nycdaug Chapter 409 Successful Defection
Chapter 409 Successful Defection
"vomit……"
Upon hearing the word "rat," Zhou Mu felt a wave of nausea wash over him.
I threw up again.
He squatted on the ground howling, and it took him a while to come to his senses.
With red eyes, she looked up at Jiang Ziyan and finally asked, "How can we bring down Prince Chen?"
He knew that Jiang Ziyan was on the side of Crown Prince Jing. As long as he could bring down Prince Chen and make him kowtow at the grave of Miss Zijing, he could succeed.
He's willing to do anything.
Jiang Ziyan looked at him and said, "I heard that your elder sister's marriage to my father was arranged by Prince Chen. Do you think they might have already sided with Prince Chen?"
“Father…” Zhou Mu’s body stiffened slightly.
My father actually sided with Prince Chen?
No wonder...
During these days of being in a daze, he didn't pay much attention to his elder sister's affairs, only knowing that his father had arranged a marriage for her.
That is Minister Jiang, the father of Miss Zijing.
Logically speaking, the father looked down on the Jiang family, as the Jiang family's social standing was quite different from that of his sister's husband's family.
My father was the kind of person who would rather my sister remain a widow than let her marry someone of lower status.
At the time, he was so happy for his elder sister that he didn't even think about this.
He assumed that his father had come to his senses; after all, she was his flesh and blood, and he probably couldn't bear to see his sister spend her whole life guarding a memorial tablet.
Unexpectedly, it was Prince Chen who acted as the matchmaker.
He only knew that the former Prince Chen was a nobody, a mediocre person who only became famous in one battle because of suppressing the rebellion.
But it was recently revealed that his reputation was bought with money.
He's all show and no substance, a scoundrel who's all show and no substance, a vain and ambitious person.
Looking at his methods towards Miss Zijing, it's clear that Prince Chen is ruthless and cold-blooded.
Such a person does not deserve to sit in that position.
Zhou Mu didn't understand. The Zhou family already held a noble title, and whoever took that position wouldn't shake the Zhou family's status.
Why would the father risk everything to support Prince Chen?
And my sister's wedding...
Zhou Mu rose with a trembling body, staring intently at Jiang Ziyan, trying to discern the purpose behind his words in the man's eyes.
"Yan-ge'er, do you not want my sister to marry your father?"
Jiang Ziyan shook his head. "I don't care who he marries, nor do I want to. I'm just afraid that he might do something wrong and implicate his whole family. I'm sure you feel the same way, right?"
Zhou Mu frowned, pondered for a while, then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Jiang Ziyan, "Brother Yan, thank you for telling me all this, I know what to do now."
Watching his retreating figure.
The Zhou Mu at this moment seemed completely different from the dejected and dispirited Zhou Mu just now. His back was straight, and he walked with a confident stride.
Miao Miao stared at her second brother in disbelief.
She was just being superficial.
I thought my second brother was sympathizing with Jiang Zijin, which is why I came to check on her.
Then, seeing Zhou Mu's dejected state, she couldn't bear it and tried to persuade him.
Unexpectedly, they came to try and win over Zhou Mu.
The defection was very successful.
It seems that Zhou Mu, aside from being a bit love-struck, isn't stupid.
"Second Brother, do you want Young Master Zhou to be your spy and cause them to turn against each other?" Miao Miao couldn't help but ask on the way back.
Jiang Ziyan was taken aback, then smiled and gently pinched the tip of her nose, "You little rascal."
My sister is so perceptive; she saw right through me at a glance.
……
When King Chen heard the news of Jiang Zijin's death...
My heart trembled.
With a forceful pull, the prayer beads in his hand rolled off with a snap and scattered all over the ground.
Just like his mood right now.
The string in my heart finally snapped.
For the past two weeks, he has been unable to eat or sleep properly, locking himself in his meditation room every day to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures.
But the day still came, only much earlier than he had expected.
He thought he would learn of Jin'er's death from the secret guards, but he didn't expect it to come from the officials.
He was more heartbroken than anyone else when Jin'er was gone.
He loves Jin'er.
He had never loved a woman so much in his life.
But he had wronged Jin'er and deceived her, and he was filled with guilt and inner turmoil.
For a moment, I wanted to go with her.
But he can't.
He carried the expectations of too many people on his shoulders: his mother, the Fang family, and the court officials who supported him.
He was once an unfavored prince, and even the palace servants could give him the cold shoulder.
Her mother was even more trampled on; any concubine with a powerful family background could bully and manipulate her.
He had had enough of that life of humiliation and being bullied.
He had to live on, to live with dignity, and to make those who had wronged him and his mother suffer a terrible death, kneeling before him and his mother.
He is a heartless person.
His conscience died the moment he poisoned his elder brother, the Crown Prince, and conspired with the kidnappers to abduct Prince Jing.
His elder brother, the Crown Prince, actually treated him very well.
Although he was the crown prince, he never looked down on any of his brothers or sisters.
Even a prince as lowly as him, born to a maid.
The Crown Prince is a good older brother.
It's all his fault for standing in that spotlight.
He also wanted to be above everyone else, to be the one who controlled the fate of others.
He had had enough of living a life of utter insignificance.
……
In the palace.
The emperor was furious.
He never expected that the fugitive would actually be found in the fourth brother's house.
Of all the women he could like, this fourth prince had to choose a concubine's daughter who defied imperial authority.
They stubbornly refused to admit it, insisting they were wronged.
Prince Chen knelt before the Emperor: "Father, I am innocent. I did not harbor any fugitives. It was Consort Lan, my concubine. A few months ago, she went to the temple to offer incense and encountered a wounded and dying Miss Jiang on the way. Lan took pity on her and brought Miss Jiang back to the mansion, hiding her in a secret room to recover. I truly do not know how she died there. I beg Father to investigate thoroughly."
The Emperor remained silent, coldly observing Prince Chen: "Is this matter truly none of your business?"
He wondered if he had been praising the fourth brother too much these days, making him forget who he was.
Of all his sons, he disliked his fourth son the most.
Aside from the fact that he was the son of a lowly servant, what I disliked most was his petty and narrow-minded nature, which was utterly repulsive.
Unable to recognize their own identity, yet ambitious and adept at winning people's hearts.
But his presence is like a catfish.
Only those who survive in this turbulent water can shoulder this great responsibility.
He didn't want the empire that the late emperor had fought so hard to build to be destroyed by an incompetent person.
But we still need to give them a good talking-to.
Prince Chen was in a state of great anxiety. He knelt on the ground and said, "Father, although I knew nothing about this matter, Lan'er is my concubine after all. She is guilty of harboring a fugitive. I dare not protect her. I have brought her here to apologize to you."
The emperor wasn't stupid; he could easily see that this young man wanted to use a woman to atone for his crime.
He's such a coward.
He glanced at the woman kneeling outside the hall, his gaze finally settling on Prince Chen: "You're willing to part with her? She's your savior?"
Prince Chen: "If you make a mistake, you must be punished and left to your father's discretion."
Since it's all fake anyway, why would he care?
As long as the Emperor believes this explanation, the matter can be considered a muddled affair that will be forgotten.
The Emperor glanced at him, a half-smile on his face: "If that's the case, then stop all of Prince Chen's salary and stipend as punishment, and Prince Chen's concubine... be beaten to death."
……