It took less than half an hour for her to come out, and she was not the only one.
Following the Emperor and the Crown Prince at the front were over twenty high-ranking officials.
Shen Dongxue whispered, "Sister, this is my first time seeing the Emperor and so many lords!"
Shen Chunying thought to herself: Who isn't!
Thinking this, she did not forget to instruct her younger sister, "Keep your voice down. Don't embarrass the Lord Junior Preceptor."
The Lord Junior Preceptor had promoted several of them, all women, to official positions. This had offended the eyes of quite a few people. To prove themselves, they could only do better than the men.
What followed was even more shocking. With the Emperor's carriage leading the way, the Lord Junior Preceptor's carriage followed closely behind, traveling side by side with the Crown Prince's.
That was not all. Along the way, that Little Zhu called out the Emperor and the lords one by one...
Seeing the expressions on some of the lords' faces, which looked as if they had eaten shit, and the increasingly obvious smile on the Crown Prince's face, one would know that they had all heard it. Yet, no one spoke up to stop it, and they even deliberately pretended not to hear anything.
Upon hearing that the Crown Prince would die an early death, they could not help but quickly glance at His Highness's expression.
Uh... why was he still smiling and talking to the Lord Junior Preceptor? The smile on his face did not look like a fake smile either!
The Lord Junior Preceptor's status in the royal court seemed to be even more awesome than they had known!
Even Wang Qingxiao and the other few who could not hear the inner voices looked at the Lord Junior Preceptor, who was following closely behind the imperial procession, riding neck and neck with the Crown Prince's carriage, talking and laughing.
They were filled with profound respect. As people who admired the strong, they instantly developed a sense of reverence for the nine-year-old Yue Fuguang.
Just as their favorability broke through the sixty mark, an abrupt voice suddenly echoed in their ears, [Master, Gao Ming was secretly executed by the Emperor.]
Wang Qingxiao and the other three were almost scared out of their wits by this sentence. Gao Ming's name had been causing a massive uproar lately, known by everyone and anyone.
Executed by the Emperor, and secretly at that—was this something they were allowed to hear?
The few of them were so frightened that they wanted to drop to their knees, but they were stopped in time by the Shen sisters.
Although they still did not know what was going on, since everyone from the Emperor to the Crown Prince and the lords were pretending not to hear,
they must also 'not hear' it!
Shen Chunying's beautiful eyes darted around. She felt that this matter was not simple. From Elder Lord Yu's hint, it could be seen that they had known about this early on, but no one had spoken of it!
Among all this... she quickly glanced at the leading carriage. Did the Lord Junior Preceptor know about this?
"Gao Ming? Whether it's the crimes he committed or the public uproar he caused, he deserves to die. It's normal for the Emperor to behead him, but why execute him secretly?"
Shen Chunying sighed inwardly; it seemed the Lord Junior Preceptor did not know.
Shen Dongxue grabbed her sister's hand. The two sisters exchanged a glance, both understanding the meaning in each other's eyes.
Shen Dongxue gently drew a stroke on her sister's palm, then silently pointed at herself.
Shen Chunying shook her head firmly and pushed her back a little.
[Of course, it involves a royal scandal.]
Hearing the words 'royal scandal', not only the twelve guards following Yue Fuguang, but even the Crown Prince and the lords behind them closed their eyes!
Here it comes again. They shouldn't have tagged along to join the fun!
Although they thought they shouldn't have come to join the fun, their ears perked up very honestly.
With that eagerness, if they weren't sitting in their carriages, they would have loved to scoot closer to the Lord Junior Preceptor.
As for Emperor Mingxi, whose face had already turned dark, he quickly consoled himself. His only comfort was that this was not the royal court, and there were only about twenty important ministers following behind him.
They naturally wouldn't spread royal 'rumors'!
System: It had really given the Emperor a lot of face by not exposing this matter in the royal court! Tsundere JPG.
"A juicy piece of gossip? Let's hear it."
Yue Fuguang had just taken out some sunflower seeds when she saw her cousin Yu Huaixian slipping up to the front of her carriage. His face was pale, looking as if he wanted to say something.
