Chapter 23 is the imperial decree of marriage between you and me.
Shen Qingci was lost in thought. After Chu Jichen finished speaking, he immediately let go of her and then took something out of his sleeve and threw it at her.
Shen Qingci touched it; it felt like a scroll.
"What is this? Is it a painting?"
"It's an imperial edict." Chu Jichen said. Shen Qingci wondered if it was just her imagination, but Chu Jichen's voice seemed a few degrees hoarser than before.
"It is the imperial decree that bestows our marriage upon each other."
Chu Jichen paused, his voice carrying a hint of amusement: "The imperial decree for the marriage has been issued; it's too late for you to regret it."
Shen Qingci's focus, however, was elsewhere. She hurriedly reached out and grabbed Chu Jichen's hand: "Imperial decree of marriage? The imperial decree of marriage has been issued, doesn't that mean His Majesty already knows about our impending marriage? Besides His Majesty, does the Prime Minister know about this decree?"
The prime minister was the head of the civil officials, and the drafting and finalization of imperial edicts almost always had to go through him.
But the Prime Minister is Liu Ruolan's father. If he finds out that she is going to marry Chu Jichen, he will definitely tell Liu Ruolan...
"I don't know." Chu Jichen's eyes were dark and deep: "Besides me and now you, no one else knows about this imperial edict."
"How... is this possible?" Shen Qingci's eyes widened. This was an imperial edict! Even if it was a secret edict, the emperor would still need to know about it.
“I won’t lie to you.” Chu Jichen pursed his lips. “I wrote this imperial decree of marriage myself. When the emperor heard the news and rushed over, I had already finished writing the decree and affixed my imperial seal. He didn’t see the contents.”
“I did tell him that this was an imperial decree bestowing marriage upon me. But I didn’t tell him that I was marrying you.”
"My affairs are not for others to interfere with or decide!"
Shen Qingci was stunned, then silently gripped the imperial edict tightly in her hand, her mind churning.
The imperial decree of marriage bestowed by Chu Jichen was personally written.
The emperor was unaware of the contents.
He affixed the imperial seal himself.
The emperor also did not know who Chu Jichen was going to marry.
Although it was just a few simple words, it contained a great deal of information and signals.
Chu Jichen's position in the court was much higher than she had imagined.
They could even disregard the emperor's opinion.
It is no exaggeration to say that he could control everything.
She even suspected that if Chu Jichen hadn't been disabled, it was uncertain who would be on the throne now.
If that's the case, then her choice to marry Chu Jichen was the right one.
She could easily use Chu Jichen to deal with a nobody like Huo Yunzhan. Even adding Liu Ruolan, or the Liu family, wouldn't necessarily be a problem.
"The imperial edict is for you; keep it safe!"
Shen Qingci snapped out of her daze and quickly replied in a low voice, "I understand."
"Rest now, I'm leaving."
After Chu Jichen finished speaking, he maneuvered his wheelchair and left.
His men were waiting outside the door. As soon as Chu Jichen came out, they rushed forward, lifted the wheelchair on both sides, and disappeared into the courtyard.
A moment later, Chu Jichen and his party appeared in the main courtyard of the Regent's Palace, which was a few streets away from the Yongning Marquis's residence.
The servant pushed Chu Jichen into the room, bringing him shoes as he lowered his voice and said, "The people of the Yongning Marquis's mansion are not easy to deal with. The imperial edict is obviously safer in the hands of the Prince. Why did the Prince go to the trouble of sending that imperial edict... to Miss Chen?"
"What if someone finds out..."
Chu Jichen's eyes were indifferent: "Do you think your princess is stupid?"
"She would naturally try every means to prevent anyone from discovering something so important."
Tsk.
The attendant lowered his eyes, silently grumbling to himself: "Princess? She's still the general's widow, and she hasn't even entered the household yet, and she's already calling me Princess. Their prince really has no sense of propriety..."
He had no doubt that if it weren't for the rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which stipulated that a wife must observe a hundred days of mourning before remarrying after her husband's death, his prince would have gone back and carried her back the moment Shen Qingci agreed to marry him.
Chu Jichen had no idea what his confidant was thinking. He simply said calmly, "I sent the imperial edict over and deliberately told her that I wrote it and that even the emperor had never handled it."
"Naturally, it's so that she... can use me."
The servant paused slightly. His lord, this ruthless and merciless demon, actually had a day when he would willingly offer himself up for others to use. It's true that you see all sorts of things when you live long enough.
Chu Jichen chuckled, "To leave such a powerful backer like me unused, and yet still get hurt by that Liu Ruolan woman who deserves to be torn to pieces, is truly..."
Chu Jichen took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and suppressed the bloodthirsty glint in them: "Yuanbao, arrange for someone to place a witchcraft doll in Consort Shu's room, with the Emperor's birth date and time written on it."
Yuanbao quickly composed himself and agreed.
Consort Shu, isn't that Liu Rushuang, the eldest daughter of Prime Minister Liu and the elder sister of Liu Ruolan?
It seems that Liu Ruolan's slap of Shen Qingci has truly and thoroughly enraged the prince.
His prince is trying to cut off the source of the problem by targeting the Liu family, aiming to diminish Prime Minister Liu's prestige and make the emperor suspicious of the Liu family.
...
Shen Qingci was unaware of what had happened at the Regent's Palace. Only after she heard no more noise outside did she get out of bed and carefully open the hidden compartment on the bedpost of the thousand-step bed where she was sleeping, hiding the imperial edict inside.
This thousand-step bed was part of her dowry when she married Huo Yunzhan.
Even Huo Yunzhan was unaware of the secrets and mechanisms hidden within this Thousand-Step Bed.
This imperial edict is extremely useful.
She had to wait until the most crucial moment before taking it out and using it to catch Huo Yunzhan and everyone else off guard.
The following afternoon, she received news about the matter she had asked Wanqing to investigate.
“Our people investigated that prostitute. She is the next courtesan being groomed by the Drunken Flower Pavilion. Her name is Yue Niang. Eight or nine months ago, the madam of the Drunken Flower Pavilion promoted her. She was first introduced as a courtesan, playing the zither and singing songs to let everyone get to know her, so that her status could be raised.”
"More than eight months ago, Huo Yunzhan was taken to Zuihualou by his colleagues in the army. While they were drinking, the woman who played the zither for them was named Yue Niang."
"Later, Huo Yunzhan went there several more times, each time with someone else."
"But two months later, before the woman named Yue Niang could be brought out, she was redeemed."
"It was Huo Yunzhan who redeemed Na Yueniang."
Wan Qing gritted her teeth. Everything they had found indicated that Huo Yunzhan had indeed been in contact with that Yue Niang long ago! The child in Yue Niang's belly was most likely Huo Yunzhan's!
Huo Yunzhan deserves to die for treating their young lady like that.
Wanqing cautiously raised her head, only to see that Shen Qingci's face was cold and indifferent, showing little anger whatsoever.
"Miss?"
Shen Qingci responded and got out of bed: "So Yue Niang is in the Marquis's residence now, right?"
"The Marquis said that I should handle this Yue Niang. Perfect, I'll go and meet her."
She turned to Wanqing and asked, "Do you still have any of those abortion pills you found before?"
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