King Huai was drunk, and everyone present could see that he was drunk.
"Second brother, fifth brother, come here." King Huai picked up the cup, and the wine slid down the back of his hand: "Brother, I'll toast you another cup."
After finishing the wine in the cup, King Huai sighed and said, "Not long ago, we were five brothers, but now there are only three of us. The fourth brother was narrow-minded and mean, and he deserved his fate."
"Third brother..." King Huai said in a bitter and angry tone: "It is normal for people to choose to seek benefits and avoid harm."
"Anyway, I'm very happy that you can sit here today." King Huai poured himself some wine and kept pouring it into his mouth: "Big brother owes you a favor."
"We are brothers, why should we owe each other any favors?" Prince Chen couldn't stand the cheesy tone of Prince Huai after he got drunk: "Big brother, you are too kind."
Hearing this, King Huai was even more moved, his eyes filled with tears: "Fifth brother, I am sorry for you. You treated me like this. I even sent people to your palace to spy on me. It was my 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 Huai wanted to speak, she reached out and pressed his head on the table. Huai struggled for a while and passed out drunk.
"Your Highness and I are willing to assist Fifth Brother and ensure a peaceful future for Dacheng." Princess Huai looked solemn, raising the wine glass above her head.
Today, Yun Duqing is willing to dispel the rumors for her prince. Tomorrow, after he ascends the throne, he will not treat his brothers harshly.
She drank this glass of wine willingly and surrendered willingly.
"Fifth brother, Second Brother is mediocre in talent and can't speak." Prince An stood up and said, "But I am like my eldest brother and his wife, and I am willing to assist you and be your right-hand man."
"Brothers united in purpose can break any obstacle." 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 smiled and said, "The case in this file is somewhat related to your family."
"What is it?"
"The prisoner slandered the royal family, and was sent here by the Prince of Chen himself." Because the case involved the Ming family, Ming Jiyuan was not given the case. His colleagues were reluctant to explain in detail, but smiled and said, "The prisoner is young, bold, and evil-minded. Today, the Dragon Guards handed over new evidence. She even did something ungrateful when she was a child."
"When she was a child, she fell into the water. The girl next door rescued her, but she herself was exhausted and sank into the water. The criminal actually ran back home secretly, which made it difficult for the kind-hearted girl next door to salvage her after several days. Her family always thought that she fell into the water by accident, and they still don't know that she drowned while trying to save the ungrateful person."
The evidence handed over by the Dragon Guard?
Is this a case that the emperor has ordered a thorough investigation?
"Thank you for letting me know." After hearing what his colleague said, Ming Jiyuan vaguely guessed the identity of the criminal. After his shift, he changed out of his official robe 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 cell.
"It's you." Ming Jiyuan's tone was indescribably cold. No wonder his mother mentioned 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 even more disgusted with the Ming family in Lingzhou, young and old.
"The reason why we are human beings is because we have a sense of shame." Ming Jiyuan was disgusted and turned away.
Ming Zhenyu rushed to the prison door and said, "Brother, I was wrong. I was really wrong. Please let them release me."
"Shut up." Ming Jiyuan stopped and looked at her coldly: "I am 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 worse 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 and a dog's lungs."
Ming Zhenyu wanted to defend herself, to complain and act pitiful.
“In the dead of night, have you ever thought about the girl next door who drowned 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 hurried, as if staying here for even a moment longer would be unbearable for him.
"Is this news true?" Concubine Xu looked at the eunuch who brought her the news 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 gets out, I wonder if the royal family will be able to endure it, or if the Ming family will be unlucky?"
"Madam, what do you mean?"
"It's a bit boring to only have 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." Queen Su strode into the room, and with a sweep of her phoenix sleeves, all the bottles and jars on the treasure shelf fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
"Mother." Jiuzhu followed him 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 sarcastically, 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 helped Queen Su carefully avoid the pile of broken porcelain pieces: "What do you want to smash? I'll help you."
The smile on Concubine Xu's face disappeared instantly. This mother-in-law and daughter-in-law couple are sick. They come to her place to make trouble. She picked up the letter on the table and prepared to put it into her sleeve.
However, it was snatched away by two palace maids brought by the Queen.
"Empress, as a concubine, I should respect you, but aren't you going too far?!" 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 wanted to rush over to grab the letter, but Jiuzhu opened her arms to block Empress Su and said, "Empress Xu, as a concubine, how dare you assassinate the queen?"
Concubine Xu stopped abruptly and looked at Jiuzhu hatefully: "Princess Chen, what do you mean?"
"I mean what my mother means." Jiuzhu's face was full of "I am the queen's lackey", and this look made Concubine Xu very angry.
"My daughter-in-law is so considerate." Queen 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." Empress Su glanced at the contents of the letter and said, "Smash whatever you want. Let's listen to the sound and vent our anger."
"Mother, you can't settle accounts like this." Jiuzhu raised 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 belongs to you, 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." Queen Su nodded. It would be a pity to smash these fine porcelains.
"You are going too far!" Concubine Xu saw the maids and eunuchs starting to move things and shouted, "I am the principal consort of the royal family and I gave birth to your majesty's eldest son. How dare you insult 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, have you ever considered the eldest prince when you acted like this?"
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 queen, I naturally have to clarify it for the eldest prince." Empress Su shook the letter in her hand: "These are just coincidences."
Coincidence?
How can there be so many coincidences in the world?
As soon as she received the letter, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law brought people and broke 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: "You look better when you're not pretending to be sick."
"Instead of worrying about whether you like me or not, Queen, you should think about your daughter-in-law and who she has been in contact with before. Is she innocent?" Seeing that her actions were exposed, Concubine Xu simply gave up and looked at Jiuzhu with malicious eyes: "I don't believe that you won't be suspicious of this daughter-in-law when you look at her every day!"
Mothers-in-law are always very picky about their daughters-in-law, let alone a daughter-in-law with an unknown past.
Queen Su 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, my mother and I met 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?" Empress Su recalled carefully, "It was probably 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 asked her to 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 ask for your pulse from Doctor Liu, but none of this 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 so bold!
Two palace maids "invited" Concubine Xu to the ground and moved the carved chair away.
The Zhaoxiang Palace, which was once quiet and elegant, has become an empty house.
"Empress Xu, please think more positively and don't feel bad about these things." Jiuzhu comforted Concubine Xu: "Anyway, you can't live here in the future, it has nothing to do with you, right?"
Concubine Xu’s eyes went dark and she fell to the ground with a thud.
"Concubine Xu is really good at pretending to be sick." Empress Su nodded approvingly: "She is worthy of being 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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