Princess Promotion

Yao Chuguang's reason for doing this was very simple. If he could win by force, he would never win by words. As for who spread those rumors and who fanned the flames, he could easily tell that these concubines were among them.

This may not be a good way to solve the problem, but it is the most satisfying and labor-saving way, as you can take revenge on the spot.

Seeing that the atmosphere was almost set, Yao Chuguang stood up and said to Eunuch Wei, "What did the imperial physician say?"

Eunuch Wei was a meticulous man. On his way here, he had already instructed his men to call the imperial physician. Almost within a few moments, several princes were carried to a side hall for treatment.

Eunuch Wei did not answer Yao Chuguang immediately. Instead, he glanced at the gloomy Emperor Qi before speaking, "Although the injuries of the princes appear serious, none of them have broken bones. With proper care, they will recover in a few days."

Emperor Qi: "Achu, why did you beat your brother and the others for no reason? And Yinhan, you too? Achu is young and ignorant, why did you join in the nonsense?"

When Concubine Zhuang heard Emperor Qi say that she was young, she felt like vomiting blood. Emperor Qi was planning to let Li Yinhan take the blame.

But how could anything really happen to Li Yinhan when the princess is around? It seems that the Emperor of Qi intends to be gentle this time.

Yao Chuguang had several palace maids tied up in the back garden brought up and briefly explained the whole story without exaggerating or saying anything about the grievance or indignation.

Ru Fei immediately raised her hands to cover her face and cried, her frail figure kneeling before the Emperor of Qi: "Your Majesty, please stand up for us. Even the prisoners in the cell have proven their guilt. The Princess is a noble woman and should be a role model for the people. How can you slander us with empty words?"

Concubine Zhuang and Concubine Xiao also immediately agreed. Even though they appeared to be harmonious on the surface, the internal fighting among them had never stopped since they entered the palace.

Unexpectedly, after so many years, the three of them would unite and work together as never before.

Yao Chuguang watched the three concubines scrambling and pulling each other. He was simply certain that he had not obtained any evidence and could not do anything to them, so he tried his best to add insult to injury.

Yao Chuguang then spoke calmly, "This princess never said that I beat my brothers because of two talkative palace maids in the harem."

Concubine Xiao was speechless instantly. If you didn’t suspect that we were spreading rumors, then you would have arrested the palace maids and kidnapped the prince.

You are now telling us that there is no connection between the two. You are fooling fools!

Yao Chuguang's words made Concubine Zhuang realize instantly that they had been fooled!

Yao Chuguang deliberately and high-profilely captured those palace maids in the back garden, making her subconsciously think that Yao Chuguang wanted to investigate the rumors.

Then he attacked her son right away, which made Concubine Zhuang panic and she had no time to think and subconsciously connected the two things.

Yao Chuguang: "I have never mentioned these rumors from the beginning to the end. Why do you think that I beat my brothers because of this?"

Concubine Zhuang knew that they were finished. Yao Chuguang was a lunatic but not a fool. Without solid evidence, she would never dare to hit the prince with a cane.

Yao Chuguang looked at Concubine Ru, whose expression gradually turned grim, and then he was satisfied and continued, "The reason I arrested these two palace maids in front of everyone was to alert the enemy and see who would jump out first."

If Concubine Zhuang and the others had not spread the rumors themselves, and only said that the princess had gone mad and beaten the prince for no reason, even Yao Chuguang would have been unable to do anything to them.

But they were all irritated by their sons' miserable appearance, and their eyes were blinded by hatred. They only wanted to make the matter bigger, so big that even the Emperor of Qi could not suppress it.

But I didn't expect that all this was a trap.

Yao Chuguang didn't give them any way out and said, "If the ladies didn't have something to hide, why would they subconsciously think that I beat the royal brothers because of the rumors in the harem about my innocence?"

Yao Chuguang's expression changed instantly and he said aggrievedly, "Achu didn't believe that the ladies wouldn't do such a rumor-mongering thing, but the facts are before us."

