Chapter 30 (Revised)
East Palace.
The gentle breeze passed through the gaps between the dense branches, like a naughty child secretly tickling the tree, causing it to shake its branches gently, giggle and scatter colorful petals.
A tender petal lightly fell on the surface of the pond, causing gentle ripples.
On the other side of the pond, a young man in brocade clothes, with a clear and elegant demeanor, was quietly fishing. He held his rod, his eyes fixed on the water, as nervous as if a fish had taken the bait.
"Stop pretending. There are no fish in this pond."
Jiang Weiqiu came out from the bushes behind Wei Zhen and was speechless when he saw how seriously he was fishing.
"I thought you were troubled by being trapped in the East Palace, but I never thought you would have the leisure to pretend to fish here."
Wei Zhen's lips curled up, and his tone even became a little more cheerful when he spoke: "Could it be that Jiang Taigong was fishing with a straight hook in Panxi River in order to actually catch fish?"
"If you are Jiang Taigong, who is King Wen?"
Jiang Weiqiu sat down next to Wei Zhen and looked at the calm pool water.
"Who said I have to wait for King Wen? Can't I wait for a stupid fish?"
"Haha, I was trying to go fishing, but someone else caught my own fish."
Jiang Weiqiu laughed dryly twice, holding his chin and looking at Wei Zhen, whose expression gradually became serious.
"I'm not deliberately bringing up this irrelevant topic. It's just that no one in the Duke of Ye's family is sane. Now, because of them, you're confined to the Eastern Palace. Although you haven't been imprisoned, what's the difference between you and a prisoner?"
"The difference is..." Wei Zhen turned to face Jiang Weiqiu, "You can still enter the Eastern Palace. If I were imprisoned in the Sky Prison with them, would you still be able to see me now?"
Jiang Weiqiu tsk-tsk-tsked, sizing Wei Zhen up. "I've noticed something's different about you. Xu Zizheng and I are both losing our hair in anxiety. Why are you still hanging around like that? You're even joking with me in this situation?"
Seeing that Jiang Weiqiu seemed to be getting impatient, Wei Zhen got straight to the point and asked, "Has the court decided that Prince Huai would go to Ye County to inspect the salt production?"
"He left Beijing three days ago."
"You left without even attending Mother's birthday banquet today. You must be worried."
"The fact that the wife of the Duke of Ye County poisoned the Empress was a thrill. Fortunately, the Empress's palace never accepts food sent by outsiders, so the Empress is fine. Otherwise, the Duke of Ye County and his family would not even have to go to jail, and it is not impossible that they would be beheaded on the spot. And you, I guess, would have been buried with them."
Talking about what happened a few days ago, Wei Zhen felt quite powerless. He couldn't even curse "idiot" now, and could only sigh.
"It's useless to talk about what has already happened. What matters is to resolve the current dilemma."
"So, during these days of confinement, have you come up with any solution?"
"So you and Xu Zizhen did nothing during these few days when I was trapped?" Wei Zhen's scrutinizing gaze went straight to Jiang Weiqiu.
Jiang Weiqiu had been fretting over this matter for the past few days, and now being questioned by Wei Zhen made his hair stand on end. "Why didn't you do it?! We suspected that Pan Liang was behind this awful idea, and we searched all over the capital for him, but couldn't find him at all."
"Either he's in hiding or he's been killed."
Wei Zhen speculated in a very calm tone.
"I'm praying it's not the second case." Jiang Weiqiu sighed sadly, "If this person doesn't exist, you'll really be dragged into the quagmire. Or maybe before it's too late, we should try in a different direction?"
Wei Zhen looked at him.
"Rather than protecting the position of Crown Prince, shouldn't you save your life first?"
Wei Zhen said with a smile: "Are you admitting defeat already?"
"But all the clues are gone. It's too disadvantageous for you."
"Don't give up."
Wei Zhen handed the fishing rod to Jiang Weiqiu, who took it with a puzzled look on his face.
“This is just the beginning.”
*
Inside the palace, a head with twin buns poked out from a corner of the red wall. She looked around, and after confirming that no one was around, she whispered to the people behind her, "There's no one guarding this place. Come on!"
After getting Chu He's accurate information, Chu Miaomiao walked a few steps further, encouraged herself, rushed out in a flash, leaped a few steps, climbed up the red wall, and reached the top of the wall.
