Prince Huai was drunk, and everyone present could see that he was drunk.
"Second brother, fifth brother, come here." Prince Huai picked up the cup, and the wine slid down the back of his hand: "Brother will toast you again."
After finishing his glass of wine, Prince Huai sighed, "Not long ago, we were five brothers, but now there are only three of us left. The fourth brother was narrow-minded and sinister, and he deserved what he got."
"Third brother..." Prince Huai said in a bitter and angry tone, "It is normal for people to seek benefits and avoid harm."
"Anyway, I'm glad you can sit here today." Prince Huai poured himself some wine and kept pouring it into his mouth: "Big brother owes you a big favor."
"We are brothers, why should we owe each other any favors?" Prince Chen couldn't stand Prince Huai's drunken nagging: "Big brother, you are too kind."
Hearing this, Prince Huai was even more moved, with tears in his eyes: "Fifth brother, I am sorry for you. You treated me like this. I even sent people to your palace to spy on you. It was your fault."
Princess Huai picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. "Don't say anything more. If you continue, you will offend everyone."
"Fifth brother." She put down her chopsticks. "Your eldest brother did make mistakes in the past and did some excessive things. But since he moved into the palace, he has never plotted against you again."
"Congratulations, fifth brother, on being named the Crown Prince." Princess Huai poured herself a glass of wine. Seeing that Prince Huai wanted to speak, she reached out and pressed his head onto the table. Prince Huai struggled for a few times and passed out drunk.
"Your Highness and I are willing to assist Fifth Brother and ensure a peaceful future for Dacheng." Princess Huai looked serious, holding the wine glass high above her head.
Today, Yun Duqing is willing to dispel the rumors for her prince, so that he will not treat his brothers harshly after he ascends the throne tomorrow.
She drank the wine willingly and surrendered willingly.
"Fifth brother, Second brother is mediocre in talent and can't speak." Prince An stood up and said, "But like my eldest brother and his wife, I am willing to assist you and be your right-hand man."
"Brothers of one mind can accomplish anything." Princess An stood up and said, "Let's have a drink together."
There were no touching words or grand speeches, but Jiuzhu had a hunch that these few simple words came from the heart.
Until the three brothers were drunk and were arranged to rest in the inner room, the excitement died down and neither Prince Jing nor Princess Jing appeared.
Dali Temple.
A colleague dropped a file on the ground, and Ming Jiyuan bent down to help him pick it up.
"Thank you, Master Ming." The colleague said with a smile, "The case in this file is somewhat related to your family."
"What's the relationship?"
"The prisoner slandered the royal family, and was sent here by the Prince of Chen himself." Because the case involved the Ming family, it was not handed over to Ming Jiyuan. His colleagues were reluctant to explain in detail, but just smiled and said, "The prisoner is young, courageous, and evil-minded. Today, the Dragon Guards handed over new evidence that she had done something ungrateful when she was a child."
"When she was a child, she fell into the water. A neighbor girl rescued her, but she herself sank into the water due to exhaustion. The criminal actually ran back home secretly, and the kind neighbor girl had to wait several days to rescue her. Her family always thought that she fell into the water accidentally, and they still don't know that she drowned while trying to save the ungrateful person."
Evidence sent by the Dragon Guard?
Is this a case that the Emperor has ordered to be thoroughly investigated?
"Thank you for telling me." After hearing what his colleague said, Ming Jiyuan vaguely guessed the identity of the prisoner. After his shift, he changed out of his official robes and went to the Dali Temple Prison.
Ming Zhenyu was imprisoned in a cell in the corner. When she saw someone standing in front of her cell door, she raised her head to look at the person. After seeing his appearance clearly, she quickly buried her head in her arms.
It was quiet inside and outside the prison.
"It turned out to be you." Ming Jiyuan's tone was indescribably cold. No wonder her mother mentioned the Lingzhou Ming family several times in the past few days and did not hide her disgust. It turned out that everything was because of her.
