My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Li Chen chuckled and didn't even move his buttocks.

"What? You want to put on airs like a Tang Dynasty emperor in my courtyard?"

He put down his teacup and lightly tapped the table with his right index finger.

"Sizzle!"

A burst of purple-white lightning exploded without warning at his fingertips, the terrifying heat instantly charring a corner of the table. The shrill roar of the lightning echoed in the small room, piercing the eardrums.

"Why don't you try and see if your mouth, as the emperor, is harder, or if my imperial seal is harder?"

Li Shimin's breath hitched for a moment, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The destructive aura contained within that bolt of lightning made the hairs on his body stand on end.

"His Majesty!"

Empress Zhangsun quickly threw down the towel, grabbed Li Shimin's sleeve, and pulled him down with all her might.

She turned her head to look at Li Chen, her smile revealing a deep sense of helplessness and doting affection.

"Chen'er, your father is just stubborn. He only cares about Chengqian. Just give your mother some face and don't hold it against him."

Li Chen glanced at Empress Zhangsun, and the lightning at his fingertips vanished into thin air with a "whoosh".

"Alright, the Empress has a lot of influence."

Li Chen rolled his eyes, his gaze sweeping contemptuously over Li Shimin, who had sat back down in his chair, his chest still heaving violently.

"I won't argue with a henpecked husband."

Li Shimin's face instantly turned bright red. He pointed at Li Chen's nose, unable to utter a single word for a long time. He coughed twice, then abruptly turned his head and stared at the corner of the wall.

"Hmph. I...I am magnanimous and will not hold it against you today."

Li Chen ignored him and turned to look at Li Chengqian, who was shivering under the covers.

"Want to get treatment for your leg?"

Li Chengqian suddenly raised his head, his lifeless eyes bursting with an astonishing light, and nodded frantically.

"Can."

Li Chen extended two fingers and tapped them on the table.

"For half a month, you've been living in this dilapidated courtyard."

Li Chengqian was stunned, and Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun were also taken aback.

"Listen carefully." Li Chen's voice was icy cold. "For the past two weeks, you haven't been the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. There are no eunuchs to help you dress, no palace maids to serve you tea and water."

"If you want water, go to the backyard, chop wood, start a fire, and boil water yourself."

"If you want to eat, go wash the vegetables and rinse the rice yourself."

"Every day at midnight, I will use my true energy to cleanse your meridians. Whether I can completely cure you is another matter, but as long as you follow my rules, after half a month, you will be able to throw away your crutches and walk normally, and you won't die."

Li Chen leaned forward, staring into Li Chengqian's bloodshot eyes.

"If you can't do it, then get back to your Eastern Palace right now."

Li Chengqian's hands trembled, and the bowl of hot ginger soup fell directly to the ground and shattered. The ginger-yellow soup splashed onto his trouser leg, but he was completely unaware.

He threw off the quilt, dragged his crippled right leg, and knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the blue bricks hard.

"I'll do it! I'll do anything to heal my leg!"

……

the next day.

The torrential rain that had lasted for three days and three nights finally stopped. The heavy clouds were blown away by the wind, and sunlight pierced through the gaps in the clouds, shining into the moss-covered courtyard of the side hall.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of earth and moisture.

Beside the woodpile in the corner of the yard.

Li Chengqian was dressed in an extremely rough linen outfit. The clothes were clearly not tailor-made for him, and they looked rather loose on him.

He held a rusty wood-chopping axe in his hand, his right leg slightly bent, and he placed his entire weight on his intact left leg.

"call……"

He took a deep breath, raised the axe high with both hands, aimed at a thick log on the ground, and chopped it down hard.

"Bang!"

The axe veered off course by a full three inches, grazing the bark of the log before slamming into the mud beside it. The deafening recoil force swept back along the wooden handle, instantly robbing Li Chengqian of his strength, tearing a bloody gash in the web of his hands.

He stumbled, his injured leg unable to support his weight, and he fell backward onto the wood chips and mud.

Sweat mixed with mud smeared all over his once pampered face.

He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

Under the corridor not far away.

Li Chen lay on the rocking chair, holding a plate of purple grapes he had taken out of his storage bag. He peeled one, threw it into his mouth, and chewed it, letting the juice spill out.

Little Sizi sat on a small stool to the side, resting her chin on her hands, watching curiously as her elder brother, the Crown Prince, struggled in the mud.

Li Chengqian gritted his teeth, used his hands to support himself on the ground, and struggled to his feet again. Without even wiping the blood from his hands, he bent down once more to pick up the heavy wood-chopping axe.

Once, twice.

The axe missed its mark time and time again, and he fell down again and again.

A full hour.

When he finally split a piece of firewood in two with his axe, he was completely exhausted and slumped down against the woodpile behind him.

His rough linen clothes were completely soaked with sweat and clung tightly to his body. Looking at his hands, which were covered in blisters and blood, he suddenly and abruptly grinned and laughed silently.

There were no groups of Ministry of Rites officials from the Eastern Palace watching his every word and action.

There was none of the suffocating, expectant gaze of her father.

This extreme physical exhaustion actually made him feel an unprecedented sense of relief, as if a thick and suffocating hard shell had been shed.

He wiped the sweat from his face and turned his head away.

The gaze passed through the courtyard and landed on Li Chen, who was leisurely eating grapes.

The smile on Li Chengqian's face slowly faded. A deep sense of confusion, and a desperate search, flashed in his eyes.

He used the axe handle to support himself and stood up.

"Sixteenth brother."

Li Chengqian's voice became hoarse from thirst.

"If...if my leg really is healed in half a month."

He stared intently into Li Chen's eyes.

"In my original future, would I still die? Who did Father ultimately choose?"

Under the corridor.

Li Chen stopped peeling the grapes.

The crystal-clear purple grape hung in mid-air, less than half an inch from his lips.

He slowly turned his head, his dark pupils locking onto Li Chengqian's mud-covered face. With a slight squeeze of his fingertips, the plump grape burst open, and the purplish-red juice dripped from between his fingers onto the ground.