Chapter 1076 - 1076 Returning to the Capital at Full Speed
1076 Returning to the Capital at Full Speed
The sky had already darkened, but the carriages were still moving along the road.
Although Princess Yuyan was sitting in the carriage, she looked weary. She pulled aside the curtain and looked out with a gloomy face.
“Go and ask. Why can’t we stop to rest? We will be in the wild again if we keep going ahead!” Princess Yuyan protested angrily.
“Your Highness!” The palace maid looked at her sheepishly because she didn’t dare to see Prince Chen.
“What are you afraid of? Do you think he will kill you? He can’t do that! No matter what, you are my maid.” Seeing the cowardly palace maid, Princess Yuyan reproached grumpily.
Princess Yuyan had been pampered and spoiled in the past, so how could she stand this sort of hardship? When Chu Liuchen ordered the team to proceed slowly, she would go and visit him in a good mood from time to time. At that time, although Chu Liuchen ignored her, he was friendly. However, Prince Chen seemed to have lifted his softhearted mask after that incident.
“Your Highness, Your Highness…” The palace maid was so scared that she cried, knelt in the carriage, and begged, “Your Highness, I dare not!”
“You useless bitch, since you are useless, why do I have to keep you?” Princess Yuyan reached out in a great rage and slapped her hard in the face, venting all her anger on the palace maid.
The palace maid was knocked down in the carriage, screaming in pain with a clear palm print on her face.
“Princess Yuyan, what’s the matter?” A cold voice suddenly came from outside the carriage, so harsh that it frightened and froze people in the carriage.
“Nothing serious. I just wanted to ask Prince Chen when we could rest.” Princess Yuyan explained softly, her hand hanging in the air. Slowly, she let her hand drop after briefly touching her temple.
Outside the carriage, the guard answered coldly, “His Highness asked us to drive for another two hours. You can rest in the carriage!”
“How is His Highness?” Princess Yuyan lifted the curtain after putting on a worried look and asked with concern.
“Thank you for your concern.” The guard answered indifferently, turned around, and left on his horse.
Princess Yuyan banged the curtain in her hand, her face livid with rage. Evidently, Prince Chen didn’t take her seriously. One day, she would make Chu Liuchen fall for her and beg her to cast a glance at him.
“Your Highness…” The palace maid said timidly.
“Get up!” Princess Yuyan ordered harshly, secretly gnashing her teeth with anger. Chu Liuchen had killed one of her palace maids.
That night, she brought a palace maid to deliver a bowl of soup to Chu Liuchen, but Chu Liuchen asked someone to kill the maid with one sword strike. The scene was still Princess Yuyan’s nightmare.
The people around her were all trembling with fear. No one dared to provoke Chu Liuchen, so she had no one to inquire about the information for her.
Princess Yuyan considered herself to be of unmatched beauty. In Xu State, many men tried their best to ingratiate themselves with her, but Prince Chen showed no tenderness toward her. She was unwilling to believe it.
Chu Liuchen must be blind not to see her beauty. When he realized how stunningly beautiful she was one day, Princess Yuyan would let him know the consequences of offending her.
In her mind, Princess Yuyan made this heartless decision. The guard had already urged the horse forward and came to the front of Chu Liuchen’s carriage to report, “Your Highness, everything is fine. I have already passed the message!”
“Any objections?” Chu Liuchen’s lazy voice came from the carriage.
“The two princesses and the two officials all thought it was a good idea to return to the capital quickly.” In an unemotional voice, the guard answered flatly without considering the reality.
He heard that Princess Yuyan beat and scolded someone in the carriage and that Commandery Prince Qing smashed the cup. Anyway, he automatically ignored all of this and thought they all agreed. Since Princess Yutao and Ningyuan Army General had no objection, how could they oppose it?
In the carriage, Chu Liuchen leaned against the soft couch and said gently, “If anyone disagrees, report it to me.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” The guard’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt it was better not to bother Prince with such trivial things.
“Master, at this speed, can we arrive in the capital in time?” Xiao Xuanzi looked out of the gauze window. It was getting dark, and they had to move with lanterns soon. But even so, he considered it unlikely that they would return to the capital before Empress Dowager’s birthday.
It would be too late even if they kept going quickly like this.
“I’ll go first!” Chu Liuchen said in a casual manner.
Xiao Xuanzi’s face suddenly turned solemn, and he sat straight to say, “Your Highness, your health…”
“I’ve almost recovered. I’ll be fine when taking good care of myself!” Chu Liuchen chuckled. With a trace of coldness, his tender eyes appeared as sharp as an ice-breaking awl. “Since they all hope I can’t go back, I must return in time to celebrate my Imperial Grandmother’s birthday.”
“Your Highness, who wants to stop you from entering the capital?” Xiao Xuanzi swallowed hard and asked cautiously.
Xiao Xuanzi asked just now subconsciously. After that, he remembered his master was not as weak as he appeared. The toxin had been removed from his body, and he was in the recuperation stage now. In the past, he was indeed in poor health. At present, he was just pretending to be weak.
