CHAPTER 254: CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX

In Xingde Palace, the Eighth Prince stood by the window, gazing into the distant sky.

At this moment, Yu Hai walked in, bowed, and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty and the others are already on their way back to the palace."

The Eighth Prince did not turn around, and asked indifferently, "How are things progressing?"

"Everything is going very smoothly according to plan." Yu Hai said, an involuntary look of worry appearing on his face, "Your Highness, is it really okay?"

"What?"

"I still feel that the assassination attempt on the Third Prince and them was too risky." Yu Hai was vaguely uneasy in his heart, "Our people confessed that they were instructed by the noble families from Yangzhou, but will His Majesty believe it?"

The Eighth Prince chuckled lightly, "Father, of course, won’t believe it."

Yu Hai was shocked by these words, "Then are you still sending people to assassinate the Third Prince and them? Aren’t you afraid that His Majesty will find out it was you?" What on earth is His Highness thinking, knowing full well that His Majesty won’t believe the noble families from Yangzhou were behind it.

"Father won’t find out about me," the Eighth Prince said very confidently, "Besides, my purpose is not to blame the fools from Yangzhou."

"Then what is your purpose?"

The Eighth Prince raised the corners of his mouth and smiled enigmatically, "You’ll know in due time."

Seeing the Eighth Prince’s refusal to speak, even if Yu Hai’s curiosity was piqued, he dared not ask any further. However, he still felt uneasy in his heart.

"Your Highness, will His Majesty really not find out about you?"

"He won’t." The Eighth Prince turned around and smiled reassuringly at Yu Hai, "Rest assured, I would never put myself in danger."

"You said before that you sent people to assassinate the Third Prince and them for fun." Yu Hai, who had served the Eighth Prince since childhood, could somewhat guess his thoughts before, but now he found it increasingly difficult to do so.

"For fun," the Eighth Prince said with a smile, "It will get more fun later on, just wait and see."

Seeing the smile at the corner of the Eighth Prince’s mouth, Yu Hai suddenly felt his scalp tingle, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart.

"Your Highness, you wouldn’t be plotting something, would you?"

The Eighth Prince turned away, looking out the window with an amused look, "I’m just adding some firewood to make this fire burn a bit brighter."

"Fire?" Yu Hai looked puzzled, "What fire?"

The Eighth Prince did not answer Yu Hai’s question, but smiled and said, "The Tenth Brother is coming back soon, have the kitchen prepare some snacks."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Before noon, Zhao Yao and the others returned to the palace.

Fortunately, Liang Zhaoyi and the others made some dumplings in the morning, so they had dumplings for lunch at Kunde Hall.

After lunch, Zhao Yao took the fox fur and rabbit fur, as well as deer meat and rabbit meat to find the Eighth Prince.

"Eighth Brother, I’m back."

Before Zhao Yao arrived, his voice had already reached inside.

Hearing Zhao Yao’s cheerful voice, the Eighth Prince’s mood improved instantly.

"Your Highness, you really predicted it right, as soon as the Tenth Prince came back, he came to find you."

"Go bring over the prepared snacks."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Eighth Brother, I brought you some good stuff." Zhao Yao bounced in.

"What good stuff?"

Tong Xi stepped forward, first saluting the Eighth Prince, then presenting several pieces of fox fur, rabbit fur, and wolf skin before the Eighth Prince.

Zhao Yao proudly introduced to the Eighth Prince, "Eighth Brother, these fox and rabbit skins I hunted. I’m giving them to you to make clothes."

"You hunted them?" The Eighth Prince was somewhat surprised, "You even hunted a wolf?" Then, a look of nervous concern appeared on his face, "Did you get hurt?"

"Eighth Brother, I wasn’t hurt." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "This wolf wasn’t hunted by me, it was hunted by Father and the others. Let me tell you, yesterday Father encountered a pack of wolves at the hunting ground..."

Zhao Yao chattered about what happened yesterday at the hunting ground to the Eighth Prince, including the matter with Qin Xiulian.

