allonlinenovel Chapter 490: Trouble for the Emperor
Chapter 490: Trouble for the Emperor
When Xiao Yu woke up, the sun was still in the sky, a little dazzling.
After fully adapting to the sunlight, Xiao Yu could clearly see Su Lingyue sitting opposite him, holding her chin with one hand, flipping through a booklet intently, occasionally frowning and occasionally relaxing her brows.
She wore a pink peach blossom wreath on her head, which made her already bright face even more beautiful than the peach blossoms. Her goose yellow flowing cloud brocade dress glowed softly in the sunlight.
Her fair wrists and jade-like neck are not stained by any dust.
Xiao Yu's breathing stagnated, his eyes were deep, and he stared at her quietly without blinking.
After a long time, he finally gave a gentle smile, and the worries in his heart were gently taken away by a warm breeze.
It turns out that the feeling of having someone waiting for you is reassuring.
The worry in his heart was because of separation. Even if it was only for an hour or two, he felt uncomfortable.
Before Su Lingyue married him, he would often sit alone for a long time with a book and a cup of tea. He didn't know when he became unaccustomed to being alone.
The beauty and grace of the statue are beyond praise.
He thought that the Nine Heavens Fairy described in the book should be just like this.
Perhaps God felt that his life was too desolate, so he sent a fairy like this to comfort him.
"Yue'er."
Su Lingyue raised her eyes and met Xiao Yu's gentle gaze that could pluck water out of her, and her heart trembled suddenly.
"Your Highness is awake!" Su Lingyue trotted to Xiao Yu's side, her eyes sparkling and a smile on her face brighter than the sun.
Xiao Yu smiled gently, lifted his cloak and extended his hand towards Su Lingyue.
Su Lingyue was stunned for a moment, then smiled and put her little hand into Xiao Yu's palm, allowing him to take her into his arms.
"When did you come?" Xiao Yu gently rubbed Su Lingyue's cheek, like a traveler who had not had water for a long time, greedily absorbing the tenderness that belonged to him alone.
"I saw you were asleep more than half an hour ago, so I didn't wake you up."
Her cheeks were rubbed by Xiao Yu's stubble, which made her laugh. She pushed Xiao Yu's face away while laughing, but her strength was totally useless. Xiao Yu kissed her with more pleasure. The stubble on her face caused her to laugh again, and a few peach petals fell on their robes as they laughed.
After Caidie Caiyi made a wreath for Su Lingyue, the two of them went to pick other peach blossoms. When they came back with the wreaths, they bumped into Xiao Yu and Su Lingyue walking back hand in hand.
Caidie didn't react in time, and Caiyi got nervous and hurriedly took the wreath off her head.
Xiao Yu glanced at it and said, "It's well made. I'll make more for the princess in the future."
Seeing that the prince did not reprimand them at all and even praised their craftsmanship, Caidie and Caiyi looked at each other and smiled, collected the tea and books on the stone table, and hurried after them.
On the way back, Su Lingyue asked curiously, "Why didn't I see Yan Qing? Does the prince usually let him accompany him?"
Xiao Yu pinched the slender fingers in his hand. He could clearly feel the joints of Su Lingyue's fingers. They were small, round and very cute.
Feeling very happy, Xiao Yu was not stingy in sharing, and chuckled and said, "I'm going to make things difficult for the emperor."
"Adding to the trouble?"
*
In Yonghe Palace, Jiapin threw herself into the emperor's arms with tears in her eyes.
The emperor hadn't come for a few days. Seeing that Jiapin looked pale, he asked the director and deputy director of the Imperial Hospital in a cold voice, "How is Jiapin? Is the emperor okay?"
The chief physician Li said, "Your Majesty, the queen is too worried, so the fetus is unstable. If you want this baby to be born safely, in addition to the medicine, the queen must also be at ease."
"Worried?" The emperor looked at Jiapin with deep eyes and asked, "What is there to worry about, my beloved concubine?"
The emperor was obviously unhappy about the unstable pregnancy of the prince he had finally gotten, and he looked at Concubine Jia coldly.
Jiapin's eyes flickered, and she fell into the emperor's arms, sobbing, "Your Majesty, these past few days I've been dreaming that my brother is in prison, covered in blood and calling me sister."
The emperor frowned and thought for a while, and it seemed that he finally remembered. "Your brother? Is he the Li Xiaoyun who killed Su Heng's second son?"
"Yes, but not really. The two of them just had an argument. My brother didn't do anything. The second son of the Su family fell down by himself. There were many people present to testify to this."
Jiapin's expression became more and more sad. Her usually pretty face now looked pale. Her almond-shaped eyes were filled with tears, and she was looking at the emperor pleadingly.
"Your Majesty, I want to go to the Ministry of Justice to see my brother. Is that okay?"
"Nonsense!" The emperor said in a heavier tone, reprimanding Jiapin, "How could you go to a place like that when you are pregnant with the prince?"
Tears welled up in Jiapin's eyes, she closed her eyes in despair, and collapsed in the emperor's arms. "Your Majesty, Xiaoyun is the only child of the Li family. His sister has married into the Su Mansion to atone for her sins, but Prime Minister Su still refuses to let him go. If he dies, his father and mother will definitely die with him..."
Jiapin suppressed her sobs and her body trembled.
