Chapter 539: Chaos
Prince Yu boarded the carriage back to his palace and opened the brocade box in his hand. Inside, he saw a piece of silver fox fur, black and white, glossy and smooth, without a trace of brown impurities. He reached out and stroked it; the fur was soft and smooth, clearly extremely valuable.
However, during the winter hunt two years ago, there was no fox fur among the rewards given by Emperor Jing'an.
Prince Yu couldn't help but sneer. How could he not understand the Third Prince's thoughts?
He disappeared while hunting a silver fox for Emperor Jing'an. Emperor Jing'an sent many soldiers to look for him, and the matter became a huge uproar.
Apart from Emperor Jing'an and Concubine Ling, no one else knew what had happened to him.
All people knew was that Emperor Jing'an and Concubine Ling found him in a cave. At that time, he had been bitten by a wild beast, leaving no intact area on his body. He almost lost his life. After that, he stopped studying to recuperate, and recuperated for several years.
Many people speculated that he wasn't just bitten by a wild animal, but perhaps encountered something unspeakable, which greatly stimulated him. Otherwise, an ordinary flesh wound would have healed in a year at most, so why did it take three years?
Now, the third prince was being clever and tried to provoke him with a piece of fox fur.
The carriage arrived at Prince Yu's mansion. Prince Yu got out with the brocade box and went straight to the main courtyard.
As soon as he entered the room, Prince Yu saw the red fox lying on the wide couch with its furry fur, and the depressed mood in his heart became more and more violent.
The red fox heard the noise and looked towards the door. When it saw Prince Yu, its ears immediately drooped, its hair stood up, and it lay back on the couch with its front paws resting on its head, as if this way Prince Yu would not be able to find it.
Prince Yu dropped the brocade box in his hand with a "pa" sound, walked towards the wide couch, rubbed the red fox's head with his hand, and then lifted its neck skin.
The red fox saw this action as a warning. It let out a low "woooo" sound, and seemed to put down its claws reluctantly. It rubbed its head gently against Prince Yu's palm, cried coquettishly, twisted its body, revealing its soft belly, and looked at Prince Yu eagerly.
Prince Yu lowered his eyes and saw a layer of soft yellow and white fur growing on the red fox's round belly, covering one scar after another.
It was unknown how long it had been, but Prince Yu stroked the red fox's belly and vaguely felt it trembling. Its pair of sparkling fox eyes were also watery, as if it was extremely scared.
For a moment, these wet eyes overlapped with the eyes of Princess Guangning, whom he rescued in the cave. Prince Yu suddenly felt bored, and the restlessness in his heart caused by the silver fox skin strangely dissipated.
He ignored the red fox, washed his hands, and went to handle official business.
"Knock knock—" There was a knock on the door, followed by the voice of an attendant outside the door: "Your Highness, someone from the palace has come to tell you about the auspicious day."
"Come in." Prince Yu heard the sound of the door being pushed open and tapped his fingers on the table. "Put it here."
"Yes." The attendant placed the petition for selecting a date on the desk and left again.
Prince Yu put down his official duties, picked up the memorial for selecting a date, and when he saw the date on it, his brows fell lowered.
We will welcome Guangning into the palace in three days, and it won’t be long before we can enthrone the crown prince, right?
After all, he received a secret letter in Northern Qi, informing him that Emperor Jing'an intended to appoint him as the crown prince when he returned to the Great Zhou to marry his bride.
Emperor Jing'an was a man who would implement his ideas without hesitation.
Once the crown prince is decided, Emperor Jing'an will inevitably start suppressing him in order to pave the way for the crown prince, to prevent him from becoming too powerful and rebelling against the crown prince in the future.
Thinking of this, Prince Yu's eyes flashed with anger.
Suddenly, his whole body stiffened.
I saw a fluffy red fox wagging its tail and circling around his legs, as if trying to calm his violent emotions and avoid physical pain.
Prince Yu sneered, "You are quite obedient."
Some people are not even as smart as a beast and are seeking death.
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As expected, as Prince Yu had predicted, after Emperor Jing'an decided to appoint a crown prince, he began to suppress him. During the next morning court session, he transferred his duties to the Third Prince, citing Prince Yu's impending marriage as an excuse.
This matter was within Prince Yu's expectations, and he calmly accepted Emperor Jing'an's arrangement.
Emperor Jing'an had a prejudice against Prince Yu, but now that he saw him accepting the arrangement without complaint, he remembered what Eunuch Cao had said and felt a little guilty. He allocated an extra piece of land to Prince Yu and rewarded him with a large amount of gold, silver and treasures.
Prince Yu thanked the emperor for his grace, and after the morning court was over, he was invited by Concubine Ling to Yanxiang Palace again.
This time, as soon as he entered the hall, all the palace servants who were serving in the hall retreated voluntarily and stood guard at the door.
"Jing'er, mother has heard everything that happened at court this morning. Your father is clearly doing this for the Third Prince's benefit, to eliminate any threats to him. But has he ever considered how you, without power, will protect yourself in the future?" Concubine Ling lost her composure again and relayed the news to Prince Yu. "I've also heard that after you get married, your father will send you and your princess consort to your fiefdom."
Prince Yu was not affected by Concubine Ling's words. Instead, he noticed a suspicious point: "My father intends to take back the power from me. I'm afraid even the eunuch Cao, whom he values most, doesn't know. How did you know this?"
Concubine Ling was startled. "This was my spy who sent me the message."
"Even if the Emperor decides to send me to my fiefdom, such a crucial matter would be discussed with his trusted ministers. And those ministers have always been loyal to the Emperor. How could they casually reveal this to others?" Prince Yu sneered, "It seems someone sees me as a threat and wants to keep me here, safe from worry."
Upon hearing Prince Yu's words, Concubine Ling broke out in a cold sweat. "It's no secret that my mother and I want that position. Someone deliberately leaked the news to us. We're on the verge of losing power, and in our desperation, we're bound to make some noise to stay in the capital."
"And at this critical juncture, your father is undoubtedly wary of us. No matter what we do, it will incur your father's disdain. No... no, I'm afraid the person who spread the news to us has already set a trap, waiting for us to fall into it. The consequences will not only incur your father's disdain, but also threaten our lives."
Concubine Ling came to her senses, and the more she spoke, the more confused she became: "The only one who would do this is the Third Prince."
She had never expected that the Third Prince had discovered the identity of the spy she had planted in the palace, and deliberately spread the news to her spy to lure her into the game.
Thinking of this, Concubine Ling's hands and feet turned cold and she was still frightened.
The reason why she failed to distinguish the truth from the falsehood was that when she learned that Emperor Jing'an was going to make the third prince the crown prince, she vaguely guessed that in order to clear the obstacles for the third prince, Emperor Jing'an would certainly not care about the father-son relationship and would suppress Prince Yu everywhere.
The news she received now confirmed her suspicions, and she was suddenly thrown into chaos.
"Mother, we must remain patient," Prince Yu warned. "Before I leave for my fiefdom, you must not act rashly." He paused, his lips curled up, his smile not visible in his eyes, only a chilling chill. "If we don't act, someone else will inevitably lose their composure and act."
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