Marrying the Crown Prince

Fortunately, Consort Shu knew that Empress Chu's words were not malicious, so although she was still sobbing and wiping away tears, she did not continue to kneel on the ground in grief.

Emperor Chenze silently breathed a sigh of relief.

After a short while, Wei Yi returned from outside, bringing with him the fifty taels of silver that the girl had mentioned.

Upon seeing the silver thrown on the ground, the palace maid looked up with a cheerful smile. "Your Majesty, look, fifty taels of silver, just right, no more, no less. I'm not lying to you; this was done at the behest of Consort Shu."

After saying this, she kowtowed to Consort Shu again, "Your Highness, I beg you, please save me. I only acted according to your orders."

Consort Shu's face was stern and extremely ugly. "You...you did something wrong, and instead of reflecting on your mistakes, you keep trying to frame me. What is your purpose?"

Emperor Chenze saw this but showed no emotion, simply ordering, "Drag him away."

"Yes."

Wei Yi led his men down.

Before long, the palace maid was brought back, and there was no change in her face or hands.

But did nothing really happen?

The palace maid was kneeling on the ground, leaning to one side, and could only barely straighten up by supporting herself with her hands on the floor; her clothes were a little damp, perhaps because it was too hot, or perhaps because she had sweated a lot just now; her face was also a few shades paler than before, and she was breathing heavily, her voice weak.

"Yes, it was the Imperial Concubine, it was Her Highness who instructed me to do it."

"What proof do you have?" Emperor Chenze asked.

The palace maid's face paled even more. Her mind raced, but she still couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

"Slave, slave..."

Meanwhile, upon hearing the name of the Imperial Concubine, Empress Chu immediately decided to jump out and kick her while she was down, but Li Ziyan quickly pulled her back.

"Is Mother unwell?" he asked softly.

Huh? No.

"I..." Empress Chu opened her mouth.

Emperor Chenze looked over and asked with concern, "Empress, are you feeling unwell?"

"I……"

"Since Your Majesty is not feeling well, why don't you go back and rest first?" Li Ziyan walked to Empress Chu's side and took her arm.

"I……"

The thought of Empress Chu, who was in poor health, listening to him adjudicate cases softened Emperor Chenze's expression.

"Ruosong, escort your Empress back to rest," he said gently.

Empress Chu: "..."

You two, let me finish what I have to say!

Ruosong quickly stepped forward and escorted Empress Chu out.

Empress Chu turned around with difficulty, wanting to say something, but she couldn't dissuade Ruosong and could only follow her.

The final outcome of this matter was quite simple: Emperor Chenze bestowed many gifts upon the wronged Consort Shu; as for the Imperial Concubine Gui, since it was only the maid's side of the story, the matter was not pinned on the Imperial Concubine.

However, the Imperial Concubine was still extremely aggrieved and knelt before Emperor Chenze, saying, "Your Majesty, I do not like the Crown Princess, but the Crown Princess is not my daughter-in-law, so why should I care about her affairs?"

"emperor……"

The imperial concubine sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping onto the clean floor.

Emperor Chenze sighed, "Get up. I never said you did it."

However, unlike Consort Shu, who received comfort after being wronged, Consort Gui received nothing but a message to go back and rest.

As Xingyun emerged from the Imperial Study, she was somewhat worried. "Today's events were truly unlucky."

"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! I want to see who is trying to harm me!" the Imperial Concubine said through gritted teeth.

Although Emperor Chenze said he trusted him, if he truly believed him, he wouldn't have this attitude.

Inside the imperial study, Emperor Chenze looked at the palace maid kneeling on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, and said calmly, "Take care of her."

A chill ran through her, and the palace maid looked up abruptly, her eyes wide with terror, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

"The emperor..."

She tried to beg for mercy, but her mouth was ruthlessly gagged. She struggled uncontrollably, but could only be dragged away by the guards.

After the figures left, only Emperor Chenze and his son Li Ziyan remained in the hall.

Emperor Chenze was in a bad mood, and his gaze toward Li Ziyan held a hint of impatience. "Crown Prince, you have overstepped your bounds today."

Li Ziyan remained calm and smiled slightly. "Father, this matter concerns Zhouzhou's safety. I was anxious for a moment, but I think you won't blame me for such a small matter."

"Don't flatter me," Emperor Chenze snorted, his words not pleasant, but his tone much more indulgent, "Why don't you get lost?"

“Yes,” Li Ziyan bowed, “Your subject takes his leave.”

Back at the Changxin Hall of the East Palace, Zhou Zhou was eating chilled mung bean soup to cool off when he saw Li Ziyan arrive and hurriedly invited him over.

"Your Highness, here is a bowl of mung bean soup. It's just cooled down without ice, but you can still try it to cool off in the summer heat."

She changed into a simple, sheer purple dress, her long hair was tied up high, and she wore a long hairpin with cloud-patterned tassels, looking both noble and elegant.

Looking into her clear, bright eyes, Li Ziyan felt his anger lessen considerably, and his expression softened considerably.

"Yes, that's thoughtful," he said.

It wasn't intentional; in summer, people often drink chilled beverages to cool off, but Li Ziyan has a weak spleen and stomach and can't drink iced drinks.

Zhou Zhou put down the bowl, propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Your Highness seems to have something on your mind?"

Li Ziyan rubbed his temples and sat down opposite Zhou Zhou. "It's probably because the weather is too hot."

In the past, he didn't care about Emperor Chenze's suspicions.

However, in today's events, Emperor Chenze not only suspected the Consort, but also implicated Zhou Zhou.

After all, there are quite a few self-directed and self-acted things in this world.

After listening to his words, Zhou Zhou pondered for a moment and suggested, "Why doesn't Your Highness take two days off, and we can stay at the mountain villa for a few days?"

Li Ziyan's eyes flickered, her heart stirred. "Wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

With the arrival of the King of Qixi imminent, the marriage of the Fifth Prince Li Zichen to Grand Tutor Wang is also just around the corner...

“The matter is settled, and we’ve done what we needed to do,” Zhou Zhou replied. “Now, all we can do is wait.”

"So what's the difference between waiting here and waiting somewhere else?"

"We'll choose the date carefully and come back early to attend my cousin and Qingwu's wedding."

Her description was so beautiful that Li Ziyan was even more tempted. Of course, the main reason was that Zhou Zhou's statement, "Everything that should be done has been done," made a lot of sense.

I've done what I could for today.

Having thought it through, Li Ziyan's mood improved, and he nodded in response, "Okay, after we finish dealing with the previous matters in a few days, we'll go out and have some fun for a few days."

"Your Highness, rest assured, I have already ordered people to investigate," Zhou Zhou replied.

Li Ziyan raised her eyebrows in surprise.