Chapter 236

Chapter 236 – Beauty Yuan

Chapter 236 Beauty Yuan

“Mother, is there anything else?” Seeing the Empress’ expression, Pei Luo’an asked uneasily.

“Actually, it’s nothing…” The Empress thought for a moment and decided not to say it. “That’s it. I am just unlucky today. How is your marriage? Do you like Liu Jingyu? She has Duke Qi’s Mansion as her support, and she is the most beloved junior of Duke Qi. Minister Liu is also young and promising. He might be able to join the imperial cabinet soon. It’s good for you to marry her.”

Marrying Liu Jingyu would have a lot of benefits, no less than marrying the Guardian General’s daughter.

“Mother, there is no rush.” Pei Luo’an frowned and said weakly, “I want to be in mourning for the ex-Crown Princess for a while longer.”

“It’s urgent! You are the Crown Prince of the country. Previously, you delayed your marriage because of Ji Hanyue. Now, you don’t have a son or a daughter. If Lord Jing gets married before you and has a child, you will be at a great disadvantage. You have to think carefully. Are you really not going to marry again because of Ji Hanyue?”

The Empress hated her son’s infatuation for Ji Hanyue and spoke without thinking.

“Mother…”

“Alright, alright, alright. I won’t talk about Ji Hanyue. I don’t bother to care about her, but as the Crown Prince, you have to choose a consort as soon as possible. Ji Youran is not suitable for you. She was not suitable before, and she is even more unsuitable now. She can’t even compete with a concubine for the title. What else could she do?”

The Empress said indifferently.

“Mother, it won’t be Ji Youran.” Pei Luo’an comforted the Empress.

The Empress was relieved and nodded, “That’s good. She doesn’t even deserve to be even your Side Princess with her status. If she hadn’t entered Eastern Palace early, you wouldn’t even need to give her the position of a Side Princess.”

The Empress really did not like Ji Youran. She felt that Ji Youran was narrow-minded and incompetent. The reason why Eastern Palace was in trouble before was mostly because of Ji Youran’s poor supervision. Accidents kept happening at that time. For example, a bedroom concubine suddenly appeared, and others suspected the Crown Prince, and she let Qu Mansion’s ladies bump into the Lord. These things were evidence of Ji Youran’s incompetence.

Not only was she incompetent, but also her family members were also useless. They lost the title of Earl Ling’an to a concubine-born son. They were indeed useless. The Empress thought that Ji Youran could only be a plaything and was not of much use.

“Mother, I will go back first. Please take care.” Pei Luo’an did not want to talk more about Ji Youran with the Empress, so he stood up.

The Empress nodded and said, “You take care, too. Don’t make any rash moves. Think about the marriage carefully. The Liu Family also has this intention. If you marry Liu Jingyu, Lord Jing will stop coveting her.”

“Mother, I understand.” Pei Luo’an bowed to the Empress, turned around, and left impatiently. When he got out of Pepper House Hall’s door, he heaved a sigh of relief. Still, he felt frustrated.

He was unhappy not only because of the assassination that happened today, but also the marriage that the Empress mentioned. Sometimes he felt that he really did not want to get married immediately, but the will of his mother and the current situation were both urging him to marry as soon as possible.

All these things made him upset. He didn’t want to talk about them. He casually took a road, and a few eunuchs followed him.

Suddenly, Pei Luo’an stopped. He faintly heard the sound of the qin instrument. It sounded familiar. After standing still with his hands behind his back and listening for a while, his expression changed slightly. His calm face became a little anxious. He turned around and walked towards the sound.

After turning two corners, the sound of the qin became clearer. In a pavilion at the corner, a beautiful woman in a light purple palace dress was sitting there gracefully. She gently played the qin. The sound of the qin was beautiful. Pei Luo’an slowly walked over.

When he got close to the pavilion, the palace maids on both sides were shocked to see him and wanted to greet him. Pei Luo’an waved his hand motioning them to save the formalities. His eyes fell on the slender woman, and his eyes suddenly widened.

The palace maids didn’t dare to say anything and stood still with their heads down.

Finally, the music stopped. The woman raised her head and seemed to have sensed something. She turned around and was stunned to see Pei Luo’an standing outside the pavilion. She hurriedly stood up and bowed to him. “Greetings, Your Highness!”

“Who are you?” Pei Luo’an’s gaze fell on the woman’s face, and his previously gentle face carried a trace of coldness.

As soon as the woman stood up, he saw her face. The sense of familiarity he felt faded. The woman looked like Ji Hanyue, but she was not her!

Inexplicably, his heart ached as if it had been pulled hard. His hands behind his back clenched into fists.

“I am a Beauty in the palace. My name is…” The woman wanted to introduce herself, but Pei Luo’an left with a flick of his sleeve, ignoring her. For a moment, she was embarrassed and angry, and her face turned red. She was a Beauty in the palace, and her surname was Yuan. After entering the palace, she was not favored. She knew Pei Luo’an was the Crown Prince because she had seen him before from afar, and the Crown Prince always wore light yellow clothes.

“Beauty, he is the Crown Prince.” After Pei Luo’an left, the palace maid finally dared to speak.

“How long has the Crown Prince been here?” Beauty Yuan suppressed the anger and embarrassment in her heart and asked slowly.

“The Crown Prince has been watching you for a long time. He just quietly listened to the qin music and did not let us greet him.” One of the maids answered.

“Does the Crown Prince like the qin?” Thinking about how the Crown Prince had been looking at her for a long time, Beauty Yuan blushed again and felt extremely shy.

The Crown Prince was handsome, and he was in his prime. The Emperor was too old compared with the Crown Prince.

