Chapter 311 Schemes Under the Guise of Mourning Garments
As Dou Wenyi stepped into the main hall, she saw the Sixth Princess, Pei Zhirou, dressed in white mourning clothes, kneeling on the ground.
Cuizhi frowned slightly. Consort Yun had passed away, and as a princess, it was only natural for her to observe mourning for her mother. However, the Eastern Palace was an auspicious place, and the Crown Prince would soon ascend the throne. Wasn't her coming in mourning clothes a blatant attempt to offend the Crown Prince?
Dou Wenyi glanced around and slowly sat down. "Don't you all know the rules?"
The Sixth Princess hurriedly moved her knees toward Dou Wenyi, weeping with tears streaming down her face. "Your Highness... please give my mother some dignity. Have pity on her. She can't even rest in peace after death. As her children, I am truly ashamed to be her son. I can't eat or sleep in peace."
"Hurry up and help him up."
Immediately, a palace maid stepped forward and forcefully pulled the person up.
“Your Highness, there must be some misunderstanding about Fourth Brother’s case. How could he possibly have murdered his mother? They must have framed him. Mother took the poison herself; it had nothing to do with you, Your Highness. I don’t ask to exonerate Fourth Brother; I only beg you to tell His Highness the Crown Prince to give Mother a proper burial.”
It's not hard to see that Pei Zhirou was completely unaware of Prince Duan's plot to rebel. Her information was also somewhat outdated; she was completely unaware of the Imperial Guards' great victory over the Princess's Imperial Guards.
"Sixth Princess, you have overstepped your bounds!"
Dou Wenyi suddenly raised her voice, and Pei Zhirou's internal organs trembled. Her thin shoulders slumped down, and she was so frightened that she stopped crying.
The palace maids inside the hall also lowered their heads in fear and helplessness.
"Sixth Princess, you shouldn't have come to the East Palace during the mourning period. Even if you had to pay homage to the Crown Prince, you should have temporarily changed into mourning clothes. You came here in mourning attire. Is it because you don't know the rules, or is it because the people around you don't know the rules?"
Pei Zhirou couldn't stop sobbing, and her whole body trembled.
"While you were in the palace, did anyone mistreat your food and daily life? Did anyone dare to belittle or humiliate you?"
Dou Wenyi suddenly launched into a barrage of questions, showing concern for her situation. For a moment, Pei Zhirou was unsure of her intentions and could only honestly shake her head, "No."
"Then why did you come here dressed as a murderer? And whose idea was this?"
Prince Duan, Pei Yunche, is ruthless. Once he left, he didn't care about her life or death at all. He even brought forbidden drugs to the palace. Wasn't this all to prevent Consort Yun from being used by the Crown Prince to threaten him and become a burden to him?
Pei Zhirou was, after all, of royal blood, and Pei Siyan had no intention of exterminating her.
If she had behaved herself, she could still have been the sixth princess of the dynasty.
But if she deliberately comes to cause trouble, that's a different story.
Pei Zhirou clenched her fists tightly, pursed her lips, and glanced fearfully at Steward Tian beside her. It was Steward Tian who had reminded her to come and plead with the Crown Prince. She had heard that if Prince Duan was convicted of treason, her mother would not be able to be buried, and the Ministry of Rites might even throw her into a mass grave.
She couldn't sit still any longer.
She kept her head bowed low, staring nervously at the floor, her voice barely a whisper, "My mother's coffin has been in Shangqing Palace for many days now, and I'm so worried..."
Dou Wenyi frowned slightly. She thought back to when Empress Wen died, she was not buried according to the standards for an empress. She wondered how painful it must have been for Pei Siyan at that time.
Pei Zhirou is only fifteen years old; perhaps she really didn't mean it.
With her mother's sudden death and her brother being labeled a "traitor," she felt utterly insecure, which is why she lost her composure.
People always grow through setbacks, and Dou Wenyi is not incapable of empathizing with that.
She lowered her voice slightly, "Considering that you are still young, I will not blame you this time. You may go back now."
Pei Zhirou was unwilling to leave like that. Suddenly, she knelt down on the ground, crawled to her feet, and grabbed her skirt tightly.
"No, Your Highness, please persuade His Highness! He is benevolent and kind, and he will surely bring blessings to the people after he ascends the throne. You don't want him to be misunderstood by the common people as a tyrant who cannot tolerate his brothers, do you? For the sake of his reputation, I beg you!"
"Enough!" Dou Wenyi's eyelashes drooped, a sharp chill spreading in her eyes, and her voice became increasingly icy.
"Are they all dead? Someone come and help the princess up."
The sixth princess raised her tear-streaked face and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Fourth brother really did not rebel. He just eloped with the woman he loved. He had nowhere to go, so he ended up in the eldest princess's fiefdom."
"That woman is Lin Zhiyi, the legitimate daughter of Imperial Censor Lin, and your close friend. They have already consummated their marriage. Even if you are unwilling to help your brother, you can't just stand by and watch your friend's reputation be ruined, turning her into a widow who eloped with someone and will be despised by everyone for the rest of her life, can you?"
Cuizhi and the other palace maids had already pulled her away.
Dou Wenyi's blood boiled, and she felt like killing someone. This was the root cause of Pei Yunche's kidnapping of Lin Zhiyi.
He had long planned his escape route after the rebellion failed. He would use a woman's innocence and her sympathy for Lin Zhiyi to beg Pei Siyan to spare his life.
That's absolutely outrageous!
Dou Wenyi's sharp gaze shot towards the steward who had accompanied her, and she rebuked him word by word, "These words, you insolent servant, were you the one who instigated the Sixth Princess behind her back?"
"Guards, slap him in the face!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a palace servant stepped forward and slapped Steward Tian hard across the face several times.
Pei Zhirou's face turned deathly pale, her pupils dilated, and she cried out in apology, "Crown Princess, it has nothing to do with them, please stop hitting them... It really was my own idea to come, I was just being impolite, please don't drag innocent people into this. Neither my mother nor my brother has done anything seriously wrong, please have mercy and show leniency."
Manager Tian was her wet nurse, who had been by her side since she was a child, and was practically her second mother.
Dou Wenyi's face concealed anger, her eyes filled with an indescribable coldness. She had underestimated the Sixth Princess. Not only had she deliberately dragged Lin Zhiyi into this, but she had also distorted the truth and confused right and wrong, all in an attempt to use the label of 'benevolence' to control the Crown Prince.
The evidence against Prince Duan for treason is irrefutable, and he deserves to be torn to pieces. The way she said it makes it seem as if the Crown Prince's failure to forgive Prince Duan is the Crown Prince's fault.
"I was wrong, I was really wrong. Manager Tian is already in poor health, please don't make things difficult for her..." Pei Zhirou cried her heart out, as if she would die at any moment.
Dou Wenyi remained unmoved, her face cold. "The empress must not interfere in politics. Does the Sixth Princess mean to impeach me for being a hen who crows at dawn?"
Pei Zhirou looked frightened. "No, I didn't mean that."
Just then, a palace maid entered and said, "Your Highness, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, Elder Pei, requests an audience."
Pei Lao Taigong, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, was Emperor Muzong's uncle and Pei Siyan's great-uncle. He was highly respected and had always been very influential among the Pei clan.
Their arrival is so timely; they must be here to support the Sixth Princess.
Dou Wenyi paused, then shouted, "Stop!"
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