It was obvious to everyone that the Prince of Rui was deliberately causing trouble, and Lord Yan also saw it. But he didn't care about the Third Prince at all. While the emperor was still in a daze, he rushed outside the Qianqing Palace and shouted, "Come quickly! The Prince of Rui has been kicked unconscious by the Third Prince!"
Hearing this shout, the emperor quickly came to his senses and immediately ordered the eunuchs to stop Lord Yan.
But Lord Yan was not a young man. Before the eunuchs could even get close to him, he was shouting so loudly that they were too scared to stop him.
Lord Yan knew very well that after today's incident, he and the Third Prince had become sworn enemies. Now that he had the opportunity to completely crush the Third Prince, he was even more determined.
The officials in the square had come for the matter of deposing the crown prince. Hearing that the Third Prince had caused another incident, they were even more firm in their belief that the crown prince should be deposed!
The imperial tutor and the director of the Imperial College stood up with solemn expressions. At first, they did not agree to depose the crown prince. The Third Prince was the legitimate son of the queen and had not committed any major mistakes. He had just had a small conflict with someone, which was not serious enough to depose him.
But now it was different. The Third Prince had beaten the Prince of Rui!
The Prince of Rui had a high seniority. Even the emperor had to address him as "little grand-uncle." Moreover, the Prince of Rui had contributed to the emperor's ascension to the throne. How could the Third Prince beat him!
It was too much!
The censor Zhang, who was also kneeling, silently raised his head and thought to himself, "Your Majesty is really going all out. In order not to let the Third Prince bear a grudge against him, he even invited the imperial tutor and the director of the Imperial College. These two are people who would rather die than yield. Isn't he afraid of overacting?"
Censor Zhang was still sighing in his heart about the deep father-son affection between the emperor and the Third Prince, not knowing that when the emperor saw the imperial tutor and the director of the Imperial College, his heart was bleeding. With these two here, he had no choice but to severely punish Xuyang.
The imperial tutor also knew the Prince of Rui. He had always disliked the Prince of Rui's rudeness and thought that the Prince of Rui had disgraced the dignity of the royal family. But when he saw the Prince of Rui lying on the ground looking so pitiful, he immediately turned his spearhead at the emperor, who was ineffective in teaching his son: "Your Majesty, although the prince is young, he is not an ignorant child at the age of seven. The Prince of Rui is the elder of Your Majesty and the prince, and also a prince of the Great Yong. How can he be so humiliated!"
The director of the Imperial College followed closely behind: "Please, Your Majesty, discipline the prince strictly!"
The emperor glared at the imperial tutor and the director of the Imperial College with a cold face, trying to intimidate them with his eyes. But the two of them had a clear conscience and were not afraid at all. The director of the Imperial College even straightened his back, ready to never back down.
Lord Yin was a bit slow and finally caught up with everyone. He shouted, "Your Majesty, the Third Prince should be severely punished."
"You are my uncle. You should help me!" Seeing this, the Third Prince felt betrayed and began to shout loudly again. He wanted to push Lord Yin, but was quickly stopped by the chief eunuch.
The chief eunuch was worried that the Third Prince would lose control of his emotions and do something wrong, so he stepped forward to stop him.
But the Third Prince didn't appreciate his kindness. Instead, he took advantage of the chief eunuch's carelessness and pushed him to the ground: "You dog eunuch, mind your own business!"
The Third Prince slipped up to the emperor and said, "Father, I didn't touch the Prince of Rui. He is slandering me!"
"And Uncle, Concubine Li was right. He doesn't really love me. Now he is even helping outsiders to harm me!"
The emperor was already at his wit's end. He wanted to protect the Third Prince, but the Third Prince kept causing trouble. Regardless of whether the Prince of Rui was deliberately causing trouble or not, the Third Prince had pushed the chief eunuch to the ground in front of everyone, which was enough for the imperial tutor and the director of the Imperial College to doubt his character.
Thinking of the old feelings of the queen and the eldest princess, the emperor still felt a twinge of guilt and wanted to protect him: "Quickly apologize to Lord Yin. Susu is your cousin. How could you beat her? Apologize to Susu in front of your uncle!"
The Third Prince refused to give in and said what was on his mind: "Yin Susu is just an unworthy daughter. It's okay to beat her. I'm not going to apologize."
