in2ebook Chapter 108 King Chen Goes to Court
Chapter 108 King Chen Goes to Court
Chapter 108 King Chen Goes to Court
The voice seemed to come from the sky, strange yet familiar, neither light nor heavy, neither salty nor bland. It was like it was casually talking about something insignificant, but also like it was affirming an unquestionable fact.
When people looked back, they saw a young man in his twenties taking off his cloak outside the temple gate and walking in step by step.
Someone exclaimed "Huh", thinking that this person looked familiar, but why couldn't they remember who he was?
However, the eyes of the Minister of Justice Jiang Feng lit up, and he leaned forward slightly and called out, "Your Highness Prince Chen."
People suddenly realized that it was the Fourth Prince Quan Qinghua who had just returned to the country. This prince who was sent to Guiyue Kingdom as a hostage at the age of thirteen, returned to Northern Qi after nearly ten years, but he could no longer be called a prince.
"Your subject, Quan Qinghua, kowtows to His Majesty. Long live the emperor. Long, long live the emperor." Quan Qinghua knelt down in the center of the hall and knocked his forehead to the ground.
Quan Qingcheng sniffed, "Fourth brother, please stand up."
Quan Qinghua stood up and looked around at the courtiers on both sides. After a while, he said the same thing again: "Miss Ye Si was just invited by the king to drink tea, how come the rumor spread that she was left outside the city? Who started this rumor first?" After he finished speaking, his eyes fell on the man who had previously said that the lost girl could not be kept again even if she was found.
Cold sweat began to break out on the back of that man's neck. Normally speaking, someone who had not returned to the capital for many years, even if he was a member of the royal family, would not have much power in Lin'an City. There was no need for him to be so afraid of King Chen.
But it wasn't that serious. Although the King Chen looked indifferent, he could always make people see a bit of gloom in his indifference. Just like now, the gaze of His Royal Highness the King Chen was like a scrutiny, forcing him to speak. So he gritted his teeth and said, "It wasn't anyone who started it. It was the Ye family who made a fuss on the night of the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. The eldest lady of the Ye family and the servants of the mansion searched the inner and outer cities for most of the night, and even the people from the Lin'an prefectural yamen followed to look for them."
When Chi Hongfang heard this, he immediately got angry: "Which eye did you see me and my men go to look for her? That night, I clearly went to the city gate to welcome the Fourth Prince back to the capital, and I even sent him back to Prince Chen's Mansion. How come you said that I went to look for Fourth Miss Ye? Hey, when did you learn the skill of lying with your eyes open?"
The official's face turned red, and he wanted to retort, but he saw the Minister of Justice Xiangfeng also stepped forward, so he closed his mouth again and didn't say the rest of the words.
At this time, the uncle who had been standing at the front of the court officials spoke up. He asked Quan Qinghua, "Your Highness the Fourth Prince has returned to the capital. Why did you come to the morning court only today?"
Quan Qinghua nodded at him and said, "I came back late the day before yesterday, so I rested for a day at home yesterday." The Regent said nothing else, nor did he ask why Fourth Miss Ye accepted his invitation to have tea. He just turned around and stood there silently, his eyes fixed on the ground. No one knew what he was thinking.
Since then, no one dared to mention the matter of the Fourth Miss Ye again, but everyone was wondering in their hearts why the first thing that Prince Chen, who had been a hostage for ten years, did when he returned to the capital was to rescue the witch of the Ye family? How did this connect? It was not even close!
The second half of the morning court was dry and nothing special happened. At the end of the year, most of the discussion was about how to hold the New Year's banquet and who to invite. Besides, the emperor was young and he should listen to the opinions of the regent and the empress dowager.
When Prince Chen Quan Qinghua heard this, he threw out another sentence: "I really should listen more to the Queen Mother's advice. Although I have been away from the capital for many years, every time my father sent a royal letter to Guiyue, he would always mention that Concubine Yu is well-educated, sensible, and generous."
Everyone:? ?
The regent frowned slightly, but still said nothing. But when Quan Qingcheng looked at his fourth brother again, his eyes sparkled and he subconsciously sat up straighter.
Finally, the morning court was over and all the courtiers left. Even the regent did not stay to talk to the emperor as usual.
Quan Qingcheng waited for a while, then sent Wu Fei to chase his fourth brother. As a result, Wu Fei came back just after leaving the hall and told him: "The fourth prince has not left, he is waiting for you outside the hall!"
He quickly ran out of Chengguang Hall and saw Quan Qinghua standing quietly not far away.
When he was sent as a hostage to the Kingdom of Guiyue, he was only seven years old. Although he was not very old, he was deeply impressed by his fourth brother. Because his fourth brother was the only brother who often visited him and would bring him delicious snacks and new things from outside the palace.
At that time, the fourth brother was a sunny boy with smiling eyes and a bright look. But the fourth brother now is not the same as before. Although he still smiles at him, there is a lot of strangeness and indifference in that smile.
He walked over and took the initiative to greet him: "Fourth brother." Quan Qinghua nodded, "You can speak now."
