C229

No one would have thought that the Empress Hu would take the initiative to come here.

After all, ever since what had happened that year, she had always been unhappy with Emperor Ruikang. Even if he vomited blood in anger during the New Year's Eve banquet, she still did not wish to see him.

But now, she actually came?

Ye Jingxing sized Empress Hu up. Seeing her dressed in plain clothes, he hurriedly stood up and bowed to her. Unexpectedly, Empress Hu waved her hand and said: "There's no need to be so courteous."

After saying that to Ye Jingxing, the Empress Hu looked directly at him and said, "This matter was done by the Madame Liu."

Once Empress Hu finished, Prince Duan and Ye Jingxing immediately understood.

However, the two of them were puzzled, they did not understand why the Empress Hu would take the initiative to investigate.

Empress Hu did not care about the two's expressions, she directly told them the evidence she had found. After she finished speaking, she looked at Prince Duan and said: "I have already ordered people to guard this place, how is it? After saying that, the Empress Hu paused for a moment before continuing, "But no matter what, I have to ensure that Fifth Brother can successfully ascend the throne."

After throwing down those words, the Empress Hu didn't even spare a glance at the dead Emperor Ruikang, and directly turned around and left.

When the figure of the Empress Hu disappeared, Ye Jingxing then looked at him and said, "Uncle Wang, what mother said just now..."

"I will check for myself." The Prince Duan did not feel at ease leaving this matter to others. The one who was harmed was his own brother, the one who had protected him for so many years.

It was fine if he didn't have a clue before, but now that he had a clue, he would definitely look into it.

Even if this clue was given to him by someone else, he would carefully investigate and distinguish if it was real or fake.

Hearing the meaning behind Prince Duan's words, Ye Jingxing remained silent and did not speak.

Right now, he was thinking about what Empress Hu had said before she left. He understood that she had sincerely wanted him to succeed the throne.

Thinking to this point, Ye Jingxing sighed in his heart, and suddenly felt that his decision from the beginning was truly too correct.

With the passing of the monarch, the funeral was naturally not a simple matter at all.

Although the Emperor Ruikang was killed by someone, but this matter was not spread out. After all, the body of the Emperor Ruikang was always in a bad state, and now that he suddenly went, although the court officials were suspicious, the Prince Duan, Empress Hu and Ye Jingxing still appeared at the same time.

After all, they had already chosen the successor before the death of the Emperor Ruikang.

The date for the inauguration of the throne was originally set at the beginning of February. Although the Emperor Ruikang had directly collapsed, the matter of the new emperor ascending the throne was still progressing smoothly.

It should have been a joyous occasion, but because of the sudden death of the Emperor Ruikang, the inauguration ceremony for the new Emperor did not look that joyful.

As for Ye Jingxing, who had already donned the dragon robe and ascended the throne, he was extremely agitated.

He was not upset because there were too many political affairs. During this period of time, even if there were any problems, as long as they were not too anxious, the court officials would suppress their anger and would not report them.

Therefore, the fact that Ye Jingxing was in a bad mood basically had nothing to do with political matters.

"Uncle Wang, about this matter, you don't need to ask."

The new emperor was still very respectful to the Prince Duan, but he never thought that Uncle Wang would suddenly find out about Yan Ye's situation in the next two days.

When Prince Duan saw Ye Jingxing's expression, he knew that what he had received from the letter was the truth.

Ye Jingzhi's eldest son was still alive.

Prince Duan really wanted to ask Ye Jingxing what exactly was going on, did he forget how good the crown prince was to him back then.

Since he clearly knew that his brother's son was still alive, why didn't he say it out loud? Why did he hide it from his brother?

His brother had clearly asked him about this before, but he was actually playing dumb at that time?

Prince Duan really wanted to ask, but he couldn't.

He didn't even know how he managed to make it to the palace after receiving this letter.

This was because he understood that although the nephew in front of him was of the younger generation, he was still the new Emperor.

He could rely on his status as Uncle Wang to interrogate him twice, but what about after that?

Even as a Prince Duan, he had no choice but to consider the future generations of his family.

His Majesty was his own older brother before. The two were blood related, but in two or three more generations, their own descendants and older brothers would only be normal blood brothers.

Ye Jingxing could tell that the Prince Duan wanted to speak, but on this matter, he really couldn't say anything.

Just as the awkward atmosphere between Ye Jingxing and Prince Duan was spreading, a report came in from outside the door.

"Your Majesty, Esteemed Empress Dowager came."

The people who could be called the empress dowager in the palace were the former Empress Hu and Ye Jingxing's mother, the former Consort De.

It was just that the previous Consort De, the current empress dowager, rarely went out. Not only did she respect the empress dowager at every turn, she even warned her son to not visit her often.

Although the empress dowager was very careful and afraid of offending the empress dowager, it was as if the once Empress Hu and now Empress Dowager Hu didn't take her seriously at all.

When Empress Dowager Hu arrived, Ye Jingxing and Prince Duan immediately withdrew their expressions. One of them felt guilty, while the other was worried that their imperial sister-in-law would find out something.

Who knew that after Empress Dowager Hu came in, she directly swept a glance over Ye Jingxing, then looked at Prince Duan and said, "I didn't allow Your Majesty to speak of Yan Er's news."

"What?"

