"As we all know, political struggles over imperial power in any dynasty are extremely intense and brutal."
"So, although Yin Yi was executed by Emperor Jingwu for fabricating rumors about the imperial examination, the court struggle between Emperor Jingwu and Qi Wenyuan not only did not subside but became even more fierce."
"After Yin Yi's death, Qi Wenyuan originally wanted to contact Emperor Jingwu's seventh brother, Prince Ping Yin Xin."
"But according to historical records, Yin Xin's personality had been very introverted and silent since childhood, and he even dared not speak much when meeting strangers."
"During Emperor Jingwu's reign, he even set the amazing record of not leaving his princely mansion for half a year."
"Worried about his health, Emperor Jingwu had to send imperial physicians to his mansion every week to check his pulse and make sure her seventh brother was still alive and well."
Below the Sky Canopy, Emperor Jingming had been wondering what the third fatal crisis for Yin Ning that Liu Sanqi mentioned might be.
But after hearing about Yin Xin's absurd six-month homebound record, he couldn't help but glare helplessly at Yin Xin, who was sitting below.
Emperor Jingming even began to suspect that he might have owed something to these sons in his previous life, because how could each one be so troublesome!
Yin Xin, only nineteen years old, silently lowered his head and didn't dare to speak.
Accustomed to being invisible, he only hoped that Liu Sanqi would quickly shift the topic back to Yin Ning.
He had originally just wanted to come to the palace for a meal and then quietly return to his mansion, never expecting that tonight's banquet would involve so many things.
However, Liu Sanqi seemed to find Yin Xin quite interesting after mentioning him, so she temporarily diverted the topic to him:
"The reason Yin Xin likes to stay home so much is partly due to his personality and partly related to his hobbies."
"Historical records clearly state that Yin Xin loved reading various storybooks since childhood. Therefore, after moving out of the palace at eighteen, within a few years, he had a group of落魄 literati living in his mansion,專門 writing custom storybooks for him."
"Besides reading storybooks, Yin Xin also enjoyed watching plays. Whenever he liked a storybook, he would have his mansion's theater troupe adapt it into a play and perform it for him and others in the mansion."
"Because Yin Xin's taste was excellent, every time Prince Ping's mansion produced a new play, the theater troupe masters in the capital would flock to compete to buy the scripts from him."
"Custom IP creation, drama adaptation, channel distribution—Prince Ping Yin Xin was truly nearly a thousand years ahead of our film and television industry!"
Below the Sky Canopy, Yin Xin, who had kept his eyes downcast, suddenly lit up like his dead fish eyes had been illuminated.
He still had to send people to buy storybooks from outside bookstores.
But he had already read most of the popular storybooks on the market, and recently he had been feeling a shortage of reading material.
Thinking of the custom storybooks Liu Sanqi mentioned on the Sky Canopy, Yin Xin's heart now filled with excitement and anticipation.
The Fourth Prince Yin Mu, sitting next to Yin Xin, noticed his delighted expression as if he had found a treasure and whispered to remind him:
"Seventh Brother, restrain your expression. Father is watching you!"
Hearing this, Yin Xin immediately pressed his lips together and reassumed the calm and indifferent look.
Yin Xin knew very well that his father had always been dissatisfied with his love for storybooks, considering it a waste of time.
So before moving out of the palace last year, he could only read storybooks secretly, afraid of being discovered by his father.
However, thinking that Yin Ning was Emperor Jingwu, Yin Xin felt that even if his father forbade him from hiring people to write custom storybooks, he could wait until Yin Ning ascended the throne.
Yin Xin believed that given Yin Ning's free-spirited personality, she would never interfere with his life.
"From my introduction just now, I believe you all can see that Yin Xin is truly a pure social phobic homebody."
"Qi Wenyuan wanted Yin Xin, such a recluse, to join him in political struggles, which really scared Yin Xin badly."
Liu Sanqi couldn't help but smile as she said:
"Qi Wenyuan had someone deliver a letter of alliance to Yin Xin in the afternoon, and Yin Xin ran straight to Huguo Temple that very night, saying he wanted to become a monk."
"For a royal prince to suddenly run to Huguo Temple and tell the abbot that he had seen through the mortal world and wanted to become a monk—the abbot was also dumbfounded."
"The abbot dared not directly shave his head and said he needed to seek Emperor Jingwu's decree."
"When Emperor Jingwu learned of this, she understood that Yin Xin could not afford to offend Qi Wenyuan and his faction and wanted to avoid them, so he chose to retreat to the Buddhist sanctuary of Huguo Temple."
"By the way, those haters always like to say that Emperor Jingwu is cold-blooded and cruel to her siblings, but take Yin Xin for example—our Great Emperor Jingwu was actually quite good to him."
"After learning about Yin Xin's intention to become a monk, she issued an imperial decree allowing him to practice Buddhism without shaving his head, letting him stay at Huguo Temple to pray for the well-being of the Great Jing people."
"And so Yin Xin simply moved to a place with mountains and water to continue his homebody lifestyle."
"As for Qi Wenyuan and his faction, they were naturally furious at Yin Xin's attitude of avoiding them like a plague, but they could do nothing about it because they couldn't really storm into Huguo Temple and drag Yin Xin out. That would only make them look even more foolish and give Emperor Jingwu a reason to laugh at them."
Although Yin Xin was socially phobic and withdrawn, it didn't mean he didn't care about his appearance.
So, below the Sky Canopy, hearing that he wouldn't actually have to shave his head, Yin Xin felt grateful to Yin Ning again. He even had the rebellious thought: Is his father really not considering an early abdication?
Previously, Yin Xin didn't care who sat on the throne; he felt it made no difference to him. But now, he thought that having Yin Ning as emperor seemed really good.
"However, objectively speaking, it was Yin Xin's retreat into Buddhism that forced Qi Wenyuan and his faction to resort to assassinating Emperor Jingwu."
"Qi Wenyuan had originally planned to support a puppet emperor with orthodox legitimacy, so that he could hold all power himself while using the puppet emperor as a shield."
"But the most cooperative candidate, Yin Yi, was executed decisively by Emperor Jingwu. The remaining Yin Mu and Yin Xin were unwilling to oppose Emperor Jingwu."
"Moreover, as time passed, Emperor Jingwu's influence in the court gradually grew stronger, no longer as weak as before."
"Therefore, if Qi Wenyuan and his faction didn't seize the opportunity to eliminate Emperor Jingwu early, once she truly took full control of the court, what awaited them would be a complete purge by Emperor Jingwu."
"And for an ambitious schemer like Qi Wenyuan, who could disguise himself for decades, he would inevitably have trained some deathsworn for self-protection or dirty work."
"To ensure a lethal strike against Emperor Jingwu, Qi Wenyuan specially selected a highly skilled deathsworn and placed this deathsworn, named Xiao He, as a personal maid beside Emperor Jingwu."