"Take the men away and hand them over to the Palace Department for punishment." The Prince of Chen gave the order directly without even looking at what the two eunuchs looked like.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I will never do it again." The two eunuchs hiding in the darkness reacted and kowtowed.
"Your Highness, we just said a few more words because we are upset about this matter."
"And Zheng offended the Empress Dowager. We have always felt unfair for the Empress Dowager."
"Yes, yes, we are just dissatisfied with the crimes committed by Concubine Zheng and the Zheng family, so we couldn't hold back our anger and beg Your Highness to forgive us."
"When Zheng was still Concubine Ning, you were never dissatisfied. When Fourth Brother was still Prince of Qi, you were never hiding and talking behind his back. Don't act like you're taking advantage of someone's misfortune in front of me, and don't even mention Mother as an example. Zheng and the Zheng family have already been brought to justice, and Fourth Brother has Father and Mother to discipline him. Who do you think you are? How dare you make fun of the prince?" Prince Chen was too lazy to listen to their explanations and asked his attendants to drag them away.
The two eunuchs were dragged away with their mouths gagged. Prince Chen put his hands over Jiuzhu's eyes and said, "Don't look at these things. They will dirty your eyes."
Jiuzhu blinked, and her long eyelashes swept across King Chen's palm.
The Prince of Chen was so tickled that he withdrew his hand and looked down at her eyes: "Are your eyelashes a brush?"
Jiuzhu went to hold his hand: "Your Highness, let's go back."
"Are you afraid?"
"What?"
"The hearts of the people in the palace."
Jiuzhu stopped and smiled and shook her head at the Prince of Chen: "What is the difference between the hearts of people in the palace and those outside the palace?"
Prince Chen raised his eyebrows, and was very surprised by Jiuzhu's statement.
"What happened in the palace will also happen outside the palace. The only difference is that the people here are more noble." Jiuzhu smiled and said, "When we are in the world of mortals, we are all ordinary people in the world of mortals."
"You have a point. It seems that everyone in the world is the same."
"That's still different." Jiuzhu muttered softly: "Some people in the capital have dirty hearts."
"Just now you said that we are all ordinary people, and now you say that some people in the capital are evil-minded. Ming Xiaozhu, ah Ming Xiaozhu, I didn't expect you to discriminate against different regions." Prince Chen stretched out his hand to hold her shoulders: "The whole world belongs to my father. As the daughter-in-law of the royal family, you have to correct your thoughts, do you understand?"
"But some of them say bad things about His Highness." Jiuzhu was unhappy: "Except in the capital, no one says bad things about His Highness."
Upon hearing this, Prince Chen chuckled, lowered his head and touched his forehead to hers, and said softly, "Ming Xiaozhu, I will fall into your hands for the rest of my life. I accept it."
Because of him, she was prejudiced against the whole city.
The wind blew through the deserted palace corridor, and everything around became quiet.
A patrolling guard in golden armor passed by and noticed something was wrong in the darkness. He drew his sword and asked, "Who's there?!"
"It's me." Yun Yanze walked out of the darkness. He was wearing a black robe. If it weren't for the alertness of the golden armored guards, no one would have been able to find him.
"I have met the Fourth Prince." The golden-armored guard quickly sheathed his sword and apologized to Yun Yanze.
However, they were also wondering in their hearts, it was so dark, why didn't the Fourth Prince bring any attendants or lanterns when he went out?
"You guys continue patrolling, I'll take a walk around." Yun Yanze glanced to the end of the palace corridor and slowly lowered his eyelids.
He heard clearly what the two eunuchs said just now. This deliberate attempt to stir up trouble must have been the work of a concubine in the palace.
Do you want him to hate Su Hou because of these words and attack her?
He originally wanted to use these two eunuchs to make things worse, so that his father would see that he was now in a situation where even the eunuchs could bully him, and make him feel pity for him.
He didn't expect Yun Duqing to show up at this time and disrupt his plans.
What a pity.
He turned back to Zhangliu Palace and just as he reached the gate, he heard Sun Caiyao vomiting. He looked at the shadow behind the window expressionlessly, stood there for a while, walked into Sun Caiyao's room, and poured her a glass of water: "Caiyao, drink a sip of water, why are you vomiting so violently?"
Sun Caiyao smiled weakly and covered her mouth with a handkerchief: "It's okay, did I disturb His Highness?"
"No." He placed a soft cushion behind Sun Caiyao's waist. "You haven't been able to eat these past two days. I heard that Fifth Brother has a few very good chefs. I'll borrow some from him tomorrow."
Hearing the word "fifth brother", Sun Caiyao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Why bother fifth brother, I'm not that weak, I will be fine in a few days."
"Princess, the sour plum soup is ready." Bai Shao came in with a bowl and saw Yun Yanze was there. She bowed to him and said, "Your Highness."
After Sun Caiyao drank the sour plum soup, her stomach felt churning and she vomited it all out.
Yun Yanze looked down at the tip of his shoes, which were splashed with a few tiny water droplets.
