Chapter 79: CH 52

Hearing little Xiao Chen cry like this, Xiao Heng and the Emperor both immediately rushed over.

As soon as they came over, they saw the third Prince walking towards Gu Sui’er while she held Little Ah Chen carefully in her arms and glanced at him with vigilance.

The situation was absolutely obvious at a glance.

Xiao Heng walked over in large strides and blocked the third Prince’s path. With his cold countenance full of anger, he spoke in a heavy tone: “Your Highness, please conduct yourself with dignity.”

Seeing Xiao Heng coming, Gu Sui’er immediately went to his side, almost like a chick noticing its mother hen: “Third Master.”

The third Prince actually just wanted to tell Gu Sui’er not to be afraid of him and that he had no other intentions.

He had calmed down now. He also realized that there must have been some misunderstanding and therefore, wanted to figure it out.

He wanted to tell her that before he investigated it, he hoped she wouldn’t be afraid.

He had never had the intention to scare her.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to open his mouth, Xiao Heng and the Emperor arrived.

Then, he saw her hiding by Xiao Heng’s side with a great deal of dependence, as if he was some sort of a dangerous person.

The eyes darkened slightly. He finally turned and bowed, greeting the Emperor first. After getting up, he narrowed his eyes: “Ah Heng, it’s so late already. Why did you enter the Palace?”

Xiao Heng raised his eyebrow and said indifferently, “His Majesty summoned me.”

He didn’t even bother to say anything more.

As for why the Emperor summoned him and why his concubine and his child came along, he was too lazy to explain.

The third Prince raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at his Father Emperor in surprise.

Gu Sui’er held her family’s little Xiao Chen and patted him gently. At this moment, he didn’t cry anymore. He just hummed softly as if he was wronged, and acted coquettishly while his little head rubbed lightly against her bosom.

She surmised that little Xiao Chen was hungry. However, it wasn’t possible to feed him in front of so many people, so she could only pat him gently to placate him.

In the midst of the coaxing, she occasionally raised her eyes to look at the others. This time, coincidentally, she saw the third Prince’s act of raising his eyebrows.

She was stunned. That action of his was exceedingly similar to Xiao Heng.

Xiao Heng usually had little to no expressions; he was always cold and indifferent. Now that she got along with him for a long time, she could also see the shifts in his expression once in a while. For instance, he would raise his eyebrows slightly whenever he was surprised or amazed.

These two people’s actions were exactly the same.

Gu Sui’er’s mind was blank; she couldn’t help but look at the third Prince a few more times.

When the Emperor saw his third son being like this, he was quite displeased. However, he spoke with a calm and collected expression: “Zhen summoned Ah Heng for some matters. It happened to coincide with Ah Heng’s precious son’s full-moon banquet so I decided to summon them all together. Why? Is there any problem?”

The Emperor had already spoken. Who would dare say that there was a problem?

The third Prince choked. He could only hold back and lower his head: “Father Emperor wants to see Ah Heng’s newborn son, naturally there’s no problem.”

The Emperor’s expression was indifferent, dignified and filled with profound mystery: “Why did you come over to the ZhengYang Palace at this time?”

The third Prince recalled the purpose of his coming and having no better option, spoke up: “It will be the Mother Empress’ birthday in a few days. Erchen1Erchen [儿臣] – It was the form of self-address used by the sons of the Emperor when speaking to the latter because they were both his child/son (儿) and his official/subject (臣) at the same time. I couldn’t exactly get the same feel from the mechanical tone of the english term so I kept it in pinyin haha ^^; was thinking about how to celebrate her birthday and wished to discuss it with Father Emperor.”

The Emperor nodded: “It’s rare for you to be so filial. However, if you want to discuss the matter of your Mother Empress’ birthday celebration, you should do it with the Ministry of Rites.”

The third Prince froze. He wasn’t sure if it was his illusion or not, but he always felt that his Father Emperor’s tone while mentioning his Mother Empress was not very good. Still, he reluctantly complied: “Yes, Father Emperor.”

Feeling the direction of Gu Sui’er’s gaze, Xiao Heng’s expression suddenly turned unpleasant.

