Chapter 1 Chapter 1 "Speak more quietly, is it glorious?" ...

"father"

The sudden sound behind him scared Zhu Jingchen so much that the golden cup and glass horse in his hand almost fell to the ground. He turned around and saw Zhu Song and cursed him angrily.

"Oh, you little brat, you're not sleeping at night and come here to scare people."

Zhu Song looked around in great surprise. He had grown up but had never known that there was such a secret room full of treasures in the study of the Zhu Mansion. It looked magnificent at first glance, and the treasures on the shelves sparkled in the dim candlelight.

But why does it seem more and more wrong the more I look at it?

Zhu Jingchen felt uneasy and pushed Zhu Song out, "There's nothing to see here. It's all your mother's dowry. Don't worry about it."

Zhu Song stood still, retracted his gaze to look at Zhu Jingchen, sneered, and pointed at the pink kingfisher-inlaid pearl crown placed on the third row of grids on the shelf on the left.

"This phoenix crown was a tribute from the Kingdom of Jinliu sixteen years ago."

"This white jade lily was a tribute from the Waruo tribe fifteen years ago."

"This night-shining pearl was presented as tribute by Xiaonanhai seven years ago."

“Those…” “Those…”

Zhu Song pointed at them one by one. Zhu Jingchen blinked guiltily. Zhu Song was so angry that he was shaking and wailed, "Dad!"

Zhu Jingchen quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Speak more quietly, is it glorious?"

Zhu Song couldn't believe it and pulled his hand down. "It's shameful, but you still steal? You think we're too old."

Zhu Jingchen whispered, "What should we do? We've already taken them. Why don't you just admire them and touch these incomparable treasures."

Zhu Song said angrily, "I think you've lost your mind. Who else knows about this?"

Zhu Jingchen's voice became smaller and smaller. "As far as we know, this is a little secret between us father and son."

Zhu Song was even more speechless. "You are sick! Go call mother and Ling Ye and Ling Wang."

Zhu Jingchen asked, "Want to call them over to watch it together?"

Zhu Song was so angry that he wanted to hit someone, but he forced himself to hold it back. He gritted his teeth and said, "Do we really have to wait until the imperial guards come to arrest us before we come up with a plan?"

After an incense stick of time, the five members of the Zhu family sat neatly in the study, looking at each other.

Zhu Lingye was the first to attack. He slammed the table and stood up, looking at Zhu Jingchen expressionlessly. "Dad, everyone has their own consequences. I'll send you to the Ministry of Justice to surrender yourself."

Zhu Jingchen's face trembled, and he turned to look at Zhu Song, "Boss, that's not what you mean, right?"

Zhu Lingye stepped forward and grabbed Zhu Jingchen's arm. He was a member of the Imperial Guard, so his grip was very strong. Zhu Jingchen grimaced in pain, "Boss, please say something."

Meng Xiaohe said unhappily, "Serves you right!"

"Oh, Madam, I made a mistake just for a moment. You have to give me a chance to correct it. Besides, the Tian family has countless treasures. I only took a small amount. It won't be discovered."

Zhu Song looked at Zhu Lingye, "This matter hasn't been exposed yet, so there's still room for recovery. The most important thing now is to find out where these treasures are now. If we can return them quietly, this matter will be over."

Zhu Lingye asked, "What if it's not possible?"

Zhu Song said: "The crime of stealing the treasures of the royal family can be serious or minor. The lighter punishment is dismissal from office and exile, while the heavier punishment is confiscation of property and beheading."

Zhu Song worked in the Dali Temple, handling these criminal cases and was very familiar with these laws.

When Meng Xiaohe heard that his family was to be confiscated and his head beheaded, she immediately got angry and grabbed Zhu Jingchen's ear, "You're so happy, but you're dragging us down with you."

Meng Xiaohe's men showed no mercy, and Zhu Jingchen tilted his ears and cried out in pain, "Ouch, Madam, I know I was wrong. I will return it, I will return it all."

