Jiang Rao's eyes flickered, "Why is he here?"
But he was a beat too late before he remembered the sarcasm in Yun Qinnan's words just now.
Her face turned red, she shrank back, sank into her cloak hood, and shook her head gently, "Yes, my friend, I... don't like him."
She wouldn't dare even if she had ten times the courage.
Although she tried her best to help him, when she looked at him, she would occasionally think of his mood swings, violence and cruelty. When she was with him, she was always timid and did not dare to get too close to him.
However, it would have been better for Jiang Rao to refute directly, but she was a little slow. Even if she had no intention, it seemed that she had agreed to Yun Qinnan's words first. Then she noticed it and hurriedly explained, trying to cover up the truth.
Plus, she has been well-behaved since she was a child, and her voice has always been softer, which makes it seem even more like the truth.
Yun Qinnan looked at the little girl in front of her, misunderstood that she was shy, and couldn't help laughing.
There was thick, fluffy snow on the eaves of the red-tiled tall building opposite.
Rong Ting stood under the red eaves and the white snow.
Although he was dressed in plain clothes, he was naturally noble and had a dazzling temperament.
The surroundings were bustling with people, who had heard that someone had been captured and had come to watch the excitement.
In a crowded crowd, it was inevitable to be pushed and jostled. Sometimes, just being nudged by the corner of someone's clothes would make Rong Ting's eyes full of disgust. However, after seeing Jiang Rao across the street, his eyes suddenly calmed down.
She was wearing a rabbit fur snow hat and a red fur cape. The pomegranate red satin was as flamboyant as fire. There was a circle of fluffy white rabbit fur on the hat. Her small face, no bigger than the size of a palm, was sunken in the hat, and mostly covered by the brim.
He saw her, and naturally also saw Yun Qiniang beside her.
I also saw the set of pearl-inlaid and gem-encrusted headwear that Yun Qinniang was holding in her arms, which was obviously very expensive.
The point that I was puzzled about just now now has an answer.
Rong Ting felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. He tightened his fingers on the armrest of the wheelchair, and his throat felt a little hoarse.
He is just a powerless and downtrodden prince who will be the first to be sacrificed in future palace struggles, a worthless chess piece.
But she didn't even know his true identity, just because she wanted to make up to him and treated him well with all her heart.
…
Seeing Rong Ting was looking at her, Jiang Rao said goodbye to Yun Qiniang, then hurried to him and expressed her doubts, "Why are you here?"
There was some dissatisfaction in her eyes. "Instead of staying at home to recover, you keep running out. When will your leg injury heal?"
Perhaps because she saw his clenched fists and mistakenly thought that his leg was in pain, Jiang Rao became anxious and spoke faster, sounding a little blaming, just like when she usually scolded her brother.
Rong Ting raised his eyes to look at her anxious expression, and his heart was enveloped by an unfamiliar warmth.
In the past, when he was injured, all he could hear was the ridicule of his brothers, the emperor, calling him a waste.
He controlled the wheelchair and moved closer to her, and said calmly, "I heard that Wang Zhou was arrested, come out and take a look."
Jiang Rao couldn't help but smile.
Although she had seen Wang Zhou's miserable appearance when he was captured, she still felt very happy when she mentioned the matter of Wang Zhou's capture again.
When she read storybooks, what she hated most was that the bad guys always lived more comfortably than the good guys.
It feels good to know that evil will be punished.
She stood in the sun, Rong Ting squinted in the bright light, watching the sunlight fall on her smiling eyebrows and eyes, unconsciously a little absent-minded.
After Jiang Rao was happy, she began to worry about another thing, "But if he is caught, you will have no servants around you."
His leg injury obviously requires someone to take care of him.
Rong Ting lowered his head and said in a lonely voice, "I have long been accustomed to being alone."
Jiang Rao thought about it and felt that this was true. Even if Wang Zhou was there, he was only doing bad things and could not really fulfill the duties of a servant.
She was just thinking about how to start the conversation and tell the boy to put a servant from her family beside him so as not to arouse his suspicion and fear, but she saw him lowering his eyes and whispering, "If you are worried, can you come and accompany me more often?"
When she lowered her eyes, her thick eyelashes cast a shadow on her skin that was as cold and white as snow.
Jiang Rao didn’t know if it was her illusion, but she actually felt that he looked a little... well-behaved.
The tone of his voice was also softer than she had ever heard before. It did not contain any pleading, as if he was afraid to cause trouble for her, as if it didn't matter if she rejected him. But precisely because of this sense of "it doesn't matter", she almost immediately recalled the scene of him falling to the ground that day, sweating all over his forehead, but not crying out in pain.
How inconvenient must he be to take the initiative to make a request to her.
Especially after he finished speaking, he slightly raised his eyes. Jiang Rao had seen handsome, good-looking boys before, but no one could compare to him. His narrow and long phoenix eyes were devoid of the dominance he had before, but instead filled with humble pleading. His eyes were like fragile glass, fragile and beautiful. "Once is fine, twice is fine, even if it doesn't come... it's fine too."
