Chapter 202 Another son?
"The Emperor has arrived—"
Following the eunuch's sharp shout, a bright yellow figure slowly walked into the imperial garden.
The officials who were originally whispering to each other immediately looked down at their noses and dared not say a word.
The emperor glanced gloomily at the palace maids and concubines, and finally stopped at the sword in Xiao Yuan's hand.
"Come here, drag this palace maid away and beat her to death with sticks."
Someone immediately came forward and dragged the maid out.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life." The maid immediately turned pale and began to beg for mercy. "I am only telling the truth. I will never dare to do it again. Your Majesty, please spare my life."
No one paid any attention to her struggle. The emperor's face was grim. "You dare to speak nonsense and alienate people. This is the end. If I hear any more rumors, this will be the fate of this palace maid!"
"Yes." All the officials responded in unison.
Liangpin was so frightened that she couldn't think straight, "Your Majesty, it's not you..."
"Shut up." The emperor's sharp gaze made Liangpin tremble. "You relied on my favor to do whatever you want, instigated the father-son relationship between me and the fourth prince, and doubted the royal bloodline. Liangpin, what crime should you be punished for?!"
"Your Majesty!" Liangpin knelt on the ground with a plop. "I...I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. Those words that the Fourth Prince was a bastard were said by that palace maid. I have absolutely nothing to do with it."
"If you don't believe me, you can ask the Fourth Prince or the officials present here. They can all testify for me."
God can tell, she knows nothing.
After listening to what the palace maid said just now, she was also confused. How did this happen to her?
"That palace maid is yours. She is talking nonsense like this. How dare you say that she didn't instigate or teach you to do so?" The emperor's eyes narrowed.
"..." Liangpin felt that she could not wash herself clean even if she jumped into the Yellow River.
"Your Majesty~"
"Come here, take Concubine Liang down and confine her to Luoying Palace. Without my permission, she is not allowed to take even a single step out of this palace in her lifetime."
What’s the difference between that and being banished to the cold palace?
Liangpin panicked and begged for mercy desperately, "Your Majesty, I am innocent. I am truly innocent."
She hadn't even mentioned letting the Fourth Prince marry her niece yet, so how did it turn out like this?
It was clear that everything she did was tacitly approved by the emperor.
Until she was dragged away, Liangpin had not figured out what went wrong and kept crying out for injustice.
Xiao Yuan looked at this dramatic scene coldly, his lips curled up in a mocking arc.
"Old Four."
"Your son is here." He bowed calmly.
"You have been wronged by what happened today. Don't worry, my father will not let anyone involved in this matter go. When your Fourth Prince's wife comes back, I will interrogate her strictly and give you an explanation."
Xiao Yuan slowly raised his eyes, his eyes filled with a cold chill.
The emperor was also looking at him. The father and son stood facing each other, with an undercurrent of emotions surging.
"I trust my own princess, so please don't worry about this matter. I can handle it myself."
"What are you talking about?" The emperor's eyebrows were stern. "This matter concerns the reputation of the royal family. It can be a big deal or a small matter. It is not a trivial matter between you two. When she comes back, I will definitely investigate."
Xiao Yuan stared at him, his eyes emitting bursts of coldness.
The imperial study was only a quarter of an hour away. If he wanted to stop it, he should have come long ago. However, he kept delaying until now, waiting for the palace maid to tell everything so that everyone present could hear it before he showed up.
Isn't it just to ruin his reputation? As long as officials have doubts in their minds, they will be shaken, causing him to lose the opportunity to inherit the throne.
His good father was willing to wear a green hat in order to let his son inherit the throne.
The ambiguous words at this moment indirectly acquiesced to the words of the palace maid.
It's so heartless! …! !
"Father... good tactics, I admire you."
He said in a voice that only the father and son could hear.
The emperor's eyes flashed with complexity, and he turned his head to avoid Xiao Yuan's sight, "Okay, the banquet is over, let's go home."
