Chuanwen had been wondering about this issue for a while, but the series of events that had just occurred hadn't given her a chance to see what was going on. Now that she finally had a chance to take a look, she was utterly shocked and speechless.
[Zhou Yong and I were childhood sweethearts? When did that happen? How come I didn't know?]
[I had a crush on Zhou Yong and was so jealous that I killed his wife and kids because I was jealous of him getting married?! !!!]
[I was so jealous that Zhou Yong married Chaoyang, so I forced them to separate and even threw that scumbag Zhou Yong in jail because of love turned to hate?!]
[Then I instructed Zhang Qing to dress as a man and deliberately seduce Chaoyang so that she would be embarrassed and become a laughing stock?!]
How many pounds of shit did the prince consort have in his brain to come up with such a story?!
The news is practically going to be a hit!
The key point is that even that idiot Chaoyang believed it!
Chuanwen looked at Chaoyang with an expression that suggested the other person's brain was full of water, and she wanted to grab the other person's shoulders and shake all the water out of their brain.
Even if Chaoyang was stupid, she felt that something was wrong at this moment. Otherwise, Chuanwen should have felt guilty instead of looking at her as if she were sick!
But she was really angry when she was constantly called an idiot!
Not only the emperor, but also the emperor and his entourage were quite shocked. That...驸马 (the son-in-law), doesn't he put any thought into making up stories?
The emperor thought for a moment. He seemed to remember that Zhou Yong's hometown was in the northwest, while the village where Chuanwen lived was in the heart of the Central Plains. The two places were thousands of miles apart, so how could they be childhood sweethearts?
Besides, their ages don't match up. Zhou Yong is already twenty-three, while Chuan Wen is only fourteen. When Zhou Yong was childhood friends, Chuan Wen was still wearing open-crotch pants. How could they be childhood sweethearts?
The more the emperor thought about it, the more he covered his face. He felt that he was quite smart. Although Bao Hui was sometimes a bit short-tempered, she was not stupid. How come Chao Yang was like a simpleton?
When Bao Hui arrived with her husband, the emperor finally understood why Chao Yang was so dim-witted; she probably resembled her father more!
The prince consort followed behind Princess Baohui timidly. Although he had a handsome face, his cowardly and furtive manner made him look like a self-righteous and despicable villain.
The emperor was furious. He had strongly opposed Bao Hui's marriage to this man, but Bao Hui had been bewitched by his good looks and insisted on marrying him. Sigh, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got! Chaoyang had completely inherited all the flaws of Bao Hui and her husband—love-struck (a term borrowed from literature) and foolish.
"Brother, why did you summon me here in such a hurry?"
Princess Baohui looked at the people in the room, then at her own daughter. She noticed that her daughter's philtrum was swollen and covered with haphazard fingernail marks (from when Chuanwen deliberately pinched her to save her). She was also not wearing the same clothes she had worn when she left. Feeling sorry for her, she quickly walked over.
"Chaoyang, what's wrong? Have you been wronged? Your mother will definitely get justice for you!"
Upon seeing Princess Bao Hui, Chao Yang's eyes welled up with tears of grievance. Bao Hui felt extremely sorry for her and patted Chao Yang's back comfortingly. The Emperor gave a forced smile and snorted, "Would she really suffer grievances? It's others who suffer grievances!"
The emperor glanced at Chuanwen, wanting to say that Chuanwen was the one who had been wronged! But when he met Chuanwen's innocent, slightly red eyes, he suddenly remembered her previous thoughts, so he paused and didn't say it. Instead, he felt a little speechless. Uh... was she putting on an act again?
Even though I knew Chuanwen was faking it, seeing such a lovely girl make such an innocent and aggrieved expression still softened my heart, and I wanted to go over and pat her head to comfort her.
The emperor looked coldly at the prince consort, "Prince consort, tell me what happened?"
The prince consort, caught off guard by being called out, was startled. He raised his eyes and met the emperor's gloomy gaze. He then glanced at the two palace maids kneeling beside him, one of whom was the same maid he had just met with yesterday, Peony. He couldn't help but feel flustered.
"Please, Your Majesty, enlighten me..."
The prince consort had a suspicion: things had probably gone wrong. He wondered how much the emperor knew. Did he only know about his affair with Shaoyao, or did he also know that Shaoyao had thrown the little princess into the lake?
"My lord! Save me!" The palace maid, Peony, scrambled to the prince's feet, clutching his robes and pleading, "You promised to take me away to enjoy a life of luxury, please save me!"
Peony knew that if her affair with the prince consort were exposed, she would be beaten to death by Princess Baohui, if not by the Empress. So she placed all her hopes on the prince consort.
The prince consort, embarrassed, pulled his robe away from her grasp, shouting, "What nonsense are you spouting! Let go!"
Peony was unwilling to let go, as her life was in the hands of the prince consort. She begged him to save her, but the prince consort knew that if Bao Hui found out that he was still involved with other women, he would have even less of a good life in the future. Annoyed by Peony's antics, he was about to kick her away when he was met with a big slap from Princess Bao Hui, which knocked him to the ground.
The scene fell silent. The emperor was surprised that Bao Hui had slapped his son-in-law right in front of him. He was astonished by his sister's fierceness.
Several officials huddled in the corner watching the drama unfold silently covered their faces. Among them, Li Xiaoliang, the current Minister of War, secretly rejoiced that he hadn't tried to curry favor with powerful figures by having his son compete for Princess Baohui's husband. This was too awful; there were so many people around, and they weren't giving him any face at all.
After a brief moment of silence, chaos erupted. Peony cried as she went to check on the prince consort, who then tried to pull her away to keep his distance. Bao Hui cursed the two as adulterers and even tried to punch them a few more times. The emperor and empress, exasperated, ordered their men to pull them apart.
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