After swallowing my anger and taking the blame, I became the lucky little queen

Qin Junyu paused for a moment, feeling heavy-hearted. He did not leave the corridor until all the ministers who had left the court had left. Outside the West Gate, there was no one but the carriage of the East Palace.

Ah Falcon noticed that his face looked bad and guessed that Prime Minister Nian must have said something, but he didn't dare to ask.

Qin Junyu got into the car without saying a word.

A Falcon sat in the left driver's seat with the door behind him closed. He sighed, turned the car around and drove away from the West Gate.

The horse's hooves made a "clacking" sound on the bluestone slabs. The rhythm was very regular and the horse was not moving very fast.

Ah Falcon leaned back and asked, "Your Highness, shall we go back home?"

He returned home, to his house outside the palace.

That house was where he lived before he became the crown prince. After he moved into the Eastern Palace, he went there less often.

The person inside didn't say anything. Ah Falcon knew that he was in a bad mood and hesitated whether to ask again.

In the past, after court, His Highness usually returned to the East Palace to handle government affairs. But today he left the palace, but His Highness did not give any tasks to assign. Ah Falcon was unsure of his thoughts.

"Go home." His voice was flat, no emotion could be heard.

Ah Falcon responded and whipped the horse's buttocks to speed up the carriage.

Qin's study.

The maid brought in hot tea and placed it on the desk. Ah Falcon winked at her to leave.

Qin Junyu took a sip of tea, his brows frowning. Thinking about what happened in the court today, anger appeared faintly between his brows.

"Your Highness." Ah Falcon lowered his brows and lowered his eyes. "The man has been interrogated. He admitted that he accepted the 350 taels of stolen silver under duress, but he didn't know that they were the virtuous king's men."

Yesterday, His Highness discovered some anomalies in the accounts and asked him to arrest someone. The shop owner was thrown into the dungeon, but he confessed everything before he was tortured.

"The shopkeeper said that the man came in black clothes and masks, carrying several boxes of silver. He was told to keep it temporarily and would come back to collect it in a few days. He also watched him deposit it into the account with his own eyes.

The man threatened him with his family's lives and told him not to tell anyone. The shopkeeper was so frightened that he kept the matter secret.

Qin Junyu clenched his fists and said, "I was negligent."

He was not angry because he was tricked by the virtuous king. The fight for the throne was bloody and treacherous. The virtuous king was insidious and cunning, so it was not surprising that he would use such a despicable method.

What made him angry was that there were such treacherous people under his command.

Ah Falcon explained, "The shopkeeper is new and has only been working with His Highness for over half a year. Moreover, the virtuous king threatened his family's lives, so he naturally dared not disobey. I will purge the people under him and will never let this happen again."

Qin Junyu closed his eyes and his anger gradually dissipated.

Fortunately, he discovered it in time and no irreparable damage was caused.

He suddenly remembered something and asked again, "Did the Dali Temple Minister take the person away?"

The emperor ordered the Dali Temple to take over the case. No one related to the case should be let off and they should be arrested and interrogated one by one. Naturally, the shopkeeper could not escape.

Ah Falcon nodded, "I released him last night and promised to protect his family. He will tell the truth when he arrives at the Dali Temple."

As long as the shopkeeper insisted that the matter had nothing to do with Qin Junyu, no matter how much the virtuous king and others wanted to throw dirty water on him, it would be of no avail.

Qin Junyu hummed, tapping the desk with his fingertips from time to time.

"Oh, right." He hesitated for a second, and looked at Ah Falcon with a deep gaze, "Did anything happen in the Xiangfu?"

What Nian Chengyun said to him today was full of profound meaning and was by no means as simple as it seemed.

He had been busy with official duties for the past half month, and apart from sending some small things to the East Wing, he had hardly inquired about the news about Nian Susu. He was worried that something had happened, which made Nian Chengyun lose face and say those words to him.

A Falcon's mind was racing as he went over what had happened in the past few days, but he didn't find anything special.

Moreover, the purpose of His Highness's question did not seem to be out of concern for the Prime Minister's Mansion, but out of concern for Miss Nian.

Regarding the young lady...there is something that is neither big nor small.

"Just say what you want to say." Qin Junyu spoke.

Ah Falcon cleared his throat, "Your Highness, there have been rumors in the capital recently that Miss Nian has an illicit relationship with you. Word of mouth has spread that Miss Nian ignored her parents' objections and met with you secretly, and she is persistent and shameless, and she is...anyone can sleep with her." He almost squeezed out the last word from between his teeth and did not dare to speak it clearly.

The crime of "being available to anyone" is enough to ruin a woman's life.

Qin Junyu's face was as gloomy as water, and the air around him was cold.

"Anything else?" he asked, his voice was very low, and the anger in his heart was also suppressed.

Ah Falcon shuddered. If looks and tone could kill, his skin would have been torn into pieces by now.

His eyelids twitched. "Your Highness, these are just rumors. They are not reliable. Besides, it takes only one mouth to spread rumors, but it takes a lot of effort to refute them. They spread these things to each other for fun and don't care what the truth is.

Now there is no evidence to prove that Miss Nian did those things, so they just laughed it off. But if you come forward to clarify, they will think that you are shielding Miss Nian, which will only confirm the crime.”

Qin Junyu was angry and didn't think too much about it, but after listening to Axuan's analysis, he immediately understood the pros and cons.

He really couldn't show up, otherwise it would only backfire.

He pressed his brows tiredly. One worrying thing after another made it hard for him to catch his breath.

No wonder Nian Chengyun risked being criticized to stop him at the West Gate. His daughter's reputation was almost ruined. How could a father not be anxious?

Qin Junyu knew that it was his fault. If he hadn't sent someone to deliver the gift to her, there wouldn't be those rumors outside.

"Does Miss Nian know?"

A Falcon shook his head, "I don't know if she knows."

The Prime Minister’s Mansion at this time.

After watching Zhihua's vivid performance, Nian Susu could already imagine how those people outside were slandering her.

Zhihua cried anxiously, "Miss! How could they do this? You clearly did nothing, but they ruined your reputation with just a few words. If the master and his wife knew about this, they would definitely be angry!"

Nian Susu waved his hand, looking hopeless, "Don't worry about that, they must have known about it."

She, who just lies down to sleep whenever she has nothing to do, knows about it, let alone Nian Chengyun who is busy outside every day and Yang Yuerong who loves to listen to some gossip?

"What should I do then?" Zhihua wiped away her tears.

"It's come to this..." Nian Susu sighed, walked to the couch with unsteady steps, sat down heavily, kicked off her shoes with her feet, lay down, pulled up the blanket to cover her face, "Let's get some sleep first."

There is nothing that can't be solved by a good night's sleep. If there is, just sleep twice.

Zhihua cried out, stamping her feet anxiously, and stomped to the side of the couch, grabbing her arms and pulling her up, "Miss! It's already this late and you're still in the mood to sleep! If those words get out, you'll be thrown into the pig cage, you know that!"