SFS Chapter 301: Even an Honest Official Can Divide Family Matters (Part )
Chapter 301: Even an Honest Official Can Divide Family Matters (Part )
Chapter 301 Even an Honest Judge Cannot Judge Family Matters (Part )
At this point, Yinzhen didn't know what to say. After a pause, he asked his servants to call the concubine and the concubine over.
When they came here, they knew that the matter had been exposed. It was because not only did the prince come back early, but he also looked so bad. Moreover, the news that the queen was coming here today had already spread everywhere. It seemed that their wish could no longer be realized.
Fortunately, they did a good job in the cleanup work, so even if the prince had suspicions, there would be no evidence.
They were still holding on to hope, not knowing that Su Peisheng had already taken people to catch those who were doing the work, but he just missed them and they didn't see him.
So when they cried out for innocence and refused to admit their guilt, Su Peisheng brought the witnesses into the main courtyard.
All the truth was revealed, and no one could quibble. It was at this time that Yinzhen finally knew all the hidden truths, such as that the original idea was Shi's plan, and Li was the first to come forward.
As for the matter of exchanging engagement letters, Hongyan has already privately discussed it with the princess from the Nianhulu family, and both parties have exchanged tokens of love, so the only thing left is to go through the motions of engagement.
After hearing this, Yinzhen and the princess looked at Su Peisheng in surprise, then at Shi, who was kneeling on the ground. Did she have that ability? Could Hongyan be better than Hongye? Was that Nianhulu Princess blind?
It's no wonder they have such thoughts. Anyone with a discerning eye can see Hongye's excellence. He can now handle state affairs calmly, and many ministers admire him immensely.
As for the other inconspicuous illegitimate son in the palace, he has rarely been mentioned by outsiders in recent years. If people didn't know that there were illegitimate children in the palace, they would almost forget about such a person.
Seeing his masters' confusion, Su Peisheng immediately presented the latest information: "My Master, Princess, that Niuhulu Gege is indeed from the Niuhulu family, but she is not the second Gege born of a legitimate wife as we thought, but a concubine's daughter, and a concubine's daughter born to a concubine's son. In terms of status, she is indeed the second in their small family, so it is no problem to say that she is the second Gege."
Wow, such a huge error directly solved the doubts of the two people. They said, they thought Hongyan really had some charm. It turned out that the other party was just a little concubine's daughter. In such a family, it was good enough to find a third-rank guard. If she married into the palace, even if she was a concubine's son, she would have risen to the top.
Shi was completely stunned: "Impossible, absolutely impossible! She is the second daughter of the Nianhulu family who hid her identity and had a real relationship with Hongyu. How could she be a concubine's daughter? We have a token as proof!"
Yinzhen stared at the other party speechlessly. Now even the princess began to look at Shi with pity. The information was found out by Su Peisheng. Could it be false?
Besides, if you had only had the idea before and didn't take any action, it would have been fine, and you could have just treated it as a joke. But now, you actually exchanged tokens of love in private.
Could this thing be given away so casually? Although Hongyu was a boy, the other party was from the Niuhulu family, the maternal family of the tenth brother. If they really came to the door and insisted on asking for forgiveness, even if the token of love was taken back, the marriage would be invalid, but Hongyu's reputation would also be damaged, and it would be impossible for him to find a better noble woman to be his wife.
Tsk tsk tsk, this Shi has been smart all his life, but I didn't expect that he would fall into such an inconspicuous trap in the end. It really proves the saying "too clever is half the trick".
Seeing Shi becoming more and more crazy, Yinzhen could no longer bear it and quickly signaled Su Peisheng: "Shut her mouth, she's too noisy."
The next moment, two maids held Shi down and stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth, tightly binding her so that she could no longer speak.
Soon, the sound of servants bowing could be heard outside.
"This servant pays his respects to the Second Prince. May the prince be blessed with good fortune."
Knowing that it was Hongyan who came, Yinzhen waved his hand and the servants took Shi and Li behind the screen.
This was the first time that his father had directly asked him to come to the main courtyard. On weekdays, he seldom came to the main courtyard except for paying respects on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month and reuniting with his family during festivals. Even when he went to see his father, he would go directly to the study in the front courtyard, so he was still a little uneasy at this moment.
"Hongyan pays his respects to Father and Mother."
"Alright, get up. Do you know why Ama asked you to come here today?"
"Reply to Ama, my son doesn't know."
Yinzhen nodded and continued to ask, "Then did you know that your mother came to ask the princess to propose marriage for you?"
Hongyu's face flushed instantly, and he hesitated and said, "Son, I know."
"Okay, then do you know who the other party is? Do you know his family background and name?"
When Hongyan heard his father say this, he thought that he came here today just to make things easier for him to propose marriage. His heart, which had been hanging in the air, suddenly settled down. For a moment, his entire chest was filled with joy, and he could even feel the excitement when he spoke.
"Father, I know that I have known the Second Princess for almost a month. She is the second child in the family and her maiden name is Qingwu."
"Qingwu?" Yinzhen chewed on the two words in his mouth, "Do you know what they are?"
