Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

82. The Result

Translator: Antonia

Everyone was a little surprised at this situation. Xu Desheng was a trusted senior eunuch of the Emperor, so now everyone was watching expectantly what Xu Desheng was talking to the Emperor.

They saw Xu Desheng gently switched the fly-whisk onto his other arm, paced in measured steps to the Emperor and whispered to his ear, “Your Majesty, news comes from the East Palace that last night there were assassins attacking, and Her Highness is severely wounded and still in a coma.”

Hearing the news, the Emperor opened his eyes wide. He had taken the throne for so many years, and watched Yuxing Tianrui being the Crown Prince for so many years. What he should master was already mastered by him, so how could the Emperor not be furious when someone tried to assassinate the Crown Prince at this time.

He was about to say something, when Xu Desheng continued, “Your Majesty, His Highness said that the assassins are obviously Wulin people, and now with the enemy hidden in the dark and their identity unknown, we’d better keep it secretive for the time being.”

The Emperor knew his son well. After all, he was personally taught by him, and to this son, he always trusted and felt satisfied very much. There were things that he never mentioned, but it didn’t mean he didn’t know. Of course he knew Yuxing Tianrui’s plan to deal with the four major families of the capital.

His eyes swept across the people present at court, making those officials break out in  cold sweats, and at last he said nothing but only nodded, as if nothing had happened.

Xu Desheng understood that this was a consent to the Crown Prince’s idea. Instantly, he turned around to announce to the officials, “His Highness doesn’t feel well today, and His Majesty grants him a day off. For the rest, put forward if there are important things to discuss, or we shall end the morning session!”

Du Chuxuan didn’t wake up until this morning. When he awoke, the first he saw was Yuxing Tianrui, fully-dressed, sitting at the bed and watching him steadily. His first reaction was to feel if any part of his body was unwell!

No kidding. He was the one to gain the say in bed. Otherwise, what his life would become if his vinegar jar already got the say in daily life and he couldn’t win some welfare for himself?

Yuxing Tianrui had no notion of his obscene thoughts. When he saw him waking up, the first thing he did was to ask Ada to bring over the medicine prepared by the kitchen. There was an imperial kitchen in the palace, but since there weren’t many mouths to feed, the imperial kitchen usually only prepared the food for the Emperor and Empress, and now included that of Concubine Xiao and the third prince. Looking at a big bowl of black medicine soup, Du Chuxuan felt his eyebrows jump a little. It seemed heaven was really nice to him. Now he didn’t remember at all what had happened before he passed out last night. There remained in his mind some vague memory of him molesting his little vinegar jar and then of him passing out from pain, so now he just felt ashamed.

“I asked them to add plenty of licorice in it. I think it won’t taste bitter. If you really can’t stand it, there are some fruit sugar.” Yuxing Tianrui noticed Du Chuxuan’s expression and thought it was because he didn’t like the bitter medicine soup, so he made this considerate advice. Yuxing Tianrui himself didn’t like the bitter soup, so naturally he thought everyone else in the world was the same.

Du Chuxuan’s face looked much better. He decided to forget about the shame, because anyway shame wasn’t what he could use to please his wifey. Now that he had known that Yuxing Tianrui did care about him, he felt as sweet as having some honey and grandly took over the medicine to drink it at one sitting.

Though he was already very sensitive to bitterness, he must praise the cook of the palace. He didn’t know how much licorice was put in it so that the whole soup was sweet.

Luo Qing, in the small kitchen, wore a face turning to a bitter gourd. He was a respected doctor who worked wonder, and now he was ordered to do what a maidservant could do! Alright, he could accept this, but was it necessary to add so much licorice in a mouthful of medicine soup?!

Even him, a great doctor, didn’t know whether with so much licorice the life-saving soup would turn into poison or not. Unbelievable!

Despite Luo Qing’s roasting over there, Du Chuxuan was happy now, but he didn’t forget the last night, “Any hitman caught alive last night?”

He remembered clearly that Ada and the hidden guards had fought in a constrained manner just in order to keep at least one of the hitmen alive. He looked at Yuxing Tianrui and immediately discerned a touch of chill in his eyes, knowing that the answer was affirmative.

Yuxing Tianrui watched Du Chuxuan drink all the medicine and finally felt like a stone lifted off his heart. He rose to his feet and paced slowly to the window, “The hitmen are all Wulin people.”

Wulin people had best martial cultivation but at the same time cherished their lives most. Without too much torment, they confessed everything. What irritated Yuxing Tianrui the most was the fact that all the assassins belonged to Manlou.

“Manlou?” Du Chuxuam was a little surprised too. After he took charge of Sect Luo, he had been paying attention to Manlou. However, Manlou maintained very effective secrecy measures, and even an organization with disciples all over the world like Sect Luo couldn’t figure out who was the boss of Manluo or where the headquarter was situated.

Certainly, Yuxing Tianrui shared the same concern, “I’ve inquired the Justice people, and Shan Zhongli firmly claimed that he had nothing to do with that man and he was framed. The Mansion of Duke Ningyuan held the same attitude, and because of its contribution of helping father to take the throne, we can’t push it too hard.”

The Merit of Protecting the Dragon had been announced by the previous emperor. Not to mention suspicion, even if they really committed a deadly crime, as long as they had the Exemption Gold Medal, they couldn’t be sentenced to death.

Du Chuxuan was a bit shocked. He had heard of the so-called death-free gold medal, but he never knew that the Mansion of Duke Ningyuan had one, “So what’s father’s decision?”

Since Yuxing Tianrui had learned some news, there must be a result from the Justice Department, which was supposed to be submitted to the Emperor during this morning session. Thinking of this, it occurred to Du Chuxuan that it seemed to be the hour for morning court. Was his prince detained because of him?

He was enjoying the sweet dream when Yuxing Tianrui’s cool voice interrupted it, “I didn’t go to the morning session, so I can only wait for the result. But I guess father won’t convict him, but punishment is inevitable.”

He took a deep breath and was somewhat dissatisfied with the Emperor’s soft-heartedness, “Supposedly, the best way is to deprive Shan Zhongli of his title and qualification to become a court official.”