mesbooks Chapter 278 Kneeling as punishment
Chapter 278 Kneeling as punishment
"That's unreasonable!"
"How could I not know that my good son actually dared to help the Queen disobey me!"
No one knows a son better than his father. As soon as the emperor heard Jinzhong's explanation, he realized that it was Yongqi who secretly helped Ling Yunche bury the body.
He is the queen's adulterer!
Even if you haven't done anything, but your heart has changed, it is considered infidelity!
"Go quickly and bring Yongqi to the palace. I want to ask him carefully whether he is my son or the son of the Ulanara family."
The emperor was so angry that he smashed the teacup at hand, and porcelain pieces broke all over the floor at his feet.
Jinzhong cautiously advised upon seeing this.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The palace gates are already locked. Why not wait until tomorrow morning to invite us? It's getting late now, and Your Majesty has to attend court tomorrow. For the sake of your health, why don't you rest first?"
The emperor glanced at him sideways, and although he didn't say anything, his dissatisfaction was suppressed a lot.
Listening to his advice, I wanted to get angry, but I couldn't lose my temper because he said it was for the dragon's health.
Seeing that he remained silent, Jinzhong hurriedly urged him, "Your Majesty has been busy with government affairs lately, and I am truly worried about your health. Please rest today. No matter how big the matter is, it is not as important as your health. I promise that after you leave the morning court tomorrow, I will bring the Fifth Prince to you. How do you think?"
He spoke kindly and finally managed to straighten the dragon's whiskers.
Although he was trying to persuade the emperor, it was actually already the second watch of the night, and Jinzhong didn't want to run out of the palace in the middle of the night.
Tomorrow morning, when the palace gate opens, it will be time for the guards to change shifts. If he gets up early and asks the guards to go out and tell him, he won't have to make an extra trip.
Since the Fifth Prince started working, he often had to attend the morning court, so he rarely went into the harem. A few days ago, he was in charge of the annual tribute, and the emperor allowed him to rest for three days, so the emperor sent someone to summon him into the palace.
"Hmph, let's do as you say. Tomorrow, make him kneel down in this palace and wait for me!"
Jinzhong speaks much more pleasantly than Li Yu.
After the emperor gave his orders, he stood up with Jinzhong's help and prepared to go to bed. During this time, the palace maids came in and quickly cleaned up the mess.
The next morning, before the messenger left the palace, the news had spread throughout the harem. After all, the commotion in the Yangxin Palace was not small. The gates of the Yikun Palace were chained again.
The Fifth Prince's residence was in the capital, not far from the Forbidden City. The Emperor had just gotten up to wash and left the Yangxin Palace when he returned.
"Eunuch Jinzhong, where is the Emperor? Why did you summon me so early in the morning?"
Seeing Jinzhong, Yongqi asked in a friendly manner.
The emperor has always treated him kindly, and this is the first time he has summoned him into the palace so urgently.
Thinking of what the Empress Dowager had asked him to do, Yongqi felt a little uneasy.
Seeing his worried look, Jinzhong sighed, looked at the people around him, and whispered to Yongqi.
"Fifth Prince, please forgive me for speaking so much. This is the first time the Emperor has been so angry with you. He treats you like his best child. A few days ago, during the uterine reckoning, the matter of Xiao Lingzi from the Yikun Palace was brought up. I know that you have a close relationship with the Empress of the Yikun Palace, but now..."
He sighed and shook his head, looking distressed, as if he was really worried about Yongqi's situation.
Yongqi had guessed something before he opened his mouth to speak, and now his heart was completely chilled.
"The emperor asked you to kneel down and wait. He is very angry. Fifth prince, you must admit your mistake. Among these princes, the emperor cares about you the most..." Jinzhong advised earnestly.
The emperor was truly pitiful, being stabbed in the back by his most beloved son.
"Thank you, Eunuch Jinzhong. I understand."
Knowing that Jinzhong was helping him, Yongqi bowed to Jinzhong to express his gratitude.
Then he lifted up his clothes and knelt in front of the Yangxin Palace to apologize.
The morning court session lasted for an hour. When the emperor returned, he was already kneeling obediently in the Yangxin Palace as ordered.
The young man was as tall as a pine tree, kneeling upright at the entrance of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. When he saw the emperor coming back, he kowtowed and apologized.
"I am an unfilial son and have disobeyed the Emperor, Father. I beg the Emperor to punish me."
Seeing him like this, the emperor snorted coldly, ignored him, and walked into the inner hall.
Jinzhong followed the emperor all the way, helping him change into his casual clothes and instructing the palace servants to prepare breakfast.
Without the emperor's order, no one dared to invite Yongqi in, so the two of them just spent their time together, one kneeling while the other ate.
After breakfast, the emperor still had no intention of letting him get up and talk, but instead reviewed memorials in the hall as usual.