“I don’t know, but I have heard that… the ex-Crown Princess liked the qin very much. She played it once on the Empress’ birthday. Everyone who heard of it said she was good at playing the qin.” The palace maid replied.

“The ex-Crown Princess?” Beauty Yuan pondered for a moment and asked curiously, “Is it true that the Crown Prince has a deep love for the ex-Crown Princess?”

“I don’t know. It should be true. I heard that the Crown Prince treated the ex-Crown Princess very well.” The palace maid didn’t dare to say anything more. She only said what everyone said.

Beauty Yuan no longer spoke. When she thought of the tenderness in the Crown Prince’s eyes the moment he saw her, she felt somewhat heartbroken. The Crown Prince and the ex-Crown Princess were a perfect couple, but unfortunately, the ex-Crown Princess died young. The Crown Prince was left alone in Eastern Palace, missing the ex-Crown Princess every night. It really made people feel pity for him.

It could be seen from the Crown Prince’s deep love for the ex-Crown Princess that the ex-Crown Princess must be an extremely beautiful woman, but unfortunately, she passed away at such a young age.

“I heard that there is a Princess Ji in Eastern Palace, and she is also the ex-Crown Princess’ cousin sister?” Beauty Yuan thought for a while and asked curiously.

“Yes, there is such a Princess Consort, but the Empress doesn’t seem to like her.” The palace maid said with a smile.

“Why? I heard that she has a good personality and she entered Eastern Palace because she wanted to take care of the ex-Crown Princess. Why doesn’t the Empress like her?” Beauty Yuan became even more curious.

“I really don’t know. The Empress just doesn’t like her.” The palace maid did not dare to continue the subject. She could only guess. After all, she was only a palace maid. If she said something wrong, she might lose her life. No one in the palace dared to talk nonsense.

The reason why she said so much to Beauty Yuan was that Beauty Yuan was very beautiful, much more beautiful than most imperial concubines. Moreover, she was young and might be favored by the Emperor in the future. The palace maid told her these things to curry favor with her.

Seeing that she couldn’t get anything more out of the maid, Beauty Yuan didn’t say anything else. She got someone to pack up the qin instrument and bring it back.

This encounter was really an accident, but sometimes, no one could tell whether an accidental meeting was a real encounter or an inevitable one…

Pei Luo’an’s mood was getting worse and worse. After randomly walking around the palace, he wanted to go back. He felt inexplicably depressed and annoyed.

But before he could leave the palace, he was summoned to the imperial study by a eunuch.

The Emperor sat on the high throne and watched Pei Luo’an, his eldest son, come in. The Emperor’s face was gloomy. Pei Yuanjun, who was sitting on the side, looked elegant and natural. He didn’t seem to be angry, but the coldness in his eyes could be seen when he looked up. He was simply a bloodthirsty King of Hell.

Meeting Pei Yuanjun’s eyes, even Pei Luo’an, the Crown Prince, felt inexplicably flustered.

Pei Luo’an became more and more aggrieved and angrier, but he had to suppress all his emotions deep in his heart, not daring to show any trace of negative feeling.

After Pei Luo’an bowed, the Emperor said, “Crown Prince, you are in charge of the Ministry of Justice, right?”

“Yes, Father, I am.” Pei Luo’an composed himself and replied.

“Don’t you know a notorious killer is missing from the Ministry of Justice’s jail?” The Emperor stared at Pei Luo’an with an unpleased look.

“Father, I really don’t know. It was only after the incident that Ministry of Justice’s people reported that a convict awaiting execution was missing.” Pei Luo’an replied.

He just knew that the assassin was a notorious killer convicted of the death penalty. For this reason, he had been very angry when he was outside the palace just now.

The Ministry of Justice had made such a big mistake, and he could hardly absolve himself from the blame.

“Crown Prince, may I ask how a death convict escaped from the Ministry of Justice’s prison without anyone’s help and why he went to assassinate a young lady who had nothing to do with him? Since he has escaped from jail, shouldn’t he go far away? Why did he do such a thing?” Pei Yuanjun said lazily.

“Uncle Yun, I don’t know about this matter, but I have already instructed the Ministry of Justice’s people to investigate the issue. If there is any clue, I will definitely report it to you.” Pei Luo’an said gently and cautiously. He did not dare to be careless when facing Pei Yuanjun.

“If I hadn’t happened to pass by, Fourth Lady Qu would have been killed. I really want to know why the person I like is so unsafe? Someone even sent an assassin to kill her!” Pei Yuanjun said coldly with a malicious look in his eyes. “If the truth couldn’t be found out, what is the use of the Ministry of Justice’s people? I have already asked West Prison’s people to go to Qu Mansion and find out whom Fourth Lady Qu offended in the past that they even tried to kill her!”

Who could a young lady like Qu Moying offend? Apart from that Second Madam Qu, there was really no one else. However, Second Madam Qu was just a woman. She had been staying in the inner yard all this time. How could she have the ability to get the Ministry of Justice to work for her? It seemed that it was more likely because of Pei Yuanjun that such an incident occurred.

Pei Yuanjun had previously agreed to let Qu Moying enter his mansion to be his consort, which might be the reason that led to today’s disaster.

Although this matter had been kept a secret, several important people in the palace all knew about it.

“The Ministry of Justice has really slacked off. It can’t even keep a good watch on its prisoners. Who is it that wants to harm Lord Yun? Crown Prince, can’t you even handle this matter?” The Emperor said coldly.

The Emperor had apparently equated the whole thing with murdering Pei Yuanjun.

Cold sweat broke out on Pei Luo’an’s forehead, and a trace of resentment flashed through his heart!