Chapter 15
Seeing the second prince's frightened and resistant expression, the emperor finally regained some sense of responsibility as a father.
Forget it, there is still a long way to go.
Don't push your son too far.
The emperor said: "Forget it, leave this matter to the Jinyiwei, please withdraw."
The Second Prince and Chu Huan both retreated to their seats.
Everyone was full of melons and in a good mood. The discussion of state affairs that day went smoothly and the morning court ended early.
While Chu Huan and the system were enjoying reading the unofficial history and notes of the previous dynasty in the Hanlin Academy, the officials were busy with their work while others took the opportunity to chat.
Gossip is human nature.
The initial topic was Yu Jiayan's visit to prostitutes, talking about how a gigolo could scheme against his wife and how he cheated her of money to visit prostitutes.
The Dasheng Dynasty was limited to officials of the sixth rank and above. Officials of the seventh to ninth ranks had no chance to listen to the on-site revelations. They held the documents to be processed, like wild animals holding melons.
The officials who were gossiping were so eager to talk and complain that they just blurted out everything.
After talking for a while, he still felt unsatisfied and told the gossip that the Second Prince had reported Chu Ping to a prostitute and that everyone knew that he had taken the Second Prince's wife to a brothel to learn the art of sex.
After all was said, the official realized that it was not good, and felt a little uneasy. He quickly told his colleagues: "I'm only telling you a few of you about this matter. Don't tell anyone else."
Colleagues nodded quickly.
"No, don't worry."
"That's right, you still don't trust me?"
"My mouth is the tightest!"
The officials left with peace of mind.
The most tight-lipped official then told his long-time friend everything, and at the end, he reminded him, "I'm only telling you this, don't tell anyone else."
Long-time friend: "Don't worry, I'm not that free."
After a cup of tea, he told his colleagues the story in an exaggerated way, adding a lot of details.
In less than two hours, the big news from today's morning court session spread everywhere.
When the officials returned home after their shift and saw the longing eyes of their wives and concubines, they would relax their lips a little and the gossip would spread again.
Chu Ping is no exception.
He first complained to Wen Shi, "The Second Prince reported me for visiting prostitutes in court. I was scared to death! Fortunately, Huan'er and the system testified for me and said that it was Chu An who did it!", and then he talked about the Second Prince and his wife with glee.
Wen wanted to say, "Where did you get the thousand taels to visit a prostitute?", but when she heard that it was Chu An who did it, she smiled. It is better not to talk too much between uncle and sister-in-law.
She had intended to be a quiet listener, but when she heard that Chu Huan wanted to enter the Second Prince's residence, she could no longer remain silent.
"Does Huan'er really want to enter the Second Prince's Mansion?"
Chu Ping touched his chin, "That tone doesn't sound like a joke."
Wen Shi didn't hear it firsthand, so she didn't dare to make any judgments. "Did you see how the Emperor and the Second Prince reacted?"
Chu Ping was silent for a moment, then hesitantly said, "The Second Prince had his back to me, so I couldn't see him. The Emperor just had this reaction of 'Wow, this is going to be a blast! I want to see it!'"
Wen: “…” It turns out that our emperor is a man of fun?
"Huan'er is only thirteen, it's a bit early to talk about marriage, and she needs to be chosen. She has always been very opinionated, and I'm afraid she will only marry a future husband if she likes him. Isn't the royal family too complicated?"
Even if the emperor is a man of pleasure, what about the queen?
The second prince is a legitimate prince and a strong contender for the throne. It would be difficult for an ordinary mother-in-law to deal with him, but his mother-in-law is the queen... Wen Shi felt suffocated just thinking about it.
Chu Ping: "The royal family is complicated, but Huan'er has a system."
The system can even tell what positions couples use. The struggles and calculations of everyone in and outside the palace are transparent to Chu Huan.
Maybe when Chu Huan entered the Second Prince's Mansion, it would be like a hungry badger entering a large melon field. Not only would she have endless melons to eat, but she would also be able to hang out with so many beautiful sisters. It would be so comfortable.
Chu Huan was born to the Wen family and raised by them, so she didn't want to get too familiar with them. After all...
The beautiful maids around her were specially hired in order to control her daughter and make her work willingly.
Wen rubbed her eyebrows and said, "Never mind, let him go wherever he wants. She can't control him."
Imperial Palace, Kunning Palace.
The emperor rarely discovered his son's embarrassing moments, so he naturally shared them with his mother.
He was talking freely, clapping his hands and laughing from time to time, and he didn't notice the Queen's shock when she heard what the Second Prince's Consort did, nor did he notice the Queen's imperceptible nod when he said Chu Huan, "The Second Prince's Consort is truly a role model for our generation."
When the emperor mentioned that Chu Huan was planning to meet the second prince's wife, a glimmer of light appeared in the queen's cold eyes.
"Will she really go?"
The previous few times the emperor came to share gossip with the queen, the queen was just a loyal listener, and she didn't react even when she heard that her son was the most chaste and brave man in Dasheng.
This time, the Queen rarely responded, and the Emperor hurriedly said, "She will definitely go!"
Even if Chu Huan didn't go, he would find a way to make her meet the Second Prince's wife by chance, so that she would have a reasonable excuse to come to Kunning Palace to find the Queen!
The emperor glanced at the dark sky and looked at the queen expectantly, "It's late, it's time to rest."
The Queen nodded: "Indeed, I respectfully bid farewell to the Emperor."
emperor:"……"
The next morning at court, Jinyiwei commander Lin You reported in front of all civil and military officials.
