"You unfilial son, are you trying to anger me to death?!" The emperor was furious but had no way to refute him, so he could only point at Ye Jingchen's forehead and curse.
"Father, since the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion is suspected of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country, then naturally we cannot let them continue to guard the northern border. Why don't you think of an excuse to recall them all and appoint new generals to take over the Xie family army?"
"But who should we send? If the one with seniority is too experienced, he might become another Duke Zhenguo; if the one with less experience is too incompetent to control the Xie family army, and what if the person we send is someone trained by a powerful family—"
"Shut up!" The emperor was so angry that he slapped Ye Jingchen on the forehead.
You're usually so good at making him happy, so why are you spouting all sorts of upsetting things from your little mouth today?
"Do I need you to teach me how to do things? You should go back to your studies. You can't even recite the Three Character Classic properly. What do you know?! Get out of here!" The emperor was so angry that he chased the man away.
Ye Jingchen quickly left, but the emperor's smugness vanished in anger at Ye Jingchen's sarcastic remarks.
At first, he didn't realize that Ye Jingchen was being sarcastic, but as Ye Jingchen's words became more and more exaggerated, the emperor, being no fool, naturally noticed the underlying meaning.
Although the words weren't kind, they did offer him some insight.
The Divine Might Army is out of control; if he wants to take action against the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, he absolutely cannot act rashly.
First, find an excuse to transfer the Duke of Zhenguo back to the capital. As for his successor, the Northern Frontier cannot be lost either. Send someone to the Northern Frontier to familiarize themselves with the situation. The excuse for transferring someone there is readily available: Xie Shaoling is back in the capital, and the person transferred to the Northern Frontier can fill his vacancy.
But who should be transferred?
The emperor was considering who he could use.
After leaving Chengqian Palace, Ye Jingchen immediately called out to Chenxi.
"Find a way to let Sun Yan know that the person who reported Jiang He was from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion," he instructed.
"Go to the Duke of Zhenguo's residence and inform Xie Chang'an."
"Also, after Fangzhi enters the Cold Palace, have someone keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't die there."
"I don't want Jinghe to ask me one day why I harmed his mother!"
Ye Jingchen gave instructions methodically.
He had originally planned to take advantage of his illness to play a few more days, but it seems that he has no choice but to go to school now.
Some things can be conveyed by the secret guards, but others must be said to Xie Chang'an in person.
Back in the Imperial Garden, the palace servants of the East Palace were all silent and waiting there. Only Ye Jinghe was there, holding a peony flower as thick as a bowl in his hand, plucking the petals one by one. There were already many petals on the ground at his feet, so it seemed that he had ruined more than just the one in his hand.
Although he was plucking flower petals, his gaze was always fixed on the direction of Chengqian Palace. When Ye Jingchen saw him, he also saw Ye Jingchen.
He immediately dropped the flowers in his hand and ran towards Ye Jingchen.
"Brother, you've finally gotten out of there. Did he hit you? Did he scold you?" Ye Jinghe circled around Ye Jingchen, asking with concern.
In his words, the emperor was only worthy of being called a cold, indifferent "he".
"How could Father Emperor hit me? He cares about us too much!" Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
"Jinghe, my little brother, behaved exceptionally well today. Father is very pleased and keeps praising your intelligence!"
Ye Jinghe merely pursed his lips upon hearing this; he didn't need the emperor's praise.
If it weren't for the fact that the emperor was actually scolding his brother, he wouldn't have bothered to recite it!
Ye Jingchen smiled and patted Ye Jinghe's head without saying a word.
He orchestrated this whole thing today for many reasons.
There have always been rumors in the palace about Ye Jinghe, saying that he suffers from epilepsy and is a little madman. Ye Jingchen has always known about this, but he has ignored it.
The more rumors are explicitly prohibited and forbidden from being spread, the more rampant they become in private.
Rumors stop with the wise.
Ye Jinghe's performance in the Imperial Garden today is enough to prove everyone wrong.
From now on, they will only know how intelligent Ye Jinghe is.
Ye Jinghe's outstanding performance today will also reach the ears of those who care.
Many people in the palace probably know what kind of life he led in Changchun Palace before. Those who are interested can also find out about his poisoning. They know what he was like before and what he is like now.
However, most of them would not think that Ye Jinghe was intelligent, but would attribute his transformation to the teaching at the Wenhua Hall of the Eastern Palace.
Originally, the Wenhua Hall belonged exclusively to the Crown Prince, while other princes could only study at the Imperial Academy. But now Ye Jinghe has broken this rule, and his studies are very effective. Ye Jingchen doesn't believe that the concubines who have given birth to princes can sit still.
Especially Consort De, she has always been the most ambitious.
Thinking of Consort De, Ye Jingchen also thought of her nephew.
He had originally planned to visit the Jingzhao Prefecture government office yesterday after leaving the palace to check on the progress of the case, but he didn't make it.
I finally managed to find an excuse to leave the palace, but it was all ruined by an assassination attempt.
The Jiang family deserves to die!
But what the Jiang family deserves most is that they actually wanted to use the emperor to get rid of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. This was an attempt to shake the foundation of Dayuan. For this reason alone, Ye Jingchen could not tolerate them.
"Fangcao, what do you think of the Fifth Prince's performance in front of His Majesty today?" Ye Jingchen asked casually on the way back to the East Palace.
"The Fifth Prince is amazing! Not only does he recite his books well, but he also remained calm and composed in front of His Majesty. We were all terrified and our minds went blank, but the Fifth Prince was completely unaffected. He truly deserves to be His Majesty's child!" Fangcao praised sincerely.
"I also think Jinghe's performance was exceptional. Father Emperor praised him for a long time in Chengqian Palace, and even decreed that the concubines in the harem should no longer use musk!" Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
Everyone in the Eastern Palace knew that the Fifth Prince was poisonous and could not tolerate musk. Ye Jingchen had long ago ordered that no one in the Eastern Palace was allowed to use musk. Now, the Emperor had actually ordered that the entire harem was forbidden from using musk, which was enough to show how much the Emperor valued the Fifth Prince.
This shows that the Fifth Prince's performance in front of the Emperor today truly satisfied him.
Ye Jingchen believed that with Fangcao, a gossip enthusiast, around, these rumors would soon spread throughout the entire harem.
In fact, Fangcao did not disappoint Ye Jingchen's expectations.
As night fell, after Ye Jingchen gave Fangcao a day off and exempted her from duty, she quickly ran out of the East Palace to find her close friends in the palace to share what she had seen and heard in the Imperial Garden that day.
The news quickly reached the ears of the imperial concubines.
Along with this news came the imperial decree ordering Fangzhi to be banished to the cold palace.
In the eyes of those concubines, given Ye Jinghe's current situation, Fangzhi, his birth mother, was indeed a stain on his reputation. The reason why the emperor had chosen to punish Fangzhi in the cold palace today, after witnessing Ye Jinghe's intelligence, was self-evident.
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