Prince Chen had been fragile since he was a child, but he was accustomed to practicing martial arts. After detoxifying the poisonous substance, Prince Chen was much healthier than ordinary people. Yet Xiao Xuanzi was still worried. Over the years, Prince Chen’s health was above everything, so it had become his habit to think this way.
“It doesn’t matter who did it. I have to make sure that they can see me at my Imperial Grandmother’s birthday party!” Chu Liuchen gave a little chuckle.
“Master… I am really worried about you going to the capital alone. I want to go with you,” Xiao Xuanzi said.
“You stay here and sit in this carriage for me.” Chu Liuchen shook his head and said indifferently. He looked gentle but somehow created an indescribable spooky and chill atmosphere.
It was indeed too late for such a large group of people to rush to the capital, but Prince Chen didn’t need to take them with him. He could ride back with a few guards. As for his carriage, with Xiao Xuanzi inside, no one dared to open the carriage to see if he was inside.
Princess Yuyan had been trying to get closer to him. For the time being, she didn’t have the energy and dared not to do that, which was very good. He had been away from the capital for so long, so he needed to go back earlier.
“Master, what if Princess Yuyan sends someone to snoop around your place?” Xiao Xuanzi asked. Other people wouldn’t take the initiative to see Prince Chen, except for this bumptious Princess Yuyan, who was always looking for opportunities to show up before his master.
Killing one of her palace maids brought them a few peaceful days, but they couldn’t guarantee that she would no longer send someone over.
“If so, kill the person!” Chu Liuchen ruthlessly ordered as if he were talking about something romantic instead of killing.
“Yes, I understand,” Xiao Xuanzi said, beaming.
He had been serving Prince Chen long, so how could he not understand his master’s thoughts? However beautiful Princess Yuyan was, he wouldn’t spare a glance for her. He had given all his tenderness to Princess Chen, so any other woman in his eyes was no different from men — they were all nothing special but humans.
For him, these people were divided into two groups only: useful and useless.
If Princess Yuyan approached, they could disgrace her. After they delivered severe blows to her pride, she wouldn’t dare to get any closer.
“In a few days, I will go straight back to the capital. I’ll find someone to dress up like me, so you go on the trip to the capital in a hurry. Everything will be fine as long as Qin Huaiyong doesn’t suspect anything. Chu Qing seems to be sensible enough and won’t bother me.” Chu Liuchen snorted.
After the incident with Princess Yuyan, Chu Qing had stayed quiet these days.
“Your Highness, do we still need to intercept Commandery Prince Qing’s messages to the capital?” Xiao Xuanzi whispered his question. Along the way, Chu Qing had repeatedly sent messages to the capital, but they were all intercepted. The matter about Princess Yuyan was an accident, and Commandery Prince Qing seemed very anxious. Since he received no news from the capital, he kept sending new letters over there.
“Sure. Intercept all his letters, no matter whom he writes to!” Chu Liuchen pursed his thin lips. “If he insists on sending letters to the capital, wiping out a few of his subordinates will silence him!”
“Yes, Master. I see!” Xiao Xuanzi immediately understood what his master wanted, knowing full well that his master would punish Commandery Prince Qing as a warning to others. Commandery Prince Qing had done a lot of things behind. Although he looked honest, he was pretty scheming.
Shao Wanru didn’t know that Chu Liuchen intended to leave the group and hurry to the capital alone.
She was listening to the news Qing’er got. Words from Qing’er sent chills up her back.
It was actually Duke Cheng’en. Or, not surprisingly, it was Duke Cheng’en.
“Sent to the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion?” Shao Wanru finished listening to Qing’er’s report, wrinkling her long and slender eyebrows thoughtfully. “Is there anything wrong with the picture or the maple leaves?
“It is unlikely to be maple leaves. But if not, what will go wrong?
“How can I get this painting from Duke Cheng’en? He must have bought such a painting as the Empress Dowager’s birthday gift.” Princess Chen pondered, slightly biting her lips. It hadn’t been long after she married Chu Liuchen, and she didn’t visit the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion before, so it was not convenient for her to take the initiative to call on Duke Cheng’en at this time.
“Yes, it was sent to the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion. I only sent one person to keep an eye on him. The shop-boy was seen delivering the painting to the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion. After that, he blended into the crowd. Our person turned around and entered a shop later on. But when he searched around, the shop-boy was already gone.”
Qing’er said.
The shop-boy was very cautious. Even though the shop-boy did not find that someone was following him, he acted with some sensitivity.
“Go on watching the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion. If Duke Cheng’en takes that painting out, report it to me immediately!” Shao Wanru bit her lip gently and said.
Anyway, she had to get the painting. Even if she didn’t get it, she had to destroy it. It was a pity that she hadn’t yet found an excuse to go to the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion.
She had no reason to go there, let alone get the painting.
Shao Wanru mildly twisted the handkerchief between her figures, suddenly stood up, and said decisively, “Let’s go to my grandma’s place now!”
Since Shao Wanru couldn’t do it herself, her grandmother could. Compared with her, a newly married wife of Prince Chen, it was more reasonable for her grandmother to drop in on such an old aristocratic family.
She needed a justifiable reason to go to the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion. Now only her grandmother could solve this problem…