Chapter 282: Take Him Down
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“What...” Empress Dowager Yuan clenched her fair fingers even tighter, almost crushing the prayer beads in her hand.
She wanted to say that Chu Yi was presumptuous, but she was interrupted by an old and sharp female voice.
‘Might as well.”
Feng Yang strode over. The people on the deck couldn’t help but step aside to make way for her.
Feng Yang had already learned from the eunuch that the emperor had almost fallen into the water. Her sharp gaze, filled with suspicion, quickly swept across Empress Dowager Yuan and Chu You, but she remained calm.
‘Sister-in-law, come and watch the show.”
As Feng Yang hooked her finger at Empress Dowager Yuan, she sat down on an armchair beside the Emperor in an elegant and valiant posture.
A stage had been set up in the cabin of the pleasure boat. At this moment, three or four greasy-haired actors appeared and sang an incomparably festive “Five Maidens’ Birthday”. It was a sharp contrast to the tense and oppressive atmosphere on the deck outside.
Empress Dowager Yuan looked at Feng Yang stiffly, her eyes wandering. She instantly forgot what she wanted to say.
She wasn’t afraid of anything but Feng Yang.
She had just hesitated when she heard a faint sneer on Feng Yang’s lips.
This sneer was extremely soft, but it frightened Empress Dowager Yuan so much that her body subconsciously trembled. Her palms were also sweating, and the spot where she had been whipped back then began to ache again.
Empress Dowager Yuan sat stiffly for a few more breaths before slowly getting up. She dawdled over and sat down on the other side of Feng Yang. Her deep and complicated gaze couldn’t help but drift toward Chu Yi.
Chu Yi still stood motionless near the broken guardrail, his robe fluttering in the wind. He looked elegant, and his dark eyes were deep and filled with intense shadows.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards were divided into three groups. Some entered the cabin, some went around to the other end of the deck, and some got off the pleasure boat and carefully searched the inside and outside.
On the stage, the slowly chanting voices of men, women, and children sounded.
The deck outside the pleasure boat became even quieter, and everyone was silent.
At this moment, even the wind seemed to have stopped. It seemed to have a turbulent undercurrent, but it also seemed very calm.
The Emperor, who was sitting in a chair, took a shallow sip of the freshly brewed, hot tea. Looking like he was in charge, he sighed casually. “That’s a good performance.’
Gu Yanfei took the orange petal from a certain small hand and smiled at the little girl in the wheelchair.
An Le shyly looked away and stuffed a piece of orange into her mouth as well. She continued to dig out the orange and make small orange lights.
The little girl was really obedient! Gu Yanfei suppressed the urge to rub her head and suddenly thought of something.
She clapped her hands briskly and rummaged in her left sleeve pocket with one hand. Then, she took out a pale yellow talisman paper written in big red cinnabar and shook it. “This is all I have.”
“What is this?!” The Emperor put down the teacup and stared curiously at the talisman.
An Le also leaned over curiously and blinked her auspicious phoenix eyes, which were like Chu Yi’s.
Gu Yanfei held the talisman between two fingers and pointed at her peaceful left hand with a smile. ‘Stretch out your hand.’
An Le obediently extended her left hand, which was holding the orange bowl.
Gu Yanfei patted the talisman gently on the orange-skinned bowl in her palm.
In the next moment, a bright yellow flame ignited in the corner of the talisman. The entire talisman quickly burned, turning into a colorful butterfly that gently stopped in the orange-skinned bowl in An Le’s palm.
The butterfly’s wings flapped gently, and a clear fragrance assaulted her nose.
’11t smells so good!” The tip of An Lets nose twitched, and she narrowed her eyes in ecstasy. A bright smile appeared on her small oval face, and her pupils were sparkling.
As soon as the little girl was happy, her mouth became sweet. She called out intimately to Gu Yanfei, ‘Sister, this is really interesting!”
As she spoke, the butterfly flew from the orange bowl in her palm to her fingertips. As the butterfly’s wings flapped, the fragrance became stronger.
The little girl tilted her head, and the silk flowers on her double buns trembled. She smiled, her eyes crinkling, looking obedient, sweet, and glutinous. She deliberately showed the butterfly to the Emperor with a slightly show-off expression.
The Emperor was happy as long as his daughter was. He stroked his beard and smiled.
Standing 70 to 80 feet away, Chu Yi quietly looked at the Emperor, Gu Yanfei, and An Le. The violent beast in his heart gradually calmed down, and his eyes softened, as if he had been infected by their smiles.
A soft smile decorated the young man’s eyes.
The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, He Lie, strode over and cupped his fists at Chu Yi. ‘Your Highness, we’ve captured everyone.” The words were spoken with such force that they echoed across the deck.
What?!
Chu You widened his eyes with a complicated expression.
How long had it been since Chu Yi ordered the capture?
It probably hadn’t even taken two minutes!
He understood that when He Lie said “everyone”, he meant it.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards must be fast, accurate, and ruthless to be able to capture everyone so quickly.
It had only been three months since Chu Yi returned to the capital from the State of Yue.
Thinking of this, Chu You gripped the arm of the chair tightly with one hand and pursed his lips into a straight line.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard was established by Emperor Taizu himself. It had always been in the hands of the Great Jin Emperor. Even when the previous Emperor was still in power, he didn’t give the Embroidered Uniform Guard to his son, Chu You.
Chu Yi glanced at He Lie and said simply, “Interrogate them.” His voice was calm.
There was silence.
The sound of silk bamboo and chanting coming from the cabin building became even clearer in this silent environment. The rhythm of the silk bamboo gradually increased and clanged.
However, most of the people present weren’t in the mood to watch the show. They couldn’t help but look at Chu Yi.
Empress Dowager Yuan drank her tea slowly, her red lips curling into a cynical sneer behind the teacup.
Fine, let her watch the show. She would “watch the show”.
She wanted to see who Chu Yi planned to hand over these eunuchs to interrogate?!
Empress Dowager Yuan gently rubbed the plum blossom patterns on the teacup with her fingertips and took another sip of tea.
The Internal Affairs Directorate was in charge of internal palace affairs. According to the rules of the Great Jin Dynasty, the internal court wasn’t allowed to interfere in matters outside the palace. Similarly, the royal court wasn’t allowed to interfere with the internal court.
This was a dead end. Chu Yi could only hand these relevant people over to the Internal Affairs Directorate for interrogation. In the end, the initiative in this case still fell into her hands.
She could interrogate them however she wanted.
She could close the case however she wanted.
Chu Yi had made such a big fuss in front of these noble families, but he had made a fuss. In the end, he had only made a joke of himself and made the entire court look down on him.
Chu Yi was just a young boy after all. He had been locked in a cage in the State of Yue like a canary for the past eight years. He knew nothing about the politics of the royal court, but he actually wanted to use this to establish his might?!
It was ridiculous!