Chapter 886 Go to Visit the Elders
In fact, in addition to the three princes, there were other people in the Imperial Study too, including Prince Cheng, Commandery Prince Qing and some servants. Prince Cheng was sitting, while Commandery Prince Qing was standing a little far away from the three princes with his head lowered. He did not dare to speak a word, either.
“Confess! Whose work was the broken bow?” the Emperor said angrily with a cold face. He slammed his hand hard on the desk, which nearly shook off the bookshelf on it.
It was the Emperor who awarded the bow, but it was unexpected that the bow would be damaged by somebody. It almost became broken in Chu Liuchen’s hands and made him lose face in front of others.
The Emperor became furious at the thought of that.
“Brother, could it be that Prince Chen exerted too much strength?” Prince Cheng tried to mediate the dilemma.
“Excuse me? Prince Chen used too much strength?” the Emperor said in a sneer. Then he pointed at his three sons standing in front of him. “Any one of you might have used too much strength, but it’s impossible for Prince Chen!”
The three princes had nothing to say in reply.
If it were someone else who used the bow, they could explain with such an excuse. But it was Chu Liuchen, who had always been believed in weak health, and who was always said to be living the last day of his life.
Even if they dared to tell the truth, they were afraid that the Emperor would punish them if he was so infuriated that he lost his temper.
Chu Liuyue raised his head and said with an earnest face, “Father, I don’t know anything about it!”
“Father, I don’t know what was going on either. It must be that someone intended to make trouble for Third Brother. Please find out who he was and punish him!” Chu Liuzhou hastened to say by following his brother. Anyway, he was not stupid, though he might be reckless.
“Father, I didn’t do that,” said Chu Liuxin, who looked a little decadent and listless. He had always been in such a state since Shao Yanru’s event happened.
The Emperor glanced at his youngest son and sighed silently. He had no suspicion on him. Moreover, the Emperor always felt that he had owed his youngest son a lot on that matter.
Of course, the Empress should be to blame. Her dereliction of duty gave Shao Yanru a good opportunity and the whole thing almost hurt Chu Liuxin. The youngest son had always been a child, but now he seemed to have suddenly become an adult who didn’t look energetic at all.
“Brother, have you investigated it?” Prince Cheng asked. He focused on the investigation of the matter, by which he implicitly indicated that it had nothing to do with him at the same time.
“Yes, I did. The eunuch who sent the bow is dead!” the Emperor said coldly.
“Then it is more difficult to deal with it now!” Prince Cheng frowned and said, “It can be sure that there must be someone wanting to hurt Prince Chen, but his motive is uncertain, isn’t it? If he just wanted to humiliate Prince Chen, he should not have done such a thing!”
It was neither a big deal nor a trivial matter that the bow was damaged. For Chu Liuchen, it was not serious at all. It could be said that it was a little exaggerated.
Prince Cheng was secretly hinting to the Emperor that they didn’t have to involve too many people.
“Your Majesty, why don’t you permit me to investigate it…” Chu Qing finally got an opportunity to show his loyalty and hurriedly asked for permission.
He didn’t care about whether it was a big case or not. He just hoped to be missioned by the Emperor, which could show that he was valued. He didn’t find any clues for the last case, so he wanted to get another mission and deal with it so that the Emperor could think highly of him.
“Have you finished your last task?” Prince Cheng looked sideways at him and asked with a smile.
His words sounded gentle, but they hit Chu Qing’s weakness and made him blush at once. Chu Qing didn’t know what to say in reply.
“Father, I am willing to take the mission!” Chu Liuyue requested.
If the Emperor handed the right of investigation over to him, it meant that the Emperor trusted him. Of course, Chu Liuyue couldn’t miss such a good chance.
“Father, I happen to be free recently, and my legs have long recovered. I always want to serve you. Why don’t you leave it to me!” Chu Liuzhou hurried to say after he immediately realized it too.
Only Chu Liuxin seemed to have freed his soul from the body. He looked around with a confused look, having no awareness of showing his loyalty in front of the Emperor.
“I will send someone to investigate this matter, but not you…” The Emperor’s face was darkened. He narrowed his eyes and looked at them one by one with a cold look.
“Your Majesty, Prince Chen and Princess Chen have come!” a eunuch outside said. The Emperor had issued an order before that if Prince Chen and Princess Chen came, they should inform him first.
The Emperor calmed down and leaned backward. “Bring them in!”
The eunuch left in a hurry, and soon he led Chu Liuchen and Shao Wanru into the study.
The couple respectfully took three bows to the Emperor, and then they were helped up.
The Emperor was very satisfied with Chu Liuchen’s aura of handsome elegance, except his excessive pale face. Then he turned to look at Shao Wanru standing beside Chu Liuchen. Shao Wanru’s face looked a little childish but it told others that she was an outstanding beauty. They were indeed a perfect couple.
The Emperor’s cold face became friendly. After rewarding Derong, he kindly asked a servant to bring a chair for Chu Liuchen, for fear that he would be tired.
Shao Wanru stood behind Chu Liuchen consciously, lowering her head and shoulder. Then she caught the sight of the broken bow on the ground and had an intuition that it was the one used by Chu Liuchen yesterday. Her long eyelashes couldn’t help fluttering to hide the suspicion in her eyes.
