Chapter 193: Abandoned
What happened next? What happened next? I’m afraid the crown prince will be deposed soon.
It was not known whether it was pain or despair, but veins bulge on the back of the prince’s hands. All the panic and helplessness he felt when he learned that Emperor Jingwen had been assassinated disappeared, leaving only a blank expression.
No one expected that the emperor would suddenly become furious. Everyone around was stunned at first, and then they all knelt down.
As for Ye Shuo, he was completely dumbfounded.
What’s going on? What happened? Why are you so desperate the moment you meet?
After all, my stepfather is the emperor. Thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor and cannot be resisted.
Seeing that he was about to attack again, Ye Shuo on the side gritted his teeth, protected the prince behind him, and took the blow for him.
Shit! This hurts so much!How could the prince endure this anymore?
Ye Shuo’s back felt burning and he felt like his shoulder blades were about to be broken by the kick.
“Father! Why do we have to use force if we want to talk?” With so many people here, how could the prince bear it!
Emperor Jingwen was already furious after seeing the crown prince, and now seeing his youngest son grimacing in pain and about to cough out his lungs, Emperor Jingwen subconsciously hesitated.
Ye Shuo took this opportunity, completely disregarding his face, and immediately hugged his stepfather’s legs to prevent him from kicking anyone again.
“Dad, calm down Dad!”
Emperor Jingwen was now completely helpless.
Emperor Jingwen took a deep breath and said coldly: “Let go!”
Ye Shuo said with a bitter face: “Dad, please don’t do it again. Look at my third brother’s body now. How can he withstand this?”
Emperor Jingwen then noticed that the prince now seemed extremely haggard. He was hunched over with the spine on his back protruding.
Emperor Jingwen failed to kick the second time.
Ye Shuo hurriedly said, “We are all family, why can’t we talk it out?” Communicate! Ye Shuo was almost tired of saying this.
However, it would have been better if Ye Shuo had not said it. As soon as he said this, especially the word “family”, Emperor Jingwen felt like someone had stabbed his lungs and became even angrier.
And within this anger, there is also a hint of unspoken sorrow.
“You treat him as your own brother. Ask him if he treats you as his own brother?” Has he ever been a real son to this emperor?
“Chengzuo, Chengzuo, ask yourself, are you worthy of your brother risking his life to protect you?”
“Xiao Jiu, take a look at what your brother, the prince, has done!”
As he spoke, Emperor Jingwen took a stack of papers from the secret guard and threw them in front of the two men without saying anything.
Ye Shuo didn’t know what was written on it, but since it concerned the crown prince, he definitely couldn’t let anyone else know.
Therefore, Ye Shuo quickly picked up all the papers before anyone else looked over. Soon, he was attracted by the contents on them.
The assassination was arranged by the governors of Yeling and Xianghu, and the governors of Yeling and Xianghu were the prince’s men…
“This is impossible!” Ye Shuo’s first reaction was disbelief.
“Father, there must be something wrong here!”
Ye Shuo believed that the prince might make a wrong choice because of his younger brothers who were eyeing him covetously, but he absolutely did not believe that the prince would kill his father and brothers.
Emperor Jingwen did not believe it at first, but now all the clues pointed to the prince and he had no choice but to believe it.
None of the other princes made any unusual moves, and who else could have such great power except the crown prince?
How could the governor of Shan Yeling Xianghu have such ability!
When Emperor Jingwen toured the south, the troops he brought were enough to deal with most situations, but in the end he still failed to prevent it. How could two governors, without more support behind them, turn the world upside down?
The more expectations Emperor Jingwen had before, the more disappointed he is now.
“Prince, now that the evidence is irrefutable, do you have anything else to say?”
The prince remained motionless and silent.
Ye Shuo suddenly became anxious: “Third brother! Say something!”
If my father has doubts in his heart, what difference does it make whether he says it or not?
In the past two years, the prince has said too much, he is really tired of it. Every time he explains, he gets no response, and gradually, the prince no longer has any extra expectations in his heart.
The emperor’s suspicion has reached this point, and the prince really has nothing to say.
However, just when the prince was about to give up completely, he heard Ye Shuo next to him shout again: “Third brother!”
“…Please!”
Suddenly meeting his brother’s pleading eyes, the prince’s already numb heart couldn’t help but tremble.
“Now, I believe everything Third Brother says, so this must not have been done by Third Brother, right?”
After these words were spoken, the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
Just when Ye Shuo thought that the prince would not speak, he saw him shaking his head slightly and imperceptibly.
Ye Shuo’s heart suddenly came back to life, and he hurriedly looked at his adoptive father: “Father, did you see it? It really wasn’t done by my third brother. Father, please, check again!”
Emperor Jingwen was silent for a while, and finally waved to the person next to him.
“The prince is not feeling well. Someone, help him down to rest.”
This means that he will be put under house arrest again.
Without waiting for others to approach, the prince stood up first.
Ye Shuo looked at this, then looked at that, and without much hesitation, he stepped forward to support the prince.
If it was anyone else, the prince would definitely not want them to see him in such a state of embarrassment, but if it was Xiao Jiu…
In the end, the prince did not refuse.
Following the instructions to the gate of the courtyard, Ye Shuo saw that the atmosphere was too depressing, so he pretended to be relaxed and said, “Third brother, don’t worry too much. With the secret guards here, you will be cleared of all charges sooner or later.”
