Looking at the situation of the father and son, we can tell that the little guy was not punished by his father in the court, otherwise it would be impossible for the father and son to come side by side in such harmony.
But just because Li Zhi didn't deal with him didn't mean that Wu Mei wouldn't deal with him. There were still three people sitting in Ganlu Palace at this moment. She didn't come because she accompanied His Majesty to Ci'en Temple yesterday.
Instead, she came here today to cry to him about Li Hong's evil deeds, in which he allowed his palace maids to beat and intimidate royal relatives.
"Look at the newly appointed Minister of Revenue, his face is full of rosy glow and he looks very high-spirited. Is he favored by His Majesty in the court?" Wu Mei smiled coldly, looking at the two of them and said, "I wonder what Minister Li Hong has to do with His Majesty in the harem? Hasn't he finished reporting in the court yet?"
"Father, I feel the murderous intent." Li Hong paused and looked at Wu Mei's half-smile. He began to feel a chill on his back.
"Murderous intent? How did the little thing feel it?" Li Zhi looked at Wu Mei's face, which was staring at Li Hong with a changeable expression, and naturally knew who the little guy was afraid of.
"Whenever my mother calls me by my full name, she becomes particularly murderous. Father, I am now a minister in your court, in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. You cannot just stand by and watch me die." Li Hong began to pull Li Zhi's sleeve and slip away.
"Handle your own affairs. I have already shown you a great favor by not holding you accountable for your aunt's affairs. It is impossible for me to help you unless you can achieve something in the Ministry of Revenue in the future."
"It's too late... Ouch... Mother... My ear hurts." Li Hong begged for mercy while staring at Li Zhi fiercely. If Li Zhi hadn't pulled him, he would not have been caught.
...
...
"You are an ignorant little thing who gets into trouble every day, come in here." There were a few black lines on Wu Meiruyu's forehead. She grabbed Li Hong's ear and dragged him into Ganlu Palace.
Li Hong knew what was going on with his toes. Wu Yuanshuang, Wu Yuanqing and Helan Minzhi were standing in the Ganlu Hall. Wu Yuanshuang's wrist was still bandaged with a thick bandage, and it was unknown whether his wrist, which was broken by Xia Zhi, would heal.
The three men looked at Wu Mei grabbing Li Hong who was screaming and begging for mercy, and their hearts were filled with loneliness and helplessness. The Queen might have done this just for them to see, and she probably would not really blame the Prince for beating them.
Li Zhi walked in with a smile and sat down. Wu Mei sat down beside him, still holding Li Hong's ear in her hand.
Xia Zhi and Hua Meng timidly followed Yang Wu in and stood opposite Wu Yuanshuang and the other two. Helan Minzhi's eyes flashed coldly as he stared at Xia Zhi.
We all accepted the fact that we could not get His Majesty and the Queen to punish Li Hong, but we could not allow a small palace maid to rely on the Crown Prince's protection and avoid being punished.
From now on, Helan Minzhi's prestige in the royal circle will be greatly reduced. Wouldn't Li Sujie and other illegitimate princes dare to ignore him at will?
But now the emperor and the empress have not spoken yet, so naturally Helan Minzhi can only stand there accompanying Wu Yuanshuang and Wu Yuanqing.
Wu Mei grabbed Li Hong's ear and scolded him until her hands cramped, then she let go of the red little ear in anger.
Li Hong hurriedly took two steps back, rubbing his ears like a monkey: "It hurts so much, mother. Next time, can you please pinch both ears alternately? Otherwise, I will have one ear bigger than the other, and the ministers in the court will laugh at me."
As Erpi Lian said this, he moved towards Wu Mei's arms, who was still cold-faced. As soon as he got close, he was kicked out by Wu Mei in an indecent way. Erpi Lian was not discouraged. He smiled and walked around behind the chair, and began to help Wu Mei massage her shoulders in a flattering manner.
"Xia Zhi, kneel down." Wu Mei said to Xia Zhi coldly.
"Your servant Xia Zhi greets Your Majesty and the Queen." Xia Zhi hurriedly took two steps forward and knelt not far in front of Li Zhi and Wu Mei.
"Hmph, you're just a palace maid. Who gave you such courage? It was you who broke Shaojian Wu's hand!" Wu Mei looked at Xia Zhi and asked coldly.
"Your Majesty, it was I who broke it." Xia Zhi replied respectfully.
When Wu Mei was talking to Xia Zhi, she clearly felt Li Hong's hand pressing her shoulder stiffen and pause.
"Do you admit your guilt?" Wu Mei continued to ask while Li Hong continued to massage her.
"I know my crime, please punish me, Queen."
"Of course you know the charge of beating a royal relative. Considering that you have followed and served the prince for many years, you should go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to confess your crime. You don't have to worry about the prince, as someone will naturally take your place." After Wu Mei finished speaking, the two eunuchs at the door came over and were about to take Xia Zhi away.
"No, no, no, mother, let's talk nicely. Please listen to what my uncle says first." Li Hong saw that his mother was serious and was not going to let the matter go with just a few words of scolding. He hurriedly walked out from behind the chair and kicked away the two eunuchs who were going to take Xia Zhi away one by one.
Wu Mei glared at Li Hong, then turned to look at Li Zhi, who was sitting there with a relaxed look on his face. Was he bribed again? After thinking about it, she agreed to Li Hong's suggestion.
