Chapter 471 - Punishment of Both King Manors (2/2)

Feng Yulei used to have a good reputation and was known to be gracious amongst scholars. He was also not as enthusiastic about the throne as Feng Yuxuan was. As such, there were many who liked him. This incident had happened so suddenly and everyone involved was dead before the Emperor could investigate. It seemed that Feng Yulei was definitely involved in it and his reputation as a fair, elegant, and handsome king was damaged.

The Emperor locked Feng Yulei up in King Xuan’s Manor after a harsh scolding. In the past, Feng Yulei was just not allowed to go out and there were just two token palace guards who guarded his door. However, this time, the back doors of the manor were tightly shut. There were 18 guards at the doors who stood in two rows. They guarded the doors of the King’s Manor strictly and looked upon the pa.s.sersby coldly.

Was King Yan truly being imprisoned?

However, what everyone did not expect the most was that King Xuan seemed to have angered the Emperor this time as well. No one knew if it was because Consort Xuan had been dragged into the whole thing or if it was because the Emperor was dissatisfied with King Xuan. In any case, King Xuan’s Manor was punished as well. There were two guards standing outside their doors. It was said that the directives from the palace said that only people were allowed to enter but those inside were not allowed to leave.

Then, they heard that Consort Xuan had been frightened by what happened that day and had fallen ill. Many physicians visited King Xuan’s Manor these few days. However, because of the edict issued, they did not leave. As such, no one knew how Consort Xuan was. The only news that they heard of was that Consort Xuan was angry and afraid after returning home and she had fallen ill before they even reached the King’s Manor.

It was inside the Empress’s Tianfeng Palace.

The Empress’s expression was dark and gloomy as she sat on the nanmu wood chair in the great hall. Nanny Lin stood beside her and reported what she heard.

“Your Majesty, they all say that King Chu did it. Think about it, why would that girl run away with a servant for no reason? She even brought doc.u.ments belonging to His Highness with her as well as the account books from the back courtyard. Every girl who elopes will bring money with them instead of that. Furthermore, she was a Second Consort. It is impossible that she would give that up and elope with a servant,” said Nanny Lin softly.

Even though the Empress had not personally gone to see what happened when Feng Yulei had gotten into trouble, she had sent her personal nanny over. The nanny she sent then was Nanny Lin. Nanny Lin heard Consort Yan say that they did not do it and that someone was trying to plot against King Yan so that he would get into trouble.

Nanny Lin told the Empress that when she returned to the palace. The Empress naturally trusted what Consort Yan said and immediately grew suspicious of King Xuan, Feng Yuran. She told Nanny Lin to do everything possible to investigate what happened. Who would have thought that the Emperor would issue an edict to the two King Manors the next day and punish both Feng Yulei and Feng Yuran?

Furthermore, it seemed that King Xuan had been punished for no good reason.

If they wanted to see who would benefit more from this whole saga, King Yan did not, and neither did King Xuan benefit from it. King Ning had not done anything different recently either. If they wanted to see who would benefit the most, it would be King Chu. The Empress immediately grew suspicious of King Chu, Feng Yuxuan!

King Chu was doing very well in court recently. Even though there was King Xuan, whose performance impressed others, but compared to the gentle and elegant King Chu who was well-liked, King Xuan was still a little lacking.

No matter what, both King Xuan and King Yan had an equal share of the Emperor’s affections.

Yet, it was different now. King Xuan had been punished. Meanwhile, King Yan was patrolling the army camps on behalf of the Emperor and had an alibi. King Yan also benefited the most from what happened. How could the Empress not be suspicious of him?

The Empress nodded when she heard what Nanny Lin said. A vicious glint flashed in her eyes as she said, “No wonder Consort Su seemed so pleased when she saw me a few days ago. It’s like she knew what would happen. She even told me that even if King Yan were released, he might annoy His Majesty.”

The Empress’s dark glower hid a sheen of frostiness under the light.

She had been thinking of a way to get the Emperor to release Feng Yulei then. She had been angry when she heard what Consort Su said then and had left with her sleeves trailing behind her. She had thought that Consort Su had said that out of pettiness. However, she did not expect Lei’er to get into trouble just two days later. Now that she thought about that, it was obvious that Consort Su knew something about it.

The Empress hated herself for not paying attention then. If she had paid attention to this earlier, this whole saga would not have happened.

While the Empress ruminated over this, she would never expect that this whole rigmarole had happened because Feng Yulei lost in a compet.i.tion.

Nanny Lin asked softly. The atmosphere in the great hall was tense and heavy. Nanny Lin could not help but sweat as she asked, “Your Majesty, what are we to do next?”

“Where’s Rui’er?” The Empress asked lightly. It could be because she was near the light, but the wrinkles on her face could not be hidden. She seemed older than she usually did. The darkness and gloominess on her face seemed to be dripping off her.

Nanny Lin replied. “Consort Chu’s face was sunburnt and she’s been watching the imperial physicians make her medicine recently. I heard she even wounded the imperial physician’s head today.”

Ling Rui’er had been staying in the palace for the past two days. She had knelt outside the imperial study that day where there was no shade and her skin had been burnt. She had not only made scratches on her face, but there were also patches of rash on it. She looked really scary. Nowadays, those from the Empress’s palace did not dare to look at Ling Rui’er’s face when they saw her.

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