Pan Hai walked in and said, "Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice wishes to see you."
Upon hearing that it was the Minister of Justice, Emperor Jingming immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
There wouldn't be much of a problem with the Minister of Justice asking for an audience. At least those bastards shouldn't have anything to do with the Ministry of Justice, and there wouldn't be any issue of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works asking for money.
At court today, the two ministers of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue almost rolled up their sleeves and started fighting because of the issue of money.
Thinking about that situation, Emperor Jingming felt a headache.
It's not easy for him to be the emperor.
"Call in Minister Gao." Emperor Jingming said calmly.
It was definitely not a good thing that his eyelids were twitching, but he didn't think it was a big deal.
Autumn is approaching, and according to custom it is time to chop off another wave of heads. However, the Great Zhou has always been very cautious about the death penalty, and in the end it all depends on him, the emperor, to put an end to it.
Maybe he encountered a difficult case and was undecided?
Emperor Jingming was just thinking about it when the Minister of Justice walked in.
"What business has Lord Gao brought you to the palace at this time?" Emperor Jingming asked slowly.
The Minister of Justice bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"
Emperor Jingming could not help but sit up straight and consoled him, "Lord Gao, please talk to me nicely if you have anything to say."
If you do something wrong, you will be guilty. Who are you trying to scare?
The Minister of Justice quickly glanced at Emperor Jingming and was slightly relieved to see that the emperor seemed to be in a calmer mood.
Of course, I didn't dare to relax at all.
"Today, someone in the Treasure Pavilion did something shameful and attracted many people to watch. As a result, many people fell down the stairs due to the crowd, causing a serious stampede, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen people..."
Emperor Jingming was slightly angry: "How could such a thing happen? Where are those two people and how were they dealt with?"
Regardless of whether the customs of the people are open or not, adultery has always been inevitable since ancient times, but cases of adultery causing multiple casualties are very rare.
What's more, are those two people mentally ill to have gone to the Treasure Pavilion to do such a shameless thing?
Although he had never been to the Treasure House, judging from the name, it must be a store that sells rare antiques.
Is this because you are afraid of not being discovered?
The Minister of Justice was silent.
"Why don't you answer, Lord Gao?" The silence of the Minister of Justice suddenly gave Emperor Jingming a bad feeling.
The Minister of Justice took a deep breath and said with a stiff face, "Reporting to the Emperor, the two people who did something shameless in the Treasure Pavilion... were the Crown Prince and his eunuch..."
Emperor Jingming's head buzzed and he knocked over the teacup beside him.
The teacup fell onto the smooth golden brick and broke into pieces.
"Gao Aiqing, please tell me again, what are the identities of those two people?"
The Minister of Justice looked deeply at Emperor Jingming and lowered his head.
Your Majesty truly loves to deceive himself and others. Do I need to say this again?
However, the emperor's order cannot be disobeyed. The Minister of Justice sighed and said, "It's the prince and--"
"Enough!" Emperor Jingming shouted, closed his eyes and said no more.
He was afraid that if he spoke out, the prince would be killed.
There was a suffocating silence in the study.
The Minister of Justice is not young anymore, and he seems to be getting old and cannot bear it any longer.
It's not easy to be a subject under such a king.
However, after taking a look at the sullen and silent Emperor Jingming, the Minister of Justice felt that he could hold on a little longer.
Tsk tsk, it’s not easy for the emperor to have such a son and heir.
After an unknown amount of time, Emperor Jingming finally asked, "Where is the crown prince?"
"The Crown Prince...should have returned to the palace." The Minister of Justice said uncertainly.
Emperor Jingming immediately ordered Pan Hai: "Tell the prince to come over here!"
The prince slipped back to the East Palace and breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
Finally came back safely.
He had just taken a few sips of tea when a eunuch came in and said that the Emperor had summoned him.
The prince went to Yu's study in fear, but when he saw Emperor Jingming's gloomy face, his legs went limp.
"I have seen the emperor, but I wonder why he asked me to come here?"
"Where did you go today?"
The prince's heart was pounding. He resisted the urge to cry and tell the truth, and said with all his might, "My son went to the Ministry of Revenue to observe government affairs..."
"What happens next?"
"After that?" The prince still insisted stubbornly, "After that, my son will return to the palace--"
Emperor Jingming picked up the white jade paper on the table and threw it over.
The prince dodged in a panic, but the paper weight hit him on the head.
The prince shook his body, looked at Emperor Jingming, and fell down.
Emperor Jingming was almost going crazy.
Although he wanted to beat the bastard to death, he couldn't really beat him to death after all, and the paperweight he threw out actually hit his shoulder.
No one expected that the prince would dodge and get hit!
Pan Hai glanced at the prince who had fainted on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty——"
"Call the imperial physician!" The crown prince's head was broken and bleeding. What else could Emperor Jingming do but to call the imperial physician.
All the doctors on duty rushed over.
The imperial physician was treating the crown prince inside, while Emperor Jingming was walking around outside with his hands behind his back.
The Queen who had rushed over upon hearing the news whispered to the Crown Princess who had arrived earlier: "What exactly is going on?"
The Crown Princess shook her head: "My daughter-in-law doesn't know."
The prince was fine when he left the Eastern Palace, but in the blink of an eye he became like this. What could have happened? He must have done something wrong again.
The Crown Princess was actually somewhat calm about this.
The Queen walked up to Emperor Jingming and asked, "Your Majesty, how is the Crown Prince?"
The emperor stopped, took a look inside, and said coldly, "He probably won't die."
Even though I said this, I felt a little confused inside.
The white jade paper was quite hard, and a lot of blood had flowed on the golden brick. What if the prince was really killed by it?
Heartache, anger, regret...Emperor Jingming felt that he had experienced almost all the emotions in a short period of time.
Afterwards, I felt indescribably tired.
It would be fine to just kill such a bastard son; but if he is not killed, he will continue to be angry endlessly.
"Why is the prince——"
"I hit it." Facing the empress, Emperor Jingming no longer had the strength to hide.
Even though the government would keep secret what the prince did today, even if they could hide it from everyone in the world, he knew it.
Can such a monarch really protect the country conquered by his ancestors?
This was the first time that Emperor Jingming thought deeply about this issue.
The queen was startled and whispered, "Your Majesty, getting angry is harmful to your health. If the prince has any problems, just discipline him properly—"
"Today the Crown Prince and the eunuchs are doing something serious." Emperor Jingming interrupted the Empress's consolation.
Queen: “…”
"Outside the palace."
Queen: “…”
"It also attracted countless people to watch."
Queen: “…”
"There was a stampede among the onlookers, and more than a dozen people were killed or injured."
The Queen supported his forehead.
To be honest, the emperor was a kind father by not beating the prince to death on the spot!
At this time, an imperial physician came out and said, "Your Majesty, His Highness has woken up."
Emperor Jingming and the Empress looked at each other and walked in together.
Hearing this, the Crown Princess bit her lip hard and followed silently.
On the bed, the prince had a gauze wrapped around his head and a dazed look in his eyes.
Emperor Jingming came before the Crown Prince and snorted coldly when he saw that the Crown Prince had no reaction.
The prince blinked: "Who are you?"