Chapter 331 Prince Ning seduces his master?
After leaving Qin's house, Concubine De returned to a small door in the backyard of the Huo Mansion according to the plan she had agreed with her maid, and knocked on the door three times.
The door opened in response, but the person standing behind the door startled Concubine De slightly.
The person who opened the door was not her maid Chunruo, but her father's bodyguard.
"Miss, you're back. The master is waiting for you in the lobby."
Defei calmed down a little and quickly went to the lobby.
It was less than an hour from the time she left home to the time she came back, but she was still discovered by her father.
As she was about to enter the lobby, she heard the sound of whipping again and again.
She quickened her pace, ran through the corridor and came to the outside of the lobby, where she saw her father and mother sitting on mahogany chairs, while her two maids were kneeling in the middle of the lobby, being whipped on the back by the guards.
"Stop!" She immediately stepped forward and pushed a guard away, shouting, "Do you think you can hit my people?"
"What? You're such a coward in the palace, and now you want to act like a queen when you return home?" A heavy cold snort came from the front. "It was my father who ordered them to be beaten. What's the point of yelling at them? Come at my father if you have the guts."
Concubine De turned to look at Minister Huo, and seeing him looking at her coldly, she knew that she was in the wrong, so she said softly, "Father, what happened tonight was indeed my daughter's fault."
"Then tell me what you did wrong. If you can't explain it clearly, let them continue to be beaten."
"I was wrong not to contact Qin Shen again, but please believe me, this was the last time I went to see him. Besides, I didn't go to reminisce with him, but to warn him not to have any delusions, and he listened to me."
Concubine De looked calm, "Don't think I am thinking about our old relationship. My daughter is not that stupid. If I really wanted to reconcile with him, why would I come back so soon?"
"You made more than one mistake." Minister Huo remained expressionless, his tone cold, "Think about it again."
"Apart from this, what else could there be?" Concubine De frowned slightly. "My daughter thinks that except for what happened tonight, I have a clear conscience. Did father hear some rumors? Are you questioning my morality?"
"A clear conscience? What a clear conscience."
Minister Huo sneered, then slammed the table and stood up, "Do you dare to say that you haven't been thinking about that kid named Qin all the time in the past year since you entered the palace? If you hadn't been thinking about him all the time, how could you have become estranged from His Majesty? As a concubine, it is your duty to win the favor of His Majesty, but how did you do it? You don't care about the emperor's heart at all, and you just eat and wait to die all day long! If you had any ability, His Majesty would not have been with that dog thief Song..."
Minister Huo seemed to find it hard to speak at this point. He could only grit his teeth and pound his fist on the table. "This is absolutely ridiculous! Absurd!"
Defei was shocked when she heard this.
She originally thought that her father was only going to punish her and Qin Shen for the matter, but she never expected that he would mention His Majesty and Prince Ning.
How did the news of Your Majesty and Prince Ning's affair reach your father's ears?
Concubine De came back to her senses and pretended to be confused, "What happened between your majesty and Prince Ning?"
"Are you still going to play dumb with me?!"
Minister Huo raised his voice a few notches, "I wonder why that bastard Song is so complacent. He has no shame and seduced the Lord, but you, the people in the harem, did not advise His Majesty and even helped to conceal it! Why didn't you inform your respective families of such a serious matter earlier? You don't care about your own honor, and you don't even care about the safety of your family! You are so foolish and heartless!"
"Father, please be careful with your words!" De Fei's face was rarely tense. "Father, you also know that this matter is very serious. How can you criticize Your Majesty without any evidence? Didn't Your Majesty explain the reason why Prince Ning is so highly regarded? He has made many contributions to the establishment of the country. You can't say that he has an improper relationship with Your Majesty just because he is handsome, right?"
"You still dare to speak for him?!"
Minister Huo was so angry that his beard was shaking. He walked up to Concubine De and raised his right hand.
Mrs. Huo quickly stepped forward to stop him, "Master, Lan'er is not just Miss Huo, she is now the Empress Defei, and as parents, we can't do anything to her!"
"Mrs. Defei? Does she still have any dignity as a Defei? She had bad taste in the past and liked a boy with no ability. She was lucky enough to enter the palace but she still lived such a miserable life! Now that she is back home, she doesn't even tell the truth in front of her parents! Can it be that I can't scold her just because she is a concubine? If she had the ability, she would certainly put on airs, but look at what she has done! She is no longer on the same page with her family!"
"When did I not care about my family?" De Fei argued, "If I didn't care about my family, I should have left with Qin Shen! Father, you once asked me to choose Qin Shen or the Huo family? I chose the Huo family without hesitation. If you let me enter the palace, I will enter the palace, but can't I seek a stable life after entering the palace?"
