The Deposed Crown Prince Holds the Entire Court's Secret History

Wu Lin was born the Crown Prince.

But his father was a rather unconventional man.

To be specific, whenever he fell in love, he would suddenly think about deposing Wu Lin. From the day Wu Lin was born until he came of age, there were no fewer than ten discussions about stripping him of his title. Nearly every two or three years, he had to fight to keep his position as Crown Prince.

Unfortunately, the ministers of the Secretariat refused to let it happen. They were quite willing to stand up to the emperor's authority, and would readily spill blood in court to protect him.

By the time he was an adult, this game of deposing and reinstating him seemed to have become an unspoken understanding between the emperor and his ministers. Enemies invaded the borderlands? Well, it must be because the Crown Prince was under an unlucky star and his new darling true love clashed with him, so he had to be deposed. The Yellow River flooded and ravaged the people? It must be because the Crown Prince harbored resentment and lacked reverence for his imperial father, so he had to be deposed. Political factions fought among themselves, and the emperor, in order to protect the realm, painfully sent his true love to the cold palace? The Crown Prince had failed to show sympathy for his imperial father, so he had to be deposed.

After all this, Wu Lin adopted a detached attitude. He lay flat and let things take their course, even asking to be confined in the Eastern Palace and surrendering his position as Crown Prince.

He was done. Whoever wanted this precarious Eastern Palace could have it, and whoever wanted to be the target of everyone's attacks could be Crown Prince. Wu Lin had given up completely. He no longer wanted to exhaust himself over this wretched title.

It was then that he obtained a heavenly book, something like a book of prophecies. It recorded, in meticulous detail, the rise and decline of the Wu imperial clan of the Great Ning dynasty. His father, whom Wu Lin had considered a foolish last emperor, was revered by later generations as the ruler who restored the dynasty. And the ministers who were always willing to spill blood in the grand hall to protect his position in the Eastern Palace all ended up in the Record of Famous Ministers of the Wu Dynasty, just as one might expect.

After reading the heavenly book from cover to cover, Wu Lin found a single note at the end, written in a tone that seemed to mock him: The Crown Prince of Emperor Shundi of Wu, deposed and dead before his time, was perhaps only a pretext for the emperor and his ministers to struggle against one another. They loved and fought each other, bringing out the best in each other, while the Crown Prince was merely the seasoning that spiced up their ruler-minister relationship.

Wu Lin: ...

So I was part of your ruler-and-minister play?

Just a tool that helped you make your names immortal?

Really? You think that's right? Ha, is that really right?

Wu Lin was so angry he laughed. Then he reread the heavenly book in his mind, and discovered that each time he flipped through it, its contents grew more outrageous, becoming increasingly bizarre and smashing his every expectation. Now his interest was thoroughly piqued.

A tool? Seasoning? If you toy with me, you'll pay for it.

Theme: Striving for a harmonious and beautiful life!