The next day, Ye Jingshu was unable to bring Ye Jingyan to the East Palace.
When Ye Jingchen saw her, she had a sour face and seemed to be in a bad mood.
"Third sister, what's wrong with my elder sister?" Ye Jingchen didn't dare to ask her directly, but asked Ye Jingyu instead.
"Many people in the harem are saying that the Emperor is abusing the princes, and the Second Princess is afraid of being abused, so she doesn't dare to come," Ye Jingyu said helplessly.
"Believing everything others say without any critical thinking skills is truly foolish!"
"And Consort Wen, how dare she take the opportunity to ridicule this princess! If I weren't afraid of scaring that coward Ye Jingyan, I would definitely teach her a lesson!" Ye Jingshu angrily cursed.
"Are the rumors widespread?" Ye Jingchen asked.
Ye Jingyu nodded.
Ye Jingshu was furious again and berated Ye Jingchen: "I told you long ago not to keep Ye Jinghe in the East Palace. Now look what happened! No one has seen any of your kindness towards him. Every time the imperial physician was summoned, the harem was in an uproar. Everyone said that you beat him, which is why the imperial physician was summoned!"
Before Ye Jingchen could react, Ye Jinghe understood Ye Jingshu's meaning and instinctively tugged at Ye Jingchen's sleeve.
"Royal sister, it's all the fault of those gossipy people. Don't blame Jinghe for it." Noticing Ye Jinghe's unease, Ye Jingchen hugged him to comfort him while saying to Ye Jingshu.
Ye Jingshu glared and scolded, "What does this have to do with him?! You were the one who insisted on keeping him in the East Palace, so you'll have to swallow the bitter pill now!"
"It's just a few rumors, what's the big deal?" Ye Jingchen said dismissively.
Ye Jingshu glared at Ye Jingchen with a look of utter disappointment. "Nothing serious? Do you think the rumors in the harem only circulate within the harem? Perhaps when Father Emperor goes to court later, he will receive many memorials impeaching you for harming your own siblings!"
"These rumors might not only spread to the inner palace and the imperial court, but also to the common people, becoming a stain on your reputation for life!"
"Your Highness is amazing! You can think so deeply about things now!" Ye Jingchen praised sincerely.
"Are you trying to drive me crazy?!" Ye Jingshu pointed at Ye Jingchen, and seeing that he still looked indifferent and not worried at all, she was really about to explode with anger.
“Brother, we can’t let them slander you! Let me tell them that you’re very good to me, especially good to me!” Ye Jinghe tugged at Ye Jingchen’s sleeve, her eyes red with tears as she spoke to him.
He now deeply regrets his actions. He shouldn't have played the Nine Linked Rings game all night; he shouldn't have secretly eaten under the covers; and he shouldn't have used excessive force when sparring with Ye Jingyu. If it weren't for him, his brother wouldn't have been slandered.
My brother is such a good person, his life shouldn't have such a stain!
"No rush. It's easy to spread rumors, but debunking them is exhausting. The problem is, even if you debunk them, people might not believe you, so it's pointless. Let me figure out what rumors are circulating first," Ye Jingchen said calmly.
In this era, rumors about him as the crown prince are not as damaging as the rumors spread by keyboard warriors on the modern internet.
As long as the emperor is on his side, these rumors will not cause him any real harm.
As for the damage to his reputation, once he orchestrates a brilliant clarification, his prestige might actually rise instead of fall.
So it's no big deal.
Ye Jingchen led everyone on a morning run as usual, and afterwards ate breakfast as usual.
After he finished eating, he summoned Fangcao and asked her to explain in detail in front of everyone how the rumors about him were circulating in the harem.
Given the current situation, if he didn't use these rumors to teach those brats in the Wenhua Hall a good lesson, he would feel he was letting down the people behind the rumors who were spreading them against him!
As a gossip enthusiast, Fangcao was very well-informed and had heard rumors as early as when they first started.
However, she knew the Crown Prince's character very well, so at first she just scoffed at these rumors and didn't take them seriously. It wasn't until she heard more and more similar comments that she realized something was wrong.
She didn't dare to approach Ye Jingchen directly, fearing it would upset him.
After all, the palace servants had all witnessed how good His Highness was to the Fifth Prince, but it was truly despicable for outsiders to make such malicious speculations about His Highness.
She told Fangfei about it, and Fangfei then found Lin Zhongquan, the chief eunuch of the Eastern Palace. Lin Zhongquan immediately sent people to investigate the source of the rumors, but so far there has been no progress.
This resulted in Ye Jingchen and Ye Jinghe, the two parties involved, being the last to know about the rampant rumors circulating in the harem.
When it was time for class, no class was held in Wenhua Hall. Instead, the gossip expert Fangcao shared the gossip she had heard.
Ye Jingchen knew Fangcao's personality, so he told her to just tell her the gossip she had heard.
Ye Jingchen told her to speak, and Fangcao obediently told him everything.
"The time the Fifth Prince slapped himself, they said it was you who made his face swell up."
"The day the Fifth Prince didn't sleep all night, they said you swollen his eyes."
"The Fifth Prince has cavities, and they're spreading rumors that you knocked out all of his teeth!"
"This time it's even worse. They say you beat the Fifth Prince so badly that he was covered in bruises. Not only the Fifth Prince, but you even dared to beat the Fourth Prince this time, to the point that the Fourth Prince hasn't been able to attend classes at Wenhua Hall yet!"
Fangcao became increasingly angry as she spoke, and by the end, her face was flushed with rage.
Ye Jingchen chuckled at this.
Ye Jingchen didn't even need to investigate; he already knew so much about the affairs of the Eastern Palace that the person spreading rumors about him was so knowledgeable.
However, in order not to wrong an innocent person, he would still have Chenxi find the evidence.
After Fangcao finished speaking, Ye Jingchen dismissed her and then asked the people in Wenhua Hall what they thought.
“The person spreading these rumors is malicious. Your Highness should find a way to identify them as soon as possible and quell the rumors,” Wu Zemin said.
"Rumors stop with the wise. These statements simply cannot withstand scrutiny, and intelligent people will not believe them," Gu Beichen said.
"The Fifth Prince is in such a terrible state. His face was swollen from being slapped, his eyes were swollen from being hit, and his teeth were knocked out. He was covered in bruises. It's awful! It's just too awful! Even if it's fake, it sounds so tragic!" Yun Shu exclaimed.
"Yun Pangpang, stop talking, or the Fifth Prince will hit you!" Ye Jingyu quickly reminded Yun Shu.
Yun Shu looked towards where Ye Jinghe was sitting and was startled by his death stare, almost jumping up from her seat.
"That's not what I said!" Yun Shu muttered under her breath.
"I think as long as the Fifth Prince and the old imperial physician come forward to clarify, no one will believe this rumor anymore," Ye Jingyu said.
"Rumors are not to be believed; one must have the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood," Ye Jingming replied calmly.
"Rumors stop with the wise, but not with the fools; most people in the palace are fools," Ye Jingyu said, expressing her opinion.
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