In front of the Eldest Prince, Emperor Xuanwu had appeared utterly heartless.
But once the prince had left, Emperor Xuanwu sat alone within the command tent, and his expression gradually turned desolate.
He himself had walked the treacherous road of imperial succession, a path paved with bones. No one understood better than he the cruelty and ruthlessness of royal bloodlines.
The late emperor had been well-versed in imperial power plays. In his old age, he grew increasingly suspicious of his outstanding sons. Just like raising venomous insects, he would support one today and suppress another tomorrow, eventually inciting conflict between all of them.
Out of thirteen blood brothers, only the two youngest lacked any real competitiveness. In the end, of the remaining eleven, only Emperor Xuanwu had survived.
Because he had lived through it, he was determined not to let his sons repeat the path he once took.
When the second prince, born of the empress, was just a newborn, he had overridden the court's objections and directly established him as Crown Prince.
In the years since, he had never shown the slightest hint of wavering in his decision—not before his sons, nor before the ministers.
He had thought that, having made such clear intentions, the others would no longer harbor any ambitions they ought not to have.
But in the end, the Eldest Prince still struck at the Crown Prince.
Emperor Xuanwu remained unmoving in his seat for a long time.
Only when his body had grown stiff from sitting did he finally collect his thoughts and call for Li Dehai.
"Clean all this up, and also…"
His gaze swept across the broken fragments of a porcelain incense burner on the floor. He paused for a breath, then said, "Bring back the previous incense burner."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Although Emperor Xuanwu now appeared calm, Li Dehai handled the shards with extreme caution, afraid that even the slightest misstep might provoke the Emperor's displeasure.
He was determined to fulfill every order to perfection, leaving no room for criticism.
And yet—
"What did you just say?!"
Hearing the report from the palace maid, even Li Dehai's voice cracked slightly in his attempt to keep it low.
"Didn't I tell you to store that incense burner away with the other miscellaneous items? How did the Fifth Princess and Sixth Prince get their hands on it?"
"I do not know, Your Grace."
The palace maid was but a menial servant, unaccustomed to such situations and lacking the experience to handle them. The moment she learned that the incense burner had been taken by the Fifth Princess and Sixth Prince, she had rushed to report to Li Dehai.
Receiving no useful answer from her, Li Dehai could only steel himself and return to the imperial tent.
"Your Majesty, the maid I sent to retrieve the incense burner just reported that it has been taken by the Fifth Princess and the Sixth Prince."
He hesitated, then asked carefully, "Shall We...?"
"What would those two want with Our incense burner?"
Emperor Xuanwu frowned, surprised.
The Simulation Life Selection System had warned him before that he would lose his favorite incense burner. To avoid that outcome, he had specifically ordered a replacement.
And now that replacement had already been shattered. By all reasoning, the omen should have been averted.
Could it be that the system was truly that accurate? That no matter how he tried to intervene, the result could not be changed?
With no desire to look at the stack of trivial memorials before him, Emperor Xuanwu suddenly felt a flicker of curiosity. He decided to personally investigate what Yun Shu and Yun Chuhuan were doing.
The distance between their tents was not far. Emperor Xuanwu walked there himself and waved off the young eunuch who had stepped forward to announce his arrival.
As he lifted the curtain and stepped inside, a peculiar aroma of food immediately rushed to greet him.
His youngest son was seated at the table, sweating profusely while eating, and his daughter was moving her chopsticks at lightning speed.
Yet what truly caught the Emperor's attention—
The round table before them was covered with raw meat.
"How are your attendants doing their jobs? How could they allow raw meat to be served at the table of the Fifth Princess and Sixth Prince?!"
Emperor Xuanwu's brows knitted tightly, startling all the attendants outside into kneeling on the ground.
Only when Yun Shu and Yun Chuhuan heard his voice did they realize their Imperial Father had come. Both quickly set down their bowls and stood up.
"Father Emperor, what brings you here?"
Yun Shu asked instinctively. Noticing his gaze fixed on the table full of raw meat, she quickly added,
"This has nothing to do with the attendants. My younger brother and I are eating hotpot. You need fresh, raw meat placed directly into the pot to make it taste right!"
"Hotpot?"
Emperor Xuanwu echoed the unfamiliar term. His eyes finally left the raw meat and shifted to the steaming pot at the center of the table.
The moment he saw it, he fell silent.
That pot, once pristine white, was now blackened from the fire at its base. Was it not the very incense burner he had been searching for?
He had taken such care to save it from being shattered, only to find that it had been roasted over an open flame... and used to boil meat?
He would rather it had been smashed outright.
Who in their right mind would use a proper incense burner for hotpot?!
For the first time in his life, Emperor Xuanwu found himself completely speechless.
Perhaps his silence had stretched too long, for even Yun Chuhuan, who was not the brightest, sensed that something was off with their Imperial Father.
He exchanged a quiet glance with Yun Shu, then nudged her gently with his shoulder, his eyes clearly urging her: Fifth Sister, say something!
Yun Shu: Say what?
Yun Chuhuan: If I knew, I'd say it myself!
Yun Shu: …
Fine. She would take responsibility this time. She felt a little guilty always letting Yun Chuhuan take the blame anyway.
She had a conscience, after all.
Giving herself a quiet mental pat on the back, Yun Shu tentatively offered,
"Father Emperor… would you like to try some?"
Emperor Xuanwu: "…"
Try what?
Try the meat that had been cooked in his most cherished incense burner?
Expressionless, he gave Yun Shu a long look, then walked forward and sat down at the table.
Seeing this, Yun Shu hurried to fish out the pieces she and Yun Chuhuan had placed in earlier but had yet to eat, personally presenting them to the Emperor.
"Please, Father Emperor, try this first!"
"What is this…"
Truth be told, Emperor Xuanwu was rather put off by the sight of it.
In the palace, every dish presented to him was not necessarily the most delicious, but it was always the most visually exquisite.
What Yun Shu handed him now… he could not even tell what it was supposed to be.
But the smell was undeniably enticing.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Emperor Xuanwu picked up his chopsticks and took a bite.