Chapter 740 Royal Reputation
The Four Princes' Mansion.
The Empress sent someone to the Fourth Prince's residence to invite the Fourth Princess to the palace. After confirming the details several times, the steward invited her to the living room before going to the backyard. The steward did not go directly to inform Zhang Yurou, but went directly to Xie Yang's courtyard.
Xie Yang asked in a deep voice, "The Empress invites the Princess Consort to the palace?"
The steward said, "Yes, I heard from the eunuch that the princess was invited to the palace to discuss how to teach the young princess to read. The eunuch said that the young princess was punished by Grand Tutor Jiang to stand again, and she still can't recite the Three Character Classic. The young princess is six years old. It won't do if she can't read. It will damage the reputation of the royal family."
Xie Yang said coldly, "What royal reputation?"
The steward explained, "These words should have been what the Empress asked the young eunuch to tell the Princess. He didn't see the Princess, so he told me everything, and I then told the Prince."
Anger flashed in Xie Yang's eyes. "I'm afraid Jiang Fenghua deliberately sent someone to spread this message. Now they've found out that Jin Ji didn't kill Madam Li."
The steward's eyes were filled with worry: "Your Highness, I'm worried..."
"What are you worried about? They can't trace it back to me. Now Jiang Fenghua has sent someone to ask Zhang Yurou to come to the palace. I'm afraid she knows that Shu Xue once visited the Fourth Prince's residence." Xie Yang added, "Go and inform the Princess Consort to come to the palace to see the Empress."
Just as Steward Chang was about to leave, Xie Yang said again, "I will go and talk to her myself." He was still a little worried.
Xie Yang arrived at Zhang Yurou's courtyard. Just as the servants were about to report, Xie Yang dismissed everyone and quietly entered the house.
Zhang Yurou was seen dressing up in front of the mirror. She applied beautiful rouge and vibrant lipstick. With her willow-leaf eyebrows and oval face, she was quite a beauty. Xie Yang said coldly, "Who is in the mirror with such a sweet smile?"
Zhang Yurou was so startled by his sudden appearance behind her that she jumped to her feet, her face turning from red to white. "Why has Your Highness come?"
Xie Yang looked her up and down, smelling the faint scent of plum blossoms on her, and said, "I was thinking about the man you like."
Zhang Yurou's face turned cold. "I didn't."
"See? You still won't admit it. I never said who that man was. Why are you so eager to deny it?"
Zhang Yurou sat back down in front of the dressing mirror. "The prince came to make things difficult for me so early in the morning. Is that really necessary?"
Xie Yang flipped through the book on the table. It was a collection of poems. He sneered, "You're already so old, and you're only now starting to memorize poems. Isn't that a bit late? But there will be all sorts of banquets in the palace in the future. Having more poems in your head won't make you look bad."
Zhang Yurou couldn't stand his sarcastic remarks any longer. "If Your Highness is here to criticize me, then I'll accept it."
She looked all wronged and submissive. Now that she and Xie Yang were in the same boat, he wouldn't dare to do anything to her.
Xie Yang said, "Get ready to go to the palace. Dress nicely, the Emperor might want to see you."
Zhang Yurou was unhappy with his words. She had not done anything to wrong Xie Yang, but he had been sarcastic and cryptic because she had once liked Xie Shang. She had already received news from the Zhang family that the Zhang family and Xie Yang had colluded. Her father said that they were all in the same boat, and that they would all suffer the same fate.
She said, "How could the Emperor possibly see me? Why would he want to see me? Has the Emperor found out about your affair? Shuxue's death has nothing to do with me."
"How can this be unrelated to you? You instructed Shu Xue to spread rumors about Jiang Jinyan and Consort Han. You helped Consort Su escape from Shengjing and then helped her kidnap Jiang Fenghua. What was your purpose in doing this? Do you want to bring down Jiang Fenghua and then marry Xie Shang to become Empress?" Xie Yang's face was full of mockery. "Zhang Yurou, don't you know your own worth? Xie Shang rejected you back then, and he still looks down on you now. What's the point of what you're doing?"
