Royal Descendants

天潢贵胄

royal-descendants

Chapter 22

In the warm chamber of the main residence of the Crown Prince's Manor, Qi Xiao ordered someone to bring a bowl of cow's milk yogurt for Bairen. Qi Xiao looked at Bairen, whose complexion was still not very good, and laughed softly: "Alright, aren't you safe and sound here now? Eat something to calm your nerves. The yogurt steamed by the cook in my residence tastes very good, try it."
The maidservants in the residence opened the snack box, and another maidservant took out a colorful glazed palace bowl from the food box and placed it on the small table in front of Bairen. She bowed and retreated.
Bairen took the silver spoon and tasted a mouthful. The cow's milk and eggs used for steaming the yogurt were fresh that day. The milk and egg aromas were rich. The cook had steamed it to perfection. The yogurt was tender and melted in the mouth. Although Bairen didn't have much of an appetite, he unknowingly ate more than half a bowl.
Seeing Bairen eating so sweetly, Qi Xiao was also happy. He smiled and said, "Since you like it, I'll often have them make it for you in the future. Eat a bowl every day half an hour after dinner. Not only is it easy to gain weight, but you can also sleep better at night..."
Qi Xiao thought of Bairen's appearance in the carriage just now and laughed, "But... Your Highness the Crown Prince probably doesn't need this."
Bairen felt a little embarrassed when he thought of what had just happened. He put down the silver spoon and changed the subject, "What about the person who crashed the carriage into people?"
Qi Xiao had someone stop him in advance and changed carriages, obviously knowing about it long ago. The crashing incident was not an accident, but someone did it on purpose.
The person sitting in the carriage was himself, but it was Qi Xiao's carriage, which anyone in the Imperial City could recognize. So the person who came... was it for his life, or for Qi Xiao's?
Qi Xiao smiled faintly, "Shunzi went to the Court of Judicial Review together. Two of the four followers who were following the carriage came back. You listen to what they have to say to you."
Qi Xiao ordered someone to summon the people. Sure enough, before long, two attendants came with the maidservants. The two paid their respects to Qi Xiao and Bairen outside the screen. Qi Xiao waved his hand and said, "Get up, tell the Crown Prince about today's events, starting from when Jiang Deqing instructed you this morning, don't leave out a single detail."
The two stood up, and one of them said slowly, "Yes, when we got up in the morning, Chief Steward Jiang came to instruct Shunzi and the few of us, saying that today we were to send Your Highness back to the residence, but there might be some mishaps on the way. Chief Steward Jiang instructed Shunzi to go to the alley of the Academt after leaving the inner city and wait for Your Highness to take Your Highness to another carriage.
"After changing, we would head to Your Highness' residence. In the middle, we were to be alert. If there was any mishap, we didn't need to care about the carriage and horses, as long as we could save ourselves. Shunzi and the few of us came from the Xiao Cavalry Camp, so we weren't afraid of this."
"Today, the few of us did as instructed by Chief Steward Jiang. After leaving, we headed straight to Your Highness' residence. Just as we reached the entrance of the Academy's alley, we saw a person driving a carriage out, coming straight at us. The few of us hurriedly turned our horses' heads. Shunzi was bold and waited until the carriage was close before jumping off, rolling three or four times to avoid it.
"The two carriages collided directly, with the horses neighing and the carriages rattling. The commotion... I'm afraid half the street heard it. It was a pity about the horse, it couldn't make it at that time. The Crown Prince's carriage was very sturdy, but it was smashed to pieces by that carriage. At that time, we felt that something was wrong. When the person's horse finally stopped moving, we went to take a look. We saw that the carriage was loaded with unpolished inkstones, weighing two to three hundred catties."
"Then we went to grab the carriage driver. The carriage driver reeked of alcohol and his eyes were straight. Even when we reported our names, he ignored us and just kept shaking his head. Shunzi slapped him twice but couldn't slap him awake.
"Chief Steward Jiang had instructed before that if something happened and the person was left alive, they should be sent directly to the Court of Judicial Review. We were afraid that we might cripple the person if we weren't careful, so even though we were angry, we didn't do anything else to him. We tied him up and sent him away."
Qi Xiao chuckled, "Do you know whose family that person belongs to?"
"We know." The attendant nodded, "Shunzi recognized him, he's the carriage driver of the Second Prince's residence."
Qi Xiao turned his head to look at Bairen, only to see his brows tightly furrowed, his eyes filled with shock and hatred. Qi Xiao patted Bairen's hand reassuringly. Bairen immediately withdrew his hand. Although there was a screen in between, those few attendants were still standing outside.
Qi Xiao no longer looked at Bairen and asked the attendant, "Are you sure? Is he really from the Second Prince's residence?"
The attendant nodded, "Yes, Your Highness may not know, but this person is quite 'famous' on the streets. Not only is he tyrannical and despotic on weekdays, but just last year, this person had hit and killed someone in the bustling streets. The incident caused quite a stir at the time. Because his parents had some status in the Second Prince's residence, they asked someone to put in a good word at the judicial office and also sent a lot of silver. Later... it was left unsettled."