He flicked his sleeves and left the Imperial Garden.
Officials from all families immediately stood up and left. The group of ministers who had originally surrounded Xiao Yuan now avoided him as if Xiao Yuan was some kind of monster.
They felt that they had finally learned the truth. No wonder the emperor did not love the fourth prince, as he was not his biological son.
It's a pity that it can't be made public for the sake of the royal family's reputation, but the Fourth Prince is probably no longer going to have a chance of becoming emperor.
The Fourth Prince’s Mansion.
The officials standing on Xiao Yuan's team came to the door impatiently.
"Prince Ling, is what the palace maid said true?"
This is what they are most concerned about now. Although they form cliques for personal gain, they absolutely do not dare to confuse the emperor's bloodline, as that would bring them eternal infamy.
More than a dozen people surrounded Ling Chenyi.
"The emperor only punished the palace maid and did not give any explanation for the matter. It can be seen that the emperor has acquiesced. The fourth prince..." After an old minister finished his analysis, the others all changed their expressions.
If that were the case, they would all be doomed.
The fourth prince cannot be the crown prince, and the emperor will not tolerate them.
Ling Chenyi felt a headache after being asked so many questions. He pushed through the crowd and sat down in a chair.
"Prince Ling, are you going to say something?"
"What?" Ling Chenyi raised his head calmly, "Your lives are lives, but my life is not, and the lives of the hundreds of people in my Yongning Marquis' Mansion are not lives?"
"Am I shrinking back and afraid?"
Everyone was stunned.
Yes, Prince Ling is not alone, he has the entire Yongning Marquisate behind him.
But he was so calm, could it be that what the palace maid said was all lies. ?
"This prince has not yet escaped, so you should put your hearts at ease."
"But... that palace maid had no reason to frame the Fourth Prince." Concubine Liang didn't even have a son, so why would she want to go against the Fourth Prince?
"Prince Ling, if Concubine Ning had told us about what happened today, we would definitely not believe it. But Concubine Liang has no motive to deal with the Fourth Prince."
That's why they believed it so firmly.
"Liangpin doesn't have one, but others do." Ling Chenyi looked up at the old man in the lead and said word by word, "Do you still remember the Jiangnan woman that the emperor was obsessed with twenty years ago?"
The old man frowned and his expression gradually changed.
"What Ling Shizi means is..."
"That woman left a son for the emperor, who will be returning to the capital soon."
As soon as these words were spoken, a huge wave of shock was created.
Everyone was stunned at first, and then became noisy.
"The emperor actually has another son?"
"That means the Fourth Prince is not the only one who can inherit the throne."
"No wonder the Emperor treats the Fourth Prince this way. It turns out he has an heir in mind."
"If it's the one from Jiangnan, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, we all saw the emperor's madness back then."
The old man was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "Master Ling means that what Concubine Liang did today was all instructed by the emperor, and that she slandered the fourth prince in order to pave the way for that illegitimate child?"
Ling Chenyi did not respond, but said, "You have been with the Fourth Prince for a long time, and you should be very familiar with his character."
"Including the loyal Qi family and the Qi family's daughter, how could they be obscene people!!"
"Prince Ling is right." The old man nodded slowly. "Mr. Qi is a man of high character. When the late emperor was alive, he was the only loyal official in the Daliang court. The Concubine Shu will certainly not do anything immoral."
He spoke first, and the others stopped talking.
"But... if the Emperor insists on supporting the Fifth Prince to ascend the throne, the Fourth Prince's attempt to seize power would be unjustified!"
The emperor has been in power for several years, and if they were to fight against the emperor, they really had no confidence that they could win.
"What Fifth Prince!"
The old man's voice suddenly sank. "He is an illegitimate child, without even a name. His mother...it's hard to say whether he is a royal child or not. How can he inherit the throne? Even if he is an ordinary official's concubine, his children are not qualified to inherit the family business, let alone the royal family."
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