Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 356 I guessed it, but I have no evidence

Tanchun frowned immediately: "Although the Queen Mother asked her to serve the meal, she doesn't know how to do anything, she just stood by and waited for a while.

"As for those so-called compliments to her, the Queen Mother's original words..."

Daiyu interrupted and said, "Although the Queen Mother's original words were not so exaggerated, they were not groundless."

Hongchang's eyes flickered between Tanchun and Daiyu. His heart moved slightly. He smiled, looked into Daiyu's eyes, and said tentatively:

"The other day there was a rumor in the palace that Your Majesty went to your own storehouse to find toys for Aunt Zhaoqing, fearing that you would not have anything to reward us young ladies when we entered the palace during the New Year."

Tanchun was shocked and quickly waved her hands to deny it for Daiyu: "Don't talk nonsense! Isn't this just putting Sister Lin on the fire?!"

Daiyu smiled and took Tanchun's hand, but whispered to Hongchang, "I have indeed prepared a lot of new and neat things for you this year.

“It’s true that Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager have rewarded me with many goodies in the past few years, but I also have a lot of stuff myself!

"When you come to pay New Year's greetings to the Queen Mother tomorrow, remember to go to the Yanjia Palace early. I will let you choose first, okay?"

Hongchang was so smart that he understood Daiyu's implication in just three or five breaths. His face changed slightly, but he immediately forced a smile:

"Aunt favors me, I am so lucky! I will come early tomorrow!"

As we talked and laughed, the sun set.

Daiyu looked at the sky outside and thought it was almost time, so she called Hongchang to come with her: "Yimin and I are going to the back hall to change our clothes and help the empress dowager get up and change her clothes. You can come too."

Hongchang readily agreed.

The three of them went quietly to the back hall.

At the end of the Shen period, the Empress Dowager, Daiyu and Tanchun were all ready, so they ordered Cheng Qian to go out and inform Empress Wan.

After a short rest, all the ladies-in-waiting, led by the Empress Dowager and the Queen, went straight to the Linde Hall in a mighty procession.

Let’s talk about the Imperial Study.

The Emperor Taishang and Emperor Zhaoming had originally planned to play a game of chess, but before the Emperor Taishang sat down, someone outside reported that the Prince of Dongping and Cao Yu had come to the Imperial Study to pay a visit.

The Supreme Lord hurriedly ordered the Prince of Dongping to come in. Emperor Zhaoming smiled and told Tao Xingjian to go out and find a place to settle Cao Yu and asked him to wait.

The Prince of Dongping was the same age as the Grand Master. However, he had been exposed to the wind and sun at sea for many years. Although he was handsome when he was young, he now looked three years older than the Grand Master.

He looked like a black tower. He was not wearing the formal dress of a king of a different surname, but a dark casual suit with a golden crown on his head and a golden belt around his waist.

The Supreme Lord looked at his attire and was both angry and amused: "A Donghai has treated you like a local rich man? How can you be so vulgar?"

Emperor Zhaoming smiled secretly, and seeing Tao Xingjian just coming back, he whispered something to him.

Here, the Prince of Dongping had just finished paying homage to the Supreme Being and the Emperor with a serious look on his face. Outside, Tao Xingjian had already brought in a black jade crown and a black jade.

Emperor Zhaoming smiled and pointed, asking Prince Dongping to change into it: "Since Prince Dong likes black, why not use a full set!"

The Prince of Dongping was silent for a moment, bowed deeply to express his gratitude, and stood there, allowing Tao Xingjian to change his clothes.

"They said that your face was covered in black and gray when you came to Beijing. What happened? I don't remember passing by a coal mine when I came back from Donghai!"

Tai Shang looked at his new crown belt and nodded with satisfaction.

Prince Dongping bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I did not return to the capital directly from Donghai."

The Supreme Lord and Emperor Zhaoming were both silent.

The Prince of Dongping refused to explain his words immediately, but turned to the Supreme Lord, crossed his hands and asked:

"I have seen the arrest warrant issued by Your Majesty for Prince Beijing Shui Rong. May I ask Your Majesty, is it really impossible to forgive Brother Rong's crime?"

The Supreme's expression suddenly turned cold: "He has rebellious intentions!

"The emperor had given his family a few days to surrender themselves out of kindness, but his princess took the opportunity to destroy all the correspondence in the family!

"Unfortunately, his chief secretary has already confessed his treasonous thoughts to me, and the evil Taoist Zhang who acted as a go-between for him has also confessed to the crime!

"Such a rebellious and ungrateful bastard must not be forgiven!"

Prince Dongping raised his eyebrows: "Since the two confessions corroborate each other, it can be regarded as ironclad evidence. Why doesn't Your Majesty catch all of their accomplices?"

"Actually..." Emperor Zhaoming honestly touched his nose, looked at the Supreme Lord, and then looked at the Prince of Dongping, "The confession of the Chief Clerk of Prince Beijing was only glanced at by the guards, and no confirmation was left.

“As for that evil Taoist priest, he has not spoken the truth for many years, so it is hard to take his confession seriously.

"Brother Rong has the intention of treason and deceiving the emperor. This has been witnessed and heard by many people, including the emperor, the queen mother, and General Feng Tang. He cannot be denied.

"As for the rest, it depends on whether we can catch Rong and make him confess!"

After saying that, he sighed, shook his head, and lowered his head with emotion, "Rong and I grew up together, but who knew he would be such a person..."

The Prince of Dongping pondered for a moment, stood up, clasped his fists solemnly, lifted his robe and knelt down, and reported in a deep voice:

“Reporting to Your Majesty, Your Majesty: Because Your Majesty was assassinated in Jiangnan, those two scouts were indeed sent by me, so I feel very uneasy.

"After receiving the news, I conducted a thorough cleanup of the army, and indeed found several spies and obtained some important information.

"At that time, I had not received the decree from His Majesty to come to Beijing to celebrate the New Year, and I was afraid that the news would leak out. After thinking it over again and again, I left the station without permission and quietly went to Shanxi following the clues.

“That clue is indeed true.

"I found Shui Rong in Shanxi!"

Emperor Zhaoming stood up suddenly: "Oh?! Is Shui Rong alive or dead? Where is he now?!"

"Your Majesty, when I found Shui Rong, he had already starved to death in the private prison of the coal mine!"

The Prince of Dongping looked very reluctant and whispered, "He is already skin and bones... I brought his body back and it is now in my home."

Emperor Zhaoming looked hurriedly at the Supreme Being who was sitting stiffly and silently on the side.

The old man's beard was trembling slightly, and tears fell from his eyes drop by drop. He cursed with a sob:

"This evil creature! If he had even a little bit of gratitude and reverence, he wouldn't have ended up like this!

"His grandfather and his father were heroes all their lives..."

Seeing his old father in tears, Emperor Zhaoming sighed, stepped forward and personally handed him a handkerchief to wipe his tears, then turned back and asked Prince Dongping:

“Since the King of the East got the news from the spies, this must have been done by foreigners in collusion with insiders.

"Dong Wang, can you find out who the murderer is who colluded with Rong Ge'er and caused his death?"

Upon hearing this question, the expression on Prince Dongping's face became strange, as if he was neither smiling nor crying:

“As for this person, I didn’t find out, but I guessed it.

“It’s just that I have no evidence.

"I wonder if Your Majesty and the Supreme Lord are willing to trust me this time?"