"Yes, my sister cured me." Speaking of his sister, he took a half step back and bowed to Quan Qinghua seriously. "I heard that it was my fourth brother who saved my sister on the night of the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month on his way back to Beijing. Qingcheng thanks my fourth brother."
Quan Qinghua was stunned for a moment, and then asked after a while: "Fourth Miss Ye?"
"Yes, it's Fourth Miss Ye. Just now Fourth Brother spoke for Sister in the court, Qingcheng is very grateful to Fourth Brother."
He thought of the woman he rescued outside the city that night, her face pale and covered in blood, but she didn't say a word when he applied medicine to her. When he left Guiyue Country, he wondered who would be the first acquaintance he would meet after returning to Lin'an. He also thought that if someone was the first to express kindness to him, then they would have this good relationship.
That Fourth Miss Ye... let's just say it's a good fate. At least she said he was a gentleman, so he should do what a gentleman does.
But Shanyuan went to Yanhua Palace later. He had never been to Yanhua Palace, but only looked up from the foot of the mountain. That place was out of reach for all mortals. He once thought that except for government offices like the Imperial Observatory, no one else in the world would have anything to do with Yanhua Palace. But now it was different?
"What is Fourth Brother thinking about?"
He came back to his senses and remembered that there were people waiting for him to talk, so he said, "I was thinking that I had been away from Northern Qi for too long, and things here are unfamiliar to me. Qingcheng, were you there when my father left?"
Quan Qingcheng shook his head, looking dejected. "No, my father's illness came on quickly, and he passed away suddenly. No one was prepared. Besides, I was just a little mute at the time, and my father couldn't even remember me, so how could I be here! Even I was chosen by the Emperor to be the emperor because I was the youngest prince, and because my sixth brother happened to have an accident that day."
Speaking of his sixth brother, Quan Qingcheng's emotions obviously fluctuated. Quan Qinghua looked at him for a while, and suddenly wanted to ask about the relationship between the Fourth Miss Ye and his sixth brother. Although he had been in Guiyue Country for many years, he had heard a lot of news from Northern Qi. They always said that the Fourth Miss of the First-Rank General's Mansion had fallen in love with the Sixth Prince of the Royal Family, and had repeatedly stated in front of others that she would not marry anyone other than the Sixth Prince.
The reason why he talked about the First Rank General's Mansion and the Fourth Miss Ye was because General Ye Jinggui had been his teacher and student for five years. When he was young, he read military books, and his father asked General Ye to give him more guidance, but General Ye didn't have the time, so the matter fell on General Ye, and this was the origin of his relationship with the Ye family.
However, he learned military books and battle formations from General Ye in the military camp, so he was not familiar with the people in the Ye Mansion. He even met the Fourth Miss Ye only once at the old general's birthday party.
Later, I moved far away and lost contact with many people here, but I was able to exchange one or two letters with my teacher every year.
Sometimes the teacher's letters talked about military strategies, sometimes he urged him to take good care of himself in Guiyue Kingdom, and sometimes he talked about his own noisy and disobedient little daughter at home.
So he knew the title of the Ye family's witch, and knew how pessimistic the teacher was about his daughter's marriage to the Sixth Prince. He also knew that in the end it was the old general who could not resist his granddaughter's request and went to the emperor to grant this marriage.
The teacher was quite worried about this, and mentioned it to him in the last letter, saying that if his daughter encountered difficulties in the future, he hoped that he could help her. He even said that he actually hoped that his daughter could marry him, no matter whether it was in Northern Qi or Guiyue, after all, it would be more reassuring to have a son-in-law who had been taught since childhood.
At that time, he was in Guiyue and was out of reach. He also felt that it was too early for the teacher to say this. He was only middle-aged, and if his daughter was in trouble, with the military power of General Ye, even the royal family would not be able to bully the girl of the Ye family.
However, he did not expect that within half a year, the old general died of illness, the great general died of illness, and later, his father also passed away.
"Fourth brother, why are you always silent?" Quan Qingcheng felt very uncomfortable. In the past, his fourth brother was a high-spirited young man. Because he could not speak, he always listened to his fourth brother talking when he was with him. They talked about martial arts and military strategies, as well as family matters. Now that he can speak, it is the fourth brother who is silent. "Fourth brother, do you not want to talk to me?" Quan Qinghua retracted his thoughts and shook his head slowly, "No, I was just thinking that times have changed, and many things in Lin'an City are different from before. So I didn't know where to start for a moment, and it was definitely not directed at you."
Quan Qingcheng was happy then. "Since Fourth Brother is back, then don't go back. Although the Emperor's uncle, the Regent, said that it is not a good thing to send a hostage back to the country, he did not say that he must send you back."
Quan Qinghua was speechless. Although Guiyue was a foreign land, he did not want to stay in this native land. This was originally his home, but after so many years, home had already become unfamiliar, and his parents were gone. How could it still be called home?
Or maybe he had lost his home a long time ago. When his father sent him to Guiyue Kingdom as a hostage, he knew that among so many princes, he was the only one who was abandoned and the only one who was not loved by his father.
A hostage, that is a hostage. No one can understand what kind of life he has been leading in that country over the years. No one knows that every year’s Moon Festival is the most difficult time for him to endure the full moon…