“You…” Zhang Yurou’s eyes were filled with terror, “You knew everything, you…”
At this moment, Zhang Yurou finally understood that Xie Yang had known all along that Su Qingqing was coming to see her, and she had been hiding behind the scenes watching her make a fool of herself.
She said angrily, "You want to rebel and seize the throne. What will happen if I tell the Emperor?"
Xie Yang sneered, "What makes you say that? What have I done?"
Zhang Yurou suddenly felt weak all over. That day, Shu Xue came to the Fourth Prince's mansion to find her, and she happened to witness Xie Yang and Minister Shu meeting and plotting. As a result, Shu Xue died.
Xie Yang was the one who killed Shu Xue, so why wasn't he afraid of being exposed?
If she told Xie Shang that someone wanted to seize his throne, what evidence would she have? What evidence would she have of Xie Yang and Shu Lang meeting? And what about the Zhang family? They had been colluding with Xie Yang for a long time. But she had no evidence, and she couldn't bring herself to harm the Zhang family. She still had her father and mother.
Xie Yang warned, "Yi'er went to the palace to study this morning. If you dare to say anything out of line, your daughter's future days may not be easy."
Zhang Yurou's eyes were filled with shock: "Yi'er is also your daughter, what do you want to do to her?"
"Didn't she want Xie Shang to be her father? Whose daughter is she really? Who is her real father? Zhang Yurou, is it because Xie Shang is the father of your daughter that you can't forget him all these years? You and he had an affair back then."
Zhang Yurou was furious. "You... I'm not as shameless as you." She wanted to have something with Xie Shang, but he refused. At that time, he liked Su Tingwan.
Xie Yang's eyes flashed with a cold light as he grabbed her by the neck. "I am shameless, and you are despicable..."
Hearing the commotion inside, the steward rushed in and pulled Xie Yang away. "Your Highness, please calm down. The Princess Consort is going to the palace. You mustn't resort to violence!"
Xie Yang released his hand and said coldly, "Dress up properly, and speak properly after you enter the palace. Don't forget that you are the Fourth Princess Consort and Yi'er's mother."
Zhang Yurou was terrified when she saw Xie Yang's appearance. The man she married was fierce and cruel; she shouldn't have provoked him. "I understand."
Xie Yang leaned close to her ear, "If you don't want to die, do as I say... Go quickly, don't keep the Empress waiting."
Zhang Yurou's mind flashed back to Shu Xue's appearance after her death, recalling the night of the Lantern Festival when Shu Xue came to the Fourth Prince's mansion...
Shu Xue was also confused, "Was that woman really not Consort Han?"
Zhang Yurou said, "Regardless of whether she is Consort Han or not, she is no longer Consort Han now. As you have seen, Empress Jiang's power is indeed very great. Everyone is helping her lie. Jiang Jinyan and Consort Han are clearly having an affair. They deceived my cousin together. In the end, look, she became Madam Jiang's goddaughter. They really bully my Zhang family because they have no one, and they bully my cousin because she has no parents."
Shu Xue said, "I confirmed with my cousin when I was in the palace that she is Consort Han. I never thought there was such a thing in the world. A concubine in the harem can pretend to be dead to leave the palace and become someone else's mistress. This kind of man is the most disgusting."
Shu Xue was also indignant on behalf of the Fourth Princess Consort. "What's wrong with Zhang Yumo today? If she had just cried and made a fuss, it would have confirmed that Jiang Jinyan was keeping a mistress and seducing Consort Han. The Jiang family would have been finished. It's infuriating! Zhang Yumo is so useless. She was bullied to her own head, yet she still spoke up for Jiang Jinyan. The Emperor's concubines were abducted from the palace, and he wasn't even angry. It's so strange."
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