Chapter 40 The Crown Prince's face grew increasingly grim.
Yun Kui's mind went blank. She didn't know when His Highness the Crown Prince had arrived, or how much he had heard... perhaps everything.
Otherwise, why would he have such a gloomy face? Yun Kui could even hear the sound of his knuckles shifting as he clenched his fists.
"My luck is just too bad! I got caught red-handed talking badly about someone. His Highness the Crown Prince will probably skin me alive..."
She stepped forward with a mournful face and pleaded in a low voice, "Your Highness, that's not what I meant. Please let me finish..."
The crown prince's gaze passed over her and coldly fell on Li Meng behind her.
Li Meng knelt down with a thud: "Your Highness, please forgive me! I was patrolling outside Chaoyang Palace when I happened to meet a fellow villager and exchanged a few pleasantries. I did not know that Yun Kui was one of your servants..."
The crown prince glanced down at him, his voice indifferent: "Now you know?"
Li Meng looked terrified. "Yes, I know I'm guilty..."
The Crown Prince's face was cold and ruthless, his words merciless: "You abandoned your post and had a secret rendezvous with one of my concubines. According to the law, you should be punished..."
Yun Kui quickly explained, "Your Highness, it wasn't a secret meeting; we just bumped into each other..."
Upon hearing the Crown Prince's words, Li Meng almost abruptly raised his head, staring at Yun Kui with wide eyes.
He never imagined that this girl was not only a maidservant by the Crown Prince's side, but also a palace maid who served him in bed!
"She's probably already slept with the Crown Prince!"
"If it weren't for her beauty and her naivety, why would I have bothered going up there and wasting my breath! I only have myself to blame."
Upon hearing his thoughts, the Crown Prince's face instantly darkened to an even deeper shade.
Upon hearing the news, the commander of the guards, Guo Xiao, rushed over and immediately bowed to the Crown Prince, then looked at Li Meng: "Your Highness, this..."
"Could this palace maid be the beautiful girl from his hometown that Li Meng was talking about, the one who's throwing herself at him and infatuated with him?"
The crown prince closed his eyes, concealing the surging anger within them, and gave his punishment in a few words: "Neglect of duty, forty strokes of the cane."
Yun Kui looked at him in disbelief, "Your Highness!"
She only exchanged a few words with someone, so why should she be given forty strokes of the cane?
After forty strokes of the cane, would a person still survive...?
Li Meng felt his blood run cold and hurriedly kowtowed, begging for mercy: "Your Highness, spare my life! This humble servant truly only met her by chance because we were from the same hometown, and there was never anything inappropriate between us..."
The Crown Prince did not want to say more, but glanced at Guo Xiao, who immediately bowed and agreed, and sent men to take Li Meng away and beat him.
Yun Kui turned pale with fright. Seeing the Crown Prince turn and leave with a stern face, she hurriedly chased after him, "Your Highness, this servant really did not have a secret rendezvous with him. You cannot punish me like this..."
The crown prince ignored him, and his menacing aura was chilling.
Yun Kui's nose stung with tears, as if she could see that tyrannical and ruthless Crown Prince again.
Having no other choice, she simply reached out and grabbed his sleeve, "Your Highness..."
The prince took a deep breath and finally stopped.
Yun Kui gripped his sleeve tightly, her fingertips turning white from the pressure. "Your Highness, I didn't mean to say anything bad about you. I hadn't finished speaking when you came over. If you punished him so severely because of me, I..."
The crown prince turned around and stared at her, his face almost cold to the extreme. Yun Kui was so frightened that she dared not say anything more.
After a long silence, he coldly curled his lips and asked, "What do you intend to do?"
Yun Kui's voice trembled as she said helplessly, "Please...please punish me. It was wrong of me to meet with the guards in private, and I shouldn't have talked about you behind your back. I didn't know the rules and forgot my place. Punish me if you must..."
The Crown Prince said sternly, "Do you think I won't punish you? I've kept all your debts here, and I'll settle them sooner or later."
"Yes, this servant is at fault and deserves punishment... but Li Meng is innocent, please, Your Highness, show mercy..."
