Chapter 31: Dark Chess
After Chen Hechuan entered the palace, he rushed all the way to Shoukang Palace.
As soon as he appeared, he attracted the attention of all the noble ladies present. The bolder ones would even pretend to fall in front of him.
But Chen Hechuan didn't move at all, as if he couldn't see anything, and went straight to the empress dowager's hall.
When the Queen Mother saw Chen Hechuan come in, her tense face finally relaxed a little.
"I was wondering who was coming, it turned out to be our Crown Prince!"
The Queen Mother jokingly said:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a very busy man now. He's so busy every day that I, his grandmother, don't even get to see him."
"If today wasn't my birthday, I probably wouldn't have been able to see our Crown Prince today."
When Shen Hechuan heard this, he sighed with amusement.
Seeing that there was no one else in the room, he stepped forward and approached the empress dowager. His stern expression softened a lot.
"Empress Dowager, why are you teasing your grandson too?"
The Queen Mother saw the fatigue on Chen Hechuan's face and sighed with some heartache.
"You, don't think you can fool me like this!"
"Why bother running errands yourself when you could have someone else do the work you're doing? I think you're just trying to avoid people."
Seeing that nothing could be hidden from the Queen Mother's eyes, Chen Hechuan did not refute, but just smiled gently.
"This matter is very important. I'm afraid my subordinates won't be able to handle it well."
The Queen Mother also understood Shen Hechuan's current situation.
He simply hoped that things could be done better so that the emperor would not point out his mistakes.
Thinking of this, the Queen Mother didn't want to say anything more and took the initiative to change the subject.
"I met an interesting person today. If you had come back earlier, maybe you could have run into him again!"
The Queen Mother recalled Chu Qianlan's low and hoarse voice when he asked for her resignation, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
"He's a capable guy, it's just a pity."
When Chen Hechuan heard the Queen Mother's words, he knew that this was another woman that the Queen Mother had chosen, and he immediately lost interest.
Just as he was about to stand up, the Queen Mother hurriedly explained.
"Don't worry, she's not here for you to see. Your father has already arranged for her to be married to the Luo family."
Hearing this, Shen Hechuan became interested.
"Luo Ziqian?"
He hadn't seen him for just a few days, and this guy actually did this?
Chen Hechuan couldn't help but recall meeting Luo Ziqian with a woman in a teahouse some time ago.
Could it be related to her?
Shen Hechuan frowned slightly.
The Queen Mother nodded and told him everything that had happened that day.
After hearing this, Chen Hechuan couldn't help but sigh.
It was such a coincidence that all this happened.
He wouldn't believe it if you said it had nothing to do with Gu Jingchun.
Moreover, I'm afraid there's a lot of story behind the arranged marriage between her and Luo Ziqian.
It seems that he has to find a way to meet Luo Ziqian.
Not many people in the world knew that Luo Ziqian was his good friend.
To be precise, the fact that Luo Ziqian was his man was known to few people in the whole world.
In the eyes of everyone, Luo Ziqian is a playboy who is uneducated, spends his days in debauchery, and hangs out in various brothels.
But in fact, he was the deepest hidden chess piece buried by Shen Hechuan.
It is also the source of many news about Shen Hechuan.
Just as Chen Hechuan was thinking about it, he saw Tianji appear at the door anxiously.
Seeing this, the Queen Mother waved her hand and let Shen Hechuan leave without asking him to say anything.
After Chen Hechuan came out, Tianji immediately said:
"Your Highness, news just came from Jingzhao Prefecture that your jade pendant was found on a child."
"The prefect of Jingzhao is one of our men. He once saw the jade pendant on you, and now that he found it on a child, he secretly sent someone to the palace to inquire about it."
In fact, what Tianji didn't say was that because of the sensation caused by the prince's appearance in Tiandu with a child today, Jingzhao Yi was wary. He said he came to inquire, but in fact he came to report the news.
He's quite clever.
When Shen Hechuan got the news, he immediately hurried out of the palace.
After he left, the nanny beside the Queen Mother came over immediately.
"Empress Dowager, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has left."
After she finished speaking, she observed the Queen Mother's expression and added another sentence.
"He left in a hurry. I haven't seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince so anxious in a long time."
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother immediately turned to look at Nanny Li.
"But what did you hear?"
"Nothing can be hidden from your eyes, Your Majesty."
As Nanny Li spoke, she immediately stepped forward and lowered her voice, saying, "I was just passing by and only vaguely heard the words 'child' and 'jade pendant'."
Hearing this, the Queen Mother raised her eyebrows and stared at Nanny Li with burning eyes.
Seeing this, Nanny Li no longer dared to hide it and continued:
"This is also the news that just came in. It said that the prince returned from outside the city today with a child in his arms. He was very caring towards the child, which attracted a lot of attention."
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother stood up suddenly.
"What child?"
"I don't know for sure either. I only know that the child is about four or five years old. It is because of this child that His Highness was delayed in returning to the palace."
"Then...whose child is that, and why does the prince care so much about him?"
The Queen Mother exclaimed in amazement.
Although the prince looks gentle, he is actually cold and indifferent inside. He rarely cares about others, let alone a child.
A child he had only met once actually made him so concerned. When he heard the news about him, he left the palace without even attending the birthday party.
This also gave the Queen Mother some other thoughts.
"Find someone to secretly follow the prince and see what happened?"
"Be alert and don't let Hechuan find out."
Nanny Li agreed and quickly made arrangements.
Jingzhao Prefecture.
The prefect of Jingzhao looked at Gu Jinxi in front of him and was so worried that his hat was about to fall off.
Just now, after Gu Jinxi followed the people to Jingzhao Prefecture, the man named Li San knelt down tremblingly and said that it was Gu Jinxi who beat him.
Of course, no one present believed it. After everyone talked a lot, the prefect figured out what had happened. He beat Li San with ten big boards and put him in jail on the charge of attempted robbery and false accusation of others.
Once everything was settled, everyone dispersed.
It was at this time that Gu Jinxi quietly stepped forward and took out the jade pendant.
"Sir, may I enter the palace with this jade pendant?"
The prefect of Jingzhao originally didn't want to pay any attention to the child, but he was immediately shocked when he saw the jade pendant.
He looked at the child carefully before explaining, "You can use this jade pendant to see the Crown Prince and have His Royal Highness take you into the palace."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jinxi nodded obediently, thanked him again, and then prepared to leave.
The more the Jingzhao prefect thought about it, the more he felt that this matter was not simple, so he wanted to keep Gu Jinxi and secretly ordered someone to go to the palace to "inquire" about it.
But I didn't expect that this child, who looked so young, was so stubborn. No matter what he said, he wanted to leave and kept shouting that he wanted to save his mother.
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