Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine

Chapter117，Part2: Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 117 Pt. 2

Translated by gingercat

Edited by gingercat

His face seemed to be expressing his abundant grievance, grief, and pain. The eldest imperial grandson has been intelligent ever since he was a child, and was very much loved by Emperor Hongjing. He had spent more time educating Zhao Zuo than the crown prince. He was familiar with this grandson’s every expression, the meaning behind all his sentences, and even the different looks in his eyes.

But after what had happened yesterday, Emperor Hongjing began to harbour some doubt. He fixed his gaze on his grandson’s face. There were no flaws in his performance at all.

Zhao Zuo lowered his head as if he didn’t realize he was crying and didn’t say the reason behind his tears.

Emperor Hongjing sighed helplessly: “You’re already almost married, how can you still cry like a baby?”

Hearing this, Zhao Zuo seemed to be a little embarrassed. He hurriedly wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

“Sun’er1 lost his composure.”

Emperor Hongjing nodded, and was about to say something when Li Dequan next to him whispered, “Your Majesty, several of His Highnesses came before the daybreak and are still waiting outside.”

Emperor Hongjing acted as if he had been jolted awake and said, “Go call them in.”

An obscure look flashed across Zhao Zuo’s lowered face.

Soon, An Wang and the others came in.

After paying their greetings, they asked about the assassin last night. When they heard that the assassin had been captured, everyone was relieved.

“You have been worried.”

“For Father Emperor to be safe and sound, not only is it the blessing of the people, but also the blessing for us erchen.”

Under normal circumstances, the amount of sincerity in these words would be unknown. But today, these words came from the bottom of their hearts. As for why this was the case, there wasn’t a single person present who didn’t understand.

.

“That assassin deserves to have his skin peeled and buried without an intact corpse! He is actually so bold to come to the palace to assassinate someone! Father Emperor, hand that man to erchen and erchen will punish him until he understands what it means to regret being born into this world!” Lu Wang, according to his usual nature, spouted these bloodthirsty words.

In the past, Emperor Hongjing would either reprimand or ignore him, but today he only smiled and shook his head, helpless. “Enough. Speaking like that really makes it hard on others’ ears.”

“Erchen was only worried about Father Emperor.” Lu Wang didn’t seem to have noticed the difference in his Father Emperor’s treatment and only muttered angrily.

Li Dequan smiled and interjected, “His Highness Lu Wang is really filial.”

Emperor Hongjing remained silent and took a sip of his tea.

Lu Wang grinned. “Eunuch Li is quite insightful. This prince will have to accept this praise.”

Emperor Hongjing laughed angrily, put the teacup down, and waved his hand with impatience. “Enough, enough. Stop messing around with Li Dequan.” Then he said to Jin Wang and the others, “Presumably, you didn’t rest well last night before rushing here this morning. You may all go back to rest.”

Lu Wang still wanted to say something when Li Dequan took a step forward to escort him out. “Your Highness, this is His Majesty showing concern for you and the other Highnesses.”

An Wang and others could only follow them out.

After everyone left, Zhao Zuo remained kneeling there.

Emperor Hongjing looked down at him with kindness in his eyes. “You should also go back and rest. It must have been hard for you to sleep last night.”

Zhao Zuo still had words to say but at this time, Li Dequan, who was back after escorting Lu Wang and the others out the door, stepped forward to help him up. “Your Highness, get up quickly. His Majesty is feeling distressed for you.”

Li Dequan, after sending off the person Emperor Hongjing was feeling distressed for, stood by the door and exhaled before returning to the emperor’s side.

“That imperial concubine…”

“Answering Your Majesty, niangniang suffered a sudden illness last night, and passed away this morning.”

Emperor Hongjing nodded.

Sitting under the window, Yaoniang looked towards the sky, awaiting Jin Wang’s return. When he finally returned, before she had a chance to ask anything, Jin Wang told her they were leaving the palace.

She suddenly forgot what she had wanted to ask. It was great news that they could finally leave the palace. She didn’t want to enter the palace ever again.

Yaoniang was already cleaned up and ready to leave. There was also nothing much for Consort Jin, Side Consort Liu and Side Consort Xu to pack.

The three of them had stayed up the entire night last night and didn’t even change out of their formal gowns. Despite that, they were still dressed neatly.

Jin Wang led his people through the imperial garden all the way to Xuanwu Gate, where the carriage of Jin Wang Manor was already waiting. They returned to the manor and Jin Wang spoke a few sentences to Yaoniang before hurrying to the study.

In the study, Liu Da and the others had already been waiting for a while.

Jin Wang sat down behind his desk and asked Fucheng to recount what had happened yesterday, while he pondered and straightened out the thoughts in his mind.

