After all, Zhuang Li is his own son. Seeing that the emperor is so kind to him, Zhuang Ai naturally would not think this is a bad thing.
But Mrs. Hu's mood could only be described as "tormented." She tried to smile gently, but the jealousy that inadvertently shone in her eyes seemed like poison.
Her daughter Zhuang Yunzhu did not have the same superficial effort as her, and her face was distorted at this time.
Zhuang Yuqing was the Fifth Prince Feng Yu's study companion and was highly regarded, so it was impossible for him to be as ignorant as his younger sister. He smiled gently and stood quietly to the side, not interrupting or eager to show off.
He also quietly pulled his sister's sleeve, asking her to be more restrained.
However, Zhuang Yunzhu was spoiled by Hu and Zhuang Ai, and had a very arrogant and domineering personality. She had no idea what to say in different situations.
She pointed at Zhuang Xiaohui's men's clothing and deliberately shouted loudly, "Hey, sister, why are you running out in men's clothes in the middle of the night?"
This statement was clearly slandering Zhuang Xiaohui, implying that she sneaked out at night to meet someone privately.
Zhuang Xiaohui opened her mouth and was about to argue, but Zhuang Li, who was lying on the table to relieve his dizziness and shortness of breath, suddenly looked up and pierced Zhuang Yunzhu with a cold gaze.
Before the siblings could speak, Feng Ming slowly spoke, "I met the three of them walking together on the road. They said they were celebrating Feng Yi's birthday and were heading home. The city isn't very peaceful tonight, and I was afraid they might run into some bad guys, so I sent them back. They're all teenagers, so it's normal for them to be a little playful. Why should they be shy about being with their own brother?"
The two riddles mentioned earlier should be here. Feng Ming agreed to help Zhuang Li cover up the incident of going to the brothel to avoid him getting beaten.
Even the emperor said so. What else could Zhuang Ai, who was about to get angry, do? He could only bow and smile, agreeing: "Your Majesty is right. Thank you for sending them back."
Zhuang Yunzhu was so angry that she gritted her teeth, but she could do nothing about it.
Zhuang Xiaohui looked at the emperor in astonishment, then lowered her head with a relieved expression.
Feng Yi wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling completely relieved. Was the brothel visit over?
Zhuang Li hid his sly smile with his sleeves, but his exposed eyes curved into crescent shapes.
Feng Ming looked at the pair of eyes that couldn't hide their smile, and finally a glimmer of light appeared in his dark pupils.
"It's just," he said in a deep voice, "other children are studying at the age of seventeen or eighteen, but why is it that Zhuang Li does nothing all day and has never read a single day?"
Long Jinwei knows the secrets of all the powerful people in the capital, and all this information is stored in Feng Ming's brain.
As soon as Feng Yi said "This is my cousin", Feng Ming already knew Zhuang Li's background clearly.
Zhuang Ai immediately replied, "Your Majesty, I also wanted to send him to school, but he was unwilling to do so. He would either play or make noise at the academy, disrupting the studies of others. The teacher couldn't stand his mischief and kicked him out in less than half a month."
He had no intention of protecting his son and said whatever he wanted to say, which allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty in front of the emperor.
Zhuang Xiaohui clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and tried hard to suppress the anger in her heart. If it weren't for Hu's order to lead her brother astray, how could her brother become like this?
His father knew everything, but he did nothing! He indulged Hu's behavior and watched his own life and his brother's life being destroyed.
Zhuang Xiaohui really wanted to kneel down and explain everything to the emperor, but she also knew that it was a serious crime for a daughter to accuse her parents. If the news got out, no one would believe her and would instead accuse her of being unfilial.
Besides, my brother was indeed naughty, and my father had not lied. How could the emperor possibly interfere in the family affairs of a minister?
Thinking of this, Zhuang Xiaohui could only swallow the tears in her heart silently.
