King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 643 Rumors
Zhu Jinghong didn't say anything, but just listened quietly to Park Jin-young's talk, which made him know more about Park Jin-young.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew, disturbing the rolled-up bamboo curtain under the corridor. The sound made Park Jin-young look back, and then she saw a person.

A man, a man in a white robe whose face is not clearly visible.

There shouldn't be anyone in Wangyue Tower at this time, so Park Jin-young's first reaction was that there was a thief.

But when she thought about it, she felt it was impossible. After all, the Prince Xiang's Mansion was heavily guarded, and it would be extremely difficult for thieves to break in.

After taking two steps back and hiding behind a pillar, Park Jin-young asked, "Who are you?"

Zhu Jinghong did not explain, but walked up the stairs. His face could be seen clearly with the help of the candlelight.

Park Jin-young's mouth suddenly widened, and then she knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said, "Your servant greets the prince!"

Sitting on a stool nearby, Zhu Jinghong waved his hand to signal Park Jin-young to stand up, and then asked, "What's your name?"

He brought back so many women from North Korea that he only had some impression of Park Jin-young, but he didn't know her name.

"Reporting to the prince, I am Park Jin-young, from North Korea!"

"Just now I heard you say that all your family members are gone?"

"Yes...he died in the war last year!" Park Jin Young replied.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Jinghong asked again: "Who killed him? The imperial army? Or the Jurchen rebels?"

This question is very tricky. If one admits that he died at the hands of the court, then Park Jin-young would become a "remnant."

Park Jin-young realized this quickly, so she didn't answer in a hurry, but instead thought of a foolproof explanation.

"Reporting to Your Highness, he died of starvation..."

Park Jin-young was very nervous, but she was overthinking it. Zhu Jinghong didn't worry at all.

"I guess you've suffered a lot!"

Park Jin-young didn't say anything. At this moment, she thought of her family again, and a look of sadness appeared on her face again.

Seeing her like this, Zhu Jinghong felt that he was being rude and shouldn't have brought up other people's sad stories.

"Please sit down!" Zhu Jinghong pointed to the stool next to him.

"The slaves dare not!"

"sit!"

Zhu Jinghong's tone left no room for doubt, so Park Jin-young had no choice but to walk over and sit next to him tremblingly.

Zhu Jinghong picked up the flute on the table, played with it for a few times, and then handed it to Park Jin-young who was standing beside him.

"The song just now was very nice!"

Park Jin-young immediately understood, took the flute and started playing.

Soon the song ended, Park Jin-young put down the instrument, stood up and waited on the side.

"Are you used to your life in the palace?"

"I'm used to it. My sisters are all very nice to me!"

"What do you do on weekdays?"

"Dancing or playing music, there are plans for both the morning and afternoon!"

"Don't you have anything of your own to do?"

"I like to sit on the swing. Every day after practicing and before eating, I will go..."

The daily life of a young girl unfolds before Zhu Jinghong's eyes.

Although it is ordinary, it is real and detailed, allowing Zhu Jinghong to see a different life.

Take things as they come... is the deepest thing he felt from Park Jin Young.

And these four words happened to be what he lacked the most, and he was unable to accept and be content with whatever happened.

They chatted for half an hour and the candle in the lantern was almost extinguished.

Seeing that Park Jin-young looked troubled, Zhu Jinghong asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No... not!"

"What's the matter?"

"without……"

"If you have something to say, just say it!"

"Your Highness, I...I have to go back now. I have to get up early for rehearsal tomorrow!"

"Getting up early to rehearse?" Zhu Jinghong asked in surprise.

He just enjoys himself every day and has no idea how the people who perform for him live and work every day.

"Recently, Madam Yang instructed us to re-arrange some dances to make the songs and dances more innovative. We have to rehearse them every morning..."

They have to rehearse at dawn, and before that they have to get dressed and eat, so it is obvious that they will get up very early.

It was already late at night and chatting with people had obviously delayed his rest, so Zhu Jinghong felt deeply sorry.

"In that case, you should go and have a rest first!" Zhu Jinghong said with a smile.

Of course he could intervene in the matter and give Park Jin-young a transcendent position, but he didn't want to use the power in his hands.

There is no lofty reason, it's just that only with the current mode of getting along can Park Jin Young give him unique emotional value.

Park Jin-young said goodbye and left, and Zhu Jinghong, who had talked for a while, felt much better at the moment, so he set off for Tongxin Hall.

Because of this encounter that night, or perhaps because of Park Jin-young's tenacity, Zhu Jinghong's mentality improved a lot.

So in the next two days, the women in the palace all felt his difference, and the atmosphere in the whole palace became much more relaxed.

Sometimes things are so miraculous. For example, within less than two days, news spread that Keqing was pregnant, which filled the palace with joy.

In the blink of an eye, a few days passed. Baoqin, who had been away from Prince Xiang's Mansion for nearly a month, returned to the palace from the Xue family.

