The air was slightly condensed. The Protector lowered his head and remained silent for a while before speaking: "The wound on my niece's face was caused by the hands of the maid ordered by Princess Zhan."
Emperor Mu was slightly surprised: "Princess Zhan?"
"Yes." Lord Protector lowered his head, with a gloomy look on his face, "I don't know what mistake my niece made to let Princess Zhan be so cruel. King Yu also treated Ling'er because Princess Zhan was aggressive and could not lose his face. Moved his hands."
Emperor Mu fell silent. Did he say so much because he wanted to sue the princess?
Thinking of Princess Zhan whom he had just met yesterday, Emperor Mu didn't know what was going on in his mind. He said calmly: "Princess Zhan was born in the palace of a minister and has a low family background. Unless there are special circumstances, she would not do anything to the daughter of the prince."
Is the emperor protecting Princess Zhan?
The Protector's expression changed: "Your Majesty, I—"
"But it is indeed wrong to beat someone in public. I will call her into the palace to ask her clearly and give you an explanation." Emperor Mu continued, "Remember to ask when you go back to see if their daughters live together. Did you find any conflicts? What are the specifics? What’s the cause?”
The Protector could not believe that the emperor would react like this.
Go back and ask?
No matter what the cause is, Princess Zhan is so domineering, shouldn't she be held accountable?
The Protector was dissatisfied and subconsciously thought that the emperor was protecting his shortcomings. Just as he was about to say something else, Emperor Mu stood up and said, "My beloved, please kneel down first."
The Protector paused for a moment, then knelt on the ground and saluted.
"I called someone to ask." Emperor Mu said, suddenly remembering something, he lowered his eyes and asked, "Aiqing just said, who are the women who are going to Prince Yu's Mansion today?"
The Protector replied: "Several princesses have gone, including the legitimate daughter of the Xie family, the second daughter of Prime Minister Jiang, and the daughter of Shen Yushi..."
Emperor Mu nodded slowly: "Yushi Shen is a public official, so I thought it would be most appropriate to ask him about this matter. I will call his father and daughter into the palace later to ask about the situation."
The Protector did not expect such a result, and his mood suddenly became gloomy. Princess Zhan slapped the Zhao family's daughter in public, clearly not taking their Duke's palace seriously.
However, the complaint was filed, and the emperor promised to ask clearly. If he said more, it would make the emperor think that he was ignorant.
The Protector suppressed his emotions, bowed respectfully and left.
Emperor Mu walked out of the side hall and stood at the door of the hall with his hands behind his hands. He watched the Duke Protector leave. After a moment, he turned around and walked behind the imperial case, sat down and began to review the memorial.
"Yang Dexi."
"The slave is here."
"The queen is bored staying alone in the palace. You choose a smart subordinate to go out and deliver oral instructions. Let the legitimate daughter of the Xie family enter the palace to talk to the queen."
"This slave obeys your orders."
Emperor Mu's Zhubi paused for a moment: "In addition, summon King Chen to the palace."
"yes."
There are memorials as high as a hill piled up on the imperial desk, and they have to be processed almost every day until evening.
Emperor Mu was a diligent emperor, and he would not delay official business just because of some verbal disputes between his daughter's family, but just some small things could reveal some signs that are usually invisible.
After Yang Dexi has arranged things, he will come back.
Emperor Mu spoke again: "Yang Dexi."
"The slave is here."
Emperor Mu glanced at him: "Have you checked what I asked you to investigate yesterday?"
Yang Dexi bowed in fear: "The time is still short. I only asked a few elders in the palace and got some replies that I don't know whether they are trustworthy or not."
"Whether it is trustworthy or not, I will make my own judgment after hearing this." Emperor Mu tilted his head, "What did they say?"
Yang Dexi lowered his head: "The imperial concubine has a different attitude towards His Highness King Chen and His Highness King Zhan..."
Emperor Mu's eyebrows darkened slightly: "It doesn't matter if you say it boldly. I am investigating this matter secretly. I will not use it as evidence to punish anyone, nor will I make any publicity about it."
"Yes." Eunuch Yang quickly agreed, "The noble concubine prefers King Chen and dislikes King Zhan. I heard that King Zhan had a bad life when he was young."