He coaxed Sun Caiyao to sleep, then returned to his room, where the eunuch helped him take off his shoes.
"Throw it away."
"Yes." The eunuch took the shoes and left the room.
He looked at the flickering candlelight with a gloomy face, the words of the two eunuchs echoing in his mind. He lifted his sleeves to reveal his arms with several scars.
He took out the dagger and cut open the flesh. Blood gushed out immediately and the pain calmed him down.
There was a cat's cry outside the window. He opened the window and saw a small cat climbing on the window.
He reached out and grabbed the kitten's fluffy neck. The kitten looked at him innocently with its watery eyes.
These eyes reminded him of Ming Jiuzhu.
"Your Highness." Bai Shao stood in the courtyard outside the window and bowed to him: "This cat must have been raised by a princess. I will send it back now."
Yun Yanze slowly loosened his hand and handed the cat to her through the window.
Bai Shao saw the dried blood on his fingertips and bowed while hugging the cat: "I will take my leave."
"Bai Shao." Yun Yanze adjusted his sleeves and said calmly, "I kept you because you are smart."
"Yes." Bai Shao lowered her eyebrows and eyes: "This servant is loyal to the queen, and also loyal to His Highness."
"Go ahead."
Bai Shao walked out of the yard carrying the cat, and her tense shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Thank you, Aunt Bai Shao." The little palace maid took the kitten from her hands and said, "If I lose this cat, the princess will definitely be angry with me."
"Take good care of the cats in the future. The princess is pregnant. If these cats and dogs scare her and something happens, none of us can afford it." Bai Shao noticed that there were some blood stains on the cat's ears. When the maid wasn't paying attention, she held her handkerchief and pretended to touch the cat's head and wiped off the blood stains.
After the little palace maid walked away with the cat in her arms, Bai Shao looked down at the handkerchief in her hand and sighed.
When Jiuzhu and Prince Chen returned to Qilin Palace, the first thing they did was to take a bath and change clothes.
After bathing, the two put on loose pajamas, sat cross-legged on the bed, and placed the box left by Concubine Zhao in the middle.
"Open it." Seeing Jiuzhu's serious expression, Prince Chen reached out and rubbed her hair: "Don't be nervous."
Jiuzhu shook her head: "Your Highness, I am not nervous. It's just that these things were left here by Concubine Zhao, so I want to be more serious."
Open the lid of the box, and on the first layer are several pairs of jade bracelets of extremely fine quality.
"It is a folk custom that the elders will leave the good things that have accompanied them to the younger generations as heirlooms. Concubine Zhao treats you as her own younger generation." Prince Chen was somewhat moved when he looked at these pairs of jade bracelets.
Jiuzhu pursed her lips and carefully moved the partition away. On the second layer was... an old phoenix hairpin, a style that was popular in the palace a few years ago. It didn't look like something an old concubine would wear.
Prince Chen frowned as he looked at the hairpin. This kind of six-tailed phoenix hairpin could only be worn by the queen in the harem. Now, apart from the queen mother, only Concubine Xu and Concubine Min were the main concubines of the same palace.
Concubine Zhao left this for them on purpose, there must be a reason.
A woman who has been in the harem for more than 40 years knows so many secrets.
"There's another layer underneath." Jiuzhu lifted the partition and found a stack of papers underneath.
On these papers were written the recipe for brewing wine and a letter.
The handwriting on the letter can only be considered neat, and the font is relatively large, so it should be written by Concubine Zhao herself.
Jiuzhu knew that Concubine Zhao did not read many books in her early years, and only started to learn calligraphy after entering the palace. When she was older, her eyesight was not very good, so she would subconsciously write bigger words to make it easier for her to recognize.
This is a letter with seemingly ordinary content, reminding Jiuzhu and Prince Chen to take good care of themselves and expressing gratitude to Emperor Longfeng and Queen Su for their care for her.
"The azalea will eventually return home."
Du Ya slowly...
This seemingly elegant sentence is extremely awkward to read, and is completely different from the plain style of the first half of the letter.
"Your Highness, what's wrong with this sentence?" Jiuzhu noticed that there was a small drop of ink under the word "Xu", and wondered if the concubine had accidentally dropped it there.
"This is a big problem." Prince Chen sighed and put the letter away.
Things written in black and white can easily reveal secrets. With Concubine Zhao's cautious attitude, she didn't want to implicate other concubines in the Concubine Palace, but she also wanted to remind them of something, so she would definitely use an obscure method.
"I still remember that day when we were painting in the peach forest, Concubine Zhao said that Du Qingke had painted peach blossoms at a banquet hosted by the late emperor." Prince Chen said, "After that day, I sent someone to check, and the banquet hosted by the late emperor was 27 years ago."
Jiuzhu held her chin with her hand: "Hmm, then what?"
"After that banquet, the Queen Mother made Concubine Xu my father's concubine."
"Hmm?" Jiuzhu was at a loss: "What does this have to do with Concubine Xu?"
