Chapter 1209 - Chapter 1209 Commandery Prince Qing’s Grievance
Chapter 1209 Commandery Prince Qing’s Grievance
Prime Minister Wen walked out of the platform, bowed to the Emperor, and said seriously, “Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate Marquis Xing!”
“Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate Marquis Xing!”
“Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate Marquis Xing!”
One by one, officials came out from the platform and bowed to the Emperor. If what Madam Jiang said was not true, Shao Jing would not be afraid of being investigated. If it was true, the consequences of this matter would be too serious, and he would definitely be severely punished.
“Your Majesty, we do need to find out the truth. I was being stupid,” Prime Minister Zhang said with shame on his face. After that, he bowed deeply to Chu Liuchen and said, “Your Highness, I didn’t pay attention to it before, so I neglected it.”
“Prime Minister Zhang, you’re too courteous!” Chu Liuchen smiled slightly and didn’t take it seriously.
Chu Liuyue came out of the stairs and said, “Father, we have to investigate Marquis Xing’s Mansion and Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion. I remember that one of Marquis Xing’s daughters has entered Commandery Prince Qing’s mansion, and Marquis Xing and Commandery Prince Qing are in-laws!”
His words reminded the officials present. They all looked at Chu Qing with suspicion in their eyes.
Madam Jiang, who was from Marquis Xing’s Mansion and was now dead, didn’t seem to have a good relationship with the Second Miss who had entered Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion. A concubine’s daughter couldn’t have much affection for a vicious legal mother.
First, Madam Jiang was dead, and then something happened to Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion. Was there any connection between these two incidents? Did Commandery Prince Qing deliberately distract others to help Marquis Xing?
The officials found it possible after thinking about it.
Chu Qing gritted his teeth in anger secretly. He had turned from a victim to a colluding accomplice and had spent so much effort in acting. On the one hand, what Chu Liuyue said meant that Shao Jing was on Chu Qing’s side. On the other hand, it showed that Chu Qing had great ambition and strength. Otherwise, how could he have caused such a big thing?
Was he trying to cover up Madam Jiang’s trivial matter with a big issue?
“Your Majesty, I don’t have a good relationship with Marquis Xing. After Shao Jie’er entered my mansion, she no longer has any contact with Marquis Xing’s Mansion. She is just a concubine’s daughter. It’s inevitable that she didn’t have a close relationship with Madam Jiang in the past. Madam Jiang was vicious and couldn’t tolerate others. Due to her strict discipline, Shao Jie’er is very timid and doesn’t dare to meet people much.”
Chu Qing took a step forward and described Shao Jie’er as a poor daughter of a concubine. He also said that it was true that Shao Jie’er had a bad relationship with Madam Jiang. After entering his Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion, she had never been to Marquis Xing’s Mansion, so it was impossible for her to have anything to do with Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
“Let’s find out the truth first!” the Emperor said coldly after being silent for a moment. This matter would take a long run, and he had to investigate it secretly. It was related to the former Heir of Duke Xing. There were some things that others didn’t know, but he did. He had thought that Shao Jiang’s death was really an accident. If it weren’t an accident, he really had to find out and uphold justice for Shao Jiang.
The Emperor stood up and walked toward the inner room. The eunuch shouted, “Adjourn!”
All the officials had their own thoughts. After saying goodbye to each other, they slowly walked out.
Chu Liuchen left late. Not only he, but also Chu Liuyue, Chu Liuzhou, and Chu Qing left late. Even Prince Cheng, who had been silent in the imperial court, walked very slowly.
Chu Liuzhou was the first to make trouble for Prince Cheng. He stopped, turned to Prince Cheng, and asked with a cold smile, “Uncle Cheng, I heard that you have a good relationship with Marquis Xing. Do you think that Marquis Xing is likely to have done such an abominable thing?”
If Prince Cheng really did something in secret, then it was very likely that what had happened to Chu Liuzhou before was Prince Cheng’s doing. The more Chu Liuzhou thought about it, the angrier he became. The smile on his face looked very fake.
He had always thought that Prince Cheng was innocent, who was only interested in Buddhism and wanted to become a monk, but it turned out that he might have been wrong. “Mother is right. Prince Cheng is ambitious.”
“Prince Zhou, what do you mean by saying that?” Prince Cheng smiled lightly and looked kind.
Chu Liuzhou snorted and said, “Don’t you know what I mean? I heard that Marquis Xing would talk to you from time to time, even if you live in a temple outside the city.”
“I live outside the city. No matter who comes to see me, I won’t refuse. Not only Marquis Xing, but also Prince Zhou, Prince Yue, and Commandery Prince Qing have come to visit me several times. Can this prove anything?” Prince Cheng raised his eyebrows and became unhappy. “If you have any doubts, you can directly go to tell His Majesty, Prince Zhou. Don’t say anything useless to make His Majesty angry. Didn’t Her Majesty teach you about this?”
“You…” Hearing Prince Cheng mention the Empress a bit disrespectfully, Chu Liuzhou was so angry that he almost lost his temper. He tried his best to suppress his anger. If something had not happened to his mother, he would not have allowed Prince Cheng to say that.
But now, the messages from his mother told him have to keep a low profile and not make any more trouble.
“Second Brother, that’s not right. We go to see Prince Cheng from time to time because he is our elder. It’s not a big deal!” Chu Liuyue said with a smile.
