“As soon as the rumors spread, impeachment memorials against the Crown Prince have already piled up by the basketful.” Song Chengru spoke concisely, looking at Song Chuyi and Song Jue in turn. “This matter won’t be easily resolved. Never mind His Majesty’s thunderous fury—even just to give the people of Jiujiang an explanation, this matter cannot be raised high only to be set down gently.”
Indeed, otherwise wouldn’t it chill the hearts of all under heaven? Their heir apparent hadn’t even ascended yet and was already reaching out to grab the common people’s life-saving money. If they didn’t produce a result that could put people at ease, wouldn’t it appear that Emperor Jianzhang was indulging the Crown Prince, treating the lives of common people like grass? It was said that water could both carry and capsize a boat. If this matter wasn’t handled well, Jiujiang would likely become a second Yangquan. Yangquan could erupt like that over some mines—how much more so for the Jiujiang people who had been exploited and suffering unbearably for so many years?
Song Jue’s face was cold. In his heart, he truly found the Crown Prince’s absurdity and greed unbelievable. Although previously there had been Prince Duan pressing forward step by step, and Prince Gong eyeing covetously from behind, generally speaking, Emperor Jianzhang had never entertained the thought of deposing the Crown Prince. Prince Duan later even met total defeat and lost his head. Yet even so, the Crown Prince had never stopped his grasping hand from reaching outward. Zhou Weizhao’s battle at Yangquan had won goodwill for the Eastern Palace, but now it was basically completely exhausted. He turned back to look at Song Chuyi, his tone heavy. “Although the Crown Prince and His Highness the Crown Prince’s Grandson have never been close, when the Eastern Palace has problems and the Crown Prince suffers censure, His Highness the Crown Prince’s Grandson will inevitably be implicated as well.”
This was also why Song Chengru and Song Chuyi had both hesitated and refused to board the Eastern Palace’s ship in the first place. It was really because the Crown Prince’s favoritism toward Senior Lady Fan was severe—he simply couldn’t hold the bowl level. An heir apparent who couldn’t even be fair in inner household matters—how could people feel at ease entrusting their lives and fortunes to his hands to fight alongside him? Now these worries had already come true. Song Chengru coughed once. “Although this matter is a great error, to say that because of it His Majesty would truly do something to the Crown Prince is also unrealistic. After all, the Eastern Palace has gone so many years without committing any major errors on the surface. His Highness the Crown Prince’s Grandson and Prince Dongping can both be considered accomplished. This time it’s even Prince Dongping supervising the Jiujiang case.” He fell silent for a moment, then followed up, “After all, the Crown Prince has been Crown Prince for so many years. He knows how to deal with His Majesty. Now that this matter has erupted, the Eastern Palace will have someone to clean up the aftermath. What’s to be feared is that when the princes enter the capital shortly, they’ll use this matter to make an issue of it…”
Teacher Chang also sighed. “It’s already time for the princes to enter the capital. The Crown Prince usually guards against these people like anything. Clearly knowing it’s reached such a critical juncture, yet at this time causing such a matter to erupt—isn’t this obviously adding trouble for people?”
Song Chuyi’s heart stirred. She felt she seemed to have grasped some important information, but immediately was so startled by her own speculation that her face turned pale and her heart beat faster—if it truly was as she suspected, then the Crown Prince would really be too frightening.
Fu Youde, upon receiving the news, was shocked into falling ill—this time he was truly ill, frightened sick by the Crown Prince’s audacious recklessness. When the Crown Prince conducted business in Xibei, he had already been on tenterhooks. But the Crown Prince truly needed silver, and this matter wasn’t something the Crown Prince personally did—it was done under the false pretense of the Fan family’s reputation, so he just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know. But he hadn’t expected the Crown Prince would also accept Yang Yunyong’s money and help Yang Yunyong maneuver connections, suppressing things until the Ministry of Revenue couldn’t see half a coin of benefit. This was clearly finding his life too comfortable and looking for discomfort for himself. Otherwise, who would go smash their head against a wall for no good reason? The heir apparent colluding with major regional officials—what kind of charge was this?! Just thinking about it made Fu Youde feel faint.
He endured his headache and cough to go to the Eastern Palace. After Chen Dezhong and the others had all finished expressing their opinions in a cacophony of voices, he sat in his seat for a long time without speaking—he had thought the Crown Prince had done this while keeping everyone in the Eastern Palace in the dark. But now it seemed Chen Dezhong clearly had known all along, and had even personally handled this matter.
The Crown Prince was truly too muddled. He glanced at the Crown Prince and coldly interrupted everyone’s chattering. “So what you’re saying is, this matter is true? Old Chen, you personally handled this silver?”
Chen Dezhong opened his mouth, looking at him somewhat guiltily and evasively, then turned his head away—naturally it was true. Otherwise, if Yang Yunyong dared openly give silver to the Eastern Palace, people would have discovered it long ago.
The Crown Prince’s complexion was extremely poor, his lips showing not a trace of color. He actually looked even more haggard than Fu Youde. He raised his hand to cough for a while, feeling his throat itch with a metallic sweetness rising up, his mouth full of the taste of rust. Enduring the discomfort, he twisted his head to glance at Fu Youde. “Now that the matter has already erupted, asking these questions is useless. Better to think about how to respond—that’s most important.”
How to respond? Fu Youde’s chapped lips slowly began to move. He first glanced at Chen Dezhong beside him. “How to respond? As Your Highness said, you never personally took Yang Yunyong’s silver, never received Yang Yunyong, and never had any correspondence with him. Although Chen Dezhong is one of our Eastern Palace’s people, who can guarantee he didn’t become greedy for money and grab wealth using your reputation?”
Chen Dezhong was so shocked he almost jumped up. He stared at Fu Youde with wide eyes, sputtering for a long time unable to say half a sentence—Fu Youde actually wanted the Crown Prince to push him out as a scapegoat!
But Fu Youde didn’t care about him, not even looking at him again. In his view, anyone who would facilitate the Crown Prince in doing such a foolish thing was a disaster better removed anyway, not much use. He looked at the Crown Prince, then swept his gaze around the circle of Eastern Palace officials whose faces showed complex expressions, and asked again, “If Chen Dezhong goes to take the blame, at most you’ll just be accused of lax supervision, criticized for being too magnanimous. But if the one who accepted silver was you yourself, then that would be colluding with major regional officials. The difference between these two—I don’t need to say it, you also know. Besides this, does anyone have a better method?”
The Crown Prince then turned his eyes to look at Chen Dezhong, his gaze heavy.
Chen Dezhong felt as if someone had suddenly struck him with a heavy blow. His entire person was stunned. He never expected that in the end, this matter would still fall on his own shoulders. He tremblingly met the Crown Prince’s gaze, and his muddled mind finally gained a moment of clarity.
He had no choice. Whether he was willing or not, he must shoulder this matter. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be just him alone who died—his entire family would suffer misfortune.
Clearly the Mid-Autumn Festival hadn’t arrived yet. Clearly the weather was still very hot. But his body was icy cold all over, as cold as a dead person with no difference. His knees went weak and he knelt on the ground, unable to utter half a word.