copying.

At this time, Zhao Yao was having dinner with the Eighth Prince.

The eighth prince specially asked the small kitchen to make a few dishes that Zhao Yao loved to eat. Perhaps because he was tired of copying the "Analects", or because he was hungry when he went out of the city to greet the acting king, Zhao Yao lowered his head at this moment and worked hard.

Seeing that Zhao Yao ate so deliciously, the Eighth Prince's appetite became a lot better, and he ate a bowl of rice more than usual. The amount of food eaten by the Eight Emperors has always been very small, and he only eats one bowl of rice per meal. He ate little because he was hungry when he was very young.

When he was a child, his mother was not favored and was not liked by Emperor Wu of Zhou, and the people in the palace were used to falling into the ground, so they bullied their mother and son in every way, and often did not give them food. Even if they are given, most of them are gluttonous rice and vegetables.

In the past few years, although the eighth prince has been recuperating his stomach, his stomach disease is too serious to be completely cured. Fortunately, his stomach and intestines don't hurt as often as he did when he was a child, but he can't eat and drink like Zhao Yao.

Yu Hai saw that the Eighth Prince had eaten an extra bowl of rice tonight, and was worried that he would have a stomach ache in the middle of the night, so he quickly took a pill and gave it to the Eighth Prince.

The eighth prince did not refuse, so he drank the pill with the soup.

Zhao Yao looked at the Eighth Prince very sympathetically: "Starling, you can't eat more delicious food, it's really pitiful." "Alas, starlings were really pitiful when they were children.

"You can't eat too much, because it will break your stomach, and you won't be able to eat delicious food in the future."

"Starling, I'm still young, and I'm still growing my body, so I have to eat more so that I can grow taller." Although he is greedy, he will never dare to break his stomach again, otherwise his mother will punish him.

As soon as he finished speaking, he asked Yu Hai to serve him a bowl of rice.

After eating three bowls of rice, Zhao Yao was full of food and drink. In fact, he can still eat, but if he eats again, he will have to support his stomach, and he doesn't dare to eat anymore.

Although Zhao Yao said that he didn't eat, the eighth prince was not at ease. After dinner, he took Zhao Yao to the yard for a walk to eat.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I heard the faint sound of singing and laughter from a distance. Zhao Yao stopped and looked curiously in the direction where the song came from.

"Starling, third brother, what's wrong with them, why are they so interested, they are still drinking and having fun?"

"Leave them alone." The Eighth Prince frowned slightly, and said with a somewhat disgusted expression, "In the past few days, they have always been like this. ”

Yu Hai, who was waiting on the side, interjected: "Your Highness, the three princes, they start drinking and having fun every day when they come back from school, and it doesn't end until Hai Shi." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Yao looked surprised, "Third brother, they weren't like this before." "When he came to Xingde Palace before, he didn't see the third brother and them having a wine banquet to have fun.

"It's only started in the last few days."

"Could it be that because the second brother is back, the third brother is very happy?" For the third brother, it is indeed a good thing for the second brother to return to Beijing. Because the second brother is back, the third brother is easy to do.

"Perhaps." The Eighth Prince didn't know what he was thinking, and a look of disgust appeared on his face. "Tenth brother, stay away from the third brother and them in the future, don't get close to them."

Zhao Yao didn't know why the Eighth Prince said that. He shrugged his shoulders and said to the Eighth Prince: "Starling, even if I want to be close to the Third Brother, the Third Brother will not be willing to let me get close." "The third brother and the fifth brother look down on him very much." Besides, why should I approach them, they are not good. "The third brother relied on his grandfather's family to be a famous family, and he thought he was nobler than him and starling, and never took him and starling in their eyes. I'm afraid that the third brother will even look down on the second brother, after all, the second brother's grandfather's family is not a family of gate valves. The only one who is better than the third brother's maternal grandfather is the Xie family, the maternal grandfather of the crown prince and the seventh prince.

No matter how powerful the Wang family, the Xun family, and the Yuan family are, they are much inferior to the Xie family.

Hearing Zhao Yao say this, the Eighth Prince was relieved.

"Third brother, they are not good, so who do you think is good?"

Zhao Yao said without hesitation: "Of course you are the best starling." ”

When the Eighth Prince heard this, a smile appeared on his face, and he reached out and gently pinched Zhao Yao's face, "I didn't hurt you in vain." ”

"Fourth brother is fine." Zhao Yao added.

When the Eighth Prince heard this, the curvature of the corners of his mouth disappeared in an instant. He has always disliked the pretentious Four Princes, and he doesn't understand what's so good about being so serious. However, Zhao Yao likes the four princes, and he can't say anything.

