Chapter 269: 269
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
The crown prince walked to the Qingxi Hall nervously and suddenly awakened when he heard a eunuch greet him. He calmed down and asked, “Is Grandma available now?”
The eunuch entered the hall to report. Then he came out soon and said, “Her Majesty is waiting for you in the side hall.”
“What brought you here?” Seeing her eldest grandson come in, the Empress Dowager raised her hand and told him to get up. Then she asked gently, “The emperor is unwell these days, and he entrusted the state affairs to you. You should work hard.”
“Although I am busy with the state affairs, I can’t neglect the elders.” The crown prince’s heart sank after he heard that. When he grew up, Emperor Xianjia was certainly his closest and most familiar elder, and the second was the Empress Dowager. Because the emperor was anxious to cultivate him and make him a qualified heir to the throne, he had much to study since childhood. He just relaxed a little as he started to learn dealing with the state affairs these two years. So he didn’t have many chances to see his biological mother and the empress all the time, while the Empress Dowager was like his mother to some extent. That was why the Empress Dowager supported him from the beginning.
So the grandma and grandson were always close and could speak at will to each other. Now the Empress Dowager looked gentle, yet in her words and actions, there was distance which could be found easily. When she talked about the state affairs, she even rebuked him. How could the crown prince be unable to notice it?
He restrained his panic and said respectfully, “Grandma, I didn’t come to greet you these days, and it is my fault. So as soon as I finished handling the state affairs, I came to see you.”
“You are so considerate.” The Empress Dowager smiled after hearing that, but her smile didn’t spread to her eyes. “In fact, I am always like this, and I don’t need others to worry about me. However, the empress can’t eat or sleep well these days since the news came from Qingzhou. She has lost weight noticeably… Alas!”
“Grandma, you are right. Every time Xisu comes back after visiting Mother these days, she is worried when mentioning it.” Xisu was the crown princess’ secondary personal name. Su Bofeng was in trouble, and the crown prince didn’t feel sad for him but was even delighted in their misfortunes, yet he should do something on the surface.
The people in the Eastern Palace would never make such a small mistake, so since the news spread, the crown prince and his wife visited Empress Su on Cuihua Mountain and after they came back to the imperial palace. Especially the crown princess couldn’t stand by and do nothing when her legitimate mother-in-law didn’t eat or drink and spent her days in tears. These days, she went to visit the empress in the Palace of Weiyang almost every two days. It was Empress Su’s business if she listened to the consolation, but whether the crown princess cared about her was a big problem, which could show if the Eastern Palace respected the elders.
So when the Empress Dowager brought up the empress, the crown prince didn’t feel guilty. However, after he continued with the Empress Dowager’s subject, he always thought that she openly and secretly rebuked him as he had something to do with the case in Qingzhou. Till now, he didn’t need to sound out, and he knew that Gu Shao’s guess was right. The rumors in the imperial capital were spread by the Empress Dowager.
Although Gu Shao had reminded him before he came, the crown prince still felt downhearted.
The Empress Dowager and Emperor Xianjia were his biggest backup in the past, yet now his grandma had become his enemy.
She had watched her eldest grandson grow up gradually, yet he was not as important as her daughter that she had given birth to after she was pregnant for nine months.
The crown prince had children, so he could understand the Empress Dowager’s feelings, but he had his grievance. Grand Princess Daiguo wanted to support Prince of Wei in fighting for the throne because she was afraid that Consort Cui would take revenge on her after entering the Palace of Mingren as the next Empress Dowager.
The problem was, to be fair, most of the time, Grand Princess Daiguo was to blame for the enmity between her and Consort Cui.
Grand Princess Daiguo promoted their quarrel to humiliation as she slapped Consort Cui in the face. Then it became an enmity to kill each other. Consort Cui was wrong to arrange spies around Grand Princess Daiguo, but she was forced to.
