259, confirm the rumors
259, confirm the rumors
At night, Zhao Lang left a substitute in the brothel to take his place, and he left the brothel through a secret passage and returned to Prince Ding's Mansion.
The first thing he asked when he returned to Prince Ding's mansion was Lu Zhuangyuan, who was staying at his house, "Where are the others?"
"Mr. Lu is still busy in the study." The butler replied.
"Prepare water and take a bath."
"Yes, Master."
Upon hearing this, the butler arranged for someone to prepare water for the returning prince to bathe.
Zhao Lang went back to his room to take a shower and change into clean clothes before going to the study to look for someone.
Hearing the familiar footsteps, Lu Mingfei knew that the prince who was "wandering around in the flowers" outside had returned. Looking up, he saw Zhao Lang with wet hair walking into the study. He knew that this person had taken a bath before coming to see him.
The reason was that one day this person came back from outside, smelling of rouge and powder, and he disliked her.
From then on, every time Zhao Lang came back from outside, he would take a shower and change clothes before coming to see him.
"Are you back? Did you have fun playing outside today?" Lu Mingfei asked the person who came back.
"Not happy." Zhao Lang shook his head seriously, then reached out and took the pen from Lu Mingfei's hand. After putting the pen on the table, he leaned over and kissed his Lu Zhuangyuan, saying to him, "It's not fun at all without you here."
"So, do you want me to go to a brothel and pretend to be a courtesan to play with you? Or do you want me to go to a gambling house and roll the dice with you?" Lu Mingfei pinched the handsome face of the prince and asked with a smile.
"No need to go to a brothel or a gambling house, we can have fun at home." Zhao Lang felt uncomfortable hunching over, so he reached out and pulled Lu Mingfei up from his seat, pushed him against the desk, and leaned over to cover Lu Zhuangyuan's mouth.
"wait……"
“Gurgle——”
Just when the two were kissing passionately and the atmosphere was intense, a hungry growl sounded, instantly breaking the ambiguous and passionate atmosphere.
Zhao Lang originally wanted to continue kissing her, but now he couldn't do it anymore and couldn't help laughing.
"..." Lu Mingfei looked embarrassed, "Don't laugh."
Zhao Lang rested his forehead on Lu Mingfei's shoulder, laughing so hard that his chest was shaking. "Okay, it's my fault. I shouldn't have let our Lu the champion go hungry."
"Let's go, I asked someone to prepare a midnight snack, let's go eat something."
"That's more like it!" Lu Mingfei glared at the man who was still laughing, "Stop laughing!"
"Okay, okay, I won't laugh anymore." Zhao Lang said he wouldn't laugh, but the curve of his mouth did not go down. He looked at Lu Zhuangyuan with a pair of smiling eyes with red cheeks.
It’s great that such a good champion, Lu, belongs to him, Zhao Lang!
"However, next time, don't stay in the study for so long. If you're hungry, have someone bring you some food. We, the huge Prince Ding's Mansion, will not let you go hungry."
“I forget about time when I’m busy.”
"I'll have my servants remind you later."
"That's not necessary. I don't like people interrupting me when I'm busy."
"Then remember to eat on time?"
“…Yeah, alright.”
After packing up the things in the study, the two of them left the study. When leaving, Lu Mingfei did not forget to lock the study door.
Although everyone in Prince Ding's Mansion was Zhao Lang's men, they still had to be prepared for the worst. They were afraid that some thief would sneak into Prince Ding's Mansion at night and take away things that should not be seen by outsiders.
But Lu Mingfei wasn't afraid, because he had changed the new account books to words and numbers that only he could understand. Even if someone stole them, they wouldn't be able to understand them. Unless they were someone like him, who had traveled here from another time and space.
The two of them came to the pavilion, where a stone table was set with food. They sat down around the table.
Zhao Lang waved his hand and asked the servants to leave.
Lu Mingfei picked up a piece of vegetable with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He turned to look at the person sitting next to him and asked, "Aren't you afraid that if we do this, your reputation will be ruined?"
"It's just a rumor. Who knows whether it's true or false?" Zhao Lang didn't care much about his reputation.
The two looked at each other, and there was something they understood in each other's eyes.
Needless to say, the recent rumors about Zhao Lang were all arranged by them themselves.
However, rumors alone were not realistic enough, so Lu Mingfei asked Zhao Lang to act out this drama himself, making sure that everyone, including the person in the palace, believed that these rumors were true.
Otherwise, if they dealt with Prince Ding's assets in Kyoto Prefecture for no reason, the emperor would definitely suspect that they were dealing with these assets and wanted to do something big with the money they exchanged for.
They must not let the emperor know about their plans, so as to avoid the emperor's suspicion, which would affect what they want to do next.
At this time, what they had to do was to paralyze everyone's nerves and make everyone mistakenly believe that Zhao Lang was addicted to beauty and gambling and had lost all his family property. Their purpose in doing this was, on the one hand, to allow them to deal with these properties of the Ding Palace in front of everyone; on the other hand, they could do what they wanted in secret.
Lu Mingfei also thought about what kind of trouble and danger would arise if what they did were exposed.
However, he knew in his heart that his fate had been intertwined with Zhao Lang's since he had known him as a child and had become friends. He could not possibly side with the emperor and the court, helping the emperor deal with Prince Ding's mansion and his son. Otherwise, he would undoubtedly be on the opposite side of the court and the emperor.
