Chapter 1422: Chapter 1425: The one who got hit didn’t cry, but the one who hit cried _1
But the palace was a place where secrets could not be kept, and within just a few days, everyone knew who the child was.
A child of a fourth-ranked Prefect actually came to live in the palace, which made many people dissatisfied. Even their own children, the offspring of Capital City officials, had never resided in the palace, nor had they garnered the Emperor’s attention.
There were also many speculations as to why the Emperor had brought Ye Zi’an’s child to the palace.
Was it because the Emperor favored the Third Prince? So much so that he was also fond of anyone connected to Ye Zi’an?
There was an even more outrageous rumor; it was said that Ye Zi’an was the Emperor’s son, making this child the Emperor’s grandson.
No matter the conjecture, nor the truth behind it, Lele suffered the consequences in the palace.
One of the minister’s children, a playmate of a certain young imperial grandchild, taking advantage of his higher status and stronger build, backed by the support of the young imperial grandchild, beat up Lele without question, having heard certain comments from his family. This was the first time Lele felt regret for not learning martial arts from his mother.
But he was no pushover. He might have been taken advantage of on the first day, but he went back that night and learned a few self-defense moves from Ye Er. Not only that, when the child came to the palace to cause trouble the next day, Lele charged at him and fought back. And he was fierce when fighting; threatening with a dagger in one hand, not allowing the other to move, while he pummeled with his fist in the other hand.
And that wasn’t all. After beating the boy, he immediately burst into loud crying and ran towards the Imperial Study, not forgetting to throw his little dagger into the pond on his way.
The crying was so heartfelt it left the young imperial grandson and the beaten child utterly befuddled; the beater was the one crying, not the beaten. What kind of situation was this?
"I want to go home, I want to go home!"
The Emperor, watching him cover his face and cry, couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth. If he hadn’t spent so much time with the kid, he certainly would have been dumbfounded by his pitiful appearance.
"Why do you want to go home? Aren’t you living well here in the palace?"
"They all beat me, they bully me. I don’t want to stay here anymore."
Seeing the redness and swelling at the corner of his mouth, the Emperor immediately became displeased, "Who was so bold as to hit you?"
"Your grandson hit me!" Lele said between sobs, perfectly playing the part of a child.
The Emperor was stunned. With so many sons and grandsons, how could he know who had done it?
He had the eunuchs inquire about the incident, and soon they brought two children in.
Upon seeing the children, the Emperor exclaimed in surprise, "Aren’t these Third’s kids?"
And the one behind them was from the Luo Family; it really was a case of one family fighting another.
"Grandpa Emperor, it was Ye Haoxuan who hit us, not the other way around. He’s talking nonsense," one of Baili Yan’s children complained as soon as they entered.
The Emperor glanced at them and saw no injuries on their faces, except for the Luo Family child who was holding his arm.
Lele stepped forward quietly upon their arrival, standing in front of the Luo Family child and spoke unhappily, "You’re the one talking nonsense. I’m so small, and he’s so much bigger. How could I beat him? And if I hit you, why is there no mark on your faces, but there is on mine?"
The Emperor hesitated. The words made sense; the Luo Family child was a full head taller than Lele.
"You had a dagger, that’s why my cousin was subdued by you," the Baili Yan Family child interjected again.
"You took out a dagger?" The Emperor widened his eyes in disbelief, the child’s actions were truly alarming.