“If Grandma restrained Aunt Daiguo earlier and didn’t allow her to be overbearing, how would Aunt Daiguo treated Mother like that?” At this thought, the crown prince just felt unspeakable bitterness surging and making his heart cold and numb. He staggered out of the Palace of Mingren and kept thinking. “It was Aunt Daiguo’s fault in the beginning, but when did Grandma and Father blame her? Now Grandma even wants to cope with me because of Aunt Daiguo…”
After the crown prince left at a loss, Yuguo brought cakes and tea into the side hall. Seeing that the Empress Dowager looked at the floor in a daze gloomily with depression in her eyes, Yuguo couldn’t help but sigh in secret and then put the tea on the table cautiously. Then she whispered, “Your Majesty, why don’t you have a heart-to-heart talk with the crown prince? He admires and respects you all the time. If you ask him, he won’t refuse.”
The Empress Dowager snorted and stated impassively, “Of course he won’t refuse. After all, I am still alive, right?”
Yuguo noticed that the Empress Dowager was in a bad mood, so she hurriedly lowered her head and kept silent.
“Moreover, what’s the point even if he agrees sincerely?” The Empress Dowager continued, “It’s like I have never approved of Daiguo’s plan to get involved in the fight for the throne, yet she did that on her own. Can I beat her to death? As long as Cui is alive, how would she not get back at Daiguo in the future? I and the emperor would have gone then, and Consort Cui will live in the Palace of Mingren. If she wants Daiguo to die, do you think the crown prince can stop her? Or do you think that the crown prince will do something to his biological mother because of his promise to his grandma today?”
The Empress Dowager sighed. “You have been working for me for many years. Have you forgotten what happened in the past? That year, before the late emperor passed away, he eagerly told me and the emperor not to make things difficult for Shentu’s and Zhenyuan’s children.”
At that time, the late emperor knew that his two favored concubines would end up with a miserable death, and he just hoped that Emperor Xianjia could spare his half-siblings’ lives for the sake of the kinship.
What was the result?
Not to mention Noble Consort Shentu’s and Madame Zhenyuan’s children, even all the late emperor’s other children who didn’t get involved in the mess went to accompany him with their children after Emperor Xianjia took the throne.
The late emperor had more than forty children, and more than twenty of them were princes, yet only Emperor Xianjia and the descendants of Prince of Yi were left alive now.
The Empress Dowager had broken her word, so how would she trust the crown prince?
“Of course, after all, the crown prince is my descendant. Moreover, the emperor’s health…” At the mention of her son, the Empress Dowager stayed silent for a while and then continued, “Unless I have no alternative, I don’t want to hurt the emperor’s heart! But Daiguo…I have only two daughters alive now, and I don’t want her to have a bad ending. This time, I just give the crown prince a chance for the sake of our kinship.”
She paused for a moment and then added, “If…then the emperor can’t comment.”
From the corner of her eye, Yuguo found that when the Empress Dowager said that, it was peaceful in her eyes, and she was not sad or happy, with no emotion. However, Yuguo trembled for no reason.
There were more and more rumors in the imperial capital. The Jingzhao Municipality, the Ministry of Punishments and the supreme court sent runners to put pressure on the crowd to refute the rumors. However, after they did that, not so many people wanted to be accused because they gossiped, while in private, they suspected the Eastern Palace more.
“It’s pointless to refute the rumors now. After all, Zhao Wu and his son are still on the way under escort.” Gu Shao secretly reminded the crown prince. “This thing has nothing to do with you, Your Highness. No matter how they investigate it, they won’t interrogate you, but there is a problem right now…”
The crown prince asked with a frown, “What?”
“Since Zhao Wu put Su Bofeng in prison, he wants to seek refuge with you.” Gu Shao sighed. “However, you don’t agree with him till now. It was fine if in the past. Now even His Majesty said something in person, and Zhao Wu and his son would surely die. Because of the Su Family’s rage, not only the father and son, perhaps the whole Zhao Family would…”
Gu Shao said that not because he felt pity for the Zhao Family. He was an official for many years and had seen a lot of family being wiped out. Not to mention that Zhao Wu and his son were not innocent, even if they were, he probably wasn’t in the mood to uphold justice. He said that because he was worried. “Since Zhao Wu indulged his son in doing something evil because the Su Family refused to marry a daughter to his son, he is so narrow-minded. If he talks nonsense after he arrives in the capital city and ruins your fame as you refuse him when he asks for help… It would be no problem at ordinary times, but there are rumors everywhere now. Then I am afraid that it’s difficult to handle it.”