"Who else is good?"

Zhao Yao snapped his fingers and said, "Mother Concubine, Second Mother Concubine, Third Mother Concubine, Fifth Sister, Mr. Xiao, as well as Tongxi and Tongle." After speaking, he saw Yu Hai and said, "There is also Yu Hai." ”

Yu Hai didn't expect him to be a good person in Zhao Yao's eyes, which made him very flattered. He hurriedly said gratefully: "His Royal Highness Xie Shi compliments." ”

"Whoever is good to me is a good person."

"I thought you hated Mr. Xiao very much, but I didn't expect you to think Mr. Xiao was a good person." The Eighth Prince was surprised.

Mr. Xiao is one of the Eight Princes' teachers. He mainly taught Zhao Yao their "Shangshu". He has an old-fashioned temperament and is very serious about the teachings of the princes. No matter who makes a mistake in class, he will criticize him harshly, even in the palm of his hand, and he is not afraid of the princes who are high in the sky.

Although Zhao Yao was the most stupid among the princes, Mr. Xiao did not dislike him as a student. On the contrary, Mr. Xiao was very patient with him. If there is something he doesn't understand, Mr. Xiao will teach him until he understands.

Mr. Xiao also often encouraged Zhao Yao and advised him not to feel inferior because he was stupid. In Zhao Yao's heart, Mr. Xiao is a very good teacher.

"Mr. Xiao is a good person, he doesn't dislike me stupid at all." In the entire palace, there are only people who don't dislike him for being stupid, except for the mother concubine and starling, only Mr. Xiao. As for the other gentlemen, although they did a good job of concealing it, he could tell that they did not like him.

"Really?" Although Mr. Xiao didn't dislike Zhao Yao for being stupid, he didn't like the Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince felt that Mr. Xiao looked down on his origins as much as everyone else.

Hearing that the Eighth Prince's tone was a little cold, Zhao Yao remembered that Mr. Xiao didn't like the Eighth Prince. He quickly changed the subject and talked about something else.

The Eighth Prince followed his words and did not say anything more about Mr. Xiao.

The two walked in the courtyard for most of the hour, and then returned to the study to continue copying the Analects.

At four o'clock, Zhao Yao left Xingde Palace with Tongxi. Halfway back to the Kunde Temple, I heard someone crying.

The road back to the Kunde Hall was a little remote, and it was a big night, and I suddenly heard a cry, and my scalp was numb when I was in Xideng.

"Your Highness, is it a person crying, or is a ghost crying?"

Zhao Yao saw Tongxi's frightened look, and teased him: "Are you afraid of ghosts?" ”

"I'm afraid...... Your Highness, let's hurry up. ”

"There are no ghosts in this world." Zhao Yao said, walking in the direction where the cry came from.

"Your Highness......" Tongxi was very scared, but he had to keep up with Zhao Yao.

Zhao Yao followed the cry and found a crying eunuch in a corner.

The eunuch turned his back to Zhao Yao and them, clasped his legs with both hands, shrunk himself into a ball, and cried very sadly, not even hearing Zhao Yao's footsteps.

"What are you crying about?" Zhao Yao asked.

The eunuch was crying, and suddenly he heard someone talking, and he was so frightened that he almost screamed. When he saw that it was Zhao Yao, he saluted Zhao Yao in a panic: "I have seen His Royal Highness the Ten." ”

By the moonlight, Zhao Yao found that the eunuch in front of him was very delicate.

"Why are you hiding here alone and crying, are you being bullied?"

The eunuch hurriedly lowered his head and said in fear: "No, no, the slave and maid are not bullied. ”

As soon as he lowered his head, Zhao Yao saw the red marks on his neck, some large and some small. It doesn't look like it's being targeted by mosquitoes, and it doesn't look like it's being pinched by a hand.

"What's your name, and from which palace?"

The eunuch knelt on the ground and did not speak.

Tongxi thought about it: "Your Highness, he is the eunuch next to the third prince." ”

"The people around the third brother?"

"He was originally a eunuch beside the five princes, and was later given to the third prince by the five princes." Tongxi introduced, "I heard that he is good at Danqing, so the third prince specially asked the fifth prince for him." ”

"You are the third brother's person, why did you come here?"

"Slave, slave and maid ......" The eunuch trembled, and he stammered a sentence and couldn't say a complete sentence.

When he saw the eunuch kneeling on the ground, his body trembled violently. Zhao Yao was slightly stunned, then he thought of something, and he asked, "Are you afraid of the third brother?" ”