Chapter 743 Meeting Xie Yang
The Imperial Study.
Xie Shang had never been so angry before. He explained to Jiang Fenghua, "Ruan Ruan, believe me. I have never touched her. She is framing me. She killed someone and still dares to pin this on me."
Jiang Fenghua remained calm, observing Xie Shang's rich expressions of self-justification. That's why she had asked Xie Shang at the time whether he had anything going on with Zhang Yurou.
Seeing that she remained silent, Xie Shang asked, "You don't trust me either?"
Jiang Fenghua said, "Whether Your Majesty believes in me or not is no longer important. Zhang Yurou has said in front of all the civil and military officials that Xie Ruoyi is Your Majesty's child. What Your Majesty should worry about is how the censors and scholars of the world will judge Your Majesty's virtue."
If Zhang Yurou were an ordinary woman, I could bring her into the harem. But she is the Fourth Prince's consort, which has complicated matters. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are having an affair and have a child..."
Xie Shang roared, "I have already said that Xie Ruoyi is not my child. I have nothing with Zhang Yurou. I clearly rejected her back then."
Seeing that he was angry, Jiang Fenghua quickly said, "It is useless for me to believe in Your Majesty. I want the people of the world and all the civil and military officials to believe in Your Majesty."
Xie Shang felt powerless to say anything. Even though he had killed Zhang Yurou, the smears had already been thrown at him, and he couldn't shake them off.
"Why would Zhang Yurou be willing to bear the infamy to admit to having an affair with you and even having a child? What is she afraid of?" Jiang Fenghua asked.
Xie Shang frowned and said in a deep voice, "The problem lies with Xie Yang. The only person she fears is Xie Yang. I only just realized that the real Xie Yang is somewhat different from the Xie Yang we know now..."
Xie Shang wanted to cover up the scandal for the royal family, but now he couldn't hide it anymore, so he told Jiang Fenghua about Xie Yang's other side.
After hearing this, Jiang Fenghua said, "Xie Yang also had surgery before..."
She couldn't imagine how painful it would be for a woman to have her breasts cut off. If he really did that, would he still be human?
“Shu Xue’s breasts were also cut off.” Jiang Fenghua added, “So the murderer may not be Zhang Yurou, or she and Xie Yang may have killed Shu Xue together, but then pushed Zhang Yurou out to take the blame.”
Xie Shang thought so too, "But Zhang Yurou admitted in public that she was the one who killed someone."
"With her small arms and legs, could she strangle Shu Xue to death? Physically, Shu Xue was stronger than her, and Shu Xue died of suffocation. There were signs of abuse on her body, and she was defiled even after death. Did Zhang Yurou have that ability?"
Jiang Fenghua added, "I suspect Xie Yang has some leverage over her, which is why she said those things in public. Xie Yang is indeed insidious. Zhang Yurou admitted to killing Shu Xue and took the blame, but she also let people know that Xie Ruoyi is the Emperor's child. Now, whether the Emperor kills Zhang Yurou or not, he will be seen as having a guilty conscience."
Everyone in the social circle knew that Shu Xue was a notorious gossip, always talking behind people's backs. Whether her death was accidental or intentional, she was killed by Zhang Yurou for discussing the Emperor and the Fourth Princess's scandalous affairs.
Xie Shang said, "If Xie Yang was behind all of this, I will kill him."
Jiang Fenghua added, "Your Majesty, please calm down. If Xie Yang dies now, Your Majesty will be even more confused. Zhang Yurou's child may indeed be an illegitimate child born to Your Majesty."
Xie Shang was at a loss for how to break this situation. She hadn't realized that being framed could be so painful, and felt like she had a fishbone stuck in her throat. "Ruan Ruan, what do we do now?"
"The Emperor has ordered the Fourth Prince to be brought into the palace. Let's see what he has to say first." Jiang Fenghua had also thought it over carefully, and then said, "Let's speculate on the true purpose of the Fourth Prince and Zhang Yurou in doing this."
"Suppose that the Fourth Prince is going to rebel, but he makes no move and there is no trace of rebellion, the Emperor cannot use this to punish him. Suppose that his purpose in doing this is to destroy the Jiang family, and the purpose of destroying the Jiang family is definitely to force me, the Empress, to abdicate. Now that this has suddenly happened, he actually wants to ruin the Emperor's reputation. Therefore, I guess that the person he really wants to deal with is the Emperor. I and the Jiang family are just innocent bystanders who have been affected by you."
Xie Shang was less angry after hearing this. He knew Xie Yang was too inexperienced to seize his throne. Becoming emperor wasn't something that could be achieved through such dirty tricks.
He said, "I and the Jiang family will live and die together. Ruan Ruan is my wife. We are husband and wife, so we will share the same fate."
Jiang Fenghua felt that ever since she got involved with Xie Shang, she had been constantly in trouble.
“Since Ruan Ruan and I got married, Father and I have been promoting the Jiang family. Father said that the three Jiang family members would help me make the Great Zhou Dynasty more prosperous.” Xie Shang knew that his brothers were unreliable, but the Jiang family had always helped him be a good emperor, govern the Great Zhou Dynasty well, and guard the borders of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
No wonder Master Wu said that Jiang Fenghua was his lucky star.
Soon, Xie Yang was brought into the palace. He was wearing a heavy cloak and looked very weak. He knelt on the ground and said, "Your subject greets Your Majesty."
Xie Shang's face was extremely ugly. "You've heard about what happened in the palace, haven't you?"
"I have heard a little about it, but I did not expect that Madam Li was killed by Zhang Yurou. The country has its laws and the family has its rules. Murderers should pay with their lives. Your Majesty need not worry about me. She has done a lot of heinous things over the years." Xie Yang's face was full of anxiety and grievance. "Over the years, whenever I wanted to take a concubine, she would be unhappy and would always try to stop me. She even killed my pregnant aunt. Her methods were extremely cruel."
Xie Shang listened quietly as he accused Zhang Yurou of her actions, as if he wanted to mold Zhang Yurou into an unreasonable madwoman. If that were the case, then it would be perfectly reasonable for her to torture and kill Shu Xue.
“Nanny Wu, do you still remember who she is?” Xie Shang suddenly said.
Xie Yang paused, a hint of unease flashing across his face, "Who is Wu the wet nurse?"
"I know that Fourth Brother has been in poor health since childhood, so Consort Chang has been looking for wet nurses to come to the palace to help him recover. If I remember correctly, Fourth Brother was ten years old when a wet nurse came to the palace to feed him milk. Wet nurse Wu was the last lady to feed Fourth Brother milk." Xie Shang was telling the truth.
Upon hearing this, Xie Yang's hands, hidden inside his cloak, clenched tightly, his eyes filled with anger.
His chest was filled with anger that he couldn't vent. "Your Majesty, I am in poor health and am very grateful for the care I received from the Empress. She also helped me find my wet nurse. I just remembered that I might need to ask the Empress where Wet Nurse Wu went."
Xie Shang was stunned. What did this have to do with his mother?
Wu, the wet nurse, was clearly killed by Xie Yang, and tortured to death, but he's now pretending he knows nothing about it.
Xie Shang then asked, "What's going on with Xie Ruoyi? She's your biological daughter, isn't she!"
Xie Yang said, "Does Your Majesty already know? Yi'er is actually Your Majesty's child. I won't hide it from Your Majesty anymore. Xie Ruoyi secretly calls Your Majesty 'Father' in the Prince's residence. This was all taught by Zhang Yurou. I dare not say anything and can only pretend not to know. No matter whose daughter she is, she is surnamed Xie."
"Nonsense," Xie Shang said coldly.
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