"Forget it." Prince Chen packed up the wooden box, touched Jiuzhu's hair, and after confirming that it was done, he pulled Jiuzhu into the quilt.
"How can we just let it go?" Jiuzhu pushed him, "Your Highness, please continue talking."
"Peach blossoms have always been a symbol of love. The old concubine is hinting to us that Concubine Xu and Du Qingke have a past relationship." Prince Chen did not keep Jiuzhu in suspense: "Hurry up and go to bed. I will have someone check it out tomorrow and we will know whether it is true or not."
“Who should check it?”
Jiuzhu felt that no one in the entire Qilin Palace could do this.
"Of course, let the Dragon Guards investigate." Prince Chen yawned, "Father's men, it would be a waste if we don't use them."
"That's true." Jiuzhu nodded in agreement: "Father's dragon guards must be reliable."
As the commander of the Dragon Guard, Commander Wang felt complicated when he heard that His Royal Highness Prince Chen asked them to investigate the past affairs between Concubine Xu and Du Qingke.
As a son, isn't there something wrong with you investigating the past affairs of your father's concubine and other men?
What made him even more speechless was that the person who came with Prince Chen was Liu Zhongbao, the chief steward of the Taiyang Palace. So His Majesty had no opinion on this matter?
Looking at Prince Chen's frank expression, Commander Wang thought that between him and His Royal Highness Prince Chen, one of them must have a mental problem.
"Commander Wang?" Seeing that Commander Wang didn't say anything, Prince Chen raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why, you can't do it?"
"Please rest assured, Your Highness. I will find out as soon as possible." Commander Wang came to his senses and bowed, saying, "Please give me a few days."
"Okay, you guys take your time to investigate. I'm not in a hurry." Prince Chen turned around and saw a dragon guard hurried in with a happy look on his face: "Commander, there's a letter from Lingzhou. The brothers have been searching for several days in Lingzhou and finally found the little girl that the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Chen saved that year."
Hearing this, the Prince of Chen stomped his feet and asked, "What did you say?"
The dragon guards saw that the prince had a strange expression on his face, and their voices became softer: "The Queen and Your Highness, we have found the person you are looking for."
Prince Chen turned to look at Liu Zhongbao and said, "Didn't my father and mother tell them that they don't need to look for him?"
Liu Zhongbao, who has always been known as the "Smiling Buddha", was also a little surprised at this moment. He turned to look at the dragon guard who delivered the message: "Are you sure you have found it?"
The Dragon Guard nodded and said, "This girl is from Lingzhou, and her brother is a scholar. Because His Majesty has opened an imperial examination to recruit talented people, her brother has to go to the capital to take the exam. Our people will take the brother and sister to the capital together. They will probably arrive in five days."
"Oh, then I'd like to see what this woman looks like." Prince Chen snorted coldly with a fake smile.
Who on earth is that shameless person who dares to impersonate his Ming Xiaozhu?
The dragon guard who delivered the message shrank his neck. Why did he feel that His Royal Highness Prince Chen's tone did not sound like he was expecting something?
"Commander Wang." Prince Chen reached out and patted Commander Wang on the shoulder: "Come, follow me to see my father."
As the commander of the Royal Secret Guard, he was fooled by a liar. If others knew about it, how could he save his face?
"Yes, Commander Wang, let's go." Liu Zhongbao said with a smile: "Some things should be prepared in advance."
Mingyue Palace.
When Empress Su and Emperor Longfeng heard the purpose of Commander Ming Wang's visit, they waved their hands and asked all the palace servants in the room to leave.
Looking at His Majesty and the Queen sitting at the top, Commander Wang secretly groaned in his heart, thinking that his men had made such a big mistake and it was all because of his failure to discipline them.
Fortunately, the person had already been found. If not, wouldn’t that woman have really impersonated him?
He didn't dare to think about it any further, and cold sweat broke out on his body.
"This is an old story. No one knows about it except the Empress and the servants of my son. It is understandable that the people working below were misled by someone with ulterior motives." Emperor Longfeng slowly became happy: "However, as a dragon guard, he made such a big mistake and must be punished."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Commander Wang was grateful that His Majesty had spared him some mercy. His Majesty's willingness to speak out showed that His Majesty was not completely disappointed with the Dragon Guards, and they still had a chance to win back His Majesty's favor.
He would make his subordinates be more cautious and careful in their actions in the future. To make such a joke was to throw away all the years of hard work of the Dragon Guards.
"As for that fake woman..." Emperor Longfeng turned to look at Queen Su and Prince Chen.
"When she arrives in the capital, keep a close eye on her." Prince Chen rolled up his sleeves and looked like he was about to hit someone. "I'm going to take Ming Xiaozhu with me to see what these two siblings look like."
"To replace others for glory and wealth, one's character must be extremely despicable." Emperor Longfeng tapped the table with his index finger: "Her brother must not be on the list of candidates in the imperial examination. If such a person becomes an official, the people will suffer."
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