As He Yunze pondered, his eyes swirled with endless darkness. The teacup in his hand accidentally spilled onto his clothes, wetting the garment beneath him.
Feeling the coldness between his thighs, He Yunze frowned, feeling a bit irritated and unhappy.
I was so careless!
Judging from the sky outside, Prince Yu must have already presented his birthday gifts and won applause from the audience.
In that case, it won't be long before he gets himself out of this hellish place.
He Yunze thought to himself that his disheveled appearance, covered in water, was truly pathetic. If he went out like this, his ability to handle affairs would not be fully convincing.
As for Ruo'an... she was so anxious and worried when she parted from me just now. If she saw me like this now, I'm afraid she would feel bad.
He Yunze recalled Song Ruoan's worried face, and his heart softened slightly. He couldn't help but sigh, then stood up and pushed open the wooden door of the room, wanting to present Ruoan with a respectable appearance.
Hearing the commotion, the two guards turned around and looked at him.
He Yunze politely nodded to the two men, then gave them a gentle smile: "You two have worked hard guarding the place, but what happened just now was a misunderstanding, and the truth will come out in a few hours."
"So could you please trouble the two gentlemen to prepare a clean set of clothes for me? These clothes are rather inappropriate."
Upon hearing this, the guard lowered his eyes to look at the puddle of water on his body, unwilling to believe a word he said:
“Lord He, it’s not that we’re deliberately making things difficult for you. We just poured you a pot of hot tea because you said you were thirsty. Now you need clothes, but it’s getting late and the dew is heavy in the palace. Where can we find clothes for you?”
The other guard spoke with even greater earnestness, refusing to budge an inch:
"Lord He, please forgive my bluntness, but as an official of the Ministry of Rites, you have failed in your duties and damaged Master Yuanhui's calligraphy. This is a serious crime! You should stop worrying about changing your clothes and start thinking about how to exonerate yourself."
He Yunze was already exhausted, and when he heard what the two said, he felt embarrassed. He felt that they were currying favor with the powerful and deliberately making things difficult for him.
A nameless rage rose in his heart, and he instantly let out a cold laugh.
"Do you think I'm making excuses to escape? Or do you think I'm at my wit's end and want to curry favor with the powerful and bully the weak?"
He put his hands behind his back and said in a horribly gloomy voice, "Today I will teach you two phrases. The first is 'fortune turns like a wheel,' and the second is 'never underestimate a young man's potential.' If you always have a fawning attitude towards the powerful and a condescending attitude towards the weak, you'll probably only ever be a guard for the rest of your life!"
Upon hearing this, the two guards instantly turned red with anger, their eyes widening in fury: "Lord He! We treated you with courtesy, what do you mean by this?"
"We are the people of Prince Ning!"
Normally, He Yuance would have spoken kindly to them, but now that he had been harmed by that despicable person, and was worried about Ruo'an, he was anxious and restless. With Prince Yu as his trump card, his words and actions were also unusually anxious.
Just as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of soldiers' orderly footsteps coming from afar.
The three people standing outside the room were all taken aback.
He Yunze's chest trembled, and then he looked in the direction of the footsteps and saw the neat and orderly Imperial Guards in the palace.
He breathed a sigh of relief, his chest feeling incredibly refreshed: "Look, the people who invited me have arrived."
"As I have said, I am honest and upright, and I have not done anything that I did."
The two guards stared wide-eyed in astonishment at the soldiers handing over the reins.
The soldier brandished his palace token at the two men: "Who are you?"
The two guards replied dryly, "We are Prince Ning's men, and we are here on His Highness's orders to temporarily look after Lord He."
He Yunze looked at the two guards' guilty expressions and sneered triumphantly.
But the next second, the Imperial Guards nodded: "We are here on His Majesty's orders... to arrest He Yunce."
Arrest?
He Yunze was stunned. He forgot to breathe and almost doubted that he had heard correctly:
"What do you mean by 'apprehend'? Have you generals misspoke?"
The Imperial Guards sneered: "His Highness Prince Yu has accused you of deceiving the emperor and committing the crime of deceiving the emperor. Consort Li has also said that you knowingly broke the law and damaged Master Yuanhui's calligraphy. We are here to arrest you!"
He Yunze stood there in astonishment, his blood running cold.
The world before him seemed to spin, instantly draining his strength from his body.
He stood there, bewildered and confused, when he felt the Imperial Guards brutally restrain his wrists and drag him almost in a disheveled state into the festive palace.
He Yunze didn't know how much time had passed before his vision shifted from darkness to light.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, all eyes were fixed on his back, and the stain on his robe seemed to be gradually expanding, like a raging tide that was about to engulf him.
He Yunze only came to his senses after kneeling before the emperor.
Before him stood Emperor Guangqi, his voice heavy with questioning: "He Yunce, what exactly happened?"
"Prince Yu said his birthday gifts came from you. Do you agree?"
He Yunze nodded numbly, still holding a sliver of hope in his heart: "This birthday gift was prepared by your humble servant, and there is absolutely no problem with it!"
The Empress Dowager remained silent, while the Emperor was so angry he almost laughed: "The items themselves are fine, but you've passed off inferior goods as superior ones, using shoddy workmanship to deceive us. There are clearly countless pieces of lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay, yet you claim they are unique and unparalleled in the world, trying to fool us with a worn-out makeup box."
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