Chapter 257 The Beloved Has Died
The night grew deep.
The heavy snow had long ceased, leaving the night sky clear and dotted with flickering stars.
Moonlight spilled over the palace walls, making the vast palace appear even more desolate and tranquil.
Just as the palace gates were about to be locked, Chu Yi galloped in on horseback. Ignoring the Imperial Guards' attempts to stop him, he forced his way into the palace and headed straight for the Emperor's bedchamber.
"Your Highness, His Majesty has already retired for the night. No matter how urgent the matter, it must wait until tomorrow..."
Gao Gonggong blocked the entrance to the bedchamber, pleading earnestly.
Chu Yi raised his voice: "Father! For the sake of the friendship between Great Jin and Hongnan, I agreed to marry the princess as my Princess Consort. Why must you still take action against the one I love? She is but a weak woman who understands nothing! I beg you to release her!"
His voice pierced through the chamber, dousing the Emperor's rising passion like a bucket of cold water.
Beauty Zhou was furious. Among the three thousand beauties in the rear palace, it had finally been her turn to serve the Emperor, only to have the moment ruined by the commotion outside.
But the one outside was Prince Pingxi, the Emperor's highly valued son. Though resentful, she dared not voice her complaints.
The Emperor sat up from his couch and roared angrily, "What is all this noise in the middle of the night?"
"I will do whatever you ask of me, Father!" Chu Yi's voice was filled with urgency and sorrow. "In this life, I have already failed her. I cannot let her lose her life because of this..."
The Emperor's head throbbed with pain.
He had no idea what the boy outside was talking about.
But he could tell the boy was extremely anxious, as if something catastrophic had happened.
The Emperor had no choice but to drape his Dragon Robe over his shoulders and say coldly, "Come in and speak."
Gao Gonggong stepped forward and pushed open the bedchamber door.
Chu Yi strode in, catching the scent of ambergris in the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Beauty Zhou standing by in attendance and keenly felt the anger radiating from her.
"What matter is so important that you would disregard all etiquette and barge into my bedchamber in the middle of the night?" the Emperor's voice was icy. "If you cannot provide a satisfactory explanation, do not blame me for rewarding you with another twenty strokes of the cane."
Chu Yi dropped to his knees with a thud: "I beg you to release her!"
"Release whom?" The Emperor massaged his temples. "Explain yourself clearly!"
Chu Yi lifted his head: "The one I love, who resided in the former Prince of Pacifying the West Manor. Who else but you, Father, could have taken her from the manor without a trace?"
"Outrageous!" the Emperor thundered. "In your eyes, am I such a two-faced, unreasonable man? If I wanted to move against your beloved, would I have waited until today? Men lust for beauty—it is human nature. Your mother and I have discussed it: we shall allow your beloved to enter your household as a Side Princess Consort. You have truly wasted all my thoughtful consideration!"
A perfectly timed look of confusion crossed Chu Yi's face: "If it wasn't you, Father, then who could it be?"
The Emperor said coldly, "Gao Gonggong, dispatch the Imperial Guards to investigate immediately!"
Gao Gonggong acknowledged the order and turned to arrange the matter.
The commotion even disturbed the Empress, who arrived at the bedchamber with her attendants late at night.
Seeing Beauty Zhou standing there, the Empress spoke indifferently, "I fear His Majesty is no longer in the mood. Beauty Zhou, you may return and rest."
Beauty Zhou: "..."
Though she had come to serve the Emperor, and though having that service interrupted had angered her, at this moment, all she wanted was to watch the drama unfold.She wanted to know who had kidnapped Prince Pingxi's beloved, and even more, she wanted to know how extraordinarily beautiful that woman must be to have captivated Prince Pingxi so deeply...
But she dared not defy the Empress's words, so she reluctantly departed, glancing back every few steps.
About half an hour later, the commander of the Imperial Guards came to report: "Your Majesty, I led my men to search and investigate near the Prince of Pacifying the West Manor and found traces of the Gongsun family."
"What?" The Empress stood up in shock. "It must be just a coincidence."
She was eager for Chu Yi to marry a peasant girl; how could she possibly have harmed that peasant girl?
Chu Yi's eyes flickered.
It seemed his second brother indeed possessed the cunning and methods of a scholar. If nothing was uncovered, he would resent the Emperor.
If the truth came to light, he would frame the Eastern Palace for it.
Either way, Second Brother stood to lose nothing.
But Second Brother had forgotten the saying: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
At that moment, Cheng Xu hurried in from outside: "Commoners reported seeing a carriage rush out of the capital an hour ago. Miss Liu must have been in that carriage!"
Chu Yi rose from the ground, turned, and rushed out, with Cheng Xu quickly following.
The Emperor said with a stern face, "Take a hundred Imperial Guards and follow them!"
The Empress spoke up, "Perhaps that peasant girl, knowing Yi'er is about to marry the princess and seeing no hope for herself, staged this entire drama."
"If that's truly the case, this woman cannot be allowed to live." The Emperor's expression darkened. A woman with so many tricks was too troublesome. Before even formally becoming Third Brother's woman, she dared to cause such a commotion. Who knew what chaos she might stir up if she entered the household later?
With all this turmoil, it was already past midnight.
The Emperor wearily went to bed but couldn't sleep. After what felt like an eternity, he had just dozed off when he heard noise outside.
He thought it was time to get up for court.
Instead, it was Chu Yi returning.
This time, the Emperor clearly heard the profound grief in his son's voice.
Rubbing his temples, he sat up and walked out of the hall.
The commander of the Imperial Guards approached and reported in a low voice, "By the time His Highness arrived, Miss Liu had already stopped breathing..."
The Emperor was stunned.
The Empress had said the woman staged it, and he had thought so too.
How could she be dead?
Could it truly be someone else's doing?
"Father..." Chu Yi knelt on the ground, his back trembling as if suppressing sobs, his voice hoarse as if cut by a knife. "I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice for your son!"
The Emperor, being a man of many affections himself, couldn't understand how his son could be so broken over a woman.
Fortunately, this woman was dead; otherwise, Chu Yi would surely have done even more absurd things for her sake.
He stepped forward and helped Chu Yi up. "Rest assured, I will have this matter thoroughly investigated!"
Chu Yi lifted his head, and the Emperor clearly saw that his usually cold and self-possessed son's eyes were bloodshot, his lips shadowed with stubble, his entire appearance one of extreme exhaustion and sorrow.
"She was taken to an abandoned farmstead on the outskirts of the capital..." Chu Yi spoke in a raspy voice. "I just sent people to investigate. That farmstead originally belonged to the Gui family's ancestors."
The Emperor's expression changed.
The Gui family was Consort Hui's maternal family, and Lord Gui was Second Brother's maternal uncle.
Could the Gui family be involved in this?But the Imperial Guards said that members of the Gongsun family were also spotted near the Prince of Pacifying the West Manor last night. So was this the Empress's doing, or Consort Hui's?
Or were they working together?
Why target a peasant girl?
What was the purpose?
"Father, if this was Second Imperial Brother's doing, then it was an attempt to stir conflict between me and Crown Prince." Chu Yi spoke word by word, "If it was the Empress's scheme, similarly, she intended to make me and Second Imperial Brother irreconcilable... I have never aspired to sit on Your Majesty's throne, yet the Empress and Second Imperial Brother treat me as a pawn and caused the death of an innocent life. Father, I would give up everything, but I must seek justice for the one I love!"
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