After Xie Chu and his family had been taken away by Ning Fu"s subordinates, only the father and son duo of the Ning clan and Zhou Sheng were left in the room. Ning Fu offered, "Let us keep the wife and kids in an isolated position."
Before the Old Master Ning could acquiesce or decline those words, there was a knock on the door and a voice whispered, "Zhou Sheng, this is Shadow Guard number 27. His Majesty has an urgent message for you."
Zhou Sheng wondered what Princess would have to say to him in the middle of the night that she couldn"t wait until morning.
Since this was related to Zhou Sheng and the monarch, the Ning father and son didn"t dare meddle into it and kept quiet.
Zhou Sheng asked the Shadow Guard to enter the study and he was handed a piece of paper.
Seeing the paper, he felt he was between a rock and a hard place.
If he opened it in front of others and the written words were something that couldn"t be seen by others, it might cause trouble for Princess but if he didn"t, he wouldn"t be able to win the trust of the Ning Clan and in turn, keep them by Princess"s side.
Hoping and praying it wasn"t something serious, he opened the piece of paper and it only had one word written on it - Restraint.
Zhou Sheng could extrapolate what Princess meant.
It seemed she was already aware of everything that had happened here - one of the Shadow Guards must have reported to her and her message simply meant that he shouldn"t over-do things and that both of them would first need to discuss the issue before they took any decisive actions.
As soon as he had thought of everything, Zhou Sheng turned towards the Ning Patriarch - as if to offer him the slip of paper to read but the other person simply refused with a shake of his head and left the study.
When old patriarch Ning saw his son still standing there like a statue and not hastening to leave the study to give the Shadow Guard and Zhou Sheng privacy to pa.s.s any verbal messages the monarch might have said, he bellowed, "Rascal, where has your mind flown off to? Still not leaving?"
Ning Fi felt perplexed as he was shouted and scolded by Old Master Ning for no reason at all, but he still silently followed his father out of the study.
But his reluctant steps and sidelong glances betrayed his innermost thoughts. He was really curious about what His Majesty had written to the other person but decorum dictated that he could be as shameless as he usually was when he frolicked around The Imperial Palace at night.
When only the two of them remained in the study, Zhou Sheng questioned, "Did His Majesty have any other commands for this servant?"
The Shadow Guard shook his head in the negative and was gone in the next second.
The following morning, Ning Fu and Zhou Sheng entered the Imperial Palace together.
After the civil officers had finished discussing their worries with the monarch, First Prince Xi bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, this servant has a grave matter to report to you."
The monarch furrowed his brows at those words and gestured with his hand for the other person to continue speaking.
First Prince Xi again vowed to the monarch and said, "Your Majesty, only civil officers of rank four and above and military officers of rank two and above are allowed inside the audience hall on normal days. This servant has noticed a discrepancy in the rules."
Listening to Prince Xi"s words, Su Li could faintly discern what the other person was trying to do.
She recalled that everyone was behaving like ants on a hot coal pan because of her interactions with Zhou Sheng, so she could extrapolate that if she didn"t allow these restless people to enact their play today, they would try to enact another one tomorrow.
Or they might just simply decide to do away with politeness and simply harm Zhou Sheng.
Coming to a decision, she gave a shallow smile to Prince Xi and said, "Continue."
Prince Xi glanced at his brother from his kneeling position and when he saw that the monarch didn"t try to sweep the matter under the rug, he began.
"Your Majesty, this prince thinks that Zhou Sheng shouldn"t be allowed into the audience hall w.i.l.l.y-nilly. He can sit for the Imperial Examinations when he comes of age if he wants to be a civil officer or he can continue his career in the military and only when he reaches the required rank should be he be allowed his these hallowed halls."
Taking a deep breath, Prince Xi carried on, "Your Majesty is busy with national affairs, so you might not know this, but there are rumours floating in the market that Zhou Sheng comes in and out of The Imperial Palace too frequently and this might not be good for the dynasty."
Su Li feigned a difficult expression and her reply was filled with sarcasm, "Brother, you have really taken great pains for Zhen"s matters and reputation."
Prince Xi had already known that only his words wouldn"t make much of a difference in today"s a.s.sembly so he had colluded with a few other ministers - the lower-ranked ones would help him in the audience hall today and the higher-ranked officials would be kept hidden, for now.
After all, it wouldn"t do to show his hand at this stage but he still couldn"t let his brother rest easy on the Imperial Throne.
Since the other person had already been crowned, he should also be ready to face the politicking that came along with the position.
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How could he let this brother of his enjoy something like that?