"Gu Yanwei, has something happened to the emperor?"
As soon as he walked in, Shen Qingqiu noticed something was wrong. He had never seen Gu Yanwei so sad.
The moment Gu Yanwei looked up at Shen Qingqiu, it was like a ray of light in the endless darkness. He finally couldn't help but lean on Shen Qingqiu's arms.
"Qingqiu, it's because of me that my father fell ill. For so many years, I only thought about how to resolve my own knot, but never thought about it from my father's perspective. After my mother's problem was resolved, I was only concerned about being happy, but never visited my father. I didn't even know that he..."
Shen Qingqiu felt sorry for his sadness, but he didn't know what to say. He could only hug him silently and pat his back gently like coaxing a child.
——
The emperor has been in a coma for seven days and seven nights. During these seven days and seven nights, Gu Yanwei has been guarding him closely, and the eighth prince has successfully taken on the responsibility of regent with the support of his followers.
Shen Qingqiu stayed with Gu Yanwei in the imperial study for a long time. When he looked up, it was already dark. Gu Yanwei looked much more haggard these days. Looking at his face which was even paler than the emperor's, Shen Qingqiu sighed, walked up to Gu Yanwei and said, "Gu Yanwei, you have been taking care of the emperor without sleep these days. If you continue like this, I am afraid that the emperor will wake up and you will fall down."
"If it can wake up my father, it will be worth it even if it is like this."
"What a loving father and filial son." The voice of the Eighth Prince suddenly came from outside the door. Shen Qingqiu turned around and looked up. The Eighth Prince had walked in without knowing when.
"Your Highness the Eighth Prince." Although Shen Qingqiu felt very disgusted with him, he still showed proper courtesy.
Gu Yanwei ignored him, fed the last spoonful of medicine into the emperor's mouth, tucked in the quilt for him, and prepared to turn around and leave.
"Qingqiu, let's go!"
Seeing his aloof appearance, the Eighth Prince became even more angry.
"Gu Yanwei, stop pretending to be so noble. Ever since our father became seriously ill, you have been coming here every day to take care of him. Who are you doing this for? Why didn't I see you before? Now you are showing off to me. You make me sick."
"Eighth Prince." Shen Qingqiu could no longer hold back and said, "Do you think you can rest easy after you become the regent of the country? Do you really think the emperor won't wake up? If the emperor wakes up, what will happen to you and your followers? Have you ever thought about it, Eighth Prince?"
The eighth prince's eyes flickered, but in a moment visible to the naked eye, he returned to his smug look.
"I don't understand what the princess means. This prince is the regent because people want him to be the regent. Even if my father wakes up, what crime can he accuse me of?"
“I hope that when that day comes, you can still be as eloquent as you are today.” With that, Gu Yanwei and Shen Qingqiu left.
As soon as the two arrived at the door of the bedroom, Eunuch Li ran over in a hurry.
"Eunuch Li, what's the hurry?" Shen Qingqiu frowned.
"Ninth Prince, Lord Wang, Lord Zhang, and Lord Feng have been waiting for you for a long time."
Gu Yanwei nodded, "Okay."
Seeing the Ninth Prince coming in, several adults stood up and said, "Greetings to the Ninth Prince."
"No need to be polite, everyone get up."
Gu Yanwei sat down in the main seat under the gaze of several people. As soon as he sat down, Lord Zhang hurriedly said, "Ninth Prince, now, you must think of a way to deal with this situation. Since the Eighth Prince became regent, he has greatly increased the taxes of the people on the pretext of fighting the Xiongnu. In the past few days, people's livelihood has been in turmoil. We gave advice to the Eighth Prince, but he said we were disrupting the war and beat us in public. Such humiliation of us is really unbearable."
"Yes, the three of us, along with several other officials, have stopped attending court for three days. However, during these three days, not only did he not reduce the taxes on the people, but he even increased them. We, the ministers, could not bear to see the people suffer, so we came to the Ninth Prince."
"Everyone." Gu Yanwei, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "I have been ignoring state affairs these days, and perhaps you are also disappointed in me."
"us……"
The three were speechless. They had always thought that Gu Yanwei was an upright man who was capable of shouldering great responsibilities. However, Gu Yanwei had never said a word about the Eighth Prince from beginning to end. They were indeed very disappointed in him over the past few days, so much so that they had no other options but to come to him now.
Seeing that they were silent, Gu Yanwei smiled and said, "I am very pleased that you ministers came to see me, but I have not intervened in this matter, and I have my reasons. The Eighth Prince is ambitious, and even if my father makes me the crown prince, he will not give up. I have not resisted, but just wanted to use this incident to find out who is behind the Eighth Prince, and now I know."
The adults suddenly realized, "It turns out that the Ninth Prince is not ignoring this matter, but wants to find out his accomplices behind the scenes."