Countless eyes in the harem were watching what was happening in the Yangxin Palace. After Yongqi knelt from breakfast until almost noon, someone could no longer hold back and came out to speak for him.
This person naturally cannot be Ruyi.
It was Yan Wan, who was eight months pregnant. After hearing the report from the palace maid, she rushed over without stopping.
The kind-hearted stepmother naturally couldn't bear to see her child suffer this.
After all, he was a pampered royal child. After kneeling for a whole morning, even though Yongqi was a martial artist, he could not bear it.
"Your son pays his respects to your Majesty."
Seeing Yan Wan coming, Yongqi looked a little embarrassed and bowed his head to greet her.
"How did you come?"
Seeing Yan Wan coming, he knew that she was soft-hearted, but this was ultimately a matter between father and son, and her getting involved seemed a bit meddling.
But when his eyes fell on her eight-month pregnant belly, the emperor couldn't bear to blame her. He just frowned, stood up, took her hand and helped her sit aside.
"If I hadn't come, how long would Your Majesty have kept Yongqi kneeling? Yongqi has had a miserable life since childhood. Your Majesty doesn't care about him, but I do."
For the first time, Yan Wan spoke in a firm voice, as if protecting her child.
This was the first time she spoke to the emperor so seriously, and her complaining look made the emperor feel a little guilty.
He knew that Yongqi did this out of filial piety, but he was just angry that he disobeyed him for Ruyi.
The emperor was not so foolish as to argue with a dead man. He was just feeling upset and wanted to vent his anger.
"He's just been spoiled. Look, he's even learned to disobey me now. Listen to what he's done."
The emperor's words softened.
He was usually quite concerned about Yongqi, partly because of his own experience of being unfavored and abandoned in the Old Summer Palace in his early years.
He didn't want his son, whom he had high hopes for, to follow in his footsteps. Now that he saw that Concubine Ling cared so much about Yongqi, he became more serious about her.
He knew the character of Concubine Ling. She treated Yongqi like this. He would feel at ease if she took care of the six palaces in the future.
"But Your Majesty, Yongqi is only following filial piety. He was once raised by the Empress. If he were an ordinary person, he would know how to judge the situation. But he is a gentleman like Your Majesty, so he cannot just turn a blind eye to the Empress's downfall..."
"I'm sure the Emperor doesn't want Yongqi to be the kind of fence-sitter who changes his stance depending on the situation, right? If he really stays away from the Empress Dowager who once raised him, that would be even more detrimental to the Emperor..."
Yan Wan hugged the emperor's arm and tried to persuade him with kind words, which really eased the emperor's depression.
She easily described Yongqi's partial behavior as righteousness, praising the emperor and helping Yongqi out of trouble.
First, the emperor knew Yongqi's character and knew that he would not stand by and watch someone die. Second, as Yan Wan said, he did not want his good son to become such a cold-hearted and cold-blooded person.
If he were in Yongqi's shoes, he would probably be in a dilemma.
After all, Ulanara was once his adoptive mother.
The grace of raising a child is hard to repay.
The emperor sighed deeply, holding Yanwan's small hand with his big hand and couldn't help complaining: "I know all this, but I'm just angry at him..."
The emperor choked. He couldn't say in front of his concubines that he was arguing with an old eunuch, right?
"I know all of this, but now that the punishment has been meted out, it's almost lunchtime, and Yongqi has been kneeling outside the palace since early morning. I guess he hasn't eaten yet? Your Majesty, you've been reviewing memorials all morning, so I'm sure you've been exhausted. How about having Yongqi wait on you at dinner? That would be a way to atone for his sins."
Only then did a smile appear on Yan Wan's face, and she was so considerate that she even thought of a staircase for the two of them.
After she gave these words of advice in a gentle manner, the emperor felt much more at ease. Seeing that she had paved the steps, he followed her down.
"Since you have prepared everything, I cannot refuse my concubine's favor. Come on, please serve the lunch."
Seeing this, Yan Wan smiled and praised, "Your Majesty is wise. Yongqi is so blessed that no other princes or princesses in the palace can match him. To receive such guidance from Your Majesty, he will surely become a pillar of the Qing Dynasty in the future..."
After saying that, she winked at Jinzhong.
Jinzhong understood what he meant, and slipped out of the Yangxin Palace and went to Yongqi to pass on the message.
"Fifth Prince, the Imperial Concubine has persuaded the Emperor to let you serve him at meals as a way to atone for your sins. Please be careful and coax the Emperor well... The Empress is due to give birth in just two weeks. She's been so busy, don't let her hard work go to waste..."
When Jinzhong saw her rushing over with a big belly, he would be lying if he said he didn't feel sorry for her.
As he spoke, he looked at her figure in the hall and his face became a little stiff.