Concubine Zhuang sneered. What is the fact? The fact is that her son was beaten to a pulp, while the murderer was showing off his power here.

Concubine Zhuang knew that she could not deny the rumors, but she no longer cared. She had to seek justice for her son today.

Concubine Zhuang: "I was so anxious that I lost my mind, so I started talking nonsense. Princess, why can't you let Your Majesty handle justice? Why would you treat your brothers so cruelly?"

You may be young, and I may not be clear-headed.

Yao Chuguang: "You misunderstood me, Empress Zhuang. I did this for their own good."

Concubine Zhuang's decades of self-cultivation were almost ruined, and you even think you're justified in hitting someone.

Yao Chuguang didn't keep the secret any longer and said directly, "The reason I hit my brothers is because they stretched their hands too far."

Emperor Qi's expression suddenly changed: "What's going on?"

Yao Chuguang: "Father, you may not know this yet, but I was trapped in Yicheng because someone in my escort team was colluding with the barbarians. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that the road leading to Hecheng collapsed, and the barbarians launched a large-scale attack as soon as I got to Yicheng, and they happened to be ambushing the barbarians outside Hecheng."

One is a coincidence, two, three coincidences follow one after another, no one believes it is not man-made.

The Emperor of Qi pointed at the unconscious princes in disbelief and asked, "Was it those bastards who did it?"

Yao Chuguang shook his head and said, "There's no evidence, but they have planted people in my guard team."

Concubine Zhuang never dreamed that the family behind her had indeed received the news and knew that someone would do something bad to Yao Chuguang.

But at first she just thought that they were sending a few assassins to kill him, so she thought of sending them to gather information. If it succeeded, she would see if she could find out which group was behind it. Having this evidence in hand would definitely be helpful to her son in the future.

Who would have thought that the other party would be so generous? The worst thing is that she still doesn't know who did it.

I didn't catch anything and got splashed with mud.

He immediately fell to the ground and confessed his crime. These people had no choice but to admit it, but they could only say that it was their personal behavior and they knew nothing about it. Collaborating with foreign enemies was a serious crime that would implicate nine generations of the clan. Even if he was a prince, his life would be in danger.

The Emperor of Qi ignored Concubine Zhuang and the others' pleas for mercy and was furious: "Who did this?"

Yao Chuguang: "Kunshan is already on his way back to the imperial capital."

As the captain of the guard, Kunshan is most likely the one who colluded with the barbarians. If not, then as the captain, he is also dereliction of duty for the fact that people in his team colluded with the barbarians and put the princess in danger.

Since both were guilty of capital crimes, the Emperor of Qi did not pursue the matter further but instead issued an order: "Throw him directly into the prison and have him interrogated jointly by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Personnel. We must get to the bottom of this matter."

"Where is your mother?" Emperor Qi suddenly asked.

Logically speaking, with such a big commotion, this was the queen's bedroom, but there was no sign of the queen from beginning to end.

Yao Chuguang said calmly, "I knocked him out and he fell asleep in the backyard."

Eunuch Wei stared at Yao Chuguang with eyes wide open, that’s your biological mother!

Emperor Qi: "Why did you knock your mother unconscious?"

Yao Chuguang: "I'm afraid I can't stop her. It would be unlucky to see blood in the palace."

Emperor Qi: "Yes, you should definitely avoid your mother."

After saying this, the Emperor Qi didn't even glance at Concubine Zhuang. He turned and walked out of the bedroom and said, "I'll leave all matters concerning the harem to you. Your mother is not in good health, so please don't bother her with the surgery."

Everyone who heard this couldn't help but wonder from the bottom of their hearts, how could he undergo surgery when he's in poor health?

Watching the figure of Emperor Qi walking away, Yao Chuguang also adjusted her hair and slowly walked to the front of the concubines and said, "I have seen enough of today's drama. It is up to you, ladies, to decide how to proceed."

