Chapter 906: Who Attacks Whom
Shao Wanru didn"t stay long in b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop. After talking with Madame Dong for a while, she walked out of the shop. Madame Dong escorted her to the door with courtesy. This was what she did to every distinguished customer, so it didn"t arouse others" suspicion.
Yujie was waiting at the door. When she saw Shao Wanru come out, she helped Shao Wanru put on her curtain hat and then went to the second floor with her. There was a place to rest there, where Chu Liuchen was sitting and waiting for Shao Wanru.
Seeing her coming over, Chu Liuchen raised his eyebrows and asked lazily, "How did it go?"
"It"s good. Nothing peculiar happened," Shao Wanru said vaguely.
"Can we deal with it?" Chu Liuchen asked.
"No problem!" Shao Wanru answered.
Knowing that Chu Liuchen was worried about her, Shao Wanru smiled slightly and said, "I"ve been preparing for this before. Now I"m just rearranging it, but I may need Qing"er to help me collect something!"
But Qing"er was not the only help Shao Wanru needed. The two secret guardsmen sent by Chu Liuchen for Shao Wanru must be needed. Although Shao Wanru had married into Prince Chen"s Mansion now, she did not intend to send them back to Chu Liuchen.
"Two may not be enough. I"ll send two more for you." Chu Liuchen smiled slightly, reached out to pull her up, and asked gently, "Have you seen anything you like? Do you want to order several suits of clothes?"
"Great!" Shao Wanru nodded happily. Since she couldn"t let others know that she came here just to see Madame Dong today, she had to pretend to be a normal customer.
Shao Wanru asked the shop boy standing aside to bring a few bolts of cloth over. She picked a few and asked the shop boy to make clothes according to the latest style. After the tailor did his job, the two of them went out with a group of servants.
After they got on the carriage, they went to a gold jewelry shop. Shao Wanru bought a few sets of jewelry and then left.
After they left, the people spying on them went back to report to their master.
After getting the news, Chu Liuyue sneered, "Chu Liuchen is still weak inside!"
He had already heard that Chu Liuchen didn"t consummate his marriage that night. After a sigh of relief, he felt that Chu Liuchen should be like this. Even if Chu Liuchen seemed like a normal person now, in fact, he was not healthy. He had been sick for so long. Even if he was better now, he was not so well.
"Mr. Liu, do you think his health has really recovered, or does he have some other purpose? Is he bluffing?" Chu Liuyue asked Mr. Liu, the advisor sitting next to him.
"Your Highness, I"m afraid it"s not that simple!" Mr. Liu shook his head. He was a scholar who failed the Palace Examination. He was extremely intelligent but unlucky. Chu Liuyue secretly recruited him because of his reputation.
"Mr. Liu, do you mean that he faked it? But he indeed didn"t consummate the marriage!" Chu Liuyue said with certainty. On the second day of Chu Liuchen and Shao Wanru"s marriage, when they entered the palace, a Nanny guessed that Shao Wanru was still a virgin since there was nothing unusual with her physical condition.
There were many sharp-eyed nannies in the Palace. They could tell from a girl"s gaits, movements, and subtle gestures whether she was still a virgin or not.
Although the guess was not very reliable, considering the rumors later, it was highly possible.
Mr. Liu pondered for a moment and said, "I don"t think they have consummated their marriage, but…" In fact, he did not understand why his master was so focused on whether Prince Chen had consummated his marriage or not. This kind of thing was trivial. It was just the joy of the couple. He didn"t see any need to keep an eye on it.
In Mr. Liu"s view, whether Prince Chen consummated his marriage or not had nothing to do with the serious stuff and overall situation.
He thought Prince Yue needed to see the bigger picture instead of these trivial things about love affairs. Moreover, even if those two didn"t consummate the marriage, the Fifth Miss Shao was now Princess Chen and had nothing to do with anyone else, let alone Prince Yue.
Mr. Liu coughed in a low voice and reminded Chu Liuyue, "Your Highness, forget about whether Prince Chen has consummated his marriage or not. This trip to Nan Jiang is a chance!"
Chu Liuyue frowned and asked, "What kind of opportunity? Attack Chu Liuchen?"
If Chu Liuchen, this sick person, continued to fall ill, Chu Liuyue felt that he was not a danger. If Chu Liuyue became the emperor in the future, he was willing to spare Chu Liuchen"s life for the sake of his own reputation. But at this time he didn"t think so, and he didn"t want to keep Chu Liuchen alive. Chu Liuchen was such an eyesore.
Mr. Liu coughed in a low voice again. He felt that his master was a little obsessed. The First Miss Shao, the most beautiful lady in the capital city, couldn"t make his master so obsessed. The Fifth Miss Shao had got something. He wondered how seductive she could be.
"Your Highness, I"m talking about Commandery Prince Qing!" Mr. Liu said bluntly.
"Attack Chu Qing and then put the blame on Chu Liuchen?" Chu Liuyue raised his head and patted the table gently.
"That"s not necessarily the case. You can attack Prince Chen and put the blame on Commandery Prince Qing!" Mr. Liu said with an insinuation in his words.
Of course, what he meant was to make them attack each other. No matter who won or lost, it had nothing to do with Chu Liuyue. He could just hide back and watch the scene secretly.