Bairen was secretly shocked without showing it on his face. He had seen it all today.
Qi Xiao smiled faintly and said to the attendant, "The Court of Judicial Review may still summon you in the next few days. Be alert. Even if you are summoned, it's fine. Just tell the truth when they ask you."
The two nodded in agreement. Qi Xiao ordered someone to reward the two with a box of small gold ingots, "Although you were informed in advance, today's incident was still very dangerous. You've worked hard. Take this and split it."
The two didn't expect to be rewarded so much. They thanked profusely and left.
Qi Xiao dismissed all the people in the room and looked at Bairen with a smile, "Your Highness, tell me, what do you think of today's incident?"
Bairen took a deep breath and said slowly after a long while, "The other party came prepared. Although that person has a criminal record, this time he crashed right into Your Highness' carriage... If we say it's just a coincidence, it would be hard to convince people."
"Although the carriage was Your Highness', the person sitting inside was me. I had gone to pay my respects to the Emperor before leaving the palace today. This matter is not a secret. If someone wanted to know, they could easily find out with a little investigation, even the time of leaving the palace and the route."
"The Second Prince was punished with twenty heavy boards because of me and also lost the Emperor's favor. It's not surprising that he hates me and wants to get rid of me as soon as possible. But..."
Bairen shook his head, "The Second Prince... he can't be that stupid, right? The incident in the side hall of the Qianqing Palace just happened. If something happens to me now, even if it's not done by someone from his residence, even if it's done by someone else, I'm afraid people will still suspect him. Could it be... deliberately pretending to be wronged? Saying afterwards that the carriage driver was instigated by someone else? But this is still not easy to clear his name..."
Bairen looked up at Qi Xiao, "Since the Crown Prince was able to intercept me halfway, it seems that he had received the news long ago. Can the Crown Prince tell Bairen clearly, who exactly is in such a hurry to take Bairen's life?"
Qi Xiao paused for a moment and shook his head, "I won't lie to you, I don't know."
Bairen frowned slightly, and Qi Xiao said slowly, "To be honest, I also have some undercover agents, but by the time this information reached my scouts, it had already passed through several hands. The only thing that can be confirmed is that one of the Second Prince's grooms was supposed to ambush you on your way out of the palace and back to your residence.
"But who exactly was behind it is uncertain. From leaving the palace to your residence, you will definitely take this road if nothing unexpected happens. Before the alley, just outside the inner city, there are mostly official roads and many city patrol guards, so there will definitely be no problem. I just ordered Shunzi to stop at the alley and wait for me to get you out, and then you knew what happened. It turns out there was an incident."
The more Bairen thought about it, the more frightened he became in retrospect. What was he doing at that time? He actually fell asleep in the carriage!
Bairen felt a chill down his spine, stood up and bowed respectfully to the ground, "Today, I owe my life to the Crown Prince..."
Qi Xiao hurriedly helped him up, laughed and said, "No need to thank me. I knew long ago that someone wanted to kill you, but I never informed you for fear of alarming the snake in the grass. If I had really let you go halfway, you wouldn't blame me, would you?"
Bairen shook his head, "The Crown Prince had already made full preparations beforehand and even came to pick me up in person, that's enough..."
Qi Xiao suddenly felt a trace of guilt in his heart. He lowered his eyes, pulled the person into his arms, and said slowly, "Bairen... from now on, I will never put you in danger again. This time I was too greedy... I wanted to let you get into trouble once, even if it was an empty carriage. The Emperor has already started to give up on Qi Hua.
"At this juncture, regardless of whether it was instigated by Qi Hua or not, the Emperor will be completely disappointed in him. Over these years with Qi Hua in that position, he has made me feel suffocated more than a few times. With such a good opportunity, I can't bear to give it up... Bairen, you can understand me, right?"
Bairen was a little puzzled. He didn't suffer any losses today, so why did Qi Xiao have to do this...
But for the cold-hearted Qi Xiao to say such words, Bairen still felt some warmth in his heart. He said in a low voice, "I understand. Actually, the Crown Prince could have told me in advance... Empress Feng still has the intention of marrying the Second Prince to Lingnan. My intentions are the same as the Crown Prince's. If there is a way to suppress the Second Prince that requires my effort, Bairen will not refuse even at the risk of death."
Bairen paused and then said, "Besides... even if I really wanted to blame someone, I would definitely blame the person behind the scenes who instigated others to kill me. How could I blame the Crown Prince?"
Hearing this, Qi Xiao closed his eyes, and the guilt in his heart became even more intense. A part of his heart almost ached. He was not a good person. Even if he had wronged someone before, he had never been like this. But this time, Qi Xiao truly felt guilty from the bottom of his heart. He almost regretted it.
Qi Xiao almost gritted his teeth and secretly vowed in his heart that using Bairen as bait, this would absolutely be the last time.

Royal Descendants

Royal Descendants

Chapter 22 - Chapter 22

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