The True Winner of the Red Chamber

Zhen Yingjia and Kang He walked over to have a look.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard was the crown prince. Two middle-aged women knelt in front of the crown prince. Behind the crown prince were many eunuchs and maids anxiously persuading the crown prince. They were afraid that he might make a mistake.

The prince described it as skinny, and his face, which was not too young, was completely puddled from crying. He was also dressed in light-colored plain white clothes, and his hair was loosely tied in a bun, which made him look more and more messy.

He was crying sadly, leaning on a cane in his hand, and from time to time he raised it up and beat the two kneeling in front of him.

"How dare you! You two are the old people in the princess's house. The princess has always treated you well. Even if it is placed in the entire East Palace, you two are people with face. How can you be so shameless? things come!"

The two women were also crying with tears all over their faces, kowtowed and shouted: "This old servant has lost his mind, I dare not ask the prince to forgive me, this old servant is ashamed of the princess!"

Hearing this, the crown prince became even more angry. He raised his crutches and beat desperately, "Ghost! Which one is a ghost! Only the crown princess has gone to the East Palace. Are you going to pin the crown princess on the head!"

The two wives were beaten to the point of pain all over their bodies, but they didn't dare to hide, so they had to accept it forcefully, and kowtowed again: "It's none of the business of the Crown Princess, it's the old slave who did it himself, and has nothing to do with others!"

Zhen Yingjia and Kang He glanced at each other, what was only three points of confusion just now turned into vigilance.

Kang He said angrily in a low voice: "My mother's bones are still cold, no matter if it's really stealing something, or...the crown prince wants to use this to clean up the insiders, I will not let anyone go!"

"...The princess is in a hurry," the prince said while wiping away tears, "Even if you lose your reward, you will make up for it later, what are you two? Or do you look at Gu who has not been with the princess all these years?" Get close, the prince has not come back, and no one will know if he stole the things in her house!"

The prince hit them twice when he was angry. The two people trembled in pain, but they still gritted their teeth and endured it.

"This is a capital crime for you two! I will kill you with a stick!"

The two women trembled and fell limp.

Zhen Yingjia was startled, and thought that the prince was full of suspicions. If the two people really stole something, it would be okay to say, but the prince might take the opportunity to kill people to silence them.It's just that he is an outsider after all, and all he can do is to investigate secretly, and he can't control the crown prince anyway.

Kang He also had the same thought, but unlike Zhen Yingjia, he could speak.It's just that Kang He just took a step forward when he saw a woman in white running out of the inner courtyard, kneeling directly at the prince's feet.

"Ms. Zhao!" Kang He gritted his teeth.

Zhen Yingjia looked at the woman who was said to have conspired with the crown prince to kill the crown prince.

It's just that she was a little far away, so she couldn't see clearly. Zhen Yingjia could only see that her eyes were red and swollen, and her face was also swollen. As soon as she came out, she hugged the prince's leg and cried non-stop.

"Master, my sister's bones are still not cold. What should you say to outsiders who see her when you are dealing with the nanny in her house?" She cried and gave them a hard look, and said, "These people stole my sister and left her behind." The things in it are supposed to be punishable by death, but my sister hasn't had a funeral yet, so now is not the time to kill someone!"

The prince was in a dilemma, he struggled a few times without breaking his legs, but he seemed to listen to it, and he stared angrily at the two women in front, "Death is inevitable, but life is inevitable!"

The prince sternly shouted: "Come here, lock the two of them into the firewood room and take good care of them. When the crown princess goes to the funeral, let the two of them go to protect the tomb for the crown princess!"

Theoretically, Mrs. Zhao could not come out to the outer courtyard, so the crown prince reprimanded his mother-in-law immediately after giving instructions, "Hurry up and go back! Why don't you burn incense for the crown princess, what are you doing out there!"

Kang He breathed a sigh of relief for a while, glanced at Zhen Yingjia, and said in a deep voice, "The cooperation of the two of them... I'm afraid it's a tactic to delay the attack."

"These two people need to check carefully, as well as their family members. It's not convenient for you recently. Send someone to send the news, and I will help."

Kang He glanced at Zhen Yingjia gratefully, and pointed to the eunuch not far away, "He has been following me, and if there is any news in the future, he will look for you."

At this time, the yard was much quieter, and the eunuch went to get the rope to tie people up.

Just now the prince was angry for a while, now his face is pale, he is sweating profusely, he looks like he is about to collapse.The two eunuchs on the left and right supported him and shouted: "Go get the chair!"

Soon, a eunuch brought a chair over, and a court lady brought tea and snacks.

The prince sat down and took a sip of tea, his complexion immediately softened, and his blood turned.

Seeing that things were almost done here, Kang He lightly touched Zhen Yingjia's arm and said, "Let's go ahead, I should go back."