"Oh right, the Empress brought that Qin Xiulian back to Zhao Yang Palace to take care of her."

"Such a thing happened?" The Eighth Prince feigned a look of shock.

"That Qin Xiulian is very beautiful, as beautiful as Noble Princess Consort Rong." Zhao Yao continued, "Oh, and Third Brother and Fifth Brother were ambushed in the morning while hunting."

After Zhao Yao finished speaking, he deliberately observed the Eighth Prince’s expression. The Eighth Prince frowned with a heavy expression, "How did Third Brother get ambushed?"

Eighth Brother’s acting is really good.

"I don’t know, Third Brother and they were seriously injured, so we came back early." Zhao Yao said, "Third Brother still hasn’t woken up yet."

"As long as you’re safe, it’s fine." The Eighth Prince didn’t care much about the injuries of the Third Prince and the others.

"Eighth Brother, I also brought you some deer meat." Zhao Yao said proudly, "Eighth Brother, I hit this deer in the morning, and it’s very fresh." During the two days of spring hunting, Zhao Yao only hit this one deer.

The Eighth Prince praised generously, "For your first spring hunt, you hit a deer, that’s impressive!"

Zhao Yao smiled brightly, "Isn’t it? I also think I’m very impressive."

Seeing Zhao Yao’s smug look, the Eighth Prince couldn’t help but show a smile as well.

"Eighth Brother, I had it sliced and had the Imperial Chef marinate it, you can eat it directly tonight." Zhao Yao opened the two large food boxes that Tong Xi brought, filled with neatly sliced deer meat, "Eighth Brother, deer meat is very nourishing, you should eat more. By the way, there’s also deer antler."

Zhao Yao said, taking out a plate of sliced deer antler from the food box, "Eighth Brother, you can stew soup with deer antler, it will help your body recover."

"You didn’t keep any for yourself?"

"I did, I kept half."

"In that case, I won’t be polite and will accept it."

"I meant to give them to you, Eighth Brother." Zhao Yao saw that the Eighth Prince’s complexion looked much better and asked with concern, "Eighth Brother, have you recovered a lot, can you walk around for long periods now?"

"Tomorrow, I can go study."

"Really?" Zhao Yao asked with a face full of delight, "Eighth Brother, you can really go study tomorrow?"

"Yes, the wound has healed, so there’s no issue with studying." The Eighth Prince said with a smile.

"Eighth Brother, do you really not need to recuperate for a while longer?"

"No, being cooped up in the room every day is very stuffy." The Eighth Prince said seriously, "If I don’t go study, I’ll forget all the things I learned before."

"Eighth Brother, you’re lying. You could never forget what you learned before." Zhao Yao pointed to the book in front of the Eighth Prince and said, "You’ve been reading every day during your recuperation."

"Why, can I accompany you to study, aren’t you happy?"

"I am, I’m very happy, but Eighth Brother, I still hope you can recuperate more, until your body fully recovers before going to study."

"No need, being able to walk around now means my body is fine."

"Since you’re going to study tomorrow, Eighth Brother, come to Kunde Hall in the morning and have vegetable dumplings with me." Zhao Yao said, "Mother Consort and I picked a lot of wild vegetables at the hunting ground, and the dumplings with wild vegetables are very delicious, you must try them."

"Okay, I’ll come to Kunde Hall for the wild vegetable dumplings tomorrow."

Zhao Yao continued talking about the happenings at the hunting ground, making the Eighth Prince laugh non-stop.

"Who are those Xiao Pang and the others you mentioned?" The Eighth Prince asked deliberately.

"Oh, I forgot to mention to Eighth Brother, I met four friends when I was on break from the palace..." Zhao Yao explained in detail how he met Chu Huan and the others to the Eighth Prince.

After hearing Zhao Yao’s words, Yu Hai thought to himself with a wry smile: His Highness was really right, the Tenth Prince truly forgot!