Chapter 76: Liu is having an affair with someone?

Emperor Showa put down the wine glass in his hand, his eyes fell on Prince Ming, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

"Prince Ming's wife has been dead for many years. I should have arranged for you to marry a successor. I wonder which girl your brother has chosen?"

Prince Ming stood up from his chair and swept his cloudy eyes over the noble ladies in the hall.

Those noble ladies from aristocratic families immediately lowered their heads, fearing that they would be chosen by this old man.

His eyes scanned the women around him, and finally landed on Su Yuheng.

Su Yuheng held a glass of wine, with the corners of his lips slightly raised, looking determined to win.

Sure enough, this idiot Liu Jinshu didn't even know whose handwriting he was stealing.

Before she could think about it, she heard the voice of Prince Ming Lao Chen entering her eardrums.

"This humble young man has a crush on a girl and has already pledged his life to her. However, her status is special, so I'm afraid the marriage still needs the decision of my royal brother and father."

Upon hearing this, the emperor put down the wine glass in his hand and looked at him meaningfully.

"I wonder who Yu Chen has his eyes on?"

Prince Ming grinned, took out a letter from his sleeve, and slowly opened the letter paper. Inside was a mandarin duck handkerchief and a letter.

"This item was given to me by the maid of the Su family. She said she has loved me for a long time. I used it as a token of my love and promised to spend my life with her."

"The Su family?" The queen on the high throne frowned.

"If I remember correctly, the Su family has two daughters. The eldest, Su Yuhuan, has been promised to Xiao Ce, the prince of Huainan. Only the fourth, Su Yuheng, has not yet been promised."

"Could it be that the letter and handkerchief in your royal brother's hand belong to the fourth young lady of the Su family?"

Prince Ming said: "Indeed."

The Queen snorted coldly: "The fourth daughter of the Su family is indeed a stunning beauty. You and Jing Che both asked the Emperor to promise her to you at this birthday banquet."

"I just want to ask Miss Su Si, you just said that you have someone you like, is it..."

Su Yuheng put down the wine glass in his hand, slowly stood up from the chair, walked to the center of the lobby and knelt down.

"Your Highness, the Queen, the man I'm attracted to is not His Royal Highness Prince Ming. His Royal Highness Prince Ming is a powerful figure, and I can't reach him."

"Oh? What about the letter and handkerchief in Prince Ming's hand?"

"It's not mine." Su Yuheng said firmly.

As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Jinshu and Prince Ming's expressions suddenly changed.

Prince Ming was somewhat displeased: "This letter was written by Miss Su herself, and this handkerchief also belonged to Miss Su. Miss Su used these two things to secretly pledge her life to me. How can you deny it now?"

Su Yuheng smiled and said, "Did this servant personally hand this item over to His Royal Highness Prince Ming?"

Prince Ming said: "Of course not."

Su Yuheng: "That's right."

"Your Highness Prince Ming, just because you used these two things, you're saying that I and you secretly gave and received something, and secretly got married. I'm afraid this will ruin my reputation."

"Since these two items are from the Su family, I ask Her Majesty to investigate."

The Queen's eyes fell on the two things in Prince Ming's hands and she said, "Miss Su has always been polite and would not do such a thing as giving something to someone privately."

"Royal brother, present these two things in your hand to me for a look."

"I remember that Miss Su wrote a lot of poems at the Spring Festival banquet a year ago. I remember it clearly. If it is Miss Su's handwriting, I will have someone retrieve the items from previous years and compare them one by one to find out."

As soon as the Queen finished speaking, a young eunuch walked up to Prince Ming and presented the mandarin duck handkerchief and the letter in Prince Ming's hand to the Queen.

The queen picked up the letter, glanced at the contents, and then began to read.

'I fell in love with you the moment I saw your face, and the stars and the moon shine together every night.

The smile between the eyebrows is as warm as the spring breeze, and the fragrance of poetry under the sleeves is as deep as ink.

I often hope to receive a letter from brocade and send it to the wild geese, and occasionally I send red beans to the jade harp.

I wish to be an evergreen pine or cypress, leaning against the forest day and night.'

After the queen finished reading word by word, the sound of whispering in the hall was heard again.

Some ladies even covered their mouths and laughed.

"This love poem is a good poem," said the queen.

"It's just that this handwriting doesn't look like Miss Su's."

"I remember that Miss Su's handwriting is as beautiful as she is, elegant and graceful, with a strong yet flexible stroke."

"But the handwriting on this letter is very illegible and the strokes are not steady."

As soon as the Queen finished speaking, Liu Jinshu frowned.

She remembered that she took the Buddhist scriptures from Su Yuheng's room when she went to Princess Chaoyang's mansion.

Those Buddhist scriptures were copied by her personally, how could they not be in her handwriting?

When she thought of the poems she had stolen at the Spring Banquet, she suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Is this impossible?" Prince Ming frowned.

"But this handkerchief is undoubtedly Miss Su's."

The Queen took the handkerchief and glanced at it, then looked at Su Yuheng, "Miss Su Si, is this handkerchief yours?"

Su Yuheng looked at the handkerchief in the queen's hand. Two mandarin ducks were silhouetted against the white handkerchief, and her name was embroidered below.

She took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, I have never had this handkerchief before, but it looks very familiar. I have seen it at the Su family."

"Could it be that someone wants to use these two things to frame me and ruin my reputation?"

At the men's table, Huo Xingzhi held a wine glass and looked meaningfully at Su Yuheng in the hall.

He said, "Mother, since this handwriting isn't Miss Su's and it's from the Su family, why don't we have the women from the Su family here today copy down this poem and compare them one by one?"

"However, in order to prevent anyone from noticing the handwriting on the letter and changing it temporarily, Eunuch Zhang will first copy the love poem, and then have the female members of the Su family copy it one by one."

"I'd like to know who has set his sights on my uncle. Let's wait and see."

"Xingzhi's point makes sense," Emperor Showa said.

"Come here, prepare the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and do as Xingzhi said."

After a while, palace maids in colorful clothes prepared the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone.

The queen looked at the people who came from the Su family.

Liu Jinshu, Su Yuhuan, Liu and Su Yuheng.

"All the ladies of the Su family, please come in."

“Who in the Su family is secretly dealing with this Prince Ming? I am also looking forward to it.”

Su Yuheng got up from the ground, slowly walked to the table, looked at the love poem in front of him, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.

She picked up the pen and put it down on the paper, copying down the entire poem.

After finishing, he stood aside and waited respectfully.

Immediately afterwards, Liu, Liu Jinshu, and Su Yuhuan stepped forward and copied down the poems one by one.

Liu didn't have much education, but after she became the mistress of the Su family, she also had a teacher teach her for a year or so.

After the poems were finished, the eunuchs collected them one by one and presented them to the queen.

The queen took the originals and compared them one by one. When she saw the last page, her face suddenly changed.

"This handwriting should be..."

She set her eyes on Liu, who suddenly felt a chill on her back.

The Queen smiled and looked at Liu: "I never thought that the wife of Marquis Dingbei would also write love poems and send them to Prince Ming's mansion."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu, Liu Jinshu, Su Yuhuan and Su Yanqiu widened their eyes in disbelief.

Then the queen's sarcastic voice came again, "It's not the fault of the wife of Dingbei Marquis. After all, the Marquis of Dingbei has been missing in Cangzhou for a year. It's inevitable that the wife of Dingbei Marquis would write such a letter."