Chapter 404: 415

Shen Ninghua quickly followed the crowd and entered the side palace. At this moment, Baili Junyi was standing at the door. Seeing her come over, he quickly stood beside her to protect her.

In the main hall, the Third Prince, Baili Jinyu, frantically pulled up his clothes and crawled out of the bed. A woman was covering a blanket over her face. She curled into a ball, exposing her bare shoulders. People couldn’t see her face clearly, but they could tell that she must be a palace maid or something.

Glancing at the situation in the palace, Shen Ninghua roughly understood what had happened. She lowered her eyes to avoid the scene while gently caressing her bulging belly.

Baili Qingcang was so angry that his face turned maroon red. He quickly walked to the side of the bed, raised his arm, and slapped the Third Prince hard in the face. “Monster! You wicked monster!” Fortunately, he did not have a sword by his side, or he would have chopped the Third Prince into pieces.

Baili Qingcang exerted enormous strength when he slapped the Third Prince, so much so that he rolled on the ground. The Third Prince quickly got up and knelt. “Father Emperor, it’s not like what you see. Someone framed me. Someone must have framed me. I remembered that I was in the palace mourning for my mother. Then, my vision went black, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was lying on the bed, and I didn’t even know who the woman sleeping beside me was! Father Emperor, please scrutinize! I’m innocent!”

“You are innocent?! How dare you quibble your way out of this?! Can anyone tie you up and force you to come to the bed? Monster! I’m gonna kill you today!” With that, he kicked the Third Prince in the chest and kicked him to the ground. After a few kicks, he stopped and panted heavily.

The woman on the bed finally came back to her senses. She tidied up her clothes clumsily, knelt on the ground, and begged Baili Qingcang, “Your Majesty, it’s my fault! I seduced the Third Prince. It has nothing to do with him. Please don’t hit him. Please punish me. I deserve it even if you kill me.”

Baili Qingcang looked at the palace maid who was kneeling on the ground in disgust. He felt that it would dirty his leg even if he kicked her. “You are the palace maid who served Madam Lin back then, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ve been serving Noble Consort Li for a long time.”

“Noble Consort Li? Who are you talking about?! There is no other Noble Consort in the palace other than Noble Consort Qi! That person was Madam Lin! The sinner, Madam Lin!” Baili Qingcang rebuked angrily. “Humph! You said that you seduced the Third Prince. When did you start having an affair with him?”

“Your Majesty, we truly love each other, but we can’t speak of our relationship because of the big difference in our status. It’s not an affair. Our relationship is pure and genuine!” The palace maid retorted as she cried, and her eyes were full of deep affection as she looked at Baili Jinyu.

The Third Prince almost vomited when he looked at her. He crawled to Baili Qingcang on his knees and wailed, “No, Father Emperor! I don’t have any relationship with this maid. It’s all nonsense! Please don’t listen to her! I’m a dignified prince. How can I fall for a palace maid?”

“You don’t like her? If you don’t like her, how can you… do such an awful thing with her in the side palace?!” Baili Qingcang hated the Third Prince to the extreme. “Jinyu, I always thought that you were just impulsive and ignorant, but I didn’t expect you to be so disloyal, ungrateful, and heartless! Today is your mother’s funeral! But you… you actually had an affair with a lowly palace maid at her funeral. You are worse than a beast!”

“Father Emperor, please believe me! I didn’t do it. Someone tried to frame me!” The Third Prince felt that he was forced to a dead-end. His vision went black, and he almost fainted again. “You are worse than a beast…” After getting this evaluation, he was certain that he would have no chance to fight for the throne in the future.

“Your Highness, how can you deny our relationship? I don’t care about status. All I want is to stay by your side. I’ll be happy as long as you can see me whenever you think of me. You can beat and scold me at will, but please don’t ignore the feelings I have for you.”

“What feelings? I don’t know what on earth you are! Get out! Get out of here!” The Third Prince reached out to push the palace maid away, but she held his arm so tight that he couldn’t shake her off no matter how hard he tried.

Looking at the two people who were embracing each other on the ground, Baili Qingcang felt a burst of nausea and did not want to look at them again. “Guards, take the maid out of here and beat her to death. The Third Prince fainted because he was too sad over his mother’s death. I allow him to return to his mansion to rest. He won’t have to attend the imperial court before he recovers. I’ll have someone do his duties.”

The Third Prince was stunned. Father Emperor literally locked him up and saved him from his duties. What should he do? What should he do now? Was it really over?

The guards immediately stepped forward and dragged the palace maid away. She still held the Third Prince’s arm tightly and shouted affectionately, “Your Highness, I’m willing to die for you! I love you!”

The Third Prince wanted to pull back his sleeve, but the palace maid grabbed it too tightly. As the guards pulled the maid with all their might, the sound of cloth being torn echoed across the palace. Half of the Third Prince’s sleeve was torn away, and his arm and shoulder were exposed. He looked more and more miserable.

Ignoring the Third Prince altogether, Baili Qingcang coldly said, “Noble Consort Qi, simplify Madam Lin’s funeral. Carry her coffin out and bury it tomorrow. Also, Changqiu Palace will be sealed from tomorrow onwards. I do not want to see everything that is here again.”

According to the funeral rules of the imperial concubines, the funeral would be held for at least seven days before the burial. However, Madam Lin would be buried tomorrow. Judging from this, everyone could see that the Emperor loathed Madam Lin to the extreme.