“How do you feel, Chen’er?” the Emperor looked Chu Liuchen up and down and asked with concern.
He had always thought that Chu Liuchen’s complexion was not good. Now compared with Shao Wanru’s bright and pink face, Chu Liuchen’s looked paler in his eyes, which made him very worried.
“I’m very well. Thank you for worrying about me, Uncle the Emperor!” Chu Liuchen said with a gentle smile. He glanced at the bow on the ground and the several brothers standing there and then asked in surprise, “Have you figured it out, Uncle the Emperor?”
“There is indeed something wrong with the bow, but the eunuch who sent it has died!” the Emperor said in annoyance.
“Uncle the Emperor, there is no need to investigate it anymore. It is not a big deal. I sent the bow to you yesterday because I didn’t have time to ask about it at that time!” Chu Liuchen said with a faint smile.
His expression and persuasion made the Emperor feel increasingly distressed and angry. Chu Liuchen had been in such poor health, but there was still a person who couldn’t be tolerant of him and wanted him to suffer.
“No. I will find out the truth. Why don’t you take Princess Chen to bow to the Empress first? Your Imperial Grandmother is still waiting for you!” the Emperor replied.
They should have met the Emperor first, then Empress Dowager, and the Empress in the end. However, they changed the order because Empress Dowager wanted to talk to her grandson for a longer time.
“Yes, Uncle the Emperor!” Chu Liuchen stood up and nodded in agreement. After bowing again, Shao Wanru and he left the Imperial Study and got on the palace sedan chair waiting outside.
Actually, they should walk to visit the elders in the palace, but the Emperor was worried about Chu Liuchen’s health, so he specially prepared a sedan chair for them.
Since Chu Liuchen, as a man, didn’t walk, Shao Wanru, as a woman, certainly had to take the palace sedan chair with him.
Fortunately, the palace sedan chair prepared for them was bigger; it was not crowded when it took two people.
Of course, it was indeed capacious for the two of them to sit together if Chu Liuchen was not flippant. But Chu Liuchen was not so well-behaved. As soon as he sat down, he drew Shao Wanru to sit on his lap before he asked the servants to lift the sedan chair.
Shao Wanru struggled a few seconds with a blushed face, but she couldn’t get rid of his arms, so she gave up in the end. She leaned her head on Chu Liuchen’s chest and asked in a low voice, “Will the Empress make things difficult for me?”
“No!” Chu Liuchen said leisurely.
“Why?” Shao Wanru raised her watery eyes and looked at Chu Liuchen. In her opinion, the Empress must have a bad impression of Chu Liuchen. After all, her son yearned for the position of the crown prince, but Chu Liuchen was the one in their way. “Will the Empress be fond of you?”
Shao Wanru asked with her beautiful eyes full of surprise, as if what she asked was very obvious but he seemed to know nothing about it. Then her pink and tender lips were slightly open, which evoked his desire of kissing her.
Chu Liuchen had never mistreated himself. He lowered his head and kissed her lips quickly and accurately. Shao Wanru struggled as soon as she came to her senses, but she suddenly remembered that they were in the palace sedan chair, and two eunuchs carrying the sedan chair were from the palace. For a moment, she was ashamed and annoyed, but she didn’t dare to struggle.
Chu Liuchen laughed in a low and carefree voice in her ear after he let her go. She couldn’t help pinching him hard.
She didn’t let him go until Chu Liuchen cried out in pain in a low voice.
“You’re trying to murder your husband!” Looking at her angry face, Chu Liuchen teased with a smile.
Shao Wanru couldn’t help thinking of pinching him again.
“Don’t worry about that. Even though the Empress doesn’t like you, she won’t do anything to you on the surface. She will probably ignore you, so you don’t have to care about her!” Chu Liuchen stopped making fun of her when he realized she was mad and then comforted her with a smile. “Anyway, she can’t like you!”
His words were a little complex, but Shao Wanru understood what he meant. It was the truth that they were incompatible with the Empress, so it was impossible for them to have a good impression of each other. The friendliness they showed to each other was just superficial politeness. Shao Wanru nodded at once after hearing him, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Your Highness, do I have to pay attention to anything else?”
“No. Just take it easy. If they are rude to you, you don’t have to be tolerant of them. Now you are my Princess Chen!” Chu Liuchen said meaningfully with a faint smile.
He meant that she was always under his cover, which made Shao Wanru feel safe and warm in her heart.
Their sedan chair stopped at the gate of the Empress’s Phoenix Palace. The couple got off the sedan chair and walked into the palace together. The palace servants who had received the message came out to welcome them.
Shao Wanru was shocked by the people in the Empress’s palace as soon as she and Chu Liuchen entered the palace. Although she had come here several times before, she had never seen so many kinds of beauties at the same time. All these imperial concubines’ attention was drawn by the couple walking in. They had heard that Prince Chen went to pick the bride up in person on their wedding day, so they wanted to see what kind of woman could make him do that.
Therefore, Shao Wanru was gazed by eyes with scrutiny, contempt, ridicule, and admiration…
It couldn’t be denied that she felt very stressed when bearing so many gazes. Fortunately, Shao Wanru had been mentally prepared in advance. She followed Chu Liuchen and walked in with graceful paces, which more or less reduced those imperial concubines’ desires of making fun of her.