Chapter 208: Questioning the Heart (Part 2)
"What else do you want?" Concubine Xu was furious, her whole body was anxiously excited, and she was even more dissatisfied with the emperor. "Your Majesty is partial to the Crown Prince. He has made so many mistakes over the years, and every time he didn't help you clean up the mess."
"This time, the Crown Prince has been scheming against his harem, assaulting the fiancée of a minister who had already been granted marriage, and even having an affair with a concubine and fathering a child. The evidence is irrefutable. Everyone in the Great Zhou Dynasty is hoping he'll depose the Crown Prince, yet Your Majesty is still hesitating!"
The Fourth Prince was calmer than Concubine Xu and consoled her, "Don't worry, Mother. Fang Yu died at the palace gate. This incident cannot be concealed. Now that the people know what absurd things the Crown Prince did, his position as Crown Prince is undoubtedly lost."
Concubine Xu hesitated and said, "But my son, I heard that those two old men, Grand Tutor Zhang and Grand Tutor Chu, are kneeling outside the palace, probably to plead for mercy on behalf of the Crown Prince. If Your Majesty listens to them..."
The Fourth Prince sneered, "Mother, you're worrying too much. With the Empress here, how can they see His Majesty?"
Concubine Xu frowned. She had a natural fear and aversion to the Empress. She whispered, "Although the Empress has no children, she has sat on the throne for many years. Will she really help us?"
The Fourth Prince smiled and said, "It is precisely because she has no children that the Queen is willing to help us."
"Mother, please don't forget why this Empress Dowager has never had a child. I'm afraid she already harbors a deep hatred for Empress Yuan and the Crown Prince. She may not be willing to help us, but she's definitely happy to step on them."
"We don't need to force or urge people to do things like kicking a fallen dog; there will naturally be people who will do it."
After hearing this, Concubine Xu felt relieved and smiled, "Isn't it true? Not only the Queen, but also the others in the harem are probably waiting for this day."
After pondering for a while, Concubine Xu continued, "Even if the Empress stops him, His Majesty can't possibly avoid meeting Grand Tutor Zhang and the others. If he does meet them, who knows what these eloquent people will say to confuse him."
The Fourth Prince sneered: "Don't worry, they won't be kneeling for long."
Concubine Xu looked at him doubtfully, but saw that the Fourth Prince looked confident.
The mother and son looked at each other, feeling that the clouds had finally cleared and the moon was visible. As long as the crown prince was brought down, who in the Great Zhou Dynasty would have a greater advantage than the Fourth Prince?
Concubine Yu fainted and was sent to the side hall. She soon woke up under the treatment of the imperial physician, but her face was pale and her lips were dry, which was completely different from her usual delicate appearance.
As soon as she woke up, Concubine Yu struggled to get out and continue kneeling. The palace maid quickly persuaded her, "Your Majesty, even if you are grieving, you must take care of yourself. At least you should be considerate of the Ninth Prince."
"You don't understand, I have to go out." Yu Fei said.
The palace maid continued, "Your Majesty, if anything were to happen to you, who would be able to seek justice for Lord Fang?"
But Yu Fei insisted on leaving, saying, "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me."
The door to the side hall opened, and the pale and shaky Concubine Yu, supported by her maids, knelt outside the main hall again, shouting, "Your Majesty, please seek justice for me."
When she came out, the expressions of Grand Tutor Zhang and Grand Tutor Chu changed, and they thought to themselves that something was wrong.
Sure enough, not long after Concubine Yu knelt down this time, a sound was heard from inside the hall.
When Concubine Yu's voice penetrated, the emperor lying on the couch looked even gloomier, and his brows were furrowed into a shape of a "川" (river).
The Empress leaned against the headboard, reached out and gently massaged him, saying softly, "Your Majesty, Sister Yufei is young and naive, and she acts impulsively."
"But Your Majesty, you know Sister Yufei's personality. She says what she thinks and does what she wants. She never plays tricks on others. I am not speaking for her, but this time she was too hurtful."
"Earlier, Sister Yufei had the palace maids send the Ninth Prince to my palace. Her words hinted at a desire to entrust the orphan to me. Your Majesty, I'm not afraid of anything else. I'm just worried that Sister Yufei has already decided to die."
This finally changed the emperor's expression, and he finally remembered how gentle and kind Concubine Yu was in his daily life. He said in a bitter voice, "She has such a suicidal intention. Could it be that she only has the Fang family in her heart and doesn't think about me and the Ninth Prince?"
Behind him, the Queen's eyes were icy, but her voice was incredibly gentle: "Your Majesty, you've always been reluctant to see Sister Yufei. She's a young girl, and now her only family is... Isn't it inevitable that she's having all sorts of thoughts?"
This remark touched the emperor's heart. He sighed and finally said, "Forget it. Let her in."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the Queen replied.
The door opened again, and to the disappointment of many ministers, the message brought by the Queen was only for Concubine Yu, and the Emperor had no intention of summoning anyone else.
Concubine Yu stood up shakily and walked into the inner hall step by step with the help of the palace maids.