But the words were stuck in his mouth, and he couldn't make a sound. Seeing that he couldn't speak, he began to look warily at the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and their guards.
As long as these people made a move, he would immediately take his younger cousin and flee for their lives!
Yu Huaixian had only partaken in listening to gossip at his granduncle's house a few times before. This was his first time consuming such a life-threatening 'poisonous gossip'!
Even if his cousin's status was special, it was hard to guarantee that the Emperor wouldn't fly into a rage out of humiliation!
Emperor Mingxi: Are you underestimating me? Am I the kind of emperor who lacks a view of the big picture?
Even if he wanted to make a move, today would only become his, Xie Fei's, death anniversary, and his Crown Prince would ascend the throne right on the spot!
Besides, regarding this gossip, he glanced at some of the people behind him—letting them hear it wouldn't be a bad idea. There is no harm without comparison, after all!
[This is also related to the death of Emperor Mingxi's father. Master, do you still remember Qu Zheng, the schoolmate who was killed by Gao Ming?]
"Of course I remember. Didn't you say before that he was evading an assassination before Gao Ming killed him? He was just a scholar, why would anyone want to harm him?"
[This Qu Zheng's real name was Zheng Qu. He was originally from the Zheng family of Yuzhou, and his father was the illegitimate younger brother of the Zheng family head.]
"The Zheng family with over five hundred years of heritage? Then how could he bear to change his first and last name? Taking his mother's surname?"
Usually, the descendants of prominent aristocratic families would only have children who changed their surnames if the mother's family was powerful and lacked an heir, which was also done to inherit the mother's family wealth and connections.
But since she married a concubine-born son as his legal wife, his mother's family couldn't possibly be more powerful than the Zheng family.
[Not necessarily. Qu Zheng's biological mother, surnamed Wu, came from a humble background. However, she had a cousin of her father's generation named Wu Shouxian, who was the second most favored figure before the late emperor—the illustrious Grand Companion Wu.
Because Wu Shouxian was highly favored by the emperor, the entire Wu family rode his coattails to prominence.]
"Little Zhu, I recall that while these great aristocratic families might commit all sorts of filthy deeds in the dark, they still fiercely guard their reputations in public.
A good name is the very foundation of their standing. Naturally, they wouldn't want to be associated with eunuchs. How could they allow their son to marry a eunuch's niece?"
[That's because Qu Zheng's biological grandmother, Concubine Wu, also came from the Wu family. With her sweet talk, she persuaded the head of the Zheng family at the time to let his son marry her own niece from her maiden family.
By using the next generation, she managed to keep her family tied to the Zheng family.
Before Concubine Wu was taken into the Zheng family, Wu Shouxian had not yet risen to power.
It was only after he made a name for himself and rose to prominence that the Zheng family realized they had a slight familial connection with the emperor's favorite eunuch.
During those years, the younger generation of the Zheng family happened to be struggling academically, with a lack of promising scholars. After weighing the pros and cons, the master of the Zheng family agreed to the marriage.
After all, he had plenty of concubine-born sons. Sparing one to form a marriage alliance with such a highly favored figure was hardly a loss.]
"So their mouths said no, but their actions honestly facilitated the marriage alliance. Hypocrites!"
[Exactly! It may have looked like Concubine Wu begged for the arrangement, but the old master never truly intended to oppose it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have later used Wu Shouxian's connections to send Concubine Wu's daughter—Qu Zheng's aunt—into the imperial palace.
This aunt, named Zheng Huaying, inherited her mother's looks and was as beautiful as a flower. As soon as she entered the palace, the lecherous emperor bestowed upon her the title of Beauty Hua, and she enjoyed his immense favor for quite some time.
One day, the old emperor took some aphrodisiacs and went too far, suffering a sudden stroke during his escapades. He died within a few days. Because his death was so sudden, it left Prince Rong with no time to move the treasures out of the vault.
Otherwise, with that kind of wealth backing him, Emperor Mingxi would have had a much harder time trying to get rid of his younger brother.]
