Chapter 380 A Prince Who Liked Studying Buddhism
“Ah,” the bitter cry came from behind. It was a lady’s voice which was very light and gentle. Even if Xiqi didn’t see anyone, he could tell that it must be a gorgeous lady.
No matter how curious Xiqi was, he didn’t dare to look back and quickened his pace, for fear that his slow pace would annoy Chu Liuchen. His master had kept telling him not to mess with Chu Liuchen. His master had no choice this time, otherwise his master would not make use of Chu Liuchen as a shield.
Qin Wanru touched her head and burst into tears in pain. She didn’t know what hard stuff she had bumped her head on so that she could see nothing but a pall of darkness at the moment.
She felt the cloak on her head was lifted up, and saw Chu Liuchen cover his chin with his long and white hand and his long and pretty eyes become gloomy.
Qin Wanru immediately realized what had happened and hurriedly reached out to rub her hair with a flattering smile.
“Your Highness, who is your uncle?”
She felt another hand fell on the top of her hair and gently rubbed her head. He then looked at her with disgust and said, “Ask Xiao Xuanzi to take you away from the back door.”
As he said, he removed the other hand from his chin and held Qin Wanru’s slim waist. Feeling her waist touched by a warm hand, Qin Wanru immediately came to her senses and stood up hurriedly, and the cloak slipped aside.
“Second Miss, please follow me!” Xiao Xuanzi came over from the stairs, bowed his head and said.
“Put on this cloak. Don’t expose yourself!” Chu Liuchen stood up and put his cloak on Qin Wanru. This time he didn’t cover Qin Wanru with it casually, but made a knot with the two straps and covered her head with the hood. From the outside, others couldn’t see anything but a vague figure of a lady.
Qin Wanru knew that the guards from the palace would inevitably come over to inquire for a while. If she stayed here, it was easy to expose herself, so it was extremely inappropriate.
She followed Xiao Xuanzi downstairs. Yujie had been waiting at the entrance of the stairs. She was also draped in a gray cloak which completely covered her clothes and face.
An ordinary carriage was stopped at the back door. Xiao Xuanzi arranged for them to get in the carriage. After that, the carriage turned all the way out to another bustling street intersection, and then turned out of the street, went through a narrow alley and turned to a main street. After turning several corners, it finally stopped in a quiet alley.
“Miss, please get out of the carriage,” the coachman said in a low voice after the carriage stopped.
Yujie jumped out of the carriage, followed by Qin Wanru.
“Miss, please leave the cloaks.” The coachman reminded them. After Yujie put their cloaks back on the carriage, the coachman pointed at the main street in front of them and said, “After getting out of here and walking a distance, you can see the main street where the bookstore which has caught fire is!”
This was the way back to the main street!
Qin Wanru nodded, and Yujie stepped aside. The carriage moved forward again.
Qin Wanru led Yujie out of the alley and stood on the street. There were still numerous people on this street. Nevertheless, they didn’t surge forward, but discussed something in groups of three and four. Qin Wanru walked over with Yujie and listened to their conversation. Hearing they talking about the bookstore which had caught fire a moment ago, Qin Wanru involuntarily stopped.
“Why is there assassin in that store? Will the shopkeeper of an ordinary bookstore be assassinated?”
“There is an aristocrat in the bookstore, and I heard it is a Prince.”
“Really? Is the Prince alright? It will be a disaster if the Prince is seriously injured.” Some people were very worried. If a member of the imperial family was seriously injured, those involved in it would get into great trouble.
“I don’t know. I hope he’s alright. It’s no big deal that a small bookstore is burned down!” No one knew whether the talking person was appeasing himself or appeasing others.
Qin Wanru blinked her fluid eyes. She had actually figured out the identity of the Prince when she was upstairs.
He was Prince Cheng who liked studying Buddhism and was the younger brother of the current emperor!
It was said that Prince Cheng had liked studying Buddhism very much since he was a child and even had the idea of becoming a monk. If it weren’t for being stopped by the Empress Dowager and the emperor, he would have done that.
He intended to be a monk due to his being keen on Buddhism rather than being frustrated by anything. Now he was not young, but had not got marry.
He and the current emperor were actually half brothers. Nevertheless, he had been raised by the Empress Dowager since his biological mother died in his childhood. Thus, the Empress Dowager liked him so much that she would not allow him to be a monk. Under her repeated pressure, Prince Cheng basically lived in those famous temples on mountains instead of his mansion.
He just went to visit the Empress Dowager when going downhill occasionally.
In Qin Wanru’s impression, the prince was the most indifferent person, and even faded out of everyone’s view. Everyone only thought that the sons of the emperor would fight for the throne, but didn’t expect that the brother of the emperor had a great ambition but just covered it up with his usual performance.
In the last life, when Qin Wanru was cut in two at the waist, Prince Cheng was a master of Buddhism. Hearing that his elder brother was sick, he hurriedly entered the palace to take care of his elder brother.
