Chapter 323
Duan Wangye looked at their backs that were drifting away, and his heart seemed to be pressed against a huge stone. For the first time, an idea came to mind.
Was he wrong?
Duan Wangye stood in place for a long time until the two figures disappeared completely at the street corner, and then turned left.
On the same day, Duan Wangye entered the palace and made a request to the emperor to return to the western border which the emperor immediately agreed.
Three days later, Duan Wangye left the capital.
Shortly after Duan Wangye left the capital, the emperor issued another decree, ordering the only daughter of Princess Yongle to be brought into the capital from Yuzhou.
All the officials in the court know that the emperor’s sudden serious illness last time was related to the death of Princess Yongle, and so was the matter about Wang Yu, this were all gnawing the emperor’s mind.
Back then, the late emperor favored Imperial Concubine Fang Shu, the mother of Wang Yu, and this said emperor imprisoned his own son, the emperor now, who was the crown prince at that time in the crown prince’s fu. Wang Yu who was highly valued by the late emperor visited the crown prince’s fu three times and what happened between these two brothers, only they knew about it. What everyone knew was that the current emperor, who was the crown prince at that time vomited blood and was in critical condition.
The enmity and resentment between the current emperor and Wang Yu could be said to be something constant, involving Princess Yongle in the middle…
However, this doesn’t give enough reason to take Princess Yongle’s daughter back to the capital.
Immediately, some over-conservative envoys protested one after another, some even reasoned that the late emperor ordered Princess Yongle to choose imperial concubine Fang’s nephew as his son-in-law which means that Princess Yongle’s daughter was from the Fang family. And this Young Miss Fang still has both her father and grandmother, taking her back to the palace to raise her was not in accordance with the rules.
Some also tried to reason that Princess Yongle was like a twisted band between the emperor and Wang Yu, and now that Princess Yongle has just passed away if the emperor takes Young Miss Fang to the capital it may cause Wang Yu to overthink and may view this as the emperor planning to attack him, which they must prevent from happening after all peace was the most important thing between brothers.
These booklets of opposition were pressed down on the emperor.
The court was buzzing for days until an “interesting” booklet appeared on the emperor’s royal desk.
“Zezhi, take a look.” The emperor casually threw the booklet to Gu Zezhi.
Gu Zezhi raised his hand and catch the booklet easily, opened it, and raised his sword-like eyebrows after reading the booklet.
It was mentioned in the booklet that if the emperor insists on raising Young Miss Fang in the capital, then it would be logical to choose a good marriage for her. The second prince was about the same age as her, and they were cousins, so the emperor could rest assured of the future.
Gu Zezhi close the booklet and met the emperor’s mirror-like eyes.
Almost as soon as the emperor saw this booklet, he immediately understood the intention of those imperial officials who have been opposing for so many days.
The emperor’s expression was serene and hidden in depth as he murmured to Gu Zezhi, “These people are really stubborn, and still thinking about getting merits from this emperor!”
“The Yun family rejected Gu Jing’s marriage proposal, so they took their minds on my niece, knowing that this emperor pitied that girl, so they wanted to take this opportunity to turn Gu Jing around.”
“Don’t even think about it…” The more the emperor talk the more he become angrier, and slapped the imperial table causing the tea to overflow from the teacup.
Zhou Xin hurriedly tidied up the table for the emperor, fearing that the tea might wet the booklet.
The emperor didn’t say more but Zhou Xin knew that the emperor was really angry at this time, Young Miss Fan had just lost her mother, and someone was already daring to mention marriage to her. These people really have a lot of nerve!
Gu Zezhi casually placed the booklet aside and reminded him, “Your Majesty, were simply trying to have small talks but if the empress dowager is moved by them…”
Emperor: “…”
Young Miss Fang was the granddaughter of Empress Dowager Liu, and the second prince has always been favored by the empress dowager, if she was really moved by these people…
The emperor’s face became even heavier.
On the same day, the emperor send someone directly to Yuzhou to pick up her, and issued another decree, ordering the second prince, Gu Jing, to leave his palace and establish himself and choose his own attendants.
For a prince, establishing himself and choosing his own attendants would have been a good thing, after all, only after leaving the palace would an imperial prince be able to cultivate his own connections. However, the emperor only ordered the second prince to leave the palace but did not assign any title to the second prince which make people think that there was more to it.
For a moment, various voices of discussion and speculation continued.
High Ranking official Cheng’en and others, for various reasons, tried to persuade the emperor which the latter ignored causing more officials to convince the emperor. But the emperor only gave the second prince ten days to move out and did not even give the second prince time to repair his mansion.
On the 20th of April, as soon as the time arrived, the emperor directly “sent” the young man out of the palace.
This matter causes a stir in the capital, and even Qin Zhun knew about it though he was on the very edge of the court.
Qin Zhun was worried as he anxiously walked around the study.
Ever since the second prince was grounded by the emperor, Qin Zhun hadn’t slept well for several days, his eyes sockets were covered with dark shadows making him look more upset and this was because he felt that things were not going well recently.
The opportunity he was optimistic about turned out to be a mess, not to mention the Su family deliberately made trouble because of Su Xiyang’s accident, completely disregarding the affection of in-laws and causing a great opportunity to slip through his hand with a high-ranking official.
Just thinking about it made Qin Zhun feel his teeth itch, resenting the Su family and Madam Su.
Not only that but he has been criticized since his eldest brother’s children separated from them. Many people pointed at him behind his back, saying that he had treated his eldest brother’s orphan unfairly, even though he had fully allocated “70%” of the marquis’s household property to the eldest house. Now, these children were living freely and leisurely outside, while his life has been difficult. This year, the earnings of the shop and the villa have also been confiscated, so the expenses of the marquis’s mansion were tight, they might need to pawn their things.
Furthermore, the second prince was often short of silver, so he spent so much money like running water, and now he could only bite the bullet and continue to fill it in as if he was filling a bottomless pit…
Qin Zhun couldn’t help but think of the emperor’s proposal to make the sixth prince the crown prince last time. If the second prince fails to succeed, then the Qin family would have bet the wrong treasure.
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