Chapter 59
The carriage and horses hurried to the gate of Dali Temple. The emperor did not speak a word along the way. He got off the carriage and directly took Pei Weijing to the yamen to question him.
Prince Shou stood in the yard, glancing inconspicuously at the yamen runners coming and going not far away.
It seemed that the matter was settled. He concealed the expression on his face and stood aside without any emotion. People passing by on the street seemed to be whispering something when they saw him.
Not long after, the emperor's furious slamming of the table was heard from the yamen.
At this time, Su Fu also crawled out of the door. Seeing him here, he didn't even have time to greet him. He hurriedly went out to call a carriage to wait for him.
When the emperor came out of the door, the anger on his face could not be suppressed.
Prince Shou didn't even look at him. When he saw him come out, he kept bowing his head and waiting for orders obediently.
The emperor glanced at his straight back, and his anger finally subsided a little.
After all, there is still a son who can be of great use.
"Don't investigate this matter any further. Settle the case, give some money to comfort the family, and no one is allowed to mention it again in the future!"
The emperor flicked his sleeves and took several steps forward, as if he was eager to leave this place where he knew the truth.
After everyone left, Pei Weijing slowly stepped out from behind and bowed to Prince Shou.
"Now that His Majesty knows about this, the Crown Prince will be in great trouble!"
Prince Shou curled his lips in disdain and said, "Since he can do it, why should we blame him for doing this?"
"If he hadn't heard that the young prostitute had been arrested and was afraid that his scandalous deeds would be discovered, so he sent people to the Dali Temple to silence him, how could we have used this opportunity to let the emperor see clearly his reckless face?"
It is said that there is no father-son relationship in the royal family. In fact, this is true. The power that the emperor values most in his life must always be firmly in his hands. The emperor will not let go of anyone who covets the power in his hands, even if it is his own son.
Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger, and the royal family's father and son are no exception. Unfortunately, the prince is completely unaware of it. In order to cover up the truth, he panicked to such an extent that he dared to take action in the Dali Temple.
These assassinations and assassinations are the best evidence of the prince's power. Even if the emperor is unwilling to believe it, he has to think about it carefully now.
If this continues, will the country belong to him or to Xiao Yan?
However, the last layer of window paper has not been broken yet. Although the emperor is old and confused, he should understand what the word "young boy" means.
He asked to bury the matter at this moment, and what he was concerned about was nothing more than his reputation as the emperor. For this reason, he might not tolerate anyone provoking this matter in the end and letting his majesty as an emperor be trampled upon by the common people.
This matter is not up to them to say, it has to start with an indispensable person.
Since the beginning of winter, the weather has gradually turned colder. As the New Year approaches, it is foggy and clouds are gathering almost every day, as if it is about to snow.
The marriage of the prince and the daughter of the Yao family was imminent, and Yao was also pregnant, so this wedding ceremony, which no one was looking forward to, was held in a very hasty manner.
Yao was brought into the East Palace almost at daybreak. There were not many firecrackers set off on both sides. It was so low-key that it didn't seem like the wedding of a prince.
But even so, the people who heard the noise spread the news from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. People gathered in the streets to watch the fun and laugh at the joke, throwing away the royal rule that no one could discuss the matter, and the rumors became more and more absurd.
Even later, some people said that the Yao family used some despicable means to seduce the prince and used the pregnancy as a threat to force the prince to marry.
When Yao Chunying heard this that day, she was almost angry and cried. She was still pregnant and had her head covered with a red veil. She heard no movement outside the sedan chair, which was far from the wedding she had imagined.
Perhaps she was thinking too much, because when her cousin the prince came to hold her hand before entering the door, there was a hint of impatience in his movements.
She was already dissatisfied with this secretive arrangement, and when she didn't see the prince go to her room to rest that night, she felt even more disappointed.
The next day, the Crown Prince and his new bride paid a visit to his father, the Emperor, and his mother, the Empress Dowager. Because of the series of scandals that had happened before, although the Empress was dissatisfied with the selection of the Crown Princess for her, she became her own daughter-in-law after all, and she sent her a lot of supplements.
There was no one from my father's side.
Yao Chunying followed the prince out of the corridor, feeling mixed emotions. She wanted to catch up and walk with her new husband, but the prince vented all his complaints about those two people on her.
"What's the point of pulling and tugging? Go back immediately and don't embarrass yourself in public!"
Yao Chunying also felt aggrieved. She didn't want to get pregnant so early, but it was clearly him who asked for it at that time, and it was not her fault alone that she got pregnant.
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. Yao Chunying watched from afar as the prince shook her off and walked away quickly, soon disappearing around the corner with his men.
She couldn't control her tears and rolled down her face. Tao'er, the little maid beside her, quickly took out a handkerchief and comforted her.
"If you continue to cry like this, Princess Consort, you might end up hurting yourself! Besides, you are pregnant with the Crown Prince. If you cry like this, the little prince in your belly will also be sad."
Yao Chunying wiped her face with a handkerchief and glared at her fiercely.
"I know it! Do I need you to teach me?"
She frowned tightly, wishing she could chew Yue Qingning, who had caused her to end up like this, into pieces.
