Chapter 110: Conspiracy (4)
"Your son and subject has something to say." The Crown Prince suddenly inserted himself forcefully into the trial.
The Emperor was very displeased, frantically signaling to the Crown Prince.
In fact, the Emperor had a good idea of what was going on, but he had to pretend to be confused. The Empress Dowager's side was dead set on crushing Minister Sun's faction. The evidence of Young Miss Sun losing her body was irrefutable. He didn't want his most favored son to be dragged into this, lest the Empress Dowager transfer her anger to the Crown Prince, causing him to lose two allies at once.
"This has nothing to do with you," the Emperor said sternly.
"No, let him speak." The Empress Dowager, on the contrary, was delighted. This Crown Prince was not born from her clan. The younger prince in the court, however, was born from a concubine of her same clan. Unfortunately, he was too young and had no achievements to win over the people, making it impossible to promote him to Crown Prince now. If the current Crown Prince committed some outrageous error, it would be one more reason to use in a memorial to drag him down from his position in the future.
The Emperor, wary of his old mother, could only nod in agreement on the surface, but privately shot the Crown Prince a look, reminding him to mind his words.
Among his pile of sons, only the Crown Prince was young, promising, and had a righteous mind. He was skilled in both literary and martial arts, a good candidate for succession. The Emperor really couldn't bear to let him get involved in this mess.
The Crown Prince's opening words shocked everyone. He was completely frank about taking Young Miss Sun's body and even put a high hat on Sun Jiaojiao: "Your son and subject and Young Miss Sun of the Minister's Residence were already engaged. We... acted as husband and wife in advance... purely because the situation forced it. It was not that Young Miss Sun was indecent, but that she, in her great righteousness, saved your son and subject from dire straits. She was willing to risk losing her virginity and being unable to marry into the imperial family, all to save your son and subject's life."
The Empress Dowager didn't believe his nonsense for a second.
Forget the Empress Dowager; no one in the entire court, civil or military, believed his nonsense.
In everyone's eyes, His Highness the Crown Prince had been rebuffed by a broken engagement first. Not only did he not get angry and retaliate, he even begged the Emperor to bestow the marriage again. This, combined with his words in court today, clearly showed he was determined to curry favor with the Minister Sun faction and tie himself to his future father-in-law's boat.
No one believed a sheltered young miss was worth the Crown Prince doing all this.
Only the power of the young miss's maternal family could be the Crown Prince's motive for fishing in these troubled waters.
Everyone was increasingly confused. Minister Sun's sleeves were clean (he was uncorrupted). To be honest, this faction was a lone palm, unable to clap. Was it really worth the Crown Prince putting in so much effort to curry favor?
Dark undercurrents swirled in the court. The Empress Dowager, from behind the curtain, gave a cold laugh. "Said better than it's sung. Do you really think Aijia (This Dowager) is old and easily fooled? Why would she save you? What danger were you in that required saving? Military power is in your hands. Could it be she is more capable than the several hundred thousand national defense troops?"
Sun Jiaojiao almost burst out laughing.
This Empress Dowager really wasn't an old muddle-head. Not easy to fool.
She had long guessed that the Crown Prince would step up and weave a lie to cover for her loss of virginity. But, Sun Jiaojiao was also curious: what kind of story could His Highness the Crown Prince possibly make up to smooth over the fact that he had climbed her wall in the middle of the night, like a "flower-picking thief," and taken her virginity?
All focus gathered on the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince shamelessly began to fabricate: "It is a long story. Your son and subject was returning triumphantly, but encountered several groups of assassins of unknown identity on the road. I temporarily discussed it with the military advisor. The main army would escort the procession into the capital, while your son and subject, with a few trusted men, would disguise ourselves and take a shortcut to enter the capital first to report the good news to Father Emperor. After changing routes, your son and subject raced to the capital and indeed avoided many assassination attempts. But who knew, due to a lack of 'jianghu' (martial world) experience, I was drugged with an aphrodisiac by a wine-shop girl in the suburbs of the capital, who coveted your son and subject's appearance. Your son and subject was afraid of revealing his identity and causing trouble, but this aphrodisiac was truly potent, and I couldn't find an antidote. Remembering that I was already engaged to Young Miss Sun, your son and subject rushed into the Minister's Residence to ask Young Miss Sun for help..."
His Highness the Crown Prince's story was woven so plausibly that even Sun Jiaojiao almost believed it!
Sun Jiaojiao silently mocked the Crown Prince's story-telling ability while lamenting how "tacky" it was. Even an 8 PM drama wouldn't dare to write a plot like this!
Could such a tacky story really get him through this?
Sun Jiaojiao broke out in a cold sweat for him.
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