Chapter 376 Requesting Punishment

"Find a few people and send them back to the Third Prince's residence."

Xu Yunzhi was truly speechless at Lu Youming's behavior. What time of day was it? He was still sleeping like a log.

Looking at Lu Youming's satisfied expression, Xu Yunzhi couldn't help but kick him twice.

Despite being angry, now that the person has been found, they can't let him continue sleeping here. The best course of action now is to silence these people before His Majesty knows about the rumors and prevent anyone from knowing that Lu Youming spent the night in a brothel.

Watching the group lift up the unconscious Lu Youming, Xu Yunzhi waved his hand and turned to leave.

That evening, as soon as Lu Youming woke up, he went directly into the palace on Xu Yunzhi's advice.

Just as the emperor received the news and was about to send someone to invite Lu Youming over, a palace eunuch hurriedly walked in.

"Your Majesty, the Third Prince has arrived," the eunuch announced, bowing deeply to the emperor.

"Why is he here? Let him in."

As he spoke, the emperor placed the wolf-hair brush in front of him and leaned back on the soft couch.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

As Lu Youming spoke, he strode into the hall and knelt down before the emperor.

"What's wrong? Get up and talk."

The emperor already knew what was going on, but on the surface he still looked frightened by his actions.

"Your subject dares not."

As Lu Youming spoke, his face was filled with frustration.

“Father, yesterday I went to the Marquis of Yi’an’s residence to propose marriage without informing you, but I did not expect that Miss Gu was already married. My proposal failed and I have lost face for our royal family. I beg you to punish me, Father.”

Lu Youming admitted his mistakes in every word, without any intention of shifting the blame for yesterday onto anyone else, which made the emperor's anger dissipate considerably.

"Then tell me, why do you suddenly want to marry that Miss Gu as the Third Prince's principal wife?"

Although the emperor didn't concern himself much with his sons' affairs, he was aware that the empress was recently selecting consorts for her unmarried sons.

But at this time, first the Fifth Prince came to him and insisted on marrying the Second Miss of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, and now Lu Youming has taken it upon himself to ask to marry Gu Shuyan.

The emperor used to think that his sons were all quite obedient, but at some point, it seemed that each of them had their own thoughts.

Upon hearing the Emperor's question, Lu Youming's face flushed slightly. "To be honest, Father, I have long admired Miss Gu. I originally planned to ask you to grant me marriage when Miss Gu was older. However, I recently heard that Mother is selecting a wife for me, and in my haste, I did such a foolish thing."

As he spoke, Lu Youming lowered his head in frustration, his expression a mixture of regret and sorrow.

Looking at his son's appearance, the emperor, even though he didn't particularly like his son, couldn't help but sigh slightly.

"I have heard about what happened yesterday. It is only natural for you to go to the Marquis's mansion to propose marriage. It is just a pity that Miss Gu and you are not destined to be together. However, you do not need to be too discouraged. In a few days, I will have your mother select a few candidates for you, and you can choose your princess consort yourself."

Regardless of whether Lu Youming was genuinely seeking to marry Gu Shuyan, as her father, the emperor still displayed the image of a loving father in the face of a son who had failed in his pursuit.

However, after offering words of comfort, those who deserve punishment will still be punished.

Yesterday's events have already caused quite a stir in the city, and Lu Youming, as the person involved, not only lost face for the royal family in front of the officials, but also failed to stop the rumors from spreading in the first place. No matter which of these reasons he did, he cannot escape punishment.

"Alright, since you know you're wrong, go kneel in the ancestral hall!"

As the emperor spoke, he glanced at Lu Youming, waved his hand, and immediately a palace attendant came in from outside.

"Thank you, Father Emperor!"

Lu Youming had made preparations before he arrived. When he heard the emperor tell him to go to the ancestral hall, he did not object. He kowtowed to the emperor and let the eunuch lead him away.

His obedient and compliant demeanor naturally pleased the emperor even more.

Lu Youming knelt in the ancestral hall all night until the next day. If it weren't for his good health, he probably would have fainted by now.

After hearing the rumors circulating yesterday, Lu Yuanbin spent the whole night working on it, and finally, early this morning, he hurriedly led a group of ministers to the palace.

They came here with only one purpose: to impeach Lu Youming.

“Father, my third brother, as a member of the royal family, not only failed to set a good example, but also did something so disgraceful that it has caused much discussion among the people. Your son dares to request that Your Majesty severely punish my third brother.”

The struggle for the crown prince position is becoming increasingly apparent. Even though the emperor has not yet deposed the crown prince, how could the emperor, who has been through it all, not know about the struggle between the third and fifth princes?

Looking into Lu Yuanbin's eyes, the emperor narrowed his eyes and asked seemingly casually, "In my opinion, how should your third brother be dealt with?"

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Lu Yuanbin was overjoyed and immediately knelt down, saying, "My third brother's actions are truly disgraceful to the royal family. In my opinion, it would be better to remove my third brother from his post in the Ministry of Revenue and entrust the affairs of state to the Vice Minister of Revenue."

The Vice Minister of Revenue had long been under Lu Yuanbin's command, but now, due to Lu Youming's suppression, he was often assigned to do trivial tasks within the Ministry of Revenue.

This directly resulted in Lu Yuanbin not receiving any information or benefits in the Ministry of Revenue.

Now that he has such a good opportunity, Lu Yuanbin naturally wants to promote his people and take the opportunity to bring the Ministry of Revenue under his control.

The emperor looked at his son's righteous and awe-inspiring appearance and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

The reason he handed over the Ministry of Revenue to Lu Youming was to balance the abilities of his sons. But Lu Yuanbin's eagerness to promote his own people was so obvious that anyone with a brain could see it.

"Then why don't we also hand over all the power your third brother holds to you, and put it under your control?"

The emperor's words were meant as an inquiry, but to Lu Yuanbin, they immediately made him realize something was wrong.

The rumors circulating in the capital these days are all unmistakably disrespectful to the imperial family, and Lu Yuanbin is undoubtedly playing a part in pushing things along with the case.

He thought he was being discreet, but little did he know that someone had already secretly reported what he had done to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, the Fifth Prince has no intention of seizing power from the Third Prince. It’s just that the rumors circulating in the capital are extremely nasty, so the Fifth Prince came up with this inappropriate method.”