Prince! The political conspiracy is not a play, the show is real

Tao Yao didn't know how long she had slept. When she regained consciousness, she first smelled a fragrant breeze. She could vaguely distinguish the fragrance of cedar wood, mixed with a hint of the hot herbal aroma still rising from the grill. It smelled very pleasant.

From somewhere far or near, there came the chirping of birds.

Tao Yao listened carefully and found that it was a starling, babbling like a human, repeating "Tao Yao, Tao Yao" over and over again. Because the tone of its voice was so strange, Tao Yao took a long time to realize that it was imitating its own name.

She opened her eyes in a daze, and what came into view was a gauze tent ceiling of the azure sky and water. In the center hung an exquisitely carved pear wood incense burner. In the burner was burning pleasant-smelling incense, which must be soothing incense. It was this incense that made her fall into a deep sleep for a long, long time.

Tao Yao turned her neck to loosen up her stiff neck and looked around.

Unfortunately, the bed she was lying on was too wide and too big, and was tightly covered with a gauze curtain all around. Her vision was confined to within the curtain, and she could not see anything clearly outside the curtain.

With a creak, someone pushed the door open and came in - to be exact, there was more than one person. There seemed to be the sound of wheels rolling, and they were gradually approaching her along with the person's footsteps.

Tao Yao hurriedly raised half of her body from the bed, trying to stick her head out from the heavy gauze curtains to look for the person who came.

But as soon as he raised his waist, severe pain in his lower limbs came surged, and his whole body was in pain.

Tao Yao had to give up getting up and slowly lay back down.

She opened her mouth and found her throat was extremely blocked, as if her throat was filled with sand. Every time she swallowed, it felt like a knife was cutting it, and it was extremely dry and painful.

She lost her voice and really couldn't utter a word.

"you're awake?"

It was Chu Huanjun's voice.

A slender hand reached into view and pulled the heavy curtains aside. The light from outside the bed poured in, illuminating a corner of the bedding.

Tao Yao looked at the aquamarine figure standing behind the gauze curtain, and her heart suddenly felt much more at ease.

She wanted to answer him, but she couldn't make a sound, so Tao Yao could only nod.

"It's time to wake up. You've been sleeping for three days and three nights. If you don't wake up, I'm afraid you're dead."

Chu Huanjun said as he sat down beside the bed with a bowl of medicine.

He was dressed in an exquisite and elegant long gown of water-colored soft satin, just like any other man. His thick black hair cascaded down from his shoulders like a waterfall, tied up at the back of his waist with only a piece of moon-white brocade.

Tao Yao noticed the dark circles under Chu Huanjun's eyes and guessed that he hadn't slept well for several nights.

He looked at her, his brows showing unconcealable joy.

Perhaps Tao Yao had really been in a coma for too long, or maybe she was dazzled. How could a man with a heart as cold as iron like Chu Huanjun be happy about her waking up?

He leaned down without saying a word, and his handsome facial features suddenly magnified several times in front of him. Tao Yao was so frightened that she shrank her shoulders and stepped back repeatedly, but he quickly grabbed her with his long arms.

He always had a pleasant pine scent on him, and now that they were so close, this faint fragrance enveloped her.

Just like that, Tao Yao leaned against Chu Huanjun's arms, half-holding her and helping her sit up straight. He took a soft pillow and placed it behind her so that she could lean against it.

Then he went to the side and fetched a spoon, scooped up the medicine, put it to his lips to test the temperature, and then handed it to Tao Yao's mouth, saying softly: "Drink the medicine."

Tao Yao stared at him intently—was she truly ill and confused? She seemed to have never seen Chu Huanjun like this before, his every expression filled with worry, his every movement so gentle and compassionate.

Chu Huanjun could feel her gaze fixed on him, knowing she had something to say. He sighed inaudibly and said softly, "That bastard Zuo Di fed you the Voice-Losing Powder, but thankfully you received treatment in time, so your voice can still be saved."

After saying that, the spoon gently touched Tao Yao's lips, and it was warm.

"Is it still hot?" Chu Huanjun asked.

Tao Yao shook her head, opened her lips, and let the medicine in the spoon slowly flow into her mouth.

I don’t know what was added to this soup, but it doesn’t taste bitter at all, but surprisingly sweet.

"This is medicine for your throat. I've been drinking it for three days. The doctor said that if you drink it for two more days, you'll be able to speak again."

"I tasted it beforehand and thought it was a bit too bitter, so I took the liberty of adding a little more liquorice."

While Chu Huanjun was explaining to Tao Yao, he kept blowing on the medicine in the bowl to cool it down and fed it to her spoonful by spoonful.

"Your kneecaps were shattered by those beasts, but thankfully you received timely treatment and were able to obtain bone-healing medicine from the palace. The imperial physician has already applied the medicine and reinforced the injuries with gauze and plaster. You must rest and recuperate for three months while the bones regrow and heal."

