Chapter 797 Unsaid Candidate
Shao Yanru had little chance to make a comeback unless she could win the favor of the Emperor. However, Chu Liuyue thought it almost impossible.
There were a lot of lineal daughters of Duke Xing’s Mansion and only one daughter of non-lineal descent. Without Shao Yanru, he could take advantage of others. If Chu Liuyue wanted to obtain the support of Duke Xing’s Mansion, he could choose other daughters of Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Shao Wanru was not the biological daughter of Shao Jing, the Duke Xing, but after all, if Shao Jing, who had lost his biological daughter, wanted to support one of his nieces, Shao Wanru was the best choice. Shao Wanru, who originally had Rui’an Great Elder Princess as her backing, became more honorable and even more noble than Shao Yanru in the past.
After thinking it through, Chu Liuyue decided that he couldn’t wait any longer, otherwise, more people would find that Shao Wanru’s value was different from that of the past, so he had to beat them to it.
Originally, he planned to use Shao Yanru’s incident as an excuse to see Shao Wanru to court her favor. Unexpectedly, his plan was disrupted by Chu Liuchen, which also made Chu Liuyue become alarmed.
He didn’t feel too frustrated after losing Shao Yanru. On the contrary, he felt relaxed. At present, in order to get the support of Duke Xing’s Mansion, he couldn’t lose Shao Wanru. He felt very anxious now.
“Mother, what does my father think of the beauties of Chuxiu Palace?” Chu Liuyue raised his eyelids, looked at the Empress who was a little thirsty, and asked, as if he didn’t hear the Empress’s sarcasm.
Seeing that he was so calm, the Empress changed her mind and immediately calmed down. She thought that she had gone too far just now. The reason why she lost her composure was Shao Yanru’s incident before.
“Prince Yue, do you mean that you are interested in someone?” The Empress put down the teacup in her hand and asked with a smile. She looked calm and composed, with the temperament of the Empress.
“I have indeed fallen in love with a lady. I hope you can help me!” Chu Liuyue stood up, lifted the hem of his robe, and knelt down to the Empress.
“Which lady do you fancy?” The Empress said in surprise. She really didn’t expect that Chu Liuyue would be so forthright and even beg her. Shouldn’t he beg the Emperor now?
But when she thought about what had happened to the Emperor, she knew that the Emperor was not in the mood to grant marriage to his son, so she understood Chu Liuyue’s thought. He really fancied a Miss and was afraid that she would be taken by others, so he came here to beg her. Thinking of this, she could not help feeling complacent.
No matter what, he was still a son of a concubine, even if he was a prince. At this time, he had to come here to beg her, not Consort of Virtue.
“Tell me, which one do you like? If it is appropriate, I will make the decision for you!” The Empress reached out to help Chu Liuyue up.
As long as the lady he fancied was not the person she chose, it didn’t matter. It was not a difficult thing to grant marriage to Chu Liuyue. What was more, the daughter-in-law she selected was not among the beauties of Chuxiu Palace, so she didn’t worry that she would be chosen by Chu Liuyue.
Chu Liuyue smiled bitterly and said helplessly, “Mother, in fact, I don’t mean to marry a certain person. There are always disputes in the backyard, so I just want to marry a powerful person who can help me manage the people in the backyard.”
“A powerful person? Which family do you mean?” The Empress thought in her mind. It meant that the person’s family was influential. She secretly thought of the influential candidates this year. She was a little wary of what Chu Liuyue said.
There were indeed a lot of women in the backyard of Prince Yue’s Mansion, but most of them were insignificant and couldn’t make any big trouble. How could a low-ranking woman dare to make trouble? In fact, the Empress really didn’t hope that the backyard of Chu Liuyue was peaceful. More importantly, she didn’t want Chu Liuyue to marry a powerful woman in case it would affect the future of her own son.
“Mother…” Chu Liuyue smiled slightly and was about to say it bluntly. He knew clearly what the Empress was thinking. At this time, it was better to speak bluntly than to beat around the bush. Chu Liuzhou must have no idea to marry Shao Wanru. Or he hadn’t figured out the value of Shao Wanru. Shao Wanru was not a suitable candidate for Prince Zhou’s wife.
“Your Highness, Prince Chen is here!” A eunuch came in in a hurry and reported in a sharp voice.
His voice disrupted Chu Liuyue’s words. At this time, it was inconvenient for him to speak out his idea in a hurry. Inexplicably, he had a bad feeling. When he talked to Shao Wanru before, Chu Liuchen appeared. But now, when he talked to the Empress, he appeared again!
The Empress said, “Ask Prince Chen to come in!”
Chu Liuchen appeared in the main hall and walked over slowly. He bowed to the Empress casually, and the Empress politely invited him to sit down.
“What a coincidence, brother is also here!” Chu Liuchen raised his eyebrows with a smile in his handsome eyes.
“Third brother, it is indeed a coincidence. I met you before, and now I meet you again. Have you finished dealing with the matter for the Emperor?” Chu Liuyue was annoyed in his heart, but he had to show a smile on his face.
He had always had a cold expression on his face. A smile like that was very rare to see.
“What did His Majesty ask Prince Chen to do?” The Empress figured out some implied meaning, so she turned to ask Chu Liuchen.
Chu Liuchen sat down on a chair and raised the corners of his eyes, revealing a trace of evil coldness in his eyes. “It’s not a big deal. I was just assigned to see where Secondary Consort Shao lives and what she needs!”
