Chapter 52 Chapter 52 Fear of Lan Ying being exploited
In the Golden Palace, Xiao Mao had already curled up his hands to press his fingerprints. The assassins sent by the Eastern Palace were all good-for-nothings, and they actually let the person return to the capital alive.
The emperor questioned his ministers about Fan Jingjiang's private manufacture of weapons with the intention of rebellion.
Everyone said: People with such evil ambitions deserve to be killed.
When asking about Xiao Mao, his fingers accidentally touched his jade belt, and he glanced at the prisoners on the ground who were dressed respectably for the emperor's visit.
"He is disloyal to the nation and unworthy of his service. I believe he should be beheaded and publicly displayed on the Noon Gate as a warning to others."
Fan Jingjiang closed his eyes and collapsed to his knees.
At the palace gate, carts of weapons were being transported to the military camp, and the bright and sharp light flashed in people's eyes.
Xiao Mao and Pei Zhiji brushed past each other, and only the two of them could hear the voice. Xiao Mao whispered in Pei Zhiji's ear: "Do you really have to go against me? Have you forgotten that your last name is Pei?" Xiao Mao was not stupid. A little composure alone would not be enough to shake Fan Jingjiang's power, but at the same time, he least wanted this person to be a member of the Pei family.
"When Your Highness the Crown Prince killed his own child, did you remember that the Crown Princess's surname was Pei?" Pei Zhiji's eyes darkened.
Xiao Mao's facial muscles twitched slightly. "Your elder sister doesn't understand, don't you understand too? Father is wary of aristocratic families and will never allow my child to have half the blood of an aristocratic family."
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Only if I ascend to that position can I grant your Pei family a hundred years of prosperity. Minister Pei, don't forget that His Majesty and the Queen Mother will die sooner or later."
As more and more people came and went in the palace, the conversations ended unpleasantly.
In the Eastern Palace, the Crown Princess holds several flower-viewing banquets every year as usual.
The noble lady wanted to take this opportunity to show off her talents, but it was difficult to stand out without a reason. The Crown Princess was well aware of the situation and invited Lu Suizhu to play the piano to liven up the atmosphere.
She played a very ordinary piece of music, which livened up the atmosphere without stealing the show.
Just as I finished playing and was about to go downstairs to change clothes, I heard Chen start to recommend Lan Ying.
The Crown Princess's sister sang a song, and the audience cheered.
Xiao Mao sat next to the Crown Princess. He was in a bad mood and had no intention of listening to the music. He had a sullen face and said nothing. The Crown Princess was too lazy to pay attention to him and just did her job by talking to the other ladies.
Seeing that he and his wife were so distant and that he hadn't touched a sip of the wine in the silver pot on the table, Chen became anxious and kept winking at Zheng Ma beside the Crown Princess. Her eyes fell on the wine and she glanced at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Princess was afraid that if she didn't agree, her mother would cause trouble again. She poured a glass of wine and handed it to Xiao Mao: "Your Highness, please."
Xiao Mao's frown smoothed for a moment, and he said politely in front of others, "Thank you for your hard work in organizing the banquet, Princess." He took it and drank it in one gulp. The sweet wine went into his throat, and it was particularly rich and mellow.
The music continued. Xiao Mao felt a little dizzy when he stood up. The eunuch came to help him. He rubbed his temples, not wanting to lose his composure in front of so many people, so he let the eunuch support him.
He turned around and said to the Crown Princess, "I'm going to change my clothes."
The eunuch helped him back to his room. Before they were halfway there, Xiao Mao felt dizzy and his whole body felt like it was burning charcoal. He was keenly aware that something was wrong with him.
Unable to hold on until he could return to his room, he just randomly went into an outer room.
Lu Suizhu changed into her own clothes and came out, where she met the maid of the censor's wife and chatted with her for a while.
It turned out that it was the day after tomorrow's birthday for the censor, and the zither player they had found earlier suddenly fell seriously ill, leaving them temporarily short of help. It would be disgraceful for such a family to find an ordinary zither player, so they specially sent out an invitation to invite Lu Suizhu to play the zither at the censor's residence.
"My wife said that we need the help of Master Lu."
The maid was sincere and did not abuse her power to pressure others, so Lu Suizhu agreed to the task without hesitation.
She originally wanted to find Pei Zhiji after playing the song to ask about Fan Jingjiang's situation, but she was tripped up twice.
Just as he was about to return to the hall, he saw Xiao Mao stumbling into a room.
Although they were far apart, she still cautiously turned her back and hid in a patch of grass, fearing that she would encounter some secrets that she shouldn't see.
After squatting for a while and seeing nothing happening, Lu Suizhu looked for a deserted path and walked quietly.
But Pei Lanying was also supported by two maids and was staggering as if she was drunk and her body was so weak that she had no bones.
In the blink of an eye, the person had entered the room.
The maid sent her to the door and left. Lu Suizhu was frightened, fearing that Lan Ying would be taken advantage of by someone.
There was no one passing by, so Lu Suizhu bravely walked in quietly. She heard the man breathing heavily. The charming smell in the room was something she was used to smelling in Louyue Pavilion. It was so familiar to her.
Seeing Lan Ying walking inside, Lu Suizhu covered her mouth with a handkerchief and dragged her out. Fearing that she had also been poisoned by some foul drug, she used a vat beside her to splash some water on her face.
"Lan Ying, let's leave quickly before the prince goes crazy."
Unexpectedly, Lan Ying broke free from her hand. Turning around, she saw Lan Ying's eyes were clear. Lu Suizhu asked in surprise, "You weren't drugged? Then what are you doing?"
"Sister Suizhu, please go away. Don't worry about me."
"You are destroying yourself. Xiao Mao is not a good person..."