Hongyu was even more excited: "I know, it's the light dance of 'The warm flower alley follows the light dancing butterflies, the clear jade tower brushes the beautiful women in their gorgeous makeup'."
Now Yinzhen was even more certain that his silly son had been deceived. You have to know that even if the Manchu noble ladies were given Chinese names, most of them would use words like Jing, Yi, Ya, Xian, Hui, etc., and rarely use the word "Wu", especially "Qingwu". Describing his daughter as a lovely butterfly was not something a normal father could do.
Ahem, Yinzhen cleared his throat and looked at the princess awkwardly, signaling her to pay attention to her image. However, after hearing Hongyu's words, the other party opened her mouth in surprise and did not close it for a long time.
The princess glanced at Yinzhen, then subdued her expression for the sake of courtesy, but inwardly she was pounding the floor with laughter. "Hahaha, is this the genius that Shi always praises? Is this the learned person that Shi refers to as well-read? Even she, a woman, knew that this name wasn't suitable for a legitimate daughter, so how could he not have noticed?"
And it's OK if Hongyu doesn't know, but why doesn't Shi know either? She was the eldest daughter of the Shi family and was raised as a clan wife!
It's no wonder that Shi finally reacted. She wanted to remind Hongyan, so she twisted her body hard and started to "woohoo" with her mouth, but she was soon discovered by the maids and suppressed.
Yinzhen had not expected such a development, but now he also understood that Hongyan's loss was not unfair. First of all, even though the control over banner women was not strict now, some of them still rarely showed up in public.
Secondly, noble ladies are basically all very independent, and men like Hongyan really cannot tell the difference between legitimate and illegitimate daughters. After all, in some powerful families, even illegitimate daughters have more servants than some legitimate daughters.
Finally, the most crucial point is that if Hongyan had the ability to find out the other party's maiden name, he would have discovered that this Niuhulu Qingwu Gege and the second Gege who was born in the legitimate line had the same pronunciation but different characters.
One is "light dance" and the other is "green charm", but one is "the flower alley is warm with the light dancing butterflies, the jade tower is sunny with the beautiful women in makeup", and the other is "I see the green mountains are so charming, I guess the green mountains see me as the same".
As to why Yinzhen knew it so clearly, it was because it was his tenth brother who asked his second elder brother, the then crown prince, to get the name in Yuqing Palace. At that time, it was considered a small surrender by his tenth brother and the intention of the Nianhulu family.
It can only be said that fate plays tricks on people. When Yinzhen saw Hongyu with a rosy face in front of him, even though he knew that Hongyu might only be interested in his status and influence, and that this feeling might not be so pure, but thinking of the trouble it would cause and with the idea of teaching Hongyu a lesson, he still did not tell Hongyu the truth, but only told him not to go back to the backyard recently, to study hard in the front yard, and he would personally go to the mountain gate to propose marriage for him in a few days.
What could Hongyan say now? His wish for many days was about to come true, and it was decided by his father himself. Even if his mother objected, it would be useless. He could only think of success, of being proud, and of a bright future.
So what if the eldest brother married the Empress Dowager's niece? The Ulanara family can never compare to the power of the Niuhuru family. Even if the family splits up in the future, he can become a prince or even a prince with the help of the Niuhuru family. Who can ignore him then?
Yinzhen waved his hand to let his annoying second son leave, then waved his hand to let Su Peisheng bring Shi out again.
Yinzhen said: "Okay, you have achieved your goal now. In the future, please don't bother Hongyu anymore. In a few days, I will ask the official matchmaker to go to Niuhulu's house to propose marriage. Don't worry, Hongyu will definitely find his lover."
After saying this, regardless of Shi's collapse on the ground, he gave Su Peisheng a direct order: "Go find a quiet small courtyard for the concubine, and also get a Buddha statue. From now on, the concubine will pray in the mansion and not leave unless necessary. The servants will also transfer a new little maid. No one else is allowed to approach the courtyard. No one is allowed to enter the courtyard without the master's permission."
Shi was now completely desperate. The light in her eyes gradually went out under Yinzhen's gaze. At this moment, she no longer had any admiration for Yinzhen in front of her, and all that was left was despair.
"How could you do this to me? I've done so much for you. For you, I gave up being the Crown Princess and chose to be a concubine. I'm the Crown Princess appointed by the Emperor himself. No, no, the Crown Princess is that bitch Ulanara! No, no, the Crown Prince has ascended the throne. How could he ascend the throne? I'm the Empress, and the Crown Prince should be deposed..."
Shi went crazy. Just when Yinzhen asked the nanny to cover Shi's mouth again, suddenly there was a loud thunder in the sky. Then, under the horrified gaze of everyone, Shi was directly struck by lightning. Then black smoke came out of her body. Everyone looked closely again and saw that Shi's hair was standing on end, her face was as black as ink, and her whole body looked like it was found out of a pile of charcoal.
Then there was a loud bang, and Shi fell to the ground in front of everyone.
This startled everyone, and Yinzhen said, "Quick, go see if it's still alive?"