Concubine Zhuang no longer cared about her dignity. She rushed to Yao Chuguang in a panic and said, "Your Highness, this has nothing to do with my son. He was not involved."

Yao Chuguang looked at the tearful woman in front of him, picked up a handkerchief and gently wiped her tears, but the words he said were completely opposite to his gentle actions.

"Empress Zhuang, I don't care who did it. I just want to solve this matter."

After saying that, he pushed Concubine Zhuang away and walked into the bedroom. When the door of the bedroom closed slowly, the last bit of hope in Concubine Zhuang's heart was completely extinguished.

Only then did Concubine Zhuang realize that they had already lost from the moment they stepped into the palace. Today, in full view of everyone, they disregarded their dignity and ran to the front hall to seek help from Emperor Qi.

The news that the princes were beaten with sticks spread throughout the imperial capital in an instant, but the Emperor of Qi did not hold the princess accountable, and did not even punish her by making her reflect on her mistakes behind closed doors.

What does this indicate? It can only be that the princes made a mistake, and this serious mistake was related to the princess of the current dynasty.

Concubine Zhuang shuddered involuntarily and immediately grabbed Concubine Xiao, who was still shocked by the Emperor Qi's attitude and had not recovered from her shock, and said, "Go to the Queen Mother and apologize!"

"Yes, let's go find the Queen Mother and let her make the decision for us..."

"No, go to the Queen Mother and confess your guilt, saying that the rumors in the palace were premeditated by us."

"Are you crazy? Why should I admit to something I didn't do? You're afraid of that girl, but I'm not."

Concubine Zhuang couldn't stand this brainless Concubine Xiao any longer and yelled, "Don't you understand yet?"

"Why didn't Yao Chuguang report it on the first day he came back when he had the evidence, but waited until today?"

"That's because..." Concubine Xiao was about to retort when she suddenly realized.

"If it were any other time, even if she had started trouble on her first day back, we would have had all sorts of excuses to shirk responsibility for the people we had placed in her security team. We wouldn't even need to explain too much."

"But she's been holding it in, isn't she just waiting for us here?"

Concubine Xiao recalled in disbelief how she had fanned the flames when she first heard the rumor, running around the palace when her son was beaten, and finally Emperor Qi just walked away.

Was all of this Yao Chuguang's design?

Yao Chuguang knew that they were putting people into her guard team. Even if this matter became a commotion, they would at most be fined and reprimanded, and it would definitely not be a serious injury.

After she came back, she did not fire the weapon, but lay in ambush quietly like a hunter. She was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity that would allow this handle to be of maximum effectiveness.

"But she has no evidence whether it's a rumor or an affair with the barbarians. What does this have to do with me? I am innocent." Concubine Xiao seemed to have grasped the last straw.

Concubine Zhuang sneered decadently, "Oh, evidence? If she had evidence, would we still be standing here peacefully? She doesn't need evidence. She already has what she wants."

"What does she...what does she want?"

"Like she just said, she just wants to solve the problem. She doesn't care who spread the rumor. She just wants someone to take the blame."

"What will happen if you don't admit it?" Concubine Xiao couldn't help but tremble all over.

Concubine Zhuang looked at Concubine Xiao in despair. "Then she will spread the news herself, saying that the princes are colluding with the barbarians to frame the princess. Your Majesty's silent accusation just now is the most powerful evidence."

There are only two options before them at this time: the princes have to take the blame for their mother by spreading false rumors about the princess, or the princes have to collude with the barbarians and frame the princess.

The former would at most be guilty of gossip, one of the seven offenses, and they would be stigmatized. The latter would have their sons accused of treason and collaborating with the enemy. No minister who cared about his reputation would follow such a prince.

Concubine Xiao collapsed and shouted: "Why is it like this, why, it can't be like this..."

Looking back on her journey, she had unknowingly stepped into the trap set by Yao Chuguang. Her intelligence, which she had always been proud of, now seemed so foolish.