After the crown prince heard that, his expression changed repeatedly in an instant. It was right. Judging from Su Bofeng’s experience, Zhao Wu was narrow-minded. When he expressed his intention to follow the Eastern Palace, Su Bofeng wasn’t disabled yet. At that time, Zhao Wu just wanted to get in touch with the crown prince because of this case and try to make contributions to the next emperor before he took the throne.
It didn’t matter if the crown prince ignored him then.
After all, Zhao Wu was a governor of a province. Although he was a high official in that place, he was nothing compared with an official at the imperial court. Even if he secretly hated the crown prince who looked down upon him, what could he do?
However, Zhao Wu was in a desperate situation now. According to his temper that was shown when he harmed Su Bofeng, even if he knew that even the crown prince could do nothing to save him, perhaps in order to vent his anger, he would fabricate a charge against the Eastern Palace of causing Su Bofeng’s disability.
If Zhao Wu just did that, the crown prince didn’t worry much.
After all, he was the heir to the throne, and how would it be so easy to slander him? Although the Su Family had a deep foundation, when Emperor Xianjia wholeheartedly protected his eldest son, they might not be able to frame the Eastern Palace only with Zhao Wu’s statement.
The problem was that now the Empress Dowager had this plan, too.
This Empress Dowager didn’t even need evidence. She just needed to make use of Zhao Wu’s words and express her disappointment to the crown prince in public. Then it was enough to give a devastating blow to the Eastern Palace.
After all, she was the crown prince’s legitimate grandmother.
Who would suspect that a grandmother would slander her grandson?
Especially all people at the imperial court knew that the Empress Dowager always spoilt the crown prince and loved this eldest grandson even more than her legitimate grandson, Prince of Zhao.
However, it was unrealistic for the crown prince to protect Zhao Wu just to prevent himself from being dragged down by Zhao Wu. Not to mention whether the crown prince could endure it, even if he gave a hand to Zhao Wu sincerely, how could the heir to the throne protect Zhao Wu and his son when Emperor Xianjia said something personally and the Empress Dowager clarified her position to side with the Su Family?
“We need to prevent Zhao Wu from talking nonsense in despair and refuse to give him hope.” The crown prince narrowed his eyes and pondered. “Then we can only do away with the witness, but would Grandma and the Su Family give me this chance?”
He didn’t even know if it was a trap. Would he be found guilty after he did that?
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
The crown prince walked to the Qingxi Hall nervously and suddenly awakened when he heard a eunuch greet him. He calmed down and asked, “Is Grandma available now?”
The eunuch entered the hall to report. Then he came out soon and said, “Her Majesty is waiting for you in the side hall.”
“What brought you here?” Seeing her eldest grandson come in, the Empress Dowager raised her hand and told him to get up. Then she asked gently, “The emperor is unwell these days, and he entrusted the state affairs to you. You should work hard.”
“Although I am busy with the state affairs, I can’t neglect the elders.” The crown prince’s heart sank after he heard that. When he grew up, Emperor Xianjia was certainly his closest and most familiar elder, and the second was the Empress Dowager. Because the emperor was anxious to cultivate him and make him a qualified heir to the throne, he had much to study since childhood. He just relaxed a little as he started to learn dealing with the state affairs these two years. So he didn’t have many chances to see his biological mother and the empress all the time, while the Empress Dowager was like his mother to some extent. That was why the Empress Dowager supported him from the beginning.
So the grandma and grandson were always close and could speak at will to each other. Now the Empress Dowager looked gentle, yet in her words and actions, there was distance which could be found easily. When she talked about the state affairs, she even rebuked him. How could the crown prince be unable to notice it?
