The Seventh Prince rushed to his mother's consort, bouncing in panic and begging for a hug, fearing that Third Brother would catch up and arrest him.
On the side, Yi Qiu hurriedly stepped forward to carry away the Seventh Prince so that the child would not affect Empress Shi Shi's battle aura.
The third prince straightened the hem of his coat, turned around arrogantly, arching his hand to Xi Fei to greet her, and then lifted his chin and complained: "Your Highness came late, didn't see what happened just now, I wanted to take several younger brothers to go to Cuju field to practice ball games, but the oldest seven were too tired and refused, and suddenly knocked me over as a big brother, ah, I fell ah-- -I'm so sorry.
"I came early in the morning." Concubine Shih took two steps forward, staring coldly at the Third Prince: "Just now they all saw, you lost your temper with a few younger brothers, this palace is not in a position to intervene, but just now what is going on, not only did I see it, these slave maids also saw it, your three younger brothers, all saw it."
Resentment flashed across the Third Prince's face, but after all, he could not be rude to his elders, and could only hold his fire and argue: "It's good that Your Highness has seen me, I did come to ask them to follow me to practice. You see, Old Six dislikes my third brother and refuses to practice with me. Old Seven didn't care about me at all, that's all, but when his temper got the better of him, he directly knocked my third brother to the ground! Aiya, I gave him this bump ah ......"
The Third Prince covered his stomach and huffed backwards.
Concubine Shih sneered: ''It seems that this palace lacks control over old seven, in the future, that is, when you see the third prince beat his companion to death, you can't obstruct him hastily, and if you die, you will have to ask for justice from the emperor. Only, this palace does not quite understand, the old seven is your highness's own brother, why your highness want to slander him is barbarian bastard? Is this a suspicion that the blood flowing in his body is not His Majesty's blood, or ......"
The third prince's face turned white, his eyes turned, and smiled again: "Your majesty misunderstood, I was just knocked over by old seven, a moment of anger, remembered that uncle is far away from the coast to fight against Japanese invaders, and thought that our brothers should work together to fight against the outside world, and didn't want to old seven will be on me! In my anger, I said he was just like those barbaric bastards, it's not like fighting among ourselves!"
Shih Fei saw him backtracking, but also raised his uncle as a backer, the heart and angry and hate, want to simply tear his face, all the witnesses present to the Yangxin Hall, looking for the emperor to comment on the reasoning!
But the last vestiges of reason were still urging her to calm down.
The war has not yet subsided, and the emperor is unlikely to involve the fundamentals of the Tong family for the sake of the harem's accumulated grievances.
The big deal is that it is only a reprimand, punishing the third prince to copy the book to repent, at most, then grounded for half a month.
Once the face is torn, it is the same as formally laying down a letter of war with Consort Tong.
Shih Fei knows her own weight, she is only a nineteen-year-old dancer, former sisters all support each other, focus on practicing dance, grow up so big, have never played with people, where is the Tong Fei's opponent?
If she can't defeat Consort Tong and is murdered instead, how will her young children survive to adulthood?
When Yiqiu saw that Consort Shi Shi was hesitant to speak, her heart was about to burn with anxiety.
So many people have heard the Third Prince insulting the Seventh Prince as a "bastard" to his face, which is a curse on the Emperor's head, so why not take the opportunity to make a big deal out of it?
The Third Prince could see that Consort Shi didn't dare to make trouble, so he secretly smiled and clasped his fists and bowed to Consort Shi, "If Your Highness has no other commands, I'll take my leave first. Old Seven this time, but really knocked me apart, my body aches terribly, I have to go find the eunuch to take a look."
Infuriated by the contempt in his eyes, Consort Shi turned her head to look at the Seventh Prince in Yi Qiu's arms, pretending to teach a lesson as she taunted, "Old Seventh, how could you hurt your elder brother, who is nine years older than you, like this? Occasional disagreements between buddies happen, you are the junior, only three years old, in the future you should give in to your third brother, you can't lay your hands on him so harshly."