However, she had never expected that her brother, who had lived a muddled and cowardly life, would suddenly speak coldly: "I also want to study hard, but do I dare? If I were like Zhuang Yuqing, who loved to show off, would I be alive today?"
Just two simple questions exposed Hu's cruel methods in front of everyone without any concealment.
The whole hall suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Mrs. Hu suddenly looked up with an expression of extreme astonishment.
Zhuang Yuqing and Zhuang Yunzhu were also stunned. They had never expected Zhuang Li to say such words in front of the emperor!
Zhuang Ai immediately scolded him, "Shut up, son of a bitch! No one wants to harm you; it's your own fault! If you were as bright and studious as Yu Qing, how could I possibly stop you from studying?" Finally, he bowed deeply and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, please don't believe what this son of a bitch says. How do you, your humble wife, and I treat this son of a bitch? You can ask the servants in the room. Is his food, clothing, housing, and transportation not the best?"
Feng Ming remained silent, but his face was extremely cold and stern.
Everyone in the room looked at him fearfully, waiting for his decision.
Zhuang Li chuckled and said, "I won't mention my clothes, my place, my transportation. I'll just talk about my battered body. Your Majesty, please help me find a doctor to take a good look at me. I still have a few years to live."
He lifted his sleeves, revealing his unusually thin wrists.
7480 had just told him that this body was filled with all kinds of toxins and could not withstand any torture. In the script, Zhuang Li was captured by Long Jinwei tonight and sent back to the Zhuang Mansion. He was severely beaten by Zhuang Ai and became disabled for life. He died before he was 25 years old.
While his lover is here, he has to find a good doctor for himself as soon as possible.
How many more years can he live? This extremely sad sentence deeply hurt Feng Ming's heart. He didn't dare to imagine the young man lying in the coffin, breathless.
"Bring Qin Zhong here." He ordered in a deep voice, his face looking extremely ugly.
A Dragon Guard immediately bowed and accepted the order, then flew out of the manor.
Zhuang Ai subconsciously looked at his wife, only to see her clenching her teeth tightly, trying to open her lips and pretending to smile calmly. But she didn't know that clenching her teeth too tightly would cause her cheek muscles to bulge, distorting her entire face.
Her guilt and panic were written all over her face.
In his early years, Qin Zhong had accompanied the emperor on numerous campaigns, saving him from near death countless times with his uncanny skills. His medical skills were unrivaled in Dayan, and if his wife had truly poisoned their son, he would surely have recognized the problem.
Realizing this, Zhuang Ai felt dizzy.
Not sending his son to school was a minor matter, and he could find various excuses to justify it. But his son was poisoned, and that was something that could not be erased by a few words.
A while ago, a murder case broke out in the capital: a stepmother murdered her stepson. What was the sentence handed down by the Ministry of Justice? It seemed to be beheading, wasn't it? Thinking of this, Zhuang Ai almost collapsed to the ground.
Zhuang Yuqing obviously knew what his mother had done behind the scenes. The calm smile on his face had completely disappeared, and his hands hidden in his sleeves couldn't stop shaking.
If the mother's guilt was proven, she would be divorced and imprisoned at the very least, or executed in the worst case.
However, no matter how serious it was, it was a calamity for him. The Fifth Prince, Feng Yu, was already the designated Crown Prince, and as the person the Fifth Prince relied on most, he absolutely could not have a mother who was sentenced or even beheaded as a criminal.
His reputation, future, and family fortune would all be ruined! And he could have risen to the top!
The more Zhuang Yuqing thought about it, the more heartbroken she felt.
Zhuang Yunzhu had no idea how dire the situation was. Pointing at Zhuang Li's nose, she angrily cursed, "You short-lived bastard! What nonsense are you talking about? Your poor health is clearly caused by your mother's difficult labor. What does that have to do with my mother? Has my mother ever treated you badly? What food do you eat that isn't exquisite? What isn't expensive? What isn't prepared specially for you by your mother?"
