Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 32 Imprisonment of Yuan Qingzhe

How dare Fei'er and Cui'er lie to the cold-faced king?

The two of them looked at me, and I looked at you. Fei'er, who was more courageous, said, "Yes...it belongs to Fourth Master Song."

The third prince asked again: "Did Qing Bai promise him the royal seal?"

Fei'er didn't dare to say anything.

The third prince said in a deep voice: "Speak quickly!"

Fei'er and Cui'er were so frightened that they knelt down.

Fei'er said: "Yes...it was Fourth Master Song who came up while Third Master Bai was away."

The third prince: "..."

Okay, even this little boy is getting into trouble!
In this era, seals are common, and there is nothing wrong with having a seal at home.

It's just that the third prince had just been very angry with Yuan Qingzhe, and now he found out that his favorite Song Xiaosi had taken advantage of Yuan Qingbai's absence to seal Su Zhiwan's painting without authorization, and he was angry again.

It seems that even Song Xiaosi will be depressed today.

"Get up."

After speaking calmly to Fei'er and Cui'er, the third prince walked to the locked cabinet. After a pause, he said to Fei'er: "Go to the princess and get the key to this cabinet."

Fei'er respectfully accepted the order and quickly walked out of the courtyard to find Princess Xiahou, but she met Xiahou on the way.

The Xiahou family had already learned that her son Yuan Qingzhe had gotten into trouble, which was not a small disaster for the third prince. He might be beaten half to death, so she was so frightened that she came to the third prince to plead for mercy.

Now Xiahou met Fei'er and learned that the third prince wanted the key, so he ordered someone to get the key. He came to Yuan Qingbai's courtyard, tiptoed into the main room, and came to the third prince: "Your Highness, Zhe'er..."

The third prince felt disgusted and interrupted: "Don't mention him to me."

Xiahou: "..."

Soon, the keys were delivered.

The third prince took the key and opened the cabinet, checked it out, and frowned again.

The third prince had seen the belongings in this cabinet with his own eyes. Su Zhiwan also said that some things were left for her son, and some were left for her future daughter-in-law.

But now, the third prince discovered that there were a few precious things missing from the cabinet, which he had personally given to Su Zhiwan.

The third prince looked at Xiahou with sharp eyes: "Did you steal the contents?"

Xiahou was confused: "How could I steal it?"

The third prince said: "There are a few things missing in it. You didn't take it. Could it be Qing Bai took it? Did he get the key from you?"

Xiahou said: "You didn't even look for me..."

He stopped mid-sentence and became nervous.

She thought that it was probably her son who had stolen it. Her son had even stolen her things. He stole the keys from her and then came here to steal property...

The third prince asked in a deep voice, "Why don't you finish?"

Xiahoushi deliberately smiled: "My lord, I'm afraid you remembered it wrong, but you haven't lost anything."

Ha, with the cold-faced king's mind and scheming, coupled with his understanding of the Xiahou family, it was immediately obvious that the Xiahou family seemed to have a guilty conscience.

"Did you really steal it?" the third prince asked in a deep voice.

Xiahou was anxious: "I really didn't take it. The prince is so contemptuous of others. I have a lot of things of my own, and my dowry is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. How could I steal the things here!"

The third prince thought about it. No matter how bad the princess was, she would not come to Yuan Qingbai to steal Su Zhiwan's things.

The third prince looked at Fei'er and Cui'er: "Who took the things inside? Did you steal them?"

Fei'er and Cui'er were so frightened that they knelt down and were so uneasy that they didn't dare to say anything.

The third prince shouted: "Tell the truth, or else I will kick you out and serve as the groom of the prince's dead wife!"

Fei'er and Cui'er were both worried.

Although both of them were rough maids with unattractive looks, they didn't want to be kicked out and assigned to an elderly groom whose wife was dead.

