Chapter 63 Hiding it from the Emperor might mean he'll protect that person.
The Crown Prince was originally only the second prince. Apart from being born to the Empress and thus having the status of a legitimate son, he was not particularly favored. After being disliked by the Emperor for writing that article about a country porcupine, his status as a legitimate son brought him no advantage.
But just before that, the eldest son of the emperor passed away, and he, the second son, became the eldest son. In addition, he was born to the empress and became the eldest legitimate son.
An unfavored prince, yet occupying the position of eldest son, would become the undisputed heir apparent should he gain the emperor's favor in the future. Rather than waiting for him to rise to power, it's better to eliminate him sooner rather than later.
But the Empress was alert at the time and kept a close eye on the Crown Prince, so those who wanted to make a move never found an opportunity.
When the crown prince was ten years old, someone coerced and bribed one of his eunuchs to push him into the Taiye Pond as he passed by.
The eunuch thought no one was around when he made his move, but little did he know that Qi Jingxuan, who had just gotten into another fight, was hiding in a nearby artificial cave, crying.
Qi Jingxuan heard the noise and looked out. He saw someone struggling in the water, while people dressed as eunuchs on the shore were pushing the person into the water to prevent him from surfacing.
He shouted and jumped out, rushing over to push the eunuch away.
The eunuch attacked the crown prince because he was coerced, not because he wanted to. In a panic, he covered his face with his sleeve and fled.
When Qi Jingxuan was five years old, he got into a fight with Qi Jinghong and was pushed into a lotus pond. Although he was rescued in time, Consort Shu was afraid that something might happen to him, so she had someone teach him how to swim. He stood by the pond and called out a few times, but no one came. In desperation, he jumped in with a splash.
But he was only six years old then, and had only recently learned to swim. The other person was struggling so fiercely, how could he possibly save them?
Fortunately, palace servants heard his cries from afar and rushed over, rescuing the two men.
Qi Jingxuan recounted the story to Shen Yan, omitting the details of how he cried in the artificial cave and nearly drowned himself while trying to save the prince. He simply said that he happened to be passing by and bravely chased away the criminals to save the prince.
"Later, the Empress and the Crown Prince came to thank him, but he was still reluctant. Tch, it's only because I didn't see clearly that it was him who fell into the water that I didn't save him."
He snorted coldly.
Hearing this, Shen Yan smiled and said gently, "You will save him."
Qi Jingxuan was stunned for a moment, then met her gentle gaze. His face flushed for no reason, and he touched his ear, suddenly at a loss for words.
Unaware of his sudden inner turmoil, Shen Yan asked, "So what happened next? Did they find out who did it?"
Qi Jingxuan coughed lightly to pull himself back to reality and replied, "Although the eunuch covered his face, I actually saw him at the time. He probably knew he couldn't escape, so he hanged himself after returning home. Before he died, he left a letter written in blood, saying that the then Consort Xian, who was also the Third Prince's birth mother, had captured his family members outside the palace and used them to blackmail him into eliminating the Crown Prince. Otherwise, she would kill his family members. He had no choice but to take action against the Crown Prince."
"The Consort Xian denied it, saying that someone had framed her, but it turned out that it was her third brother who did it."
The third brother of Consort Xian heard from somewhere that she was being bullied by the Empress in the palace, and he was very indignant. He originally wanted to get rid of the Empress, but he couldn't find a suitable opportunity.
He was serving in the army at the time when he learned by chance that the wife of one of his soldiers was the younger sister of a palace attendant serving the crown prince, and he began to have designs on her.
The Empress was pregnant at the time, and if the Crown Prince had died then, she might have lost both herself and her unborn child in her shock and anger.
With this in mind, he ordered his men to take action, but they ultimately failed and instead implicated Consort Xian and the Zheng family.
Shen Yan: "So what happened to Consort Xian in the end?"
"She requested to be stripped of her rank as a concubine and even willingly went to the cold palace, just to ask her father to spare her third brother's life. However, the evidence of her plotting to harm the imperial heir was conclusive, and how could she be forgiven? All the officials in the court demanded severe punishment. At that time, her father also wanted to suppress the Zheng family, so he not only ordered her third brother to be executed, but also demoted the Zheng family again and again. Because the virtuous concubine was found to be pregnant, she was spared punishment and her rank as a concubine was preserved."
"This matter should have ended here, but Consort Xian always felt that her third brother had been used and insisted on seeking justice for him and the Zheng family. In the end, she knelt in the rain all night and miscarried."
"Even after her miscarriage, she was still worried about the Zheng family. She couldn't recover properly and fell ill. She didn't last long before passing away."
Zheng Jiasanlang wanted the Empress to die along with her unborn child, but unexpectedly, it was his own sister who ended up dying with her. Upon learning this in prison, he committed suicide that very night, cursing the Emperor before his death.
The Zheng family never recovered and is now virtually unknown in the court. The third prince, born to Consort Xian, also died of illness at the age of fourteen, before reaching adulthood.
