"My son, since the Minister of Personnel said yesterday that the emperor has no family affairs, and today's matter is also a court matter, you should naturally shoulder your responsibilities."
When the second prince heard this, he was terrified. Was his father dissatisfied with him because he had been pretending to be indifferent recently?
"Yes, I will remember this."
The emperor glanced at his second son with a slight smile, then turned his gaze to the Fourth Prince, the person involved. "Do you have any explanation?"
The Fourth Prince stepped forward and, without the slightest hesitation, directly admitted his fault: "Father, I acknowledge my guilt. I was simply angered and resentful yesterday, which led me to act rashly. After court today, I will personally come to apologize to the Minister."
The target of everyone's attack disappeared, catching everyone off guard. The prime minister played the role of peacemaker, leading the way in praising the man for his ability to correct his mistakes, and the matter was finally settled.
Of course, some suspicious ministers would inevitably speculate whether this was a signal from Concubine Ying and the Second Prince to surrender. Or perhaps the Fourth Prince was under pressure from the Second Prince, which led him to confess so decisively.
"Well, let's put things in perspective. Since this matter has been concluded, Your Majesty, please review Magistrate Zhou's situation and give the Ministry of Personnel a clear response."
The person who spoke was the Minister of Personnel. He was already in a difficult situation because his people were beaten, and now the prince and his concubine were involved, and there was no conclusion yet.
"If someone impeaches someone, there should be an investigation. If the results are not dealt with, it will make officials dissatisfied and will also make some petty people think that they have climbed up the tree and can do whatever they want."
These words were almost directed at the Second Prince, but the Second Prince was still very patient. He just silently glanced at the person who spoke, vaguely remembering that it seemed to be the eldest brother's person.
Why is the eldest brother going to give me a kick too?
"I think this statement is too extreme. There is nothing wrong with punishing a crime, but it also depends on the nature of the crime and the punishment..."
"So, according to what you said, my Lord, the laws of Daxia are meaningless?"
The imperial court sounded like a very high-class place, but ever since Lu Anyuan opened his own palace and was able to attend court independently, he realized that it was actually no different from selling and buying vegetables in the market. So he just listened and gradually closed his eyes.
"Ahem!" The emperor finally couldn't stand it anymore. Every time something happened, these ministers would quarrel and would inevitably talk about completely unrelated things.
"Wrongdoing requires punishment. The laws of Daxia are nothing but empty words. Lord Xing, the sentencing of the Suzhou prefect will be handled by you."
The Minister of Personnel came out to express his gratitude, and everyone finally got the emperor's clear intention. This meant that the matter would be handled impartially.
Lu Anyuan had already figured out what his father meant, so there was nothing to be surprised about. However, on his way back from court, he was stopped by the second prince and he didn't know what was going on.
"Second brother, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. You know Mother's birthday is in three days. This year, Mother doesn't want a big celebration, so we'll just have it in the palace. It's rare for me, your brother, to get together with everyone, so I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you and your sister-in-law to join us. Would you be willing to do me the honor?"
Lu Anyuan listened for a long time and realized that he just wanted to call everyone into the palace to celebrate Concubine Ying's birthday, so he talked a lot.
"Of course. My wife and I will definitely attend on time." Lu Anyuan bowed slightly and said goodbye.
After dealing with everything here, Lu Anyuan returned to the prince's mansion with a lot of doubts.
"Madam, this is very strange!" After taking off his court robes and lying down on the bed, even Xu Yixing felt that their relationship was heating up too quickly, causing Lu Anyuan to no longer care about his image in front of him.
"What's strange?"
"This morning, Fourth Brother admitted his fault very straightforwardly and even went to the home of the Minister of Personnel to apologize. The officials were already furious, but this time it was a dud."
Xu Yixing, wearing a casual long skirt, walked over slowly and sat down beside the bed. Fortunately, the bed was big enough and she didn't feel crowded.
"Is this a rare occurrence? Didn't you say the Fourth Prince just wanted to make things worse? Now that he's achieved his goal, he's naturally going to clear himself of any responsibility."
"You're right. I'm increasingly confused by Fourth Brother's actions. Who cares? By the way, Concubine Ying's birthday is in three days. Second Brother has invited us brothers to the palace to celebrate. Don't forget."
Xu Yixing really didn't want to go, but he couldn't say it out loud, so he could only say it in a roundabout way: "The Emperor will already be arranging Concubine Ying's birthday, why does he need us to go?"
"Hehe." Lu Anyuan turned over and sat up, hugged Xu Yixing's waist and pinched it twice, making her scream with itchiness. "I heard that because of Lord Zhou's matter, Concubine Ying and the emperor were angry and haven't seen each other for several days. I guess the emperor won't do it for her this time. He asked us to go just to show off his authority and save the situation."
"Oh." Concubine Ying really has a childish temper. She's already forty years old, but she still acts like a young concubine and acts like a spoiled child. I just don't know if the emperor will fall for this trick. "So, the emperor doesn't intend to favor the Zhou family this time?"
"Yes, there was endless arguing at the morning court. Father has put the Minister of Personnel, Lord Xing, in full charge. I think he's going to be dismissed or demoted."
It seemed like the Second Prince's uncle was in trouble this time. If the amount of corruption and dereliction of duty was particularly large, he might even be beheaded. However, considering how favored Concubine Ying was, it was estimated that even if the emperor was really angry, he would not kill her brother.
"Ma'am, I have a plan. Would you like to hear it?"
Xu Yixing leaned over and listened to Lu Anyuan mumbling a lot, feeling a little surprised.
"So you're ready to take action? Isn't this a bit too fast..."
"The arrow is on the string. Today, even my eldest brother's people have started to take the lead in dragging down the Second Prince. When everyone is taking action, I choose not to take action. Isn't that a pity?"
"Your plan is quite comprehensive, but a bit risky. Are you sure the Second Prince will act as you say? What if he holds his composure this time and doesn't do anything? Wouldn't that expose our weakness?"
"Don't worry, someone will definitely push for this, and it's not just us who are working hard."
Xu Yixing thought about it for a long time. In fact, Lu Anyuan didn't need to tell him about this plan, but because he needed Wu Xueyan's cooperation, he discussed it with him.
She always felt that Wu Xueyan was a witness who could prove everything the Second Prince had done to her, and that he valued her very much, otherwise he would not have let the shadow guards set up a plan to rescue her.
But unfortunately, Wu Xueyan is disposable. If this plan fails, she will be useless and Xu Yixing will have wasted a good card.
"Well, raising an army for a thousand days starts today."
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