“Let Prince of Zhao take charge in investigating the murder case in Jianling?” Duke of Ji still looked calm, but his eyes turned cold, and he said decisively, “No way.”
Prince of Zhao sitting at the head of the table asked in confusion, “Uncle, why not? Didn’t you allow me to speak for my brother at the imperial court? Now we can even prove his innocence…”
“Your Highness!” Duke of Ji waved his hand and stopped the others, asking peacefully, “You want to defeat the crown prince openly and decently and make His Majesty choose you as the heir to the throne, right?”
Seeing Prince of Zhao nod, Duke of Ji laughed, but there was no smile in his eyes. “The problem is that it’s peaceful everywhere and politics is fair and clear now. Even if you are confident to do a better job than the crown prince no matter whether you are the heir to the throne or the emperor, there is no turbulence at the imperial court and the commonalty. How can you prove it, Your
“Even my wife’s parents don’t think that I can win, either?” The purpose of Madam Tian’s visit couldn’t be hidden from the crown prince. Even the crown princess considered it, and he could surely guess right.The crown prince looked at the flowers and trees with few leaves out of the window. There were still green leaves everywhere in the imperial capital at the end of the eighth lunar month, but it was mid-autumn after all. Among the flowers and leaves, cool wind blew from the west.It was like what he was feeling.The crown prince always knew that his father Emperor Xianjia was of great talent and bold vision and no ordinary person could surpass him, while till now, he realized that he was much inferior to his father. Emperor Xianjia had been slandered by Noble Consort Shentu that year and knelt for a long time in the continuous rain in late autumn, asking for a chance to defend himself, yet he failed. In contrast, the crown prince just asked
“How time flies! Prince of Zhao has grown up so soon.” The crown prince was laden with anxiety and walked out of the Xifu Palace. Seeing that the eunuchs followed him all the way, he was annoyed for no reason and waved them away. He walked alone on the path in the imperial palace, with complicated thoughts in his brain. “I remember that when he was born, he was a little baby and held in Father’s arms. He looked tiny and soft. Grandma and Father said then that was my legitimate brother and I should take good care of him in the future.”He was twelve years older than Prince of Zhao. When the latter was born, he had been a crown prince for seven or eight years. He was a teenager and about to get married then.Speaking of which, his father Emperor Xianjia did everything according to the standard of a wise emperor most of the time. For example, he spared no effort to cultivate his eldest son, but he didn’t love Consort Cui so much because of her son.
When the crown prince and Jian Xubai were discussing the backup plan, in the Xifu Palace…Concubine Fu grabbed the branch of orange osmanthus and walked into the inner hall with a smile. “Cui, you don’t take me as your friend. You are a consort. Even though you have been degraded recently, you are of a higher rank than me. You are ill, and why didn’t you tell me but hide here and rest quietly to recuperate? If I didn’t meet the crown prince outside and get the news from him just now, perhaps I would be still unclear about it now.”While speaking, she motioned for her maid to bring a stool for embroidering from the distance and move it next to Consort Cui’s bed. Then she walked over gracefully and sat down. Nobody knew if she did it intentionally or unintentionally, yet she didn’t bow to Consort Cui since she entered the hall. She looked at Consort Cui’s pale face and laughed more loudly, tut-tutting, “Look at your face. It really makes me feel sad af
When Consort Cui was furious, Concubine Fu who walked out wasn’t happy, and her big almond eyes widened all of a sudden. She was stunned for a long while and then asked in disbelief, “What did you say?”“Your Highness!” The maid who came to look for her under orders almost cried and answered anxiously, “His Majesty is feeling unwell. After the Empress Dowager rushed to the Palace of Xuanming, she went into a coma in anxiety on the spot. The empress needs to take care of His Majesty, so she is too busy to attend to anything else. She thought that you often went to the Palace of Mingren to greet the Empress Dowager these days, so she asked you to go to the Palace of Xuanming in a hurry to look after the Empress Dowager.”The maid didn’t dare to say something unlucky in fear of the rules in the imperial palace, and she just said that Emperor Xianjia “felt unwell”, but it could make the Empress Dowager fall into a coma in anxiety. It could be imagined ho
When Grand Princess Daiguo was overjoyed, in the Eastern Palace…After Jian Xubai explained why he didn’t agree with the crown prince to surrender to Prince of Zhao, there was a knock on the study’s door suddenly. The crown prince who was about to speak frowned and asked, “What’s the matter?”“Your Highness, Her Highness heard that Duke of Yan came, so she told me to serve tea and pastries,” a young eunuch reported cautiously outside the door.If the young eunuch said that he brought them specially for the crown prince, the latter would be not in the mood to answer, but since the crown princess wanted to entertain her husband’s cousin, even though the crown prince was impatient, he still ordered, “Come in.”The young eunuch heard that and pushed the door open. Then he entered and put a tray inlaid with mica of gold and mother-in-pearl on a small table not far away from the crown prince and Jian Xubai. Afterward, he bowed and
“I don’t agree.” Song Yixiao got up all of a sudden, with anger in her eyes. “Even the Wei Family is shaky, but you still support the Eastern Palace. That’s how the crown princess repays you for your loyalty? Now that she is afraid that the crown prince will be harmed if he goes to the Palace of Xuanming and also worried that they won’t know any news about what happens in the Palace of Xuanming, why doesn’t she serve His Majesty? She is His Majesty’s legitimate daughter-in-law and supposed to take care of her father-in-law. It’s more logical for her to do that than you, a nephew, right? Why did she ask you to take the risk?”In fact, she always thought that the crown princess was nice. When they started to fight for the title of heir to the throne, the crown princess devised a way and told Commandery Prince Zhongling to formally acknowledge Gu Shao as his master, which greatly relieved the predicament of the Eastern Palace. It made Song Yixiao admire this wife of
When Song Yixiao was shocked because of the secret revealed by her husband in private, in the side hall of the Palace of Xuanming, Empress Su showed her discontentment to Grand Princess Daiguo because Jian Xubai offered to serve Emperor Xianjia. “His Majesty is in imminent danger now, and even the royal doctors have said that it is uncertain if he can sustain life these days. We are busy taking care of His Majesty. Why did you let Xubai get involved in it at the critical time? Isn’t it to bring up unnecessary ramifications for no reason?”The empress’ tone was exhausted and her voice was hoarse. She seemed to be ten years older, and she was not as graceful and charming as before.Emperor Xianjia had been critically ill for only two or three days, but since the empress got the news, she had stayed beside his bed all the time and didn’t ask anybody else to serve him. Till she took care of him and couldn’t sustain herself physically and mentally, she to
Empress Su noticed Grand Princess Daiguo’s weird tone and looked in that direction, to see the simple blue clothes behind the shadow of the trees, but the smaller part of the face revealed was beautiful enough to cause the fall of a city. Who could it be except Beautiful Lady Nuan?Empress Su’s eyes darkened.Grand Princess Daiguo caressed the hair on her temples and smiled charmingly. “I heard that Xubai and this lady kept an unusual relationship when they were in Wuhuan. Duke of Ji was the commander in chief when our country sent armed forces to suppress Wuhuan those years, so Your Majesty, you must know this matter more or less, right?”“They were old stories.” Empress Su casually glanced at the courtyard below. Jian Xubai looked like Emperor Xianjia but was more delicate than his maternal uncle. Because he served the ill emperor and it was improper to wear luxurious clothes, he was dressed in a shirt with a collar of Ruyi-shaped grai