Chapter 302: Overthinking things? (2/2)

When hitting a dog, know who its owner is. Long Feiye not only avenged Han Yunxi, but beat Emperor Tianhui’s dog in front of everyone in the world.

—

When Long Feiye and Han Yunxi arrived at the palace, they were told that Emperor Tianhui was entertaining the empress dowager with a banquet at her palace. By the time they reached her Peace and Wellness Palace, they discovered that crown prince Long Tianmo and Qinwang Rong were present as well.

What was the meaning of this?

“Ye’er, is your mufei doing well?” the empress dowager still treated Long Feiye quite politely.

Long Feiye nodded but didn’t speak.

“I heard that she often visits Murong Wanru at Marquis Pingbei’s estate?” the empress dowager asked again.

“I’m not clear.”

Long Feiye could always leave the empress dowager in a awkward position with just a few words. Thus, she pulled Han Yunxi aside and lightly patted her hand. “Yunxi, you’ve saved the crown prince’s life again. Today it’s not just the emperor but myself as well who are planning to reward you!”

Was she really here to get a reward? Han Yunxi felt that she’d overthought things. She pasted on a smile and said, “Chenqie is already content with the fact that I’m not imprisoned in chains with a criminal name. I dare not accept any rewards.”

Since Long Feiye was sitting next to her, she didn’t spare anything with her words.

“Emperor, just look. This girl is mad at you! You nearly framed an innocent person and ruined Tianmo’s life!” the empress dowager pretended to scold.

“It’s fine if chenqie was framed, but it’s the crown prince’s life that’s more important. As long as the crown prince is well, what does it matter if chenqie was wronged?” Han Yunxi was quite magnanimous with her words, but everyone present was intelligent enough to understand her meaning.

Emperor Tianhui had used the crown prince’s life as a counter to frame her! And now, she was sowing discord!

Emperor Tianhui’s eyes flashed with hatred. If he had any regrets in this life, it was being too softhearted. He’d readily trusted Long Feiye’s stance in the prisons and didn’t torture Han Yunxi to death. The crown prince was a pawn that he’d discarded easily, yet Han Yunxi not only saved this chess piece, but returned to sow discord between them. She was truly trying to instigate trouble!

However, Emperor Tianhui himself had underestimated the severity of the situation. It had long surpassed the state of a nuisance and had become a deep set loathing. Long Tianmo appeared calm on the surface, but his hands had long clenched into fists beneath the table. He thoroughly despised this father of his! If not for this time, he would have still tried his hardest to share his father’s burdens and be a fitting successor to the throne. But now he understood that the only way to protect his current position as crown prince was to ascend the throne early. Otherwise, he’d be sitting around waiting for his doom, while his father held him in the palm of his hand.

The struggle for the throne wasn’t simply limited to brothers, but between fathers and sons as well!

“Crown prince, what do you think?” Emperor Tianhui asked.

Long Tianmo was quite intelligent. Instead of answering the question, he simply rose to his feet with a wine cup in hand. “Erchen has caused Imperial Father to worry over the past few years. Erchen will penalize myself with three cups of wine.”

Only then did Emperor Tianhui nod his head in satisfaction. “Sit down. You should be clear on why Zhen has cultivated you all these years.”

Originally, they had wanted to find trouble for Han Yunxi, but never expected that she’d instigate them instead. The last thing the empress dowager wanted was to see the emperor and crown prince at odds. The emperor was her son, while the crown prince was a grandson that affected the fate of her parental home. She dearly wished that he would inherit the throne smoothly.

“Someone come, bring over the item that I’ve prepared,” the empress dowager changed the topic just in time.

A servant girl then brought over a deep green jade bracelet, its lovely emerald green luster marking it as a top-quality jade.

“This was left to me by the previous empress dowager. It’s been with me for many years. Yunxi, today I’ll give it to you.” So speaking, the empress dowager personally put it on Han Yunxi’s wrist.

Han Yunxi subconsciously withdrew her hand, alarmed by the sudden favoritism. It couldn’t be that she was really getting rewarded?

The empress dowager still managed to grab her hand. “Such a girl, are you looking down on this bracelet?”

“No, no. It’s simply too precious, chenqie can’t…”

The empress dowager refused to let Han Yunxi reject her and forcibly put the bracelet on her wrist. Han Yunxi cast Long Feiye a glance. When she saw that he had kept quiet, she silently accepted the jewelry as well. By now, Emperor Tianhui’s reward had arrived too, in the form of an imperial decree. At this, Han Yunxi glanced at Long Feiye again, only to see him crease his eyebrows.

Typically, it was impossible to defy an imperial decree without sufficient reasons. Back when Long Feiye refused the decree to marry Duanmu Yao, the consequences hadn’t been slight. This imperial decree made Han Yunxi none other than the Right Courtyard Head of the Imperial Physician Courtyard while relegating its original head, Gu Beiyue, to take charge of the Left Courtyard. She was also bestowed a salary equivalent to that of a third-rank official.

Han Yunxi was left stunned by the time the eunuch finished reading the decree. It was hard enough being a daughter-in-law of the imperial family, much less one of its officials! Emperor Tianhui’s move this time was extremely formidable!

And yet, the most formidable move had yet to come…