The Demon Lords

Secondly, his wife is currently in difficult labor, so at this moment, his irritable temper is understandable.

The Fifth Prince licked his lips while observing his surroundings. Recently, he had been busy making a crib and cradle for his sixth brother’s child.

But looking at the current situation, that crib might not be necessary.

He wasn’t overly concerned about the child’s safety, but rather about the effort he put into making that crib and cradle going to waste.

After all, it’s not typical for a prince to gift such items; if you give them to someone worthy, it could be considered unlucky.

The fourth prince, however, kept his head down, looking at the ground.

From his perspective, this situation was quite pleasing to him.

The Eldest Prince already has two children, but they were born to the wild people’s female slaves, making it impossible to guarantee their pure bloodline. Since the Eldest Prince couldn’t keep detailed records on the snowfield during intimacy, those two children couldn’t even carry the last name "Ji."

And now, if Ji Chengjue, with his current momentum, were to give birth to the Imperial Grandson, sigh...

In fact, since the initial defeat of the eastern expedition army and the death of the Deng Family’s patriarch, the Fourth Prince had been more low-key. But after all, as a prince, who wouldn’t want to sit on that throne?

Even knowing that he currently had no external support and lacked competitiveness, he didn’t want that position to be a foregone conclusion too early. At least, he could have a dream to hold onto at night.

But to leave now was also impossible.

The Royal Family is the most heartless, yet it requires the performance of affection more than any other family in the world.

Though the two princes had their own thoughts, they could only continue to stay there like clay idols for now.

At this moment, the Eldest Prince arrived.

The Eldest Prince had been leading troops outside, helping the Ministry of Revenue to clear out local remnants. In essence, he was facilitating local trade routes, combating not only bandits. Nonetheless, within Yan’s borders, excluding Jin land, it’s an exaggeration to say people leave things on the road without fear, but actual bandits are rare.

In the past few years of intense foreign wars, even those who climbed walls for trysts were caught by the authorities and sent to the front lines as prisoner soldiers, so bandits had no survival space. Trying to raise flags proclaiming "turfs" or "gangs" just led the local officials to sharpen their knives and conscript your able-bodied men.

What they were actually combating were "official bandits," remnants of influential families and emerging new forces seizing control of local industries or trade routes following the clearing out of these families.

Since marrying the barbarian princess, the Eldest Prince’s political situation resembled Prince Ding Xiong Tingshan of the Chu State’s Fifth Prince.

When a person no longer needs political reputation, things become much easier to handle. Although many officials reported the Eldest Prince acting wantonly with his troops outside, the Yan Emperor, upon reviewing the revenues presented by the Ministry of Revenue, simply quelled those voices.

The Eldest Prince arrived with the barbarian princess, who carried a box in her hands.

Ji Wujiang approached Ji Chengjue, wisely avoiding a foolish question like "What’s wrong?"

Instead, he straightforwardly stated, "Your sister-in-law brought a snow lotus from her dowry."

Typically, during childbirth, to replenish the expecting mother’s strength, ordinary families would prepare some brown sugar water, whereas wealthy families would prepare ginseng soup.

Ji Chengjue nodded without speaking.

His family,

does not lack this.

The Eldest Prince slowly stepped back a few paces, standing with his wife, then glanced at the fourth and fifth princes standing there.

Seeing his look, both the fourth and fifth princes approached, whispering:

"Big brother, sister-in-law."

"Big brother, sister-in-law."

The barbarian princess gave a slight curtsy to the two princes; having been in Yan for so long, she was familiar with Yan’s etiquette.

"His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, has arrived!"

The Fourth and Fifth Princes, along with the Eldest Prince, were somewhat surprised by the Crown Prince’s arrival at this time.

The Crown Prince arrived,

He looked much thinner.

After he entered, his eyes swiftly glanced over his brothers, yet he didn’t approach or move closer to Ji Chengjue, merely standing quietly on the periphery.

Ji Chengjue didn’t go to greet the Crown Prince either.

After a while, the Crown Prince’s attendant, Li Yinglian, came over, holding a box containing a fish-shaped jade.

This jade was a protective piece prepared by the palace elder when the Crown Prince was conferred his title, intended to ward off disasters and prevent misfortunes.

Since the palace elder had attained transcendence on Tianhu Mountain, this jade became a sole piece.

Ji Chengjue looked at the jade, gesturing for a palace maid to come over and place the jade under the bed in the delivery room.

Then,

Ji Chengjue turned to face the Crown Prince standing on the periphery and bowed deeply.

The Crown Prince did not return the bow; he simply sat on the steps within the inner doors, hanging his hands and lowering his head.

Just then,

"His Majesty has arrived!"

The Crown Prince, who had just sat down, didn’t move, seemingly asleep, maintaining his posture.

Nevertheless, the Eldest Prince, the Fourth Prince, and the Fifth Prince all prostrated themselves:

"Your son greets father!"

"Your son greets father!"

The Yan Emperor entered, appearing not to notice the Crown Prince seated in the corner, or perhaps noticing but not deigning to look, walking straight to Ji Chengjue and gesturing for them to rise.

Ji Chengjue did not kneel, remaining standing with his hands behind his back.

In an instant, the bodyguards and Imperial Censorate Officers borrowed by the Sixth Prince through various courier services withdrew, replaced by the Spy Bureau experts brought by Wei Zhonghe, who reset the perimeter defense.