"Take the men away and hand them over to the Palace Department for punishment." Prince Chen gave the order directly without even having to look 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 were upset about this matter."
"And Zheng offended the Queen Mother. We have always felt unfair for the Queen Mother."
"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. We beg Your Highness to forgive us."
"When Zheng was still Concubine Ning, you were not dissatisfied. When Fourth Brother was still Prince of Qi, you were not hiding from me and making irresponsible remarks. Don't act like you are taking advantage of others' 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 is under the discipline of Father and Mother. 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 blocked. Prince Chen covered Jiuzhu's eyes with his hands: "Don't look at these things. They 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 people in the palace."
Jiuzhu stopped and smiled and shook her head at Prince 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, "If you are in the mortal world, you are just ordinary people in the mortal world."
"What you said makes sense. 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 in the world, and now you are talking about the heartless people in the capital. Ming Xiaozhu, Ming Xiaozhu, I didn't expect you to discriminate against different regions." Prince Chen stretched out his hand and hugged her shoulders: "The whole world belongs to 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 be in your hands for the rest of my life. I accept it."
Because of him, she prejudiced the whole city.
The wind blew through the deserted palace road, and everything around became quiet.
A patrolling golden-armored guard 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 spot him.
"Your humble servant greets 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 did the Fourth Prince go out without any attendants or lanterns?
"You guys continue patrolling, I'll take a walk around." Yun Yanze glanced towards the end of the palace road 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 Empress Su because of these words and attack her?
He originally wanted to use these two eunuchs to make a big deal out of the matter, so that his father would see that he was now in a situation where even eunuchs could bully him, and make his father feel pity for him.
Unexpectedly, Yun Duqing would appear at this time and disrupt his plans.
What a pity.
I turned around and went back to Zhangliu Palace. As soon as I reached the gate, I heard the sound of 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 cushion behind Sun Caiyao's waist. "You haven't been able to eat in the past two days. I heard that my fifth brother has a few very good cooks. I'll go 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 fragile, I'll 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."
Sun Caiyao drank the sour plum soup and felt uncomfortable in her stomach, so she vomited it all out.
Yun Yanze looked down at the tip of his shoe, on which were splashed a few tiny drops of water.
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 young 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 the flesh. Blood gushed out impatiently and the pain calmed him down.
There was a cat's meowing outside the window. He opened the window and saw a small cat climbing on the window.
He reached out and grabbed the kitten's furry neck. The cat 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 belong to a princess. I will send it back right away."
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 holding the cat: "I'll take my leave."
"Bai Shao." Yun Yanze straightened 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 maid took the kitten from her hands and said, "If I lose this cat, the princess will definitely be angry with me."
"Watch the cats carefully from now on. The princess is pregnant. If she gets scared by these cats and dogs and something happens, none of us can afford it." Bai Shao noticed that there were occasional blood stains on the cat's ears. While the maid wasn't paying attention, he held the handkerchief and pretended to touch the kitten's head to wipe 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 of them 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 specially left by Concubine Zhao, so I want to be more serious."
Open the lid of the box, and on the first layer there are several pairs of jade bracelets of excellent quality.
"It is a folk custom that elders will pass on the good things that have accompanied them to the younger generations as heirlooms. Concubine Zhao treats you as her own junior." Prince Chen was 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. The style was popular in the palace a few years ago, and 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, there are only Concubine Xu and Concubine Min who are the main concubines of a palace.
There must be a reason why Concubine Zhao left this for them.
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 making 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 reading and practicing calligraphy after entering the palace. When we get older and our eyesight isn’t very good, we will subconsciously write bigger to make it easier to read.
This is a letter with seemingly ordinary content, which instructs Jiuzhu and Prince Chen to take good care of themselves and expresses gratitude to Emperor Longfeng and Empress Su for their care for her.
"The cuckoo will eventually return home."
Dujuan slowly...
This sentence, which seems somewhat elegant, is extremely awkward to read and is completely different from the simple 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 way.
"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 rested her chin on 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 put away the wooden box, touched Jiuzhu's hair, and after confirming that it was dry, he pulled Jiuzhu into the bed.
"How can we just let it go?" Jiuzhu pushed him, "Your Highness, please continue."
"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." Prince Chen did not keep Jiuzhu waiting: "Go to bed quickly. 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 Guard investigate." Prince Chen yawned, "Father's men should be used in vain."
"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 His Royal Highness Prince Chen ask 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 Taiyang Palace. So, Your Majesty has no objection to 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 Majesty. I will find out the truth as soon as possible." Commander Wang came back to his senses and said, "Please give me a few days, Your Majesty."
"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-in-chief, 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, Prince Chen paused: "What did you say?"
The dragon guard saw the strange look on Prince Chen's face and lowered his voice: "The Queen and Your Highness have found the person you are looking for."
Prince Chen turned his head to look at Liu Zhongbao: "Father and mother didn't tell them, so there's no need to look for them?"
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 is opening an imperial examination to recruit talented people, her brother is going to Beijing 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 is that shameless person who dared 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 a lot?
"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 retreat.
Looking at His Majesty and the Queen sitting at the top, Commander Wang secretly groaned inwardly, thinking that his men had committed such a big mistake and it was all because of his failure to discipline them properly.
Fortunately, the person had been found long ago. If not, wouldn’t that woman have really impersonated him?
He didn't dare to think about it any further, and cold sweat kept pouring out.
"This is an old story. No one knows about it except the Queen and the people who serve my son. The people working below were misled by someone with ulterior motives. It can be considered excusable." Emperor Longfeng said happily: "But 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 after all. The fact that they are willing to ask for punishment shows that His Majesty is not completely disappointed with the Dragon Guards, and they still have a chance to regain His Majesty's favor.
He would make his subordinates act more cautiously and carefully in the future. Making such a joke would simply throw away all the years of hard work of the Dragon Guards.
"As for that fake woman..." Emperor Longfeng turned to look at Empress Su and Prince Chen.
"When she arrives in the capital, keep her under strict watch." Prince Chen rolled up his sleeves, looking as if he was about to hit someone: "I will take Ming Xiaozhu with me to see the faces of these two siblings."
"To replace someone else for the sake of wealth and glory, 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 the imperial examination. If such a person becomes an official, the people will suffer."
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