Eunuch Qian rushed in and covered the small table with the cloth again. "Your Majesty, the cleaning staff probably forgot. I'll go and tell them right away!"
Emperor Jingkang did not get angry about this matter. He waved his hand and signaled Eunuch Qian to leave. "Everyone outside, please leave. You stay outside and keep watch. Don't let anyone get close. I have something to say to Prince Chu."
His Majesty has always treated Prince Chu with special favor, so Eunuch Qian was not too surprised. As one of His Majesty's closest confidants, he knew many of Emperor Jingkang's secrets. His Majesty kept Prince Chu on the spot because he wanted to talk to him about that matter!
"Yes!" Eunuch Qian obediently went down.
Hu Mingmei didn't know what Emperor Jingkang wanted to say to her, so she didn't speak. She stood to the side with her head slightly lowered, waiting respectfully and obediently for Emperor Jingkang to speak.
Emperor Jingkang looked at Hu Mingmei and sighed inwardly. This child was neither like Yu Ru nor like his mother. Emperor Jingkang thought about it and realized that Hu Mingmei was also not like his father. He had developed such a quiet and ruthless personality. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Are you wondering what I'm going to say to you?" Emperor Jingkang looked Hu Mingmei up and down, and seeing that he didn't apologize and hadn't said a word, he couldn't help but ask.
Hu Mingmei cupped his hands and said, "Your subject dares not."
"Hmph, I wouldn't dare!" Emperor Jingkang snorted inwardly, thinking, "You dare not guess? I'll tell you!" With that thought, Emperor Jingkang spoke, "Don't you want to know what my relationship with your mother is?"
Hu Mingmei finally frowned and looked at him.
When Emperor Jingkang saw that Hu Mingmei finally frowned, he felt a little happy. "Actually, it doesn't matter. Your mother and I are old acquaintances. I held you when your mother gave birth to you!"
Hu Mingmei was speechless for a moment.
Emperor Jingkang didn't mind that Hu Mingmei didn't answer and continued talking to himself, his eyes filled with deep nostalgia, "Back then, my relationship with your mother was the best. Your mother was gentle and virtuous, and her appearance was also the best. Although she was just a woman from the Jianghu, in all these years, I have never seen a better woman than her in the capital... It's a pity that she passed away at such a young age, along with your father."
"How did you and my mother meet?" When it came to her mother, and especially to things related to her mother, Hu Mingmei finally perked up and asked.
“Back when I was still a prince, I traveled to various places. That’s when I met your mother. She knew I was from the capital and begged me to bring her back with me. But unexpectedly, she got together with your father, the heir of Princess Yu Ru!” What Jingkang couldn’t believe was that the quiet and gentle woman from back then died just a few years later.
"Hu Haichuan, you killed him, didn't you?" Emperor Jingkang suddenly blurted out. "You don't need to lie to me anymore. I know. Hu Haichuan hurt your wife, so you attacked him!"
Since Emperor Jingkang had already revealed that Huang Haichuan had injured Bai Nuo, Hu Mingmei naturally had no need to hide it from him. To deny it further would only make things worse. However, this also proved a fact: Emperor Jingkang had people in their family. Otherwise, how could Jingkang have known about their affairs so quickly?
"You don't need to be nervous. I have spies not only in your house, but in every minister's house. I know about everything in everyone's house, not just yours," Emperor Jingkang added quietly.
Hearing this, Hu Mingmei was not surprised. The fact that Emperor Jingkang acted this way showed that he was a person with a strong desire for control. He wanted to control everyone, but this desire for control was not directed at him alone, so there was no use in being nervous. He simply stopped being nervous. But the problem was that no one in the entire capital knew that Emperor Jingkang had such a group of people in secret. Why was Emperor Jingkang telling him these secrets now?
"Your Majesty, what do you want me to do by telling me your secret?" Hu Mingmei asked. "Your Majesty, you suddenly told me this, surely you don't want to share your secret with me?"
"Haha!" Emperor Jingkang chuckled. "No, it's not that. I just think that Hu Haichuan really deserves to die." Emperor Jingkang looked at Hu Mingmei with a mocking expression. Did he think he knew nothing? He was going to great lengths to find excuses for Hu Haichuan's death. In reality, he knew everything.
Hu Mingmei couldn't help but correct Emperor Jingkang, "He no longer uses the princess's surname Hu; he has reverted to his original surname."
Emperor Jingkang nodded knowingly, "Oh, they used to be surnamed Huang, from the lineage of the Eldest Princess. They were married off as imperial sons-in-law and prince consorts, and both of them took the surname of our imperial family!"
"How did Princess Yuru and my parents die back then?" Hu Mingmei was particularly eager to know the truth. Since Emperor Jingkang had already brought up this question, Hu Mingmei decided not to hold back and asked directly.
Having been given a second chance at life, he is still unclear about many things. To this day, he does not know how his parents and grandmother died, although his intuition tells him that they were the ones who did it, but he has never had any evidence.
"Didn't you cast a spell on them?" Emperor Jingkang asked him, amused. "You can ask them yourself; they can't lie anyway."
Hu Mingmei's face turned cold, and he said directly, "I need more secrets!" In any case, Emperor Jingkang definitely wanted him to do things, so he might as well use this opportunity to find out more.
"They did indeed die because of Huang Wenbai!" Speaking of what happened back then, Emperor Jingkang's face was as cold as Hu Mingmei's. "Back then, Huang Wenbai and the woman beside him were old acquaintances. He first coveted Yu Ru's family property and tried to win Yu Ru's favor. After becoming Yu Ru's son-in-law, he made his move on Yu Ru. Huang Wenbai brazenly brought that woman into the Hu family and told Yu Ru that he had picked her up outside. Yu Ru believed him at the time. What Yu Ru did not expect was that the person she took in would become her death warrant."
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