As the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, it was easy for him to know the whole story, so he felt that everyone in Lingzhou Ming family, young and old, was disgusted.
“The reason why people are human beings is because they have a sense of shame in their hearts.” Ming Jiyuan was filled with disgust and turned away.
Ming Zhenyu rushed to the prison door and said, "Brother, I was wrong. I was really wrong. Please ask them to let me go."
"Shut up." Ming Jiyuan stopped and looked at her coldly: "I'm Ming Jiyuan, and I only have one sister, her name is Ming Jiuzhu."
"When you pretended to be Jiuzhu and came to our Ming family, you should have understood that everything you have in the Ming family is because of Jiuzhu." Ming Jiyuan looked at her: "After so many years, not only do you not feel guilty about what happened back then, but you have become even more aggressive and even want to use Jiuzhu's past to threaten the Ming family. Under this skin of yours, you are not a human being, but a wolf's heart."
Ming Zhenyu wanted to make excuses, to complain and act pitiful.
"When it's late at night and everyone is asleep, do you ever think of the girl next door who drowned while trying to save you?"
Ming Zhenyu was shocked. How could someone know about that?
"Ming Zhenyu, those who do evil will eventually pay the price."
Ming Jiyuan left, his steps were quick and hasty, as if he couldn't bear to stay here any longer.
"Is this news true?" Concubine Xu looked at the eunuch who had passed the message to him, and put the letter in her hand on the table with a smile: "I never thought that the Ming family would be so bold as to conceal Ming Jiuzhu's past and let her marry into the royal family. If this matter were to get out, I wonder if the royal family would be able to endure it, or if the Ming family would suffer the consequences?"
"Madam, what do you mean?"
"It would be a bit boring if there were only rumors about my son in the palace. Why not let everyone discuss the future crown prince's past and what he has experienced?" Concubine Xu laughed out loud: "It will definitely be lively."
"I'm afraid it won't be lively." Empress Su strode into the room, and with a sweep of her sleeves, all the bottles and jars on the treasure rack fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
"Mother." Jiuzhu followed into the house and saw the broken porcelain pieces all over the floor. She asked, "How could you smash these porcelain pieces?"
Concubine Xu looked at Empress Su with sarcasm, as if she was laughing at her for being humiliated by her daughter-in-law.
"You are delicate, what if you get scratched by the porcelain pieces?" Jiuzhu supported Su Hou and carefully avoided the pile of broken porcelain pieces: "What do you want to smash? I will help you."
The smile on Concubine Xu's face instantly collapsed. This mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are sick. They come here to make trouble. She picked up the letter on the table and prepared to put it in her sleeve.
However, it was snatched away by two palace maids brought by the Queen.
"Your Majesty, as a concubine, I should respect you, but isn't this an excessive act?!" Concubine Xu looked at the letter presented to Empress Su with more panic than anger.
"Too much?" Empress Su raised her beautiful eyes and said, "I have something even more outrageous. Do you want to see it?"
Concubine Xu tried to rush over to snatch the letter, but Jiuzhu opened her arms and stood in front of Empress Su: "My Lady Concubine Xu, as a concubine, how dare you assassinate the Empress?"
Concubine Xu stopped abruptly and looked at Jiuzhu angrily: "Princess Chen, what do you mean?"
"Whatever my mother means, that's what I mean." Jiuzhu's face showed "I am the queen's lackey", and this look made Concubine Xu very angry.
"My daughter-in-law is so considerate." Empress Su said with a smile, "My useless son is still drunk with his two brothers."
She opened the envelope and shook out the letter.
"Empress!" Concubine Xu's face turned pale and she sat down on the chair weakly.
"Jiuzhu, smash it." Su Hou glanced at the contents of the letter and said, "Smash whatever you want. Let's hear the sound and vent our anger."
