She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

Lord Lin accepted the order and left.

Emperor Jing'an looked at the solemn-looking Third Prince and asked, "What are your thoughts on this matter?"

"Father, I don't believe that my elder brother would have such intentions as to plead for Lord Tan." The Third Prince's expression was complicated: "But I know that you have your own reasons for doing this."

Emperor Jing'an raised an eyebrow: "What is my intention?"

The third prince uttered a sentence: "You are protecting my elder brother and your son."

Emperor Jing'an seemed surprised that the Third Prince could see the deeper meaning behind his actions, and smiled with satisfaction.

The Third Prince lowered his eyelashes and arranged the sheets of Xuan paper one by one, thinking to himself: It's a pity that we are going to disappoint you.

There was no right or wrong between him and Prince Yu; they simply had different stances and conflicting interests.

No one wants to entrust their life to the other, so they are destined to kill each other.

Seeing that it was getting late, Emperor Jing'an told the Third Prince to go and rest.

The next day, Emperor Jing'an invited several key ministers to discuss the agricultural policies proposed by the Third Prince. The ministers did not leave until dusk.

At this moment, Eunuch Cao said to Emperor Jing'an, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine requests permission to invite her sister-in-law to the palace to discuss the arrangements for Prince Yu's wedding the day after tomorrow."

After a pause, Eunuch Cao added, "The Imperial Concubine also said that she couldn't leave the palace to attend Prince Yu's wedding, and she was worried about it, so she wanted her sister-in-law from her maternal family to help her out."

Emperor Jing'an's first thought was to suspect that Consort Ling was up to something again.

He pondered for a long time before finally agreeing.

-

Yanxiang Palace.

After receiving Emperor Jing'an's reply, Consort Ling instructed her maid Huichun to send a letter to her family.

Today, her family suddenly sent a letter saying they wanted to discuss the matter of Prince Yu's wedding with her.

She thought that Prince Yu was worried that her good-for-nothing brother would get into trouble outside, so he forbade the Ling family members from leaving the mansion, and she wanted to decline the request.

To her surprise, she found her brother's private seal at the end of the letter, engraved with his handwriting.

They had previously agreed to leave a code in the letter to prevent its contents from being leaked.

If it was a matter of life and death concerning the Ling family, he would stamp the letter with his personal seal bearing the name of his elder brother.

If it's a minor matter involving the Ling family, then Madam Ling's seal will be used.

If it's just a casual meeting, then there's no need for a seal.

It seems the Ling family is in trouble now.

Consort Ling, thinking about her and Prince Yu's situation, worried that someone might harm the Ling family, so she sent someone to ask Eunuch Cao to help convey a message to Emperor Jing'an.

They had thought Emperor Jing'an wouldn't agree, but to their surprise, he did.

The next morning, Consort Ling, feeling extremely anxious, sent someone to fetch her sister-in-law from her maternal family to the palace.

Seeing that Consort Ling was restless, Xiu Dong handed her a list to distract her: "Your Highness, this is a list I prepared, please take a look?"

Consort Ling was preoccupied with the affairs of the Ling family and couldn't sleep well all night. She leaned against the wide couch, anxiously waiting for Madam Ling.

She calmed herself down, took the list, and carefully checked it to see if any items had been missed.

Tomorrow, Prince Yu will welcome Princess Guangning to his residence, and this list contains all the gifts he intends to give to Princess Guangning when she visits the palace to pay her respects.

Even if she disliked Princess Guangning and was dissatisfied with Princess Guangning's status, as long as Princess Guangning entered Prince Yu's mansion and became Prince Yu's princess consort, then they would be on the same boat.

She gave Princess Guangning face, which in turn gave Prince Yu face.

Her kindness towards Princess Guangning was to protect Prince Yu's interests.

In this way, Princess Guangning will always think of Prince Yu's mansion and will not be instigated to stand against Prince Yu.

Consort Ling was clear about this: "When I got married, my mother gave me a pair of bracelets, which I will add to this."

Xiu Dong looked surprised and turned to prepare.

At this moment, Huichun greeted Madam Ling as she entered the hall.

Consort Ling was startled when she saw it and immediately sat up straight.

Lady Ling was wearing a pheasant crown with three pheasants on it, adorned with pearls and peonies, and decorated with green leaves. She wore a red straight-collared, front-opening, wide-sleeved shirt, and a dark blue embroidered cloud and mandarin duck patterned shawl draped over her shoulders.

Despite the festive and solemn imperial robes, Madam Ling's pale face was still visible. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked listless, tired, and haggard.

Lady Ling first performed a deep bow: "This humble woman greets Your Highness the Noble Consort."

Just by looking at Madam Ling's appearance, Consort Ling realized that the Ling family was about to face a great calamity.

She helped Madam Ling up and asked, "Sister-in-law, what exactly happened?"

