Chapter 66
Chu Miaomiao, who lived in seclusion in Prince Yu's mansion, keenly felt that something seemed to have happened to Wei Zhen.
Since meeting Wei Zhen at the last banquet in the palace, Chu Miaomiao has not seen Wei Zhen again, and she has not even had any news from him.
Princess Yu and Wei Zhi often came to talk to Chu Miaomiao, but she rarely saw Wei Zhen.
Whenever Chu Miaomiao asked about Wei Zhen's recent situation, Princess Yu would just say that she was busy with something and there was no further news.
In Prince Yu's mansion, Wei Yu was closest to her and Wei Zhen, and would sometimes bring her news about Wei Zhen. But now she couldn't even see Wei Yu. Did this mean that Wei Zhen's situation was not optimistic?
Chu Miaomiao regretted it deeply.
She wanted to live, she wanted to be Wei Zhen's wife.
She was too greedy. It was because of her greed that Wei Zhen was in danger.
As soon as this thought came to her mind, a tear slid down Chu Miaomiao's cheek. Her originally bright eyes were now dim and confused.
Seeing Chu Miaomiao like this, Princess Yu couldn't help but sigh softly, and her love for the child deepened a little. She stood up and walked forward, wiping away the tears that kept flowing from Chu Miaomiao with a handkerchief.
Chu Miaomiao took the handkerchief from Princess Yu somewhat helplessly: "I, I can do it myself..."
Although she could not help herself, crying in front of Princess Yu was indeed a bit rude. Chu Miaomiao felt embarrassed and tried to control her emotions and stop the tears.
But the next second, she felt herself being embraced in a soft and warm embrace, and a gentle voice poured down: "It's okay, Miaomiao, just cry if you are sad. It's so hard for a child to be so stubborn."
The gentle voice and warm embrace allowed Chu Miaomiao's sadness to break through the last line of defense. She turned around, hugged Princess Yu, and buried her head in tears.
Wei Zhi, who was squatting under a tree outside watching ants, saw Chu Miaomiao crying sadly, so he ran over and gently patted her shoulder, saying like a little adult, "Sister Miaomiao, cry. You will feel much better after crying."
Princess Yu and her son were at home comforting Chu Miaomiao. Wei Xun, who had not been seen for two days, was sitting in a newly built small tea stall beside the official road in the suburbs of Beijing, drinking tea.
Setting up this teahouse was Wei Lu's idea. She was to observe the crowds entering the capital to see if there were any troops from Prince Huai's palace. Once their identities were confirmed, she would fire a whistle-stop arrow, signaling the ambush ahead. To ensure the mission was foolproof, Wei Lu and several experts from Luosha Valley were stationed at the teahouse. If the enemy became alert, they would be the first to strike.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard.
Wei Yu looked up and saw a group of men in uniform black riding horses towards her. As the leader passed by her, she noticed the brass token on his waist, with the word "Huai" clearly engraved on it.
Before anyone could ponder why these people hadn't returned with the coffin, Wei Yan had already fired a flare. The strange sound alerted everyone, but before they could react, they were blocked by men in black who flew out from either side of the road.
The scene instantly fell into chaos, with the sounds of swords clashing, angry roars and scolding, and the neighing of frightened horses mixed together.
Wei Yan sat quietly under the awning, drinking tea, looking indifferently at the chaos not far away, and counting numbers silently in his heart.
When she counted to the 300th time, all sounds disappeared, and only the breeze in the forest brought the strong smell of blood.
At 301, Cheng Zi appeared with some blood splattered on his face, but it did not affect his smiling face at all.
"Ah, let's go home."
With the help of the masters of Rakshasa Valley, the people sent by King Huai to Pingzhou not only returned empty-handed, but were even buried underground in the deep forest and used as fertilizer.
In this way, King Huai's false accusation that the prince was shielding a criminal was established.
When Wei Lu personally came to Jiang Weiqiu to inform him of the situation, Jiang Weiqiu finally breathed a sigh of relief and bowed deeply to Wei Lu: "Thank you, Princess."
Wei Lu only nodded slightly: "It's okay. Just don't forget to pay Luosha Valley."
Jiang Yingyue, who was standing by, heard the whole story and her eyes widened. Her pretty face was filled with surprise and worry. "Isn't this... too cruel?"
"Xiao Jiang, this is the imperial court," Wei Yan said seriously. "If King Huai's men survive, the Crown Prince will be in danger. Since we've chosen to be on the same boat with the Crown Prince, we must ensure that this boat won't be overturned by the wind and waves. Unnecessary mercy may become the sharpest dagger stabbing us."
After hearing this, Jiang Weiqiu looked at Wei Yan with a hint of admiration in his eyes: "If the princess were a counselor, she might be able to achieve great things."
Wei Yan smiled faintly: "Second Young Master Jiang, you are too kind."
Jiang Yingyue looked at Wei Lu with admiration, her tone full of pride: "I told you that Lu is the best."
"Now that the threat has been eliminated, let us wait for good news."
It wasn't until today that Jiang Weiqiu finally felt relieved. He really wanted to tell Wei Zhen the good news as soon as possible, but unfortunately, the Eastern Palace was heavily guarded, and even he couldn't get the news in.
