Chapter 139
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“Your Majesty, we are truly innocent. Who would be foolish enough to attempt an assassination in such a way? We received information that someone intended to harm Your Majesty. Concerned for the safety of the Eldest Prince and unable to leave the palace without permission, we had to send a message to our father, hoping they could help protect Your Majesty. This whole situation is just a misunderstanding and a series of unfortunate events.” Concubine Pei, usually proud, shed tears, but even in her vulnerable state, the Emperor remained unmoved, feeling only irritation at the commotion.
“Protect me? What kind of protection is this? That arrow almost hit my chest. Is this your idea of protection?” The Emperor continued to rage.
“Father, Mother did not deceive you. This is the truth. I hold deep respect and love for you, how could I commit such an unforgivable act? I have no motive for such actions! Those people were indeed sent to protect you, and it’s impossible that any of them would shoot that arrow at you. There must be someone else involved. Father, I can bear the injustice, but we cannot let the true culprits who wish to harm you succeed!” The Third Prince pleaded, bowing on the ground.
“Do you think the Imperial Court of Justice Review is filled with idiots? That arrow was unique to your Pei family. Are you telling me the Pei family’s weapons are so easily stolen, and you can be framed so effortlessly? All for unverified information? If you truly cared for me, why didn’t you just inform me directly? Instead, you sent people without permission. Are you here to protect or to assassinate? What evidence do you have?”
Facing the Emperor’s interrogation, Concubine Pei and the Third Prince continued to plead their innocence, insisting they were there to protect.
This was Pei Jin’s suggested approach. At that moment, Concubine Pei and the Third Prince were panicked and lacked a clear strategy, so they followed Pei Jin, who was relatively calm. Faced with the Emperor’s questions, they stuck to the narrative that they received information about an assassination attempt, prompting their hasty actions. They emphasized their lack of hostility towards Yuan Ye and refrained from blaming him, presenting it as the best way to handle the situation.
Pei Jin’s message was straightforward: if the Emperor calmed down, he would understand that they couldn’t possibly be attempting an assassination. They were of the Pei family—how could they commit such a foolish act? Even if one argued that they were merely there to cause trouble for the Eldest Prince, it would still be more plausible than attempting an assassination. Therefore, the Emperor should believe their claim of going to rescue him. It was just their greed for merit and a desire to regain the Emperor’s favor that led them to act without authorization. They had not anticipated encountering a real assassin who would frame them.
Even though their actions seemed foolish in hindsight, there was an element of sincerity in them, allowing for some forgiveness. Because of their perceived foolishness, the Emperor was more likely to believe that they were being set up. So, as long as they insisted on being misled into going to rescue the Emperor, it should work.
After a heated exchange, it seemed that the Emperor had indeed calmed down a bit. His anger was not as intense as before.
The Emperor was naturally intelligent and wouldn’t be easily led by anger. Upon closer inspection, the whole incident was filled with suspicions. However, distinguishing between being framed and having ulterior motives was challenging.
At this moment, Yuan Ye rushed to the scene.
The Crown Prince had been waiting outside, considering himself one of the victims. When their eyes met, there was a silent exchange of intense gazes.
Yuan Ye insincerely inquired if anyone had been injured.
The Eldest Prince couldn’t help but feel that Yuan Ye was almost eager to hear him say he was injured. With a sideways glance and a disdainful curve of his lips, the Eldest Prince sarcastically remarked, “Not only am I uninjured, but Father also praised me for my bravery and merit in protecting him.”
Yuan Ye’s expression changed slightly. He took a step forward and leaned in to whisper to the Eldest Prince, “Is that so? Well, this time you’ve truly hit the jackpot. Not only did you steal my honor, but you also managed to cunningly deceive your Third Brother. Impressive, indeed.”
The Eldest Prince instantly glared at Yuan Ye. “Don’t judge others. Your honor was lost by your own actions, Third Brother’s misfortune was their own doing. From start to finish, it has nothing to do with me.”
Yuan Ye’s cheek twitched as he suppressed his anger. “Lost by my own actions? Or was it a well-planned scheme to make me fall ill? The situation on the bridge was still uncertain. I don’t believe it was a mere coincidence.”
The Eldest Prince sneered, “Blaming others for your own misfortune. Your tolerance is truly limited.”
Yuan Ye chuckled mysteriously. “Alright, even if I’m unlucky and lost the honor, others are not qualified to take it. But… things have gone awry. It seems the heavens don’t approve.”
The Eldest Prince erupted in anger, but Yuan Ye no longer wanted to waste words with him. He had more important matters to attend to.