But in fact, innocent or not is no longer important to the prince today.
The prince had already become disheartened.
“Xiao Jiu, you still believe in me, but my father doesn’t. It’s really boring for me to be the crown prince.”
“Third brother…”
Before he could finish, the prince walked in.
With a creaky sound, the door closed, completely isolating the prince.
Ye Shuo watched helplessly, but felt powerless.
Yao Zhi watched this scene from afar, unable to tell what she felt.
Before today, she thought that the princes were as glamorous and proud as they appeared on the surface, but it turned out that they also had hardships that others never knew about.
It was hard because he was smiling all the time before, which made Yao Zhi mistakenly believe that he was always as carefree as he appeared to be.
Ye Shuo also saw her, and their eyes met. After hesitating for a while, Yao Zhi finally walked over.
When Ye Shuo returned to his yard, before he could say anything, Yao Zhi said, “Lift up your shirt and let me see your injury.”
“This is not good…” The injury was on the back, and it seemed a little strange for a girl to see it.
Seeing that he became reserved at this time, Yao Zhi pursed her lips and pulled his collar off without saying anything.
Ye Shuo almost cried out in pain.
The back of the young man’s neck was very delicate and smooth, just as beautiful as his face, except that his shoulder blades were now dark blue, making him look particularly scary.
Yao Zhi stretched out her hand to check and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no bones were injured.
“It’s not serious, but once today is over, I’m afraid it will be swollen by tomorrow, which may affect the movement of this arm. Don’t touch it or scratch it, it will be healed in a few days.”
Ye Shuo nodded obediently.
Compared to Ye Shuo, the Second Prince was extremely angry after learning about this.
Even at this time, the emperor was still tolerant. Even though the prince had committed such a heinous mistake, the emperor only put him under house arrest.
Time and again, the second prince felt heartbroken.
Father was so tolerant of the Crown Prince, but had he ever shown any mercy to his sons?
Even Ye Shuo, who had pleaded for the Crown Prince, was now hated by the Second Prince.
But the Second Prince has more methods than just these. Now that he has appeared here, the Second Prince has made all the preparations, and this time he must bring down the Crown Prince.
Others may not know, but the second prince knows a shocking secret. Even though the eldest prince is now in the limelight, no matter how powerful he is, it is useless because his father will never choose him as the heir.
My father has already suffered once as the Duke of Zhen, so how could he let himself repeat the same mistake?
If the eldest prince can be quiet and stay as the Prince Ding for the rest of his life, it will be fine. But if he dares to show any sign of disloyalty, my father will definitely take drastic measures.
It’s ridiculous that the eldest prince is still kept in the dark until now, and is still dreaming of ascending to the throne!
Without the crown prince and the eldest prince, he, the second in command, naturally would be counted among the last.
Otherwise, with the two of them in front and behind, when will the Second Prince be able to make a breakthrough? His younger brothers are growing up one by one, and if he doesn’t take action now, it might be too late.
That’s why the second prince acted decisively this time.
So, the second prince came before Emperor Jingwen with what he had found out.
“Your Majesty, I have something to report.”
The secret guards moved quickly, but the second prince was not slow either. The secret guards had only been here for a short time, but the second prince had arrived half a month earlier than them.
Emperor Jingwen ordered his men to present what the second prince had prepared.
Emperor Jingwen looked at it while the second prince spoke below him.
“Since this concerns the Crown Prince, I shouldn’t have said much, but this is a matter of great importance, so I have to speak.”
“My son learned that half a year ago, in the spring, a small locust plague occurred in Yeling and Xianghu. Natural disasters are not serious, and they should be reported to the higher authorities truthfully. However, for some reason, the two prefects seemed to be bewitched, or they were afraid of losing their official positions, so they kept the disaster secret.”
“My son has been to Yeling. The people in the two places had no harvest in the spring and had to rely on old grain to survive. In addition, the two prefects did nothing. Now people have started to die in Yeling and Xianghu, father!”
The crown prince’s subordinates had made such a big mistake. No matter how much Emperor Jingwen favoured the crown prince, he could not protect him.
It was not until this point that the Second Prince dealt the Crown Prince the fatal blow.
In this case, even the Ninth Prince would not be able to help him.
As it turned out, the second prince guessed correctly. Even Ye Shuo had no way to plead for the prince.
The prince had never imagined that his indulgence would lead to such a horrific disaster.
“As the crown prince, you have violated the teachings of your ancestors. Your crime is greater than that of others.”
Perhaps my father is right, and I, as the crown prince, am the culprit.
How can I have the dignity to continue being the crown prince?
In the autumn of the 25th year of Jingwen’s reign, Crown Prince Ye Chengzuo angered the emperor because of treason and corruption. On October 3, the emperor issued an edict to demote Crown Prince Ye Chengzuo to a commoner.
On October 7, a wealthy businessman named Hu in the Zhou Dynasty donated 200,000 dan of grain, and a wealthy businessman named Gu donated 100,000 dan of grain to help the victims.
On October 10, the deposed Crown Prince Ye Chengzuo committed suicide in Qingfeng Courtyard. The emperor was deeply saddened and did not implicate him afterwards, retaining the title of his legitimate son.