Chapter 116: Hobby Widow? Nalan Kuixu moved quickly,
Nalan Kuixu acted quickly, and on the third day a memorial impeaching Yinzhen was delivered to the prince's desk.
The prince called him over and handed him the memorial. "What's going on?"
After reading it, Yinzhen could not deny it: "Nonsense."
"Really?" The prince gave him an ambiguous look. "Do you want me to help you suppress it?"
"No need." Yinzhen didn't want to owe the prince a favor for such a trivial matter.
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince glanced at him and said calmly, "How are the arrangements for the imperial family's children taking the exam going?"
Yinzhen reported in detail on the preparations for the exam.
"Well, the exam will start in two days, don't let him down." The prince gave him some instructions and let him go.
On the way back, Yinzhen murmured a name: "Guo Xiu." This person is a well-known member of the Mingzhu Party, and he really doesn't hide it.
Longkodo finally returned home. Li Si'er was angry and ignored him. The main reason was that she had wanted to take revenge on Qi Buchen herself during this period, but she had never found an opportunity to do so.
"My dear, what's wrong? Who made you angry?" Longkodo came over and coaxed her.
Li Si'er snorted at him and said sarcastically, "You still remember to come back to this house?"
"How could I forget? My beloved sweetheart is here!" Longkodo spoke kindly to Li Si'er without asking for anything in return.
Li Si'er was somewhat satisfied and said angrily, "Who knows how many sweethearts you have out there!"
"Only you!" Longkodo swore, pulling something out of his pocket. "Look what goodies I've brought for our fourth son."
"Oh! This isn't..." Li Si'er's face was full of surprise. "I've always wanted this. Thank you, Master~"
After enjoying Li Si'er's gentle kindness, Longkodo proudly mentioned Yinzhen: "I have been working on your revenge, and now it is almost done. The Imperial Censor has already impeached the Fourth Prince. In a few days, you will see how miserable the Fourth Prince is."
"Really?!" Li Si'er was caught off guard by the good news and quickly asked, "Tell me quickly, what's going on?"
Longkodo only told her about Prince Wen's affairs, and kept the rest secret: "Prince Wen's affairs are just a small dish. I can't tell you the main course, but I will definitely satisfy you, my dear."
Li Si'er listened and became puzzled: "What about the Fourth Lady?"
Longkodo disapproved and said, "The Fourth Prince is already in trouble, what good can she expect?"
Li Si'er didn't think so. She hated Qi Buchen and didn't have much of an impression of the Fourth Prince. What she wanted to see most was Qi Buchen falling into the mud. But she was smart enough to know that a man like Longkodo would not bother to deal with a woman personally. In the past, when she helped her vent her anger, Longkodo would directly cause trouble for the man in that family. Those women were just pushed out by her own men to make Longkodo vent his anger.
But Qi Buchen was different. Li Si'er had understood for so long that even if Longkodo had wronged the Fourth Prince, Qi Buchen would never come home to kowtow and apologize to her. As long as Qi Buchen was the Fourth Concubine, she would never see Qi Buchen kneeling in front of her and begging for apology.
That won't work.
Li Si'er is a very petty and vindictive person. She will never be satisfied until she sees Qi Buchen in the same miserable state as she does.
Although she had evil thoughts in her mind, she still smiled sweetly and acted coquettishly with Longkodo, asking about the details of the conflict between Yinzhen and Prince Wen to see if there was anything she could use.
The first imperial examination for the royal family members was successfully completed. Yinzhen assisted the Crown Prince in marking the papers at the Zhanshi Mansion. One day, as the two were busy with their papers, someone suddenly rushed in from outside: "Your Highness, Your Highness, something bad has happened! A large group of people are rushing over!"
The prince stood up suddenly and asked, "Why?"
"No, I'm not sure." The visitor was sweating profusely. "I think they said, they said there was cheating in this exam..."
"Ridiculous!" The prince was furious when he heard this.
It's not his fault. This exam doesn't involve fame or fortune. The original intention was just to eliminate those who couldn't even write a complete essay. What's the point of cheating in this case?
Yinzhen was also annoyed. Although this matter was presided over by the prince, he had put in a lot of effort in it. Now that he was being accused of such a crime, how could he not be angry?
The two hurried to the outside of the Zhanshi Mansion, where a large number of royal family members had gathered. Yinzhen glanced around and not only did he not see a familiar face, but some of the leaders looked unruly.
He frowned slightly, having a subtle feeling that today's matter might not be simple.
"How dare you!" the prince shouted, and the crowd gradually quieted down. "Why are you gathered here? Are you planning a rebellion?"
You can't wear this hat.
Some of the leaders were anxious. "Your Highness, please understand. We have no such intentions. We just heard that there was cheating in this exam, and some people who clearly have no talent got the exam questions in advance. We are only gathered here because of our inner anger. Please, Your Highness, give us justice!"
"Your Highness, please give us justice!" Led by some people, everyone repeated this sentence.
The Crown Prince's face darkened even further. He glanced deeply at the leaders and said in a deep voice, "Do you understand what you are talking about? Fraud is not something you can commit simply by saying it. Without evidence, I will tell you the punishment for the crime of false accusation!"