The Eldest Prince saw Yuan Ye heading straight into the hall and immediately blocked his way. “Where are you going? Father is questioning the Third Prince!”
However, Yuan Ye didn’t say much and walked in directly. The Eldest Prince, unwilling to be left behind, followed closely.
As eunuchs announced their presence, the two of them entered the hall and bowed to the Emperor.
The Emperor suppressed his anger. “What are you two doing here?”
The Eldest Prince hastily said, “I was afraid that Father might harm his health due to anger, so…”
The Eldest Prince played his part well this time, and the Emperor didn’t say much. Instead, his gaze turned toward Yuan Ye.
“Uncle, it was Grandmother Empress who sent me. She said this matter is of great importance and is worried about your concerns. Therefore, she suggested that this case be directly handed over to the Zongren’s residence and Imperial Court of Justice Review for joint handling.”
Upon hearing this, Concubine Pei and the Third Prince’s expressions changed drastically. They both glared at Yuan Ye with hostility. If the Emperor personally conducted the trial, there might still be room for emotional considerations. However, if it was handed over to the Zongren’s residence and Imperial Court of Justice Review, the outcome would be unpredictable. Compared to the Imperial Court of Justice Review, the influence of the Zongren’s residence belonged entirely to the Cheng family, to which Yuan Ye belonged. If the Empress Dowager, who favored Yuan Ye and the late Empress Cheng, made such a suggestion, was she targeting the Pei family this time?
With no motive for assassination and no evidence of protecting the Emperor, based on the priority of ensuring the Emperor’s safety, it was preferable to make a mistake by convicting rather than letting the guilty go free. If the case were handed over to the Zongren’s residence, it was highly likely that they would be charged with attempted assassination.
In their minds, Concubine Pei and the Third Prince recalled Pei Jin’s repeated advice, “Most importantly, do not implicate the Crown Prince under any circumstances, absolutely not.”
However, faced with Yuan Ye, who seemed determined to take them down, they couldn’t bear to suffer such injustice!
The Third Prince jumped up instantly, accusing, “Yuan Ye, you’ve harmed me! It was your deliberate scheme, making me believe you were unwilling to let the Eldest Prince attend the Spring Plowing Ceremony in your stead, thus orchestrating the assassination to disrupt it. We sent people to rescue the Emperor because we thought there was a real threat, it’s all part of your plan. You want to frame us for the assassination!”
As the Third Prince made his accusations, the onlookers expressed shock. After all, the Third Prince had never mentioned Yuan Ye before this moment.
Yuan Ye maintained a cold expression. “Uncle, I was merely conveying Grandmother Empress’s wishes. How did I become the target of the Third Prince’s suspicions? I’m truly innocent. I didn’t attend the Spring Plowing Ceremony and stayed at home to recover. How could I possibly bring disaster upon myself? The Third Prince is quite skilled at shifting blame, isn’t he?”
Observing Yuan Ye’s increasingly composed demeanor, not just the Third Prince, but Concubine Pei as well, couldn’t contain her anger. They both suspected that Yuan Ye was the mastermind behind misleading them; otherwise, how could they have fallen into such a trap?
At this moment, they had completely forgotten Pei Jin’s advice. Concubine Pei directly explained the entire sequence of events, detailing how they discovered signs of an assassination and noticed the unusual activity in the Eastern Palace.
Even the Crown Prince was astonished.
Indeed, this assassination attempt seemed almost child’s play. To speak disrespectfully, if any of the four major families had planned an assassination, it would have been executed flawlessly. Based on the number of people sent by the Pei family, it seemed more like they were there to protect, as they had claimed. After all, protecting the Emperor only required supplementing the existing security team.
With this perspective, it seemed plausible that an external force had misled the Pei family. The Pei family, eager for quick achievements and recognition, might have created this misunderstanding.
The Eldest Prince couldn’t help but glance at Yuan Ye. According to Concubine Pei’s explanation, everything started to make sense. It was unlikely that the Pei family would be so foolish as to rush to protect the Emperor based on a single piece of assassination information, unless the other party had significant influence and a convincing reason, causing them to fall into a misunderstanding and believe the other side would act in a certain way, thus falling into a trap.
In this whole affair, the Crown Prince was the most likely to react impulsively, while the Third Prince and the others simply wanted to exploit this impulsive action to gain merit for themselves.
If this speculation were true, the charges would be much lighter than assassination.
The Eldest Prince discreetly glanced at the Emperor’s expression, but he couldn’t discern any sign of the Emperor feeling relieved upon learning the truth. This made the Crown Prince begin to doubt the accuracy of his analysis.
