Chapter 34 Comfort
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Shen Nan’s face didn’t look good, and the news he brought was even worse, “Everyone with a face in the capital knows what happened at the Jade Emperor Temple. It’s being talked about very unfavorably. They say that Your Highness went to the Jade Emperor Temple and disfigured Miss Fu.”
Fu Mingzhu was disfigured by him? He was the one who was disfigured! Yuwen You’s face twisted with anger. This woman was too malicious. She must have intentionally scratched his face and even wanted to blind him. Her goal was to destroy anything she couldn’t have, not allowing others to obtain it! Before he could calm his anger, he heard Shen Nan say, “They also say that you injured Miss Fu internally, causing her to cough up blood and she’s still unconscious.”
This was intolerable. If Fu Mingzhu had been injured by him and was coughing up blood, still unconscious, then who was the person who had arrogantly provoked him from behind a window, and who had let her maidservants insult him on the road, calling him a clown? Yuwen You stood up with a loud “huff,” his lungs about to explode from anger.
“Also…” Shen Nan cautiously glanced at him and whispered, “There’s something even more unpleasant, I dare not say.”
“You say it! You must say it!” Yuwen You almost shouted, wanting to see to what extent Fu Mingzhu, this shameless woman, could twist the truth.
“They say, you took advantage and then played innocent, hitting the girl and pretending to be the victim, wandering around with that face of yours as if nothing happened. They fear people might not know that you were scratched by a girl. It’s really… shameless.” After saying this, Shen Nan voluntarily knelt down to ask for forgiveness, “I have offended, please punish me, Your Highness.”
Yuwen You was too angry to speak. He couldn’t take it out on his subordinates anymore; otherwise, wouldn’t it just confirm that he was indeed a narrow-minded, shameless person? After a long time, he squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth, “Fu Mingzhu, as you wish, I’ll let you know what shamelessness truly means.”
The chief and the steward were instantly overjoyed, “Has Your Highness come to a decision?”
With red eyes, Yuwen You said, “She forced me! Prepare immediately; I’m going to the palace to see the Emperor!”
Jade Emperor Pavilion, the Linkong winding walkway. Yuwen Chu leisurely walked along the corridor until he reached the place where the fire had occurred that day. The newly repaired area still smelled of tung oil, and he stared at it for a while before carefully avoiding it and continuing forward.
Zhu Changsheng approached, “Your Highness, are you going back to rest?”
Yuwen Chu nodded and ordered, “Tomorrow, have someone find a way to retrieve the other shoe from under the cliff.”
Zhu Changsheng glanced outside and saw the darkness under the cliff. Even starlight couldn’t penetrate it, and the sound of the fierce wind hitting the mountain cliff could be heard faintly, terrifying like the roar of a wild beast. He furrowed his brows slightly, “Even if there is a path leading to the bottom of the cliff, it may not be possible to find it, perhaps it’s hanging on a tree on the cliff. If we search inch by inch, it will cost a lot of manpower and resources.”
Yuwen Chu looked at him and said quietly, “Is this Highness lacking money?”
Zhu Changsheng smiled, “Your Highness is not short of money.”
Among the nine princes left by Emperor Wenzong, excluding the late Emperor Zhengqian, who possessed the entire country, and the third and fifth princes who had perished in the conflict with Emperor Zhengqian, leaving their assets to the national treasury, leaving only the fourth prince, who died young, leaving a house full of widows and orphans struggling to make ends meet; the ninth prince, who was unlucky and had no way to get rich, was also just a waste. Among the remaining five princes, the richest was the sixth prince, Yuwen Chu.
People unfamiliar with Yuwen Chu thought he was gentle as jade, stable and modest, low-key and elegant, but only those close to him knew that he was definitely not such a person. He was ambitious, meticulously filling his private treasury, expanding his network, flattering everyone, whether it was the Fu family, the Min family, the imperial family, the ministers, or even the lowest servants in the palace all thought he was a good person.
No one knew how much money he had in his private treasury, but Zhu Changsheng knew that the words “no money” had nothing to do with him. However, Zhu Changsheng thought that it was not worth spending so much manpower and resources just to find a discarded shoe belonging to Fu Mingzhu. This was against the principle of “spending within one’s means” and “meticulously planning” upheld by His Royal Highness, Ying Wang.
Yuwen Chu seemed to know what Zhu Changsheng was thinking and said without looking back, “You won’t throw away your child even if you can’t bear it.”
“I’ll arrange it right away.” Zhu Changsheng dared not have any other doubts. In his opinion, a woman like Fu Mingzhu, who could still fight back after her jaw was dislocated, could indeed be considered a wolf, but why would His Royal Highness try to trap such a female wolf?
Yuwen Chu walked out of the winding walkway, and Jing Song approached him, whispering, “Just received news from the capital, Fu Mingzhu returned home just as Lady Zhen, the Dali Temple Minister’s wife, came to visit. After Lady Zhen returned, news spread that Linan Wang had beaten Fu Mingzhu, causing her serious injuries and leaving her unconscious. Now, everyone with a bit of prestige in the capital knows about this. It’s said that even the Great Empress Dowager has been alarmed, but Lord Fu has not yet made a statement about the matter.” He also mentioned the rumors about Yuwen You pretending to be the victim.
For Fu’s family to smoothly break off the engagement, they must win the battle of public opinion. So it was only natural that when Fu Mingzhu returned home, Lady Zhen coincidentally visited. However, no matter how gossiping Lady Zhen was, she wouldn’t have the ability to spread the news throughout the capital so quickly, so it must have been the work of the Fu family. Therefore, whether Lord Fu made a statement or not was not important; what mattered was what he did. Yuwen Chu was not surprised. Fu’s family had clever methods, and Fu Mingzheng was even more of a cunning character, all of which he had anticipated long ago. The only thing that surprised him was that Fu Mingzhu was so heartless.
The master and servants returned to the bamboo tower, and another carrier pigeon arrived. Jing Song took the paper and read it, reporting, “Your Highness, Mr. Meng sent news that Linan Wang has sought an audience with the Emperor in the middle of the night.”
Has it finally come to this? Yuwen Chu smiled, “My brother has finally grown up.”
However, Jing Song was very worried, “But this means that the Min family has gained another source of power.” The Emperor was just a ten-year-old child, externally managed by the Great Empress Dowager and Lord Fu, and internally by Empress Dowager Min. Where would Linan Wang be going to see the Emperor? Clearly, it was an excuse to visit Empress Dowager Min. What else could be done at this time besides selling oneself for survival? With another person added to Empress Dowager Min’s side, it meant more trouble on their side.
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