Seemingly at the same time that Empress Dowager Hu finished speaking, the Prince Duan cried out in alarm.

Empress Dowager Hu wasn't shocked by Prince Duan's reaction at all. She looked at him and gave a slight nod before continuing, "I've long known that Yan'er was still alive, but my thoughts were the same as Yan'er's. I didn't want him to involve the affairs of the imperial family again." With that, Empress Dowager Hu paused before continuing. "I only have this one grandson now. I don't want him to be in danger again. That's why I warned His Majesty not to speak of it."

Prince Duan did not expect that this matter, not only did royal sister-in-law already know about it, she also prevented her nephew from informing her royal brother about it.

Thinking about the contents of the letter, the Prince Duan thought for a moment. He looked at Empress Dowager Hu and asked, "So is it true about Brother Yan and that Xu Family girl?"

Ye Jingxing and Empress Dowager Hu never thought that Prince Duan would actually know of this matter, but because Prince Duan told them about it, the two of them thought of the same person.

Ye Jingxing and Empress Dowager Hu quickly looked at each other, reading the meaning in each other's eyes.

However, neither of them mentioned the matter at this time. Empress Dowager Hu looked at Prince Duan and said, "I only hope that Yan'er can be a rich man in the future."

After she finished speaking to the Prince Duan, Empress Dowager Hu looked at Ye Jingxing and said, "Today, other than to talk about Yan Er, there is another matter that I want to speak to His Majesty about."

"What orders does Imperial Mother have?"

Ye Jingxing's attitude towards Empress Dowager Hu was extremely respectful. After all, he couldn't not rely on her help to smoothly ascend to this position.

Empress Dowager Hu didn't feel that Ye Jingxing's attitude towards her was problematic at all. After hearing his words, she nodded slightly and said, "I want to go to Spirit Valley Temple for three years of fast."

When Empress Dowager Hu said this, Ye Jingxing remembered what Xu Shiqiu had told him in the back before.

'When the empress intends to go to His Majesty's Li Palace, she'll probably find some excuse to stay outside for a few years. It looks like she's planning on going to see her great-grandson and daughter-in-law.

But before, even if he knew that Empress Dowager Hu wouldn't mention it, he wouldn't have mentioned it. He just hadn't thought that she would wait until the Royal Father was buried before saying anything. Who would've thought that she would do it now?

Prince Duan didn't know what Empress Dowager Hu wanted to do, but when she heard that she was going to the Spirit Valley Temple for three years, she wanted to ask.

But when he raised his head, he discovered that there was something wrong with Ye Jingxing's expression.

Thinking up to here, the Prince Duan who had a hard time guessing looked towards Empress Dowager Hu and said, "Imperial Aunt, you …"

Empress Dowager Hu saw that the Prince Duan was asking and didn't have any intention of hiding the fact that she loathed the Emperor Ruikang, so she directly opened her mouth and said, "Since Fifth Brother has already ascended the throne, I too wish to live the life I want."

Empress Dowager Hu didn't have any intention of hiding her thoughts. Right now, she was the eldest in the entire palace, and the new emperor and his mother respected her.

It could be said that she was now much more alive in the palace than she was back in Emperor Ruikang.

But so what?

There were no grandchildren, no daughter-in-law, and there was no grandson who was about to be born!

Right now, Empress Dowager Hu was very reckless. She didn't care about how Prince Duan and Ye Jingxing would react after hearing her words, and directly left behind the news of her departure the next day.

Seeing Empress Dowager Hu leave just like that, the Prince Duan thought for a long time. Finally, he looked at Ye Jingxing and said, "Your mother, does she want to leave the capital?"

Ye Jingxing had to admire his own Uncle Wang, to be able to guess this reason.

It's just that he didn't know how to explain in detail. He couldn't tell you about my nephew, your nephew, who even managed to swell her stomach before my eldest niece left.

Right now, your imperial sister-in-law is leaving the palace in such a hurry because she wants to guard the birth of her great-grandson.

Ye Jingxing was unable to say these words.

However, after he thought about it, he still looked at the Prince Duan and said seriously, "Imperial Mother is very kind to Royal Father, you should know about this matter as well, Uncle Wang. Now that the Royal Father is no longer here, and the Queen Mother wants to go relax, I can't say anything. "

What Ye Jingxing said made it difficult for the Prince Duan to say anything more.

After all, what happened back then was indeed done wrongly by her royal brother. Now that her royal brother was no longer here and was forcing her to stay in the palace, she would definitely feel unhappy.

Moreover, there was a grandson outside who was also unwilling to get involved with the Imperial Family. If this was him, he wouldn't be staying in the Imperial Palace.

Because it was really not easy to say anything about Empress Dowager Hu wanting to leave the palace, Ye Jingxing felt a little awkward and could only ask, "Can Uncle Wang tell your nephew how you found out about this news?"

Hearing Ye Jingxing's words, Prince Duan immediately regained his senses, looked at him and said: "What do you think is wrong with this?"

After Prince Duan finished speaking, without waiting for Ye Jingxing to speak, Xu Shiqiu rushed in.

Seeing Xu Shiqiu rushing over, Ye Jingxing and Prince Duan immediately felt that something was amiss. Without even needing them to ask, Xu Shiqiu immediately opened his mouth and said: "Ye Jingde is gone."