Chapter 110
"I don't!"
The Sixth Prince hurried forward and knelt beside the First Prince, "Father, please believe me, I definitely didn't do that!"
"The grass rings are all ready. I am only responsible for hanging them up. How could I do anything wrong?"
The fifth prince stood up and said, "Yes, Father, I got up early this morning and was with my sixth brother. He was very sleepy, so he went to the hunting ground after waking up and took the ready-made grass rings."
The Sixth Prince looked at the Fifth Prince, his eyes full of gratitude.
"A ready-made grass ring..." Emperor Chongzhao: "I remember that it was Concubine Lan who asked you to put the grass ring and the small flag on the horse. The grass ring was also prepared by her palace people."
He cast a cold and stern gaze at Concubine Lan.
Concubine Lan's hands and feet were cold, and she was about to cry: "I did prepare a grass ring, but it was made by the palace servants. I know nothing about it."
She forced herself to calm down, "If I really wanted to harm the Third Prince, I would definitely not take on the task of killing Cao Huan. What's the difference between this and telling everyone that it was me who did it?"
Concubine Wen: "So you mean, it was the palace maids who were careless? Is there someone else who framed you?"
Imperial Concubine Lan said decisively: "No matter what the situation is, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with me and the Sixth Prince. If you are lying, I will be struck by lightning and die without a trace!"
Concubine Wen looked at the eldest prince, then the sixth prince, and finally said, "Your Majesty, please make the decision for the third prince!"
For a moment, the few people kneeling in the middle were sad, nervous, or dazed.
Just at this moment, the imperial physician came out: "Your Majesty, the Third Prince has woken up!"
Emperor Chongzhao immediately stood up and walked into the tent.
Concubine Wen staggered in, followed by the eldest prince and others.
Qu Dubian endured the bloody smell, followed the Fourth Prince, lifted the curtain and went in, standing in the corner.
The third prince looked weak, with a somewhat empty look in his eyes, staring at the top of the tent.
Emperor Chongzhao glanced at his empty right arm for a while, then sat down on the bedside and said, "Third brother."
The third prince burst into tears, "Father."
With the loss of an arm, his path to succession was completely cut off. All the planning and scheming over the years were wasted overnight.
Emperor Chongzhao: "It will be fine. Do you remember what happened? It was your elder brother who brought you back."
The third prince looked at the eldest prince.
The eldest prince couldn't help but become nervous. Although he had no evidence, if the third prince insisted on dragging him into the water, he would definitely not be able to get away with it.
He was about to argue, but when he met the gaze of Emperor Chongzhao, he suddenly felt cold.
He had never seen such obvious coldness in his father's eyes so clearly.
Like...
It's like looking at a stranger.
The emperor suspected him, and suspected him more than Xiaoliu, even though the evidence now pointed to Xiaoliu and Concubine Lan.
The eldest prince felt as if someone had grabbed his throat, and the chill slowly seeped into his heart.
The third prince looked deeply at the eldest prince for a moment.
He finally remembered the hands that led him out of the pit, and said in a hoarse voice: "My elder brother had already left, but he heard the guards' voices and rushed to save me."
"Thank you, brother."
It also shows some sincerity.
The eldest prince said awkwardly: "No matter who it is, I will save it."
The second prince raised his eyes slightly, looked at the two of them for a few seconds, and then looked away.
Emperor Chongzhao was silent for a while and said, "Boss, you did a great job."
The eldest prince bowed and stepped aside.
At this point, the matter has nothing to do with him anymore.
The Third Prince held Emperor Chongzhao's hand with his left hand, "Father, I'm sorry that I ruined your mood because of my matter. I am an unfilial son."
He did not complain, feel unwilling, resentful or angry. He instinctively used his current misery to gain more sympathy and compassion.
Emperor Chongzhao dispersed the other people in the tent.
Then he held the Third Prince's hand tightly and said, "You should have a good rest."
After a moment, he asked slowly, "What if this is indeed an accident?"
The Third Prince was silent for two seconds, then said, "That can only be blamed on my bad luck."
Emperor Chongzhao patted his hands and ordered the imperial physician to take good care of the third prince. Then he arrested all the people who had come into contact with the grass ring last night and interrogated them one by one.
Finally, a palace servant could not resist the interrogation and spoke up, saying that the grass used for the grass ring grew far away, and he was too lazy to walk so far. Besides, he had to rush back to serve the Sixth Prince, so he just picked some other grass on the way.
He also didn't know that the grass he picked was actually horse grass.
The palace maid was one of the eunuchs who served the Sixth Prince closely. Although it was an accident, Emperor Chongzhao was still furious. He executed the palace maid, demoted Concubine Lan to Concubine Lan, and beat the Sixth Prince with thirty lashes of the cane.
The fifth prince pleaded for the sixth prince.
Emperor Chongzhao became even more furious and beat him as well, threatening that anyone who tried to plead for mercy would suffer an even more miserable fate.
-
Qu Dubian listened to the end of the play.
He had been silent since coming out of the Third Prince's tent.
Scenes from the past flashed through my mind.
Ye Xiaoyuan asked worriedly, "Your Highness, are you feeling unwell?"
Qu Watanabe: “Not bad.”
He stood outside for a quarter of an hour, and when he figured out that the Fifth Prince had finished being beaten, he said, "Banban, you stay here. I'll go see Fifth Brother."
Ye Xiaoyuan: "Your Highness, are you going by yourself?"
Qu Watanabe: "I have something to ask him."
He came to the Fifth Prince's tent. The Fifth Prince was lying on the bed with a pale face. The imperial physician applied medicine to his lower back and buttocks and gave him thirty strokes of the cane, enough to make him bleed.
