HLnovel Chapter 380: Secrets of the Eastern Palace
Chapter 380: Secrets of the Eastern Palace
Emperor Qianyuan's gaze swept across the court and finally fell on the prince.
The prince sat leisurely at the foot of the steps, not looking at anyone, but just holding up his head and looking at his feet, as if this annoying quarrel had nothing to do with him.
Emperor Qianyuan leaned forward from his seat, his pine-like body showing a playful expression. He spoke slowly:
“Prince.”
All the civil and military officials in the court were silent at once.
"Your son is here." The prince slowly stood up and saluted. His loose court robes made him look even thinner.
"Who are you on this northern expedition? Do you have any good plans?"
"Father, I would like to have a chat with you."
"Oh? Court is dismissed, but the prince stays!"
All the civil and military officials in the court were driven out of the hall without knowing what was going on, and left the palace while talking about what was going on.
Emperor Qianyuan looked at the prince who had difficulty standing and waved his hand, "Sit down!"
"My son is guilty!"
As he spoke, the prince slowly knelt down at the foot of the Dan steps.
Emperor Qianyuan was full of questions, but he remained calm and said only one word: "Speak!"
"Is the Emperor's recorder here?!"
Emperor Qianyuan inexplicably repeated:
"Is the registrar here?!"
A civil servant walked out from behind the curtain of the hall, and they both stepped forward and knelt before Emperor Qianyuan.
"Chen is here!"
Emperor Qianyuan passed by the two recorders and looked at the prince who was kneeling in the hall. "Go ahead and tell me what happened. No matter what happens, I am still here!"
The prince raised his head and looked up at the emperor, without dodging or avoiding, and spoke word by word:
"Father, do you still remember 16 years ago..."
Emperor Qianyuan's eyes blurred slightly. Sixteen years ago was the year when Xiao Yu was born, but the facts were totally different from what he thought...
On an autumn night sixteen years ago, the East Palace was shrouded in oppressive silence.
The strong wind blew the dead leaves against the window frames; the flickering candlelight cast shadows of people in the delivery room.
The Crown Princess' cries of pain had lasted for a whole day. The imperial doctors knelt outside the curtain with their foreheads on the ground, not daring to look up.
Crown Prince Xiao Yin stood in the corridor and clenched his fists. This was the first child of the Eastern Palace and the first legitimate grandson of Emperor Qianyuan. There must not be any mistakes.
Behind him, the chief judge of the Eastern Palace Imperial Hospital whispered, "Your Highness, you must be prepared. If it is really twins, according to the ancestral system—"
"Shut up." Xiao Yin said hoarsely, "I have my own plan."
Suddenly, there was a flurry of footsteps coming from the inner room.
The midwife stumbled out, her face pale, "Your Highness! The Crown Princess gave birth to... two little grandchildren!"
The air suddenly solidified.
The prince's eyes went dark, and he barely managed to stand steady by holding onto the pillars. Twins - this was not a good omen for the royal family, but a disaster.
The iron rule established by Emperor Taizu: for twin princes, keep the older one and leave the younger one to prevent brothers from strife in the future and destabilizing the foundation of the country.
"Your Highness!" the judge said urgently, "I will arrange it right away..."
“No! Wait, let me think about it!”
The prince grabbed his wrist fiercely, looking embarrassed, "I, I want both children to be alive..."
At three o'clock in the morning, the side door of the East Palace opened quietly.
Grand Tutor Ouyang Hongming was urgently summoned to the East Palace, and the Crown Prince met his teacher in a small side hall.
But this time, the prince knelt on his knees and begged Ouyang Hongming as soon as he entered the hall.
"Sir, please help me! My health is getting worse day by day. Only God knows whether I will be able to have children in the future.
Perhaps these are the only two children I, Xiao Yin, will have in this life. I cannot destroy the favor of God.
I am not the prince today, I am just your student, just a father, I beg you!"
As he said this, he knelt down and kowtowed three times.
Ouyang Hongming knelt down in shock and supported the prince, "You are blaming me! I..."
Ouyang Hongming was a great scholar of his time, but at this moment he was at a loss for words.
After understanding the dilemma facing the Eastern Palace, Ouyang Hongming fell into a long silence...
Half an hour later, Ouyang Hongming walked quickly through the corridor holding a baby wrapped in a quilt.
Behind him, Shen Buyan, the chief judge of the Imperial Hospital, and Zheng, the imperial physician on duty that day, followed closely with medicine boxes. He had a forged pulse record hidden in his sleeves - it stated that the Crown Princess had only given birth to one son, and the other was stillborn.
"Master, do you really want to take this risk?" Shen Buyan's voice trembled, "This is a crime of deceiving the emperor..."
Ouyang Hongming looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms. The baby looked exactly like the child left in the East Palace.
"Doctor Shen, Doctor Zheng." The old man smiled bitterly, "Do you still remember how the late crown prince died?"
Shen Buyan fell silent immediately. Ten years ago, the former crown prince Xiao Jingchen was deposed for the crime of "treason" and eventually committed suicide in prison.
The current emperor was just the inconspicuous fifth prince back then.
"If this child stays in the palace, he will either die or become a knife in the hands of others."
Ouyang Hongming wrapped the child tightly and said, "Since I am the Grand Tutor, even if I cannot protect my students, I must at least protect their flesh and blood."
There was a sound of hurried footsteps, and the leader of the East Palace guards came chasing after him, covered in blood: "Master, hurry up! Someone in the East Palace is creating trouble and trying to harm the Crown Princess."
Ouyang Hongming did not dare to hesitate any longer and got into the carriage that had been prepared, carrying the child.
The sound of the wheels rolling over the bluestone slabs was drowned out by the bustling city of Shangjing.
The Crown Princess in the delivery room woke up from her coma.
"Child...where is my child?" She struggled to get up, but saw Xiao Yin standing in front of the bed holding a baby with tears in his eyes.
"What about the other one?" The Crown Princess trembled as she tried to lift the swaddling clothes. "I clearly heard two cries..."
The prince held her hand and said, "Heng'e, you only gave birth to one child."
The crown princess' pupils suddenly shrank. She pushed her husband away, fell off the bed barefoot, and searched every corner of the delivery room like crazy. When she lifted the copper basin behind the screen, she froze...
A newborn dead baby was lying quietly in the basin, with blood stains on its purple face.
“No——!” A shrill cry cut through the night sky. The Crown Princess collapsed to the ground, digging her fingers deep into the cracks between the tiles, “Who is it! Who killed my child!”
Xiao Yin hugged her from behind, tears falling on her messy hair: "It's me who is incompetent..."
Three days later, the Ouyang family held a banquet to celebrate the birth of the grandson to the Grand Tutor.
Ouyang Xi, the eldest son of the Ouyang family, has been married for three years and had a son a few years ago. He originally wanted to hold a big banquet for the child's first birthday, but unexpectedly, the night before yesterday, Ouyang Xi brought home a baby boy.
The elegant and easy-going scholar suddenly changed his temperament and ordered his wife to take the adopted child as his eldest son!
The woman naturally refused to accept this. Her son was the eldest son and grandson of the Ouyang family, but now he had to give way to a child of unknown origin. She argued with her husband, cried and made a fuss, and threatened to die in resistance. The originally loving couple broke up.
Ouyang Xi said coldly, "If you don't accept it, I will divorce my wife and give up my son!"
From that day on, the woman sealed herself in a heartless sentence: If you don't obey, I will divorce you and give up my son!"