"Now that he has taken the throne of the Crown Prince, he has also aroused public anger. As long as we seize the opportunity, we can catch the Eighth Prince and his followers in one fell swoop."
"It turns out that the Ninth Prince had a plan in advance, and it was us who got impatient."
"You are all loyal ministers of the court. I will have to rely on you ministers in the future."
"We will do our best."
After sending the three adults away, Shen Qingqiu looked at Gu Yanwei and smiled, "So you were pretending to be listless these past few days. I really thought you were letting the Eighth Prince do whatever he wanted."
Gu Yanwei's eyes showed the familiar firmness of Shen Qingqiu again, "My brother has evil ambitions. If he becomes the emperor, the people will not be his priority. By then, the people will be living in misery. How can I be worthy of my father?"
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "I knew you wouldn't give up, so what should we do next?"
"Don't worry. Now that he is unpopular, he will definitely try his best to get rid of me first. When he makes a move, it will be the best time for us to take action."
——
"Get out, all of you!" The eighth prince threw away the memorials presented by the servants and roared like a mad wolf. Everyone watched and no one dared to step forward.
"I increased taxes, and I made the people's lives miserable. Have they ever thought about how the soldiers in the front would get food and grass if taxes were not increased?"
"All of you go out." After receiving the instructions from Eunuch Liu, the servants could not stand still for a moment and ran out one after another.
"Eighth Prince." Eunuch Liu picked up the scattered documents on the ground, laid them in front of the Eighth Prince and said, "Food and grass for the soldiers at the front are indeed indispensable, but increasing taxes on the people is indeed not a good idea."
The Eighth Prince sneered, "Eunuch Liu? Humph, that's not a good idea. Then what do you think I should do? Do you, a eunuch, have a better idea?"
Eunuch Liu paused for a moment, then continued, "How can I have any good ideas? I have followed the emperor for so long, and the emperor has always put the people first. The war with the Huns was for the people, but the emperor will not increase the people's taxes for this."
"Hmph, you do understand the emperor. Well, since you have served my father for so long, tell me, if it were him, what would he do?"
"How dare I guess the emperor's mind? But maybe you can go find the Ninth Prince. Before the emperor fell into a coma, the Ninth Prince gave the emperor a lot of advice on the Xiongnu issue. Maybe he knows how to deal with it."
"Ninth Prince, huh, do you think I'm not as good as him? Do you think that without him, this prince can't solve this matter?"
"That's not what I meant." Eunuch Liu silently put the memorial away and said, "It's just that the people are now overwhelmed by the taxes. If this continues, I'm afraid there will be a big chaos among the people."
"Humph, Eunuch Liu is indeed someone close to the emperor."
Seeing that he was so unwilling to listen to advice, Eunuch Liu sighed, turned around and left.
Looking at the empty room, the Eighth Prince's chest heaved violently and his fists clenched tighter and tighter.
"Gu Yanwei, humph, since you are so powerful, I really have to think of a way. Someone come here!"
"Your Highness."
Over the past year and a few days, Gu Yanwei still went to take care of the emperor every day as usual, but since that day, Shen Qingqiu was no longer worried. After relaxing, he rarely came to the Imperial Garden.
"Princess." A maid's voice suddenly came from behind, and Shen Qingqiu turned his head.
"Are you the maidservant of the Eighth Prince?"
The maid nodded and said, "Princess, the Eighth Prince wants to see you."
"See me?" Shen Qingqiu frowned, "What's the matter?"
"It seems to be about the collection of taxes. I heard that the princess is always smart. Eighth Prince, I want to discuss it with you."
One foot had already stepped into the Eighth Prince's bedroom, but Shen Qingqiu still didn't understand why the Eighth Prince asked her to come over, but he really wanted to know what the Eighth Prince was up to.
"Princess, please wait here for a moment."
As soon as Shen Qingqiu turned around, the door behind him was heavily locked by the maid.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Shen Qingqiu banged on the door hard, and then he realized that he had fallen into a trap.
"Open the door for me, someone!"
Before they knew it, it was already dark. Gu Yanwei came back from the imperial study, but did not see Shen Qingqiu.
"Eunuch Li, where is the princess?"
Eunuch Li hurried in from outside, frowned and said, "The princess went out at noon today and hasn't come back yet. I thought she went to the imperial study. Didn't Your Highness see the princess?"
Gu Yanwei shook his head. "She went out alone?"
Eunuch Li nodded. "Today, the Eighth Prince sent someone to tell me that he wanted to discuss something with the group leader. Maybe he is still with the Eighth Prince now."
Gu Yanwei suddenly panicked and ran out of the door before Eunuch Li could react.
"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince is here."
Hearing this, the Eighth Prince, who was sipping tea from a cup, put it down and smiled coldly, "It's faster than I thought. Let him in!"
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