"We dare to come here, so we must have evidence!" Another leader stepped forward, took out the so-called evidence from his arms and presented it to the prince.
The prince paused before accepting it. He was no fool and already had a guess. After reviewing the so-called evidence, he clenched his lowered hands tightly and said expressionlessly, "This matter cannot be concluded based on the opinion of one party. You all should withdraw first. I will give you an explanation."
"I can't wait!"
"I'll wait here!"
Some people in the crowd took advantage of the chaos and shouted in an attempt to disturb people.
"Back off!" The prince no longer concealed his anger, his eyes like a hawk staring at the few people who were obviously the leaders. With his words, the guards guarding in front of the Zhanshi Mansion all stepped forward, ready to attack.
Seeing that the prince was going to take real action, the people scattered and the leader ran away very fast.
The prince returned to the public room with Yinzhen with a gloomy face and handed the evidence he had just received to Yinzhen: "Take a look."
Yinzhen took a quick look and a certain suspicion in his mind became even stronger: "This is different."
The prince slammed his hand on the table and shouted angrily, "Don't let me find out who it is!"
Yinzhen stood with his head down, but he already had some guesses in his mind. He believed that the prince also had some doubts in his heart.
All the officials in the Zhanshi Mansion were mobilized to thoroughly investigate this fraud case. Yinzhen was deeply involved in it and was so busy that he did not return home for two days.
Qi Buchen was worried and came to see him, and the two met in a carriage.
"Hasn't it been found out yet?" Qi Buchen felt very distressed when he saw him wolfing down the food.
Yinzhen paused for a moment before answering, "Someone secretly delivered the exam questions to the candidates at night. Without an exchange of interests, there would be no clues."
In fact, after investigating this point, everyone understood that this matter was aimed at the prince. It was not for money or profit, but only to make the prince fail in his job and damage his prestige.
Qi Buchen hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help asking, "Do you think it could be Longkodo?"
Yinzhen did not deny her guess. Although everyone in the prince's lineage now believed that Mingzhu did it, Longkodo had no connection with Mingzhu's lineage, so he could not be ruled out.
"There has to be evidence."
Yinzhen hurriedly finished his meal and was about to leave. Qi Buchen hurriedly asked, "When can you return home?"
"Not necessarily." Yinzhen paused, "The Emperor will be back soon." Then he left.
If they couldn't find out the truth before Kangxi returned, then this mission would be a complete failure for the Crown Prince and Yinzhen, and they would definitely be scolded.
Unfortunately, despite everyone's efforts, the Crown Prince's lineage hadn't uncovered anything substantial until the eve of Kangxi's return to Beijing. This wasn't a formal imperial examination, and the exam papers weren't kept as strictly as they were. There were essentially no clues. Even the Spring Examination cheated, let alone this.
Later, Yinzhen returned home every day, but he would leave early and come back late, so Qi Buchen could only glance at him briefly.
While Yinzhen was busy and dizzy, a rumor about him was quietly spreading in the capital.
"Have you heard? The Fourth Prince and Prince Wen had a fight over a courtesan the other day!"
"What kind of courtesan is this? She's clearly a singing girl!"
"No, no, she's clearly a widow, the Bao from Zhuxin Street!"
"Really? I've seen Mrs. Bao once before. She had a slender figure."
"hey-hey."
After a burst of obscene laughter, someone confirmed it.
"Is it really Bao?"
"Really? I went to ask around, and the Bao family has been locked up these past few days. They're obviously too embarrassed to see anyone."
"Oh, I never expected that. Didn't they always say that the Fourth Prince wasn't interested in women? Besides his wife, there's not a single concubine in the mansion."
"That's right, my wife always envies the Fourth Lady."
"Bullshit! How could those playboys not be lustful towards women? Is there any man in the world who isn't lustful? They're all pretending!"
"That's right! We just don't have the money, otherwise we would have to marry eight or ten of them!"
"Ten or eight more, aren't you afraid of draining yourself dry?"
After a while of arguing and booing, someone finally got back to the point.
"But what's the point of the Fourth Prince pretending like this? If he wants a woman, is there anyone who can stop him?"
"You probably don't know this, right? I'm telling you, I have a relative who lives in Prince Wen's mansion. I heard that the Fourth Prince really likes widows! The Fourth Lady is just a decoration in the mansion. In fact, the Fourth Prince has no idea how many wives he has outside."
"Hiss." There was a sound of people gasping for breath, followed by a more excited discussion.
The news spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, and it actually reached a considerable scale. However, because it was spread among the lower classes, the upper class people did not know about it yet.
Li Si'er was very dissatisfied and threw the teacup at the kneeling person below, smashing his head and bleeding. "Useless! What's the point of letting those slaves know! I want those wives and princesses to know! Do you understand?"
"I'll give you three more days. If you can't do it, don't come to see me again!"
The servant crawled away.
Li Si'er thought about the embarrassment Qi Buchen would suffer after the incident and laughed viciously: "Look down on me? Aren't you even worse than a widow!"
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Author's words: Qi Buchen: I heard that I like widows? How about letting me experience the feeling of being a widow first?
Yinzhen: I TM...
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