These words were all told to the Third Prince by Concubine Li. To Concubine Li, the Third Prince was her son. There was no need to care about the Yin family. Not to mention beating Yin Susu, even beating Lord Yin would be a small matter.
The Third Prince was still young and couldn't tell right from wrong. He just blindly learned everything and didn't know how much his words had hurt the emperor's heart.
Yin Susu was the niece of the queen and was said to be very much like the queen when she was a child. Every time the emperor saw Yin Susu, he would think of the eldest princess who had died prematurely. He always thought that if the eldest princess had grown up safely, she would have been like this.
Now the Third Prince's evaluation of Yin Susu as an "unworthy daughter" shocked the emperor so much that he even suspected that the Third Prince thought the same way about the eldest princess.
Thinking of this, the emperor raised his hand and slapped the Third Prince: "What an unworthy daughter. This is my good prince!"
"Come here, take the Third Prince back to the Fengyi Palace and let the queen discipline him strictly!"
The Third Prince looked at the emperor in disbelief. He wanted to argue something, but was covered by the eunuch's mouth and carried away.
Looking at this scene, Lord Yin felt like he was in a dream. Everything had gone too smoothly. He had been worrying about not being able to find someone to propose deposing the crown prince, and then Censor Zhang had come to help.
The emperor had been protecting the Third Prince and was reluctant to depose the crown prince. Then the Prince of Rui had appeared like a divine soldier and forced the emperor to depose the crown prince.
He had thought that this would be enough, but then the Third Prince had suddenly appeared, scolded the Prince of Rui, and finally ruined himself.
Lord Yin murmured in his heart that his sister and the emperor were both very smart. How could they have given birth to such a stupid son like the Third Prince.
...
In the evening.
The Princess of Jingning returned to the mansion. Qingdai stepped forward to serve her and reported the situation in the mansion one by one.
When she mentioned that Shen Baozhu had brought Qiuqiu and a young boy back, Qingdai said euphemistically, "Princess, Miss Wanqiu wants to stay overnight today. She has already sent a message to the Lady of Yong'an Marquis. But that young boy brought back by the little princess..."
"Is there something wrong with that boy's background? Just say it boldly." The Princess of Jingning was not surprised to learn that Shen Baozhu had brought someone back.
Shen Baozhu had even brought back a giant rat that was as smart as a human and a talking bird. At least the person she had brought back today was a real person.
The Princess of Jingning still remembered that Shen Haiyan had told her that Baozhu had a talking iron lump. When they had fallen into a pit, it was the iron lump that had treated his injuries and saved them. The iron lump could not only talk, but also had arms that were several meters long. It had also given Baozhu a small iron lump.
Qingdai hesitated to speak: "That boy was so dirty that he had to take a bath ten times before he was clean. His hair was not only yellow and tangled with debris, but also had a lot of bugs. The little princess insisted that he was the prince of the palace, the Fourth Prince."
"After that young boy woke up, his eyes were clear and his mind was active. Although he was not very good at speaking, his learning ability was very fast."
The palace had kept the fact that the Fourth Prince was a fool a closely guarded secret. But Qingdai was the maid of the Princess of Jingning and had entered the palace with the princess many times, so she knew that the Fourth Prince was a fool.
Qingdai thought that if that young boy was a fool, there wouldn't be many smart people in the world.
So she expressed her opinion: "The little princess must have been deceived. She mistook a little beggar for a prince."
The Princess of Jingning frowned slightly. She was also confused for a moment: "Where is Baozhu now? I'll go and take a look."
As soon as she mentioned Shen Baozhu, Shen Baozhu appeared.
A small figure rushed out from behind the hall and directly threw herself at the Princess of Jingning's legs: "Mother is back! I picked up the Fourth Prince and took good care of him!"
Shen Baozhu was very proud. According to Sister Ruxia, she had managed to transform the Fourth Prince in just one day. She was really amazing!
Hearing "Fourth Prince," the Princess of Jingning's face darkened. She directly grabbed Shen Baozhu's collar and lifted her up: "Who did you pick up and where did you pick him up?"
"The Fourth Prince. I picked him up from a small courtyard in the palace." Shen Baozhu didn't realize anything was wrong at all. She was still looking at her mother expectantly, hoping that her mother would see her achievement.
Picked up the Fourth Prince from a small courtyard in the palace...
The Princess of Jingning understood every word, but it was hard for her to understand this sentence. She turned to look at Qingdai: "You're right. Baozhu must have been deceived."