Perhaps because he'd been going in and out through the main gate lately, rather than climbing over the wall, Chu Miaomiao felt his wall-climbing skills had deteriorated considerably. Apart from anything else, the strength in his arms had weakened considerably, and he could barely hold it up.
Chu Miaomiao climbed over the palace wall and waited for a while to meet Chu He.
Chu He always followed her master in and out of the gate, so her wall-climbing skills became even more unfamiliar. If Chu Miaomiao hadn't been quick enough to catch her, she would have fallen to the ground and cried loudly.
At this time, the master and servant had only climbed over the wall of the palace where they originally lived. If they wanted to enter the East Palace, they had to climb over another wall.
Chu Miaomiao and Chu He found the place where they climbed over the wall last time with ease. Chu Miaomiao left Chu He outside to support them while she climbed over the wall and entered the East Palace.
What a mess.
Chu Miaomiao rolled up from the grass, patted the dirt on her clothes, adjusted the pearl hairpin that was about to fall, sighed, and began to search for Wei Zhen's whereabouts.
Come to think of it, it felt like only a short time had passed since her last nighttime visit to the Eastern Palace, so why was Wei Zhen now confined again? Was he having bad luck lately? Perhaps he should see a fortune teller?
Although Wei Zhen was under house arrest, the palace servants in the East Palace were still working in an orderly manner. Chu Miaomiao would encounter one or two palace servants every two steps, which made her always alert. She hid along the way, paying attention to whether the palace servants talked about Wei Zhen's current whereabouts.
Coincidentally, she was hiding in the shadow of a tree and heard a passing palace maid say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was fishing in the pond and no one was allowed to approach.
Chu Miaomiao had also been around the Eastern Palace for quite some time, so she found her way to the pond with ease. Seeing the housekeeper and several palace servants standing guard a hundred steps away from the pond, she crouched down and slid into the bushes on the other side, avoiding them.
In the gap between the trees, Chu Miaomiao saw Wei Zhen with his back to her. Just as she was about to run out of the bushes, she realized there was someone beside him. She looked closely and saw it was Jiang Weiqiu.
Jiang Weiqiu? How did he get in?
Chu Miaomiao was curious. Could it be that he had climbed over the wall like her?
Just as she was still curious, Jiang Weiqiu's voice floated into Chu Miaomiao's ears.
"...Do you feel like your luck has been bad since you met Princess Pingyang?"
Chu Miaomiao: “…” Jiang Weiqiu, you are so bold!
"Good boy," Jiang Weiqiu said, stroking his chin with a look of serious thought, as he gave Wei Zhen a detailed analysis. "It's been less than three months since you were last grounded because of her, and now it's the second time. And each time has been accompanied by a crisis of trust in the Saint. The situation is quite unfavorable for you. Do you think we should find a master to tell the princess's fortune and ward off disasters and avoid misfortunes?"
Wei Zhen thought this was nonsense. He rolled his eyes at Jiang Weiqiu and said, "Just write down what I want you to do and you can disappear."
Jiang Weiqiu was speechless: "Am I a tool that you can summon and dismiss at will?"
Wei Zhen asked back, "Didn't you come looking for me yourself?"
Jiang Weiqiu laughed dumbly: "You, don't get too involved with Princess Pingyang. I don't think the Prince of Chu in Pingzhou can stay. You know that in your heart."
Speaking of this, Jiang Weiqiu's expression also became a little serious. "If the King of Chu is caught, Princess Pingyang will be reduced to a criminal slave even if she doesn't die. Your Highness, please carefully consider the relationship between you and the princess."
After saying that, Jiang Wei Qiu bowed deeply, turned around and left.
Jiang Weiqiu's words reached Chu Miaomiao's ears, making her expression instantly gloomy.
She was unwilling to get too close to Wei Zhen, and even though her heart was moved, she did not dare to accept Wei Zhen's feelings frankly because there was always an insurmountable reality between them -
Her father's rebellious intentions were obvious, and it was only a matter of time before he fell out with the court.
Jiang Wei Qiu was right. Even if she was lucky enough to survive at that time, she would only be a sinner, struggling in the mud, and she would not even have the chance to touch a corner of Wei Zhen's clothes.
Whenever Chu Miaomiao thought of these things, she felt a tightness in her heart and couldn't help but blame God a little more.
Since she was destined not to have her own favorite, why did she let Wei Zhen appear in her world? And when Wei Zhen brought color to her world, why did she ruthlessly take him away?