He was here but his woman was looking at the third Prince.

So he stretched out his arm and took little Ah Chen from Gu Sui’er’s embrace, then gently held her waist with his other hand.

Gu Sui’er was originally a little tired, so now that her soft body was half-leaning on his powerful atm, she suddenly felt much better.

Even after pulling the warm and fragrant nephrite jade into his arms, when he remembered that she had just been staring at another man, he felt a little unhappy. As a result, he gently pinched her waist with his fingers.

She used to be quite slender at first but now, after giving birth, her delicate waist seemed to have grown some flesh. It felt incredibly soft and supple when pinching.

Gu Sui’er did not ever expect him to do such a thing. The slight pain at her waist seemed to numb her body as it slouched and almost down like noodles. Fortunately, his powerful arm held her up, positioning her against his body.

Xiao Heng held his delicate wife2T/N: Yes! The author wrote ‘妻'(qī) which translates to wife hahaha. in one hand, his son in the other and shot a glance at the third Prince, only to see the other party looking straight over.

Xiao Heng’s eyebrows moved slightly. He lowered his eyes and looked at little Ah Chen in his arms.

The tender and glutinous rice-like soft little baby had a delicate appearance. His eyes and mouth seemed to have been carefully carved; his skin was as white as jade, making his inky black fetal hair appear even softer and darker.

He knew that the third Prince had misunderstood something and that gave rise to this kind of a disaster. Nevertheless, he was still particularly unhappy when he thought that this person kept thinking of Gu Sui’er.

At the moment, he deliberately said: “Third Prince, it will be my son’s3T/N: The exact word XH used is ‘犬子’ (quǎnzǐ) which means ‘(my) pup’. It is a form of self-deprecatory address to refer to a person’s own son. This seems to have originated from the phrase “虎父无犬子” which translates to “a tiger father does not beget a puppy/dog-son”. Funny thing is, if one only uses the puppy part, the father then refers to himself as a dog xD hundred-day birthday banquet in two months. If the third Prince can honor my humble house with your presence, it will be my son’s good fortune.”

The third Prince glanced at the little baby in his arms with envy. None of the three children in his family were as lovely as this baby; he was sparkling and exquisite like a pearl or jade.

The only thing he regretted now was that he didn’t know whether this child was Xiao Heng’s or his own.

“Ah Heng need not be so courteous. I will definitely attend the banquet when the time comes.”

While talking, he noticed the Emperor’s discontented expression and hastily requested to take his leave.

The Emperor lightly assured: “Zhen will let the Ministry of Rites prepare carefully for your Mother Empress’ birthday. They won’t be careless.”

The third Prince thanked him for the favor and left.

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Everything was alright till this point.

But after walking halfway through the place, he couldn’t restrain himself anymore and looked back.

He saw the bright and beautiful jade-like woman nestling her gorgeous and soft, snow-white body in Xiao Heng’s arms.

Such a remarkably beautiful woman was really rare.

If she really was the one who spent that night with him, how could forfeit her like this?

In that moment of callousness, he suddenly turned around and knelt in front of his father with a thud.

“Father Emperor, please give justice to erchen!”

When he knelt down, everyone present at the scene was surprised.

After a long silence, the Emperor raised his eyebrows and asked lightly: “What kind of justice? Who harmed you?”

The third Prince said respectfully, “Replying to Father Emperor, the day erchen met Ah Heng at the foot of XuShan and stayed at the inn, erchen unfortunately drank in excess and had a liaison with a woman.”

Hearing this, Gu Sui’er’s eyes widened. She didn’t expect the third Prince to bring this up again.

She shuddered, leaning closer to Xiao Heng subconsciously.

Xiao Heng’s big hand gently stroked her back, indicating that she didn’t need to care about it.

Being comforted by Xiao Heng, Gu Sui’er’s heart became much more relaxed.

That person was not her; she didn’t have to care about it at all.

And after the Emperor heard what his son said, he could only ask: “Then what?”

The third Prince looked aggrieved as he complained: “Father Emperor, that woman is now Ah Heng’s concubine! Calculating the time, it is possible to say that Ah Heng’s child belongs to erchen!”