"Will Chu Qing attack Chu Liuchen?" Chu Liuyue chose a better plan. Compared with making it seem that Chu Liuchen attacked Chu Qing, the better way was to make it seem that Chu Qing attacked Chu Liuchen.
If it was Chu Liuchen who attacked Chu Qing, even if in the end Chu Liuchen got the blame, the partial father and the even more partial Imperial Grandmother would definitely protect him. The thought of it made Chu Liuyue lose his temper.
Chu Liuyue felt fine about being inferior to Chu Liuzhou. After all, Chu Liuzhou was the legitimate son of the Empress. An ordinary prince could not compare with him.
However, Chu Liuchen was nothing. He got no parents and presented a danger to the throne of his father. Although so many years had pa.s.sed, many old ministers would still faintly respect Chu Liuchen, as if he was the orthodox son of the empire. And none of the other Princes, including Chu Liuzhou, was as orthodox as Chu Liuchen.
The thought of the behavior of those old ministers made Chu Liuyue annoyed.
He had always wanted to draw them over to his side, but they had never decided which side they would choose. They seemed to be impartial, but also seemed to respect Chu Liuchen very much.
"Even if he doesn"t do it, we can make it seem like Commandery Prince Qing has attacked Prince Chen. Although Commandery Prince Qing is also the son of the Former Emperor, he is obviously inferior to Prince Chen. Moreover, I heard that Commandery Prince Qing has always wanted to ingratiate himself with Prince Chen, but rarely has he been allowed to get into Prince Chen"s Mansion. It can be seen that Prince Chen doesn"t like his brother. Of course, Commandery Prince Qing doesn"t like Prince Chen either. If Prince Chen dies, Commandery Prince Qing will be the only son of the Former Emperor. With such a status, he may be doted on by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager!" Mr. Liu said with an insinuation.
Chu Liuyue heard these words clearly. After thinking for a while, he nodded and said, "Mr. Liu, please think of a safe way. It"s best to add fuel to the fire and make Chu Qing do it directly. If he can"t do it directly, make it look like he has done it!"
"Don"t worry, Your Highness. I will think of a safer way at first. Nan Jiang is remote. Even if the Empress Dowager and the Emperor pay attention to Prince Chen, they can"t reach there sometimes. The affairs of Xu State can be big or small. Even if Prince Chen doesn"t enter Xu State, he may still be harmed!" Mr. Liu said with a confident smile.
Commandery Prince Qing didn"t have a strong background. Even if he recruited some guards later, it was easy for others to arrange for people to work in his mansion. What was more, after Commandery Prince Qing was conferred with a t.i.tle, he recruited various kinds of people at will, and even people from Prince Yue"s Mansion got recruited.
Of course, the Prince Yue"s Mansion was not the only one that did it. Those who needed to stick a nose into Commandery Prince Qing"s Mansion would do so, too. In fact, Commandery Prince Qing"s Mansion was full of loopholes without many secrets.
In fact, it was not that everyone paid special attention to Chu Qing. It was just a routine operation that did not require much effort. You send in a few people at any time, do not ask them to report or do something. You only ask them to do it when there"s a need. It would be perfect.
Of course, if Mr. Liu knew that the person who leaked the information was not Chu Qing"s servant, but Chu Liuyue"s servant, he would not think so!
Chu Liuyue made obeisance to Mr. Liu and said gratefully, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Liu! What do you think of Qi Tianyu?"
Mr. Liu was now the top advisor of Chu Liuyue. Although Wen Xichi was extremely smart, Chu Liuyue always felt that he had been absent-minded recently. Sometimes, when Chu Liuyue asked him about something, he seemed to be ponderous, like he was thinking about something that n.o.body knew. So, Chu Liuyue felt that it was better to discuss it with Mr. Liu.
"Since Qi Tianyu agreed to marry his sister to Prince Zhou, he is loyal to you. But if his sister gives birth to a son in the future, I can"t guarantee that he will still be loyal to you!" Mr. Liu said slowly.
Chu Liuyue nodded repeatedly. He understood what Mr. Liu meant. Originally, he wanted to take Qi Rongzhi as a consort this time, which was discussed with Qi Tianyu before. But later, after discussing with his advisors, he felt that it was better to send Qi Rongzhi to Prince Zhou"s Mansion. In the future, she would become an informer beside Prince Zhou and could play a special role at the most critical moment.
Qi Tianyu didn"t agree with this decision at first, but later Chu Liuyue repeatedly promised that when he ascended to the throne in the future, he would never mistreat Qi Rongzhi. Even if she couldn"t be the Empress, she could be one of the most favored imperial concubines in the Palace such as an Imperial n.o.ble Consort. Chu Liuyue also said that he would not forget kindness, and Qi Tianyu"s future career would be smooth!
Of course, if Qi Tianyu didn"t agree with the decision, he could do the reverse!
After hearing Chu Liuyue"s promises and threats, Qi Tianyu had to agree with the decision. Since he had already boarded Chu Liuyue"s s.h.i.+p, he had to agree to send his sister to Prince Zhou"s as a scout.
"Give her the medicine to make her infertile!" Chu Liuyue said coldly.
"I understand!" Mr. Liu nodded. This was also his idea. In this case, in order to ensure the loyalty of the Qi siblings, this was the only way!