“Yes, I understand.”

Baili Qingcang narrowed his eyes and glanced at the people standing at the side. “I don’t want to hear any bad rumors about what happened today. Do you understand?”

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“Yes.”

Baili Qingcang glanced at everyone again before flinging his sleeves and striding out of Changqiu Palace. After he left, everyone stood up and looked at Baili Jinyu, their eyes filled with sympathy. The Third Prince was officially doomed today. He probably wouldn’t be able to revive again in this life.

Noble Consort Qi looked at the crowd and said coldly, “Everyone, please go back. His Majesty has said that Madam Lin’s funeral will be simplified, so there is no need to continue the ceremony.”

Hearing that they could leave, Baili Junyi held Shen Ninghua’s hand and walked out. Ninghua was pregnant now. He didn’t want these awful and filthy things to affect her and the baby.

Shen Ninghua followed in his footsteps and walked out. She turned around to look at Bu Yonghan who was standing not far away from the steps. A trace of coldness flashed in her eyes. Then, she turned around and walked towards the palace gate as if nothing had happened.

There was a smile on the corner of Bu Yonghan’s lips. The smile was very faint, but at this moment, there was a trace of joy in her eyes. It showed that she was in a very good mood. She had one less obstacle now that the Third Prince was doomed. It was indeed a great piece of news. Yes, she should go to the Second Prince now. Since she had done a great job, she wanted him to know about it. Only then could he remember her contribution and know how nice she was.

When everyone had left, Noble Consort Qi returned to the main hall with her nurses. Only the Fourth Prince was left kneeling on the ground alone in the main hall while throwing the paper money into the copper basin from time to time. When he heard footsteps, he looked up and asked, “Noble Consort Qi, where is Third Brother…”

“The Third Prince fainted from excessive sadness. His Majesty was considerate of his situation and asked him to return to his mansion to rest. The guards have sent him back. I’m afraid that you’ll be the only one keeping watch tonight.”

“Okay. As Mother’s son, I should stay to keep her company.” The Fourth Prince lowered his head and knelt in an extremely respectful posture.

Noble Consort Qi nodded. She glanced at the plaque on the table, and a trace of emotion appeared in her eyes. She thought, “Madam Lin, I don’t think you can rest in peace right now. You were so smart and sly, but I’m afraid you couldn’t even expect this to happen. As soon as you die, your favorite Third Prince lost his power. Haha! He gets retribution easily after all the awful sins he has done. See, the retribution has come to you and your son. Just enjoy the sorrow in hell!”

Shen Ninghua and Baili Junyi left the imperial palace and boarded the carriage back to their mansion.

“Ninghua, didn’t you go out with Noble Consort Qi before? Why were you back with Bu Yonghan?”

“Noble Consort Qi heard about the Third Prince. She didn’t want me to be disturbed, so she told me not to go over. Soon, I met Bu Yonghan, who was passing by.”

“Heh, what a coincidence.” A trace of coldness flashed through Baili Junyi’s eyes. According to the information he had found, he deduced that Bu Yonghan was much smarter than Bu Tinghe. However, smart people tended to be self-righteous. He would not hesitate to eliminate her if she had any bad thoughts about Ninghua. Now that his mother died, he no longer had any connection with the Great Yue Kingdom, let alone the meaningless blood relationship with Bu Yonghan.

“What do you think about what happened to the Third Prince today?”

“It should be the same as what he claimed. He was framed.”

Shen Ninghua nodded and recalled, “When I went to offer incense today, I accidentally noticed that the Third Prince’s expression seemed to be strange. He looked extremely dazed and befuddled probably because he had not rested well for several days. He should have been drugged long ago.”

“Even if he was framed, Father Emperor happened to see him lying on the bed with the palace maid. Even if the investigation proved his innocence, his reputation was ruined by now, and he might not be able to make a comeback.”

“Who do you think did it this time?”

“We have spies around the people in the palace who are capable of doing such things, but we didn’t receive any news about it. I think the mastermind behind this should be someone beyond our expectations.”

Shen Ninghua couldn’t help but think of Bu Yonghan. “For some reason, I feel that this matter has something to do with Bu Yonghan.”

Baili Junyi paused. “Bu Yonghan? Yes, she’s extremely clever, but it’s not easy for her to accomplish this task. She is new in the Da’an Kingdom and does not have any power or foundation. She’ll end up in big trouble if any part of her plan fails.

Shen Ninghua raised her eyebrows skeptically. “But it is even more unpredictable and is harder to raise suspicion about her, isn’t it? Wealth and glory come from danger. She takes a risk to eliminate a prince. Although the task is extremely risky, it’s very rewarding. Yes, Bu Yonghan doesn’t know many people here, but don’t forget about Bu Jinglan and Bu Tinghe, as well as Prince An, who had spent a generous amount of time in the Da’an Kingdom. Bu Tinghe died not long after she got married, but we didn’t know if she placed her people in the capital in advance. We also didn’t know if there were no Bu Yonghan’s spies among them.”

Baili Junyi nodded. “Now that you mention it, I am enlightened. Prince An belongs to Bu Jinglan’s line, and they had already picked the Third Prince’s side, but Bu Yonghan is the Empress’ line. And it seems that her relationship with Bu Jinglan is not harmonious. Getting rid of the Third Prince will be a great loss to Bu Jinglan and Prince An.”

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