As soon as he said these words, the Emperor’s complexion ashened with fury. He picked up the paperweight near him and threw it directly towards the third Prince’s head.

The paperweight brushed just past the side of the third Prince’s ear but a thin stream of blood slid down his cheek.

However, the Emperor’s fury was still not alleviated. He angrily reprimanded his son: “You are really getting more and more unreasonable. How did your Mother Empress teach you? Zhen only regarded you as a disgrace in the past but now that other people had a child, you come here to say such things and destroy their reputation! Do you not have any idea how it would transpire if this matter leaks?!”

But the third Prince felt wronged, more wronged than anyone else: “But, that child might be erchen’s son.”

Beholding this scene, Gu Sui’er finally couldn’t stand it anymore. She didn’t expect that the bad guy, the third Prince, would be so set on ruining her reputation.

She really didn’t expect him to accuse her falsely before the Emperor.

She couldn’t bear it anymore. She stomped her feet lightly and spoke with an indignant face flushed with anger, “Third Prince, you must not slander my innocence. I’ve only seen you once in my life and that was outside the inn, where many people were present! After that time, I never interacted with you alone. How could I possibly have improper relations with you? Your venomous slander is harming my reputation, y-y-you… You are humiliating me!”

When she thought about it, she was so angry that tears were about to come out of her eyes.

“If you go on, I’ll immediately knock my head on the wall and die to prove my innocence!”

Of course she didn’t really want to die. She couldn’t bear to part with her little Ah Chen.

But her neighbor in the village, second Aunt Wang, said this when she stole vegetables and the others accused her! She didn’t remember it at first, but after listening to the third Prince’s words, she imitated her actions in a fit of anger.

When she said this, not to mention the Emperor, even Eunuch Hu felt that the third Prince was too much.

After a person just gave birth, if anyone went to slander their innocence and say that they had improper relations with them, wouldn’t it disgust them? Wasn’t this similar to coercion?

“Third Prince, you are so disrespectful! The moment you open your mouth, you slander other people’s innocence!” The Emperor was so angry that the corner of his beard flared: “Drag him out and beat him with a plank forty times.”

The third Prince was even more aggrieved, so aggrieved that he himself wanted to hit the wall: “Father Emperor, erchen is telling the truth! Please investigate it, Father Emperor!”

The Emperor waved his hand: “Drag him out!”

How dare the guards not heed his orders? They stepped forward to pull him.

At this time, Xiao Heng stood up and respectfully replied to the Emperor: “Your Majesty, the third Prince may not have done it on purpose. I’m afraid there is something fishy about this whole matter.”

“Something fishy?” When the Emperor saw Xiao Heng, his expression changed immediately, from enraged to gentle.

“That night, this official stayed in the room next to the third Prince’s and he did hear a woman in his room. But of course, this official knows that that woman could not be Gu-shi, just because when he heard that woman, this official’s concubine was in his room. How could it be possible for her to have any improper relation with the third Prince? So this official surmised that the one in the third Prince’s room at that time must be someone else. The third Prince might have been so drunk that his vision turned hazy and hence, the misunderstanding arose.”

Xiao Heng’s voice was cool and indifferent.

The third Prince was greatly alarmed to hear this: “Ah Heng, what do you mean?”

Xiao Heng looked at the third Prince and disclosed the essence of his words that hit the nail on the head: “You were drunk and stunned at that and failed to find out which woman got into your bed that night.”

While speaking, he added another sentence in a slow and calm voice: “How many women did you meet in the inn that night?”

The third Prince frowned. After a moment of silence, his face turned pale.

Abruptly, he thought of a question.

That night in the inn… how many women appeared that night in the inn…

Except for Gu Sui’er, whom he had met outside the inn too, was his sister born of the same parents, Princess ZhaoYang.

T/N: I… I’m sorry for the late update!!… I have no excuse but procrastination to blame, which is the root of all evils (〒▽〒) Please forgive me…. The promised double update didn’t happen coz of it too…. Worry not, I promise to update the due chapter on friday!!! (Even tho I dunno whether you all still trust me with the updates or not ;_;)

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