"Mother, you can't settle accounts like this." Jiuzhu lifted up a long white glazed bottle and then put it down carefully: "You are the master of the harem, which means that everything in the harem is yours, right? It's better to move these things away instead of smashing them. Such good things should not be wasted."
Queen Su looked at her daughter-in-law in shock. Between her and Jiuzhu, who was from a merchant family?
"Move it." Su Hou nodded. It would be a pity to smash these fine porcelains.
"You are going too far!" Concubine Xu saw these palace maids and eunuchs starting to move things and shouted, "I am the principal wife listed in the royal family tree and I gave birth to your majesty's eldest son. How dare you humiliate me like this?"
"As a concubine in the harem, you colluded with forces outside the palace to spy on the secret cases of the Dali Temple. What do you want to do?" Empress Su ignored her shouting and said, "Xu, when you acted like this, have you ever considered the eldest prince?"
Concubine Xu looked at the letter in Empress Su's hand and suddenly realized: "Is this a trap you set deliberately?"
No wonder the Dali Temple needed to keep the information confidential. It was so easy to get the information, and it reached her hands within just half a day.
"Someone outside is spreading rumors about the eldest prince. As the empress, I naturally have to clarify it for him." Empress Su shook the letter in her hand: "These are just coincidences."
A trick?
How can there be so many coincidences in the world?
As soon as she got the letter, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law brought people to break in, without even time to report.
"I said it was a coincidence. Whether you believe it or not is up to you." Empress Su looked at Concubine Xu who was no longer pretending to be sick and said, "You look better when you're not pretending to be sick."
"Your Majesty, instead of worrying about whether I like you or not, you should think about your daughter-in-law and who she has been in contact with before and whether she is innocent." Seeing that her tracks were exposed, Concubine Xu simply broke the jar and looked at Jiuzhu with malicious eyes: "I don't believe that you will not be suspicious of this daughter-in-law every day!"
Mothers-in-law are always very picky about their daughters-in-law, let alone a daughter-in-law with an unknown past.
Su Hou smiled and stretched out her hand to Jiuzhu, who happily held her arm.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine with Jiuzhu." Empress Su raised her chin and said, "Jiuzhu, tell Concubine Xu when we first met."
"Empress Xu, I met my mother nine years ago." Jiuzhu blinked her big eyes and said to her seriously, "So even if your plan to spread rumors succeeds, my father and mother will not be dissatisfied with me. Are you a little disappointed?"
Concubine Xu's expression changed from time to time. She looked at Empress Su fiercely and asked, "When did you start to doubt me?"
"When was it?" Empress Su recalled carefully: "Maybe it was the day you came to pay your respects in a sedan chair?"
Concubine Xu turned her head to look at Jiuzhu. It was Ming Jiuzhu who let her sit on the sedan chair that day!
"Of course, it could also be the day when Wei was demoted from Zhaoyi to Jieyu, or the day when you refused to have your pulse checked by Dr. Liu, but none of that matters." Seeing that Concubine Xu was looking at her daughter-in-law with hatred, Empress Su pointed at the carved chair under Concubine Xu and said, "Move the chair away as well."
With Su Meidai around, Xu actually dared to glare at her Jiuzhu with such eyes. She was simply too bold!
Two palace maids "invited" Concubine Xu to the ground and moved the carved chair away.
The once quiet and elegant Zhaoxiang Palace has turned into an empty house frame.
"Empress Xu, please be more open-minded and don't feel bad about these things." Jiuzhu comforted Concubine Xu: "You can't live here in the future anyway, it has nothing to do with you, right?"
Concubine Xu’s eyes went dark and she fell to the ground with a thud.
"Xu Fei is really good at pretending to be sick." Empress Su nodded approvingly: "She is indeed a professional who has been pretending to be sick for more than ten years."
"Yeah." Jiuzhu nodded.
Doctor Liu, who came with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, was hesitant to speak.
This time, I'm afraid he's not pretending.
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