Chapter 156 Brothers Afternoon Tea
When Prince Ruyang came in, the emperor still maintained his original posture, and An Jiu fed him an apple.
"I heard that my royal brother was ill, so I came to see him." Prince Ruyang was still so good at pretending. He looked at the emperor with a nervous and worried expression, as if he really just cared about the emperor's health.
The emperor took a bite of the apple handed to him by An Jiu with a ruddy face and said with a smile: "You are thoughtful."
After saying that, he sighed, "But you should go see the Queen Mother first. There was a fire in the Cining Palace last night... She was frightened."
The emperor never mentioned Wang Decai, as if he knew nothing about it.
In fact, no one had mentioned the Queen Mother and Wang Decai to Prince Ruyang along the way, but Prince Ruyang knew that everyone knew in their hearts...
Who knows how they might laugh at him behind his back.
Just like back then, they laughed at him for being stupid and not as smart as the emperor, which was why he was not liked by the previous emperor and therefore lost the throne...
Everyone laughed at him behind his back.
Prince Ruyang was feeling very angry.
Now seeing the emperor like this, he was even more annoyed.
He knew that the emperor did it on purpose.
"Brother Emperor, I think the fire is very strange. How could a fire break out in the kitchen in the middle of the night when no one was there?"
The emperor nodded and agreed. "I had my suspicions at first, but later I sent someone to investigate. They said that a spark accidentally fell out of the kitchen and ignited the firewood."
As for whether it was sparks that fell out...the kitchen was burned down, who knows?
The emperor sighed, "The Queen Mother has not had much of an appetite lately. She insisted on setting up a small kitchen in the courtyard to cook for herself. This... is really dangerous. Seventh brother, go back and persuade her. The food in the imperial kitchen is actually quite good."
Maybe the food in the imperial kitchen was not delicious before, but recently, Zhang An opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and he made a lot of good dishes. He also used insulated lunch boxes, so the food was still hot when it was served, and the emperor accepted it.
As for the Empress Dowager, she despised the Imperial Kitchen so much that she followed the Emperor's example and built her own small kitchen. But...
【Hahaha. 】
The emperor consoled her: "I will teach the steward of the imperial kitchen a lesson later. The empress dowager doesn't like the food they cook, so it must be their fault."
Prince Ruyang gritted his teeth and continued, "But I heard from the palace maids and eunuchs who were on night watch that when the fire started, the door of my mother's room was locked..."
Before Prince Ruyang finished speaking, the emperor asked back with a puzzled look on his face: "I am also confused, what is the Queen Mother doing? Why did she insist on locking the door?"
The emperor directly pushed the task of locking the door to the empress dowager.
Prince Ruyang smiled and said, "Brother, the door is locked from the outside. Did someone deliberately frame my mother?"
Of course the emperor knew about it, but he just wanted to disgust Prince Ruyang.
"Is that so... Then I can't just sit there and watch." The emperor shouted: "Li Defu."
Eunuch Li rushed in.
The emperor said: "Send someone immediately to find out who locked the Queen Mother's door last night."
Just as Li Defu was about to leave, Prince Ruyang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "No need."
He felt that it was the emperor who did it. Yesterday afternoon, his mother provoked him, and he took revenge in the evening.
Everyone was keeping silent about this matter. If the emperor investigated it again with great fanfare, the matter would be brought up again...
What will happen if the thief cries "stop thief"?
Even if he sent someone to investigate, it would be meaningless.
Prince Ruyang did not gain any advantage in the confrontation with the emperor.
Behind the emperor, a big tail was swaying proudly.
【You are far from being able to fight me. 】
[You are bound to suffer this loss. ]
[I want to see, after something like this, do you still have the nerve to stay in the capital? ]
[And the Queen Mother...does she still have the nerve to pick a fight with me again? ]
Finally, I got rid of my anger.
When someone is happy, someone else is sad.
Prince Ruyang was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.
"My Royal Brother is still so smart. I admit defeat, but the Queen Mother is also my Royal Brother's biological mother. This kind of thing is not only embarrassing for me, but also for the Royal Family. Is my Royal Brother going to watch the Royal Family become a laughing stock in the world?"
The emperor said indifferently: "But the Queen Mother and I are not biological mother and son after all. What happens to her will affect you the most, not me."
Prince Ruyang's face darkened completely.
"What does my Royal Brother want me to do in order to help?"
The emperor stood up, walked to Prince Ruyang, and looked at him: "Okay, you will leave the capital after the new year, and never come back in this life."
The unique voice of the Prince of Ruyang, like a teenager, spread throughout the hall in an exaggerated voice: "Royal brother, this condition is not equal. Can you change it to one that this minister can accept?"
The emperor looked at him.
Prince Ruyang added: "If my brother insists on doing this, then I can only let it go."
The implication was that if the emperor did not stop when things were going well, then he would not care.
Anyway, we're all embarrassed together.
The emperor thought for a while and put forward a condition that Prince Ruyang could accept. He asked for the jurisdiction of a county in Prince Ruyang's fiefdom for three years.
This county produces cotton.
He still remembers the cotton thing.
An Jiu wanted to laugh.
But this condition is indeed okay.
The emperor could buy cotton directly from the county's cotton farmers, saving the price difference added by the King of Ruyang. He could also send his own people there and learn how the King of Ruyang's people could grow cotton so well. Moreover, it was hard to say whether the county would return the money after three years.
For Prince Ruyang, it was just a loss of tax revenue from one county, not a major blow.
After finishing the discussion, Prince Ruyang took his leave. He didn't want to stay with the emperor at all, for fear that he would either want to kill the emperor or be beaten to death by the emperor.
After Prince Ruyang left, the emperor laughed loudly.
It was the first time that An Jiu heard him laugh so heartily in real life.
I couldn't help but laugh along.
[Before beating a dog, one should look at its owner.] The emperor glanced at the red mark still on the back of An Jiu's hand.
[The Queen Mother hurt my servant, and I will make her lose her dog. ]
【Hahaha. 】
An Jiu "..."
No haha.
Dog Emperor, Dog Emperor, Dog Emperor!!!
Now that the conditions have been agreed upon, the emperor cannot continue to play dumb and let things ferment. Too much is as bad as too little. Otherwise, everyone will start to attack him.
They would say that he didn't respect or love his stepmother...
I would say he did it on purpose...
So the emperor pretended to send someone to investigate (An Jiu suspected that he sent someone to eliminate all traces and destroy evidence).
The Empress Dowager cherished her reputation and face all her life. During the time of the late Emperor, she pretended to be gentle, generous, virtuous and kind.
Now that the incident had happened, she wanted to die and had been staying in the palace without going out for the past few days.
Wang Decai has been arrested and imprisoned separately. Jiang Sheng has long been fed up with this old eunuch, who often gives bad ideas and harms people around the empress dowager.
In the past, the Queen Mother always protected him, but now that the Queen Mother is unable to take care of herself, he fell into Jiang Sheng's hands.
But even though Jiang Sheng tried his best, Wang Decai refused to say anything.
Since you don't want to say it, there's no point in keeping it.
Jiang Sheng killed him, and finally spread the news that it was Wang Decai who had knocked the Queen Mother unconscious and intended to commit a crime, but was discovered by the palace servants and stopped in time...
As for how many people believed this matter, that was not within the emperor's consideration.
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