Chapter 702: Eastern Palace’s Predicament
After the crown princess gave her orders, she withdrew inside the inner palace with a grim expression.
Soon afterwards, the eastern palace’s eunuchs and maids rushed out to spread the news.
Zu An was the only one who seemed to instead be at ease. It hadn’t been long since he arrived at the eastern palace, so many officials didn’t know him. He wouldn’t know who to contact if he was given orders to spread the news, so he instead had nothing to do.
No, he had a task. He was here to play five-in-row with the fatty.
Zu An absent-mindedly played with him while asking, “Crown prince, what happened?”
“How would I know… Ah, you cannot put it there! I don’t care!” The crown prince blocked a certain spot on the game board, stopping Zu An from putting a piece there.
Zu An couldn’t help but chuckle. He took back his tile. What am I doing? Why am I asking this guy?
He was about to ask the crown princess, but judging from how cold her expression was just now, he was worried that now might really be a bad time. He thus prodded the fatty next to him and said, “Crown prince, something big seems to have happened. You’re not going to take a look?”
“It’s fine, we have Linglong to take care of it anyway.” The crown prince waved his hand in annoyance. His attention returned to the go board.
Zu An sighed. “The crown princess is still a woman in the end. She has her moments of weakness, you know?’
The crown prince said indifferently, “Linglong was able to take care of everything during these years. Ah, stop talking about that and just play.”
Zu An was speechless. I can win easily even if I’m distracted, yet you want me to play seriously?”
Just what the heck did the crown princess do in her past life for her to end up with this type of idiot?
But he didn’t have to worry about the royal family’s matters. He played with the crown prince while watching the surrounding activity.
Soon afterwards, there were officials who rushed over. Most of them were elders and middle-aged men. He didn’t see many young people among them. If they didn’t have red-crowned cranes embroidered on their clothes, then it was qilins. These were clearly important officials in the court.
The first rank of civil officials had red-crowned cranes on their uniforms, while the first rank of military officials had qilins.
Hm? There are python decorations too?
Zu An’s eyes lit up. So it was an old acquaintance! It’s King Liang!
There was another elder who came with them. Even though all of his hair was white and wrinkles covered his face, his eyes were still sharp. There was a domineering aura around him.
Furthermore, there was one more familiar person. General Liu Yao was respectfully following half a step behind him.
Zu An was stunned. The Liu Yao he remembered was so arrogant his nose was always pointed at the sky. Who the hell is this?
He had just recently arrived at the capital after all, so he didn’t know that many people. However, he could ask the crown prince.
The crown prince gave that person a look. Then, he was so frightened his chubby face trembled. “That’s my grandpa…”
He secretly hid his go piece under his seat while saying this. He looked really scared of this man.
Zu An realized who this was now. So it was the emperor’s father-in-law, the War Chariot General Liu Guang! The empress, as well as the former empress, were both daughters of this man.
Liu Guang enjoyed great status because of his daughters, occupying the position of War Chariot General. In terms of the military system, his rank was second only to the Great General and White Rider General. His rank was even higher than the Qin clan’s state dukes.
Of course, military rank was one thing, real authority was something else. The Qin clan’s two state dukes had powerful men that worked under them, so their real authority was a bit greater.
Liu Guang just happened to be looking in this direction at this time as well. He stormed over in anger. How could the crown prince’s movements escape his notice?
“Do you know what kind of situation we are in right now? Crown prince, how can you still be playing around here?!” Liu Guang was furious. He pointed at Zu An and said, “Drag this fool who has tricked the crown prince into playing around down into the dungeons to be flogged with a hundred strikes!”
Zu An’s expression changed. He was being punished just for being here!
What the hell is going on today? Why do I keep encountering these ridiculous situations one after the next?
Suddenly, Liu Yao ran over to his brother’s side and whispered a few words. Liu Guang’s expression changed a bit when he looked at Zu An. “Oh, so it was Zu An. You’ve done some work these past few days. But…”
Before he finished, his figure froze, as if he was listening to something. There seemed to be someone conversing with him through ki transmission.
A while later, he changed his tone. “Since you’re a newcomer, I won’t hold you responsible since you don’t know better. However, you are the crown prince’s secretary and are in charge of overseeing the crown prince’s studies. Do not behave willfully with the crown prince in the future.”
“Understood!” Zu An cupped his hands. “Thank you, senior.”
He was surprised. Did Liu Yao speak out for him? But this didn’t make sense… They didn’t really share any friendship. Furthermore, it would make more sense if this man hated him after what happened in Brightmoon City.
At this time, the crown princess appeared nearby. “Everyone, please come in for the discussion.”
She sounded extremely tired. However, this instead gave her voice a unique tone that sounded soothing to the ears.