Before Lu Suizhu could finish her words, she felt a pain on the back of her neck. Someone hit her on the head from behind and she lost consciousness.
The room was filled with fragrant mist, which rolled into his body like waves. Xiao Mao shook his head and stood up. His man's intuition reminded him to get out quickly.
As he staggered to his feet, a woman walked in.
"Your Highness, drink some water." A white and tender hand brought a cup of warm water to the lips.
"Crown Princess?" He shook his head, but those cold eyes belonged to Pei Lanyi. He grasped her wrist, puzzled. "You and I are already husband and wife. If the Crown Princess truly wants to reconcile, why not just say so? Why go to all this trouble?"
"Because I'm shy."
As soon as the words fell, the bed curtains closed and the diamond-shaped gauze fluttered down.
The banquet over there had ended, and the nobles were enjoying the flowers and chatting. The Crown Princess also said she was tired and went back to her room to rest.
When Pei Zhiji returned to the flower hall, he saw Chen chatting with the censor's wife. Lu Suizhu and Pei Lanying were the only ones missing from the crowd.
His eyes inadvertently swept over her, and Chen quickly lowered her head to avoid his gaze, and pulled the censor's wife to look at Shaoyao on the other side.
Pei Zhiji had a bad feeling in his heart. Could it be that his second aunt had done something wrong again?
The Crown Princess was watering the flowers in the courtyard. Pei Zhiji looked around but couldn't see Xiao Mao. "Sister, have you seen Master Lu?"
Nanny Zheng beside her replied, "After Lu finished playing the piece, she went to change her clothes. I haven't seen her since. Maybe she left the palace."
"Where's the Second Miss?"
"The second young lady couldn't hold her liquor, so she went to change her clothes just now," replied Madam Zheng.
Without too much time to explain, Pei Zhiji went to the outer room.
After opening the doors of each room, he finally saw the unconscious Lu Suizhu in an empty room.
I felt relieved, fortunately it wasn't what he thought.
He slowly helped her up and let Lu Suizhu rest her head on his half-bent knees. Lu Suizhu felt uncomfortable because something had poked her in her sleep. She groaned and touched the back of her sore neck.
Then she opened her eyes and saw Pei Zhiji's handsome face with a frown on his face. His hand on her face was a little wet. Was he sweating? Was it so hot outside?
Before she had time to think about it, she suddenly grabbed Pei Zhiji's sleeve and stood up with the help of his force.
"Lan Ying, Lan Ying and the prince are in the same room. The prince has been drugged with an aphrodisiac."
Not long after Pei Zhiji left, the Crown Princess came to her senses and suddenly felt nauseous.
When Pei Lanying and Nanny Zheng went in to find Xiao Mao, he had already put on his outer clothes and was kneeling on the ground crying.
After Lu Suizhu's description, Pei Zhiji calmly calculated the time. It was too late for him to rush over now. The only thing he could do now was to minimize the losses.
He immediately called the maid who was in charge of the Crown Princess and asked her to arrange all the ladies and young ladies from the Eastern Palace who came to appreciate the flowers to another beautiful garden in the palace.
Over there, Xiao Mao still had the last jade belt tightly wrapped around his palm. Looking at the Crown Princess who had arrived late, his eyes were so angry that they were about to spit fire, and he pointed his finger at the Crown Princess's face.
"You actually conspired with the Pei family to plot against me, Pei Lanyi, don't you think it's disgusting? You disappoint me so much——"
A bucket of cold water was poured over her head, and the Crown Princess was so cold that she could hardly move. What made her sad was not Xiao Mao's harsh scolding, nor his slamming the door and leaving, but a bone-chilling embarrassment.
My mother actually plotted against me by sending my cousin to her husband as a concubine.
Where would this put her? Where would the reputation of the Pei family be? Where would the Eastern Palace be?
She ordered someone to help Lan Ying put on her clothes and send her back through the side door.
In the Chunhui Hall of the Pei Mansion, the moment the door was completely closed, Chen showed a look of horror. The door even isolated her husband and son from the outside.
She knelt in front of the old lady and complained bitterly. She really didn't know what was going on. It was only when she saw Pei Lanying coming back in the Crown Princess's sedan chair at such a late hour and she had changed her clothes that she felt something was wrong.
"You are so confused! Our Pei Mansion has been a family of noble character for generations. It's true that we asked you to match the second girl with the Crown Prince, but how could you drug her and do such a ridiculous thing!"
The old lady slapped Chen in the face, her hairpins disheveled, and she knelt down and threw herself towards her sister-in-law.
"I'm innocent, sister-in-law, old lady. I don't know how it turned out like this. I wanted to make the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince reconcile with each other. I thought they would have a good relationship, and it would be easier for Lan Yi to talk to the Crown Prince about this. Who knew that the second girl would drink it by mistake? No matter what, I am still the daughter-in-law of the Pei family. How could I let such a dirty thing happen?"
"The second girl is so young and stupid, could she have the intention to do such a thing?" The old lady spat. A girl would be useless if she lost her innocence. It was not known whether Xiao Mao would accept Lan Ying.
Madam Pei helped Chen, who had fallen to the ground, up and said, "Old Madam, why don't you let my sister-in-law go to live in the manor for a month or two? That way, we can give an explanation to the Eastern Palace. We can wait until the situation calms down before letting the Second Master bring her back."
Such a punishment was already considered very light. With Madam Pei's plea, the old lady was still concerned that Chen was the biological mother of the Crown Princess and Pei Ren, so she nodded.
Chen thanked her sister-in-law repeatedly, and was then carried out through a side door in a sedan chair.
Under the bright corner lamp, Mrs. Pei sent Chen off. Half of her face was blown by the wind, and a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
My son, your mother has paved a new path for you. You will definitely be better than that man’s son in the future.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