Meanwhile, Yuan Ye’s internal turmoil was reaching its peak.
Indeed, these people were just waiting to shift the blame onto him.
If not for his spies reporting back, informing him that Pei Jin was gathering evidence of the arrangements Yuan Ye had made before the incident, trying to point the finger at him and frame him for the whole plot, he might have been wrongfully accused and implicated by now. Fortunately, he had managed to deal with some of the traces in time.
Indeed, he had sent people out and planned to create some chaos when the procession returned to the city, targeting the Eldest Prince to generate negative public opinion. It was a simple plan, but the Pei family had clearly noticed something. They probably intended to turn the tables on him, but it backfired, and they ended up digging their own grave.
Even after facing misfortune, they were still not satisfied and sought to drag him into the mess. If things went awry, Yuan Ye would have borne the blame. There was no way Yuan Ye would allow himself to be manipulated, so he promptly sought help from the Empress Dowager and received the edict to address the situation in a timely manner.
“Concubine Pei and the Third Prince are truly clever plotters. Clearly, it was their own mistake, yet they insist on finding a scapegoat. In your eyes, it seems I am the perfect candidate for that role. Uncle, I am not afraid of being implicated. I welcome a fair and open investigation.” Yuan Ye’s tone shifted as he spoke, revealing his displeasure.
If there were no evidence, and an investigation into the Crown Prince was initiated solely based on the Crown Prince’s accusations, it would severely compromise the dignity of the heir to the throne. The court would likely erupt in chaos.
However, in reality, the Emperor had a good idea of what had happened, aligning with the Crown Prince’s thoughts. The most probable scenario was that the Third Prince and Concubine Pei were telling the truth.
But… regardless of whether the Crown Prince was involved, whether the Third Prince was being framed, or whether there was an actual assassination attempt, the Emperor’s focus had shifted.
His icy gaze fixed directly on Concubine Pei and the Third Prince, causing them to cry even more vigorously. Little did they know that the Emperor was not expressing disbelief in their words.
In the end, the emperor dismissed both Yuan Ye and the Eldest Prince. He personally presided over the investigation of this case, leaving Yuan Ye dissatisfied and the Eldest Prince feeling that the emperor favored the Third Prince and Concubine Pei. Even the Third Prince shared the same belief, so regardless of the severity of the punishments handed down by the emperor later on, they could only grit their teeth and endure between shock and fear. Because they believed this was the best arrangement the emperor could provide. After all, the emperor was ‘biased’ towards them, and they wanted to protect themselves as much as possible.
The Third Prince received a heavy punishment of thirty lashes and was confined within the palace for three months. Concubine Pei was demoted to a consort, while the senior officials of the Pei clan in the court ‘voluntarily’ retired to their hometowns to apologize for their family’s mistakes. Several branches of the Pei clan, positioned as scapegoats, were directly raided. This kind of punishment was equivalent to taking away half of the Pei family’s existence. Despite still having some reserves, the Pei family no longer had the capital to contend with the other three major families and could only bow down, surviving with their heads lowered.
When Pei Jin learned of the imperial decree, her whole person collapsed. Although she knew the emperor now believed they were not the culprits behind the assassination attempt, Pei Jin’s worst fear had still come true.
Watching his aunt return and weep beside the barely conscious Third Prince, Pei Jin was filled with both anger and frustration. Her self-righteous aunt, however, began to baselessly accuse her. At one moment, she claimed Pei Jin failed to stop them, and the next, she argued that Pei Jin’s father didn’t investigate properly, leading to their misguided actions. In any case, she refused to acknowledge any fault on their part, blaming others for the miserable plight of her and her son.
Pei Jin’s face stiffened as she suppressed her anger and asked why they were attacking the Crown Prince.
His aunt, on the contrary, became more spirited in her accusations, questioning the wisdom of Pei Jin’s suggestions. She insisted that if it weren’t for their clever decisions, they would have already been detained in the Zhongren’s residence and didn’t even know if they could come out now.
Pei Jin narrowly avoided losing her temper.
At that moment, she only had time to issue a warning but couldn’t explain further, and the result was unexpectedly close. In reality, being taken away by the Zhongren’s residence would not have been a big issue. After all, they were from the Pei family. In the absence of concrete evidence, how could the Zhongren’s residence treat them as they would ordinary members of the royal family? Were they not afraid of provoking resistance from the Pei family? If the Pei family fought desperately, even the royal family would hesitate. Hence, they dared not take severe actions against the Pei family.
