"Also, madam, your big brother, Crown Prince Lu Mao was brought over from Pingzhou by Ninth Prince and imprisoned by the emperor. I heard that the crown prince secretly murdered Ninth Prince, even the young prefecture lord was not spared …"
"How did it suddenly turn out like this? Everything happened without any warning …" Madam Xiao felt as if she had been struck by a bolt from the blue. Her mind was in a state of chaos, but she woke up very quickly because she heard hurried footsteps. A group of guards surrounded her.
"The Emperor has decreed that the Duke of Xiao wishes to rebel and commit a heinous crime. Today, he will investigate the entire Xiao Estate and imprison Madam Xiao within the Ministry of Justice."
With a single command, Madam Xiao was held captive by two guards.
"Let go, I will leave by myself!" Madam Xiao's face was full of righteousness. She threw off the guard's hand and walked outside with her head held high. At this moment, she felt that she was not Madam Xiao, but Lu Xi.
The doors of the Xiao family mansion were heavily closed. Two white seals were affixed to the door, temporarily putting the servants in jail.
The Duke of Yue's estate.
As soon as Feng Qianyue returned to the manor, Xiao Rou stumbled as she ran out of the room with disheveled hair and threw herself onto Feng Qianyue. Her face was pale as a sheet, and her eyes revealed a terrified and uneasy expression. Your Highness, is that true? My father and brother were stripped of their titles by the Emperor, and our Xiao family was sealed off? "
Feng Qianyue stood upright, tightly clenching his tender lips. His face was expressionless, and he did not say a single word.
Xiao Rou's heart sank when she saw his expression. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "It's true, it's true. How could it be like this? Why …"
As she spoke, her vision went black and she fainted in Feng Qianyue's arms.
"Someone come!" Pass on the message to the imperial physician! " Feng Qianyue held onto Xiao Rou's soft and supple body with both hands and shouted with a calm voice.
The imperial physician rushed over in a hurry. Feng Qianyue grabbed the imperial physician by the collar and said with a hint of threat in his voice, "In any case, protect this prince's child!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Your Highness, this lowly subordinate will do his best." The imperial physician lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Feng Qianyue stood in the middle of the courtyard, that cold light shone on his handsome face, and his shadow fell onto the ground. He was pondering how he had walked step by step to this day, and what sort of meaning Xiao Zhenhai held for him.
"Your Highness, the wangfei is awake." The butler walked over and said carefully.
Feng Qianyue walked into Xiao Rou's room. When Xiao Rou saw him, she hurriedly sat up and looked at him with teary eyes. She said, "Your Highness."
Feng Qianyue withdrew his pensive expression and sat down next to her. He held her hand and said, "Don't be afraid, this prince is here."
"Your Highness, is the Xiao family finished? What was going on this time? His father was fine, why would he rebel? "Father is an important official of the Great Zhou Empire. Even if foreign rentals were to start an army and rebel, father would not help grandfather." She used to have a smooth sailing life, but after she broke her leg and became a cripple, she was still able to marry a man as elegant as the Fourth Prince. It was all because she was the daughter of the Duke of Xiao; if it were anyone else, they would never want her in their lives.
But now, her mother had become like this. How would she live her life in the future?
"Your father was set up by someone. That person wanted to kill both your king and your father-in-law, so he plotted to turn your father into a rebel!" Feng Qianyue recounted how Xiao Zhenhai had been tricked by Feng Yunzheng and Lianyue, and purposefully left out the part where they framed Prince An Qing, Pan Lin, for the purpose of framing His Highness.
"It's them again!" Xiao Rou's eyes exuded intense hatred. "Why does the Ninth Prince have to protect that slut Lian Ru Yue? I wish I could kill them all!"
Now is not the time to be loyal. They will kill, but right now, the most important matter is the matter of the Xiao family. If the matter of the Xiao family is not resolved quickly, there will be no future for the Duke of Yue's family. Feng Qian frowned as his hypocritical gaze fell on Xiao Rou's face.
Xiao Rou clenched her fists tightly as her distracted eyes rotated. She nervously asked, "Your Highness, do you have any ideas?" What can I do? "
"This prince will arrange a sedan chair for you to go to Xining Hall to plead with the empress dowager. The empress dowager is your mother's adopted mother, Madam Xiao. Now that you're in uniform and carrying an imperial grandson, she will open a net for you."
"Then, then when I see the empress dowager, what do I request?" Xiao Rou asked.
"You can't beg her to let your father and brother go. If that's the case, she will either avoid you or immediately chase you away. You can only beg her to let you meet your father." Feng Qianyue slowly taught Xiao Rou what to say and how to do it.
"Yes." Xiao Rou nodded. "Then what should I say when I see father?"
Feng Qianyue stood up and slowly let go of Xiao Rou's shoulder with both hands. A complex expression flashed across his face as he pursed his lips without saying a word.
Xiao Rou became slightly anxious. "Your Highness, the two of you are fathers, and now that you are living through tribulations together, you don't have to worry about anything anymore. You can just say whatever you want to say."
"Tell my father-in-law that I, Feng Qianyue, will live and die with him, and will not let him bear the responsibility of the crime. I will confess this matter to my royal father tomorrow, and this matter was not done by my father-in-law alone.
When Xiao Rou heard this, her heart trembled. Her eyes were bloodshot as she looked at Feng Qianyue. "Your Highness …"
"All these years, I, Feng Qianyue, have been extremely careful in front of royal father. I have tread on thin ice, and have plotted step by step, but I have still been suppressed for many years. Now, with great difficulty, royal father has finally opened his heart and accepted me, and treated me like how he treated Feng Ye and the others.
The pained expression on his face deepened as tears flickered in his eyes. He smiled bitterly and said, "Go. For your father's sake, you must beg the empress dowager's mercy. I'll arrange a sedan chair for you."
As Feng Qianyue spoke, he prepared to get up and make the arrangements …
"No!" "Your Highness, now that Father has fallen, you absolutely must not let anything happen to him. If you admit to the emperor that this is your plan in order to act on your own will, not only will you be unable to save Father, but you will also never be able to turn the tables on yourself. What will I do then? Thus, Your Highness, you cannot admit it. You have to think of a way to get rid of this responsibility! "