Before long, Prince Lu boarded a lavishly decorated carriage. Once the prince was settled inside, the chief guard waved his hand, and the carriage slowly set off, its wheels making a crisp sound on the stone road.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the carriage arrived at the palace gate. Prince Lu couldn't wait to jump off his horse and stride towards the palace gate.
The guards outside the palace hall saw Prince Lu swaying his obese body as he approached from afar. One of them quickly stepped into the hall and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, Prince Lu has entered the palace and is heading towards the Imperial Study."
The emperor sat on the dragon throne, flipping through thick volumes of memorials. He sometimes frowned, sometimes looked bewildered, clearly finding it somewhat difficult to deal with these memorials.
After his elder brother, who had been the crown prince for over twenty years, was executed, his father died soon after. Because he had been favored by his father since childhood, he was able to smoothly ascend to the throne when he was only ten years old. He had never been groomed as the heir apparent, and therefore did not know how to govern the country.
Therefore, the emperor personally handled everything, but when it came to managing state affairs, he seemed somewhat overwhelmed, and his once handsome face often revealed signs of fatigue.
Upon hearing the guard enter and report, the Emperor nodded slightly and said, "Hmm, let Prince Lu in."
Prince Lu rushed over, his steps hurried, clearly indicating his extreme anxiety. Upon entering the imperial study, he immediately bowed respectfully to his brother, the emperor, who was more than ten years younger than him, and said, "Your subject greets Your Majesty."
The Emperor put down the memorial in his hand, raised his head, and looked at Prince Lu. He smiled and asked, "Brother Prince Lu, have you come to see me? Is there something you need?"
King Lu glanced at the group of guards, palace servants, and officials standing in the imperial study.
He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, I have something very important to report."
Upon hearing this, the Emperor's gaze fell on Prince Lu's face. After scrutinizing him for a moment, he waved for everyone else to leave.
Once only a few imperial guards remained in the room to protect the emperor, the emperor spoke, saying, "Brother Lu, please speak freely."
Upon seeing this, Prince Lu immediately put on a fawning smile. He quickly walked up to the emperor and said softly, "Your Majesty, regarding that boy... I've tried many methods and sent out several secret guards to assassinate him, but none of them succeeded. I must find a way to get rid of him."
Upon hearing this, the Emperor's face darkened instantly. He frowned and rebuked, "How could you act in this way? If this matter gets out, won't people think that I can't tolerate him!"
Prince Lu quickly waved his hand and explained, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Absolutely not. Apart from me and those few guards, no one else knows about this. And even if someone did know, they would only think it was my doing and it has nothing to do with Your Majesty."
His words were sincere, but inwardly he was thinking: You tolerate him, yet he still has nowhere to go? You tolerate him, yet Lin Daoyan, who protected him, is still guarding the city gate? You tolerate him, yet I allowed him to be assassinated? Clearly, you tolerate him even less than I do!
Prince Lu then brought up the past to the Emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, I hate that mother and son to the core. They literally angered my mother to death! I have always harbored deep hatred for that person."
The "person" that Prince Lu mentioned refers to the late Crown Prince, who was Zhao Canchen's biological father.
Not only was Prince Lu aware of this matter, but even the Emperor had heard of it. Back then, when the mother of the late Crown Prince's elder brother was Empress, she treated the concubines in the harem with extreme harshness. If they were not careful, these concubines would be punished by the Empress, and Prince Lu's mother, being favored by the Emperor, was often the target of punishment.
Not only that, even the emperor's mother, who was a minor concubine at the time, was not spared and was punished by the empress many times.
The Prince of Lu's mother died of illness shortly after being punished by the Empress. As a result, the relationship between the Prince of Lu and the former Crown Prince was completely severed.
The more the Prince of Lu spoke, the angrier he became, and he continued indignantly, "If someone with even a shred of shame were the son of a disgraced official, they would probably have been so ashamed that they would have chosen to commit suicide to atone for their sins. But he, instead of living on shamelessly, has caused several of my guards to be killed by Lin Daoyan! Just a few days ago, one of my guards went to assassinate him, but Lin Daoyan's son used some despicable means to kill him right there in the street!"
Faced with Prince Lu's complaints, the Emperor kept his head down and continued drinking his ginseng tea, as if he hadn't heard a word he said.
Prince Lu glanced at the Emperor a few times, and seeing that the Emperor did not show any displeasure, he continued, "That fellow is not dead, but he is getting older. I have heard many people say that we should arrange a marriage for him. If we do not arrange a marriage for him, it will violate the law that men who are not married by the age of twenty will be forced to marry by the government. If we force him to marry a commoner, it will damage the face of our royal family."
"Hehe, I have found him a good match, the best match."
The Emperor raised his head and looked coldly at Prince Lu, as if trying to see through his thoughts.
Prince Lu whispered, "Lin Daoyan's daughter has a reputation for bringing misfortune to her husbands, having killed several suitors in succession. I didn't believe it at first, so today I specially arranged for a guard from Prince Lu's residence to go and propose marriage. Just now, as he was leaving the Lin residence, he was crushed to death by the wall of the government office's storeroom."
“If…” King Lu didn’t finish his sentence, but the excitement on his face was palpable.
The Emperor glanced at the few imperial guards standing inside the room protecting him, and shook his head. "This is not a good idea." He resolutely refused.
The Emperor added in a concerned tone, "I will instruct the officials of the Imperial Clan Court to find him a suitable wife from a respectable family."
The clever Prince Lu had long seen through the emperor's true intentions. The emperor wanted to accomplish this, but he did not want to give others cause for criticism.
So, Prince Lu tentatively suggested, "Your Majesty, I have always been loyal, and I would like to expand my garden in my fiefdom. Is that alright?" He already had a royal residence, and further expansion would violate the rules. Logically, the Emperor would refuse. After all, there were more than a dozen other princes with fiefdoms, and if they all wanted to expand, it would disrupt the established order.
The Emperor thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you." Prince Lu beamed.
After this test, he learned that the emperor was very satisfied with the marriage he had found for Zhao Canchen.
If Zhao Canchen were to die from the curse of the Lin family's daughter, wouldn't that be even better? The blame would fall on that woman, and it wouldn't have anything to do with the Emperor.
Even if Zhao Canchen is lucky enough not to be cursed to death by the Lin family's young lady, his father-in-law's family is just a small-time soldier. With such a weak family background, he will never be able to rise to power in his entire life.
Now, all Prince Lu needs to do is find someone to persuade Zhao Canchen to propose marriage to the Lin family himself, and the matter will be perfect.
When Prince Lu left the palace, he thought to himself, "I have never had any dealings with Zhao Canchen. I'm afraid someone has already told him about sending someone to assassinate him. If I go and tell him, he certainly won't listen."
"Perhaps only the princess and the King of Song can persuade him."
"King Song is recuperating at his villa, barely alive. I should go and persuade the princess to talk to Zhao Canchen."
Having made up his mind, the Prince of Lu left the palace, boarded a carriage, and headed straight for the princess's residence.
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