When they were young and powerless, he could only watch Zhao Lang imprisoned in this cage, deprived of his freedom. But now that they were grown up, they had to find a way to get Zhao Lang out of this cage. He himself couldn't bear to watch Zhao Lang remain imprisoned in this cage for the rest of his life, his life in the hands of others.
Since they were destined to stand against the emperor and the court, why didn't they prepare early? Now that the enemy was in the open and they were in the dark, it would be easier for them to do what they wanted.
***
For a period of time afterwards, both of them followed their original plan. Lu Mingfei was responsible for the behind-the-scenes affairs and operations in Prince Ding's Mansion, while Zhao Lang was responsible for playing the role of a dissolute young master who was addicted to sensual pleasures and gambling in front of others.
Because of this incident, Zhao Lang was summoned into the palace and reprimanded. He was punished to reflect on his mistakes facing the wall in Prince Ding's mansion for a month and was not allowed to go out.
Many people saw with their own eyes the scene of Zhao Lang, who was scolded by the emperor and walked out of the palace with a "distraught" look on his face.
Even when he met the eldest prince at the palace gate, Zhao Lang was subjected to cold sarcasm from the eldest prince.
"Pa!" This was too much to bear. He immediately rolled up his sleeves and slapped the idiot.
The eldest prince, who had been slapped, pointed at Zhao Lang in disbelief and asked, "Zhao Lang, you dare to hit me?"
"What's wrong with me hitting you? If you have the guts, hit me back!"
We all have the surname Zhao, so why are you the princes and I the hostage? What Zhao Lang hated most was that these cousins always looked at him with contempt. When they were young, they thought he was easy to bully, so they let a group of eunuchs and servants beat him.
I can't beat the emperor, so how can I beat you, the prince?!
The more Zhao Lang thought about it, the angrier he became. He was even angry at his father for not trying harder to seize the throne and become the emperor himself. Otherwise, it would have been this idiot who was held hostage for the past ten years instead of him!
"Bang, bang, bang—"
"Ouch, ouch, stop hitting me!"
"Zhao Lang, you bastard!"
"Who are you calling a jerk?"
“…I, I, I’m an asshole!”
"Oh, my two masters, please stop fighting..."
The eunuchs and guards accompanying the eldest prince wanted to intervene, but were blocked by the guards around Zhao Lang. They did not go to help, but just watched their prince beat the eldest prince.
Zhao Lang beat the eldest prince and kicked him twice as he left. Then he clapped his hands, got on the carriage that came to pick him up and left.
"Oh, Your Highness..."
The young eunuch came to help up their eldest prince. When he saw that their eldest prince was beaten, he closed his eyes in pain. Their prince's face looked uglier than the last time he was hit in the carriage... It was swollen.
When the eldest prince was helped up from the ground, he watched Zhao Lang leave in a carriage and angrily cursed at the back: "Zhao Lang, you bastard, just wait for me, I will kill you!"
Not long after—
The eldest prince entered the palace and stood before his father, crying and complaining that Zhao Lang had beaten him.
"Wuwuwu, Father, you must help me. That bastard Zhao Lang actually dared to hit me. Wuwuwu..."
The emperor looked at his eldest son, who was crying bitterly while hugging his thigh. He felt disgusted and retracted his foot. He returned to his seat and looked at his son who had come to him to complain. He asked, "Why did he hit you?"
"He, he is so unreasonable, bullying me, wuwuwu..." After the eldest prince finished speaking, he started to cry again, without any trace of the manly spirit of not shedding tears easily.
"..." The emperor knew it was his son who was being rude and had gone to bully his younger brother. Since they were little, his sons had often quarreled and argued with the younger brother who had "returned to Beijing to study", and even fought.
But it's normal for boys to fight.
However, he saw that his eldest son would run to him to complain every time he lost a fight with his younger brothers. He felt a little disgusted with his eldest son who would just cry after losing a fight.
"Okay, stop crying. Father will find a chance to punish him later." He had just punished the boy by sending him home in solitary confinement. If he continued to punish him, people would say that he, as an uncle, was mistreating his nephew, and that would not sound good if it got out.
But the emperor was a little unhappy that his nephew had not given him face and had beaten his son. Although he had learned from the servants around him why his nephew had beaten his cousin, he knew that it was his eldest son's foul mouth that caused the trouble.
However, as an emperor, when he saw his nephew beating his son, he always felt that his imperial power and status were being challenged.
"Yes, father, I will take my leave first." The eldest prince also knew the principle of knowing when to stop, so he could only stand up, bow and turn away.
However, when he walked out of the hall, all the crying on his face disappeared, leaving only a sinister expression.
"Zhao Lang, I will tear you apart!" The eldest prince said this viciously, and then left with the servants behind him.
The emperor in the hall was relieved to see his eldest son finally leave.
The old eunuch who was serving brought a cup of hot tea to his master and placed it next to his hand. He also comforted his master, "Your Majesty, please don't be angry. The eldest prince is also... still young."
"Oh, he is still young? In a few years his son will be able to get married!" The emperor glared at the old slave who was lying with his eyes open.
The old eunuch continued, "Your Majesty, it will be a great joy to witness the birth of your great-grandson."
"You are just an old thing, always saying nice things!" The emperor was a little angry at first, but after hearing what the old servant said, he was not so unhappy anymore.
The old eunuch saw that his master was no longer so angry, so he stepped aside to wait.
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