Li Hong then glanced at Xia Zhi who was kneeling there, and looked at Wu Yuanshuang and the other two, and asked, "Uncle, could you please tell my mother in detail what happened the night before yesterday? By the way, cousin Helan, and you, could you please try to be more objective?"
There was a hint of murderous intent in Li Hong's eyes, which made the three of them feel guilty, especially Helan Minzhi, who felt it the most. Since he was favored by the Queen, the Prince obviously became more and more dissatisfied with him.
The emperor at the top did not say anything, and considering what happened a few days ago, he knew that he was already somewhat dissatisfied with him. While Wu Yuanshuang was crying and recounting the twists and turns of the previous day's events, Helan Minzhi was weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
After Li Hong finished speaking, he walked behind Wu Mei again, pinched her shoulders and whispered in her ear: "Mother, do you remember what I told you a few days ago?"
"Stop being mysterious. You've told me so many things. Do I have to remember them all?" Wu Mei rolled her eyes at him and motioned for Wu Yuanshuang to continue.
Li Hong continued to flatter Wu Mei in a low voice like a lackey: "Mother, do you remember what I told you, that I would give you some good things in a few days? Yesterday, Taiyi said that the treasure was almost ready, and it would be delivered to the palace in a few days."
Li Zhi, who was standing by, also stretched his ears, his eyes full of inquiry and curiosity, to hear what treasure the little one was going to present to his mother.
"Oh, so what?" Wu Mei knew what he was thinking and asked coldly.
"Hong'er, what a wonderful treasure it is, share it with father quickly."
"It has nothing to do with you. Even if I give it to you, you won't be of much use to it." Li Hong, who was in the process of bribing, impatiently interrupted the curiosity of his father, who was a bystander.
"Pa..." Someone patted his head on the left and right.
"How do you talk to your father?" This was the voice Wu Mei and Li Zhi said at the same time, as they patted Li Hong on the head.
"I..." The prince's crown, which was originally twisted on his head, was now hanging even more loosely on his head. His messy hair was hanging on the crown, making him look extremely disheveled.
Wu Yuanshuang was halfway through his statement when he looked at the loving family of three, not knowing whether he should continue crying or wait a while.
Li Hong touched the tiara that had fallen to his ears, and lying on the table between Li Zhi and Wu Mei, he shouted to Xia Zhi who was kneeling on the ground, "Xia Zhi, come here and take this off my head. It's about to fall off because you can't see it."
Xia Zhi hurriedly looked up and saw that Wu Mei was not looking at her, so she stood up carefully, walked to Li Hong, helped Li Hong take off his crown, and then at Li Hong's signal, tied her black and smooth hair into a ponytail and draped it behind her head.
After Xia Zhi finished, he walked to the front and was about to kneel down again, but Li Hong chased after him from behind and said, "Xia Zhi, wait a minute, have you forgotten what you wanted to give my mother? You are such a pig-brained person."
Xia Zhi looked back with a confused expression, as he had no plans to give anything to the Queen.
Li Hong ignored her and walked up to her. He first felt around Xia Zhi's waist, but couldn't find it. He muttered to himself, "It's impossible. How could you not have it with you? You like to show off so much. I'll look for it again."
Wu Mei had a helpless look on her face. She looked at the unrestrained ponytail draped behind her head and pouted in anger. Sooner or later, this little bastard would destroy the royal rules beyond recognition.
At this moment, Li Hong's hand was seen, in public, calmly and openly touching Xia Zhi's chest. He was about to say something, but then he thought, she was Li Hong's maid, so it was okay to do so.
"Hehe, you're quite good at hiding. You're afraid that others will steal your things. You're really stingy." Li Hong took out a palm-sized, round wooden disc from the secret pocket on Xia Zhi's chest: "Okay, go stand next to the Flower Alliance."
After he finished speaking, Li Hong turned around and walked to Wu Mei, continued to lie on the table, holding a wooden disc about half an inch thick in his hand, and said to Wu Mei mysteriously: "Mother, look at what this is, this is Xia Zhi's filial piety to you, it is hidden so well that you don't even let your son see it. If I hadn't known it earlier, I'm afraid you would punish her and I don't know when I will have the chance to show my filial piety to you again."
Wu Mei naturally knew that Li Hong was trying to excuse Xia Zhi. Xia Zhi had been by his side since she was a child, so it was understandable that Li Hong loved her. Otherwise, she didn't really want to execute Xia Zhi, but just did it for the three people to see.
"What is this?" Without waiting for Wu Mei to speak, Li Zhi looked at the thing in Li Hong's palm and asked curiously. The wooden disc was engraved with beautiful patterns, and the wood was polished to make it look particularly soft and beautiful. Although it was not valuable, it looked like a pretty good handle.
"This was made for you, your useless father, specially for me, your mother. Mother, take a look at it. What do you think? Isn't it beautiful?" Li Hong said as he opened the half-inch wooden disc as if presenting a treasure.
After opening it, I saw a small round mirror on the top and some rouge-like things underneath.
Wu Mei was immediately surprised and took it in her hand and asked, "This is..."
"Hey, I call it a makeup mirror. For example, when you leave the palace, you can use it to check your makeup to see if there are any spots or anything. By the way, this is just a preliminary test. In a few days, when I am done, I will send you a few jade makeup mirrors. I will fill them with all kinds of fine gouache. What do you think? I will carve a pattern of a phoenix dancing in the sky on the outside. I guarantee that you will find it pleasing to the eye."
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