Tao Yao subconsciously looked at her legs which were tightly wrapped in the quilt under her. She secretly moved her thighs and immediately broke out in a cold sweat due to the pain.

Chu Huanjun immediately noticed Tao Yao's movements and quickly pulled out a soft handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. He sighed again and said softly, "I'm sorry. I know you're upset, but there's nothing we can do now. We can only heal slowly. There's no rush."

Chu Huanjun suddenly felt a warmth on his wrist and stopped wiping the sweat off his face. It turned out that Tao Yao was holding it.

Tao Yao's eyes flickered as she stared at Chu Huanjun and pointed at her lips.

"What do you want to tell me?"

Chu Huanjun put down the hand she had clenched, placed it on the quilt in front of her, spread out his palm, and said softly, "Write it for me to see."

Tao Yao nodded and gently made a few gestures on Chu Huanjun's palm with her index finger - where is this?

"My mansion." Chu Huanjun replied.

Tao Yao wrote again - Where is Zuo Di?

Realizing that she was writing Zuo Di's name, Chu Huanjun's face instantly turned ugly.

Tao Yao clearly heard Chu Huanjun gasp, and his tone of voice was still very soft when he answered her: "That bastard has been locked up by the emperor. Don't worry, he won't dare to bother you again with me here."

Hearing this answer, Tao Yao seemed to be relieved. She pondered for a moment and gestured at Chu Huanjun again - where is the criminal?

Chu Huanjun rubbed his brows and said calmly, "Zhou Yan's case has been settled. There's no criminal involved, it's just that Zhou Yan was an alcoholic. On the night of the Lantern Festival, he drank ten jars of 'Xi Feng Lie' at Chunfeng Tower. This 'Xi Feng Lie' is the strongest liquor in the entire capital. An ordinary person might not be able to handle even one bowl, let alone ten jars... He deserved to die."

Tao Yao's heart moved, and she suddenly thought of Lu Che.

No, Lu Che had clearly admitted to her that Zhou Yan was killed by him.

Tao Yao withdrew her hand and retreated back into the quilt. She was filled with doubts, not understanding why the government would fabricate such a ridiculous excuse and easily settle the case.

Chu Huanjun saw her doubts and said, "I also want to apologize to you. On the night of the Lantern Festival, I did deliberately take you to Chunfeng Tower."

Hearing these words, Tao Yao's heart seemed to be suddenly hit by something.

She had guessed this a long time ago, but when Chu Huanjun admitted it in person in front of her, she felt a different feeling in her heart.

"You should have heard from Lao Shi that Zhou Yan is the leader of the weaving merchant group in the Jiangnan area. In the past few years, he has monopolized the business of the entire Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, and many merchants have complained bitterly about this.

He was able to build his family business to such a large scale not by his own efforts, but by colluding with Zuo Di, an official and a businessman. Zuo Di found ways to withhold land taxes, and Zhou Yan helped him plunder the people's wealth.

Take Qiantang Hangzhou for example. Originally, ordinary merchants in the city sold raw silk for 470 coins per piece. However, with the secret funding from Zuo Di, Zhou Yan lowered the price of his own raw silk to 250 coins per piece, which was nearly half the price of other merchants.

Naturally, the common people all went to support Zhou Yan's business. Over time, Zhou Yan became the only one in the Jiangnan area, starving other merchants. When the Zhou family's business completely monopolized the entire Jiangnan area, Zhou Yan raised the price of his own cloth to more than double the original price.

The common people had no choice but to buy the Zhou family's cloth. Zhou Yan made a fortune, and Zuo Di used this to collect taxes under various pretexts, but secretly exempted Zhou Yan from paying taxes.

Zhou Yan and Zuo Di gave each other benefits, and it was other merchants and poor people who suffered."

Having said that, Chu Huanjun's brows gradually furrowed again.

There seemed to be some hidden emotions flowing in his eyes, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, like an unfathomable well.

"This time, Zhou Yan has been punished by heaven. As for Zuo Di, he thought Zhou Yan was murdered and was worried that his conspiracy with Zhou Yan would be exposed, so he couldn't help but rush to the government office to arrest you... This beast has walked into his own trap.

Originally, I intended to lure Zhou Yan to expand his business to the capital - the capital city, where the emperor is. No matter how meticulous Zuo Di is, he cannot escape the law.

But I never thought that Zhou Yan was indeed invited to the capital, but it was Lao Shi’s invitation...”

Chu Huanjun paused, then couldn't help but sneer. He turned his head away, his eyes wandering, not daring to look at Tao Yao again.

"I was overconfident. I wanted to take advantage of the situation and use you as bait to lure Zuo Di out of his hole... I'm sorry."

Chu Huanjun lowered his head and said "I'm sorry" again.

But he knew it was too late to say anything now.

She was hurt, so badly, that they almost might never see each other again.