A beautiful daughter came to the Xiangfu

Zhuang Yunlin and Xiao An Wang sat back in the rocking chair and continued rocking.

"If the rumors are true, then this prince who suddenly appeared was brought back by the emperor. It seems that the Xiao family has a great influence."

The two people were openly discussing the matter of royal heirs in the yard, and they didn't seem to want to be shy about it.

But walls have ears, we don't know whether they don't care or they do it on purpose.

What Zhuang Yunlin and Prince Xiao An talked about most in the yard was Duke Qing's absence, including the approximate time and direction of his return.

Prince Shun received a secret letter from the crown prince regarding the assassination of the commoner prince.

Prince Shun saw me put the letter away.

The correspondence between the two people was also written in code words without any identity titles, so Prince Shun was not afraid of being seen by others, because ordinary people would not be able to understand the meaning of the letter.

But the prince's letter basically only contained one sentence.

"On the eighth day of next month, in Beijing North."

To be concise, the time and location should be arranged in advance. It would be best to assassinate outside the capital, but Prince Shun was also prepared for "missing the target in one strike". If he succeeded, wouldn't there be no scene of fighting?

Prince Shun asked someone to reply to the prince, "Don't worry."

When the prince was trying to find out the news about Duke Qing, he also sent more people outside the Duke Qing's mansion to keep an eye on the movements of the Zhuang brothers and sisters.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, when daylight first appeared in the northern suburbs of Beijing, the ambush was already prepared. Duke Qing was bringing the "prince" with him, so he would certainly not do something dangerous like traveling at night.

During the day, Prince Shun's men waited for the entire morning, but Duke Qing's convoy did not arrive. These men were well-trained "killers" with plenty of patience, and they waited until the sun was about to set.

Everyone thought the news was wrong, but they didn't expect that Duke Qing's troops would slowly approach.

At this time, the largest population was outside the city, some anxious to enter the city, some anxious to leave the city. All the attention of those killers was on the person on the Qingguo bus. They only needed to kill that person and didn't care about anything else.

A scream came from somewhere, and the killers thought it was a signal and began to attack. The bodyguards brought by Duke Qing did not meddle in other people's business and only fought back when the killer got close to them. They were not panicked at all by the arrival of the assassin.

The people in the carriage sat quietly inside, and people around them could not get close. Duke Qing sat outside the carriage, not moving at all.

The assassins in front were killed before they could get close to the carriage. They slowly realized that it was not the carriage guards who killed them, but the "common people" who were traveling to and from the capital during this period of time.

Prince Shun asked someone to make arrangements, so wouldn’t others be able to do the same?

The ambush here had already been set before Prince Shun's men came, so Prince Shun arranged his men to ambush again in front of the group of ambushed men, so that everyone knew clearly who were who.

"My Lord, how is the situation going?"

Just when the assassins were almost eliminated, the person in the carriage spoke slowly. There was no confusion or urgency in his voice, he was just asking about something.

"Don't worry, sir. We can enter the city soon."

After waiting for a while, a commoner came to the carriage of Duke Qing and reported, "Duke, the assassins in front have been eliminated. You can enter the city now."

Duke Qing nodded and ordered, "Clean up this place, and bury those people in a pit, so as not to scare the merchants and people who come by."

The subordinate replied: "Yes."

Duke Qing's carriage started moving, and he took the "young master" in the carriage into the city.

When Prince Shun received the news, he was not surprised. After all, he did not choose the best assassin, and he was prepared to accept the "interrogation" of the prince in a while.

A quarter of an hour later, the prince came in a hurry. The two had already made an appointment, but the prince did not expect that Prince Shun was so unreliable and the assassination failed.

"Prince Shun, now that Duke Qing has brought that man into the capital, it will be difficult for us to take action again."

Prince Shun saw the prince's anxious look and simply poured him a cup of tea and comforted him: "Why are you so anxious? If you fail this time, just deal with that person and the emperor together next time. Anyway, you can't get what you want in one go."

The prince was suddenly startled, his eyes evaded, and he said, "Are you asking me to raise an army to rebel? This is a capital crime punishable by death."

"Isn't murdering a royal heir a capital crime? If the emperor gets a commoner prince today, who knows if he'll get another one tomorrow? We might as well go all the way."

Prince Shun's voice was harsh and his eyes were resolute, with no trace of his usual gentleness.

The prince frowned.

"But that man has already entered the city, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of? He won't enter the palace right away. The emperor may not let him in for a while. After all, the palace is the most dangerous place. Besides, the emperor cannot confirm his true identity now. You should go to the palace more often recently to get some information. Even if you want to recognize your relatives, you need the right time."

After listening to Prince Shun's words, the Crown Prince discussed with Prince Shun about "seizing the throne".

The prince has been much more obedient in front of the emperor recently.

Prince Shun was discussing with the Crown Prince while arranging other matters. After so many years, Prince Shun's wish was about to come true.

The prince didn't know if it was his illusion, but he felt that the emperor seemed to be in a particularly good mood recently. Could it be because of that "common prince"? The prince felt more and more depressed. He had been the prince dedicatedly for so many years, but the emperor wanted to get rid of him.

The emperor has been in a good mood recently and seems to have relaxed his requirements on some things.

"The prince has behaved well today. It seems that he has grown up. You can go to your mother's palace to see her today."

The prince thought he had heard wrongly. The emperor actually took the initiative to let him go see the queen. But the queen was still under house arrest. Hadn't he always been angry with the Xiao family? Could it be that he had let go of this grudge now?

The prince did not dare to let his guard down easily. He was afraid that it was a smokescreen released by the emperor to allow the commoner prince to enter the palace. He told himself not to believe whatever the emperor said.

The prince has not set foot in the queen's bedroom for a long time. Now it is not as prosperous as before, and even the servants sweeping the stairs are rare.

The prince walked slowly into the queen's palace. He did not ask anyone to inform him. After he entered the palace, he saw the queen in plain clothes sitting at the desk copying scriptures.

She no longer had her former elegance and grace, with almost no accessories on her head and less rouge on her face.

"Mother."

The prince called out cautiously. The queen looked up when she heard the voice and saw the prince standing beside her. She blinked her eyes to make sure it was not an illusion, put down the things in her hands, and pounced on the prince.

"Huang'er, are you okay?"

The queen looked the prince up and down and felt relieved.

Then he frowned and asked,

"Huang'er, why are you here?"

The prince tried to calm down and asked hurriedly, "Mother, did you know that my father has a son living among the people?"