Chapter 72 - 72 Court Attendance
72 Court Attendance
There was an instant silence in the East Warm Pavilion and time seemed to have frozen.
When the incense in the incense burner burned out, the eunuch quickly replaced the new incense without making a sound.
“…” Fang Huairui felt like there was a mountain of blades and a sea of fire under his feet. He almost jumped up and clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.
No matter how slow he was, he understood what Chu Yi meant. His face was as calm as water.
Fang Huairui’s tall and burly body tensed up again, like a spear standing on the battlefield filled with corpses.
He took a deep breath and asked clearly, “Your Highness, do you mean that the Yu family took in the prince of the previous dynasty?”
The words were almost squeezed from between his teeth, and his heart constricted into a ball.
Chu Yi smiled without saying anything.
Fang Huairui panicked even more, as if countless ants were crawling in his heart.
Originally, although the account book in Chu Yi’s hand would cause some damage to the Fang family, he knew that with his and the Fang family’s status, as long as he was willing to submit to Chu Yi, this matter would most likely be resolved.
And now, the nature of the Yu family’s matter was completely different.
If the Yu family really died as Chu Yi had said, even if they did not deserve to offend their married daughter, this matter would not end well. Since the Yu family dared to privately occupy the iron mine for the Yu family behind his back, they might even do something treasonous under the name of the British Monarchy behind his back.
Thinking of this, Fang Huairui felt a chill in his feet and a bone-chilling coldness rushed to his head.
His beard trembled slightly and he could not help but ask, “This matter is not trivial. Does Your Highness have evidence?”
Instead of answering, Chu Yi asked, “Why does the Yu family insist on marrying into the Dingyuan Marquis Household?”
Fang Huairui: “…”
In fact, Fang Huairui had also asked Madam Yu this question. Madam Yu said that the Gu family’s Gu Yunrong had good birth characters, and she had even hired someone to calculate that Gu Yunrong could help her husband’s family.
Fang Huairui could not say if he believed in these things, nor did he care too much.
Anyway, Madam Yu would not harm her biological son, right?
But now that she thought about it, the entire matter was filled with doubts and puzzling things.
Thud! Thud!
Fang Huairui’s heart suddenly beat faster like a drum, and cold sweat began to break out on his forehead again.
From Chu Yi’s appearance, he did not seem to be spouting nonsense.
A gentle smile appeared on Chu Yi’s lips, and the dark red mole under his eye was as dazzling as a gem in the sunlight as he said, “The Yu family’s great-aunt, whose surname is Bai, is a noble family in Qingzhou. Her husband is weak, so she only gave birth to a son after seven years. In February of the first year of the Heavenly Calendar, the Bai family burned down and the entire family died. Because the Yu family was visiting her family, she was lucky to escape. After that, the Yu family made the decision and the Bai family’s patriarch allowed her to return with her son.”
“After that, not only did the Yu family give the thousand acres of land in Qingzhou to the Bai family, but they also gave the salt in Qingzhou to the Bai family… Fang Huairui, why do you think this is?”
“…” The muscles on Fang Huairui’s cheeks trembled rapidly, and he was speechless again.
He did not like the arrogant aristocratic family in the Yu family and had been far away from them all these years. However, he did not expect the Yu family to be so bold!
After a pause, Chu Yi smiled gently. “Do you want me to continue?”
Without waiting for an answer, Chu Yi continued, “The previous dynasty’s Empress Yu had a suet white jade pendant that was passed down in the Yu family. It was round and engraved with eyeless phoenix patterns.”
“One of Empress Yu’s portraits was accompanied by this jade, but this jade pendant was never seen again after Empress Yu’s death.”
“Have you seen it before?”
Chu Yi looked straight at Fang Huairui with certainty. His eyes locked onto him, and his smile was warm. He was clearly smiling, but it made one’s heart turn cold.
Fang Huairui’s eyes widened and a hint of confusion flashed across his eyes. For some reason, he felt that the jade pendant Chu Yi described seemed familiar, and Chu Yi’s words seemed to be meant for him.
Could it be that he had seen Empress Yu’s jade pendant somewhere?!
Fang Huairui tried his best to search his memories, his eyebrows tightly furrowed.
An image flashed through Fang Huairui’s mind.
That day, there was a broken jade pendant made of suet white jade by Madam Yu’s skirt. At that time, Madam Yu even took a step back to try to block the broken jade pendant, obviously up to something.
Fang Huairui recalled the appearance of the broken jade pendant. It had been smashed into five or six pieces, but judging from its outline, it should be a round jade pendant with a phoenix engraved on it…
The phoenix had no eyes!
Fang Huairui’s eyebrows twitched and his breathing deepened.
He slowly raised his head to look at Chu Yi again. His neck was stiff, his eyes were even more respectful, and his heart was in chaos.
The problem was, how did Chu Yi know that he had seen Empress Yu’s jade pendant?!
How did Chu Yi know about the British Monarchy?!
Chu Yi had been a hostage in the State of Yue for many years. When did he set up spies in the British Monarchy?! Did he also set up spies in other mansions in the capital?!
Fang Huairui immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He felt as if Chu Yi had seen his every move.
The Yu family thought that they could hide it from the world, but they did not know that neither the Yu family nor the Fang family had any secrets from Chu Yi!!
At this moment, Fang Huairui really wanted to slaughter the entire Yu family.
“Fang Huairui, do you think I can absolve the Fang family of their crimes?” Chu Yi threw Fang Huairui’s question back at him, a graceful and leisurely smile on his handsome face.
Those beautiful phoenix eyes were so dark that they were bottomless. They were as vast as the night sky and as bright as the stars, quietly shining with a cold light.
Finally, Fang Huairui lifted his robe and knelt down silently. He knelt on the cold and hard golden brick floor with his head extremely low.
It was a gesture of submission.
In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Fang Huairui felt as if he had walked through an abyss of suffering and tasted all the flavors of life.
It was so quiet that one could almost hear the leaves floating down the branches outside the window.
Fang Huairui held his breath and waited, his heart in his throat. Suddenly, light footsteps sounded from behind. A thin middle-aged eunuch came to Fang Huairui’s side and bowed to Chu Yi. “Your Highness, the Emperor invites you to court.”
Fang Huairui’s eyelids trembled as he knelt on the ground. He could not help but look up at Chu Yi, who was sitting behind the imperial desk. The big red leather robe he was wearing shone faintly under the light of the rising sun.
The leather robe was the uniform of the prince.
It was obvious that Chu Yi had expected everything today and was even certain that Kang Wang would submit.
Every step of the entire matter was within his calculations, showing how his meticulousness had reached an admirable level!
Everyone said that Kang Wang was talented and good at martial arts. In his opinion, Kang Wang was probably far inferior to his nephew.
Chu Yi got up gracefully, ignored Fang Huairui who was kneeling on the ground, and went out of the East Warm Pavilion.
The middle-aged eunuch followed behind him like a most loyal shadow.
The brilliance of the rising sun poured down, reflecting dazzling light on the glazed tiles above the palaces, resplendent and magnificent.
The entire palace was empty and quiet, as if no one was there.
Chu Yi walked unhurriedly from the East Warm Pavilion to the main entrance of the throne room.
In the throne room, the emperor sat on a high golden dragon chair. On either side of him were the civil and military officials standing in two rows.
Everyone from the emperor to the ministers obviously noticed Chu Yi’s arrival, and their eyes flocked to him like waves.