met free Chapter 539: Big Chaos
Chapter 539: Big Chaos
Prince Yu boarded the carriage to return to his residence and opened the brocade box in his hand. Inside was a black and white silver fox pelt, its color lustrous and smooth, without a single brown impurity. He reached out and stroked it; the fox fur was soft and silky, clearly extremely valuable.
However, during the winter hunt two years ago, the rewards given by Emperor Jing'an did not include fox fur.
Prince Yu couldn't help but sneer. How could he not understand the Third Prince's thoughts?
He disappeared while hunting a silver fox for Emperor Jing'an, and the emperor sent many soldiers to look for him, causing a great uproar.
Apart from Emperor Jing'an and Consort Ling, no one else knew what had happened to him.
All that was known to everyone was that Emperor Jing'an and Consort Ling found him in a cave. He had been bitten by wild animals, his body covered in wounds, and he had almost lost his life. After that, he stopped studying to recuperate and spent several years recovering.
Many people speculate that he wasn't simply bitten by a wild animal; he probably encountered something unspeakable and suffered extreme trauma. Otherwise, a common flesh wound would heal completely in a year at most, so why did it take three years?
Now, the third prince, in his folly, is trying to provoke him with a fox pelt.
The carriage arrived at Prince Yu's residence. Prince Yu got off with the brocade box and went straight to the main courtyard.
Upon entering the room, Prince Yu saw the fluffy red fox lying on the wide couch, and the restlessness in his heart surged even more intensely.
Hearing the noise, the red fox looked up towards the door. When it saw Prince Yu, its ears immediately drooped, its fur stood on end, and it lay back down on the couch, its two front paws resting on its head, as if this would prevent Prince Yu from noticing it.
With a "smack," Prince Yu threw down the brocade box in his hand, walked over to the wide couch, reached out and rubbed the red fox's head, then lifted it by the scruff of its neck.
This action was seen as a warning by the red fox. It let out a low "woof" sound, seemingly reluctantly lowered its paws, gently rubbed its head against Prince Yu's palm, and whimpered affectionately. It twisted its body, exposed its soft belly, and looked at Prince Yu with pleading eyes.
Prince Yu lowered his eyes and saw that a layer of soft, yellowish-white fur had grown on the red fox's round belly, covering one scar after another.
After an unknown amount of time, Prince Yu stroked the red fox's belly and vaguely sensed that it was trembling. Its bright fox eyes were also glistening with tears, as if it were terrified.
For a moment, those wet eyes overlapped with the eyes of Princess Guangning, whom he had rescued in the cave. Prince Yu suddenly felt bored, and the restlessness in his heart caused by that piece of silver fox fur strangely dissipated.
He ignored the red fox, washed his hands, and went to attend to official business.
"Knock knock—" A knocking sound rang out, followed by the voice of a servant outside the door: "Your Highness, someone from the palace has come to deliver an auspicious date to you."
"Come in." Prince Yu heard the door open and tapped his fingers on the table. "Put it here."
"Yes." The attendant placed the memorial regarding the chosen date on the desk and withdrew again.
Prince Yu put down his official duties, picked up the memorial on choosing an auspicious date, and frowned when he saw the date on it.
We'll welcome Guangning into the palace in three days. And before long, we'll have to appoint a crown prince, right?
After all, he received a secret letter in Northern Qi, informing him that Emperor Jing'an intended to appoint a crown prince when he returned to Great Zhou to welcome his bride.
Emperor Jing'an was a man who would put his ideas into action without hesitation.
Once the crown prince is chosen, Emperor Jing'an will inevitably begin to suppress him in order to pave the way for him and prevent him from becoming too powerful and rebelling against the crown prince in the future.
Thinking of this, a fierce glint flashed in Prince Yu's eyes.
Suddenly, he froze.
A fluffy red fox tail swayed back and forth, circling around his legs, as if trying to soothe his violent emotions and avoid physical pain.
Prince Yu scoffed coldly: "You're quite clever."
Some people are not even as clever as a beast, eagerly courting death.
-
As Prince Yu had predicted, once Emperor Jing'an intended to appoint a crown prince, he began to suppress him. The next day, during the morning court session, the emperor used the excuse that Prince Yu was about to get married to transfer his duties to the Third Prince.
This was within Prince Yu's expectations, and he calmly accepted Emperor Jing'an's arrangement.
Emperor Jing'an harbored prejudice against Prince Yu, but seeing him accept the arrangement without complaint, he recalled what Eunuch Cao had said and felt somewhat guilty. He allocated an extra fiefdom to Prince Yu and bestowed upon him a large amount of gold and silver treasures.
Prince Yu thanked the Emperor for his kindness, and after the morning court session ended, he was once again invited by Consort Ling to Yanxiang Palace.
This time, as soon as he entered the palace, all the palace servants who were serving inside consciously withdrew and stood guard at the palace entrance.
“Jing’er, I’ve heard about what happened at the morning court. Your father is clearly doing this for the sake of the Third Prince, eliminating all threats to him. But has he considered how you will protect yourself in the future if you have no power?” Consort Ling lost her composure again and told Prince Yu what she had learned: “I’ve also heard that after you get married, your father will send you and your princess to your fiefdom.”
Prince Yu was not affected by Consort Ling's words. Instead, he noticed a suspicious point: "My father intends to take back the power in my hands. I'm afraid even his most trusted eunuch, Eunuch Cao, doesn't know. How did you find out?"
Consort Ling was taken aback: "This is a spy I planted outside who passed the message to me."
“Even if Father decides to send me to my fiefdom, such a crucial matter will be discussed with his trusted ministers. And those ministers have always been loyal to Father, so why would they casually reveal it to outsiders?” At this point, Prince Yu sneered, “It seems that someone sees me as a threat and wants to leave my life here so that they can rest easy.”
Consort Ling broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing Prince Yu's words: "It's no secret that my son and I want that position. Someone deliberately leaked the information to us. We're about to lose power, and in our desperation, we'll inevitably cause some commotion in order to stay in the capital."
“At this critical juncture, your father must be wary of us. No matter what we do, he will despise us. No… no, I’m afraid the people who spread this information to us have already set a trap, waiting for us to fall into it. The consequences will not only be your father’s dislike, but he will want the lives of my son and me.”
Consort Ling realized what was going on, and the more she spoke, the more confused she became: "The only person who would do such a thing is the Third Prince."
She never expected that the Third Prince would see through her identity as a spy she had planted in the palace and deliberately spread the news to her spy, luring her into the trap.
Thinking of this, Consort Ling felt her hands and feet turn cold, and she was still shaken.
The reason she couldn't distinguish the truth from falsehood was that when she learned that Emperor Jing'an was going to make the Third Prince the Crown Prince, she vaguely guessed that in order to clear obstacles for the Third Prince, Emperor Jing'an would definitely not care about the father-son relationship and would suppress Prince Yu in every way.
The news she received now confirmed her suspicions, and she was thrown into complete disarray.
“Mother, we must remain calm,” Prince Yu reminded him. “Before I go to my fiefdom, you must not act rashly.” He paused, then his lips curled into a smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes; instead, a chilling aura emanated from him. “If we do not act, someone will naturally lose their composure and make a move.”