He restrained his panic and said respectfully, “Grandma, I didn’t come to greet you these days, and it is my fault. So as soon as I finished handling the state affairs, I came to see you.”
“You are so considerate.” The Empress Dowager smiled after hearing that, but her smile didn’t spread to her eyes. “In fact, I am always like this, and I don’t need others to worry about me. However, the empress can’t eat or sleep well these days since the news came from Qingzhou. She has lost weight noticeably… Alas!”
“Grandma, you are right. Every time Xisu comes back after visiting Mother these days, she is worried when mentioning it.” Xisu was the crown princess’ secondary personal name. Su Bofeng was in trouble, and the crown prince didn’t feel sad for him but was even delighted in their misfortunes, yet he should do something on the surface.
The people in the Eastern Palace would never make such a small mistake, so since the news spread, the crown prince and his wife visited Empress Su on Cuihua Mountain and after they came back to the imperial palace. Especially the crown princess couldn’t stand by and do nothing when her legitimate mother-in-law didn’t eat or drink and spent her days in tears. These days, she went to visit the empress in the Palace of Weiyang almost every two days. It was Empress Su’s business if she listened to the consolation, but whether the crown princess cared about her was a big problem, which could show if the Eastern Palace respected the elders.
So when the Empress Dowager brought up the empress, the crown prince didn’t feel guilty. However, after he continued with the Empress Dowager’s subject, he always thought that she openly and secretly rebuked him as he had something to do with the case in Qingzhou. Till now, he didn’t need to sound out, and he knew that Gu Shao’s guess was right. The rumors in the imperial capital were spread by the Empress Dowager.
Although Gu Shao had reminded him before he came, the crown prince still felt downhearted.
The Empress Dowager and Emperor Xianjia were his biggest backup in the past, yet now his grandma had become his enemy.
She had watched her eldest grandson grow up gradually, yet he was not as important as her daughter that she had given birth to after she was pregnant for nine months.
The crown prince had children, so he could understand the Empress Dowager’s feelings, but he had his grievance. Grand Princess Daiguo wanted to support Prince of Wei in fighting for the throne because she was afraid that Consort Cui would take revenge on her after entering the Palace of Mingren as the next Empress Dowager.
The problem was, to be fair, most of the time, Grand Princess Daiguo was to blame for the enmity between her and Consort Cui.
Grand Princess Daiguo promoted their quarrel to humiliation as she slapped Consort Cui in the face. Then it became an enmity to kill each other. Consort Cui was wrong to arrange spies around Grand Princess Daiguo, but she was forced to.
“If Grandma restrained Aunt Daiguo earlier and didn’t allow her to be overbearing, how would Aunt Daiguo treated Mother like that?” At this thought, the crown prince just felt unspeakable bitterness surging and making his heart cold and numb. He staggered out of the Palace of Mingren and kept thinking. “It was Aunt Daiguo’s fault in the beginning, but when did Grandma and Father blame her? Now Grandma even wants to cope with me because of Aunt Daiguo…”
After the crown prince left at a loss, Yuguo brought cakes and tea into the side hall. Seeing that the Empress Dowager looked at the floor in a daze gloomily with depression in her eyes, Yuguo couldn’t help but sigh in secret and then put the tea on the table cautiously. Then she whispered, “Your Majesty, why don’t you have a heart-to-heart talk with the crown prince? He admires and respects you all the time. If you ask him, he won’t refuse.”
The Empress Dowager snorted and stated impassively, “Of course he won’t refuse. After all, I am still alive, right?”
Yuguo noticed that the Empress Dowager was in a bad mood, so she hurriedly lowered her head and kept silent.
“Moreover, what’s the point even if he agrees sincerely?” The Empress Dowager continued, “It’s like I have never approved of Daiguo’s plan to get involved in the fight for the throne, yet she did that on her own. Can I beat her to death? As long as Cui is alive, how would she not get back at Daiguo in the future? I and the emperor would have gone then, and Consort Cui will live in the Palace of Mingren. If she wants Daiguo to die, do you think the crown prince can stop her? Or do you think that the crown prince will do something to his biological mother because of his promise to his grandma today?”
