Chapter 77: Walking into a Trap

Prince Liang was the fourth son of the late emperor, and had previously been relatively unknown among the princes.

Later on, he suddenly became the most powerful prince to compete with the crown prince, and even secretly cultivated a considerable force in the court, which once made the current emperor, who was the crown prince at that time, feel a great threat.

However, Prince Liang's biological mother, Concubine Cui, was quite favored by the late emperor. Before the emperor ascended the throne, she asked for a golden medal of immunity from death for Prince Liang and allowed him to go directly to his fiefdom.

Despite the long and arduous journey of mountains and rivers, many years have passed and now King Liang has become the local emperor of southern Xinjiang. His prestige and influence even tend to spread to the surrounding areas.

It is hard to say what the emperor's plan is now that he is ill and has returned to Beijing.

Someone in the court found the name of the eldest son of Duke Chengguo's Mansion and said that he was the most favored by the emperor, and asked him to find a way to stop it.

If we can't stop it, we have to be prepared for chaos in the capital.

After all, Prince Xiao is leading nearly 200,000 troops in the suburbs of Beijing. If King Liang wants to usurp the throne, he has to ask the Prince for his consent.

But at this critical juncture, Xiao Mo still avoided him.

Not only that, in the camp outside the capital, the second prince's newly appointed deputy commander has been shining brightly recently, and has even shown signs of competing with Prince Xiao.

Seeing this, the forces in the court that originally supported the eldest prince and several old ministers who did not want to be tied to the second prince thought that the situation was hopeless and were ready to fight with their lives in the critical moment.

What they didn't expect was that as soon as Prince Liang entered the palace, he was quickly captured by the troops secretly deployed by Prince Xiao on the charge of plotting to murder the emperor.

Not only that, the emperor who was already terminally ill miraculously recovered.

At this point, smart people could actually see clearly that the emperor's terminal illness was probably fake, or perhaps he only had Prince Liang as a concern.

King Liang has been hiding in the southern border for many years and has been preparing for war. Isn't he preparing to return to the capital one day?

The emperor cannot reach him, but he can use himself to act out a realistic play, luring the greedy person into a trap.

Everyone in the court thought that this was a double act between the emperor and the second prince, but Zhu Ruijing broke out in a cold sweat when he heard the news that Prince Liang had been captured.

"Caught...caught?" Zhu Ruijing usually looked confident in everything in the eyes of the palace people, but he suddenly stuttered, which showed that he was really scared.

"Yes..." The palace servant lowered his eyes, not daring to look at his master's expression.

"What about the Queen Mother?" Zhu Ruijing asked again.

"His Majesty said that the Empress is ill and needs to rest, and asked Concubine Cao to help manage the six palaces." After the palace servant said this, she secretly glanced at the Second Prince's pale face and dared not make any sound anymore.

Empress Feng had often used illness as an excuse to make unfavored concubines or palace maids disappear silently in the deep palace, but this time it was her turn. She didn't know what she had done wrong to anger the emperor.

The palace maid was thinking about this when she saw the second prince leaving in a hurry.

After confirming that what the palace maid said was accurate, the second prince hurried back to the prince's mansion.

In addition to Concubine Shen, the Second Prince's Mansion now also has Shi Qiuyue, who has just become the prince's consort, and Concubine Feng from Empress Feng's family.

Originally, Shi Qiuyue and the second prince's marriage was not planned so soon, but because Shi Zhongyu had an accident, and seeing that the second prince was in the limelight recently and seemed to be about to succeed to the throne, the Shi family asked for permission to move the wedding date forward.

The three women are all talented and beautiful, and they all come from prominent families, so they have been competing with each other in the mansion recently.

Shi Qiuyue is the eldest daughter of the General of Cavalry. Although she is not as talented as Shen Jingshu, she is very good at using a stick. Since she married into the prince's mansion, she has practiced martial arts with Zhu Ruijing every morning.

The daughter of the Feng family was as beautiful as a flower reflecting in the water. Although she was a concubine's daughter, she represented Empress Feng's family, so there was no reason for her to give in.

The three women were all vying for the favor of the second prince.

Now that he was back, the two concubines found excuses to visit the princess in her courtyard to pay their respects.

After Zhu Ruijing told them that the emperor had recovered from his illness, Prince Liang was imprisoned for his attempted assassination, and the Empress had her power taken away from her.

The three of them all looked pale. The emperor's recovery proved that there was still time to hold on.

In addition, Prince Liang was imprisoned as soon as he entered the palace, so they obviously guessed that the emperor's illness was just a show.

Not only did her recent enthusiasm fall through, but the Queen's position as the Second Prince's greatest ally was also lost.

Having said that, since the Second Prince has returned to the same position as the First Prince, or even worse than him, why are they so anxious to marry in one by one?

The one who felt the most miserable and regretful was Shi Qiuyue. If she had known this would happen, she would have waited a little longer!

The one who was most worried and anxious was the daughter of the Feng family. Empress Feng was her biggest supporter, and if anything happened to her, her position would be in jeopardy. She was originally a concubine's daughter, so how could she compete with the other two in the palace in the future?!

Shen Jingshu remained silent throughout the whole process. When she really faced a problem, she automatically turned into the mother of the Shen family's eldest wife.

Profit-oriented and ruthless,

"Since His Majesty is in good health, why are you so anxious? Shouldn't you be serving him and smiling happily now?" Chen Jingshu said after a few breaths.

Zhu Ruijing had just returned home in a state of panic, and now he regretted it.

In addition to the matter of his mother, he was also afraid that his ambitions would be seen through by his father.

In addition, his father wanted to plot against Prince Liang, but he was treated like a fool and had no idea of ​​it the whole time.

Prince Liang had treated him well since he was a child, and in fact, the Queen Mother had asked for her opinion before agreeing to Prince Liang's request.

Although he didn't understand, he did it anyway.

My father’s dissatisfaction with my mother must be due to this incident.

Zhu Ruijing's mind was in turmoil. In his previous life as a prince, he liked to ask his mother for help when encountering problems. His mother was his backbone.

Now, seeing that this daughter of the Shen family showed calmness and intelligence that was different from the women in the harem, he felt very relieved.

"Concubine Shen is right!" Zhu Ruijing said with a smile.

But when he looked at Shi, who was frightened, he clearly showed his displeasure.

The Second Prince walked past the Princess and Concubine Feng and came towards Shen Jingshu. His eyes were as gentle as water. "Then please help me wash up. I will return to the palace immediately."

After this round, Shi Qiuyue quickly understood and realized that her behavior had displeased her husband.

But she is the daughter of a proud cavalry general after all.

Since the husband she married was only a prince for the time being, he would need the Shi family and her father many times in the future.

Why should she be in such a hurry?

The Shen family and the Shi family, one civil and one military, were carefully selected by the Empress for her son.

But she is still the queen after all, isn't she?

No matter how calm and wise this Concubine Shen appears to be, her status is always inferior to his.

The matter of this woman drugging my cousin that day has not yet been settled. Let's wait and see!