This kind of scene was commonplace in the Zhu family. Zhu Song and his two younger brothers exchanged glances, signaling that they should hurry up. Zhu Lingye asked Zhu Jingchen for the list, and the three of them worked overnight to investigate the current locations of the various treasures.

After three days of investigating both openly and secretly, we finally found out everything.

What is a very coincidental thing is that all eighty treasures are in the East Palace without exception.

When talking about the Eastern Palace, we inevitably have to talk about the current master of the Eastern Palace, Wen Fengxuan.

When talking about Wen Fengxuan, we have to mention his biological mother, Empress Mingyi Xiaoxian, Chen Mingluo.

In the 16th year of the Tianqi reign, the current emperor, while on a trip south of the Yangtze River to observe the people's sentiments, encountered a rebellion by river bandits in Suzhou. Injured and missing, he was rescued by a fisherwoman named Chen Mingluo, and the two fell in love. Three months later, the emperor brought Chen Mingluo back to the capital. Despite the numerous women from aristocratic families in his harem, he defied public opinion and made her empress.

Chen Mingluo had been in the harem for three years without giving birth, but the emperor loved her even more, even neglecting the concubines for her. In the fourth year, Chen Mingluo finally became pregnant. The emperor was overjoyed and immediately announced to the world that if the child was a prince, he would name Fengxuan the crown prince.

However, things happen unexpectedly. Chen Mingluo died in childbirth. The emperor was deeply saddened and personally kept vigil for her for seven days. Wen Fengxuan, the prince who should have been born in glory, was thrown into the most remote Changqiu Palace in the harem, and only two elderly maids were sent to take care of him.

Wen Fengxuan seemed to have disappeared, or as if he had never appeared. In short, no one in the entire capital remembered him until two years ago when there was a severe drought. The emperor led all the royal family members and civil and military officials to Mount Tai to pray for rain. Everyone saw a strange face wearing prince's clothes in the team, and only then did they realize that Wen Fengxuan was still alive.

Everyone who has seen Chen Mingluo said that Wen Fengxuan looked very similar to her, and that day the emperor also looked at Wen Fengxuan for a long time, as if he saw the late queen through him.

The day after returning from Mount Tai, it rained heavily, ending the three-month drought. However, at the morning court session that day, the court officials had a fierce argument over who should be appointed as the crown prince. The emperor said nothing, but in the afternoon, the imperial edict to appoint a crown prince arrived at Changqiu Palace without warning.

There are two versions about Wen Fengxuan becoming the crown prince: one is that the emperor remembered the old love of the late queen and fulfilled his promise to her; the other is that the emperor had not yet determined the real candidate for the crown prince and pulled Wen Fengxuan out to take the blame.

But in fact, everyone is more inclined to the first one. After all, although Wen Fengxuan is the prince, he has no real power and is not allowed to enter the court. Moreover, he is frail and sickly, and his personality is gloomy. Even after entering the Eastern Palace, when he went to Xiangguo Temple to burn incense, the abbot asserted that he would not live beyond the age of 25.

Now, Wen Fengxuan has been in the Eastern Palace for two years, but he rarely appears in public. No one will make friends with him, and he has not taken the initiative to make friends with others. He does not have a strong maternal family, and he is just a widower, so no one takes him seriously, and they all tacitly agree that he is just a nominal prince and will not be in office for long.

Zhu Song and Gu Huaiyu had mentioned this matter in a casual chat before, saying that the Eastern Palace is even more destitute now that it has a crown prince than before.

"What now?"

The five members of the Zhu family sat together in the study to discuss countermeasures.

Zhu Jingchen's thoughts perked up when he learned that the treasures were all in the Eastern Palace. "Well, the Crown Prince won't live much longer anyway. When he dies, these things will be buried with him. In the underworld, who will care whether they are real or fake?"

As soon as he pursed his lips in blessing, I knew what he was going to say, and pursed his lips speechlessly, "No, do you have to be so obsessed with money?"