The Empress Dowager sighed. “You have been working for me for many years. Have you forgotten what happened in the past? That year, before the late emperor passed away, he eagerly told me and the emperor not to make things difficult for Shentu’s and Zhenyuan’s children.”
At that time, the late emperor knew that his two favored concubines would end up with a miserable death, and he just hoped that Emperor Xianjia could spare his half-siblings’ lives for the sake of the kinship.
What was the result?
Not to mention Noble Consort Shentu’s and Madame Zhenyuan’s children, even all the late emperor’s other children who didn’t get involved in the mess went to accompany him with their children after Emperor Xianjia took the throne.
The late emperor had more than forty children, and more than twenty of them were princes, yet only Emperor Xianjia and the descendants of Prince of Yi were left alive now.
The Empress Dowager had broken her word, so how would she trust the crown prince?
“Of course, after all, the crown prince is my descendant. Moreover, the emperor’s health…” At the mention of her son, the Empress Dowager stayed silent for a while and then continued, “Unless I have no alternative, I don’t want to hurt the emperor’s heart! But Daiguo…I have only two daughters alive now, and I don’t want her to have a bad ending. This time, I just give the crown prince a chance for the sake of our kinship.”
She paused for a moment and then added, “If…then the emperor can’t comment.”
From the corner of her eye, Yuguo found that when the Empress Dowager said that, it was peaceful in her eyes, and she was not sad or happy, with no emotion. However, Yuguo trembled for no reason.
There were more and more rumors in the imperial capital. The Jingzhao Municipality, the Ministry of Punishments and the supreme court sent runners to put pressure on the crowd to refute the rumors. However, after they did that, not so many people wanted to be accused because they gossiped, while in private, they suspected the Eastern Palace more.
“It’s pointless to refute the rumors now. After all, Zhao Wu and his son are still on the way under escort.” Gu Shao secretly reminded the crown prince. “This thing has nothing to do with you, Your Highness. No matter how they investigate it, they won’t interrogate you, but there is a problem right now…”
The crown prince asked with a frown, “What?”
“Since Zhao Wu put Su Bofeng in prison, he wants to seek refuge with you.” Gu Shao sighed. “However, you don’t agree with him till now. It was fine if in the past. Now even His Majesty said something in person, and Zhao Wu and his son would surely die. Because of the Su Family’s rage, not only the father and son, perhaps the whole Zhao Family would…”
Gu Shao said that not because he felt pity for the Zhao Family. He was an official for many years and had seen a lot of family being wiped out. Not to mention that Zhao Wu and his son were not innocent, even if they were, he probably wasn’t in the mood to uphold justice. He said that because he was worried. “Since Zhao Wu indulged his son in doing something evil because the Su Family refused to marry a daughter to his son, he is so narrow-minded. If he talks nonsense after he arrives in the capital city and ruins your fame as you refuse him when he asks for help… It would be no problem at ordinary times, but there are rumors everywhere now. Then I am afraid that it’s difficult to handle it.”
After the crown prince heard that, his expression changed repeatedly in an instant. It was right. Judging from Su Bofeng’s experience, Zhao Wu was narrow-minded. When he expressed his intention to follow the Eastern Palace, Su Bofeng wasn’t disabled yet. At that time, Zhao Wu just wanted to get in touch with the crown prince because of this case and try to make contributions to the next emperor before he took the throne.
It didn’t matter if the crown prince ignored him then.
After all, Zhao Wu was a governor of a province. Although he was a high official in that place, he was nothing compared with an official at the imperial court. Even if he secretly hated the crown prince who looked down upon him, what could he do?
However, Zhao Wu was in a desperate situation now. According to his temper that was shown when he harmed Su Bofeng, even if he knew that even the crown prince could do nothing to save him, perhaps in order to vent his anger, he would fabricate a charge against the Eastern Palace of causing Su Bofeng’s disability.