Upon hearing Consort Ling address her as "sister-in-law," Lady Ling burst into tears before she could even speak: "Your Majesty, I beg you to save your brother. He has been framed and has committed a capital offense."

Consort Ling was eager to know the details: "Tell me, what did my brother do wrong? Didn't Jing'er send someone to tell you that you are not allowed to leave the mansion for the time being?"

Her elder brother was incompetent, but thanks to the family's influence, he obtained the honorary title of Fifth-Rank Imperial Physician. He had nothing to do on weekdays, so he simply collected his salary from the court and did not go to the government office to report for duty, which was not a big deal.

Madam Ling tearfully recounted, "The Prince Yu sent someone over the other day to instruct us to cease operations of our shipping company and cancel all the orders we had previously received. Last time, when the grain transport to Qingzhou was disrupted by such a major incident, if it weren't for Prince Yu's help, our Ling family would have been in dire straits long ago."

"This time, the master dared not do anything that was outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant. He listened to Prince Yu's words and did everything he was told."

"But just before Prince Yu sent his men, the shipping company had already dispatched a large ship to sea, and they couldn't stop it no matter what they tried."

The master thought to himself, "This order comes from a regular customer who does business overseas, so it shouldn't be anything important."

"But... but it was this ship that had the accident."

"Yesterday afternoon, the master received a letter saying that when the ship docked at the next pier, the officers from the coastal garrison came to inspect it and found a box of weapons in the cargo."

"The officials said that the transport ship was carrying weapons out to sea, which was a serious crime. According to the military law of the Great Zhou Dynasty, anyone who takes people or weapons out of the country or out to sea shall be hanged. The officials seized the large ship and took the people on board away as well."

"My lord heard that anyone involved in this matter will be executed. He is extremely anxious, fearing that this matter will implicate Prince Yu, which is why he sent me to deliver a letter to the palace."

At this point, Madam Ling knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, we are useless and have dragged you down. Please, for the sake of your husband and your brother, save him this time."

During the time that Consort Ling was waiting for Madam Ling to enter the palace, Consort Ling had been repeatedly thinking about the things that the Ling family might do.

She had considered countless possibilities, but she never expected that the Ling family would commit such a heinous crime.

If the person framing them is vicious, they could even pin the charge of colluding with the Japanese on the Ling family.

At that time, she and Prince Yu will certainly be affected as well.

Thinking of this, Consort Ling swayed unsteadily.

"Your Majesty—" Xiu Dong quickly helped Consort Ling to sit down on the wide couch.

Consort Ling was not stupid; she naturally knew that the smuggling of weapons was inextricably linked to the Third Prince.

Such a big matter has already reached the ears of her brother from her maternal family, but it has not yet reached Emperor Jing'an's ears. Clearly, someone is deliberately suppressing the news, just waiting for the Ling family to come to her for help.

If she gets Prince Yu to intervene and resolve the situation, then she and her son will face utter destruction.

Although Consort Ling was loyal to her maternal family, she could distinguish between those who were close and those who were distant, as well as the importance of the situation.

Consort Ling suppressed the hatred she felt for the Third Prince: "Sister-in-law, I am powerless to help you with this matter."

Before Madam Ling could plead, Consort Ling continued, "Jing'er only met with Lord Tan a few days ago, and the Emperor stripped Lord Tan of his authority. It's clear that the Emperor can't tolerate Jing'er. I'm afraid that if Jing'er tries to save her brother, it will only make things worse for him."

"Besides, brother's case can't be resolved in a short time. Jing'er will be going to his fiefdom soon, and then he won't be able to interfere in matters in the capital."

Madam Ling understood that Consort Ling wanted to protect herself and knew that Consort Ling wanted to kick the Ling family aside. However, the Ling family had suffered because of Prince Yu.

Her face turned deathly pale, and she felt as if she had swallowed a block of ice, the chill seeping from her heart into her gut.

"Your Majesty, you can't abandon us! You have to save our whole family!" Madam Ling's eyes were filled with despair as she clung tightly to Consort Ling's sleeve, as if grasping at a last straw. "Those people behind the scenes are targeting our Ling family because of you and your son. Do you think you can protect yourselves by just standing by and letting the entire Ling family be executed?"

"No, no, those people behind the scenes are targeting you and your child. They will definitely try every means to pin the Ling family's crimes on you."

Seeing that Consort Ling remained unmoved, she gritted her teeth and went all out: "Don't forget, the Emperor intends to appoint the Third Prince as Crown Prince, but fearing that Prince Yu would vie for power, he sent Prince Yu to his fiefdom. However, Prince Yu's fiefdom is only one city away from the sea. At this critical juncture, the officials discovered that the Master was smuggling weapons out to sea, intending to collude with the Japanese pirates. What do you think the Emperor will think?"