Zhu Jingchen defended himself, "Hey, this isn't about being greedy for money, this is about appreciating treasures. The treasures of the Heavenly Family are piled up like mountains, and leaving these things to gather dust is a complete waste."

Zhu Song sneered and said mercilessly, "It's a waste of nature to have your head on your neck. If it falls to the ground one day, it will attract people to admire it."

Zhu Jingchen knew that he would not agree, so he muttered something under his breath, but was glared at by Meng Xiaohe again, and then he shut up.

After discussion among the few people, although Wen Fengxuan felt difficult to deal with, they had to deal with him in order to eliminate future troubles. However, they had to carefully consider the person to deal with him.

Zhu Lingye was the first to vote with Zhu Jingchen, "This matter was caused by Dad, so it's most appropriate for Dad to handle it."

Zhu Jingchen was not happy. "I won't go. As soon as I step into the Eastern Palace, those old guys will say that I defected to the Crown Prince. How can I survive in the court in the future? You came up with this idea, so you should go. Besides, young people can have more say when they talk together."

Zhu Lingye said, "Otherwise, I'll say there's an assassin harassment and search the East Palace. You can take the opportunity to put the things in."

Zhu Song rejected the idea. "We're not familiar with the Eastern Palace at all. Where would we put these things? Especially since there are so many of them, and some of them are large. How could we get them into the Eastern Palace without anyone noticing, in front of everyone?"

This is indeed difficult to deal with. Zhu Lingye was at a loss for a moment, "What should I do?"

Zhu Song said, "I have a few ideas. First, establish a good relationship with Wen Fengxuan. Once we have a good relationship, we can enter and exit the Eastern Palace freely and find an opportunity to exchange things. Second, familiarize ourselves with the Eastern Palace's layout and find out where everything is placed. Then, in the dead of night, slowly exchange the real items with the fakes. Third, create chaos in the Eastern Palace and set it on fire to burn all the fakes."

At first glance, all three ideas seem feasible, but in reality they are all very difficult.

First, it is said that Wen Fengxuan is an extremely cold person, speaking no more than three sentences a day and showing no interest in anything, so it is extremely difficult to make friends with him.

Second, there are eighty-one treasures. Even if the three of them go to replace them every night, it will take nearly a month to complete the replacement. How blind must the people in the East Palace be to not notice someone breaking into the East Palace at night for a whole month.

Third, setting fire is easy, but how can you guarantee that all the fakes will be burned? If not, wouldn't it be easy to find out that they are fakes when you count them?

Taking all factors into consideration, arson can basically be ruled out. To be on the safe side, we should do two things at once: make friends with Wen Fengxuan while finding out the situation in the Eastern Palace.

After several discussions, the final candidate for the person to make friends with Wen Fengxuan was Zhu Song. Firstly, Zhu Song was the eldest brother and was on duty at the Dali Temple, so he had extensive knowledge; secondly, among the three brothers of the Zhu family, Zhu Song was the most intelligent.

After the plan was finalized, Zhu Jingchen patted Zhu Song on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Son, our family depends entirely on you."

Zhu Song squinted his eyes expressionlessly at him. Zhu Jingchen chuckled twice, "Although the prince is not good in every way, he is very handsome. Haven't you liked good-looking people since you were a child? This is a good choice."

Zhu Song took his hand away and said in a casual tone, "Come on, I'm not as superficial as you."

Zhu Jingchen's official position was higher than Zhu Song's. Two years ago, when they went to Mount Tai to pray for rain, Zhu Jingchen was closer to Wen Fengxuan and could see a little more clearly. Zhu Song, a Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, was standing far away. It was raining heavily and the sky was covered with rain, so he could only see a blurry figure.

Look, that's it.

After all, there is never a shortage of beauties in the capital.

There is no shortage of men or women.

Zhu Song doesn't believe that Wen Fengxuan can be as beautiful as the sky?