If Zhao Wu just did that, the crown prince didn’t worry much.
After all, he was the heir to the throne, and how would it be so easy to slander him? Although the Su Family had a deep foundation, when Emperor Xianjia wholeheartedly protected his eldest son, they might not be able to frame the Eastern Palace only with Zhao Wu’s statement.
The problem was that now the Empress Dowager had this plan, too.
This Empress Dowager didn’t even need evidence. She just needed to make use of Zhao Wu’s words and express her disappointment to the crown prince in public. Then it was enough to give a devastating blow to the Eastern Palace.
After all, she was the crown prince’s legitimate grandmother.
Who would suspect that a grandmother would slander her grandson?
Especially all people at the imperial court knew that the Empress Dowager always spoilt the crown prince and loved this eldest grandson even more than her legitimate grandson, Prince of Zhao.
However, it was unrealistic for the crown prince to protect Zhao Wu just to prevent himself from being dragged down by Zhao Wu. Not to mention whether the crown prince could endure it, even if he gave a hand to Zhao Wu sincerely, how could the heir to the throne protect Zhao Wu and his son when Emperor Xianjia said something personally and the Empress Dowager clarified her position to side with the Su Family?
“We need to prevent Zhao Wu from talking nonsense in despair and refuse to give him hope.” The crown prince narrowed his eyes and pondered. “Then we can only do away with the witness, but would Grandma and the Su Family give me this chance?”
He didn’t even know if it was a trap. Would he be found guilty after he did that?
The crown prince walked to the Qingxi Hall nervously and suddenly awakened when he heard a eunuch greet him. He calmed down and asked, Is Grandma available now?The eunuch entered the hall to report. Then he came out soon and said, Her Majesty is waiting for you in the side hall.What brought you here? Seeing her eldest grandson come in, the Empress Dowager raised her hand and told him to get up. Then she asked gently, The emperor is unwell these days, and he entrusted the state affairs to you. You should work hard.Although I am busy with the state affairs, I can't neglect the elders. The crown prince's heart sank after he heard that. When he grew up, Emperor Xianjia was certainly his closest and most familiar elder, and the second was the Empress Dowager. Because the emperor was anxious to cultivate him and make him a qualified heir to the throne, he had much to study since childhood. He just relaxed a little as he started to learn dealing with the state affairs these two years. So he didn't have many chances to see his biological mother and the empress all the time, while the Empress Dowager was like his mother to some extent. That was why the Empress Dowager supported him from the beginning.So the grandma and grandson were always close and could speak at will to each other. Now the Empress Dowager looked gentle, yet in her words and actions, there was distance which could be found easily. When she talked about the state affairs, she even rebuked him. How could the crown prince be unable to notice it?He restrained his panic and said respectfully, Grandma, I didn't come to greet you these days, and it is my fault. So as soon as I finished handling the state affairs, I came to see you.You are so considerate. The Empress Dowager smiled after hearing that, but her smile didn't spread to her eyes. In fact, I am always like this, and I don't need others to worry about me. However, the empress can't eat or sleep well these days since the news came from Qingzhou. She has lost weight noticeably Alas!Grandma, you are right. Every time Xisu comes back after visiting Mother these days, she is worried when mentioning it. Xisu was the crown princess' secondary personal name. Su Bofeng was in trouble, and the crown prince didn't feel sad for him but was even delighted in their misfortunes, yet he should do something on the surface.The people in the Eastern Palace would never make such a small mistake, so since the news spread, the crown prince and his wife visited Empress Su on Cuihua Mountain and after they came back to the imperial palace. Especially the crown princess couldn't stand by and do nothing when her legitimate mother-in-law didn't eat or drink and spent her days in tears. These days, she went to visit the empress in the Palace of Weiyang almost every two days. It was Empress Su's business if she listened to the consolation, but whether the crown princess cared about her was a big problem, which could show if the Eastern Palace