The Xue family is based in Jinling, but they have a house in Beijing. This year, as Baoqin stayed in Beijing, Xue Qi took the initiative to go to Beijing to settle the accounts.

It happened to be the Chinese New Year, so it was only natural to let Baoqin go back to reunite with her parents.

"Brother-in-law, I heard from people in the mansion that you haven't been very happy recently?"

In the side hall on the east side of Yin'an Hall, Zhu Jinghong was writing, just to complete the "homework" assigned by Wang Pei'an.

"I am quite unhappy!"

Picking up a small knife from the shelf, Baoqin asked, "Why is this? Are you in trouble?"

"We have indeed encountered difficulties!" Zhu Jinghong raised his head and said with a smile.

Baoqin's desire to perform suddenly came up. She trotted to the desk and asked, "What's the difficulty? Tell me and I'll give you some advice!"

Zhu Jinghong lamented: "Writing articles is too difficult. If you can't do it, you can't do it!"

"Let me take a look!" Baoqin moved closer.

The two of them were almost touching at this time, which could be said to have broken the boundaries between men and women, but neither of them felt it was wrong.

"This is easy. Let's start with..."

Baoqin began to explain, and her ideas were indeed more sophisticated. It was foreseeable that if it was written in this way, it would definitely be a brilliant article.

However, Zhu Jinghong's attention was entirely focused on Baoqin, and not a single word of what he heard remained in his mind.

"Brother-in-law..."

"Brother-in-law?"

"Oh... um... okay..." Zhu Jinghong reacted and uttered several words in succession.

Knowing that she wasn't listening carefully, Baoqin turned around and asked, "Brother-in-law said it's good, what's good about it?"

"Nice clothes, nice voice, nice looks!" Zhu Jinghong replied with a smile. His mentality had indeed calmed down. No matter what he did, he would be suspected. And there was no way to explain such things, otherwise it might make things worse.

After hearing these words, Baoqin just felt shy. She was sure that she was being teased.

But what made her even more embarrassed was that she didn't feel any resistance in her heart, and even felt sweet.

"Baoqin, am I right?" Zhu Jinghong asked with a smile.

This made Baoqin even more embarrassed, so she snorted and ran away, while Zhu Jinghong smiled.

So he continued writing, and about half an hour later, Deng An appeared in the room.

"Your Highness, I just got the news that His Royal Highness Prince Qingyang had a fight with someone because the other party said... that Your Highness, you abused your military power and nurtured the enemy!"

Zhu Jinghong's eyes turned cold instantly. He slowly put down his pen, then raised his head and asked, "Who is saying these words?"

"General Zhu Jingting!"

There were dozens of generals guarding the country in Beijing, so Zhu Jinghong asked again: "Who is his father?"

"The late Zhongxian Prince Zhu Xianzhu!"

Zhu Jinghong still didn't know, because the grandfather of this Prince Zhongxian was the half-brother of Emperor Taizu and was quite far away from the current royal family.

"Where is Old Fourteen now? Tell him to come see me!"

Deng An replied, "Zhu Jingting went to the clan house to report it, and now the Fourteenth Master has been detained and is probably being questioned now!"

"The clan office is managed by the sixth brother...I'm afraid things are not simple!" Zhu Jinghong murmured.

As early as five years ago, Zhu Xianming appointed Zhu Jingyuan as the chief of clan affairs, responsible for managing the daily affairs of the clan.

Nowadays, the royal family is implementing the policy of inheriting the title by demotion. Although a large part of the royal family has been reduced, there are still quite a few of them. The affairs are so complicated that Zhu Jingyuan certainly won't take care of them personally. Usually, the two left and right clan directors are in charge.

But today, the clan government reacted so quickly that it detained a prince as soon as a report was made. It has to be said that its reaction was too quick.

The two current Zongzheng were only generals of higher seniority from side branches who defended the country. They should not have the courage to directly detain the prince.

So it is very clear that it must be Lao Liu who is behind this.

The two accusations of meddling in military power and harboring the enemy for one's own benefit were extremely tricky and were aimed at killing Zhu Jinghong.

Could it be that it’s not the sixth brother... Zhu Jinghong had this thought again.

After all, doing this is too crude a method...

The prince? Or the sixth son?

Zhu Jinghong was unsure for a moment, but he soon realized that no matter who was behind it, he had to deal with the problem at hand first.

Zhu Jinghong also felt that it was time to confront the emperor about these two issues: being involved in military power and having troops of his own.

He was scared when he met the emperor in Longwu Palace before, but this time he will give it a try.

If you win, everything will remain the same. If you lose... it doesn't seem to be a big deal. After all, there is still a long way to go!
However, it is not the time for him to explode yet. He has to wait until there is pressure from public opinion. Then he will meet the emperor as a victim and explain these things clearly.

Standing up, Zhu Jinghong paced back and forth and said, "Pass my words... Let's practice horseback archery this afternoon, and let the guards get ready!"

"Tomorrow afternoon, I will listen to music at the Moon Viewing Terrace, and the day after tomorrow afternoon, I will listen to opera and watch dance at the Qingliang Pavilion!"