"Do you really want me to fight with others and become a concubine or even a queen to satisfy you? I don't think I have that ability. You can complain if you want and scold if you want! But I advise my father that you don't have the right to hit me now. If you hit me, it would be disrespectful to the royal family."
"You say I'm a coward? Yes, I am a coward. I don't have great ambitions, nor do I have the ability to make you proud in the court. But do you really think that we in the harem can be blamed for the Song Party's power? How can we guess what His Majesty is thinking? You are just venting your resentment towards the Song Party on my incompetent daughter."
Upon hearing this, Minister Huo was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, "You!"
"Lan'er, stop talking and stop making your father angry..." Mrs. Huo stood between the father and daughter, her face full of worry.
"I never thought of angering him. He had too high expectations of me. Because I couldn't meet his requirements, he thought I was useless and that I was not on his side. I would like to ask, father, have you ever thought about me for a moment?"
Minister Huo looked at her with a frown on his face, seemingly so angry that he couldn't speak.
"My daughter knows that I have failed to live up to your expectations. I am sorry for you." Defei took two steps back, knelt down and bowed to him, then stood up, "Chunruo, Xiaqiao, follow me back to the room, and return to the palace early tomorrow morning."
She seldom acted like a concubine, but since she did, the guards naturally didn't dare to beat the maid and let her take the person away.
After returning to the house, Concubine De looked at the two people behind her coldly, "Who said that?"
"I'll ask again, who told you about the matter between Your Majesty and Prince Ning?"
Under her scrutiny, Chun Ruo took a step forward, "My Lady..."
Defei raised her hand and slapped her.
"How foolish! How can you say such a thing? How dare you say it! This is a matter of life and death, don't you know?"
"My queen, please don't blame Chunruo. It was the master who forced us to ask about your affairs in the palace, and threatened Chunruo with her brothers and sisters. Chunruo really didn't dare to hide it, so she told him that it was not your fault. His Majesty only loves Prince Ning, and who can do anything to His Majesty? Besides, with His Majesty's preference for Prince Ning, who in His Majesty's palace doesn't know it?"
"Although no one dares to speak, many people know about this matter. Sooner or later, the secret will be revealed. Even if Chun Ruo doesn't speak today, other queens may leak it, and even people around His Majesty may leak it. Does Your Majesty think there is an impenetrable wall in the world? Prince Ning is handsome and has always been in power, so there must have been rumors in the streets a long time ago."
De Fei slumped in the chair, holding her forehead with her hand. "Even if it is to be leaked, it should not be our Huo family that leaks it first. Father hates the Song Party and will definitely communicate this matter with other officials to try to prove that Prince Ning seduced the Lord and thus strike at the Song Party. And with the investigation capabilities of Prince Ning's Mansion and the Mirror Bureau, once they know that this matter was caused by the Huo family..."
If Your Majesty and Prince Ning did not have that kind of relationship, if Your Majesty often visited the harem, if Your Majesty had a son or a daughter, then all the gossip would only be rumors. But they did have that kind of relationship, and Your Majesty did not associate with the concubines in the palace, and he did not have any children...
"My queen, what should we do?" Chun Ruo was also a little panicked, "What will happen to us if King Ning really finds out?"
"He will definitely know, don't hold your breath." De Fei sighed, "If you want to remedy the situation... send him a message before returning to the palace tomorrow, so that he can prepare early."
Chun Ruo's eyes widened, "Send him a message?"
"Yes, I will only tell him that my father heard the news from some official and told him to be careful. There is no need to say anything else. If this matter can be handled well, King Ning will not have to tear his face with the ministers. But if it is not handled well, King Ning will not be able to withstand the criticism of the ministers and will most likely attack the leader in anger."
"Anyway, I reminded him right away, so he will remember this favor from me."
…
The next day, just after dawn, Song Yunchu was awakened by a knock on the door.
"Your Highness, I have an important letter for you to review."
Song Yunchu lifted the curtain and took a look at the sky. It was not time to get up yet. But the words "important letter" made her dress quickly, get down on the bed, and open the door for Bai Zhu.
"Whose letter is it?"
"It was secretly sent by Empress Defei's people. I guess it must be very important." Bai Zhu whispered.
Song Yunchu was quite surprised and immediately opened the letter to read.
The content of the letter also made her eyes darken.
Defei's father, the Minister of War Huo Yin, confirmed in a conversation with someone unknown that she and the emperor were having a gay relationship. Defei asked her to be especially wary of the families behind the four concubines and Prime Minister Liu, who had only recently returned to the court and had always been at odds with her.
Behind the four concubines are the Huo, Ye, Wei and Zheng families. Shufei is the emperor's secret guard, and her identity was forged with the help of the Zheng family. Scholar Zheng is a loyal person and does not like party struggles. However, the affair between the emperor and his minister involves the emperor's reputation after all, so Scholar Zheng might dislike her for this.
