When Prince Ruyang came in, the emperor still maintained his original posture, and An Jiu fed him an apple.

"I heard that my brother was ill, so I came to see him." Prince Ruyang was still so good at pretending. He looked at the emperor with a nervous and worried expression, as if he was really only concerned about the emperor's health.

The emperor took a bite of the apple handed to him by An Jiu with a ruddy face and said with a smile: "You are crazy."

After saying that, he sighed, "But you should go see the Queen Mother first. There was a fire in the Cining Palace last night... She was frightened."

The emperor never mentioned Wang Decai, as if he didn't know anything about it.

In fact, no one had mentioned the Queen Mother and Wang Decai to Prince Ruyang along the way, but Prince Ruyang knew that everyone knew about it...

Who knows how they might laugh at you behind your back.

Just like when you were young, you were stupid and not as smart as the emperor, so you were not liked by the previous emperor, so you lost the throne...

Everyone is laughing at me behind my back.

Prince Ruyang was holding back his anger.

Now seeing the emperor like this, he was even more annoyed.

I know that the emperor did it on purpose.

"Brother Emperor, I think the fire is very strange. How could a fire break out in the kitchen in the middle of the night when no one was there?"

The emperor nodded and praised: "I also suspected it at first, but later I sent people to investigate, and they said that it was because a large spark in the kitchen fell out and ignited the firewood."

As for whether it was sparks that fell out...the kitchen was burned down, who knows?

The emperor sighed, "The Queen Mother has not had much of an appetite lately. She insisted on setting up a small kitchen in the courtyard to cook for herself. This... is really dangerous. Seventh brother, go back and persuade her. The food in the imperial kitchen is actually quite good."

Maybe the food in the imperial kitchen was not delicious before, but recently, Zhang An opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and he was able to make many good dishes. He also used insulated lunch boxes, so the food was still hot when it was served, and the emperor accepted it.

As for the Empress Dowager, she despised the Imperial Kitchen so much that she followed the Emperor's example and built her own small kitchen. But...

【Hahaha. 】

The emperor comforted her: "I will teach the steward of the imperial kitchen a lesson later. The empress dowager doesn't like the dishes you cook. It must be your fault."

Prince Ruyang gritted his teeth and continued, "But I heard from the palace maids and eunuchs who were on night watch that when the fire started, the door of my mother's room was locked..."

Before Prince Ruyang finished speaking, the emperor asked back with a puzzled look on his face: "I am also confused, what is the Queen Mother doing? Why did she insist on locking the door?"

The emperor directly pushed the task of locking the door to the empress dowager.

Prince Ruyang smiled and said, "Brother, the door is locked from the outside. Did someone deliberately frame my mother?"

Of course the emperor knew about it, but he did it to displease Prince Ruyang.

"Is that so... Then I won't sit idly by." The emperor shouted, "Li Defu."

Eunuch Li rushed in.

The emperor said: "Send someone immediately to find out who locked the Queen Mother's door last night."

Just as Li Defu was about to leave, Prince Ruyang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "No need."

놛 felt that it was the emperor who did it. Yesterday afternoon, my mother provoked 놛, and 놛 took revenge in the evening.

Everyone was keeping silent about this matter. If the emperor investigated it again with great fanfare, the matter would be brought up again...

If a thief cries "stop thief", what will be the result?

Even if we send someone to investigate, it will be meaningless.

Prince Ruyang did not gain any advantage in his confrontation with the emperor.

Behind the emperor, a big tail was swaying proudly.

[You are far from being able to fight against me.] 】

[You are bound to suffer this loss in silence.] 】

[I want to see, after something like this, do you still have the nerve to continue staying in the capital? 】

[And the Queen Mother...does she still have the nerve to pick a fight with me again? 】

Finally, I got rid of my anger.

When one is happy, another is unhappy.

Prince Ruyang was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"My brother is still so smart. I admit defeat, but the Queen Mother is also my brother's biological mother. It's not just me who is embarrassed by such a thing. The royal family will lose face. Is my brother going to watch the royal family become a laughing stock in the world?"

The emperor said indifferently: "But the Queen Mother and I are not biological mother and son after all. What happens to her will affect you the most, not me."

Prince Ruyang's face darkened completely.

"What does my Royal Brother want me to do in order to help?"

The emperor stood up, walked to Prince Ruyang, looked at him and said, "Okay, you will leave the capital from now on and never come back in this life."

The unique voice of Prince Ruyang spread throughout the hall in an exaggerated voice: "Brother, this condition is not equal. Can another minister accept it?"

The emperor looked at it.

Prince Ruyang added: "If my brother insists on doing this, then I will just let it go."

The implication was that if the emperor didn't stop when things were going well, then he wouldn't care.

Anyway, we're all embarrassed together.

The emperor thought for a while and put forward a condition that King Ruyang could accept, which was to give King Ruyang the jurisdiction over one county and three districts in his fiefdom.

This county produces cotton.

놛Remember the cotton thing.

An Jiu wanted to laugh a little.

But this condition is indeed okay.

The emperor can buy cotton directly from the cotton farmers in the county, saving the price difference added by the King of Ruyang. He can also arrange his own people to grow cotton and send people to learn how to grow cotton. How can the people of the King of Ruyang grow cotton so well? Moreover, it is hard to say whether this county will be returned after three years.

For the King of Ruyang, it was just a collection of taxes from a county, not enough to cause any serious damage.

After finishing the discussion, Prince Ruyang took his leave. He did not want to stay with the emperor at all, for fear that he would either want to kill the emperor or be beaten to death by the emperor.

After Prince Ruyang left, the emperor laughed loudly.

It was the first time that An Jiu heard such a hearty laugh in real life.

I couldn't help but laugh along.

[Beating a dog depends on its owner.] 】The emperor glanced at the red mark still visible on the back of An Jiu's hand.

[The Queen Mother hurt my servant, and I will make her lose her dog. 】

【Hahaha. 】

An Jiu: "..."

No haha.

Dog emperor, dog emperor, dog emperor! ! !

Now that the conditions have been agreed upon, the emperor cannot continue to play dumb and let things ferment. Too much is as bad as too little, otherwise everyone will start to attack him.

You will say that you don't respect or love your stepmother...

I would say it was intentional...

So the emperor pretended to send someone to investigate (An Jiu suspected that he sent someone to eliminate all traces and destroy evidence).

The Empress Dowager cherished her reputation and face all her life. During the time of the late Emperor, she pretended to be gentle, generous, virtuous and kind.

Now, after the incident, she wanted to die so much that she stayed in the palace and did not go out for the past few days.

Wang Decai has been arrested and imprisoned separately. Jiang Sheng has long been fed up with this old eunuch, who often gives bad ideas and harms people around the empress dowager.

In the past, it was the Queen Mother who protected 놛, but now that the Queen Mother was unable to take care of herself, 놛 fell into Jiang Sheng's hands.

But even though Jiang Sheng tried his best, Wang Decai refused to say anything.

Since you don't want to say it, there's no point in keeping it.

Jiang Sheng killed Wang, and finally spread the news that it was Wang Decai who had knocked the Queen Mother unconscious and intended to commit a crime, but was discovered by the palace servants and stopped in time...

As for whether many people believed this matter, it was not within the emperor's consideration.