If not abolished

Chapter 177 Learning the truth

Han Palace

"Father, my mother's body is still warm, why are you in such a hurry to go to the fiefdom?" Zhu Zhanqi had stayed in the capital long ago and could not go north with the King of Han for the time being. He thought that his father would at least stay in the capital for a while longer. Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu specially asked for grace to go to the fiefdom on time and bring his mother's coffin north.

"When your mother was alive, she often urged me to go to the fiefdom. This can be regarded as fulfilling your mother's wish." Zhu Gaoxu brought up the Princess of Han.

Now Zhu Zhanqi didn't know what to say to stop it.

"Father, in this case, I, your son, have discussed this with the Crown Princess yesterday. When the time comes, I will accompany you to carry mother's coffin to the north." Zhu Zhanhe said from the side.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at him and said, "If the Crown Princess is not fully recovered, you should wait a while before going."

"Shu Ning's health has almost recovered these days. She has been in the capital and her mood is not very good. It would be a good thing for her to change her environment as soon as possible." Zhu Zhanhe said again.

"Since you have already discussed it, let's go together, father and son." Zhu Gaoxu saw this and could not stop him. He turned around and said to Zhu Zhanqi, "You will be alone in the capital from now on. Be careful."

"My son understands."

Afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu called Zhu Zhanqi to his study and explained some things to him.

"These are some people in the capital that you can use. Now they are handed over to you. If there is any disturbance in the capital, you must remember to send news to me at any time. The capital has not been moved yet, and the journey is far. When the capital is moved in the future and is closer, it will be ok to make more trips a day." Zhu Gaoxu handed over the forces in his hands to him.

"Father, do you still want to seize the throne?" Although Zhu Zhanqi was not as upright as the Crown Prince, he did not quite agree with his father's desire to seize the throne. The hope was really too slim.

“Do you think such a small setback can make me fall? I am just leaving the capital, so I can’t do it so obviously. Besides, didn’t your royal grandfather fight all the way from a vassal king to the capital before he ascended the throne? Since there is no hope for the legal succession, I might as well purge the court and rebel. They are forcing me to do this.” Zhu Gaoxu seemed to be staying at home peacefully these days and doing nothing, but he was already thinking of other plans in his mind.

"But if we lose..." Zhu Zhanqi was still unsure.

"You're already thinking about losing before we even start. I don't want to hear you say that again. Even if something does happen in the future, at least you've tried your best. I won't just sit there and wait for death."

"I understand, son. I will follow father's arrangements in everything." Although Zhu Zhanqi was not optimistic about Zhu Gaoxu, if his father really succeeded, then Zhu Zhanji's current position would be his.

Little classmate Zhu Zhanji forgot one thing. He is not the prince of Han. He has an older brother above him. Even if Han really succeeds, Zhu Zhanji's current position will not belong to him, but to his older brother.

"You are smarter than your elder brother. Your elder brother is stubborn. Don't let him know about this. It will be troublesome if he knows. I do all this for your future." The King of Han patted Zhu Zhanqi on the shoulder and encouraged him.

"Yes." Zhu Zhanqi was even happier after hearing what the King of Han said.

Concubine Guo's place

"My Lady Concubine, why is the prince so anxious to go to his fiefdom?"

"Who knows? Anyway, it's impossible that it's all for the princess as he said. Others may not know what's going on with the princess, but don't we know?" Concubine Guo has been suffering from insomnia these days. Perhaps she has really done a lot of bad things.

"My Lady Concubine, the prince asks you to go to the study."

"now?"

"Yes, the prince told you to go immediately."

"understood."

"Your Majesty."

"Here you are." The King of Han went over to help him up. Concubine Guo was somewhat flattered.

"I don't know why the prince specifically called me here..." Although the King of Han seemed to be fine, she felt inexplicably scared at this moment.

"Of course I'm here to reward you. I have to thank you for your help in everything concerning the princess."

"Your Highness, this... your concubine..." Concubine Guo was even more frightened when she thought of this. Now the King of Han wanted to reward her for this matter. This was not a reward at all. He probably wanted her to never tell this secret. And how could one really shut up? Of course... the mouth of a dead person is the safest. This man could even kill his wife, let alone her. Thinking of this, Concubine Guo was already shaking with fear. "Your concubine knows nothing. How can I accept the reward from Your Highness? From now on, I will recite sutras and pray for the princess."

"Since you said so today, you must say so from now on. Otherwise, you should know the consequences better than me."

"I understand. I understand."

Concubine Guo had finally come out of Prince Han's study and she hasn't recovered yet. "Concubine, what did the prince say to you that scared you so much?" The maid asked, holding her trembling hand. She had never seen Concubine so frightened.