"Not so good?" Emperor Mu turned his head, his eyes fell heavily on his face, "Why is it so bad?"
"I heard from some old eunuchs in the harem that King War was often beaten when he was a child. All he wore were the old clothes of King Chen, and his food was not as good as King Chen. Obviously, there were many monthly visits in the imperial concubine's palace, and the imperial concubine's mother-in-law often provided supplements. But the imperial concubine His Royal Highness, the War King, always skimped." Yang Dexi said, with a look of uneasiness on his face, and his voice became lower and lower, "But these are not the most important. I heard that the War King was often punished by his concubine when he was young, and was beaten and made to kneel in the ice and snow. It’s all commonplace.”
Emperor Mu's expression suddenly changed, and there seemed to be a look of shock and anger in his eyes: "I have never heard of these things in so many years."
"You deserve to die!" Yang Dexi hurriedly knelt down, "Maybe... maybe someone deliberately kept it secret and didn't want to upset the emperor, so..."
Emperor Mu's eyebrows were filled with a cold look.
eccentric?
Is this just partiality?
Although ordinary people cannot hold a bowl of water levelly, the palms and backs of their hands are full of flesh. Are the imperial concubine and Rong Cang mother and son, or enemies?
Rong Cang's birth did not have any bad impact on the imperial concubine, but instead consolidated her position as the imperial concubine.
She gave birth smoothly, without any disease due to the birth of the child, and without any physical injury due to difficult delivery.
Rong Cang doesn't have a curse, and his birth date can't defeat his parents.
Why does the imperial concubine hate him?
Even if Emperor Mu wanted to find an excuse for the imperial concubine's behavior, he couldn't find a reasonable reason after searching his mind.
Emperor Mu put down his ink pen and raised his hand to touch his forehead: "How is the relationship between their brothers? Does Rong Chen care for this ninth brother?"
"...No." Eunuch Yang shook his head, "King Chen is two years older than King Zhan. There were occasional fights and disputes when he was young. The noble concubine punished King Zhan every time and never punished King Chen."
Emperor Mu was silent, his brows and eyes were filled with cold frost.
The pressure of the emperor accumulated over the years is frightening. Now his eyebrows are sinking, and the anger of the emperor is even more frightening.
Yang Dexi knelt on the ground and spoke tremblingly: "I asked about something last night. I don't know whether I should say it or not."
Emperor Mu said coldly: "I have asked you to investigate, is there anything else you should say?"
"The second girl from Chu Shilang's family secretly has an unusual relationship with Prince Chen." Eunuch Yang said in a low voice, "On the day when Princess Zhan was angry because of the divorce letter, she went home and punished the concubine of the Chu family according to the family law. Mrs. Chu also punished her. He knelt down in the ancestral hall, but that afternoon, King Chen quietly went to the Chu family ancestral hall and met with the Chu family’s concubine.”
Emperor Mu's eyes suddenly turned cold: "When did you know about this? Why didn't you say it until now?"
"Old slave deserves to die!" Eunuch Yang knelt down and said in panic, "Old slave only found out about this incident by accidentally hearing the palace people discussing it. He was worried that it would cause the emperor to misunderstand. He didn't know whether to say it or not, so he kept suppressing it now."
Emperor Mu said no more, but his eyes were terrifyingly cold.
King Chen, the noble sixth prince, has Concubine Gu as his noble mother in the palace, and the Prime Minister as his father-in-law who is the leader of all officials in the court.
There is also a wealthy family like the Gu family as a backer.
However, he secretly came into contact with a concubine from the palace of a minister, and it was such a coincidence that the concubine of the palace of the minister seduced his brother-in-law at this juncture...
If you say there is no conspiracy, even ghosts will not believe it.
The imperial concubine is indeed partial.
Let King Chen marry the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister's Palace, and let the War King marry the legitimate daughter of the Minister's Palace - no, Rong Cang wants to marry the legitimate daughter of the Chamberlain's Palace.
"Rong Cang has been staying at the border for these years, focusing only on leading troops to fight. He has never managed his own power in the court. Even the wife he married was just a low-ranking wife." Emperor Mu's voice was cold, "But still Someone didn’t want to let him go.”
Yang Dexi lowered his head, afraid to speak.
