The emperor did not make everyone wait long. The next day after Zhou Qiongyue and her two siblings had a big meal, the result of the handling came out.
The Third Prince's maternal family, General Wang's Mansion, was raided and their entire clan was exterminated. Several noble families of Yuan'an were also implicated and had their property raided and their clans exterminated, though fortunately, they had no connection to the Marquis of Cheng'en Mansion.
On the day the imperial edict came down, Concubine De from the palace and the third prince Li Jingbai took off their hairpins and knelt outside the emperor's study. They knelt for a whole day without eating or drinking, hoping that the emperor would show mercy.
But after kneeling for a whole day, the emperor did not give in, and she only received the imperial edict demoting Concubine De to Concubine De.
This was already a pardon from the Emperor for the sake of the Third Prince. Anyone who wanted to touch his prince would have to pay a price.
Perhaps for Depin and the Third Prince, this punishment was excessive. But for the Empress's family, this punishment was still too light and far from enough.
Since Defei and the others dared to lay their hands on the Second Prince and the Fifth Prince, the Queen could not help but retaliate.
That night, Depin hanged herself out of fear of punishment. The emperor sent people to investigate and confirmed that it was indeed suicide. The four senior palace maids around Depin died with her.
But no one knew that after this incident, the younger brother of the palace maid named Yin Tao who was with Depin moved away with his entire family, and there was no trace of this family in the entire Yuan'an.
However, for a moment, no one paid attention to what happened to the family of this little guy. By the time someone realized it and wanted to investigate, it was too late.
The emperor understood that there might be something fishy going on, but so what! As long as the Third Prince was well, he didn't care about the women in the harem.
Every year, countless women die in the harem because of palace fighting, but as long as they don't cross the bottom line of offspring, the emperor always lets them fight.
At this point, the third prince fell from being the only prince with military power and at the peak of his career to being the only one left alone.
He couldn't even give his mother a proper funeral. Concubines who committed suicide in the harem could not be buried in the concubine's tomb, nor could they be posthumously honored, let alone have any ceremony.
She could only be hastily buried in a thin coffin outside the concubine's tomb.
The Third Prince had a guess as to who had done this, but what could he do? Now he couldn't even see his father.
He now hated his grandfather's arrogance for daring to attack the prince, and he also hated the ruthlessness of the Queen's family. He also hated his own uselessness.
No one had told Zhou Qiongyue about these things, but she could guess a good idea based on some outside information.
But these things don’t affect anything, she is just waiting to buy the farm.
Fortunately, what Zhou Qiongyue expected came very quickly. On the third day after the imperial edict came down, the second prince came to visit with the fifth prince and Prince Fu'an.
Without drinking tea or anything, the group took Zhou Qiongyue directly to the Jingzhao Prefecture Governor.
Zhou Qiongyue was in a good mood and asked Gulan to take their banknotes, then happily followed the prince and the other three.
The four of them didn't actually talk about anything along the way. They just talked about what kind of farm they wanted to buy, and they had endless topics to talk about.
After all, it was the first time for the Second Prince and the Fifth Prince to buy land, so they were inevitably a little excited.
When the four of them got off the carriage, Zhou Qiongyue saw Lord Gao, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, already waiting outside the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture.
Zhou Qiongyue... She can also benefit from the influence of her two cousins and enjoy the treatment of the privileged class.
When Jingzhao Prefecture Governor Gao saw the arrival of the guests, he quickly bowed and said, "Greetings to the Second Prince, the Fifth Prince, and Prince Fu'an."
Zhou Qiongyue also bowed to Mr. Gao as a gesture of respect. Among these people, she was the only one without status.
The Second Prince personally stepped forward and helped Lord Gao, the Jingzhao Prefecture Governor, to his feet. "Lord Gao, there's no need to be so polite. It's just that my cousin and Prince Fu'an want to buy a few small farms. I'd be grateful if you could be accommodating."
"I dare not, I dare not. This is my duty. Please come this way!" After Lord Gao finished speaking, he quickly led the way for the few people. He now only wanted these people to make their choice quickly and then leave quickly.
The Second Prince and Prince Fu'an walked side by side in front, while the Fifth Prince and Zhou Qiongyue walked behind. Like two country bumpkins, they looked around and whispered to each other from time to time.
The main reason was that neither Zhou Qiongyue nor the Fifth Prince had ever been to Jingzhao Prefecture, so they were very curious and couldn't help but take a few more glances.
The second prince was listening to the noise behind him. He felt helpless and a little embarrassed.
The Second Prince clenched his fist and put it to his mouth, pretending to cough twice, which frightened Lord Gao, who was leading the way, into a state of panic. The two people behind him were still chatting animatedly, paying no attention to him at all.
Fu'an looked at the Second Prince like this, and a smile appeared on his face even more, with a strong sense of gloating.
The Second Prince could only appease Lord Gao with a few words, then glared at Prince Fu'an Yuan Bohua. He then said to the two people behind him, "What are you two mumbling about? Hurry up and catch up."
"I'm coming, I'm coming, Second Brother, don't worry, we don't have anything to do today." The Fifth Prince responded perfunctorily. After dealing with the Second Prince, he turned to his cousin and said flatteringly:
"Cousin, let's go quickly. After we finish shopping, let's go back home to play. I'll take you to see this place again when we have time."
Prince Fu'an Yuan Bohua didn't mind at first, but when he saw the Fifth Prince constantly trying to please Zhou Qiongyue, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis and quickly recommended himself:
"If the Fifth Prince is not available then, Miss Zhou can come see me! I have plenty of time in the day."
What could Zhou Qiongyue say? She could only smile and reply, "Your Highness, you must be joking."
They had no relationship, so how could she possibly go out with a stranger? As for today, there were many people around, and two of them were considered her relatives.
Zhou Qiongyue knew that her second cousin was anxious, so she and her fifth cousin didn't dawdle any longer and followed the pace of the two people in front of them.
But the Fifth Prince couldn't help but mutter to Zhou Qiongyue, "My brother must want to finish it quickly so he can go see my two sisters-in-law."
Zhou Qiongyue added without hesitation, "No, to be precise, you only have one second sister-in-law."
The Fifth Prince, who grew up in the palace, immediately heard that his cousin disliked Miss Xie, and he immediately agreed, "Cousin is right, we only have one sister-in-law."
As a qualified sister-con, the fifth prince thinks that since his cousin doesn't like someone, he shouldn't like them either.
Yuan Bohua, the Prince of Fu'an, who was standing in front of him, also silently remembered the person Zhou Qiongyue disliked. He couldn't make some low-level mistakes, otherwise, when would he be able to hold the beauty home?
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