Chapter 475 Xiao Yan Kneels
Xiao Yan looked at the person kneeling in front of him, his expression suddenly realizing, "So it's you."
He had seen the man before at Cao's house once. Although they just passed by in front of the gate of Cao's mansion, Xiao Yan was deeply impressed by him.
One is that the Cao family is a prominent family, but they left a man with a disfigured face and a hunched body to serve in their mansion.
The second was the look Xu Yu gave him in front of Cao's house that day.
Xiao Yan remembered that there was a eunuch named Xu beside his father who was in charge of the internal affairs of the Eastern Palace. He mostly went to the back garden of the Eastern Palace. The dealings between the Eastern Palace and other palaces were handled by another eunuch named Zhang Lin'an beside his father.
Compared to Eunuch Zhang, who is known to be favored by the prince and has favor in the presence of the emperor, Eunuch Xu is a low-key person who does not like to show up in front of the emperor and is always very humble when meeting his master.
Although Xiao Yan was familiar with him, Xu Nei Shi at that time had a handsome appearance and looked very young, unlike now with gray hair, hunched body, and wrinkles on his face.
The half of his face that was burned looked as if he had never recovered, and was full of wrinkles, making him look even older and more terrifying.
No wonder he only felt vaguely familiar that day but didn't recognize the person.
Xu Yu's eyes were red. "I am an incompetent servant. I failed to protect Your Highness and save His Highness the Crown Prince. I could only rely on Lord Cao's power to escape from the Imperial City and survive until now."
"Thanks to the heavens' blessing, His Highness has returned safely, and the Crown Prince's grievances will hopefully be redressed."
He kowtowed to the ground several times, and when he spoke again his voice was choked with sobs.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince never plotted rebellion. He was wrongly accused."
"When I escaped, I took the Crown Prince's belongings with me. Lord Cao ordered an investigation and learned that the Crown Prince's personality had changed drastically and that he had been murdered. Someone had also tampered with the Crown Prince's surroundings. I, who was in charge of the internal affairs of the Eastern Palace, was completely unaware of this."
"It's all my fault. I didn't realize someone was plotting against His Royal Highness. It's my fault..."
As Xu Yu spoke, tears flowed even more violently.
He banged his head hard, wishing he could knock a hole in the ground. He was so tortured by regret and guilt that he wished he could follow the former lord.
Xiao Yan took a step forward and leaned over to stop him.
"What happened back then was a conspiracy by someone with ulterior motives, and it wasn't just one faction. Father affected the interests of too many people, and they didn't want to see the throne fall into his hands, so naturally they tried every possible means to harm him. You alone can't stop them."
It's not that my father didn't realize something was wrong back then, and his temperament changed drastically over time, but neither Taifu Rong and the others, nor my father himself, have ever found the person who was behind the assassination.
Xu Yu was just a eunuch, what could he do?
Xu Yu listened to his words of comfort and couldn't help choking in his throat: "Your Highness..."
Xiao Yan supported the man and said, "You don't have to feel guilty. I will seek justice from the culprit for my father's death and clear the name of everyone in the Eastern Palace. As for the rest..."
He whispered, "I'm very happy that one of my old friends from the East Palace is alive."
Shedding his usual coldness and sternness, Xiao Yan's features were clear and his eyes were gentle. Although his face was extremely unfamiliar, and he didn't look like the eldest grandson of the emperor at all, Xu Yu seemed to see the Crown Prince standing before him.
This is his Royal Highness, the eldest grandson of the Emperor.
It is the only bloodline of the Eastern Palace.
Xu Yu burst into tears as he fell in front of Xiao Yan, resting his forehead on the back of his hand and sobbing loudly, as if he wanted to vent all the dangers of the past and the years of forbearance.
Tang Ning sat by the brazier and felt a sore nose and red eyes.
…
It took a long time for Xu Yu to calm down. He did not go forward and sit down as Xiao Yan instructed, but stood aside with his head bowed like an old servant.
Xiao Yan asked, "How did you escape back then?"
Xu Yu said hoarsely, "When the Eastern Palace caught fire, this old servant was not in the palace. When I hurried back to save people, I was hit in the face by a broken beam."
"I fainted for a moment, then was awakened by screams. I discovered that in the blaze, the Deputy Envoy of the Left Guard, Xu Chunrong, not only failed to rescue anyone, but took advantage of the chaos with his men to commit murder and blockade the Qing'an Hall where His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was staying."
The fire was huge, and all that could be seen were the palace maids who had died tragically. Those people did not die in the fire, but were silenced. Xu Yu just thought that Xu Chunrong had been bribed to commit treason, so he fled in a panic and wanted to seek help from the imperial guards.
But after escaping, he found out that the "rebellion" had turned out to be the Crown Prince. The Imperial Guards and the Crown Prince's rebel army were fighting in the palace. No one came to help the fire in the East Palace. Xu Yu watched helplessly as the fire lit up half of the night sky.
Xu Yu's eyes were red. "It was too late for this old servant to return to the rear hall. I happened to run into Lord Cao and learned that Your Majesty had already charged the Crown Prince with treason. Everyone knew that the Crown Prince was plotting treason, and Your Majesty had even threatened to execute him without mercy."
"Lord Cao said I couldn't go back, and that the young prince had already escaped. He said if I couldn't conceal my whereabouts, I'd be hunted down. I've been in the palace for many years, so I went with Lord Cao to send someone to replace the prince, and then I followed him out of the imperial city."
He spoke with gratitude: "If it weren't for Lord Cao's rescue back then, I'm afraid I would have died long ago. It is also because of Lord Cao's protection that I can stay in the capital and wait for Your Highness's return all these years."
Xiao Yan whispered, "Thank you, Lord Cao."
"You don't need to thank me." Cao Dejiang shook his head. "I didn't have any good intentions when I saved him that day. Eunuch Xu should know that too."
The affairs of the Eastern Palace involved too many people, and his hasty entry into the palace was not foolproof, and there were many loopholes in his actions.
Of course, he was afraid that someone would find out what he and Rong Qian'an had done and bring disaster upon himself, so after discovering that Xu Yu was not dead, the first thing he thought of was how to use this eunuch in the Eastern Palace.
After Cao Dejiang took Xu Yu out of the palace, he "imprisoned" him in a remote place outside the capital, and found a beggar of similar age and build to the emperor's eldest grandson to stay with him.
If the palace noticed anything unusual and sent people to investigate, someone would lead them to Xu Yu.
At that time, the people who stayed there in advance would take action to deal with Xu Yu, and let him take the beggar to "sacrifice himself for the master" and put an end to the matter completely.
Cao Dejiang said to Xu Yu without hiding anything, "When I saved you, I only wanted to use you to help the Cao family escape. I have imprisoned you for three years. If you had not destroyed your face and changed your body shape drastically, and if the matter of the Eastern Palace had not been settled, I would not have let you return to the capital."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yu said anxiously, "That's not the case. You've never concealed your feelings. I'm willing to stay there. If anyone really pursues His Royal Highness, I'm willing to die to stop them from thinking about it in the palace."
"After the incident in the Eastern Palace was settled, if Lord Cao really wanted to help the Cao family escape, he could have simply killed me to eliminate future troubles. However, you kept me by your side in the name of surveillance."
As he spoke, he looked at Xiao Yan, afraid that he had misunderstood Cao Dejiang.
"Your Highness, I have been by Lord Cao's side all these years. He has never treated me harshly. Moreover, when the late emperor massacred the court, it was Lord Cao who used all means to secretly swap the bodies of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, forcing me to go and pay my respects all these years."
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