If not abolished

Chapter 276: Bite Back (2)

Inside Qingyun Palace

"Your Highness, the eunuch Wang who serves His Majesty is here." Wu Cheng ran in anxiously from outside.

"Wang Daban came in person?" Zhu Zhanji was rarely invited by Wang Jinghong in person. It seemed that the matter was not small, so Zhu Zhanji walked out.

"Your Highness, His Majesty asked me to invite you over." Wang Jinghong said with a smile, looking like nothing had happened, as if Zhu Di was asking Zhu Zhanji to reminisce about the past.

Zhu Zhanji followed him. On the way, Zhu Zhanji said, "I wonder what the emperor wants me to do at this time?" After all, it was not long since the court was dismissed.

"Your Highness will know this when you arrive at the Qianqing Palace." Wang Jinghong said without changing his expression.

"Is it an urgent matter?" Zhu Zhanji continued to ask.

"It's urgent, but it's not urgent either, so your majesty asked me to come and invite you."

Zhu Zhanji knew that he was very cunning, so he didn't say much.

"That's right, let's go quickly." Zhu Zhanji suddenly touched his waist and stopped suddenly, "Wu Cheng, the jade pendant on my waist seems to have fallen in the study, go back and get it." Zhu Zhanji said to him.

"Yes, I'll go right away." Wu Cheng received the signal and left immediately.

"Or is it rare to see Your Highness being so careless?"

"People are bound to make mistakes. No one can guarantee that they will not make mistakes."

"Yes, since His Highness has left something behind, should we go there first or..."

"Since Your Majesty is not in such a hurry, let's walk slowly. Wu Cheng should be here soon."

"Yes." Wang Jinghong replied. "Your Highness, just remember one thing, His Majesty still loves you very much." He still couldn't help but say one more word.

Zhu Zhanji's eyes lit up and he thanked Wang Jinghong, "Thank you, Wang Daban, for your reminder."

After a while, Wu Cheng ran back quickly with the jade pendant left by Zhu Zhanji in her hand. "Your Highness, I found it." Wu Cheng said after steadying her breathing, and then she put it on Zhu Zhanji.

"Look, you didn't remind me when you went out just now. This will delay things a lot. It will be bad if His Majesty is waiting anxiously." Wu Cheng was being scolded by Zhu Zhanji while he was putting the belt on him.

"Your Highness is right. This is all my fault. I will be more careful next time."

Because they had already wasted a lot of time, they quickened their pace and didn't say anything else for the rest of the journey.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."

"See Your Majesty."

"Please stand up first." Zhu Di waved his hand casually.

As soon as Zhu Zhanji came in, he saw Zhu Zhanqi, who also stood up and saluted him, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"Yeah." Zhu Zhanji nodded and thought, why is he here too?

"Agui, please sit down first."

"Yes."

When Zhu Di saw that everyone was present, he said sternly, "Bring the people up here."

After saying that, Wu Yingyue and the young eunuch were brought in.

"Your servant greets His Majesty and Your Highnesses." The two men knelt on the ground. After this period of torture, they no longer had the brilliance they had before.

"Your Majesty, did you bring these two people here?" Zhu Zhanji was indeed at a loss, so he had to ask what happened first, otherwise he would have no solution at all.

"It's like this. Zhanqi said that his people instructed this young eunuch to get information about the previous incident. As for letting this palace servant take things from your study, he denied it all. He said that it was a trap set by you and you deliberately let him fall into it. You did all this on purpose, so I asked you all to come here. After all, we can't believe one-sided words." Zhu Zhanji explained to him roughly.

"So that's how it is. If that's the case, then how does Your Majesty plan to prove it for Zhanqi?" Zhu Zhanji asked with interest.

"Your Highness, won't you try to explain this?" Zhu Zhanqi thought that he would immediately get anxious when he heard this, but he didn't expect that he would be so calm.

"I'm not in a hurry. Why should I be so anxious, brother? Besides, a man of integrity has nothing to fear. You know clearly whether you have done it or not, and I also know clearly whether I have done it or not. It's not something that can be solved by just saying a few words of excuse. Well, let's wait for His Majesty to make the decision. What do you think, Grandpa Emperor?" Zhu Zhanji finally looked at Zhu Di.