Zhu Jinghong arranged three days of events in a row, and the reason he chose to hold them all in the afternoon was because the morning time was occupied by Wang Pei'an.

After Deng An agreed, he asked carefully, "Your Majesty, what about the Fourteenth Master..."

Zhu Jinghong replied calmly: "It was just a beating. It was nothing more than a few questions. It's no big deal!"

Just as Deng An was about to go out, Zhu Jinghong stopped him and called him to his side.

When Deng An leaned in, Zhu Jinghong whispered, "Tell Chen Yuntai to send someone he trusted to investigate Zhu Jingting and see who he has been in contact with recently to see if anyone has any evidence against him!"

"Yes!"

That afternoon, Princess Xu of Qingyang found Prince Xiang's mansion and was led directly to Tongxin Palace.

Baochai already knew what happened in the morning, so she spoke to comfort Xu.

"Sister-in-law, Zhu Jingting's family has already said that they will seek justice for their master!"

"The clan government is so strict this time, I'm afraid... I'm afraid we're in big trouble!"

Having said this, Xu took out her handkerchief and began to wipe her tears, which made Baochai look extremely worried.

"Sister-in-law, the clan house is managed by Sixth Brother, do you think it's possible..."

This was the purpose of Xu's visit, to ask Prince Xiang's Mansion to intercede.

The reason why she did not go in person was, firstly, because she was not close to the Rui Palace, and secondly, because Zhu Jingchun was speaking up for the Xiang Palace.

Standing up and walking in front of Xu, Baochai comforted her, "Things are not as simple as you think, but don't worry... your Thirteenth Brother will not sit idly by!"

Things are not simple...Hearing this, Xu became even more worried.

"Sister-in-law, my fifteenth brother has learned about this and has gone to the clan house to negotiate. He will also go to Zhu Jingting's house later. Shouldn't we ask him not to act in vain?"

Prince Jinghai Zhu Jinghao is the fifteenth child. He and Zhu Jingchun are as close as brothers, so naturally he has to run around for his brother.

Baochai said calmly, "That's not necessary. If he can resolve this matter, there's no need to start a war!"

It would be better for Zhu Jinghao to do it than for Prince Xiang's Mansion to intervene, so Baochai thought there was no need to stop it.

"Go back first... nothing will happen!" Baochai comforted.

"Yes!" Xu agreed and had to turn around and leave.

Back at Prince Rui's Mansion, Zhu Jingyuan was also trying to understand the situation, and he was very conflicted at this moment.

This was indeed a good opportunity, an opportunity to completely defeat Zhu Jinghong, but he still had concerns about whether to take action.

After all, it would be fine if it succeeded. If it failed and made Zhu Jinghong anxious, it would be a loss for him.

Was this a coincidence? Or was it a trap set by the fourth brother? Zhu Jingyuan was unsure.

These days, his men have been secretly spreading rumors. In addition to the rumor that he "abused military power and nurtured the enemy to protect himself", there is also a rumor that Zhu Jinghong is the current King of Qin and should be granted the title of Tiance.

The rumor spread directly to the ears of the common people, and it took nearly twenty days before it reached the ears of General Zhu Jingting, which makes sense.

So in Zhu Jingyuan's opinion, what happened today might indeed be an accident, rather than an arrangement by the prince.

"Go... call Zhu Jingting over. I want to interrogate him in person!"

Following the principle of remaining constant in the face of ever-changing circumstances, Zhu Jingyuan did not intervene in the matter throughout the day.

Zhu Jingyuan went to question Zhu Jingting at this time because he wanted to confirm finally whether the prince was involved behind the scenes.

After she finished giving the order, Chen Zhi beside her suddenly spoke up, "Why did the clan affairs office detain Old Fourteen? You said it wasn't you who gave the order, but I don't believe it!"

"How would I know!" Zhu Jingyuan said unhappily.

In the morning, he went outside the city and held a banquet with a group of his confidants. During the banquet, he met a dozen candidates who had passed the imperial examination, and the latter were the purpose of his leaving the city.

Chen Zhi said sternly, "We should call the left and right Zongzheng here for questioning. We must get to the bottom of this matter!"

"Ok!"

Then Chen Zhi gave instructions to the eunuch, who would take care of the matter.

Soon the sun set, and when Zhu Jingyuan was preparing to eat, a trusted eunuch in his house entered the dining room. He was the eunuch who was ordered to invite Zhu Jingting.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Jingting is...dead!"

Zhu Jingyuan was stunned for a moment, and then the bowl fell onto the table with a very harsh "bang" sound.

"Dead?" Chen Zhi's voice was extremely sharp.

The eunuch who answered the question trembled and said in a deep voice: "Yes...just over half an hour ago, Zhu Jingting vomited blood and died!"

"Was he beaten to death or angry to death?" Chen Zhi asked.

"Your servant...Your servant doesn't know!" The eunuch who answered did not dare to speak nonsense.

(End of this chapter)