He is indeed a mean and cold-faced king. Fei'er didn't care that Xiahou was present, and hesitantly said: "Slave... I'm not sure who took it, but... Master Zhe has been here a few times. Your Majesty, you can ask Second Master Zhe."

When Xiahou heard this, she glared at Fei'er and said to the third prince: "My lord, don't listen to her nonsense. Zhe'er came here to see how Qing Bai could steal something."

The third prince said "ha" and laughed angrily.

He felt that this was probably done by Yuan Qingzhe.

Just now, his second son made a big mistake, and he still hasn't come to terms with it properly, and now this happens again...

Okay, that's great. God gave me a son like Qingbai and a son like Qingzhe. It's fair!
"Go and ask the chief historian to bring a few guards and escort Qingzhe over!"

The third prince shouted to a servant guarding the courtyard.

Xiahou's face turned pale with fright, and her heart was about to beat out of her chest, but she still held on to a glimmer of hope, hoping that Yuan Qingzhe had not stolen it.

Soon, Chief Historian Lu Yanzhong came to the scene with several guards.

Yuan Qingzhe followed staggeringly.

Without the third prince's orders, Yuan Qingzhe knelt down directly.

The third prince asked in a deep voice: "True to the truth, did you steal the property in the cabinet?"

Although Yuan Qingzhe is very afraid of this father, he really doesn't dare to recruit him truthfully at the moment.

He knew that the crime he committed just now was big enough, but the theft was even bigger. If the two things were put together, he was afraid of being beaten to death.

The third prince sneered: "You don't want to recruit, right? Well, if you don't want to recruit, I will strictly interrogate the servants around you, and then send people to the palace to question Qing Bai, and we can always find out the truth."

"If this is really the case, you will be punished even more!"

"You brought it yourself truthfully, and I won't beat you. If I find out, I won't be able to beat you to death, you beast!"

Yuan Qingzhe trembled and cried, "Father, my son was unconscious and stole the things here. Father, please spare me. I don't dare to do it anymore."

Xiahou's face turned pale, and he knelt down and begged: "Your Majesty, Zhe'er is still a young man and is ignorant. Please spare him this time, and I will discipline him well in the future."

The third prince ignored Xiahou and continued to interrogate Yuan Qingzhe: "How did you get the key to the cabinet?"

Yuan Qingzhe said: "I stole it from my mother."

The third prince asked again: "You stole the key and came here to steal things. Doesn't your mother know about this?"

Yuan Qingzhe shook his head.

The third prince turned to Xiahou and said, "Qingzhe is so incompetent, it's because of your upbringing!"

Xiahou: "..."

The third prince looked at Chief Historian Lu Yanzhong: "From now on, Qingzhe is strictly prohibited from leaving the palace. If you violate this prohibition, I will first take you, the Chief Historian, to task!"

After saying this, the third prince walked away.

Xiahou was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground.

My son... is being imprisoned!

Moreover, given the prince’s temper, this ban will last until the end of the Year of the Monkey!
Moreover, with such an incident, how can my son attack the throne in the future?

After Xiahou came to her senses, she glared at Fei'er, blaming this rough maid for complaining just now.

Fei'er lowered her head and trembled in fear.

At this time, the third prince suddenly returned, pointed at Fei'er and Cui'er, and said solemnly to Xiahou: "These two girls, if you dare to retaliate against them, even if you just treat them harshly, I won't spare you!"

He, the cold-faced king, was shrewd and knew that Qingbai's maidservant had offended the Xiahou family today. He did not want these two maidservants to be retaliated by the Xiahou family. Qingbai, a good son, had only a handful of servants.

After the third prince finished speaking, he walked away again.

Xiahou: "..."

Although Zhe'er was at fault this time, the blame for this incident was even more on that shameless slave girl!
At this moment, Xiahou family hated Yuan Qingbai in her heart...

　Yuan Zhaoyuan mentioned in the previous chapter, do you know the prototype? This garden will be the key scene later in the article.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)