Published at 20th of August 2023 5:26 pm

Chapter 1299 1299 The Reason for the Younger Brother to Succeed the Throne

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Chapter 1299 The Reason for the Younger Brother to Succeed the Throne

“Where is His Highness?” Shao Wanru looked at the sky outside the window and asked. Chu Liuchen usually already came back at this time. Today, as soon as he returned to the mansion, he went to the study room and had not come back yet.

“His Highness is still in the study.” Dong’er had just come back from outside. She looked at Shao Wanru and said, “Xiao Xuanzi asked if you could go to the study and have a look because His Highness is in a very bad mood.”

As per Shao Wanru’s instruction, Dong’er just went to the front yard to ask about the situation.

“Let’s go.” Shao Wanru stood up and nodded. She was really worried. Chu Liuchen had never behaved so unusually. What had happened?

“Your Highness, would you like some pastries to start with?” Qiu’er looked at the pastries on the table, which were about to turn cold. Usually, they had already had dinner at this time.

“No, let’s go to the study now.” Shao Wanru shook her head. Without seeing Chu Liuchen, she was really worried.

She went outside, heading for the study room with Qiu’er and Dong’er, the two servant girls.

Seeing Shao Wanru coming from a distance, Xiao Xuanzi immediately ran over and bowed to Shao Wanru, “Greetings, Your Highness.”

Shao Wanru looked up at the lights on the second floor and asked “Is His Highness still inside? Has he had dinner?”

“Since His Highness came back, he has been staying in the study and not allowing anyone to disturb him,” Xiao Xuanzi said with a bitter expression. His master’s temper had flared up again, not allowing anyone to go upstairs, so Xiao Xuanzi didn’t dare to check it out there, and he had to ask Princess Chen for help.

“I’ll go and have a look,” Shao Wanru said. She left the two servant girls downstairs, lifted a corner of her dress, and walked up the stairs slowly.

When she got to the second floor, she saw the door was half-closed. Shao Wanru pushed the door open and looked inside. Chu Liuchen, who was inside the room, heard the sound and slowly raised his head. At that moment, Shao Wanru saw his deep and calm eyes, which were dimmed, as if there were only darkness and gloom inside.

When Chu Liuchen saw that it was Shao Wanru, his eyes moved slightly and became a little moist.

Shao Wanru walked up to Chu Liuchen. Looking at his handsome and straight face, she reached out to touch his forehead. After feeling it, she held his hand and wanted to feel his pulse to check his condition.

“I’m fine,” Chu Liuchen said. He hadn’t spoken for a long time, so his voice was a little hoarse. He reached out to pull Shao Wanru to sit on the large chair and wrapped her slender waist with his hands. Then he leaned against Shao Wanru’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Shao Wanru only saw his long curly eyelashes fluttering twice.

Shao Wanru didn’t say anything. She let Chu Liuchen lean against her shoulder quietly and looked at his face gently.

After a long time, She heard his faint voice. “Just now, Uncle the Emperor fainted. He ate the soup sent by Noble Consort Lan. It was incompatible with the medicine that he was taking, so he got poisoned.”

“Have you found out who did it?” Shao Wanru raised her bright eyes and asked.

It couldn’t be a coincidence for such a thing.

Chu Liuchen said slowly in a low voice, “It should be that the incompatible medicine had been mixed with the ingredients she picked. Uncle the Emperor is in a weak condition, so he had a reaction right after eating the soup. If he were not in poor health, it would not have been easy to find such a small reaction.”

Shao Wanru held his big slender hand with distress and said, “It’s okay. He should be fine. Such a thing will never happen again in the future.”

Shao Wanru thought Chu Liuchen was worried about the Emperor’s health, so she comforted him.

“Just now, Uncle the Emperor and Noble Consort Lan … told me about where I came from… It is not like what I thought before. Uncle the Emperor and Noble Consort Lan were supposed to be a couple… By accident … they begot me, and she was poisoned by someone else during her pregnancy…” Chu Liuchen lowed his head and said. Although he didn’t sound emotional, Shao Wanru could still sense the torn in his heart.

Although it was just a short story back then, it left Chu Liuchen with his life so weak that he almost could not bear it, as well as such an unbearable past.

“Noble Consort Lan… How did she know that you are the son of His Majesty?” Shao Wanru thought for a moment and felt sympathy for Noble Consort Lan, so she asked another question subconsciously. But after that, she felt that it was too abrupt.

“The deceased emperor was injured, and he couldn’t have any children,” Chu Liuchen said slowly in a low voice.

“What?” Shao Wanru suddenly widened her bright eyes in shock, looked back in astonishment, and asked, “Then … what about Commandery Prince Qing?”

“Chu Qing can’t be the son of the deceased emperor either, of course. His mother, the Consort Dowager didn’t come honestly. She was pregnant, but she didn’t dare to say it because she had an ulterior motive. However, she didn’t expect that the deceased emperor could not have any women pregnant. That was why the throne was reserved for Uncle the Emperor early. It is just that this was a secret, and few people knew it back then, and not even the Imperial Institute of Medicine did not know about it.”

“Does… Does His Majesty know about it?” Shao Wanru was astonished.

“Yes, he does,” Chu Liuchen said lightly.

“Then… How about the deceased emperor?”

“He probably didn’t know,” Chu Liuchen said.

Shao Wanru pursed her lips and felt extremely complicated, “So it’s useless no matter how Chu Qing makes a scene. In fact, His Majesty has seen through everything.

“If that is the case, the meaning behind it is definitely not simple.”

Suppressing the horror in her heart, Shao Wanru reached out to wrap Chu Liuchen around the waist. “Do you … hate Noble Consort Lan?”

