Chapter 18 The Crown Prince's Actions
Inside the Drunken Spring Pavilion, Su Wenyan, sporting a black eye, sat resentfully beside Su Wenzhen.
Just now, his fierce sister-in-law called him over and punched him in the eye. Seeing that he didn't resist, she was in a much better mood and gently told him to take Su Wenzhen out to play, saying that she had to go do something.
Su Wenyan inwardly groaned, wondering what terrible things he had done!
Su Wenzhen, who was standing to the side, took a sip of tea and was no longer the silly person she had been before.
"Brother, I..."
Su Wenzhen glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?"
Su Wenyan cried out with a long face, "My sister-in-law is so fierce!" He covered his eyes, "It hurts so much!"
Su Wenzhen glanced at him quietly, pretending not to know anything, then turned her head away. "Hmph! You deserve it! Who told you not to keep your hands under control!"
Seeing that his elder brother didn't even offer any comfort, Su Wenyan was about to yell when he suddenly noticed Su Wenzhen's awkward expression and remembered something. He leaned close to Su Wenzhen's ear and said, "Brother, are you jealous?"
"..."
Su Wenyan was shocked, "Brother, are you really jealous!"
"..."
Su Wenyan continued nagging, "No way! Brother, you're even jealous of this kind of thing! I didn't mean to, at that time I..."
"Bang!" With a muffled thud, a scream came from the private room. "Ah!" Su Wenyan covered his other eye and cursed, "You murdered your own brother!"
Su Wenzhen glanced at him calmly and said, "You're so noisy."
"..."
"Alright." Su Wenzhen put down his teacup. "Now let's get down to business. How are your preparations going?"
Upon hearing this, Su Wenyan, abandoning his previous unreliable demeanor, sat up straight. "In the past two years, Prime Minister Ye has committed numerous misdeeds, and the Crown Prince's coercion of former officials has already caused widespread discontent. This time, when I went to see them, I didn't encounter any obstacles. However, General Wen is, after all, the Crown Prince's maternal uncle, and he holds military power. We..."
“You don’t need to worry about that.” Su Wenzhen tapped the table. “General Wen always helps those who are reasonable, not those who are close to him. As long as the Crown Prince loses his temper and does something that will anger both heaven and man, General Wen will absolutely not help him.”
Su Wenyan frowned. "But the Crown Prince isn't stupid. Can't he see something so obvious?"
Su Wenzhen paused for a moment, then said, “This matter cannot be rushed. After all, the Crown Prince is still the legitimate heir. If we rashly do something, we will find it difficult to convince the public, and they will definitely suspect us. This will be disadvantageous for us. I think we should wait and see.”
Su Wenyan nodded. "Second brother is right, but..." As if he had thought of something, Su Wenyan frowned and looked at Su Wenzhen. "Although I pretended not to know my second sister-in-law in front of her, who in the world doesn't know that the one who married Prince Jin is the third daughter of the Prime Minister's family? Even the old ministers have doubts. Can this third young lady be trusted or not?"
Su Wenzhen looked into the distance, his eyes filled with confusion. "Wan Ning is kind and innocent. Although she has a bit of a temper, she's not a bad person. It's just that..." He had once ordered Jiang Hai to investigate her affairs and learned that she had been forced to commit suicide by the people of the Prime Minister's mansion. However, after that suicide, she seemed like a different person. Although he didn't know what had happened, there must have been something else going on. Now, he was not sure either.
Seeing that Su Wenzhen remained silent for a long time, Su Wenyan looked at him with suspicion, "Second brother, what's wrong? What is it?"
Su Wenzhen came to her senses and said, "It's nothing, I... I believe her."
Inside the Crown Prince's palace, Su Wenxuan was painting.
"Your Highness, Prime Minister Ye has come to request an audience."
"allow."
A series of hurried footsteps approached. "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! The Fourth Prince has returned to the capital!"