Bai Zhu noticed that Song Yunchu looked strange, so he subconsciously asked, "Your Highness, is there something wrong?"
Song Yunchu showed him the letter directly.
Bai Zhu was also shocked after seeing this, "Your Highness, Concubine De is from the Huo family, why would she..."
"Her father is one of the many people who dislike me. If the families behind the four concubines have confirmed my relationship with Your Majesty, they will quickly incite the court officials to suppress me, or create a lot of rumors to force Your Majesty to punish me, such as stripping me of my title and making me lose power. Defei came to deliver the message, just hoping that I would show mercy to the Huo family. If she didn't remind me, I would of course know it, but I wouldn't know it so early."
After Song Yunchu thought for a moment, he sighed and said, "I expected this day to come."
If she and Jun Liluo were simply a relationship between monarch and subject, her position as Prime Minister of Song would have been the highest she could have been, so how could she expect to be crowned king?
Not to mention that Jun Li Luo would also say to her - I'll give you half of the kingdom.
Her feelings for Jun Li Luo might not be pure, but they are definitely not shallow. It is not easy for two people who love each other to pretend to be heartless all the time in front of others, so they are too lazy to pretend in front of their confidants, and there is no need to pretend.
More and more people will know that they have a good relationship.
She had never lost her power since she came to power, and she was young and beautiful. With all these pieces of information added together, it was hard not to have rumors of an affair between her and the emperor.
What's more, Jun Li Luo has no children yet, the harem is unusually quiet, and he and the four concubines ignore each other. Over time, rumors of homosexuality are bound to arise.
"There have probably been rumors of an affair between the prince and your majesty for a long time, but the high-ranking officials have not yet been involved, so the matter has not been escalated and can only be regarded as a small matter. If you want this matter to spread quickly, there must be someone willing to take the lead and of high status. Judging from the hint of Concubine De, the families behind the four concubines may be willing to unite and take the lead to deal with me."
"Then does Your Highness have any way to deal with it?" Bai Zhu's face was full of worry.
"Nan Yan hasn't gotten up yet, right? Go wake her up and bring her here."
After Bai Zhu left, Song Yunchu immediately wrote a letter to Jun Liluo.
If she was charged with the crime of seducing the monarch, there would be a lot of people calling her a traitor. These people would never have dreamed that it was their majesty who seduced her first. She could say with a clear conscience that she originally just wanted to be a minister and live out her old age, but Jun Li Luo used all means, showed great courtesy, and even learned a lot of cheesy love words, which was simply unscrupulous.
If we talk about the crime, can she also accuse Jun Li Luo of "disrespectful as a king and seducing his subjects"?
When Song Yunchu was about to finish writing the letter, Zhong Nanyue was brought by Bai Zhu.
"Brother Song, why did you call me so early? Did something happen?"
"I'll explain it to you later. Right now, there's something urgent that needs your attention. Apart from me, you're the best at Qinggong in the mansion."
As Song Yunchu spoke, he sorted out the two letters and handed them to Zhong Nanyan, "Send these two letters to the south gate of the palace as quickly as you can. Shen Yue is there. Ask him to deliver them to His Majesty before the morning court. As for you, stay with Shen Yue after you are done, and show up at the training ground when it is time for you to train your troops."
…
The early morning sunlight shines through the treetops, casting mottled shadows on the windowsill of Changle Palace.
Inside the palace, palace servants placed exquisite breakfast dishes on the table.
Jun Liluo had just sat down when he heard Xiao Shunzi come in and report, "Your Majesty, Lord Shen wants to see you for something important."
"Let him in."
Seeing Chen Yue stepping into the hall with a serious expression, Jun Liluo ordered the people around him to retreat.
Chen Yue handed him the two letters that Zhong Nanyan had brought, "Your Majesty, Miss Zhong just came to deliver a letter in a hurry, saying that this matter concerns the reputation of your Majesty and Prince Ning."
Jun Liluo opened the letter and read it, his eyes were cold.
Shen Yue observed his expression and asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, is the matter serious?"
"It hasn't happened yet, so it's not serious, but we need to be vigilant."
Chen Yue could vaguely guess that the letter should have mentioned the affair between His Majesty and Prince Ning. Apart from this, there was nothing else that could damage the reputation of both of them at the same time.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say that may make you angry..."
"Then don't say it, I don't want to hear it."
Jun Li Luo turned to look at Chen Yue, his tone as cool as the sound of jade, "I will never embarrass Yun Chu at any time, nor will I reduce her power."
"You won't understand the tacit understanding between her and me, and there's no need to explain."
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