Harem Daily Life

Chapter 501: Evil Does Not Distinguish Age

The eldest prince came to his senses and cried, "Father, I just wanted to play with my brother and accidentally bumped into him. I didn't push him. He didn't stand firmly and fell down by himself."

Defei felt relieved. She had just hypothesized what happened and said that the Third Prince slipped into the water because he didn't stand firmly. The First Prince must have heard it and now followed her words. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where are the people following you?" He Linzhang asked.

The two young eunuchs and a maid knelt down immediately. Eunuch Zhang stepped forward and asked them what had happened. All three said that they were not there when the incident happened.

Eunuch Qin got the Queen Mother's signal and stepped forward to carefully observe the traces at the scene. He found that the moss beside the pond was slippery and there were several shallow shoe prints.

For a moment, there were no witnesses, and it could not be said that it was definitely the eldest prince who pushed someone into the water.

Upon hearing the news, the Rong family hurried to the Imperial Garden. Marquis Zhongyong was very displeased to see his daughter and grandson kneeling on the ground.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects. The weather is cold and the ground is slippery. It is really harmful for Concubine De and the eldest prince to kneel like this. I also heard that the third prince fell into the water. In any case, before the matter is investigated, it is better not to blame the eldest prince too much. What if he didn't do it? Wouldn't it be falsely accusing the prince for nothing?"

Marquis Zhongyong felt extremely distressed when he saw his grandson whom he had met for the first time in six years.

The Queen Mother was very unhappy. Although the eldest prince was also her grandson, Kang'er was closer to her. Seeing that Marquis Zhongyong was so concerned about his grandson and didn't think about her other grandson who was still being treated, she was very angry.

“We cannot wrongly accuse the prince, but justice must be sought for the Third Prince as well. Come, pass on my decree. If anyone saw the Third Prince falling into the water, please come and report it. I will reward you handsomely for finding out the truth.” The Queen Mother glanced at the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery and did not stay any longer. She took the Third Prince’s nanny to Yongning Palace.

The Rong family sent the Queen Mother off respectfully. The loyal and brave Marquis felt very uncomfortable. He saw deep displeasure in the Queen Mother's attitude just now. On second thought, it was understandable that the Queen Mother was angry. After all, the one who fell into the water was of the Shu family.

Both are grandsons, and the third prince is obviously closer to the empress dowager than the eldest prince.

He Linzhang looked at Concubine De and the eldest prince who were still kneeling: "Get up. You go back first. Today is the day when the Marquis of Zhongyong comes to the palace. It was supposed to be your reunion day. Now it has turned out like this. No one will be in a good mood. I will continue to investigate this matter. Concubine De, you should take good care of the eldest prince these days. It's normal for Concubine Shu to be angry. If it were you, you would probably be angry too."

The Rong family was originally in a good mood, but now it is indeed not so good. After everyone returned to Yongxing Palace, they did not sit for long before leaving the palace.

On Tao Yanyan's side, Chang Tai returned to the palace after getting the news early in the morning and reported: "I saw from afar that the gifts sent by the Rong family to Yongxing Palace were carried more than a dozen times, which seems to be a huge expense."

"The Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery hasn't been back to the capital for many years. Now that he's finally back, it's natural for us to have a good reunion. By the way, I heard that the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery was very brave and had a rough appearance. Some people in the folk even used his portrait as a door god, is that right?" Tao Yanyan asked curiously.

Chang Tai touched his head a little embarrassedly: "I only watched from a distance, so I couldn't see clearly. But the loyal and brave Marquis walked with the wind, and there was indeed some murderous aura."

Not long after, Mingyue came back from the garden with plum blossoms. She felt a little uneasy. She took the plum blossoms to the vase, her hands were shaking as she put them in the vase, and she even dropped one on the ground.

Qingfeng noticed Mingyue's abnormal behavior today and called her twice, but Mingyue seemed not to hear him and did not say a word to Qingfeng.