His words made Chu Liuzhou even angrier. He hated Chu Liuyue the most. “I’m the eldest legitimate son, but Chu Liuyue has been holding me down and thinks that he can compete with me.
“I’m the legitimate son of the Empress. Chu Liuyue is just a nobody!”
Chu Liuzhou snorted coldly and said nothing more. He turned around and left. He really didn’t want to say anything to Chu Liuyue, who he thought was a hypocrite.
“Uncle Cheng, my second brother listened to what people said just now and felt that you were suspicious, so he asked the questions he shouldn’t have asked. I hope that you won’t blame him!” Chu Liuyue said politely and smiled to apologize on behalf of Chu Liuzhou. Seeing his gentle and elegant look, several officials couldn’t help nodding.
Compared with the other princes, Prince Yue was the most polite and the wisest one. Although his face had always been cold, in fact, he was quite nice. If something went wrong, people could negotiate with him, and the matter could be solved easily.
“Prince Yue, you’re being too courteous. It’s not a big deal!” Prince Cheng said indifferently. When he was about to say something, he saw Chu Liuchen passing by them proudly as if he didn’t see them talking at all. His face turned cold and there was no smile on his face.
He flung his wide sleeves onto their robes, and both of them couldn’t help but take a step back.
Chu Liuyue clenched his fists so hard that the blue veins on his hands bulged, but he just smiled gently to hide the hatred and anger in his eyes. “Chu Liuchen is just the son of the deceased emperor, who is dead. And yet Father even thinks highly of him and openly said that he can inherit the throne.
“What right does this invalid have? As a prince, I’m not so arrogant, but he is so arrogant.
“Father’s partiality was very unreasonable. He treats me so-so, but he treats a sick man like his own son. That makes me wonder if Chu Liuchen is Father’s son instead of me!”
Although Prince Cheng was also forced to take a step back, his expression was not stiff at all. His smile was gentler and more flexible than Chu Liuyue’s. It was not the kind of stiff smile. His eyes stayed gentle as Chu Liuchen left. “Prince Chen must be impatient with us talking about this kind of thing. He has always been in poor health. He should be very annoyed with such a quarrel!”
The kindness and smile in his eyes made it like he was really forgiving to Chu Liuchen.
“Third Brother doesn’t seem to be in good health. It’s only been a short time, and he’s already not feeling well. He needs to be nursed well.” Chu Liuyue nodded.
“Indeed. We should ask the imperial physician in the Palace to treat him again. We can’t allow anything wrong to happen to him again.” Prince Cheng nodded in agreement.
Chu Qing, who was standing behind them and blocked by them, only felt that the blue veins on his forehead were bulging.
They could talk, but why did they happen to stand in front of him? He didn’t have the confidence to speak like Chu Liuchen so he could only wait quietly beside them.
Seeing Chu Liuchen leave, he envied him in his heart. “We are both the sons of the deceased emperor. Why am I living such a miserable life, but Chu Liuchen can be so unbridled? Is it because he has been raised by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager?
“In this case, why didn’t Mother try to send me to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor back then? I believe she could make that happen.
“Was Mother too cautious or injudicious?” He felt inexplicably depressed. “If I could choose at that time, I would have gone to the Palace early to accompany the Empress Dowager. I would not let Chu Liuchen be the only one favored by the Emperor by now.”
“Commandery Prince Qing, why haven’t you left yet?” Chu Liuyue asked Chu Qing with a smile as if he had just seen him.
“Thinking of what happened last night, I walked a bit slowly at the moment.” Chu Qing said with a hypocritical smile and explained hypocritically. After all, he couldn’t say that they stood in his way, and he couldn’t leave recklessly like Chu Liuchen.
“Commandery Prince Qing, what happened to your mansion yesterday? The fire rose so high that many rooms were burned, weren’t they? What were those men in black up to? Did they just want to burn a few rooms in Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion?” Chu Liuyue asked in confusion.
“Well… it might be an assassination!” Chu Qing said vaguely. He still didn’t know why such a thing happened.
“Were they trying to assassinate you? Why?” Chu Liuyue asked.
Chu Qing’s face changed. Chu Liuyue sounded as if he was mocking him. If Chu Qing hadn’t done anything, no one would have targeted him. He was just an idle Commandery Prince.
But if he had done something, then what had he done to make people attack him?
Chu Qing keenly looked at Chu Liuyue. “Could it be possible that those men last night worked for Chu Liuyue?”
“I’m just an idle man and usually have nothing to do. I really don’t know why someone tried to assassinate me and made such a scene,” Chu Qing said vaguely and looked at the two people opposite him calmly. These two people were the most suspicious. Of course, it was not accidental for them to keep him here.
He didn’t believe in such coincidences.
Why had no one stopped him in the past?
“Commandery Prince Qing, think about it carefully. Is there anything in your mansion that attracts people’s attention? If so, you’d better report it to His Majesty as soon as possible, lest something goes wrong again!” Compared with Chu Liuyue, Prince Cheng really looked like an elder. He gave Chu Qing a few words of advice and then left slowly.
He didn’t mean to listen carefully to the conversation between Chu Liuyue and Chu Qing, nor did he pay attention to what was going on between them.
“He’s right. Commandery Prince Qing, you’d better listen to Uncle Cheng and go back to your mansion to investigate it carefully!” Chu Liuyue said lightly and did not intend to stay any longer. Chu Qing was now the center of focus. It was not a good thing to be too close to him, because it would easily attract others’ attention.