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, the crown prince, who had already slowed down, looked around and saw Zhen Yingjia.

His face was full of disbelief at first, and then he was full of surprise. After he spoke, his voice was still a little trembling, "Yes...but Zhen Yingjia is here?"

I can't escape this time.

Zhen Yingjia stepped forward and said, "I'm right here."

Kang He was behind him, a bit reluctant, but still followed.

"Why are you so unfamiliar? Gu still remembers that you and Gu were the best friends back then." The prince seemed to remember the interesting things back then, and stretched out his hand to greet him: "Come to Gu's side. I guess you always called Gu the prince's brother back then, but now you are too old." It's so big."

Although he could only see Kang He's face from the corner of his eye, Zhen Yingjia felt that something was wrong with him all of a sudden.

Speaking of it, I still blame him. I recognized the wrong person at the beginning, so I became brothers with the father and son...

The prince is still recalling the time when he and Zhen Yingjia got along, "I remember you were so tall back then." The prince compared with his hands, and said nostalgicly: "When Gu was going back to Beijing to get married, you still chased Gu to prevent him from leaving. .”

Zhen Yingjia felt a little embarrassed for no reason, and really wanted to say that it wasn't him back then.

It was his decision to be brothers with Kang Ho.

The prince sighed, "When I returned to Beijing alone, I was going to marry the princess, and I haven't left the capital for more than ten years. I haven't seen you for more than ten years. When I saw you, the princess died."

Hearing this, Zhen Yingjia couldn't help sighing that the world is impermanent.

The crown prince suddenly pulled his wrist, trying to use his strength to stand up, Zhen Yingjia was caught off guard and was almost pulled, the crown prince said: "Now I am old too. Sigh...my sons have sons now."

Kang He's face became more and more mysterious.

The prince stood up and shook his feet a little, wondering: "I remember you were the one who liked talking the most back then, why are you so silent now?"

Before Zhen Yingjia could reply, the crown prince picked it up again, "Oh, people change."

He looked at Kang He who was standing beside Zhen Yingjia, and said, "This is an old friend who is lonely, so you don't need to greet him, you can go back to the front, a mourning hall cannot be separated from people."

Zhen Yingjia's wrist was still in the prince's hand.

Kang He looked down at their overlapping hands, because they were covered by wide sleeves, and no one knew what was going on inside. Kang He was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and turned into a man who lost his mother. Don't think about food and drink, the grief-stricken eldest son of Donggong.

Without saying a word, he turned his head and walked towards the mourning hall.

The prince pulled Zhen Yingjia into the room and said, "Why didn't you tell Gu when you came to the capital? Gu is very free now, but I can take you to the capital for a stroll."

Zhen Yingjia said with a smile: "I have only been here for three days. On the first day in the capital, I went to the palace to see the Holy Majesty. I think His Highness is busy with things, so the Holy Majesty..."

Hearing these two words from the Holy One, the Prince's face turned slightly cold, "Let's go to the study and talk about it." At this point, he let go of Zhen Yingjia and said, "Just now I stood up too anxiously and became dizzy. Now it's almost better .”

While talking, the two had already arrived at the study, the crown prince ordered people to prepare refreshments and invited Zhen Yingjia in.

In Zhen Yingjia's memory, although the relationship between the original owner and the prince was pretty good at that time, it is a bit strange that the prince can still behave like this after so many years.

To know about old friends, the original owner was definitely not more than four or five years old when he met the prince, and the prince was already eleven or twelve years old at that time.

According to Zhen Yingjia's understanding, as well as his experience in his previous life, older children would never play with younger children, on the contrary, younger children like to run after older children.

At that time, the prince was already a half-grown boy, and his mind was relatively mature, but what about the original owner?His father and mother are just a child like him, five years old is really a normal five years old, and there are not so many strange fights for favor in the backyard of the Zhen family, so these two children with completely different backgrounds.

In other words, the prince alone probably has more eyes than the two, and the original owner back then was really silly, white and sweet, which didn't match at all.

How could the prince remember it for so many years.

Zhen Yingjia was sitting opposite the prince, looking at the prince with nostalgic look on his face, feeling more and more confused.

But bewilderment is confusion, there are only him and the crown prince right now, presumably the crown prince has lost a lot of consideration in talking and doing things, it is a good opportunity to test the crown prince's affairs.

Thinking of this, Zhen Yingjia followed the prince's train of thought and said, "It's been decades since we left. I always wanted to meet the princess, but I didn't expect that when I saw her, it was already a mourning hall."

The prince nodded sadly.

Zhen Yingjia asked cautiously: "What kind of sudden illness did she have? Why did she go away so suddenly?"

This sentence drew the prince's tears again, and he said: "It's all my fault. Back then she was in poor health after giving birth, and in addition to these years... I have been cold to her."