If she hadn't singled him out in public, she wouldn't have made a fool of herself in front of the Emperor and Empress, and the Crown Prince wouldn't have taken his anger out on her. The root of all this was Yue Qingning.
I underestimated her at the beginning, thinking that she would never be able to recover after such a setback due to her weak personality. Who would have thought that she would bite everywhere like a mad dog, making me smelly as well.
"Yue Qing would rather stay at home and not go out?"
Tao'er couldn't help but shrink her shoulders when she heard the Crown Princess's gritted teeth voice, but she still remembered the old man's instructions and said a few more words of advice.
"It's better not to bother with that person! Crown Princess, my family said she's relying on the Princess and Prince Shou now. If we continue to get entangled with her, I'm afraid she'll only harm us!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the Crown Princess in brocade clothes and jade belt slapped her in the face with her backhand. In her rage, her expression was extremely ferocious.
"I am the Crown Princess! You don't listen to me and instead listen to the old man? Who is your master?"
Tao'er knelt down hurriedly and kowtowed heavily on the stone slab, causing blood to seep out of her forehead.
"Tao'er wouldn't dare! Princess, calm down!"
Yao Chunying was furious now and wanted to slap the heartless woman a few more times, but she couldn't bend down, so she became even more furious.
"You are! And so are my family! Everyone thinks Yue Qingning is some precious and important person, right? Now that I'm the Crown Princess, can't I discipline this little bitch?"
"Go! Find someone to find out everything she's been up to lately and report it to me! Once she leaves, I'm going to make sure she doesn't have an easy time."
She had her thoughts on this matter. It's said that husband and wife are one, and the Crown Prince had also investigated the Yue family. Xiao Yan had been sweating profusely since his last nerve-wracking incident with the captured prostitute. Only after returning home and seeing his uncle and mother did he feel a little relieved.
The emperor probably didn't know anything and just thought that he went to the brothel to hire a prostitute, and was caught by the young waiter, so he chose to kill him to silence him.
The emperor loves him so much and values his mother, so he will surely not be angry about such a small matter.
Besides, even if he was angry for a while, what could he do? He was still the crown prince, and he would inherit the throne in the future. As long as the emperor didn't discover the secret he was hiding...
He was troubled by the successive shocks and worried. In the past few months, he even did not dare to let his attendants serve him personally, for fear that some bad talk would spread and confirm the fact that he was fond of men.
Now that he had left the palace, the fear in his heart still lingered. He had to find his uncle to discuss how to change the emperor's will.
When he went to see the emperor today, he was turned away for the first time. Thinking about how he had been with him since he was a child, his father would not refuse to see him even if he was too tired to open his eyes from reviewing memorials.
Xiao Yan felt panic in his heart, wondering if his father had guessed something, otherwise why would he dislike him to such an extent that he didn't even want to see him again after he came back.
Thinking of this, he suddenly raised his eyes and glanced at the attendant who was standing nearby with a gloomy look.
The jade-like face that he had admired in the past now became his biggest handle. He gritted his teeth, pinched the little waiter's neck and dragged him to his feet, and asked him with narrowed eyes.
"Zi Yu, you've been by my side for so many years, have you ever accidentally revealed anything?"
The young servant's face turned pale and he immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.
"Zi Yu has never betrayed Your Highness, and has never revealed anything about us to anyone."
Cold sweat rolled down his face. Having been with this man for many years, he knew his violent and suspicious character very well. Being suspected by him was almost like being sentenced to death.
He knew very well what would happen to the young waiter outside, and now he could only leave it to fate. His identity was already shameful, and his life or death depended entirely on a word from His Highness. He only hoped that he would spare him for the sake of their years of friendship.
He waited tremblingly for a long time, until the prince who had been thinking for a long time suddenly sneered.
"Alright! Get up! I don't know you yet?"
He still looked unhappy when he woke the people up. Logically speaking, apart from the people around him, no one else should know about him.
He thought about it over and over but couldn't figure out who knew about his affairs and provided information to Xiao Heng behind his back so that he could take advantage of the situation.
Could it be the eldest princess? But she had no personal grudge against him, and she was bedridden all day, taking medicine to keep her alive, so it didn't seem like she would have the energy to investigate him. But who else could it be?
Who hates him so much, wishing he would be impeached and have someone else take the throne of the Eastern Palace?
Just as he was thinking about it, a man came up from under the carriage to report.
"Your Highness, the Crown Princess has sent people to check on the Yue family girl's movements. There may be some action."
After hearing this, Xiao Yan's wandering mind seemed to be suddenly enlightened, as if he had figured something out.
He had hurt her, injured her, and later killed her fiancé. If this person knew the truth, he would hate him to death.
In this case, wouldn't she have had a motive to investigate him behind his back? Even if she helped Xiao Heng, she might even catch his eye and eventually become a royal relative.
Xiao Yan frowned and smiled sarcastically, and suddenly clenched the pendant in his hand.
"Great! Yue Qingning! If you have the guts, trace it back to me. You've caused such a big incident. First, I was trapped in Taihang Mountain for half a year, and then my father didn't want to see me, and I lost the emperor's favor."
You have such great abilities, but I wonder if you can survive under my control!
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