In the end, Mrs. Shen gave birth to a daughter.

However, the person who was agreed to be engaged died in childbirth.

Concubine Yinghe and Shen Cangyun were not very familiar with each other, so the matter was dropped. They had originally planned to propose marriage to Shen Ruyi after she reached the age of marriage, but they did not expect...

Rong Yan thought about this with his brows drooped.

He originally thought that giving the credit for suppressing the rebels of the previous dynasty to the Shen family would make Shen Ruyi's life better.

He was wrong.

Shen Cangyun was indeed on the rise, but Shen Ruyi did not benefit at all.

Although the other sons of the Shen family were also born to Mrs. Shen, they were not worthy of enjoying such wealth and glory.

Since it is wrong, let everything go back to its original place.

When he looked up again, there was a frost in Rong Yan's eyes.

The Third Prince looked at him carefully, "Is there anything else about Ninth Prince that we don't know?"

I've seen him quite a lot before.

In my impression, Rong Yan is a quiet person who doesn't stand out in a crowd.

He always sits alone in the corner quietly, and he won't say anything unless someone asks him questions.

When others asked him, he only answered briefly.

I thought he was a little depressed and autistic because of his disability.

I can understand that.

Therefore, although his father doted on him and always mentioned him, no one else took him seriously.

But I didn't expect that one move would be so powerful.

The third prince's eyes were full of scrutiny.

Rong Yan glanced at him and said, "We don't know everything about Third Brother, do we?"

His eyes were fixed on the face of the Third Prince.

Although he didn’t say much, the beggar who broke into Gu’s house today…

The third prince's eyes flickered and he smiled, "That's right, no one can truly understand another person..."

There is no need to understand it so clearly.

But the Royal Family is different.

There is only one throne, but there are so many princes with royal blood.

There are too many wolves and too little meat, and we have to be prepared for future troubles. In the end, a fight is inevitable. Brothers will have to fight to the death in the end.

A cold wind blew and it suddenly started snowing.

…

In the imperial study.

The emperor and Li Xiangyi sat opposite each other and played chess for the whole day.

Li Xiangyi didn't speak until the light in the room dimmed and it was almost impossible to distinguish the black and white pieces.

"This morning, the Gu family's old lady held a birthday party. It was nominally a birthday party, but in reality it was to control Shen Ruyi."

"In the afternoon, the old lady's birthday banquet began, and it was directly announced that Gu Qinghua would marry Shen Ruyi in three days."

"Then, Shen Ruyi broke off the engagement, Old Madam Gu died, and the Second Prince took his cousin's fiancée and forced her to marry him, regardless of the life or death of the old lady of the Gu family."

"The Third Prince is obstructing the process, while the Ninth Prince is stepping forward..."

As he said this, he looked at the emperor and said, "The situation in the court has changed."

"The Emperor was silent all day. In the evening, he just called me back but refused to see me. Has he not figured out how to deal with this?"

Li Xiangyi glanced at the door.

The eunuch stood at the door, his eyes looking at the nose and his nose looking at the heart, and only an outline was left.

The door was closed and showed no sign of opening.

However, things have to be resolved, and it has something to do with him.

He was a little worried about Shen Ruyi.

The emperor raised his head and looked at him.

Looking at his face in the darkness, my vision was not very clear, but I seemed to see something that I could not see during the day.

His voice was deep. "Early this morning, the Ninth Prince asked me for an imperial decree. I granted his request. Does the High Priest know why?"

Li Xiangyi came back to his senses.

How could he not know?

The emperor also didn't want Shen Ruyi to marry Gu Qinghua.

Because that would undoubtedly lead to speculation:

Is the second prince going to be the next heir?

If there is such speculation, then the prince will be in danger.

And the emperor didn't want others to guess what he was thinking.

So, this morning he promised the Ninth Prince that an imperial decree would break up the marriage between the Shen and Gu families.

It also invisibly shattered the ironclad alliance that the Shen family had spent ten years to build.

This can only benefit the emperor.

But these cannot be said out loud.

Li Xiangyi was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses and said, "How can a minister guess what the emperor is thinking?"

"I don't know."

Even this moment of stunned expression was acted out.

When serving the emperor, you cannot be too smart.

The emperor snorted. How could he really believe that he didn't know?

Just because Li Xiangyi didn't know doesn't mean that he really didn't know, but what was conveyed to the emperor was Li Xiangyi's submission.

Surrender is the most important thing, whether you know it or not is not important.

The emperor then spoke again, "You have created a Ziwei Fuxing, which really stumps me."

"If you want to say that she is really that mysterious, I can't tell for now."

"It only shows that my princes are fighting for her and getting hurt, which makes the undercurrents surging under the seemingly calm surface of the court come to light."

"She is not that mysterious, I..."

He narrowed his eyes and looked in another direction.

"It is God's will, and I dare not say that she is really useless. I cannot go against God's will, so I can only protect her well."

"But now it has become difficult to protect it."

Although the doors and windows were closed, Li Xiangyi knew that the direction he was looking at was the Temple of Heaven.

The emperor accepts the mandate of heaven, and he has to believe it whether he believes it or not.

Mortals cannot afford such a great fortune.

The emperor took a deep breath and looked back at Li Xiangyi.

"Shen Ruyi is sixteen this year. Even if she doesn't marry Gu Qinghua or the Second Prince today, she is still... old enough to get married."

"And I..."

He sighed, "But I don't want her to stir up trouble among my princes, and I don't want an inexplicable person to become the husband of Ziwei Fuxing!"

When Li Xiangyi heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

A few days ago, the Ninth Prince came to him and said that Shen Ruyi's life was in danger and he needed his help.

After meeting Shen Ruyi, he felt that he was not safe even in the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The Prime Minister's Mansion is the most powerful family in the capital. Not to mention that it is difficult to send someone in to protect it, even if someone is sent in, it will be useless if the person does not have enough status and qualifications.

He had no choice but to come up with this idea:

It is said that Shen Ruyi is the lucky star of Ziwei, and with the help of Yinghe Guifei's hairpin, no one dares to attack her.

At first, this trick really worked.

But now, trouble comes!

Before he could come to his senses, the emperor stood up, asked the chief eunuch to light the lamps, and then ordered him to leave.

"You've been here for a day, go back."

"I'm going to meet those people outside the door."

The room was suddenly brightly lit, and Li Xiangyi felt that things were going to get bad.

But now is not the time to add fuel to the fire, so I can only turn around and step back.

"I will take my leave."

Immediately afterwards, the chief eunuch went out to announce the decree.

But he didn't ask them to go in together, but only called one person, "Your Highness, the Emperor invites you in!"

"Didn't Father call us?"

The second prince became a little anxious and subconsciously took a step forward.

Today, he was the one who made the most trouble in the Gu family, and he is also the most nervous one now!

However, the emperor called the prince first.

A prince who seems to have nothing to do with the Gu family's affairs.

So, what does he mean?

The eunuch said expressionlessly, "No."

Then he opened the door and called the prince in.

Seeing this, the Third Prince looked at Rong Yan and asked, "Ninth brother, why do you think father called you the Crown Prince first?"

It is both doubt and temptation.