Chapter 1189: Princess Yuan visits her parents, the prince plots rebellion

Zhen Yurao is the third daughter of the Zhen family and the sister-in-law of Prince Beijing Shui Rong.

Xue Baolin is Xue Baochai's cousin. Two years ago, she married Zhen Yurao's cousin.

Wang Yanping is Wang Xifeng's cousin and married into the Zhen family last year.

As female members of the Zhen family, the three girls were on the list of those to be exiled to the border as slaves.

Su Mingzhe spent a lot of effort to rescue them. After rescuing them, he placed them in Wang Xifeng's residence and used them for his own purposes.

When the entire family was confiscated and the property was exterminated, many women in the Zhen family chose to commit suicide in order to preserve their chastity.

Zhen Yurao's three daughters are the type who dare not commit suicide.

After being rescued by Su Mingzhe, facing the man's "repaying a favor", the three women could only choose to accept it silently.

No matter what, Su Mingzhe was still caring towards them. They had enough food and clothing on weekdays, and even had maids to serve them.

This kind of life is much better than being exiled to the border as a slave or being sent to the Jiaofangsi.

After favoring Xue Baolin, Zhen Yurao and Wang Yanping in succession, Su Mingzhe did not let go of Wang Xifeng, Ping'er, Feng'er, Ruixue and Woxue.

The absurdity continued until the afternoon.

The street-cleaning drum has already sounded.

With Ping'er's help, Su Mingzhe dressed up and prepared to leave.

When Ping'er saw the man off, she suddenly spoke in a low voice:

"Second Master, Master Rui seems to know that we live here."

"Uncle Rui? Jia Rui?"

Su Mingzhe heard this, snorted, and sneered:
"That guy is a cowardly bandit. So what if he knows you live here? Could he dare to come and cause trouble for you?"

Ping Er saw that the man didn't take this matter seriously, so she smiled bitterly and said:

"In the past, when the Second Master (Wang Ziteng) was the governor of the Beijing Camp, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and the governor of nine provinces, Master Rui naturally didn't dare to provoke us. However, the Second Master has died suddenly two months ago, and the Wang family has fallen. Master Rui has nothing to fear..."

After Su Mingzhe heard Ping'er say this, he also remembered.

In the plot of A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Rui, this unlucky guy, was teased by Jia Rong and Jia Qiang because he did not know the difference between respect and inferiority and intended to touch Aunt Feng. He was covered in feces and urine and eventually died under the Mirror of Love and Lust.

"Oh, right, Fengyue Baojian..."

Su Mingzhe's eyes lit up:
"Ping'er, don't worry. The Rong and Ning mansions have to prepare to receive the Empress Yuan's visit these days. Nothing can go wrong. Let's put this matter aside for a few days. Once the visit is over, I will take good care of this brat!"

The decision about the ladies in the palace returning home to visit their parents was made a year ago.

Now, a year has passed, and the villas for the royal family to visit their parents have been built in various prefectures.

Just because of the death of the retired emperor, everyone thought that the visit to the parents' home had come to nothing.

Who could have imagined that Emperor Longqing would insist on allowing the empresses to leave the palace to visit their families?

In a blink of an eye, it was the day before the Lantern Festival.

Sunny weather.

Su Mingzhe and other male members of the Jia family rushed to the imperial residence outside the city one day in advance, waiting for Jia Yuanchun's arrival.

Since there were six other concubines, including Lady Zhou and Concubine Wu, who were leaving the palace with Jia Yuanchun today, there was a little dispute over the order of leaving the palace.

In the original plot, the concubines pushed Jia Yuanchun's departure from the palace to the last according to seniority, causing everyone in the Jia family to wait from dusk until dawn for Jia Yuanchun to arrive.

Now, more than 90% of the people in the palace are Su Mingzhe's people, so Jia Yuanchun's exit from the palace was particularly smooth.

The You hour has just passed.

A palace servant informed the Jia residence that Jia Yuanchun had already left the imperial city and would be able to reach the palace where she would visit her parents within an hour.

When everyone in the Jia family was eagerly waiting, in the Daming Palace.

Emperor Longqing also knew the order in which the seven concubines would leave the palace, and he could not help but be stunned for a moment:

"Is Concubine Yuan the first one to leave the palace?"