When Tao Yanyan saw this, he looked at Mingyue and also found that something was wrong with her.

"Mingyue, Mingyue!" Tao Yanyan called out twice, and Mingyue finally came back to her senses and immediately asked, "Madam, you called me?"

Tao Yanyan asked suspiciously, "What's wrong with you? Why do you seem confused?"

Mingyue was worried and tangled for a long time. She looked at Chang Tai and Qing Feng, both of whom were trustworthy people, and then said, "Your Majesty, today I saw... I saw the eldest prince push the third prince into the water."

Tao Yanyan's eyes widened: "What? Tell me what's going on?"

Mingyue had no choice but to tell him what had just happened in the imperial garden.

"I thought the plum blossoms would bloom better when they were taller, so I climbed up the rockery not far from the pond. There were not many people there in the morning, so no one saw me there. From a distance, I saw the eldest prince heading towards the pond, while the third prince ran very fast and also went to the pond. I didn't care at first because they were followed by others, so I thought nothing would happen. But in that instant, I saw the eldest prince grab the third prince and push him into the pond."

Mingyue was still a little frightened after she finished speaking: "But the Third Prince's nanny came very quickly. She jumped into the pond to save him almost immediately after he fell into the water. I didn't dare to make a sound either, thinking it was none of my business and the Third Prince had been rescued, so he should be fine. But not long after, Shu Fei started crying loudly. I was afraid something might happen, so I didn't dare to go over and returned first."

When Tao Yanyan heard this, he asked Chang Tai to go and find out whether the third prince had been rescued.

Mingyue's face was still a little flustered: "My queen, the eldest prince... I really didn't expect him to be so cruel. The third prince was so young and had just learned to walk not long ago, but the eldest prince pushed him down. It was just a blink of an eye."

Tao Yanyan had heard Dong Fang talk about the eldest prince torturing and killing rabbits, and had also seen the look in his eyes when he rushed towards her stomach that day, so she was not surprised to hear Mingyue talk about it today.

She had seen two news stories online. One was about a ten-year-old girl throwing a young baby off a building, and the other was about a little girl throwing a younger child into a well. So people’s evil is not limited by age, and evil is real evil.

Chang Tai returned not long after: "This matter alarmed the Queen Mother and His Majesty. Fortunately, the Third Prince has been rescued, but the imperial physician has not yet come out of Yongning Palace. The Queen Mother issued an imperial decree, saying that anyone who saw the Third Prince fall into the water and finds out the facts will be rewarded handsomely."

Mingyue shook her head: "I don't want any reward, I would rather not have seen these things. Your Majesty, on one side is Defei, and on the other side is Shufei, I don't want to cause trouble for your Majesty. Now that the third prince has been rescued, we also know what kind of character the eldest prince is. I will keep this matter to myself and never mention it again."

Qingfeng and Changtai also nodded, thinking that Mingyue was right.

Tao Yanyan thought about it and decided that it was better to have less trouble than more, so she didn't say anything. However, she said carefully: "Let the three children stay away from the eldest prince in the future."

After saying that, she became a little worried and said, "Xuan'er will be eight years old soon. Why don't she not go to elementary school for now? I will ask His Majesty to hire two female teachers for her. In the future, I will ask the female teachers to teach her in Changle Palace."

"I'll ask Yue'er first. If she wants to follow Jin'an, then she can continue to go to elementary school. If she wants to follow Xuan'er, then we can hire a female teacher to give lessons in Changle Palace. As for Jin'an, he practices martial arts and should be able to protect himself. I feel more at ease with Yin Jiu following him on weekdays."

"Should we go and remind Wang Zhaoyi? The third princess is running around right now." Qingfeng asked.

Tao Yanyan nodded: "Mingyue, go and tell them. The kitchen just happened to make some snacks today, you can send them over as well. Be careful with your wording and just remind them properly."