"Agui is right. Okay, let's stop arguing. Let these two people explain the details." Zhu Di then glanced at Wang Jinghong, and Wang Jinghong immediately understood.

Wang Jinghong stepped forward and said sternly, "Why don't you two tell us the truth about what happened?"

The two looked at each other, and finally the young eunuch spoke first, "My name is Xiao Yuzi, I work in the Food Department, and I used to be in the Zhao Wang Mansion. In the third year, Zhao Wang arranged for me to enter the palace. At first, I was an ordinary errand boy. It was not until the fifth year that I received news from His Royal Highness Zhao Wang. At the beginning, I was trying to find out some news about the Eastern Palace, mainly about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and by the way, I sent some of my own people to the Eastern Palace as traitors. This maid was convicted of a crime more than a year ago and was punished to the palace. She is a person of His Royal Highness Han Wang, but we didn't have much communication at the beginning, and we met frequently for half a year. Before, we were planning to make her the prince's woman, but she could never get to the prince's side. Later, when the Crown Princess became pregnant, we had to settle for the next best thing and start with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's Qingyun Palace. It wasn't smooth at the beginning. The Crown Princess protected the East Palace like an iron barrel. After many efforts, we finally put her next to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. What happened later was that I contacted her unilaterally. She told me some news about Qingyun Palace and tried to sow suspicion between His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, so that we would have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation... This is roughly what I know."

"Hmph, you've done a lot of things." Zhu Di looked at Zhu Zhanqi.

"Grandpa Emperor, I was unaware of most of the things he said. At that time, my father was still in the capital, and many things were arranged by him and my third uncle. I took over them not long ago." Zhu Zhanqi immediately shirked the responsibility.

"You have gotten away with it very well. In that case, you should give me all the people your father, that bastard, left behind for you. Don't do these stupid things again in the future," Zhu Di warned.

"Yes, grandson understands, but Grandpa Huang, I'm really not."

"I know. Your father has been like this for a long time. If he hadn't been discovered in time, he would have been ready to learn from Li Shimin and launch the Xuanwu Gate Incident. He would do anything. Okay, don't learn those bad things at such a young age."

"Got it." Zhu Zhanqi's goal today has been achieved. It doesn't matter what he is like. As long as he can drag his father into the water, he doesn't care about anything else.

When Zhu Zhanji heard this, he felt something was wrong. This was obviously not directed at him, so what was his good brother going to do?

Zhu Zhanji recalled that in his previous life, after Zhu Zhanhe passed away, Zhu Zhanqi, who had originally respected his father very much, suddenly wrote to the emperor many times, saying that his second uncle had killed his mother with his own hands. His second uncle naturally did not admit it and directly said that he would sever ties with his son. But in the end, the emperor still followed the ancestral system and canonized Zhu Zhanqi as the prince of Han. It was not until the emperor discovered that Zhu Zhanqi had repeatedly passed on news from the capital to his second uncle and wanted to rebel that the emperor demoted him to Fengyang to guard the tomb.

Zhu Zhanqi's move today was obviously intended to drag his second uncle into trouble. I'm afraid that after today, his second uncle won't even have to come to the capital for the annual court audience.

Since it was none of his business, he didn't need to worry about it. Zhu Zhanji then picked up the tea beside him and took a sip.

"It seems your father still hasn't given up. If he hadn't done what he did, today's incident wouldn't have happened. He has even sent spies to me. What does he want? I haven't even risen yet. Does he want to seize power and usurp the throne?" Zhu Di was furious.

Zhu Zhanqi lowered his head and remained silent.

"You keep saying that I will make the decision and defend you, but look, now that only one person is talking, it's all your business. You even blamed Agui before. That's enough, I don't want to hear anything else. Let's end this matter here." Zhu Di had a headache and turned to Zhu Zhanji and said, "Agui, you've made a lot of trouble. You can go back first."

"Yes, grandson will take his leave first." Zhu Zhanji stood up and said.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say." Suddenly, Wu Yingyue, who had been silent for a long time, spoke suddenly. Everyone looked at her, and even Zhu Zhanji, who was about to leave, stopped.