Upon hearing this, Su Wen's hand trembled, and a drop of ink fell onto the painting paper. He frowned, regretting the wasted painting. He put down his brush and looked at Ye Qingyuan, "You're back, so why were you in such a hurry?"
“Your Highness is unaware of this!” Ye Qingyuan looked at Su Wenxuan with extreme anxiety. “These past few days, the border generals and several senior officials in the court have all made unusual moves. It just so happens that the Fourth Prince is returning. I suspect that the Fourth Prince is using the pretext of going out for a trip to actually win over the officials.”
Su Wenzhen frowned. "Don't speculate. The Fourth Prince is naturally dissolute; how could he do such a thing?" He knew his fourth brother's character. If his fourth brother really did those things, it certainly wasn't for him. Then who was it for? He suddenly thought of someone: Su Wenzhen?
Ye Qingyuan was taken aback, then said, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but the first thing the Fourth Prince did upon returning to the capital was not to go back to the palace, but to the Prince of Jin's residence. Isn't that obvious?"
Su Wenzhen pursed his lips. Whether Su Wenzhen was truly foolish or feigning it was still unknown. It seemed it was time to do something. He looked at Ye Qingyuan, "How is General Wen doing?"
Not expecting the Crown Prince to ask about this, Ye Qingyuan was taken aback, then stammered, "The Crown Prince knows General Wen's personality. General Wen said... please behave yourself, otherwise he won't consider family ties..."
"Bang!" Su Wenxuan reached out and overturned everything on the table, throwing it under the table. "What a heartless person who doesn't care about family ties!"
Su Wenxuan glanced at Ye Qingyuan, then changed the subject, "Prime Minister Ye, how is your third young lady doing at the Prince of Jin's residence?"
Ye Qingyuan was taken aback, looking at Su Wenyi, "What does the Crown Prince mean..."
"It's been so long, Princess Consort Jin should go back to her parents' home for a visit!" Su Wenxuan sneered. It seemed that his second brother had been living too comfortably these past few years and wanted to get out and about! He didn't believe that his fourth brother's return wasn't for some other purpose. He wanted to see if this Prince Jin was truly stupid or just pretending!
When Ye Wanning returned to the mansion, Su Wenzhen and Su Wenyan were having a great time. She had also looked at the cloth shop's account books and there weren't any major problems, except that business was a bit sluggish. She glanced at Su Wenzhen. Although this guy was a fool, his subordinates were quite loyal to him, and no one had falsified the accounts.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!" Granny Sun hurriedly approached Ye Wanning.
"Huh?" Ye Wanning was taken aback. "What happened to Granny Sun?"
“The manor…the manor…the manor sent someone to deliver a message…” Granny Sun gasped, “They said that since the Princess Consort married into the Prince Jin’s manor, she has never returned to visit. The master and madam are thinking of her and want the Princess Consort to come back to visit.”
Returning to the Prime Minister's residence? Ye Wanning frowned. She didn't believe that Ye Qingyuan and the First Madam truly missed her. But what did they mean by calling her back now? Ye Wanning inadvertently glanced at Su Wenzhen and Su Wenyan not far away and couldn't help but think of something. She smiled, "Wenzhen, I'm going back to my parents' home tomorrow. Will you come with me?"
Su Wenzhen was taken aback. The Prime Minister's residence? It seemed the Crown Prince couldn't hold back any longer. He said with a grin, "Wherever my wife goes, I'll go!"
Seeing that there was a good show to watch, Su Wenyan immediately became interested, "Sister-in-law, I want to go too! I want to go too!"
"The more people, the better, it'll be lively!" Ye Wanning smiled, raised an eyebrow, and turned to Granny Sun, saying, "Granny, go and tell them that I will definitely go back to see my father and aunt who miss me so much tomorrow..."
Ye Wanning's tone sent chills down Sun Mama's spine. She couldn't help but tremble. What was this young lady going to do now? "Yes."
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