"After extensive investigation by the Imperial Guards, it was discovered that the man who lavished hundreds of thousands of dollars at Chunfeng Tower a month ago was Chu An, the younger brother of Chu Ping, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice. Chu An had only been dating Hongxiu, the top prostitute at Chunfeng Tower, for a few days, and things were still fresh in their minds. That's why he refused to give up when he learned that Hongxiu had a guest, namely the Second Prince and his wife."
"The madam knew the identity of the Second Prince's consort, but she couldn't reveal it directly. She only said that a customer had ordered Hongxiu and asked him to change it. Chu An refused and angrily threw a hundred, two hundred, and finally a thousand taels. The Second Prince didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so he gave Hongxiu away. It must have been at that time that he saw Chu An, who looked similar to Lord Chu, and the misunderstanding arose."
The Second Prince: “…” Thank you, but there’s really no need to check in such detail.
The emperor waved his hand, and the matter of Chu Ping visiting a prostitute was dropped.
The officials continued their discussion and noticed that the emperor was in a bad mood. They all behaved themselves and no one dared to cause trouble.
The Minister of Works originally wanted to mention that the reconstruction of the dams after the floods in the south was not going smoothly, but seeing this, he withdrew his foot.
The Minister of Revenue also swallowed the complaint that was about to come out of his mouth.
The national treasury just received two million taels of silver, and all departments asked him for money, but he was just a deputy, and many things had to wait until the new Minister of Revenue took office.
Forget it, let’s wait until Chu Huan eats a few big melons and the emperor is in a better mood.
They were waiting, and so were others, all talking about trivial matters that would not anger the emperor.
A stick of incense passed, and Chu Huan didn't eat the melon.
The Minister of Works glanced at her from the side. Is that girl so patient today?
Half an hour passed, and Chu Huan still hadn't eaten the melon.
The Minister of Revenue quietly glanced back, but he couldn't see what was happening outside the hall from where he was standing, and it was not very convenient for him as a low-ranking official.
An hour passed, and there was still no movement from Chu Huan and the system.
Now, both civil officials and military generals could no longer sit still.
Before Chu Huan showed up, they had experienced many times when the emperor was in a bad mood and was unable to make memorials. But after Chu Huan came, the emperor and his ministers were in a very good mood after eating the melon and cooperated happily.
It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality!
The Minister of Justice winked at the Vice Minister of Justice, who then passed on a message to the Doctor of Justice. The message eventually reached Chu Ping's ears: "Let the people behind check to see if Chu Qin is asleep."
Chu Ping: "..."
Helplessly replied, "She didn't come."
Another doctor from the Ministry of Justice was extremely surprised: "Is he sick?"
Chu Ping replied in a low voice.
As soon as the news was passed on, the six ministers and vice ministers were silent for a moment and stuffed the prepared memorials into their sleeves.
It seems that today is not a suitable day to submit a memorial. Let's wait until Chu Huan comes back tomorrow. Fortunately, I took advantage of the good mood of the emperor and my colleagues yesterday to deal with all the important matters.
The emperor on the high platform was listening to some trivial matters. He wanted to yawn but had to consider his imperial majesty. He wanted them to talk about important matters but was afraid of making people tremble with fear.
It was not until the morning court ended and he returned to the imperial study that he remembered what was different today.
"That girl is so honest today?"
Chen Jiu had already sent someone to ask, and quickly replied: "Chu Qin is on sick leave today."
"I'm sick." The emperor sighed, realizing for the first time how boring the morning court without melons was. "What's wrong? Can you come to court tomorrow?"
Chen Jiu: "It's a cold."
The emperor's expression changed slightly. "Send the imperial physician to take a look."
Wind-cold can be serious or minor. Some people recover in two or three days, some in ten days or half a month, and some never get better.
At present, Chu Huan and the system are still very useful to Dasheng, and we cannot let anything happen to her.
The emperor even thought of a reason to invite the imperial physician, saying that it was out of care for his subjects, and at the same time he could build a good reputation for loving his people like his own children, killing two birds with one stone.
As smart as me!
This arrogance quickly vanished after he returned to the imperial study and saw the report presented by the Jinyiwei.
The report mentioned: Chu Huan had her period for the first time and was in so much pain that she couldn’t get out of bed.
The emperor really didn't know that girls would feel pain during their period, and for a moment he didn't know whether he should ask the imperial physician to see her.
After a moment of hesitation, he saw the report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Chu Hua: [Tong, I'm in so much pain, say something to cheer me up.]
System: [Hmm, let me take a look and pick an interesting one.]
[Got it! Let me tell you a story about the emperor and the empress.]
emperor:? ? ?
He had a bad feeling and looked down quickly.
System: [Last night, the Emperor was driven out of Kunning Palace by the Empress again. This is the eighteenth time this year that he has attempted to stay overnight but was driven out of Kunning Palace. He keeps trying, but he keeps failing.]
Chu Hua: [It's just a quarrel between husband and wife, boring.]
The system wanted to explain it in detail, but when it heard she didn't like it, it quickly changed it to: [Then let me tell you about the Queen.]
After learning about the Second Prince's wife's actions, she was deeply moved. She thought, "If the Emperor could constantly look for beautiful girls, often leaving his first wife alone in Kunning Palace, why couldn't I?" So, she decided to leave the palace and go to Chunfeng Tower to see the handsome young man.
Chu Huan: [Wow—Go for it, Madam! This is a rare opportunity. If I don't make ten or eight young men happy, it would be a shame for all the tears I shed while alone in my empty room all those years!]
emperor:? ? ?
emperor:! ! !
They hurried out in a hurry, "Set up a fight in Kunning Palace!!!"
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