City Gate, A Scholar’s Uprising Fails in Three Years

A man left unsatisfied is a frightening thing. Serena Feng certainly wasn’t foolish enough to go provoke Prince Nolan at a time like this. When Prince Nolan told her to take the carriage, she obediently did so—without the slightest resistance. She was so docile that even the guards wondered if they were seeing things.

When had Miss Feng ever been so obedient to Prince Nolan? She’d always had her own opinions—once she decided on something, no matter what Prince Nolan said, it was no use.

Serena’s cooperation put Prince Nolan in a slightly better mood. Before setting out, he had everything checked again, and once he was sure nothing was wrong, he ordered the entourage to head for the city.

Just as Prince Nolan was about to set off, a large crowd of students gathered at the city gate. Each one was burning with righteous indignation, cursing Prince Nolan for causing Chancellor Wenyuan’s death, calling him the sinner of Eastlyn.

Although the truth behind Chancellor Wenyuan’s death had already come out, many still believed the blame lay with Prince Nolan—that it was his failure to protect Chancellor Wenyuan.

Egged on by certain people, these stubborn students gathered here, demanding that Prince Nolan kneel and apologize for Chancellor Wenyuan’s death.

So many people crowding the city gate was definitely a security risk, but the gate commander acted as if he didn’t see it at all, letting the students gather and make radical speeches.

Not only did the gate commander tolerate the students stirring up trouble, he even stopped suspicious people from leaving the city—just to keep word from getting out.

Vincent Su sat upstairs in a teahouse by the gate, anxious but powerless to do anything.

It was obvious the students were being incited, but he hadn’t heard a thing beforehand. By the time Vincent realized something was wrong, it was already too late to get word to Prince Nolan.

Sigh... Not having your own people in key positions is always a headache.

Vincent Su missed the days when Dominic Zhai was in charge of the city gate—back then, getting any message out of the city was never a problem. Unlike now...

Speaking of Dominic Zhai, Vincent couldn’t help but marvel at how much trouble he could cause. They’d agreed he would go to Jiangnan for treatment, but instead, Dominic and his father ran off to Mystic Healer Valley, leaving that place truly quiet.

Quiet indeed—even the Emperor wouldn’t send anyone there.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Vincent Su. He was only worried about how Prince Nolan and the others would get into the city.

The students weren’t just cursing Prince Nolan—they were here to force him to confess and block his entry into the city.

Knowing Prince Nolan’s character, he would never bow his head to these students. But...

All these students were unarmed, and hadn’t committed any real crime. If Prince Nolan used force against them in broad daylight, the public would be outraged, and the censors would impeach him—his reputation and prestige would suffer.

But if he didn’t use force, the students probably wouldn’t let him enter the city. As for kneeling to confess—Vincent didn’t even dare imagine it.

A man who wouldn’t kneel even to the Emperor—would he kneel at the city gate to admit fault? Besides, this wasn’t a mistake you could just own up to. If Prince Nolan really confessed, he’d be marked with a stain that could never be washed away.

You had to admit, whoever orchestrated this scene was truly clever—using unarmed students to corner Prince Nolan, leaving him with no good options.

These hot-blooded but brainless students couldn’t be fought or scolded into backing down—what a headache.

"Sigh..." Vincent Su let out a heavy breath, his eyes dull as he stared at the city gate, silently praying that Prince Nolan could resolve the situation peacefully and enter the city without incident.

As Vincent hoped, Prince Nolan and Serena Feng’s carriage was drawing closer to the gate—at first just tiny black dots, but soon you could make out their shapes.

When those banners fluttered in the wind, not only Vincent Su, but even the students grew excited.

"Prince Nolan is here."

"We must make Prince Nolan kneel and confess! If he hadn’t failed to protect Chancellor Wenyuan, how could the Chancellor have died so tragically? How could we have been deprived of seeing his brilliance?"

"He’s a criminal—a criminal of Eastlyn! It was all because he failed to protect Chancellor Wenyuan. Those in power refuse to seek justice for the Chancellor, so we must stand up for justice ourselves—for Chancellor Wenyuan, for all the scholars of the world!"

"So what if he’s a royal prince? Right and wrong live in the hearts of the people. Even if he’s a prince, we’re not afraid!"

...

You had to admit, young, naive students were easy to stir up—a few words about justice and righteousness, and suddenly they were worked up like they’d been injected with adrenaline, surging out toward the city gate.

The gate commander, seeing this, quietly signaled his subordinates to let the crowd out.

The two sides met outside the gate—the road was blocked, and Prince Nolan’s carriage had to stop.

"Your Highness, there are students making trouble ahead—they’ve blocked the road." The aide stepped forward and spoke quietly through the carriage curtain.

To cause such a commotion at the gate with no officials coming to question them—clearly someone was behind this. The students were just pawns pushed out front.

"What do you think of this?" Prince Nolan opened his eyes and asked Serena Feng, who sat across from him.

Serena lazily pushed open the carriage window, listened to the students’ shouting, and said, "A scholar’s rebellion won’t succeed in three years. What can these students’ troublemaking really accomplish? All they have is their mouths—thinking they can block the road is just naïve."

Students everywhere love to play at parading and demonstrating, but what does it actually accomplish?

Even if those in power compromise for appearances in the moment, what happens afterwards?

Power rests with those at the top—this kind of tactic can’t seize it, nor can it weaken their position. Serena looked down on those who only knew how to shout.

"Serena’s got it right." A cold glint flashed in Prince Nolan’s eyes—he was ready to kill.

"Don’t go too far—there are a lot of eyes watching." Serena Feng reminded him kindly.

If you’re dumb enough to let yourself be used as a weapon, maybe a harsh lesson is exactly what you need.

Serena mourned for the poor students, but she didn’t pity them. For every general’s success, countless bones are buried. Whatever Prince Nolan set out to do, it would bring ruin and rivers of blood—and besides, not all of these people would actually die.

"The cloth we used to wrap blades last time—they’ve brought it again, just in time to put it to use," Prince Nolan said to his aide. The aide understood at once and hurried off to make arrangements.

Outside, the students saw Prince Nolan sitting motionless in the carriage, with his guards still, and assumed he was scared. Their shouting grew even louder, demanding that Prince Nolan kneel and confess.

"Kneel? They actually dare to demand you kneel. Have you been away from the Capital so long that people have forgotten who you are?" Serena found it hilarious and couldn’t help but mock.

"No matter. This time I’ll give them a bloody lesson." Prince Nolan closed his eyes, hiding his impatience.

Serena wasn’t wrong. Last time, he’d suffered a heavy loss in the Capital and hadn’t had time to recover before heading to Southlyn. His grip on the city had indeed weakened, but even so, it wasn’t something a pack of students could trample on!