Chapter 311 Possessed by Evil
Chapter 311 Possessed by Evil
The third prince's face twisted instantly.
He originally thought that although his father felt guilty towards Zhao Yuanhui, after so many years, he had already granted the Changping Marquis' Mansion the title of Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion, which was sufficient compensation.
But I didn't expect that she would be posthumously named queen, and even the bastard Xiao Jin would be made the eldest prince.
He also gave the eldest daughter of the Xie family, whom he had fallen in love with, to him as the prince's consort.
"Eunuch Cao, I'm afraid this imperial decree to grant marriage is inappropriate. Lord Xie has already promised to give Miss Xie to me a few days ago, but he cannot give her to my eldest brother. I hope Eunuch Cao will report this to my father and cancel this imperial decree."
Others were afraid of the third prince, but Eunuch Cao, as the emperor's confidant, was not afraid of him.
"Third Prince, I'm afraid that won't work. You probably don't know that Master Lingfeng has already promised Miss Xie to the First Prince."
"As far as I know, Master Lingfeng is far away in Mount Sanqing. I don't believe it is such a coincidence that he promised Miss Xie to me at the right time, not earlier or later.
Eunuch Cao, are you deceiving me?"
"How could I lie to the Third Prince? Master Lingfeng didn't just promise Miss Xie to the First Prince now, but had already arranged this marriage more than a month ago.
The eldest prince has Ling Feng's handwritten letter as proof. If you don't believe it, you can go to the palace to find the emperor and ask him to find out the truth. "
The Third Prince sneered, "Even if there is a letter, marriage has always been decided by parents and matchmakers since ancient times. Since Lord Xie is still alive, it is not the turn of outsiders to decide Miss Xie's marriage."
In front of so many people, Xie Lan wanted to give the Third Prince some face, but he was so insistent on doing what he wanted, and she could no longer tolerate him.
"Your Highness is wrong. As the old saying goes, a teacher for a day is a father for life. Master Lingfeng is not an outsider. He is my master and the relative who raised me. From childhood to adulthood, every copper coin I spent came from my master.
As for my father, he never raised me for a single day.
If there is anyone in the world who is most qualified to arrange my marriage, it is my master. "
Eunuch Cao is the emperor's confidant. He knows that the emperor has long wanted to let Xiao return to his ancestral home, but he has always disagreed. Now, with great difficulty, he has finally used the marriage as a condition to get Xiao to agree. The emperor is so happy.
Eunuch Cao naturally knew what he should say.
"Miss Xie is right. The Emperor taught the princes to respect their tutors when they were still young." Eunuch Cao bowed slightly, with a perfect smile on his face. His voice was sharp but steady. "Miss Xie is so respectful to her tutor. The Emperor will surely appreciate it."
After a pause, Eunuch Cao's eyes fell on the Third Prince again, and his voice was neither hurried nor slow, but with a certainty that could not be questioned, "Third Prince, you don't know that when the Su family sent the eldest girl to Sanqing Temple, they specifically left a will, entrusting Miss Xie's lifelong affairs to Master Lingfeng.
This was the last wish of Miss Xie's biological mother, and the affection and rules behind it were all there. Now the marriage between the eldest prince and Miss Xie was firstly granted by the emperor, and secondly, it also followed Su's entrustment.
There is nothing wrong with it, both emotionally and logically, and there is not even a single mistake that is against the rules."
Eunuch Cao brought up the last wishes of the Emperor and Su, and even if the Third Prince was angry, he could not say anything. He sullenly swung his sleeves and turned to leave Xie's house.
The Third Prince is gone, but that doesn’t mean he’s done with it.
Not being able to marry Xie Lan was secondary. What the Third Prince cared about most was Xiao Jin's return to his ancestral home.
Now that his second and fourth brothers have both lost power, and he is only one step away from the position of crown prince, he will never tolerate that bastard Xiao Jin ruining his plans no matter what.
In order to conceal his ambition to seize the throne, the Third Prince had always kept his trusted aides secretly in the dowry house of an unfavored concubine.
After leaving Xie Mansion, the Third Prince went to his aides anxiously, wanting to get rid of Xiao Jin.
However, before they could work out a safe solution, something happened in the Third Prince's Mansion.
The Third Prince's wife had no idea that the Third Prince was going to take Xie Lan as his concubine, and she even went to Xie's house in person to propose marriage.
Today happened to be the day when the Third Prince's wife held a flower-viewing banquet in the mansion. The Third Prince's favorite concubine, Sun, originally wanted to praise the headdress worn by Princess Kang next to her.
Who would have thought that suddenly, as if possessed by a demon, he revealed in front of all the noble ladies that the Third Prince appeared to love the people like his own children, but in reality he was arrogant and extravagant, and liked to pursue all kinds of rare and exotic treasures.
In order to please him, his subordinates searched for all kinds of treasures and forced many people to death. It can be said that every piece of the collection in the hands of the third prince was stained with blood.
In order to collect the finest eastern pearls, the third prince once ordered the entire fishing village, more than a hundred fishermen, to be slaughtered.
The strangest thing was that not only Concubine Sun seemed to be possessed by an evil spirit, but several other concubines and wives also confirmed this to the noble ladies present.
The Third Prince's wife even opened the storehouse and let the noble ladies see the large number of rare treasures collected by the Third Prince, as well as the weapons hidden in the secret room.
Even the account books secretly collected by the Third Prince were found by his wife.
To today's banquet, the Third Prince's wife also invited Chen Zhaoyi, who has been quite favored by the Emperor recently.
Seeing those account books, Chen Zhaoyi was ecstatic. Ever since she learned that she was pregnant and that the fetus in her belly was a prince, Chen Zhaoyi had been looking forward to the death of the third prince Xiao Dingchun.
She knew that these account books were the weapons to overthrow the third prince, so she immediately took the palace maids and nannies who served her and brought the account books back to the palace.
The emperor originally thought that Chen Zhaoyi had become spoiled and had developed inappropriate thoughts, and wanted to frame the third prince. It was not until several imperial censors presented the ironclad evidence brought back from the third prince's mansion that was sufficient to prove the third prince's crime that the emperor was instantly furious.
He immediately ordered the commander of the imperial guards to surround the Third Prince's residence, and personally left the palace to conduct a thorough investigation in the Third Prince's residence.
By the time the third prince got the news, it was too late.
Not only did the emperor order the imperial guards to seize all the money he had extorted from the people, he also found out that he had used his secretly raised private soldiers to pretend to be pirates, robbed merchant ships, and then used the stolen money to recruit soldiers.
The banquet hosted by the Third Prince's wife invited too many people, and the news soon spread throughout Kyoto. Even the common people knew that the Third Prince's hands were stained with blood in his efforts to squeeze the people's wealth.
In order to quell public anger, the emperor demoted the third prince to a commoner and confined him to a royal temple for life, requiring him to pray for atonement for the people who were killed.
After the Third Prince learned of the verdict, he was extremely angry. He could not understand why his wives and concubines seemed to be possessed by evil spirits and went crazy to expose all his crimes.
He had a hunch that Xiao Jin was responsible for this, but he had no evidence. And that bastard had been kept in the palace by his father to handle memorials since he recognized his ancestry, and had never appeared in this matter.
Ever since he learned about the fate of the third prince, Xie Changting has been feeling uneasy, always having a premonition that disaster is about to happen to him.
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