After she finished speaking, she began to count on her fingers what Zhuang Li ate every day.
However, she didn't know that these foods, while seemingly harmless on the surface, could slowly destroy a person's body when mixed together. Eating extremely cold foods one moment and highly nourishing foods the next, constantly causing the body's yin and yang to become imbalanced, how could one not become weakened over time?
This is also the reason why the original owner was so thin despite eating delicacies every day.
Zhuang Yunzhu only cared about dressing up and not reading or writing, so she naturally didn't understand these things, but who among those present didn't understand? Her quick words not only failed to clear Hu's suspicion, but instead exposed his ugly face in advance.
There is no need to wait for the imperial physician to come and investigate, the truth is already here.
Zhuang Li slowly applauded Zhuang Yunzhu with a mocking smile on his face.
Zhuang Xiaohui, however, lacked her brother's composure. She was trembling with anger, on the verge of exploding. It turned out the seeds of her and her brother's tragedy had been planted so early on!
Mrs. Hu could no longer pretend to be calm and shouted sharply, "Zhuang Yunzhu, shut up! Stop talking! Stop talking! I don't prepare these meals for Zhuang Li every day!"
Zhuang Yunzhu, still not fully understanding the situation, yelled with a look of grievance, "Why don't you have it? You've sacrificed so much for them, why aren't you allowed to speak? I want to eat the soup you made for Zhuang Li, and you won't let me!"
Mrs. Hu held her forehead, almost staggering. Her daughter's last words only served to pin her down.
Zhuang Ai swung his arm and slapped Zhuang Yunzhu hard.
The spurting blood from her nose and the sudden excruciating pain finally stopped Zhuang Yunzhu's endless defense. She covered her rapidly swollen cheeks and stared at her father in disbelief.
Zhuang Yuqing closed his eyes, feeling a surge of anger and helplessness, yet he had no way to vent. One was his mother, the other his sister. What could he do?
Zhuang Ai panted for a while, then knelt down.
He was about to speak when Feng Ming interrupted him, his tone particularly stern: "How I managed to survive the Liu family's clutches and how I ascended to the throne is something everyone in the Great Yan Kingdom knows. So, do you think I can't see through Hu's tricks?"
Zhuang Ai, who was about to kowtow and beg for mercy, was stunned on the spot.
Liu was personally appointed as the empress by the late emperor, and was greatly favored, which led to her acting with extraordinary dominance. She always believed that the emperor, who was still the crown prince at the time, had usurped her son's position, so she used all means to frame the emperor, eventually causing him to be deposed as crown prince and demoted to a commoner.
The emperor could only flee to the border to fight, but he still could not avoid the assassins sent by the Liu family. So he could no longer bear it and launched a mutiny. He led a million troops back to the imperial city, killed the entire Liu family and all his brothers, and forced the late emperor to write a letter of abdication.
It is said that Liu's head was cut off by the emperor himself.
The few princes who are still alive today are all cousins of the emperor, and their relationship is not close.
In other words, the emperor personally slaughtered all his direct blood relatives, leaving no one alive, including the late emperor who starved to death in the cold palace.
This shows how deep his hatred for Liu was.
It was not until this moment that Zhuang Ai figured out why his second son, who had no redeeming qualities, had won the emperor's favor, because his experience was too similar to that of the emperor.
The feeling of sympathy can quickly bring two people closer together.
On the other hand, his wife's behavior reminded the emperor of that painful experience.
Given the Emperor's deep hatred for Liu, would his wife, guilty of the same crime, be vengeful? Could she still survive? If the Emperor couldn't move on from the past, the entire family might be implicated.
Thinking of this, Zhuang Ai felt as if all the bones in his body were pulled out, and he crawled on the ground in fear.
Zhuang Yuqing also realized that her mother's cruel treatment of Zhuang Li had triggered the emperor's deepest pain and darkest emotions. He would not let her mother off easily!
It's over! It's completely over! There's no hope for my mother!
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