Now he can make a pious wish in front of the gods and Buddhas for her, but when the time comes to make a decision, she can't help but think that she is the one who is abandoned.
Panic surged in her heart, and Chu Miaomiao began to regret why she came to the East Palace, and why she did such a misleading thing when she should have been resolute!
She couldn't give Wei Zhen hope, nor could she give herself hope.
Go now! There's still time to go!
Chu Miaomiao was immersed in chaotic thoughts and didn't notice that someone was approaching her. When she was about to turn around without even raising her head, someone grabbed her arm.
“!”
Chu Miaomiao was startled and looked up, Wei Zhen's dark eyes, as deep as an ancient pool, entered her field of vision.
"I'm the one under house arrest," Wei Zhen said helplessly. "Why do you look like you're about to cry?"
Chu Miaomiao blinked and quickly adjusted her expression: "No, your eyesight is not good, you saw it wrongly."
Wei Zhen smiled and did not argue with her on this issue. He took her out of the woods.
"Jiang Weiqiu used to admire military commanders and asked his parents to find a master to teach him martial arts. You thought you were hiding well back there, but he actually found out a long time ago. He said those words to you on purpose to provoke you. You're so smart, you definitely wouldn't fall for his tricks, right?"
...already won.
Chu Miaomiao silently told the truth in her heart.
However, it was a rare occasion for Wei Zhen to praise her intelligence, so although she felt a little guilty, Chu Miaomiao still murmured, "Hmm." Then, she hesitated for a moment and asked Wei Zhen in a very serious tone, "Don't you really need to find a master to calculate it?"
Wei Zhen paused, then replied, "It wouldn't be a problem to find a master to calculate our marriage."
This person really won't give up. Chu Miaomiao pursed her lips, feeling a little amused and a little touched.
"But I think it's just a waste of effort."
Wei Zhen led Chu Miaomiao to sit next to him and looked at her with a smile: "Because our marriage is destined by heaven."
As Wei Zhen spoke, he reached out to pick the weeds that had gotten tangled in Chu Miaomiao's hair when she rolled on the grass: "Miaomiao, you have to have confidence."
"We'll talk about this later."
Chu Miaomiao came back to her senses and turned her head slightly to avoid Wei Zhen's hand. However, Wei Zhen noticed that she did not move her position and was still close to him, which made Wei Zhen raise the corners of his lips freely.
"Jiang Yingyue only said that you were under house arrest, but she didn't know the specific reason." Chu Miaomiao was puzzled. "What was the reason this time?"
Chu Miaomiao wanted to know the whole story, and Wei Zhen did not hide it and told her all the stupid things that the Duke of Ye and his family had done.
A few days ago, the Duke of Ye and his wife came to the palace to pay their respects and congratulate the Queen and presented her with a box of poisoned snacks.
Since the Empress suffered a miscarriage several years ago due to her diet, the Empress's palace refused to accept any food from outside. Therefore, the snacks sent by the Duke of Ye were given to the palace maids. As a result, all the palace maids who consumed the snacks suffered from severe abdominal pain. The imperial physician diagnosed the condition as a result of consuming extremely cold food. Upon closer inspection, the source was the box of snacks that the Duke of Ye and his wife had originally intended for the Empress.
Murdering the royal heir is a serious crime, not to mention that the person they are trying to harm is the Empress who is held in the palm of the Saint's hand!
After finding out the truth about the matter, the Saint immediately imprisoned the Duke of Ye and his family in the Sky Prison, and sent people to seal off the Eastern Palace. He also issued a house arrest order to Wei Zhen, and had no intention of letting him out even though today was the Queen's birthday.
Chu Miaomiao listened to Wei Zhen's flat voice and looked closely at his expressionless face, and couldn't help feeling sour in her heart.
Wei Zhen's tone was extremely calm, as if he was discussing something that had nothing to do with him. Yet, he was clearly caught in the middle of this matter, facing the wrath of the Saint alone.
Chu Miaomiao remembered Wei Zhen saying that when the queen was pregnant and was murdered a few years ago, all the people who came with him died because of this incident; but now the ones who committed the act of murdering the queen were none other than his own parents. His life and death only depended on the saint's thoughts!
She didn't know where she got the courage from, but she actually reached out and covered Wei Zhen's hand. She didn't know why she said such words, but she heard herself say three words:
"Don't be afraid."
She didn't know anything at that moment, she just knew that she wanted to be with Wei Zhen and tell him
——Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid of being alone, I will be here.
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