Qin Wanru had spent much time in the palace in the last life, but had rarely met Prince Cheng. However, she had secretly seen something related to Prince Cheng and thus to know that Prince Cheng was not as indifferent as he seemed to be.
On that day, she passed an isolated palace. She couldn’t remember what she went there for, but she seemingly went there for some business. There she saw two eunuchs secretly talking, and one gave something to the other. She was shocked beside.
One of the two eunuchs served Prince Cheng, and the other was the emperor’s henchman. The eunuch serving Prince Cheng gave the emperor’s henchman a package of stuff and asked him to put it in the emperor’s meals. They seemingly mentioned Chu Liuchen, the crown prince at that time. But Qin Wanru was far away from them, and they talked intermittently.
Qin Wanru didn’t hear them clearly. Nevertheless, if nothing was wrong with the package of stuff, why didn’t they take it out and give it directly to the emperor? Seeing the two eunuchs’ stealthy deeds, Qin Wanru didn’t dare to move at the moment for fear of being discovered by them. If the two eunuchs found that she was hiding there, she would be killed…
The incident happening in the last life had caused her great confusion and panic at that time. Nevertheless, when she died in the last life, the emperor was still alright, and Prince Cheng was still a Prince who liked studying Buddhism and cared about brotherhood a lot.
Even though the royal family had always distrusted the brotherhood, they had no vigilance in front of such a Prince who set his mind on becoming a monk…
“Sister Wanru!” There came a voice. Qin Wanru looked back in astonishment, only to see Qi Tianyu standing behind her with a look of surprise.
Seeing her turn her head, he found it was really Qin Wanru and immediately smiled.
Was he really joyful to find her? She felt weird. Qin Wanru slightly frowned and looked at Qi Tianyu, feeling that there was something wrong she didn’t know…
“Master, they’ve come!” Xiao Xuanzi went upstairs to report.
“Ask them to come here!” Chu Liuchen waved lazily and said.
Xiao Xuanzi nodded. After a while, there came the sounds of taking stairs, and a guard leader came upstairs. At the sight of Chu Liuchen, he stepped forward to bow and respectfully said, “I pay you my respects, Your Highness!”
“Forego formalities!” Chu Liuchen casually said, raised his face blushing due to drunkenness and closed his eyes. He could tell that the Prince was a little drunk.
“Your Highness, I’m ordered by the Emperor to investigate the incident of Prince Cheng’s being assassinated!” The guard leader stood up straight and said.
“Is uncle alright?” Chu Liuchen reached out to touch his head and asked lazily.
“Prince Cheng is fine but just frightened!” The guard leader said and frowned secretly. If he failed to find out the truth, he couldn’t report on his mission and it would be another disaster.
What had happened to the several princes had made everyone tense, for fear of another disturbance. Now the most indifferent and inactive Prince Cheng was assassinated. There must be someone plotting.
What did the person plot for? It was obvious. The guard leader was under great pressure!
“Since he’s just frightened, it’s nothing serious. I was terribly frightened too!” Chu Liuchen casually said, “Should I return to the palace or my mansion at this time?”
He asked so directly. The guard leader smiled bitterly and said tactfully, “Your Highness, the Empress Dowager and the emperor are worried about your safety, so please return to the palace!”
Such an incident happened, and Prince Chen got involved in the center of it. Even though everyone thought that Prince Chen got involved unluckily, the guard leader had to ask.
The guard leader was baffled. He really dared not inquire Prince Chen casually, but could only say something tactfully. It was most appropriate for the emperor to inquire Prince Chen by himself after they entered the palace. Regarding other things, he dared not ask too much.
After working in the palace for so long, the guard leader certainly knew the importance of Prince Chen. If something terrible happened to Prince Cheng and Prince Chen got involved in it, Prince Chen would be fine. However, if something terrible happened to Prince Chen and Prince Cheng got involved in it, it would be something serious. Should he feel lucky that it was Prince Cheng who was assassinated instead of Prince Chen with a higher status.
Up to now, the guard leader hadn’t figured out why Prince Chen, who was extremely sick and weak, got involved in it, which made it harder for him to inquire.
“Uncle isn’t returning to the palace with me?” Chu Liuchen smiled gently. His voice was mild, but exuded the dignity that could not be ignored.
The guard leader dared not refuse to answer.
“Prince Cheng will certainly enter the palace!”
“That’s good. I accidentally thought of this house and wanted to enjoy the scenery here. I don’t know when uncle moved to the yard beside mine and became my neighbor.” Chu Liuchen stood up, raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly, with his face becoming increasingly gentle and elegant.
However, on hearing his words, with his face changing dramatically, the guard leader unconsciously hit his sword with his hand, making a clear sound of “clang”.
Chu Liuchen looked towards the sword of the guard leader, and his face suddenly darkened.
Xiao Xuanzi came to kick the guard leader fiercely. The guard leader fell and rolled on the ground and screamed in fear, “Your Highness, it is a misunderstanding. I just encountered it accidentally and have no malicious intention!”