respected the elders.So when the Empress Dowager brought up the empress, the crown prince didn't feel guilty. However, after he continued with the Empress Dowager's subject, he always thought that she openly and secretly rebuked him as he had something to do with the case in Qingzhou. Till now, he didn't need to sound out, and he knew that Gu Shao's guess was right. The rumors in the imperial capital were spread by the Empress Dowager.Although Gu Shao had reminded him before he came, the crown prince still felt downhearted.The Empress Dowager and Emperor Xianjia were his biggest backup in the past, yet now his grandma had become his enemy.She had watched her eldest grandson grow up gradually, yet he was not as important as her daughter that she had given birth to after she was pregnant for nine months.The crown prince had children, so he could understand the Empress Dowager's feelings, but he had his grievance. Grand Princess Daiguo wanted to support Prince of Wei in fighting for the throne because she was afraid that Consort Cui would take revenge on her after entering the Palace of Mingren as the next Empress Dowager.The problem was, to be fair, most of the time, Grand Princess Daiguo was to blame for the enmity between her and Consort Cui.Grand Princess Daiguo promoted their quarrel to humiliation as she slapped Consort Cui in the face. Then it became an enmity to kill each other. Consort Cui was wrong to arrange spies around Grand Princess Daiguo, but she was forced to.If Grandma restrained Aunt Daiguo earlier and didn't allow her to be overbearing, how would Aunt Daiguo treated Mother like that? At this thought, the crown prince just felt unspeakable bitterness surging and making his heart cold and numb. He staggered out of the Palace of Mingren and kept thinking. It was Aunt Daiguo's fault in the beginning, but when did Grandma and Father blame her? Now Grandma even wants to cope with me because of Aunt DaiguoAfter the crown prince left at a loss, Yuguo brought cakes and tea into the side hall. Seeing that the Empress Dowager looked at the floor in a daze gloomily with depression in her eyes, Yuguo couldn't help but sigh in secret and then put the tea on the table cautiously. Then she whispered, Your Majesty, why don't you have a heart-to-heart talk with the crown prince? He admires and respects you all the time. If you ask him, he won't refuse.The Empress Dowager snorted and stated impassively, Of course he won't refuse. After all, I am still alive, right?Yuguo noticed that the Empress Dowager was in a bad mood, so she hurriedly lowered her head and kept silent.Moreover, what's the point even if he agrees sincerely? The Empress Dowager continued, It's like I have never approved of Daiguo's plan to get involved in the fight for the throne, yet she did that on her own. Can I beat her to death? As long as Cui is alive, how would she not get back at Daiguo in the future? I and the emperor would have gone then, and Consort Cui will live in the Palace of Mingren. If she wants Daiguo to die, do you think the crown prince can stop her? Or do you think that the crown prince will do something to his biological mother because of his promise to his grandma today?The Empress Dowager sighed. You have been working for me for many years. Have you forgotten what happened in the past? That year, before the late emperor passed away, he eagerly told me and the emperor not to make things difficult for Shentu's and Zhenyuan's children.At that time, the late emperor knew that his two favored concubines would end up with a miserable death, and he just hoped that Emperor Xianjia could spare his half-siblings' lives for the sake of the kinship.What was the result?Not to mention Noble Consort Shentu's and Madame Zhenyuan's children, even all the late emperor's other children who didn't get involved in the mess went to accompany him with their children after Emperor Xianjia took the throne.The late emperor had more than forty children, and more than twenty of them were princes, yet only Emperor Xianjia and the descendants of Prince of Yi were left alive now.The Empress Dowager had broken her word, so how would she trust the crown prince?Of course, after all, the crown prince is my descendant. Moreover, the emperor's health At the mention of her son, the Empress Dowager stayed silent for a while and then continued, Unless I have no alternative, I don't want to hurt the emperor's heart! But DaiguoI have only two daughters alive now, and I don't want her to have a bad ending. This time, I just give the crown prince a chance for the sake of our kinship.She paused for a moment and then added, Ifthen