Even though he had waited for an entire shichen in the early morning, then booted out before he could say anything, this trip couldn’t be said to be useless. At least, Jin Wang was able to gather quite a bit of information.

“What are your thoughts?”

It was clear that Liu Da had been reflecting as he listened, since he immediately replied, “From what this subordinate can tell, the last part was excessive and superfluous. Not at all like Yong Wang’s handiwork.”

Li Maotian interjected, “What if he was so angered by us that he made a rash mistake?”

“From what I can tell, that doesn’t seem to be it. It’s more like someone fishing in troubled waters. What if it was Lu Wang, that silly imp who went mad and made such a move?”

“This subordinate is more inclined to believe it was done by the eldest imperial grandson.”

Liu Da’s words instantly caused everyone to look over at him.

“Incidents happened to the Eastern Palace one after another. First, it was the crown prince, then the crown princess. It’s clear that they’re on their last straws. Poisoning His Majesty under the current circumstances would undoubtedly be self-destruction, but it’s different for the Eastern Palace. After all, since the crown prince hasn’t been abolished, if His Majesty died, the throne would pass to him. But for anyone else, it would be tantamount to ruining years of hard work so no one would be willing to do such a stupid thing.

“His Majesty has always been fond of the eldest imperial grandson to the point of suppressing the crown prince, causing a lot of resentment. The incidents that happened to the crown prince and the crown princess would have a huge effect on the eldest imperial grandson but we mustn’t neglect the fact that external influences can also make an impact. As for His Majesty, although he is the ruler of a country, he is still a grandfather. The eldest imperial grandson was brought up by him ever since young and everyone knows how much His Majesty favours the eldest imperial grandson. It’s more accurate to say that the eldest imperial grandson was raised by His Majesty to be his heir and he meets all his expectations.

“How disappointed His Majesty is with the crown prince and the crown princess is how much he feels sorry for the eldest imperial grandson. What had happened is undoubtedly a splash of filth on what was an originally unblemished piece of cloth. Everything must be done to an appropriate level, overdoing something is not always good. If it was only the affairs that happened, at worst it would be the crown prince and crown princess having loose morals. But now that poisoning is added to the mix, it’s clear that someone is out to destroy the Eastern Palace and the eldest imperial grandson. At this time, what would His Majesty think?”

Liu Da’s rhetorical question finally allowed the others to understand.

Everyone knew the answer to this question. Emperor Hongjing’s affection for the eldest imperial grandson would undoubtedly rise and he would sympathize with the Eastern Palace. He would also loathe whoever was the culprit behind all this. With the favour of Emperor Hongjing, would Zhao Zuo still be afraid of losing power? What the imperial sons and grandsons were fighting for has always been the favour of His Majesty.

“So the person who tried to poison His Majesty was the eldest imperial grandson?”

Liu Da flapped his fan and smiled. “Poisoning is but a tactic and there’s no way that His Majesty would actually get poisoned. It’s inevitable for the truth to be eventually exposed.”

Both Mr. Hei and Li Maotian were lost in thought

After a while, they cupped their hands at Liu Da and praised, “You are indeed wise.”

As one of the members of Jin Wang’s think tank, this was why Liu Da was able to sit firmly in the top spot. Everyone else had no choice but to retreat.

Liu Da’s mind was ingenious and unparalleled.

The three of them looked at Jin Wang. Jin Wang was still as calm as usual with no ripples on his face.

“You all look down on His Majesty too much. He did as well.”

This ‘he’ was naturally referring to the eldest imperial grandson.

Liu Da hesitated, “Your Highness means– “

“Father Emperor is definitely suspicious of him.”

“This– “

Jin Wang leaned back in his chair, and said, “No matter what, the current situation is favourable for this prince. Unless this prince is mistaken, the next step His Majesty will take is to abolish the crown prince of his position and have the rest of the princes remain in the capital.”

There was another sentence that Jin Wang did not say which was that the original intention of this farce wasn’t to defeat the Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace was one of them. What was more important was for the princes to remain in the capital, but for that to happen, they must have a valid reason.

This was why the crown prince and the imperial concubine as well as the crown princess and the imperial guard had an affair. Although the last move of attempting to poison the emperor seemed to be superfluous, the truth was that even if the eldest imperial grandson did not do it, someone else would pick up the knife.

Only when Emperor Hongjing was suspicious of the eldest imperial grandson that he had raised himself and held doubt, disappointment, and fear towards the Eastern Palace would the rest of the princes have a chance.

With a bang, the sky outside suddenly darkened. Just a moment ago, the sky was clear and the sun was bright but then in a flash, it was as if night was approaching.

It was spring thunder, like an omen for what was to come.