His words were gradually retreating, but his expression touched her soft spot and made her feel completely soft-hearted.
"I'll go and accompany you often." Jiang Rao blurted out, and her tone unconsciously had some of the way she usually acted as an elder sister to coax her younger brother, "More than once."
A glimmer of light flashed in Rong Ting's cold and dark eyes. He lowered his head and his thin lips curled slightly unconsciously.
Soon he realized something, put away the smile on his face, turned his head away, and felt a little strange.
Even though she was right in front of him, he actually began to look forward to their next meeting.
Just because she agreed to accompany him, he felt a strange and unfamiliar sense of pleasure in his heart.
…
The men Qin Lian sent to escort Wang Zhou rode at full speed all the way to Nanjing and took him to the Ministry of Justice.
In the interrogation room
Wang Zhou was kneeling on the ground with his hands tied with ropes. Behind him were two burly yamen runners wearing dark official uniforms, who kept watching his every move.
Wang Zhou knelt in front of the hall, his legs trembling and cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
If he were in Yecheng, he could find a way to ask his family members to bribe the officials trying the case.
But this was in the imperial capital, Jinling, and his small network of contacts was of no use at all. He could only worry.
He had been trying to find a way to escape all the way but failed. He felt very strange. When he first started serving Rong Ting, the manager who found him acted as if he didn't care whether Rong Ting lived or died. He didn't even say a word of advice. When he asked about Rong Ting's family background, he said that Rong Ting was just an unpopular bastard with no one to protect him.
But looking at the scene today, it is clear that someone is trying to support Rong Ting!
When the investigating official appeared in the interrogation room, a bailiff called out: The fourth prince is here!
The anxiety on Wang Zhou's face only grew stronger.
Who exactly is Rong Ting? Why is his case being tried by the Fourth Prince?
The fourth prince was twenty-seven years old, but he looked somewhat mature. He glanced at Wang Zhou and said, "Is this the servant who has been taking care of my ninth brother for the past year?"
9. Emperor...brother?
Wang Zhou was dumbfounded.
All his confusions were finally revealed, but he was silenced as if someone had strangled him.
Originally, he only thought that Rong Ting was at most a bastard in a marquis's mansion. Who could have expected that he was the emperor's child?
The person he has been bullying is someone who may become emperor in the future?
If Rong Ting told him this news, he would definitely not believe it. How could a disabled person who no one cared about dream of being a royal relative? But today, the facts were thrown right in front of him.
Wang Zhou was panicked and tried to explain hurriedly.
In the court, the fourth prince also handed down his judgment on him at this time.
"Wang Zhou of Yecheng, who deceived his master, embezzled 20 taels of silver every month. In just one year, he embezzled more than 200 taels. His crime was so serious that he was flogged 30 times and exiled to the border."
The clerk picked up his pen and started taking notes.
Wang Zhou howled, "My Lord, my Lord! This is not a crime that deserves such punishment!"
Fifty lashes? Exile to the border?
In a place like the border where people die without a burial place and their corpses and bones are eaten by wild beasts, this judgment is to take his life!
He shouted, "Master Qin only sends me sixteen taels of silver every month, not enough for twenty taels!"
After hearing this, the Fourth Prince smiled.
Obviously he knew what was going on.
Wang Zhou was overjoyed, thinking that things had turned around, and shouted, "It must be the Queen. It was the Queen who withheld my master's monthly salary!"
Wang Zhou is evil to the core, but he is not too stupid.
Rong Ting is not liked by the mistress, and she is referring to the Empress!
Unfortunately, Wang Zhou didn't know that the Fourth Prince's biological mother and the Queen were both from the Xu family, and the Fourth Prince always stood on the Queen's side.
It was precisely because Empress Jiahe knew that Qin Lian had written a letter to the Emperor and was afraid that Emperor Zhaowu would be concerned about the case that she asked the Fourth Prince to come to the trial immediately, so that the case would be buried as quickly as possible and she did not want to give Emperor Zhaowu the opportunity to know.
Wang Zhou was exiled to the border, which was the outcome they had agreed on long ago.
Only by leaving no one alive can we ensure that nothing goes wrong.
The fourth prince looked at Wang Zhou's stubborn resistance, and a hint of mockery and sarcasm rose in his eyes. "The Queen is the mother of the country, how can you be greedy for four taels of silver? You dare to make irresponsible remarks about the mother of a country. Your crime is one level higher. You will be caned ten times more and exiled immediately!"
He waved his hand, signaling the bailiff to take Wang Zhou away for execution.
Wang Zhou was dragged down by the yamen runners with his mouth covered.
There was a commotion outside.
Emperor Zhaowu, dressed in a bright yellow robe, appeared in the hall.
While everyone was kneeling and knelt, Wang Zhou struggled to break free from the guards. He rushed over and knelt in front of Emperor Zhaowu, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, you must redress the grievances of this common people!"
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