“My mother said this matter is indeed a bit strange. As the Empress, although she wasn’t exactly kind, she had never mistreated any of the concubines. Besides, at that time, the Empress herself was pregnant and not feeling well, so she left many affairs of the harem to Consort Jia. Where would she find the time to torment Consort Xian?”
"But for some reason, Zheng Sanlang was convinced that she was bullying Consort Xian. In order to free Consort Xian from her clutches, he decided to get rid of the Empress."
He lowered his voice again as he spoke: "I was young and didn't understand anything back then, so I didn't think much about it, but later... the more I thought about it, the more I felt that this matter was not simple."
“Father isn’t stupid. Even my mother noticed something was wrong, so how could he not have noticed anything? He probably knew it too, but he went along with it because he wanted to suppress the Zheng family. Or... or he might have done it himself.”
By the end, his voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth, as if someone was eavesdropping nearby.
He only gradually came to understand these things as he grew older. He guessed that his mother actually knew about them back then, but fearing that he was too young to be wary of others, she subtly mentioned them to let him know that there was more to the story. However, she was afraid that he was too young to keep his mouth shut, so she didn't go into too much detail.
But whenever Qi Jingxuan thought of this, he felt that his loving father, who had always been so kind to him, had changed somewhat. The Crown Prince was also his father's biological son; although he had written an article that angered his father, was it really appropriate to abandon him for his own sake…?
He shook his head, banishing those thoughts: "Anyway, I saved the Crown Prince's life. Even if I unintentionally offended him later, he... he shouldn't want to kill me, right?"
"As for my other siblings... my relationship with them is just so-so. Even with my closest brother, the fourth one, we've only never fought. We're not that close."
Shen Yan listened attentively, nodded slowly, and then asked, "So, do you think... His Majesty has any suspicions about what happened to the two of us? Whom does he suspect more?"
Qi Jingxuan was taken aback: "This... we haven't found anything yet, Father should..."
He thought that his father probably wouldn't guess who it was right now, but then he remembered that he and Shen Yan had guessed the suspect might be the Crown Prince or Prince Ning without any evidence. So... would his father guess the same way?
If he guessed it, what would he do?
Qi Jingxuan suddenly understood why Shen Yan had asked him that question. He remained silent for a long time, his heart sinking.
"You mean... Father might protect that person?"
Shen Yan neither shook her head nor nodded, only saying, "Nothing has happened yet, so it's not good to draw conclusions now. But Your Highness... you only have one father, while His Majesty has many sons. Moreover... although we died many times in previous lives, only we know about it, and no one else does. Just like I only remember one of them, while you remember many, many times."
"It's inherently difficult for people to truly empathize with each other, especially when it comes to things they've never experienced themselves. For us, that spring banquet at the Marquis of Cheng'an's mansion ruined our lives, causing my family to be destroyed and you to be demoted from the capital and die from an assassination attempt. But now, in this life, in the eyes of others, we were merely framed and our reputations were damaged. Apart from that, we haven't been greatly affected. Some people even still think that it was you who, in your drunken state, misbehaved and humiliated me."
"In this situation, even if the person behind it is found, he might not be severely punished. If he were a prince, or even the Crown Prince or His Majesty's favorite Prince Ning..."
She shook her head and smiled bitterly, then didn't continue.
Qi Jingxuan jumped up from his chair: "Why is it that even disregarding the previous lives, that person still wanted to get rid of us in this life, only failing? He instigated the students of the academy to cause trouble, spread rumors to try and force you to your death—he did every single one of those things. Just because we didn't die, he doesn't have to be punished? What kind of absurd logic is that?"
Seeing that she had successfully ignited his anger, Shen Yan nodded and said, "I think so too. We can't let this go so easily. So... if we find out anything later, don't tell the palace, at least don't tell His Majesty."
"Wouldn't it be better if we captured that man, found a way to strike him decisively, and forced His Majesty to punish him severely?"
She hadn't originally intended to hide her intentions from the palace, but judging from the stories Qi Jingxuan had just recounted, the emperor wasn't as kind and easygoing as he appeared. Or perhaps he was just being amiable in front of Qi Jingxuan, but deep down he was still an emperor.
Shen Yan became increasingly suspicious of the Crown Prince and Prince Ning, and increasingly worried that the Emperor would show favoritism due to his own preferences.
Although Lin Si's death was indeed an accident, orchestrated by someone who couldn't hold back and coerced Consort Hui, the fact remains that the Emperor hadn't been able to extract anything useful from the investigation for so long raises questions: was it because he genuinely couldn't find anything, or did he already have a suspicion and therefore didn't want anyone to uncover it?
Shen Yan had never doubted the emperor before, but now she couldn't help but think more about it.
With doubts in her mind, she was no longer willing to rely on the palace to investigate anything, nor was she willing to share information from her side with the palace.
To the emperor, this might have been just a squabble between children, but for her... her loved ones were indeed implicated and died in that heavy snow...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
