"I haven't forgotten." Zhong Mingwei's heart softened, and he leaned over to kiss Meiya's fair cheek, "We will sleep together in life and study together in death."
"We are together every day when we are alive, and we will be buried together when we die, so is there anything you can't say to me?" Mei Ya leaned sideways and put her arms around Zhong Mingwei's neck.
"I didn't mean to hide it from you," Zhong Mingwei said softly. "You know. I don't really want to talk about the past, and you don't really want to hear it either."
"I don't want to hear other people's affairs, but I want to know about your affairs." Mei Ya whispered. She leaned over and kissed Zhong Mingwei's slightly dry lips, and whispered, "Good things make me happy. Bad things make me feel bad, but I can share some of your worries. You don't have to keep it to yourself. Share the good and the bad. This is what a husband and wife should do, don't you think?"
"I understand," Zhong Mingwei nodded. He moved closer to Mei Ya, his lips trembling, and then he spoke with some difficulty, "It's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's a... particularly disgusting thing. For many years, I feel very sick when I think about it, so I didn't want to tell you, for fear that it would disgust you too."
Mei Ya was startled: "What's going on?"
"The biggest case of the past 20 years," Zhong Mingwei said in a deep voice, "Didn't you ask me what the biggest case of the past 20 years was the other day? Let me tell you now."
"My father has never been very kind to me. He has even been very distant from me. Instead, he has been more kind to other princes. I know this has something to do with the passing of Empress Zhenxian and the fact that the Xu family is very powerful and well-established. So I have been very cautious since I was young, fearing that I would be caught doing something wrong. After I turned 18 and had my coming-of-age ceremony, the Empress Dowager and the Xu family began to get anxious, hoping that my father would make me the crown prince as soon as possible. However, the Empress Dowager also knew my father's attitude towards me, so she told me early on not to get anxious. Even if my father was unwilling to make me the crown prince for three to five years, as long as the Xu family was there, I would be able to take the crown prince position. ", Zhong Mingwei said as he lifted the quilt and pulled Meiya into the bed, "At that time, the Xu family still occupied the court. It was a century-old family, and all the queens in the past dynasties were from the Xu family. They were noble and prominent, and how could the Cui and Zhao families compare? But my father had already thought of weakening the power of the aristocratic families, so the Xu family also began to be cautious. While working for my position as the crown prince, they began to transfer their strength to the southern border. But no one expected that in the beginning of the twelfth month of the following year, my father would suddenly appoint me as the crown prince. At that time, not to mention me, even the queen mother was dumbfounded when she got the news."
"Didn't the Queen Mother say that you might not be able to become the Crown Prince in the next three to five years? Why did His Majesty appoint you as the Crown Prince the following year?" Mei Ya didn't quite understand and tilted her head to ask Zhong Mingwei, "Is there any reason for this?"
"Why not?" Zhong Mingwei pursed his lips in self-mockery. "I, the crown prince, moved into the East Palace with great fear and trepidation. Within half a month, the then Minister of Personnel, Zhao Changrong, exposed the matter in court, saying that He Wenxin, the fourth-rank Dali Temple Junior Official, and Deng Yichuan, the fourth-rank Guanglu Temple Junior Official, were plotting to welcome the Pingxi King back to Beijing to seize the throne. For a time, the whole court was in an uproar. His Majesty angrily accused Zhao Changrong of spreading rumors and causing trouble, but Zhao Changrong took out He Wenxin's handwritten letter that had not yet been sent out. Every word in the letter was written truthfully, saying that the current emperor was suspicious, violent and extravagant, and was not a wise ruler. If he wanted to revive the Great Zhou, he had to invite the Pingxi King back to Beijing. After reading the letter, His Majesty was so angry that he vomited blood in court and became bedridden. And I, the newly canonized crown prince, had to govern the country on behalf of the emperor."
"It's almost the end of the year. If this fatal case is not resolved early, no one can have a peaceful year. At that time, I had just become the crown prince, and it was also the first time for me to govern the country on behalf of the emperor. I was trembling with fear and had to ask my father's opinion on every detail. At the beginning, I didn't quite understand. It was just a few words from Zhao Changrong and a light piece of paper. How could it cause such an uproar? Later, I gradually understood that if my father hadn't vomited blood in the court, this matter could be a big or small matter. But everyone in the court knew that my father was so angry about this matter that he was bedridden. So how could this case be a small matter?"
"What happened next?" Mei Ya looked at Zhong Mingwei's absent-minded face. She felt that Zhong Mingwei was a little sad, so she slowly put her face against Zhong Mingwei's face and rubbed it gently. "How did this case, which could have been a big or a small case, become a major case in the past 20 years that shocked the government and the public?"
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