The Empress was anxious and she asked subconsciously, “What does the Emperor mean?”
Could it be that he wanted to ask Shao Yanru to come back?
“Uncle doesn’t mean anything. He just asked me to inquire about it clearly, so that he can tell Duke Xing about it directly. Speaking of this, Duke Xing took responsibility for his lax discipline of his daughter. If the Emperor can tell him in detail, Duke Xing won’t have objection!” Chu Liuchen said casually. He did have the most right to speak about Shao Yanru’s matter because he had no relationship with Shao Yanru.
No matter if it was Chu Liuyue or Chu Liuzhou, or even Chu Liuxin who was related to today’s incident, they more or less had a relationship with Shao Yanru.
From this point of view, he was indeed the most suitable person to investigate Shao Yanru.
The Empress’s eyes twitched, and her eyelids twitched a while. She clasped her hands in front of her body with a dignified look. “Duke Xing really should take the blame for Secondary Consort Shao’s incident.”
In the past, the Empress was always partial to Duke Xing’s Mansion. It was the first time that she had expressed her disapproval of Duke Xing’s Mansion in public.
“Your Highness, you are right. My uncle also has the same idea.” Chu Liuchen nodded. Then he turned his head to Chu Liuyue who was sitting aside in silence, and said, “Brother, do you also come here for Secondary Consort Shao?”
Chu Liuyue’s face became colder and colder. He didn’t want to have any relationship with Shao Yanru at all now. He looked at Chu Liuchen coldly and controlled his emotions after a long time. “The matter of Secondary Consort Shao has nothing to do with me.”
Chu Liuchen said with an indifferent face, “I am wrong. I thought you pleaded for Secondary Consort Shao.”
Chu Liuyue’s face was flushed with anger, and he felt annoyed in his heart. “This invalid was really haunting. He actually came here when I visited Empress. Even if I had a lot of ideas on my mind now, it was not appropriate to talk about them at this time.”
“Brother, with regards to Secondary Consort Shao’s identity, we can’t discuss her at will now.” Chu Liuyue reminded Chu Liuchen in a cold voice.
“Brother, you are right. Secondary Consort Shao has higher seniority now, so we can’t talk about her casually, but the Emperor asked me to investigate her, so I talked about her unconsciously just now.” Chu Liuchen nodded and explained as if he didn’t know that he had provoked Chu Liuyue.
The rage in Chu Liuyue’s heart almost went out of control.
When the Empress said it just now, he could bear it. However, when Chu Liuchen said the same words now, he felt them distasteful, not only because of Chu Liuchen, but also because of Shao Yanru. This woman was really disgusting and shameful.
How could there be such a disgusting woman in the world!
Not only did she seduce him, but she also had a relationship with his second brother. Now, she did not even let his fourth brother go and finally threw herself into the arms of his father!
Although he didn’t know the details of what had happened in Phoenix Palace, he still heard something. Seeing that Shao Yanru only obtained the title of Secondary Consort now, he knew that there was Shao Yanru’s plot in this matter, and it was discovered by the Empress. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been thrown to that dilapidated palace far away.
“Mother, I still have something to do, so I have to leave now. I’ll visit you tomorrow!” Chu Liuyue felt so disgusted that he couldn’t sit still and suddenly stood up. He didn’t have a chance to speak out his ideas in front of Chu Liuchen here, so he decided to say it tomorrow. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would lose control of his emotions.
The Empress understood what he meant. Knowing that he would talk with her tomorrow, she nodded at once. She was not in a hurry to deal with the marriage of Prince Yue. No matter who he loved, it had nothing to do with her.
After saying goodbye to Chu Liuchen, Chu Liuyue flicked his sleeves and strode away, as if there was really an urgent matter.
Watching Chu Liuyue leave, Chu Liuchen picked up the teacup in a good mood and took another sip. Then he slowly put it down and asked the Empress with a smile, “Brother came in a hurry. Is there anything important to tell you? Why didn’t he continue to say it when he saw me?”
“Your elder brother took a fancy to a beauty and wants me to arrange a marriage for him!” The Empress replied with a smile. She didn’t want to hide Chu Liuyue’s matter.
“He took a fancy to a beauty? Which family does this beauty come from?” Chu Liuchen smiled more gently as if he was just asking casually. Only Xiao Xuanzi shrank back after feeling his master’s obvious gloomy atmosphere. It was obvious that his master was provoked, otherwise, he would not have infuriated Prince Yue.
“I don’t know who he is talking about. When he was about to say it, you came here!” The Empress explained decently. She didn’t want to care too much about this matter. After thinking about it just now. she thought that the person he loved couldn’t be the person she selected.
She chose a lady to be Prince Zhou’s consort among this group of beauties. According to her identity, it was not suitable for her to be Prince Yue’s wife.
“That’s a coincidence. I also fancy a lady. I don’t know if we want to marry the same person,” Chu Liuchen said with a smile and raised his eyebrows.
Hearing this, the Empress’s face darkened and she thought of Shao Yanru’s incident.
Shao Yanru was originally the person chosen by the Empress, but because of the relationship between her and Chu Liuyue, the Empress gave her up. Thinking of this, the Empress thought that Chu Liuyue was really suspected of competing with others for a woman, or he wanted to ruin others’ wedding.
The Empress changed her expression and said kindly, “Who do you fancy, Prince Chen? Tell me, and I will beg the Emperor to grant the marriage for you!”