Wei Zhen was now completely isolated from the world. No news from the outside world could come in, and he couldn't pass on any news to the outside world either. He could only wait patiently.
This period of waiting is really tormenting.
But he had no choice but to read and practice calligraphy every day to force himself to calm down and not be disturbed by unnecessary thoughts. Fortunately, he still had Chu Miaomiao's favorite storybook here to keep him company.
Those storybooks were given to Wei Zhen by Chu Miaomiao when he pretended to be deposed and left the capital. Before that, he was busy with his work and had little time to read these miscellaneous books. Now that he was living in confinement, he began to take an interest in this parting gift from Chu Miaomiao.
Then Wei Zhen discovered that Chu Miaomiao preferred stories about gods and ghosts to stories about talented scholars and beautiful women. He even wondered whether Chu Miaomiao would have nightmares after reading so many stories about gods and ghosts.
Although these stories were relatively crude and the subject matter didn't quite suit Wei Zhen's interests, reading them gave him the illusion that Chu Miaomiao was telling him stories, making it difficult for him to put them down. Instead, the more he read, the more interesting they became.
It was like Chu Miaomiao was here with him.
The days spent waiting are not so difficult to endure.
On a sunny day, the gate of the East Palace was opened from the outside.
At that time, Wei Zhen was sitting in the octagonal pavilion beside the pond in the backyard of the East Palace, and began to read "The Collection of Resentful Ghosts" for the nineteenth time.
It was not until the housekeeper came running over breathlessly to announce the arrival of the emperor and the queen that Wei Zhen put down the book in his hand, calmly tidied his appearance and went to welcome the emperor.
The first person Wei Zhen saw was the queen waving at him.
The Queen's body was getting heavier, and her movements were quite slow. The Saint personally supported her, fearing that she would bump into something.
Seeing this scene, Wei Zhen felt a hint of envy in his heart.
The sage's deep affection for the empress was known throughout the nation. He cherished this empress, whose mental state was that of an eight or nine-year-old, and even resisted pressure from court officials to accept a harem. When some criticized the empress for her inability to bear children despite being the mother of the nation, the sage silenced the criticism by adopting a son from a branch of the family.
In an imperial family, it is extremely rare to be alone for a lifetime.
And this is exactly what he expects for his and Chu Miaomiao's future.
If all goes well, maybe one day he and Miaomiao will be as deeply in love as before.
After arriving at the main hall, the sage helped the queen to sit down and dismissed all the attendants in the hall. Wei Zhen stood at the foot of the hall, waiting for the sage to ask questions.
The queen looked at Wei Zhen with a smile and said, "Ah Zhen, I——"
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by the clear cough of the Saint. He looked at the Queen with a smile and said, "Aran, what did you promise me when you came here?"
The queen immediately covered her mouth and used her eyes to indicate that she would not say another word.
The saint looked Wei Zhen up and down, and the smile on his lips gradually faded.
"King Huai is completely out of the picture this time," the sage said calmly, "The only threat to you right now is probably this child."
The saint's eyes swept across the queen's round belly, and then his gaze turned dangerous when he looked at Wei Zhen.
Wei Zhen heard the gloom in the sage's tone and knelt down with a serious face, "Father, I have no such thoughts! Since I have been admitted into the sage's lineage, I am your son, and the unborn child is your sibling. How could I do such a thing as harming my sibling? I originally wanted to use a more gentle method to make King Huai face reality and withdraw voluntarily, but I didn't expect him to force me to this point. I have no choice but to fight back."
"Prince Su and Prince Huai have both been demoted to commoners and imprisoned for life. Now there is no one in the court who can check and balance you. Are you satisfied with this situation?"
"Your Majesty, your words are too serious. I dare not."
The sage said nothing, but just looked quietly at the noble young man in front of him.
In fact, he, like the queen, liked the child because they were very similar.
This resemblance is not in appearance, but in situation.
The queen saw Wei Zhen's loneliness, and she saw Wei Zhen's decisiveness and cruelty.
When the first group of adopted sons who entered the palace plotted to murder the queen and were detained, it was Wei Zhen who stepped forward to find the mastermind and saved his own life. This decisiveness and intelligence were not possessed by other adopted sons.
Later, when the second batch of adopted sons entered the palace, Wei Zhen once again stood out after several struggles. It was impossible to be only smart without being cruel.
Like Wei Zhen, he had lived in the treacherous world of human nature since childhood. Without this ruthlessness, it would have been uncertain whether he could even survive, let alone become emperor.
Therefore, he admired Wei Zhen and was willing to train him wholeheartedly. Even though Prince Su and Prince Huai were equally outstanding, he still valued Wei Zhen the most.
After all, this was the person he cultivated with his own hands.
But he didn't expect that Wei Zhen had the same cruelty as him, and also the same infatuation as him.
Even when his position as crown prince was in jeopardy, he never thought of giving up Chu Miaomiao.
Thinking of this, the saint couldn't help but hold the queen's hand beside him and meet her clear eyes with a hint of doubt.
Human emotions are so unreasonable.
"Wei Zhen," the sage said slowly, a rare hint of helplessness and compromise in his voice. "You win."
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