Chu Qingluan's eyes flickered slightly, but she didn't deny it. She just sighed softly, put her arms around his neck and put her face close to his chest.
"A Yuan, promise me that you won't be angry with Chu Hong and won't argue with him about this anymore, okay?"
When Qin Yuan heard this, his body stiffened slightly and his brows furrowed, obviously unable to understand.
"Why?"
Knowing that Chu Hong was deliberately disguising himself and plotting, and was even willing to hurt himself to alienate the relationship between the two of them, if Chu Qingluan didn't know him well, there would probably be a misunderstanding today.
When Qin Yuan thought of Chu Hong's provocative information, he found it difficult to suppress the anger in his heart.
Chu Qingluan raised her hand and gently smoothed the creases between his brows, with a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.
"A Yuan, trust me once. When we return to the capital, you will understand everything."
After a pause, her tone softened, even taking on a hint of coquettishness. "Just think of it as being for me, okay? I promise that when the time comes, I'll give you a reasonable explanation and... a big surprise."
She didn't plan to tell Qin Yuan about the child for the time being, thinking of waiting for a more appropriate time to give Qin Yuan a surprise.
Or when the Qin Emperor puts forward some conditions, they can make it public.
Qin Yuan looked at the pleading in her eyes, which also had a hint of mystery. Although he was full of doubts and couldn't let go of Chu Hong's affairs, his love for Chu Qingluan ultimately prevailed.
He sighed, helplessly hugging her tighter, his chin resting on the top of her head, "Okay! I promise you, for now... I won't bother with him."
But he secretly added in his heart that if it didn’t work openly, he had to make Chu Hong suffer a little in secret so that he would remember it!
Otherwise, do you really think his relatives are made of mud?
Chu Qingluan felt relieved immediately. She raised her head and kissed his chin with a bright smile: "Thank you, A Yuan."
As the night deepened, the room was filled with warmth and affection. The candlelight illuminated the intertwined figures of the two people. On the brocade quilt, a slender hand hung down weakly, as soft as if it had no bones.
At this moment, a strong and powerful hand covered the woman's small hand, tightly wrapped around it, and then slowly opened and squeezed between the woman's fingers. No matter how the woman struggled, she could not escape.
Scattered across the ground were men's dark brocade robes and undergarments, as well as women's moon-white dresses. In a corner, one could vaguely glimpse the corner of a pale pink bellyband, embroidered with plum blossoms in gold thread...
——
Three days later, a piece of news reached the capital, causing an uproar.
“Bang!”
The heavy bang of the gavel instantly attracted the attention of all the tea drinkers in the room.
In a bustling restaurant, the storyteller, his saliva flying, vividly recounted a secret that was enough to subvert everyone's cognition:
"It's said that after that enchantress escaped from the border of the Qin Dynasty, she hid her identity and identity all the way, eventually sneaking into the Misty Rain Tower. With her stunning appearance, she became the top courtesan and deceived many high-ranking officials!"
"Oh my God! This is possible!" The onlookers widened their eyes in shock.
"Don't be impatient, the more outrageous things are still to come!" The storyteller took a sip of tea and his tone became more excited.
"Later, His Royal Highness Prince Rui noticed her suspicious whereabouts and secretly sent people to track her down, finally capturing her in Misty Rain Tower! To prevent her from continuing to wreak havoc on the world, His Royal Highness didn't kill her, but instead imprisoned her, preparing to deal with her later. But who could have known that this enchantress would take advantage of the guards' laxity and escape, using some unknown secret method to disguise herself to look exactly like His Royal Highness the Crown Princess!"
There were gasps in the building, and someone couldn't help but curse, "This witch is so audacious! How dare she impersonate the royal family? She must be tired of living!"
"That's right!" the storyteller continued. "What's even more hateful is that after being captured, not only did she refuse to repent, she also secretly colluded with the Second Prince, Chu Lang! The two of them colluded to manipulate the court, murder the emperor, and frame the real princess for falling into the river. They even planned to take advantage of the emperor's serious illness to tamper with the imperial edict..."
The same scene was being played out in every corner of Da Chu. After learning of this shocking news, the people began to curse Gu Yanran.
"Bah! Shameless thing!"
"I used to think the 'prince lady' was going to the peace talks for the sake of the country and the people, but it turns out she's a sham!"
"This kind of witch should be executed by slow slicing to serve as a warning to others!"
The crowd was in an uproar, the people were excited and cursing!
Anger, shock, and fear were intertwined.
When they thought about the noble Crown Princess being desecrated in this way and the danger His Majesty might encounter, everyone felt a chill down their spine and was burning with anger!
At this time, someone with good information threw out even more exciting news: "You still don't know, right? This Gu Yanran, she was never a good person! She is not the biological daughter of Lord Gu at all. She was a fake daughter who was mistakenly adopted more than ten years ago. The real daughter suffered a lot in exile, but she took someone else's place, enjoyed more than ten years of happiness, and in the end, she committed such a heinous crime that is punishable by the death of nine generations of her family!"
“…”
In the court, there was also turmoil and the atmosphere was depressing and heavy.
Impeachment memorials flew onto the imperial desk like snowflakes. The ministers were both frightened and blamed themselves, especially those officials who had had contact with the "fake princess" and even supported her policies. They were sweating profusely and submitted memorials to apologize, blaming themselves for being blind and failing to see through the treacherous schemes, which almost caused a disaster.
And the person at the center of the storm was naturally Gu Tingyuan.
After learning the identity of the fake princess, the looks of her colleagues became extremely complicated.
There is sympathy, but more of it is sarcasm, alienation, and undisguised accusations.
"Minister Gu really raised a good daughter!"
"Thinking back to the time when I took the trouble to plan for this fake daughter, to find a husband through the list, but ended up stealing the princess' husband, I wonder if Prime Minister Gu has any regrets?"
"Gu Xiang's management of the household is nothing more than this..."
These comments, whether explicit or implicit, stabbed Gu Tingyuan like a knife, and his lifelong reputation was completely ruined.
Facing the criticism from thousands of people, Gu Tingyuan seemed to have aged ten years overnight. Finally, he dragged his heavy steps and submitted his resignation at the grand court meeting.
"This old minister... has failed to raise his daughter properly, causing misfortune for our family. This evil deed has brought chaos to the court and disturbed the Holy Emperor. My crimes are unforgivable. I cannot face standing before the court again. I beg Your Majesty... to allow this old minister to resign and retire to reflect on my mistakes!"
In the end, the King of Chu agreed to his proposal.
Everyone sighed.
As for Chu Lang, he was thrown into prison long ago due to the irrefutable evidence collected by Xie Yunqi.
Concubine Xie, who had ordered the fake Wu Yachao to poison the Emperor of Chu, was also stripped of her title, demoted to a commoner, given a cup of poisoned wine, and died in Qionghua Palace.
…
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