Fortunately, there was not much blood, and the medicinal energy could cover up some of it.
Qu Duanbian had not taken off the thick mask on his face, "Fifth Brother."
The fifth prince was stunned for a moment: "Xiao Qi, why are you here?"
"There's something going on, Fifth Brother, you take care of the wound first."
"…good."
The imperial physician quickly treated him and covered him with a layer of medicated gauze. "Please don't turn over at night, Your Highness."
The fifth prince nodded: "Thank you."
The imperial physician left with the medicine box, and Qu Dubian then dragged a small stool and sat down beside the Fifth Prince's bed.
The Fifth Prince: "What do you want to tell me?"
Qu Dubian looked at the palace servants serving in his tent. The Fifth Prince understood and said, "You all should go out."
After the tent was cleared, Qu Dubian's voice came through the veil. He looked at the fifth prince and asked, "Fifth brother, you were the one who did the grass ring, right?"
“………”
The fifth prince raised his eyes.
The gentle smile in his eyes faded away little by little, revealing a darkness like thick fog.
He didn't answer directly, but just said: "If it were someone else, would you ask directly like this if you had doubts?"
Qu Duanbian shook his head: "No, it's only because you are the fifth brother. Among all the brothers, I trust only you and the fourth brother the most."
"Silly brother," the fifth prince raised his hand and patted his forehead, "No matter how much you trust me, you can't ask directly."
He didn't answer, but he didn't deny it, which was a positive answer.
Qu Dubian said softly: "At that time...Rong Guiren's death should be related to Lan Guifei, right?"
"Fifth brother, you knew it all along, but you just pretended not to know."
From the moment the Fifth Prince stood up to plead for the Sixth Prince but directed his criticism directly towards Concubine Lan, he knew that all the things were connected by a thread.
The fifth prince and the sixth prince were close and were together almost every day, so they had the help of the people around the sixth prince to mix the horse grass into the grass for weaving the rings and arrange them in order.
When the Sixth Prince distributed the horses' food, the hay ring containing the grass for eating horses naturally ended up on the Third Prince's horse.
"She is no longer a concubine, but Concubine Lan," the fifth prince pursed his lips slightly, "If this is really a revenge, Xiaoqi, will you stop me?"
Qu Watanabe: "Fifth brother, I have no position and no right to stop you." He was silent for a while, "Second brother, it must be the person behind the scenes."
The fifth prince was shocked.
He knew that Xiao Qi had a quick mind, but he didn't expect that he could be so sharp in thinking about the Second Prince.
Qu Dubian: "This plan can almost be regarded as killing two birds with one stone. The eldest brother and the third brother were fighting, and the third brother was disabled. Father must have suspected the eldest brother. If the third brother had not picked the eldest brother out after waking up, he would not have gotten away with it cleanly.
You were the one who did the trick with Cao Huan. No one suspects you now, but it is certain that Sixth Brother and Lanpin were dragged into this, and now they have indeed been punished."
The only one who could benefit in secret was the Second Prince.
The situation in the court in the future is foreseeable. The third prince's party will fall, and the second prince's party will gradually stand out.
The fifth brother openly relies on the Sixth Prince and Concubine Lan, and this time he would rather be injured than not plead for the Sixth Prince. Concubine Lan and the Sixth Prince will definitely trust him more from now on.
Others would also completely believe that he was a member of the Sixth Prince's party.
No one knew that he and the second prince were the real alliance.
Except him.
Qu Watanabe: "Sorry, Fifth Brother."
The fifth prince laughed: "What are you apologizing for?"
"If I had discovered this earlier, you would have had someone to talk to about your troubles. It would have been much better than keeping it to yourself."
"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to involve you."
What to say? Not only Lanpin, but also the father who knew about it but did nothing about it? Even if I said it, it would only add to the troubles of one more person.
Qu Watanabe finally asked, "At what point can you stop?"
The fifth prince smiled, and treated him as usual, raised his hand and touched his head, and said gently:
"Go back, my brother is injured and the smoke will affect you."
-
Qu Dubian left the fifth prince's tent.
The cool and comfortable evening breeze was blowing, but he no longer had the cheerful mood he had when he first came here last night.
Ye Xiaoyuan was standing outside his tent waiting for him.
Qu Dubian took a few quick steps, hugged him, put his chin on his shoulder, and said in a muffled voice: "Be with me."
Ye Xiaoyuan paused, noticing that he was in a bad mood, and patted his back soothingly, "Yes, I'm here."
He didn't ask Qu Dubian what happened, and asked his prince to hold him just like when he was a child.
After a while, Qu Dubian changed his posture, put one hand on Ye Xiaoyuan's shoulder like a rogue, and asked Ye Xiaoyuan to drag him in.
Ye Xiaoyuan also indulged him, dragged him into the tent, poured some sweet water, and took out some sweet fruits.
Qu Dubian was lying on the table, drinking intermittently, his eyes clearly lost in thought.
Ye Xiaoyuan was not in a hurry. He would wait until his prince was willing to talk, and then he would listen attentively. If he was still unwilling to talk, he would pretend to have forgotten about it.
Yi Twelve opened the tent and came in.
Qu Duanbian said lazily: "I'm back. Thank you Liuliu for helping me look after Empress Xuan and Sister."
But Yi Shier walked straight up to him with his lips tightened.
Qu Dubian's heart skipped a beat: "Did something happen to them?"
Yi Twelve shook his head: "Very safe."
Qu Duanbian breathed a sigh of relief, "Then why are you so serious?"
Yi Twelve said slowly: "On my way back, I passed by Lanpin's tent and heard something about you."
"Your Highness, do you want to listen?"
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