After all, what happened today was "just" an accident. Even if it was brought to the front court and tried by the three courts, there would still be room for maneuver. After all, it was an unintentional mistake. At most, Li Han could be spared or the blame could be pushed to the person who sold the pleasure boat.
Why should Yuan Zhe suffer such injustice and kneel down in public to admit his mistake?
But as soon as Chu You opened his mouth, he saw Yuan Zhe looking at him calmly, signaling him not to say anything more.
Chu You pursed his lips tightly, trying to suppress his anger, and met Chu Yi's deep eyes.
The two looked at each other.
Chu Yi immediately looked away and gave Yuan Zhe a gentle smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes. He said lightly: "Whether it was an accident or not, you have no say."
This sentence was not only said to Yuan Zhe, but also to Queen Mother Yuan, Prince Kang and other children of aristocratic families. It was full of provocation.
Is the eldest prince officially declaring war on the noble families?! The noble family disciples were horrified, and their hearts sank like cotton wool soaked in water.
Chu Yi, however, smiled faintly and raised his hand to make a gesture.
He Lie immediately understood and ordered, "Take him away."
When this man fell into the hands of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was naturally not sent to the Heavenly Prison, but to the Imperial Prison of the Northern Pacification Office. Once in the Imperial Prison, he was in danger of death, and the Ministry of Justice and other three departments were helpless.
The two Jinyiwei approached Yuan Zhe from the left and right, looking down at Yuan Zhe who was kneeling on the ground. Their every move exuded an invisible sense of oppression.
Yuan Zhe did not cry or beg for mercy. He stood up from the deck and said coldly, "I can walk by myself."
Yuan Zhe flicked his sleeves, strode down the pleasure boat with his head held high, leaving behind a resolute back, his back always standing straight in the cold wind.
Seeing this scene, all the young children from aristocratic families calmed down and regained their composure.
At the same time, Li Han, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, was also taken away by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
Li Han's gray hair was a little messy and he looked anxious.
Although he was the Queen Mother's man, now that even Yuan Zhe had been taken away, Li Han knew that no one would care about him. He glanced nervously at Qin He standing aside.
When he met those cold eyes, his hands trembled and his whisk fell to the ground.
Li Han used to admire Qin He's vicious and cruel methods and thought he was a useful vicious dog. But now, he couldn't help but tremble like a sieve when he thought about the mad dog using those methods on himself.
The other Jinyiwei on the pleasure boat withdrew like the tide, and the originally heavy and oppressive atmosphere also relaxed. The sun in the sky peeked out from behind the clouds again, and spots of golden sunlight danced between the lake and the treetops.
Gu Yun'er stood quietly by the guardrail, looking at Yuan Zhe's back gradually moving away on the shore.
The Yuan family is the leader of the aristocratic families today.
All the noble families in the Da Jing Dynasty respected her. She never thought that in just less than two incense sticks of time, the heir of the Yuan family would be captured.
The situation changed suddenly.
Gu Yun'er's eyes suddenly turned deep.
This was also the first time she encountered such a thrilling event, which made her deeply aware of——
This is the power of the emperor! It can make people live, die, and bend their backs... It feels like you can control everything.
Gu Yun'er's fingers subconsciously began to roll up the handkerchief again, again and again...
She used to think that a hero does not matter where he comes from. She thought that what was important was not his origin, but herself.
But it was not until Gu Yanfei appeared that she realized she was wrong.
Even if she did nothing, her life experience became an unspeakable secret about her.
However, there is an old saying: Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born into a certain family?
If she could reach the pinnacle of imperial power, then her background would be just an insignificant embellishment. Gu Yanfei would no longer be able to accuse her from a high position. She would kneel humbly in front of him.
Gu Yunmeng's eyes became increasingly darker as she stared at Gu Yanfei, who was chatting and laughing with Anle, without blinking, completely immersed in her own thoughts.
Yu Chaoyun beside her bit her lower lip slightly and was also looking at Gu Yanfei, with a hint of ruthlessness at the corners of her lips, determined to do whatever it takes to achieve her goal.
"Please ask the Queen Mother to return to the palace." Chu Yi's calm voice sounded again, as if he was chatting casually, and as if the tense scene just now had never happened.
Empress Dowager Yuan stared at him coldly. Now looking at Chu Yi's gentle face, which was both strange and somewhat familiar, she felt as if she had never known him before.
Chu Yi had been away from the country for eight years. Before he returned, he could hardly remember what he looked like. He only remembered that Chu Yi was a good-tempered boy before the age of ten, with a temperament similar to that of the soft-tempered emperor.
However, the eight years he spent as a hostage in South Vietnam was probably enough to change a young man's temperament, turning him into a deep and sinister person...
A tall and mighty figure suddenly stood between Empress Dowager Yuan and Chu Yi. It was He Lie.
He Lie once again extended his hand to Empress Dowager Yuan.
Empress Dowager Yuan flicked her sleeves heavily and walked away without looking back. She just said, "Go back to Shou'an Palace."
With these words, she managed to maintain her dignity as the queen mother.
A group of eunuchs and palace maids from Shou'an Palace followed in a hurry and left the pleasure boat nervously under the "escort" of the Jinyiwei.
The noisy sounds of footsteps faded away.
After a while, everything returned to calm on and outside the pleasure boat, as if nothing had happened.
"Father, you fell into the lake today and were frightened. You have to ask the imperial physician to take a look." Chu Yi walked slowly to the emperor's side, his voice becoming noticeably gentler.
"Okay." The emperor rarely said no to his son, so he agreed with a smile on his face.
It was as if the farce just now left no trace in the emperor's mind.
The emperor brushed his sleeves and was about to stand up when he suddenly thought of something and asked Gu Yanfei affectionately, "Girl, do you want to go with me?"
He stroked his beard gently, smiling kindly, with the affection of an elder towards a younger person.
Gu Yanfei shook his head and smiled in a serious manner, "I hate taking medicine the most."
She knew very well that the emperor had just slipped and fallen off the pleasure boat, but he was not wet at all and did not need any imperial physician at all.
The emperor was a little disappointed. He rolled his eyes and squinted in Chu Yi's direction. He lowered his voice by three points: "Girl, what do you think of my son?"
His voice was so low that only he and Gu Yanfei could hear it.
Anle blinked his eyes, came closer curiously, and stared at Gu Yanfei with burning eyes, as if saying, what are you talking about.
Gu Yanfei: “…”
For the first time, Gu Yanfei experienced the feeling of being speechless, and couldn't help but think of the scene on the bow deck just now.
Another gust of cold wind blew by, and a few scattered plum petals were blown over by the wind. One of the pink petals happened to fall on Gu Yanfei's eyelashes.
Gu Yanfei's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the small petals fell down...
When she asked him if he had a crush on someone, she just blurted it out on a whim.
And he smiled and said to her: "Yes, I have a lover."
When he said this, the person his eyes were looking at was her.
The person reflected in those dark pupils was also her.
(End of this chapter)
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