Seizing the throne, abolishing the adopted son, the imperial concubine rose to prominence

The eunuch who brought in the scroll could hardly hide his excitement. He had originally been willing to risk being punished by Eunuch Sun just to get the golden melon seed, but now seeing the situation in the hall, he was afraid that his luck was about to come.

"I never thought the Second Prince, at such a young age, would have such ability."

Sun Angong glanced up carefully, knowing that the Queen Mother was particularly displeased with the Second Prince.

Hearing the words "young age", the emperor frowned unconsciously.

The brushstrokes in this painting are mature and sophisticated, and it must have taken two or three years of hard work.

The second son has not yet started school. Even if he has a nanny to teach him, he can only know a few words at most. How could he have such high painting skills?

Is he trying to take credit for someone else's paintings?

"It is indeed a fine painting. Sun Angong, please send a generous reward to the Second Prince. Don't let the Emperor think I have treated him unfairly."

The Queen Mother couldn't let go of the painting and didn't care that it was painted by Xiao Yun'an, whom she hated the most.

"Mother, you are too kind. How dare I think so?"

Xiao Heng's fatherly heart had cooled a lot due to his suspicion at this moment.

"Your Majesty, do you want to visit the Second Prince first?"

When he arrived at the back, Cao Zhong saw his master stopped and looked in the direction of Jingningju, so he stepped forward and respectfully asked for instructions.

"Go to Jing'anju."

But the emperor withdrew his gaze coldly and walked towards Jing'an Residence.

"Your servant pays respects to His Majesty."

"Where is the eldest prince?"

The emperor entered Jing'an Residence, but was not embraced by his son as he had expected.

"The eldest prince is lying in bed. Servants are not allowed to follow him in and serve him."

Xian Yu said respectfully, his face full of worry.

"Nonsense, you just responded when the eldest prince refused to let you in."

When the emperor heard this, he completely forgot what had happened to his two sons and quickly turned behind the screen.

"Zheng'er!"

It would have been better if the emperor didn't shout, but when he did, the little man on the bed covered his head with the quilt.

But the emperor was sharp-eyed and saw tears on his son's face.

"Don't be afraid, it's Father."

The emperor thought his son was frightened by what happened yesterday, and couldn't help but curse Cao Zhong in his heart.

"Father, don't look."

Xiao Yunzheng held the quilt tightly with his two small hands to prevent the emperor from pulling it open.

"What are you doing? Were you scared yesterday? Father is here."

The emperor became even more anxious after hearing this.

But after hearing this, Xiao Yunzheng, who had been covering his face with the quilt, suddenly jumped up from the bed and said, "Zheng'er is not that timid."

"You still say no, your eyes are red from crying."

When Xiao Heng heard that his son's voice was weak, he was not as worried as before.

"Father is evil."

Only then did Xiao Yunzheng realize that he had forgotten to cover his face, and he hurriedly used his hands and feet to pull the quilt.

But she was held on the emperor's lap.

"Hurry up and raise your head. Your tears will fall on Father's clothes. Everyone in the palace will know that you are crying."

The emperor joked as he looked at his son who was burying his head in his chest and refused to look up.

Sure enough, this trick was very effective, and Xiao Yunzheng immediately got up from his father's arms.

"Be good, your father heard that you were scared, so he came to see you specially. Don't cry."

Hearing the crying, Xiao Yunzheng's eyes widened and he said unconvincedly, "I wasn't scared to tears."

"Okay, you weren't scared to tears, so why were you crying? Could it be that you were thinking about your father?"

The emperor continued to tease.

"Father is so bad, I don't want to do that."

These words frightened Xian Yu and the others outside the screen so much that their faces turned pale, but Cao Zhong looked unsurprised.

This ordinary thing would not be ordinary if it happened to Concubine Gu and her son.

"Why is that?"

Sure enough, only the emperor's more loving and gentle coaxing voice could be heard from behind the screen.

"Zheng'er was sad about the fish. If Zheng'er hadn't wanted to see them yesterday, my aunt wouldn't have fallen into the ice cave, and the fish wouldn't have died."

Xiao Yunzheng started to cry again as he spoke.

He was really sad. Although he didn't know why the fish died, he was smart and knew that the death of the fish must be related to what happened yesterday, which meant it was related to him.

"It's not Zheng'er's fault. It's just too cold. The fish are frozen."

The emperor clumsily wiped his son's tears and coaxed him softly.

This mother and son are good in every way except that they are too gentle.

The emperor coaxed Xiao Yunzheng for a full quarter of an hour before he fell asleep in his arms with tears in the corners of his eyes.

After carefully wiping his son's tears, he laid him on the bed and covered him with a quilt. Then the emperor walked out with a cold face.

The cold and stern majesty that was unique to an emperor made Xianyu and the others kneel down on the ground unconsciously. Even Cao Zhong was stunned. Just now, he heard that the emperor was clearly not angry, and his voice when he coaxed the eldest prince was very gentle. But now it seemed as if he was suppressing his anger.

"Did the eldest prince see the dead fish in the pond?"

The emperor's cold gaze fell on Xiao Shengzi.

"Yes, the eldest prince came out for a walk after breakfast. As soon as he left the house, he heard a eunuch screaming by the pool..."

"This servant deserves death for not stopping the eldest prince in time."

If he wasn't afraid of disturbing the eldest prince inside, Xiao Shengzi would have wanted to kowtow on the ground.

He thought he was capable, but he failed to protect his master.

How could such a coincidence happen in the world? The eunuch didn't discover it earlier or later, but screamed just when the eldest prince went out.

"This servant deserves to die for failing to take good care of the eldest prince."

Xianyu felt even more guilty.

"Cao Zhong, have the eunuchs investigate secretly, and don't alert the Queen Mother."

Of course, the emperor had already figured out what Xiao Shengzi could think of, otherwise he would not be so cold and angry.

"Yes."

Cao Zhong quickly agreed.

The koi in the palace are very precious and will die if they are not fed properly, so no one takes what happened in Ci'an Palace today too seriously.

Moreover, the Si Tiantai said last time that the empress dowager had too much yin energy around her body, so the palace maids didn't dare to say more.

The Queen Mother is not a person with a good temper.

"Everyone get up."

The palace maids in Changchun Palace knelt on the ground for a quarter of an hour before being called up by the emperor.

"Since you have been diligent in taking care of the Crown Prince, I will spare you today, but I will make it an example next time."

The emperor lowered his voice.

Xianyin and the others didn't dare to speak loudly. They just kowtowed on the ground and said softly, "Your servant obeys your command."

The emperor gave Xiao Shengzi a few more stern instructions before leaving Ci'an Palace.

"Father is gone?"

In Jingningju, Xiao Yun'an asked the eunuch in front of him with a look of disbelief.

"Yes, I clearly saw that the emperor was originally coming to our side, but that eunuch Cao said something, and the emperor went to visit the eldest prince."

"It must be because Concubine Gu has been giving Eunuch Cao a lot of favors that he is speaking on behalf of the Second Prince."

This eunuch secretly accepted a jade pendant from Xiao Yunzheng, so he was very flattering to Ayu.

"presumptuous!"

But he didn't expect that the second prince would be furious after hearing this.