"Go away, go away." Concubine Guo didn't dare to say anything here, she just wanted to leave quickly.

After finally walking out, Concubine Guo looked around to see if there was anyone around, then she said, "The prince called me over and said he wanted to reward me."

"Reward Her Majesty, why?" The maid was completely confused.

"He said it was for the princess's matter. What a joke. How can I accept this? If people knew that the princess was murdered by the prince, they would go crazy. If this matter goes wrong, I'm afraid I will be the first person to die."

"What did the queen say?" The maid was also scared after hearing this.

"Of course I will never admit it."

After the two men left, two people suddenly walked out from the rockery.

"Did you hear it just now?" It turned out that the people behind the rockery were the Crown Prince's wife and a maid who were walking in the garden.

"I heard it." The maid was also shocked when she recalled what she had just heard.

"My mother was actually murdered by someone, and that person was my husband. This is really ironic..."

"Will the Crown Prince's wife tell the Crown Prince about this?" asked the maid.

"Didn't you hear it just now? The concubine will never admit it even if you beat her to death. If I tell the prince so rashly without any evidence, how can he believe that it was his father who killed his mother? So we need evidence." said the prince's wife.

"But where is the evidence?" The maid had no idea.

"Come to think of it, wasn't mother always taking care of her body before? But mother's health didn't get better. I always felt that mother was getting weaker and weaker until she suddenly fainted and passed away. Do you think there was something wrong with the medicines she took?"

"As for how to make sure that no one would notice, this is indeed a good idea. However, the princess's food and medicines are checked by special people, and there are also doctors taking her pulse. Could it be that they didn't notice it?"

"Since he wants to make it undetectable, either he has bribed everyone, or even the doctor cannot detect the problem with the medicine. But if there is indeed something wrong with the medicine, the prince will probably destroy the evidence. Hurry up and go to the kitchen to see if the medicine is still there, and then secretly take out a copy. If there is really a problem, we will give it directly to the prince." The prince's wife hurriedly asked her to go.

"Don't worry, Princess. I'll go right away." The maid went there.

Kitchenette.

"Why did the girl come here in person today?"

"Has the tonic for the Crown Princess been prepared?"

"Not yet. I will get ready right away."

"Wait, I'm here just in time. Tell me where the medicine is and I'll boil it today." The maid thought to herself that this was God's help.

"Why bother you, young lady? This is what we servants should do."

"Alas, I am also free today. Besides, the Crown Prince's wife said that you have worked hard these days and will reward you when the time comes. I will only do it today and will not steal your work."

"Since the young lady is determined, then it's fine." The nanny told her: "Where is the Crown Prince's Consort's tonic? The young lady should not take the wrong one. The one on the left is for the Crown Prince's Consort."

"Okay, then I understand." The maid walked over and saw a medicine bag on the other side. She thought that only the Crown Prince's wife and the Princess drank tonics in the mansion, so this must be for the Princess.

Thinking of this, she secretly took a pack.

"Princess, I got it." The maid took out the medicine bag from her arms.

"Are you sure this is it?" The Crown Princess confirmed with her.

"It's confirmed. I was afraid I was wrong. I got information from the people in the kitchen and it's true." The maid guaranteed.

"Nowhere is good."

"Then should we show it directly to the prince?"

The Crown Princess shook her head. "We are just suspicious now. It would be bad if there is no problem with the medicine. Go and do one more thing. Say that I feel a little unwell suddenly. Go and ask a doctor to come and take a look."

"The Crown Princess is really thoughtful."

"Princess Consort, the doctor is here." At this time, the Crown Princess was lying on the bed.

"Doctor, I suddenly feel dizzy and I don't know why."

"Then let's check the prince's wife's pulse first."

The Crown Princess extended her hand.

After a while, the doctor said, "After the Crown Princess had a miscarriage, she has some deficiency of Qi and blood. I wonder what prescription the previous doctor gave you?"

"Xiaomei, bring the prescription here for the doctor to see." said the Crown Prince's wife.

"Please forgive me, Princess. I can't find the prescription the doctor wrote last time. But I just brought the medicine bag here. Doctor, do you think it's okay?"

"Medicine packs are fine too."

"Doctor, this is it." The maid handed him the medicine bag.

The doctor picked up the herbs and looked at them. The more he looked at them, the more he frowned. Then he said in disbelief, "Is this the medicine the doctor prescribed for the queen?"

"Yes, is there any problem?" the maid and the Crown Princess asked in unison.

"This medicine is not a prescription that can be used after a miscarriage. This medicine seems to have a tonic effect on the body, but there is an ingredient in it that will make people weaker and weaker. If this continues for a long time, I'm afraid their lives will be in danger."

"Doctor, are you telling the truth?"