The prince lowered his head, weeping uncontrollably.

Zhen Yingjia became more and more confused, the prince is so sad... Is it acting?Or did he realize that he was ashamed of her after the princess died?

The first one...was a little overacted, and as for the latter one...Although Zhen Yingjia hadn't seen the prince in recent years, she had heard that the prince behaved like a man, and he didn't look like this kind of person.

Zhen Yingjia shook his head, and said: "I went to Beijing on the same boat as Shizi. I heard that the Crown Princess fell ill after the Chinese New Year. After being treated by the imperial doctor for so long, why did she never recover? But they are slack. Let me tell you, these people After entering the Tai Hospital, I felt that I could sit back and relax—"

The prince interrupted him, "It's not because of them. At that time, three imperial doctors came to the imperial hospital to give her pulse every time." The prince lowered his head, as if he didn't want others to see the tears on his face.

"it's all my fault."

"When the two of us got married back then, it was the emperor who was going to be the royal conquest. I was hurriedly established as the crown prince, and she married in hastily. I remember that she was three years older than me...you know at that time, I She's only 13 years old, and she's not ready to get married at all."

The crown prince shook his head and said: "Later, Kang He was born, the two of us...she was in charge of the East Palace, and sometimes helped the queen mother manage the harem. The emperor was not around, and the affairs of the court were all on my shoulders. At that time, marching was not very smooth……"

The prince heaved a long sigh, "The two of us have been estranged for more than ten years, until she died."

The prince fell silent suddenly.

But Zhen Yingjia didn't like it at all.He didn't even need to think about it, but he wanted to stand on Kang He's side. Besides, the crown prince also had a concubine who was only half an hour away from Kang He. For this alone, anything that was not ready for marriage would be untenable. .

Zhen Yingjia thought for a while, pretended to be sobbing, and sighed: "Prince Princess died so suddenly, Donggong thinks it's going to be messed up."

He wished it was because of the sudden death of the crown princess, but the crown prince didn't answer this sentence, instead he said: "Exactly. Only after I left her did I know how much thought she had put into going up and down the East Palace. Where is she still lying, the next servant will just leave her." It's starting to mess up."

"But what important things are missing in the house?" Zhen Yingjia said: "But I think the things in the princess's house should be made by the imperial concubine, and no pawn shop would dare to take them if they were stolen."

"It's not something from the past." The prince said: "Jewelry from earlier years, and some gold and silver locks left over from last year. They have been in the palace for a long time, and they are easy to fool by stealing."

Zhen Yingjia pretended to accompany the prince and sighed, thinking that it sounds like she really stole something.He was thinking about Kang He and Zhi Yin outside, and about the emperor in the imperial study, so he left after drinking a cup of tea.

"I was still waiting for the Holy Master to announce the call, and I came here in a rush just now."

The prince stood up and said, "I'll take you to the gate. Are you still living in the house on Fuxiang Street? I'll look for you when things happen here."

The two walked to the door and said a few more polite words before Zhen Yingjia came out.

Kang He was still kneeling in the mourning hall, but Zhiyin didn't know where she went.Zhen Yingjia was a little anxious, afraid that Zhiyin would do something impulsively, and just about to ask someone to ask, Kang He's subordinates who had met earlier invited him aside.

"Miss Zhen was blinded by crying just now, and the prince asked someone to take her inside to wash up."

Zhen Yingjia heaved a sigh of relief, and heard the man say again: "Don't worry, Miss Zhen is used to her in the East Palace, and everyone knows her." After speaking, he whispered: "You can go to the Imperial Study Room at ease, and wait for her." Miss Zhen finished her grooming, Shizi said to send her directly to the east gate to wait for you."

Zhen Yingjia felt more and more that Kang He's thoughtfulness was meticulous and thoughtful. He looked at Kang He who was kneeling before the coffin, and said, "Take care of him carefully."

After leaving the East Palace, Zhen Yingjia went all the way to the imperial study.

People often say that walking is the best time to think about problems, and Zhen Yingjia also thinks this is the case.

The prince...although it really looks like he woke up after the death of the princess, but Zhen Yingjia thinks it is fake.He sang with Zhao Shi in order to cover up their intention to murder the Crown Princess.

Because Zhen Yingjia suddenly thought of someone.

Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion.

Was Jia Zhen sad when Qin Keqing died?He was so sad that he could hardly get out of bed and walk.

But how did Qin Keqing die?It was because after the adultery with him, things were revealed that he hanged himself.

With such an association, would the prince have the same motive?

Even those two women who stole things... I'm afraid they didn't steal money, but overheard something.Zhen Yingjia now only hopes that Kang He will act faster, and don't let the prince or side concubine Zhao get rid of him.