Moreover, Pei Jin had mentioned before that the Emperor was not foolish. He would gradually figure out the truth behind the matter. It just needed time and a bit of a pitiful act. Ultimately, it was just a misunderstanding, and the Emperor could casually impose some punishment, and it would be over. It certainly wouldn’t lead to the current tragic situation. After all, having the Emperor’s wife and child involved in an assassination attempt was not a glorious matter, and scandals within the royal family were to be suppressed.
But once they implicated the Crown Prince, revealing the entire truth, everything changed.
Up until this point, Concubine Pei still didn’t understand; she thought the focus should be on the Crown Prince. She insisted that mentioning the Crown Prince’s involvement would only make the Emperor more suspicious and that it was necessary to gain his trust. Clearly, in this matter, the Crown Prince was the most likely suspect. If it weren’t for the Emperor’s suspicion, how could they have received protection in the end?
Pei Jin felt truly desperate. This time, the Pei family was genuinely ruined by this foolish mother and son. The Emperor wasn’t protecting them; instead, he was punishing the Pei family to the fullest extent possible. The severity of the punishment exceeded Pei Jin’s initial expectations. All of this was because the actions of this mother and son had touched on something the Emperor considered extremely sensitive.
“Yuan Ye is not the main focus; the key is what the Pei family did on that day.”
Inside the room, Chu Lishu assisted with applying medicine while conversing with Xu Wenze in the outer area.
Due to the medicinal application, Xu Wenze naturally couldn’t enter the room and could only stand outside to report the situation.
In this incident, both Xu Wenze and the Duke of Wei Guo’s residence were involved, but they played more of a peripheral, operative role and were not part of the overall decision-making process. After Xu Wenze finished reporting the results, he couldn’t help but be curious about why there was a need to mislead Yuan Ye midway.
To make Yuan Ye mistakenly believe that the evidence collected by Pei Jin was aimed at attacking him.
Chu Lishu mentioned that he estimated Pei Jin would persuade the Third Prince and Concubine Pei not to attack the Crown Prince. If they didn’t listen, it aligned with Chu Lishu’s intentions. If they complied, Chu Lishu had arranged for Yuan Ye to go there, serving as a double insurance to ensure that the Third Prince would reveal the entire truth.
His goal was never to orchestrate an assassination attempt by the Pei family, considering the Emperor was not foolish and could easily deduce that the Pei family was being framed.
“The focal point is, perhaps, the Emperor’s aversion towards the Four Great Families?” Xu Wenze seemed to sense something.
Chu Lishu’s voice slowly emanated from the inner room, accompanied by someone’s audible gasp, making Xu Wenze feel somewhat uneasy.
In fact, the plan was set from the beginning when Chu Lishu designed the conflict by having the Eldest Prince represented by the Crown Prince himself. The target was always the Pei family.
Chu Lishu, knowing Yuan Ye well, was aware of what actions he would take. Even in unexpected situations, Yuan Ye wouldn’t act impulsively or send people to cause trouble. Chu Lishu had other tricks up his sleeve to mislead the Pei family if things went awry. Fortunately, Yuan Ye remained consistent with his usual behavior, planning to secretly prank the Eldest Prince. Chu Lishu took advantage of this to use Yuan Ye against the Pei family, making them believe that Yuan Ye was attempting an assassination, allowing them to go and protect the Emperor.
In reality, there was no assassination attempt. The ambush set up discreetly along the Emperor’s route was twisted into an ambush by unidentified assassins, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Prime Minister Li and General Zhao. The actions of the Pei family were exposed in front of everyone. However, if this simple plan succeeded, wouldn’t the Emperor appear foolish?
The real focus was always on what happened afterward.
“Once they attack Yuan Ye, it’s not just a matter of foolish actions based on a vague piece of information. The Emperor’s focus will undoubtedly shift from the assassination attempt itself to how much manpower and influence the Pei family mobilized within the imperial city in a single day. Why other noble families and the Emperor’s forces didn’t detect these activities, and how the Pei family not only discovered but also successfully monitored the Eastern Palace, arranging everything along the Emperor’s unavoidable route – all of these factors demonstrate that the Pei family’s reach extended too far.”
“Even though everyone knows that each of the four major families has substantial power, it shouldn’t be blatantly exposed in front of the Emperor, tarnishing his reputation. In comparison to the childish assassination attempt, what the Emperor truly fears is the Pei family’s unrestrained and arbitrary behavior, an overstepping of imperial authority that makes him feel constantly manipulated. For an Emperor already wary of the power of the four noble families, such actions are intolerable.”
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