Hongli pushed open the door to the inner chamber of Hanchun Hall, only to find it packed with people. Hearing the door open, they all turned to look. Hongli, bewildered and annoyed, slowly walked in. All eyes were on him, and Hongli, unsure where to look, searched for familiar faces. His uncles and some ministers made way for him, and Hongli, overjoyed, immediately recognized his Prince Amayaun standing at the very front of the inner hall.
The Fourth Prince stared in astonishment as Hongli slowly walked in, his face full of disbelief, hesitant to speak. The Thirteenth Prince was the first to stand in front of Hongli and asked in a low voice, "Hongli, how did you get in? Who let you in?"
Hongli looked at the Fourth Prince's haggard and tired expression from afar, and felt as if his heart had been soaked in ice water. The thing he had been worried about had still happened, and he was so sad that he couldn't speak.
Hongli turned to look at the Thirteenth Prince pleadingly. The Thirteenth Prince knew what Hongli wanted to ask, turned his head away and sighed. Tears welled up in Hongli's eyes.
Hongli still couldn't imagine it, and once again looked around at the expressions of everyone in the room.
Third Uncle, Fifth Uncle, Seventh Uncle, Eighth Uncle, Tenth Uncle, and some ministers all had solemn and tense expressions, or were exhausted with dark circles under their eyes after not resting for a day and a night.
Hongli knew that all of this was because of his grandfather. He held back his tears, choked back sobs a few times, and finally broke down in tears, shouting loudly into the room, "Grandfather, Grandfather, your grandson is here... Hongli is here..."
Hongli cried so emotionally that the originally oppressive and somber atmosphere in the room was disrupted by his tears. Everyone lost control of their emotions and lowered their heads to look on with sadness.
"Hongli, do you have an imperial decree summoning you to Hanchun Garden?" Ninth Prince's voice broke the somber atmosphere. Everyone was reminded by Ninth Prince's words and put aside their grief to look at Hongli with suspicion.
Hongli raised his head and shook it slightly: "No...no..."
Ninth Prince sneered, stepped forward, and stood between Hongli and Fourth Prince, questioning once again: "So, was it an imperial edict that summoned you here?"
Hongli didn't understand. He glanced at his father and saw that the Fourth Prince was expressionless but remained silent and tense.
Hongli had no choice but to answer truthfully: "My grandfather did not give me an oral edict... I just..."
Hongli had just spoken when he realized it was inappropriate and wanted to explain, but Ninth Master stopped him with his hand.
Ninth Master gave Fourth Master a cold look, then asked with a smile, "Fourth Brother, I don't understand how Hongli knew about the Changchun Garden incident and arrived so quickly..."
After hearing this, everyone nodded and whispered among themselves. Seeing that everyone was talking, Hongli realized that he might have caused trouble for his father, and hurriedly tried to explain: "Ninth Uncle, I didn't mean to come here. I saw that Father hadn't returned all night and thought he must be with Grandfather, so I..."
Before Hongli could finish speaking, the Tenth Prince, as if struck by a sudden thought, blurted out, "The Ninth Prince is right! We all rushed here at night, and none of us went out. Hongli, how did you know your father was here? And why did you follow me here? Besides, weren't there guards stationed in this garden? How did you get in?"
When Hongli was asked this question by the Tenth Prince, he panicked. He couldn't very well say that his mother had a premonition that something had happened to the Emperor and had sent him to find out the situation. Hongli frantically asked his father for help, but the Fourth Prince remained silent, his expression unreadable.
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