Chu Lingxuan saw Chen Afu's inquiring eyes, but did not give an answer immediately. Instead, he continued, "When I was seven years old, my father told me that the emperor might appoint me as a study partner for the six-year-old Ninth Prince. The Ninth Prince was not of high birth. His biological mother was Concubine Shan, and neither of them was favored by the emperor. My mother was very worried. The Ninth Prince was often bullied by the Eighth Prince, who was born in the Central Palace. She was afraid that I would be implicated. At that time, my father was a general of the third rank in the Imperial Guards, responsible for protecting the emperor personally. Although his official position was not too high, he was quite trusted by the emperor. My mother wanted my father to ask the emperor for mercy and ask if he could change the prince, but my father scolded him severely. That was the most severe time my mother was scolded, and my mother even cried..."
Chu Lingxuan glanced at Chen Afu, then changed the subject and said, "In our family, my great grandfather was extremely strategic, talented in both civil and military affairs, and was a general second only to Lord Yuan at the time. He once served as a Grand Commander of the First Rank, but resigned very early. He did not attach much importance to my grandfather's education, thinking that my grandfather only needed to protect the family and not let it fail, and that the family did not necessarily have to be favored by the emperor. In those twenty years, our Chu family went from being one of the top wealthy and noble families in the capital to a middle-class family. But my father was personally taught by him, so that when my father became the commander of the Imperial Guards, my grandfather was still a third-rank cavalry commander. Therefore, my grandfather passed the title of Yong'an Marquis to my father. Just when my father's career was getting better and better and our Chu family was about to make a complete comeback, it suffered a devastating disaster..."
Princess Rong Zhao was born to Concubine Ma Shu. Concubine Ma Shu had no sons, only this daughter, who was spoiled beyond belief. She was the emperor's eldest daughter and was also quite loved by the emperor. She was ten years younger than the Marquis of Chu, Chu Guangche. When she was ten years old, she vowed not to marry anyone other than the eldest son of the Chu family. At a young age, she often tried to see Chu Guangche when he was on duty, which annoyed Chu Guangche. When she was fifteen, the emperor decreed her marriage to Prince Consort Xue despite her crying. A few years later, Prince Consort Xue died of illness, and she took her daughter to live in Concubine Shu's Zixia Palace.
At that time, Chu Guangche was 31 years old, and was already the youngest marquis and commander of the imperial guards in the Dashun Dynasty. Marquis Chu was always nervous when he entered the palace, always on guard against Rong Zhao coming out from some corner to meet him by chance and say a few words of love.
One day, the Second Prince called him over, saying that the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince had a fight in his palace and that his head was broken. At that time, the Second Prince's injury had not yet healed, and he would occasionally let the Eighth Prince lead the other princes to his palace to play.
Chu Guangche went there. But when his waiter led him into a room, he saw a person wearing Chu Lingxuan's clothes crawling on the table. As soon as he walked over, the person looked up and it turned out to be Princess Rong Zhao. Chu Guangche turned around and walked out, but Rong Zhao hugged him from behind. At this time, the second prince came in with a group of people...
That day was Concubine Ma's birthday. Queen Wang, Concubine Zhou, and several concubines were celebrating her birthday in Zixia Palace. When they heard that Commander Chu and Rong Zhao were discovered having a secret meeting in the Second Prince's palace, they all rushed over.
This matter was brought to the attention of the Emperor again. With such a low-brow plot, not to mention that the Emperor knew that Chu Guangche was set up, everyone else could guess what was going on.
The second prince even went to the emperor and cried bitterly, admitting that he had set up the trap, saying that he was heartbroken for his sister and could not bear her crying and even threatening to die, so he helped to do such a stupid thing. He regretted it and asked the emperor to punish him, and so on.
But Rong Zhao is the emperor's eldest daughter and the only daughter of Concubine Shu, and the instigator is the son born to Queen Wang. When the emperor didn't know what to do, another piece of bad news came.
When the 13-year-old Ninth Prince was playing with the 12-year-old Tenth Prince, he was pushed off a rockery and broke his leg. One of the Tenth Prince's eunuchs seemed to have gone mad and took advantage of the chaos to hit the Ninth Prince with a big rock, breaking his leg bones.
Three days later, the emperor granted marriage to Chu Guangche and Rong Zhao, and Chu's wife Luo was forced to become a nun. Chu Lingxuan was furious and ran to the border to find his third uncle Chu Guangkai to join the army.
"...Although there is no direct evidence, we all speculate that the Ninth Prince was also murdered by the Second Prince. We still can't figure it out. Our Chu family has no grudges with the Second Prince. Although my father became the commander of the Imperial Guard at a young age, our Chu family is not powerful enough to destroy it. The Ninth Prince's family background is low, so it won't hinder him. He should deal with the Third Prince and the Fifth Prince born to Concubine Zhou. Moreover, they have always been in opposition before. The injury of the Second Prince may have been caused by the Third Prince and the Fifth Prince. But the strange thing is that the Second Prince didn't cause trouble for them, but caught our Chu family off guard without any warning... These questions have been lingering in my mind, leaving me puzzled. It was only when my grandfather came to Dingzhou Prefecture the day before our engagement that I knew the answer. My grandfather also knew about our marriage when he went to tell my father..."
After seeing Chu Lingxuan off, Chen Afu felt extremely heavy-hearted. She felt sorry for the wronged souls of the Yuan family and for the uncertain future she was involved in. At first, she felt embarrassed, thinking that marrying into the Chu family with Dabao, who had a story, was asking for trouble for Chu Lingxuan. Now she realized that the Chu family had asked for even bigger trouble for her.
She was wondering how it was so easy for the elders of the Chu family to approve her marriage to Chu Lingxuan. It was said that people in ancient times attached great importance to family background, so why would such a noble family accept a daughter-in-law of her status? But it turned out that she was dragged into the vortex without knowing it.
It's a bad feeling to be used.
"Six years ago, the Emperor was drunk and favored the Ninth Prince's biological mother, Concubine Shan. On February 27 of the following year, she gave birth to a stillborn baby..."
These words kept lingering in Chen Afu's ears and could not be shaken off.
"Mom, why are you standing by the window? Are you waiting for Jinbao and the others? It's so late, they will definitely not come back today." said Chen Dabao, who was lying on the bed.
In order to prevent him from moving around, his legs were placed on a small wooden frame. He looked at her from the side, pouting his little mouth and staring with big eyes, looking very cute.
In fact, it was this little scoundrel who dragged her into the whirlpool. From the moment Wang took him home as her own son, she was dragged into the situation.
If she is still that silly Ah Fu, being used without knowing it. If this side really fails one day, it would be fine if Dabao's identity is not exposed. If it is exposed, silly Ah Fu and the Chen family will surely die. However, they died without knowing why.
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