Those things were important, but Shao Wanru cared more about Chu Liuchen’s mood at the moment.

“I used to hate her because I thought … she misbehaved… But now…” Chu Liuchen said with his eyes darkening slightly and a trace of gloom flashing across them. He closed his eyes again and didn’t know what to say.

“It’s fine. The matter of the elders is not much related to us. Anyway, Noble Consort Lan… You know best how she has treated you over these years. She has an awkward identity here. She usually doesn’t see anyone because she’s afraid of being recognized. With her identity as the Empress, she has become an unfavored consort. The reason why Noble Consort Lan can hang on there should be because of you, I suppose.”

Shao Wanru whispered, “My mother is like this now, but I still hope to know when she can wake up, smile at me clearly, call me by my name, and see Hao’er and me…”

Speaking of this, Shao Wanru shed tears. Infanta Qinghua was almost in a terrible condition now, but she still keep hope. She hoped that Infanta Qinghua would be awake one day, enabling her to feel the love of her mother, instead of being so muddle-headed that she could not even recognize Shao Wanru.

Chu Liuchen lowered his head and looked at the top of Shao Wanru’s head. Gradually, his expression softened a little and became a little lively. He no longer looked as calm and gloomy as before.

“I will ask Mingqiu Nun and Qi Jue to treat your mother attentively.”

“But my mother is now…” Shao Wanru nibbled her lower lip.

“There is always hope, isn’t there? Even if there is no hope, it doesn’t matter. Let’s treat her well together for the rest of her life,” Chu Liuchen said.

“Thank you. Then you don’t overthink it, okay?” Shao Wanru raised her tearful eyes, in which the figure of Chu Liuchen was reflected.

“Okay.” The depression in Chu Liuchen’s heart was soothed by Shao Wanru magically. After breathing out a long breath, he faintly smiled. Although it was just a slight smile, Shao Wanru captured it with her eyes. Even though tears were still on her cheeks, she couldn’t help revealing a faint smile.

Shao Wanru tried hard to look up and kissed Chu Liuchen on the thin lips gently. Her smile was stained with tears. “Even if you don’t have everything, you still have me.”

“Yes, I have you!” Chu Liuchen really smiled this time, elegantly.

Seeing that Chu Liuchen finally recovered from depression, Shao Wanru reached out to tug his sleeve and said, “Is there any leftover soup sent by Noble Consort Lan? I’d like to see what exactly the problem is.

Whoever did it, it was absolutely not just to make a false alarm. I just wonder whether it is Chu Qing or Chu Liuyue.

“There are people sent for both sides.” Chu Liuchen understood what she meant. “If you are fine tomorrow, you can go to visit Imperial Grandmother and check it out there, and I check out those around Uncle the Emperor.”

“I can do it tomorrow,” Shao Wanru replied. Since Chu Liuchen had a well-thought-out plan, she did not need to involve in checking out people around the Emperor. On the side of the Empress Dowager, there was something going on. Nanny Wei was quite suspicious, and it was not just Nanny Wei…

“What’s going on? Why did this happen all of a sudden?” Chu Qing asked with a gloomy face, sitting in his seat.

“Is there any problem with the medicine?” Consort Dowager asked with a gloomy face.

“It can’t be. Princess Yuyan told me in person. How could there be any problem?” Chu Qing said impatiently. When Princess Yuyan brought it over, he even asked someone to test it, and there was no problem. Why did it go wrong now?

“What if they find out that it’s our people?” Consort Dowager’s face was very gloomy. She was also in a panic. It was totally out of their expectations that the Emperor would have fainted after eating the soup. It would take some time for Noble Consort Lan’s soup to take effect, but why did it work all of a sudden?

The young eunuch who delivered the ingredients was Chu Qing’s man, and he was a very important one.

“Clean up the traces right now,” Chu Qing said.

“That’s the only way for now,” the Consort Dowager said, feeling very depressed. After what had happened, the Emperor became more vigilant. It might not be so convenient for them to take action next time.

“Do you think both Qiuyi and Yuyan are reliable?” Since they had made the decision, another problem popped into the Consort Dowager’s mind. She frowned tightly and said with hostility in her eyes. “If you find that either of them dares to do anything unfavorable, go ahead to get rid of her.”

Anyway, the matter between the two princesses was a mess. After all, two was too many.

The Consort Dowager couldn’t live a peaceful life these days. Neither Mo Qiuyi nor Princess Yuyan was willing to show weakness. She had been quite annoyed in dealing with the conflicts between the two princesses.

One was powerful, and the other was aggressive. Neither of them had the intention to give in to the other.

“Mother, hold on, please. See, Princess Yuyan has Xu State behind her, so let’s see how the fight for the throne in Xu State will be. As for Mo Qiuyi and those people, they have a lot of manpower, so we can’t offend them either.” Chu Qing reached out to rub his forehead. He knew that the Consort Dowager was annoyed, and so was he. The two princesses who married into the mansion were his headache. He could not offend either of them. As a Prince, Chu Qing had to comfort them, which made him very annoyed.

“Let them go to the Palace together to visit the Empress Dowager tomorrow,” the Consort Dowager said.

“Well, just let Princess Yuyan go, but let Mo Qiuyi stay,” Chu Qing objected.

“Why? Qiuyi can be considered your princess now. Why can’t she go to the Palace?” the Consort Dowager said unhappily. If both of them went to the Palace, they could help each when checking what was going on in the Palace. The Consort Dowager’s purpose was to let them enter the Palace to detect information. It was not convenient for her to enter the Palace herself.

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