Chapter 919:
But Di Rufeng was frightened of Chu Liuchen"s smile, which looked like a sharp cold blade in his eyes. Moreover, Prince Yue, the only person who could support him, was not with him here.
"Are you waiting for someone to come to save you? So you still want to struggle for a while, Duke Yong?" Chu Liuchen said slowly, calm and unhurried.
"I don"t know what you mean, Your Highness!" Di Rufeng gritted his teeth. He didn"t believe that Prince Chen could manage to make him tell the truth.
Chu Liuchen took out a handkerchief to clean his slender fingers, raised his head, and said without a trace of anger, "So you admit your son"s incompetence and your wife"s dishonesty and that you have received other people"s bribes with ulterior motives?"
"Your Highness…"
"Uncle the Emperor, since Duke Yong has admitted his guilt, let"s punish him!" Chu Liuchen looked at the Emperor and said with a smile.
His gentle and handsome smile could comfort people"s hearts. The Emperor had been angry, but now he was calm. He thought for a second and nodded.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I didn"t say anything! Your Majesty, I didn"t admit my guilt! I don"t understand what I have done?" Di Rufeng panicked and hastened to explain himself.
"Duke Yong, I just gave you the chance to explain, but you didn"t cherish it!" Chu Liuchen still kept smiling gently, but the smile was evil and cold in Di Rufeng"s eyes.
"Transmit an imperial edict. Strip the t.i.tle of the Heir of Duke Yong! Deprive his family of hereditary peerages from now on!" the Emperor said with no expression on his face.
"Your, Your Majesty…" Duke Yong was shocked a lot. His face was frozen, his body trembling, and he nearly lost consciousness and fainted.
It was because their ancestors had spared no pains that an aristocratic family could wear such a t.i.tle, not to mention that it was a hereditary t.i.tle that was even more precious! Now Di Yan"s t.i.tle of heir of a duke was stripped, which meant that the t.i.tle of Duke Yong would disappear. Though Di Rufeng still had the t.i.tle, his descendants would become ordinary people once he died.
Only to take the imperial examination could they stage a comeback.
However, Di Yan couldn"t pa.s.s the imperial exam.
"Since he is the cause of everything, we punish him. His Majesty considered that both you and your wife committed the crime for your son, so he just punished your son. Thank him for his kindness!" Chu Liuchen said slowly.
"Thank, thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty!" Di Rufeng kowtowed with tears in his eyes.
"You may leave!" the Emperor waved his hand and said impatiently. The whole thing caused by Di Rufeng involved his two sons, for whom he held high hopes. No wonder the Emperor was annoyed with Di Rufeng.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Di Rufeng answered and left. He staggered to the door, where he suddenly felt dizzy under the bright sun. Everything around was spinning in his eyes, including the two princes kneeling outside.
"Duke Yong, Duke Yong!" The young eunuch outside the door found that something wrong was with Di Rufeng, so he hurriedly reached out to help.
Di Rufeng held the young eunuch"s hand and steadied his body. He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them. He thought with his eyes wet, "I lost the t.i.tle of n.o.bility pa.s.sed down by our ancestors. How should I face them?"
How he wished that he was the one who lost the t.i.tle instead of his son, so his son could take over it! He didn"t want his son to take the responsibility. He had thought that the Emperor merely regarded Di Yan as a useless playboy from an aristocratic family and would never vent his anger on Di Yan. Unexpectedly, the Emperor even removed the peerage of Duke Yong"s Mansion!
"If I knew it, I would have been an honest declined Duke Yong at the beginning. At least, I could have kept the t.i.tle and dignity."
"Duke Yong, how are you?" The young eunuch"s voice vaguely came in Di Rufeng"s ears. It took him a lot of effort to hear it clearly. He shook his shoulders slightly to get rid of the eunuch"s support and staggered to the harem.
He couldn"t leave now. He had to meet Zhaoyi Di and ask her to plead with the Emperor. He couldn"t give up the position of the heir of the duke.
When Di Yufeng pa.s.sed by the two princes, Chu Liuyue called him in a low voice, "Duke Yong?" However, at this time, Di Rufeng"s mind was fully occupied with his son"s t.i.tle, so he even ignored his master.
"Duke Yong seemed to be severely punished by Father, Eldest Brother. He can"t help you anymore!" Chu Liuzhou sneered.
"Second Brother, Duke Yong might be framed up by others too. Who just got Duke Yong"s Mansion involved while he was smearing my reputation?" Chu Liuyue stayed calm because he was afraid that Chu Liuzhou would make trouble with him again.
He was not afraid of what Chu Liuzhou would say but that he would make up some nonsense again.
Chu Liuyue slowly looked down and clenched his fists under the sleeves. "Could it be that the Chu Liuzhou has infiltrated his people into my places? Otherwise, how could he know so much?"
It seemed that he had to clean up his mansion after going back. "I thought I have cleaned all the spies out. Is there any more?"
It was quiet in the Imperial Study. The Emperor was frowning with a gloomy face.
Chu Liuchen stood up and said goodbye to the Emperor.
"Don"t leave yet! Help me a.n.a.lyze this matter!" The Emperor reached out to stop him.
"Uncle the Emperor, it"s not convenient for me to intervene in it!" Chu Liuchen said with a wry smile.
