Ever since he was taken in as Imperial Tutor Jiangs disciple, Jing Chen had learnt a lot more things during his spare time. What Imperial Tutor Jiang wanted to give him were not only the skills of how noblemen handled matters but also the skills of how an emperor governed a country.

He was like an absorbent sponge that would never become fully saturated, constantly taking in new knowledge. Yet, he was also akin to an unpolished gem, slowly being carved into precious treasure.

The Imperial Tutor had warned Jing Chen that before he would gain absolute strength, retreating was also considered advancing. He had advanced too quickly and had already attracted the unwanted attention of his brothers as well as the forces backing them up, so Jing Chen had to sheathe his sharp edge away and began to learn how to keep a low profile.

He learned to become mediocre and no longer scrambled for first place for everything. Each day, apart from class time, he would go back to his quarters and quietly stay behind closed doors. Over time, the admiration that people had towards him gradually turned into disappointing sighs, he had become yet another ignored prince.

Concubine Rong caught wind of this and called him over to admonish him a few times, but Jing Chen merely responded with shallow promises, temporarily appeasing her. But once he turned around, he simply resumed his usual attitude, angering Concubine Rong into breaking several good cups.

However, now that Jing Chen was older, she didnt dare punish him blatantly, so she could only set her sights on other, more useful people for the time being.

As for Jing Chen, he began to feel more at ease.

Other than completing the schoolwork assigned by Imperial Tutor Jiang every day, Chu Jiao was the only one he mingled with. The display of his utter lack of ambition completely baffled Chu Jiao on how he was able to become the emperor in the future.

However, after a long time had passed, when Chu Jiao came across the private idle chats of some court eunuchs, she finally realized that the youth was merely putting on a facade of only knowing how to eat and laze around all day.

The Fourth Prince had suddenly fallen down from his horse on the certain day that he was doing equestrian archery and had suffered significant fractures, which took half a year to completely heal; the Fifth Princess had broken the Longevity Picture the emperor had intended to present to the empress dowager and was consequently punished with house arrest for three whole months; the matter of the Third Prince sneaking out of the palace had also been discovered by the emperor, evoking the emperors suspicion.

Apart from Yun Wan, who had not been called into the palace as of late because the princess was not allowed to set a foot outside, all the people involved in Chu Jiao getting injured that day had all received just retribution.

Nobody would have guessed that the main culprit sneakily acting behind the scenes was Jing Chen. Inside the palace, flogging a small eunuch was but an insignificant matter. Moreover, this incident had happened nearly half a year ago, so it was hard for anyone to recall the small matter at all.

Only Yun Wan managed to garner a faint conjecture that these were the hidden workings of the Sixth Prince.

After overhearing the conversation between Imperial Tutor Jiang and the Sixth Prince that day, she made a bold resolve.

She was an ambitious woman from the start, who was unwilling to stay in the mere rear court. She desired power. Her father Marquis Weiyuan, relied on the meritorious achievements he had accumulated as the emperors minister all the way up until now, and currently, they were thriving. However, her brothers also seemed like mud that couldnt support the wall1The mud that cant support the wall refers to being useless., so she thought that it would be best to make plans for herself early on.

Even though the Fourth Prince was also an older cousin from her maternal side, he was far too reckless and unbearable. She originally thought that the Third Prince was not half-bad, but now that she had observed the Sixth Princes nature, Yun Wan even felt that this son was an object worth profiteering off of.

So what if he looked unsightly?

Yun Wan remembered those little sisters who admired beautiful appearances, every single one of them had desired to be part of a pair of ideal lovers. She carefully stroked her face in the mirror, curling her lips up slightly. No matter how good ones appearance was in this world, it will still suffer the passage of time and grow old day by day. By then, their beloveds will grow resentful, so wasnt it better to hold power instead? At least it was something that will never betray you.

Moreover, it was not as if she hadnt seen the other side of the Sixth Princes face when she was younger. Even though it still disgusted her, as long as it was covered, she could still bear with it.

This son was favored by Imperial Tutor Jiang, and his character was also quite shrewd. In her point of view, he was a strong candidate to become the next emperor.

Now that a secret dragon was hiding in the abyss, it was a great time to show goodwill.

*

Once the Fifth Princesss house arrest was lifted, Yun Wan was called into the palace once again.

She deliberately found an excuse to separate with the Fifth Princess after class had concluded and ran into Jing Chen, who was about to return to the Autumn Dusk Palace, with Chu Jiao closely following behind him.

[Completed]