Zu An realized that it was the crown princess who spoke out for him.
“Crown prince, please come inside as well. This matter has to do with you.” The crown princess then gave Zu An a look. She had a look of hesitation on her face. However, when she thought about how his status was a bit too low compared to Liu Guang and the others, inviting him inside would seem a bit too abrupt, so she gave up on this thought.
Liu Guang and the others followed her inside. When they entered, he couldn’t help but say, “Linglong, you seem to value that brat quite a bit?”
The crown princess replied, “Even though Zu An seems a bit irresponsible on the surface, he is a rare genius. He has only been in the capital for a few days, yet he has already made King Qi suffer greatly. I believe that everyone has heard about how he broke Zhao Zhi’s legs yesterday as well, I presume?”
Liu Guang stroked his beard and said with a laugh, “This was the best piece of news I’ve received in recent years. Looks like even King Qi and the others have their bad days!”
King Liang Zhaoyi also said, “I have interacted with him before in Brightmoon City. Even though his bearing is rather ordinary, he is incredibly treacherous. He can also turn peril into safety, and it is instead his opponents who are badly humiliated.”
Liu Yao, who was standing nearby, immediately became upset. “What are you looking at me for?”
King Liang replied, “I was just looking around.”
The crown princess quickly interrupted the two of them to avoid a dispute from starting. “It is hard enough trying to rope someone like him in, so why is there a need to make him feel unwelcome over such a small matter? That was why I stopped senior earlier.”
Liu Guang nodded. This was something he agreed with.
Liu Yao instead complained, “Linglong, aren’t you favoring him too much? He’s just a scoundrel from the streets. What is so special about him? He’s just a bit lucky at most.”
The crown princess completely disregarded this simple-minded man and began to converse with the others.
Meanwhile, Zu An was chatting with Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun outside.
The two guards looked at him with worship. “Big bro, I thought that you were going to be punished by that great senior, but you’re still perfectly fine! I really, really admire you!”
Zu An rolled his eyes. “Why do I feel like you guys were hoping that I’ll get beaten?”
“Big bro, that’s a misunderstanding! Are we that type of people?!” The two of them quickly expressed their loyalty.
Zu An couldn’t help but look in the inner hall’s direction. “By the way, do you guys know what happened?”
Jiao Sigun said in complaint, “The two of us were being punished here all this time, so how could we know what happened? But judging from how the crown princess looks, it’s probably something major.”
Piao Duandiao nodded and parroted, “We’ve already worked for the eastern palace for many years. We’ve never seen such a huge gathering before.”
“Then do you recognize the officials who went inside earlier?” Zu An continued to ask them questions. Even though Chuyan gave him a rough breakdown of the court’s situation, he only knew their names and ranks. He couldn’t match names with faces.
The two guards explained, “The one who went in first is the Imperial Secretariat’s Right Confidential Assistant, Bi Qi. He is also the crown princess’ father.”
Zu An recalled the people who went in earlier. Bi Qi was probably the middle-aged man who arrived first.
He was quite handsome. After all, how could a father who gave birth to the crown princess possibly be ugly?
However, even though his face was expressionless, Zu An couldn’t help but feel that his man was a sinister old fox.
This type of feeling was strange. It was like watching a show where the role the actor was playing was clearly a righteous one, yet because of who the actor was, the viewer will still subconsciously think that he is a villain.
This was the feeling Bi Qi gave him. He was clearly grand in appearance, and there weren’t any strange expressions to be seen on his face. He even nodded towards some eunuchs and maids in greeting. Regardless of which angle one looked at it from, he would seem like a radiant and elegant man. However, the first impression Zu An had of this man was that he is a crafty person.
“The next to arrive was the Central Secretariat Supervisor Meng Yi. You seem to know the ones who just arrived, so we won’t introduce them.” The two guards explained from the side.
The shock in Zu An’s face grew. These were all the crown prince faction’s core personnel! Just what kind of event was this for all of them to be gathered together today?
Their group continued the discussion inside for most of the day. Only when night fell, did the people inside gradually come out. However, their faces were all full of worries.
When those people left, Zu An secretly sought out the crown princess. “Crown princess, what happened?”
“Crown princess?” Bi Linglong frowned. Suddenly, she laughed in distress. “I fear that I might not even be able to continue being the crown princess soon.”
Zu An was alarmed. “Why would you say that?”
Judging from their recent interactions, he knew that this girl was proud down to her very bones. He had never seen her so dejected before.
Bi Linglong gave the crown prince, who was playing nearby, a look. Her eyes were full of helplessness. “King Qi’s faction went all out today in court. The crown prince will soon no longer be the crown prince. Should that happen, then I will naturally no longer be the crown princess anymore.”