Where the emperor couldn't see, she tried her best to control her emotions and show her grief to the emperor to the greatest extent.
The child in her belly was for her younger brother. If the child died before her younger brother was rescued, all the preparations would be in vain.
He had to rescue his brother no matter what.
Jiapin's painful look brought back the emperor's past memories.
Before he seized power, the former crown prince treated him very well, but unfortunately he was framed and died tragically. From then on, he never felt any brotherly love for any prince of the same age.
Except for Xiao Yu, who was 20 years younger than him, unfortunately Xiao Yu also betrayed him.
Seeing through Jiapin's intention, the emperor narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice: "I give you two choices, one is the imperial decree to confer the title of consort, and the other is your brother's life."
Upon hearing this, Jiapin held the emperor's arm and sat up, with crystal tears hanging on her pretty cheeks. She looked as lovable as when the emperor first saw her, but the look in the emperor's eyes lacked the initial tenderness.
She stepped back and kowtowed to the emperor on the bed, "Thank you very much, Your Majesty. Please save my brother."
"This is your choice. From now on, you will be a concubine forever."
The emperor stood up, glanced at Jiapin, and said in a cold voice: "I will order someone to re-examine your brother's case. When the prince is born, I will find him a mother of noble status."
Jiapin closed her eyes, two tears fell from her eyes, and after a moment of silence, she kowtowed again. "I thank your majesty for your grace."
After coming out of Yonghe Palace, Eunuch He hurriedly reported, "Your Majesty, the Inspectorate Censor is waiting for Your Majesty outside the Qinzheng Palace."
The emperor ordered in a cold voice: "Pass on my decree. From today on, Yonghe Palace will be sealed off. No one except the director and deputy director of the Imperial Hospital will be allowed to enter or leave."
Eunuch He's face froze. Concubine Jia was pregnant and in great favor, so why was she confined?
After stopping a eunuch at the end of the team and asking him the reason, he immediately went to Kunning Palace.
When the Queen heard Eunuch He's report, her hand arranging flowers paused for a moment, and then a sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth.
It is true, this is the effect of Jiapin's pregnancy.
With a "click", the sharp scissors cut off the extra branches, and then said: "Thank you for your hard work. Eunuch Cui, give the blue and white blessing vase on the table to Eunuch He."
Hearing this, Eunuch He knelt down with a smile on his face, raised his hands and took the bottle. "Thank you, Queen, for the reward."
After Eunuch He left, Eunuch Cui asked softly, "Madam, do you want to inform the Prime Minister to stop it?"
The queen admired her masterpiece and smiled, "No need to worry. The more hopeful Jiapin is now, the more desperate she will be in the future. I want to warn the concubines in the harem that obeying me is their only way out."
Eunuch Cui nodded in agreement: "Your Majesty is right. I will keep it in mind."
The queen glared at him and sneered, "You old servant, you should have some other thoughts. You are like a piece of wood."
Eunuch Cui lowered his head even more and replied in a low voice: "My heart has not been with me since I entered the palace."
*
In the Qinzheng Hall, the emperor asked in disbelief: "How much did you say?"
Meng Jue, the censor of the Inspectorate, said in a deep voice: "Twenty people, all promoted by His Majesty."
Meng Jue was already covered in cold sweat at this time.
He never expected that after just taking a nap at noon, he would wake up to find such a big trouble falling from the sky.
No one knew who had thrown a large box at the gate of the Inspectorate. Inside was neatly packed evidence of crimes committed by exactly 21 officials, no more, no less, all of whom had been promoted overtly or covertly by the emperor.
If he investigated, he would offend the emperor; if he didn't, it would be dereliction of duty, so he had no choice but to rush to report to the emperor.
The emperor's face was extremely gloomy, and he clenched his fists and asked, "Have you verified all the evidence?"
"No." Meng Jue answered truthfully, "But the time, place, witnesses, and the whole story are all clearly written in the evidence. It doesn't seem to be fake. With so many people involved at once, I am afraid it will cause unrest in the court, so I have to report it to Your Majesty first."
The emperor frowned.
Twenty-one people were part of his promotion of officials.
The only one who could check it so clearly was Su Heng, who had been following him for the past twenty-one years.
Another threat.
If he wanted to break up directly, he could not just throw them at the gate of the Inspectorate, he could scatter them in every corner of the Imperial City.
"Issue an order to summon Su Heng to the palace."
When Eunuch Wan raised his eyes, he saw that the emperor had a frighteningly dark face. The emperor's majesty was already awe-inspiring, and now he was even angrier, making the eunuchs and ministers dare not look at him directly.
*
Su Lingyue said in a muffled voice: "The prince actually knew so many secrets of the emperor, why did he let him give poison for so many years? He should have used it earlier."
Xiao Yu stuffed a piece of lotus cake into Su Lingyue's mouth and said, "These were found by Yue'er for me. How could Yue'er forget them?"
With her mouth blocked by the pastries, Su Lingyue could only look at Xiao Yu in confusion.
Xiao Yu brushed the pastry crumbs off the corner of her mouth and chuckled, "You asked your grandmother about this, have you forgotten?"
Su Lingyue then remembered that she had helped Xiao Yu destroy her father's lair in Meishan, outside Beijing.
Looking at Su Lingyue's puffy cheeks, Xiao Yu pulled her into his arms, put his cheek against hers, and kissed her again.