Yun Kui didn't know what Li Meng was thinking, but in her eyes, the punishment shouldn't be so severe.
The Crown Prince coldly glanced at her, "You've only known him for a few days, yet you know he's innocent? Or is it that you've long harbored feelings for him, and I'm the one who broke you two up?"
The crown prince suddenly remembered that during her interrogation in the torture chamber that day, her plan for the future was—"to marry a strong and healthy guard and live the rest of my life without shame."
The guard she mentioned was Li Meng.
She wants to marry Li Meng?
Although Li Meng had an ugly face and a vicious mind, his physique could indeed be described as having well-developed limbs.
He still remembered that night when he interrogated her about who she had dreamed about. Among the long list of names she came up with was her fellow villager, Guard Li, who was naturally Li Meng.
She even dreamed about Li Meng!
Regardless of whether what Guo Xiao said was true or false, Li Meng believed that she had once been devoted to him, infatuated with him, and boasted about it in front of others.
The crown prince closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with an overwhelming rage that he could not suppress.
Yun Kui was startled by his bloodshot eyes and quickly shook her head to explain, "No, we've barely met. He only found out about my visit to the East Palace today."
The Crown Prince will investigate how many times he has seen them.
He was furious, and coldly curled his lips: "You've only met him a few times, yet you're already speaking up for him and want to take the punishment for him?"
Before Yun Kui could retort, the man interrupted her immediately: "In any case, in your heart I am a ruthless and vicious person, so even if I want to take his life, what can you do about it?"
Yun Kui finally understood what it meant to lift a rock only to drop it on one's own foot.
She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails almost dug into her palms, and said through gritted teeth, "So Your Highness means that this servant must stay in Chengguang Palace for the rest of her life, and must not meet any man. Your Highness must put to death any man who has had contact with this servant?"
The crown prince's face darkened further, even revealing a murderous intent he hadn't felt in a long time.
"If he dares to say another word, I will order him to be killed."
Cao Yuanlu, standing to the side, shook his head at her, indicating that since His Highness only used caning, he did not intend to kill her. If he really wanted to beat her to death, that would not be the explanation.
Yun Kui bit her lip tightly, finally daring not to speak again.
Cao Yuanlu couldn't hear those thoughts, and like Yun Kui, he felt that his prince had been punished too harshly. However, he didn't dare to speak up and offer advice, so he carefully changed the subject: "Your Highness, if we don't go over there soon, we'll miss the good show."
Yun Kui was still immersed in anger and grievance when she heard this and subconsciously came back to her senses, "What good show?"
The Crown Prince spoke coldly: "Your master and mistress are putting on quite a show."
Yun Kui looked puzzled. Where did she get a master and mistress?
Cao Yuanlu was also puzzled, as he had never heard of any such relationship between the heir of the Marquis of Ningde and Yun Kui.
The crown prince looked at her coldly, "Come with me, or go and die with your fellow villager. The choice is yours."
Yun Kui knew she couldn't fight city hall, so she had no choice but to follow along first.
...
Chaoyang Hall.
When Emperor Chunming saw the Crown Prince leave his seat, he summoned Tang Fugui and asked, "Where did the Crown Prince go?"
He also wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the selection of the Crown Princess with the Crown Prince.
Emperor Chunming had considered this for many days and already had the names of several young ladies in mind.
Two of them are daughters of former subordinates of the Crown Prince. They originally supported the Crown Prince, and their marriage alliance would only be an added bonus for him, so it is worth considering.
The other noble ladies all had fathers and brothers whose secrets were in the hands of Emperor Chunming, or whose corruption had been uncovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and were just waiting for the order to arrest them. Marrying their daughters into the Eastern Palace would not be of any help to the Crown Prince, and Emperor Chunming could seize the opportunity to eliminate them all in one fell swoop.
There were two other candidates submitted by the Ministry of Rites, whom Emperor Chunming did not wish to keep for the Crown Prince, but could instead bestow them upon the fifth and sixth princes in marriage. Several other daughters from families of modest origin, though not particularly distinguished, were daughters of respectable officials and could be betrothed to the second and fourth princes as concubines.