Xia Shouzhong saw that the emperor seemed dissatisfied with this matter, and he was startled, and hurriedly explained carefully:
"Your Majesty, Concubine Yuan is the Minister of Fengzao Palace. Concubine Wu and other ladies are of lower ranks. There is a hierarchy, so when the eunuchs made the arrangements, Concubine Yuan was placed first."

Emperor Longqing was originally angry, but when he heard the words "respect for hierarchy and order", the anger that was about to erupt in his chest was immediately suppressed:
"Since it is in accordance with the regulations, let's do it this way."

"Here!"

Xia Shouzhong secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

It is really like living with a tiger to serve the king.

When there was a retired emperor in the past, Emperor Longqing was able to remain tolerant, not showing his emotions, and would not easily punish those around him.

Now that he was no longer under the control of the retired emperor, Emperor Longqing became increasingly moody and would often raise his butcher knife against those around him.

During the Daqing Dynasty, there were more than 300 noble families.

In the past two months, more noble family heads have died suddenly than in the past hundred years.

In addition, there were forty or fifty civil and military officials who had offended Emperor Longqing and had their properties confiscated and their families exterminated for various reasons.

The prisons of the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Censorate are almost full.

Emperor Longqing didn't know that his confidants were beginning to fear and panic.

Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't care. After all, he was the emperor and people should be afraid of him.

So, at this moment, he still did his own thing and asked seriously:
"A few days ago, you reported that the remnants of the White Lotus Cult appeared in the capital. Have you found any results?"

"This one……"

When Xia Shouzhong heard the words "White Lotus Sect", his face changed slightly, and he immediately knelt on the ground and reported:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have already found out that the remnants of the White Lotus Sect are hiding in the villas of Prince Yi and Prince Jing!"

"The second and fourth?"

Emperor Longqing heard this and smiled coldly:
"I knew that these two useless guys would never behave themselves... Keep talking, what exactly do these two beasts want to do? Do they want to follow my elder and second brothers' example and rebel?"

Emperor Longqing and his concubines had nine sons in total, but five of them died young, leaving only the eldest prince, Prince Cheng, the second prince, Prince Yi, the fourth prince, Prince Jing, and the seventh prince, Prince De.

Among these four princes, the eldest prince Prince Cheng and the second prince Prince Yi were born to the former queen, the fourth prince Prince Jing was born to Concubine Wu, and the seventh prince Prince De was born to Concubine Zhang Shu.

After the death of the retired emperor, Emperor Longqing intended to make the eldest prince the crown prince and let the other three princes go to their fiefdoms.

Unexpectedly, the second prince, Prince Yi, and the fourth prince, Prince Jing, actually colluded with the White Lotus Sect and wanted to launch a desperate counterattack.

"……Yes!"

Facing the furious emperor, Xia Shouzhong did not dare to lie and directly told the results of his investigation:
"Your Majesty has never appointed a crown prince, and Prince Yi has always thought he had a chance. As a result, you recently asked me to spread the news that you wanted to appoint Prince Cheng as the crown prince. Disappointed, Prince Yi joined forces with the remnants of the White Lotus Sect... I also found out that the remnants of the White Lotus Sect have infiltrated the palace, and the death of the retired emperor seems to be related to them."

When Emperor Longqing heard that the death of the retired emperor was actually related to the White Lotus Sect, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat:
"Such an important matter, you old dog, why are you reporting it only now?"

Xia Shouzhong said aggrievedly:

"Your Majesty, all the White Lotus remnants I captured committed suicide. Without solid evidence, I dare not report!"

"From now on, all such matters must be reported, regardless of whether there is evidence or not!"

Emperor Longqing was not afraid of the White Lotus Sect, nor was he afraid of his two princes rebelling, but the death of the retired emperor was actually related to the White Lotus Sect, which forced him to make a decision:
"Issue an order that during the period of mourning for Prince Yi and Prince Jing, those who are disrespectful and immoral will be confined to the clan residence and cannot leave without pardon!"

"Here!"

Xia Shouzhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the two princes were captured, the remaining remnants of the White Lotus Sect would not be a problem to be feared.

(End of this chapter)