The Seventh Prince was still in shock and didn't understand his mother consort's lesson, gnawing his little hand with tears in his eyes.
"Pfft ......"
The surrounding little chaperones were all still young and did not know the difference, and were amused by this taunt from Princess Shi Shi and burst out laughing.
A few couldn't help themselves, covering their mouths and shaking their shoulders with laughter.
The third prince of Princess Tong's family was broken apart by his three-year-old brother!
The Third Prince was so furious that his face went green and white for a while, wanting to open his mouth to retaliate, but he was so angry at the jeers around him that his mind was turned around and immediately swept a circle with a murderous gaze.
Seeing that the people around him were silenced in fear, the Third Prince was so infuriated that he didn't want to stay for a moment longer, and only bowed to Consort Shio before turning around and walking away with gritted teeth.
You're going to get it in the next day!
As soon as the Third Prince left, the Sixth Prince whimpered and threw himself into his Fifth Brother's arms and cried.
The seventh prince was infected by the crying and also whimpered as he stepped on Yi Qiu's shoulder.
Consort Shi went forward to pick up the Sixth Prince, patted his back and coaxed him for a while, turned around and walked over to Xue Yao, freeing her hand to press the side of his head and asked in a low voice, "Does it hurt?"
Xue Yao's head was still a bit drowsy, but she smiled indifferently, "Thank you for your compassion, it hasn't hurt for a long time, the Third Prince didn't use much force."
Concubine Shih sighed: "Don't try to be brave, Lao San slapped you that time, I heard it from a long way away, come back to the Qing dome hall with me to rest for the night, tomorrow there is something to ask you, I will send someone to inform you of your residence."
That night, Xue Yao was resting alone in the West Hall of the Green Vault Palace, not seeing Consort Shi or the Seventh Prince.
In the middle of the night, his mind was filled with a slow motion replay of the little fat cub knocking over the Third Prince.
An old father's heart is moved to explode!
What's with this "let's protect His Highness" wimpy kid who's all of a sudden so smart?
I can't believe I bumped off the oldest for him.
Abominable.
Tomorrow, I'll feed both boxes of Want Want to the little chubby boy!
Princess Shi Shi's sudden appearance also surprised Xue Yao.
I wonder what Princess Shi Shi plans to talk to him about tomorrow, it won't be about changing his chaperone, will it?
*
The Fourth Prince delivered the muppets to Consort Shi and went to the Hall of Spring Hei to inform Noble Lady Yi.
Looking at the simple furnishings of his mother's bedchamber, the fourth prince laughed softly and murmured, "The scourge of glory and favor, even if we live in poverty, it's better than being stabbed in the dark."
Nobleman Yi asked him why he made such a statement.
The Fourth Prince smiled mysteriously, came to Yi Guiren's ear and whispered, "Tell you something interesting, but don't spread it."
He told Noble Lady Yi about the matter of Consort Tong planting a mole beside Consort Shi.
*
Early the next morning, Xue Yao was waited on by the palace maid to wash up and after breakfast, he went to see Consort Shi.
"Was it the Empress who asked you to remind me that the scented bag was poisonous in the first place?" Princess Shio opened the door.
"Back to Your Highness, I've never met the Empress." Xue Yao replied decisively.
Shiofei stared at him for a moment and spoke expressionlessly, "I want to believe you, Xue Yao."
Xue Yao looked up at Princess Shi Shi.
"Even if your previous ignorance was all feigned, I still want to believe in you despite everything." Sadness gradually surfaced in Princess Shio's eyes, "I was hoping that there would still be people in this world who would be chivalrous, sympathize with me for being poisoned, and protect my innocent young son, is this idea, isn't it stupid?"
Xue Yao gazed fixedly at Consort Shi, and after a long time, replied frankly, "If someone really disregards their safety and chivalry just to save the innocent, only then would they really be the fools in the harem."