the emperor can't comment.From the corner of her eye, Yuguo found that when the Empress Dowager said that, it was peaceful in her eyes, and she was not sad or happy, with no emotion. However, Yuguo trembled for no reason.There were more and more rumors in the imperial capital. The Jingzhao Municipality, the Ministry of Punishments and the supreme court sent runners to put pressure on the crowd to refute the rumors. However, after they did that, not so many people wanted to be accused because they gossiped, while in private, they suspected the Eastern Palace more.It's pointless to refute the rumors now. After all, Zhao Wu and his son are still on the way under escort. Gu Shao secretly reminded the crown prince. This thing has nothing to do with you, Your Highness. No matter how they investigate it, they won't interrogate you, but there is a problem right nowThe crown prince asked with a frown, What?Since Zhao Wu put Su Bofeng in prison, he wants to seek refuge with you. Gu Shao sighed. However, you don't agree with him till now. It was fine if in the past. Now even His Majesty said something in person, and Zhao Wu and his son would surely die. Because of the Su Family's rage, not only the father and son, perhaps the whole Zhao Family wouldGu Shao said that not because he felt pity for the Zhao Family. He was an official for many years and had seen a lot of family being wiped out. Not to mention that Zhao Wu and his son were not innocent, even if they were, he probably wasn't in the mood to uphold justice. He said that because he was worried. Since Zhao Wu indulged his son in doing something evil because the Su Family refused to marry a daughter to his son, he is so narrow-minded. If he talks nonsense after he arrives in the capital city and ruins your fame as you refuse him when he asks for help It would be no problem at ordinary times, but there are rumors everywhere now. Then I am afraid that it's difficult to handle it.After the crown prince heard that, his expression changed repeatedly in an instant. It was right. Judging from Su Bofeng's experience, Zhao Wu was narrow-minded. When he expressed his intention to follow the Eastern Palace, Su Bofeng wasn't disabled yet. At that time, Zhao Wu just wanted to get in touch with the crown prince because of this case and try to make contributions to the next emperor before he took the throne.It didn't matter if the crown prince ignored him then.After all, Zhao Wu was a governor of a province. Although he was a high official in that place, he was nothing compared with an official at the imperial court. Even if he secretly hated the crown prince who looked down upon him, what could he do?However, Zhao Wu was in a desperate situation now. According to his temper that was shown when he harmed Su Bofeng, even if he knew that even the crown prince could do nothing to save him, perhaps in order to vent his anger, he would fabricate a charge against the Eastern Palace of causing Su Bofeng's disability.If Zhao Wu just did that, the crown prince didn't worry much.After all, he was the heir to the throne, and how would it be so easy to slander him? Although the Su Family had a deep foundation, when Emperor Xianjia wholeheartedly protected his eldest son, they might not be able to frame the Eastern Palace only with Zhao Wu's statement.The problem was that now the Empress Dowager had this plan, too.This Empress Dowager didn't even need evidence. She just needed to make use of Zhao Wu's words and express her disappointment to the crown prince in public. Then it was enough to give a devastating blow to the Eastern Palace.After all, she was the crown prince's legitimate grandmother.Who would suspect that a grandmother would slander her grandson?Especially all people at the imperial court knew that the Empress Dowager always spoilt the crown prince and loved this eldest grandson even more than her legitimate grandson, Prince of Zhao.However, it was unrealistic for the crown prince to protect Zhao Wu just to prevent himself from being dragged down by Zhao Wu. Not to mention whether the crown prince could endure it, even if he gave a hand to Zhao Wu sincerely, how could the heir to the throne protect Zhao Wu and his son when Emperor Xianjia said something personally and the Empress Dowager clarified her position to side with the Su Family?We need to prevent Zhao Wu from talking nonsense in despair and refuse to give him hope. The crown prince narrowed his eyes and pondered. Then we can only do away with the witness, but would Grandma and the Su Family give me this chance?He didn't even know if it was a trap. Would he be found guilty after he did that?