"I trust you!" The Emperor waved his hand and cut in on him. "It is very likely that both of them are relevant to it. It is really shameful for the royal family to end up like this!"
"Do you mean to smooth it out, Uncle the Emperor?" Chu Liuchen asked casually. He had expected such a result early.
Seeing that his nephew was not interested in anything, the Emperor couldn"t help sighing in his heart. He really trusted Chu Liuchen. In the past, Chu Liuchen was in poor health, so the Emperor couldn"t bear to tire him out. The imperial physician said his health was much better now, so the Emperor asked him a few more questions.
"What will happen if we go on the investigation on it?" the Emperor asked with a solemn face.
"It"s hard to say, Uncle the Emperor!" Chu Liuchen said helplessly with a mysterious smile on his handsome face.
The Emperor understood what he meant. In fact, he had the same scruples. He had not yet decided who would be the crown prince. Before it was settled, Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou were both suitable successors to the throne in the Emperor"s heart. There were not many princes the Emperor was fond of. He only thought highly of four princes including Chu Liuchen, so each of them was precious.
If the four of them didn"t kill each other, the Emperor wouldn"t end their lives at will.
At this moment, both Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou seemed to be relevant to this bewildering case. The more details they found, the more difficult it would be to deal with it in the future. In fact, nothing serious had happened to the royal family by now. The involved Duke Yong had been punished for the trouble made by his family, so they could push all the blame on his wife and daughter-in-law. Then the royal family would get rid of it.
"Tell me your opinion! I will forgive you!"
"Uncle the Emperor, why not just let it go? After all, we can"t let other people gossip about us anymore, especially those outside the Palace! Because of the previous incident involving First Miss of Marquis Xing"s Mansion and wedding banquet held in her parent"s home before, Eldest Brother and Second Brother have been suffering lots of controversies!" Chu Liuchen said implicitly.
Originally, it was a private secret that the two princes were at odds with each other, but now it was well known to everyone.
The Emperor nodded repeatedly. He became unhappy when he remembered Marquis Xing, Shao Jing. "Marquis Xing"s Mansion is also getting worse and worse generation by generation. The former Duke Xing and the former Heir of Duke Xing were great heroes. How could the family end up like this? Of course, his daughter was not a good woman either."
"Let"s put all the blame on the heir of Duke Yong! We can claim that according to Duke Yong"s confession, it was due to their disappointing son Di Yan that his mother and her daughter-in-law fought for money in the mansion. So it was reasonable to deprive him of the t.i.tle. After all, his parents have taken up others" dowries for such a long time. No one has ever expected that a young master from a good aristocratic family could be so useless," Chu Liuchen a.n.a.lyzed lazily.
The Emperor nodded and felt it reasonable.
"As for how to punish Eldest Brother and Second Brother, it"s up to you, Uncle the Emperor! But they are somehow Imperial Grandmother"s grandsons. She must be distressed if they are punished too heavily!" Chu Liuchen said, seeming to hint the Emperor to punish the two princes in a relatively gentle way.
His suggestion was exactly what the Emperor wanted! The Emperor was indifferent toward the punishment on Duke Yong, but he struggled a lot when it came to that on the two princes. After all, they were his sons and might be the future crown prince of the Eastern Palace.
"If I don"t teach the two evil creatures a lesson, they will think that I can"t do anything to them!" the Emperor said angrily. He was in a fury in his heart! He had thought that his eldest son was relatively staid, but it turned out that the eldest son was even not as rea.s.suring as the third one in front of him. Moreover, Prince Chen never formed cliques, for which the Emperor rested a.s.sured and thought of him as a considerate person.
"Uncle the Emperor, Imperial Grandmother will be distressed!" Chu Liuchen said.
"I know. Go and visit your Imperial Grandmother now. Don"t tell her about the two evil creatures!" the Emperor waved his hand and said.
When hearing that Empress Dowager would be worried about them, the Emperor did feel that he could not punish them too severely. But after Chu Liuchen finished his words, he started to feel that his sons had been spoiled by their elders, especially by their grandmother, who would dote more on her grandchildren than their parents did. "Could the two evil spirits make use of this?"
Thinking of it, the Emperor was immediately infuriated. "I don"t believe I will fail again to get the two evil creatures educated!"
As the Emperor had made up his mind, Chu Liuchen said goodbye to him. Eunuch Derong saw off Chu Liuchen to the door. When he was about to leave, Xiao Xuanzi rushed over in a hurry.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, please go home now! The imperial physician is waiting for you in the mansion, preparing to treat you by acupuncture!"
"Okay, I am going!" Chu Liuchen nodded lazily and then said to Derong with a smile, "Eunuch Derong, please inform Imperial Grandmother that I"m going back to the mansion now. I"ll go to visit her after the acupuncture treatment is done!"
"Yes, Your Highness! I"ll send someone to inform Empress Dowager immediately!" Eunuch Derong responded with a smile.
Chu Liuchen saluted him and left with Xiao Xuanzi. When he met Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou, he pa.s.sed by them without casting a glance at them.
Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou knelt there and did not dare to vent their anger on Chu Liuchen, because they were well aware of Chu Liuchen"s temper. He was a cold person who never got close to others! They never felt puzzled, unless he stopped to greet them just now…