Concubine Shio's eyes darkened in disappointment and she laughed to herself, "That's right, where in the harem is there such a stupid person? It's me who is delusional."
Xue Yao continued, "But I'm not from the harem, I have the heart of chivalry, but not the guts of chivalry, and I know how to take into account my own comfort, so I pretended to be crazy in front of the Empress, pretended to unintentionally nudge the Empress, and only hoped that the Empress would replace the scent bag."
The fire in Concubine Shi's eyes died and she stared at Xue Yao in astonishment, "Who told you to do this?"
"I'm afraid you'll laugh at me for saying it, but it was what you call chivalry that made me do it; I had no purpose and asked for nothing in return."
Xue Yao resoundingly continued, "I know, you see me as a half-grown child, if no one instructed me, it would be impossible for me to know that the scented bag was poisonous.
I can give you a hundred explanations for this, for example, when I was accompanying the Third Prince, I overheard Consort Tong's conspiracy, but that's not what happened.
Since you said you wanted to believe me despite everything, I don't want to lie to you again.
But this matter concerns my life, I can't tell the real reason, I can only say frankly: I uncovered the scent bag conspiracy, is for your safety; I accompanied the seventh prince to study, just want him to grow up peacefully.
No one taught me to do so, and I also offended Princess Tong because of it, and on the day I sent the scented bag into the hall, Princess Tong asked me about it.
How is it that Princess Tong knows everything that happens in your palace? This may be the problem you need to beware of.
And who was it that whispered in your ear that I was involved with the Empress? This person may have been instructed by Princess Tong."
Yiqiu's face changed, and she hurriedly defended Chunfang: "If you are not involved with the Empress, then explain clearly why you are in and out of the Cunxiu Palace! Why do you want to provoke our master-servant relationship! I think the Empress wants to be on guard against you, and yesterday's show of defending His Highness was also a pretense on your part, right?"
Xue Yao's gaze turned to Yi Qiu: "Where is the Duxiu Palace? To be honest, I have only accompanied the Third Prince to the Academy and Lin You Palace before, so far I don't know what direction the Reservoir Palace is in... Is Auntie looking at the wrong person?"
"It wasn't me who said that!" In a fit of impatience, Yiqiu sold Chunfang out in front of Xue Yao, turning her head and shouting, "Chunfang, was what you saw him or not!"
Xue Yao's eyes lit up as he swept his knife into the row of palace maids beside him, waiting for this mole named Chun Fang to walk out.
As soon as Chunfang walked out, she cried and fell to her knees: ''Auntie! The slave girl never misjudged, this Xue family's young prince is too treacherous! He doesn't act like an innocent child! He even slandered the slave girl! The slave girl was nearly killed by the Empress for the sake of Your Majesty's safety, so I'm not sorry for her death, but I just beg Your Majesty not to doubt the loyalty of the slave girl!"
Yiqiu hurriedly spoke for Chunfang: "Your Highness, this child is really treacherous, not to be trusted!"
"Alright." Princess Shi closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "I won't wrongly blame good people, before there is any evidence, everything will continue as usual. Xue Yao, Old Seven is still in your hands."
Xue Yao nodded in agreement and requested, "There is one more thing I wish to tell the Empress alone, and I would like to ask Aunt Yiqiu and Sister Chunfang to recuse themselves."
"You!" Yiqiu was furious.
"Good." Consort Shi waved everyone away and looked at Xue Yao fixedly, "I guess what you're going to say is about His Majesty's parade?"
"Your Highness anticipates things like a god." Xue Yao returned, "An invitation to a parade is something that the Empress cannot agree to in a million ways."
Concubine Shih laughed bitterly, "Your request is really like a mole, if I push back the Emperor's goodwill, all the glory and splendor will turn to ashes in an instant. Since you are so smart, aren't you clear that the holy favor is the foundation for Old Seven and I to stand on."