Just as Tang Fugui was about to report back, his apprentice Wang Ze bowed and entered from outside, reporting to Emperor Chunming, "His Highness the Crown Prince has sent someone to report that there is a good show in the side hall, and requests Your Majesty to go and watch it together."
Emperor Chunming was puzzled. Was this going to be a good show?
What kind of show could the Crown Prince possibly want to show him?
Emperor Chunming's expression turned slightly stern. He immediately rose and prepared his carriage, arriving at the side hall before the Crown Prince.
Below the steps, Zhao Yue, one of the Crown Prince's personal guards, was holding two maids and a servant hostage, waiting there.
Although all three had their mouths stuffed with cotton towels, Emperor Chunming still recognized one of them as the maidservant of Consort Yu in Baohua Palace.
His face turned slightly pale as he asked, "What exactly happened?"
Zhao Yue bowed and said, "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince discovered that Consort Yu and the Heir Apparent of the Marquis of Ningde were having a secret rendezvous here tonight. That's why he ordered his men to detain these servants until Your Majesty comes to make a decision."
Emperor Chunming almost blacked out, then his expression turned cold and furious to the point of being ferocious: "Utter nonsense!"
"Whether it's nonsense or not, His Majesty will know once he enters the palace."
A clear and indifferent voice came from behind. Emperor Chunming turned around and saw the Crown Prince, dressed in a black and gold brocade robe with dragon patterns, walking slowly through the hanging flower gate.
Emperor Chunming clenched his fists, his voice barely containing his overwhelming rage: "Is this the show the Crown Prince wanted to put on for me?"
The Crown Prince chuckled and said, "Your Majesty dares not enter the palace, is it because you fear you might actually see something?"
Emperor Chunming, his face contorted with rage, kicked open the door to the side hall.
The sounds of the couple making love inside the room abruptly stopped.
Cao Yuanlu immediately sent someone inside to extinguish the incense in the burner. Just as he was about to open the window for ventilation, he suddenly heard a clear sound of a window breaking.
Qin Ge immediately rushed forward and captured the heir of the Marquis of Ningde who had jumped out of the window, and escorted him to Emperor Chunming.
The heir of the Marquis of Ningde was disheveled, breathing heavily, and had bright red scratches on his neck.
Emperor Chunming's eyes were practically spitting fire. He kicked the person to the ground, then strode inside and kicked aside the screen. The woman on the bed, with her hairpins and jewelry flying everywhere and her body covered in marks of pleasure, was none other than Consort Yu.
Emperor Chunming's blood surged instantly, and he roared in fury: "You shameless harlot!"
The emperor had been on the throne for twenty years and had always been gentle, kind, and composed in his dealings with others, developing the ability to keep his emotions hidden. This was the first time he had been so angry that he trembled all over, lost all dignity, and was almost completely consumed by his overwhelming rage.
The heir of the Marquis of Ningde struggled to his feet, and only now did he finally calm down completely.
His mind raced. He knelt before Emperor Chunming, his hand trembling as he pointed at the Crown Prince: "Your Majesty, please see the truth! It was the Crown Prince who framed me. My personal attendant was bribed by the Crown Prince to lure me here, intending to kill me and sow discord between Your Majesty and the Empress, causing a rift between Your Majesty and my father. Your Majesty, do not be deceived and wrongly kill a loyal minister..."
Emperor Chunming, enraged, laughed through gritted teeth and said, "You have defiled the harem, engaging in illicit affairs with my concubines, and you still dare to call yourself loyal and virtuous?"
Regardless of any hidden reasons, the two of them were having an affair, engaging in illicit and promiscuous relations. He caught them in the act, causing him, a dignified emperor, to lose all face. This matter cannot be faked!
Yun Kui, who had come with the Crown Prince, was utterly dumbfounded.
So the master and mistress that His Highness the Crown Prince mentioned were the heir of the Marquis of Ningde and Consort Yu.
How could he know that her seductive skills in bed were learned from the Marquis of Ningde and Consort Yu in her dreams?
Amidst the chaotic and shocking scene, Yun Kui cautiously glanced at the Crown Prince and muttered something inappropriate to herself.
"He wiped out my entire sect. Who am I supposed to learn skills from now on?"
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