As they passed by the Queen, the two women exchanged glances silently.
"Your Majesty..." Concubine Yu staggered to the bed, and tears fell in succession before she could say anything.
Seeing the extremely haggard Concubine Yu with his own eyes, the emperor couldn't help but feel even more distressed. He held her hand and said, "Linlang, why do you have to embarrass yourself and me like this?"
Concubine Yu lay on top of him and cried, "Your Majesty, Linlang doesn't know what to do, nor do I know what I can do. If Your Majesty doesn't want to see me, then I can only kneel."
"Without His Majesty by my side, Linlang's mind went blank, and she couldn't think of any possible solution."
"Your Majesty, you are my heaven. No matter what happens, Your Majesty will always make the decision for me and protect me. But this time you just don't want to see me. Linlang thought you would never see me again. Fortunately, Linlang waited until you did."
She didn't even mention Fang Yu, but kept talking about her dependence on and love for the emperor. It seemed that she was kneeling outside the hall not to force the emperor to make a decision, but just to see him.
After she cried out her loyalty, the emperor's expression softened. He even hugged her and comforted her, "Linlang, stop crying. You're making me so heartbroken. I promise you, no matter what happens, I will take care of you."
Concubine Yu cried out, "Your Majesty, if you don't want to see me, you want me to die. Your Majesty, you can't do this again, or I will have no way to live."
At the end of the conversation, the two of them actually hugged each other and burst into tears. The queen standing by watched silently with her eyes and noses in her heart.
The emperor wiped away the tears of Concubine Yu. Looking at the tender and loving beauty who was wholeheartedly comforting him, his original concern for the Crown Prince faded.
He sighed and said, "The Crown Prince has indeed gone too far this time. Although I am his father, I am also the ruler of a country. I really shouldn't indulge him blindly. Instead, I let him run wild."
Concubine Yu tightened her hand that was grabbing the corner of the emperor's clothes slightly. The emperor's words seemed to indicate that he wanted to severely punish the prince, but he still did not mention the matter of deposing the prince!
The queen's eyes also turned cold. When she heard the noise outside, she shouted coldly: "How dare you! Who dares to make a noise here?"
A eunuch ran in, knelt down and shouted, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, there is a disturbance outside the palace gate."
The Queen asked coldly, "With Prince Rong here, what kind of trouble could possibly happen outside the palace?"
The eunuch was trembling with fear and didn't dare to speak directly. The emperor's face turned cold and he shouted, "Why don't you tell the truth!"
The eunuch kowtowed sharply and then shouted, "There was a conflict between Grand Tutor Zhang's followers and students from the Imperial College. A fight broke out and a brawl ensued. Prince Rong has already sent people to pull them apart."
The Queen pressed on, "Are there any casualties?"
The father-in-law replied, "Two were seriously injured, but their lives are not in danger. The rest were slightly injured and are currently receiving treatment."
"Why should we treat them? They actually dared to fight at the palace gate. It is already my mercy not to punish them!" The emperor laughed in anger. He had always been tolerant towards his subjects, but he never expected that one day he would hear these people fighting outside the palace gate.
The Queen softly advised, "Your Majesty, please acknowledge your guilt for now, but now that something like this has happened, I'm afraid the palace gates are in an uproar."
The emperor sneered, "What is Ah Le doing? Why doesn't he disperse the crowd?"
The Queen's eyes flickered as she defended Prince Rong, "Your Majesty, if Prince Rong had the Imperial Guards drive out the officials and the students, and if a riot broke out and someone died, everyone would only blame Your Majesty for not being merciful enough."
The emperor was extremely concerned about his reputation and wanted to have the title of "eternally wise and benevolent ruler" plastered on his face. Upon hearing this, he gave up his insistence and angrily said, "But we can't indulge them like this."
The Queen said, "If they want to sit quietly, they can just sit quietly. After a while, they will disperse."
"As long as no one is playing tricks, there won't be a fight."
After hearing this, the emperor frowned and asked, "Why would Master Zhang's followers clash with them?"
The eunuch explained tremblingly in a low voice, "I heard that the Imperial Censor was reading a memorial impeaching the Crown Prince at the palace gate. Grand Tutor Zhang's followers were dissatisfied and tried to stop him, which led to a conflict with him, and it got out of control."
"This evil son!" The emperor was so angry that he almost couldn't breathe, but Concubine Yu gently helped him calm down.
The Queen said, "If Your Majesty doesn't give them an answer, they'll be even more recalcitrant."
"Your Majesty..." Suddenly, a man rushed in, fell down with one foot, but he didn't care about his wounds and shouted, "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Zhang, he, he had a stroke!"
"What?!" the emperor exclaimed, and asked hurriedly, "Why did he suddenly have a stroke?"
"After the commotion at the palace gate, Grand Tutor Zhang and Grand Tutor Chu went to see the Crown Prince. They dismissed the palace servants. I don't know what they said, but I only know that Grand Tutor Zhang suddenly suffered a stroke and collapsed. He is currently being treated..."
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