The Gilded Cage - Chapter 120
An Audience- I Also Didn’t Want to Disturb the Emperor (2)
Duke Wei did not expect that after such an incident, the Emperor was first concerned about Guo’er’s situation, and could not help but say emotionally, “I thank Your Majesty for your concern for Guoer.”
Xiao Kezhi shook his head, “I should also thank my uncle, when encountering such things, the first thing that comes to mind is to tell me.”
Duke Wei finally felt as if a burden had been taken off his shoulders. He was about to leave and suddenly remembered the words of his wife and daughter. He did not know whether to say it or not and stood in place.
“Uncle, is there anything else to say?”
Duke Wei hesitated for a moment and stammered, “I do have one more thing to say, please don’t blame me, Your Majesty. My Lady and Guo’er were previously much in the Crown Prince Consort’s care, so I want to beg Your Majesty, if something really happens, can… the consort’s side… Your Majesty, I just want to say… if Your Majesty has other considerations, do not take my words seriously!
Xiao Kezhi and Chu Ning both froze.
At first, the Duke of Lu’s family, when they first met, had been nervous because of her status, but now they would plead for her. She suddenly had a feeling that her past actions were responded to in kind, and couldn’t help but be moved.
“I know, when the time comes, I will handle it at my discretion.” Xiao Kezhi smiled and answered vaguely.
Duke Wei thought he was being perfunctory, and with regret in his heart, he bowed and left.
Liu Kang keenly sent in a basin of warm water as soon as Duke Wei left.
Silence returned to the hall. Xiao Kezhi stood by the couch for a moment, and did not hear the movement behind the screen. He looked behind it and saw Chu Ning standing motionless, lost in thought.
The candlelight shone on his body, casting a thick shadow that just happened to envelop her.
She looked back up and met his deep gaze with a vague smile.
He could not say what kind of a smile it was, a little chipper and bewildered, and more, it seemed to be a little relieved and relaxed.
“He has been thinking of taking over the throne,” she looked at him blankly and murmured, “I didn’t expect that it would be by this method.”
“Good girl. Don’t be sad, it’s not worth it.” He couldn’t help but frown as he approached her side and reached out to wrap his arms around her.
But the next moment, she laughed lightly and slowly walked towards the screen, “But I was only surprised for a moment, and now, I feel that this is how it should have been.”
“When he married me, it was because of my father’s reputation, and now that I am no longer valuable, and someone else is, he should naturally abandon me and marry someone else.”
She went over to the couch, but instead of sitting on it, she sat on the bottom step, huddled into a ball with her hands on her knees.
“Your Majesty, I am not sad, just a little empty. He lied to me for more than two years and obviously killed my father, yet he can still whisper in my ear over and over again that he will get justice for my father and will treat me well. Marrying someone else? What can’t be done?”
In fact, there were still a few moments of loss at the bottom of the heart.
Even though she had no feelings for Xiao Yu, and even had hatred for him, she could not help but feel cold and sour when she learned that she was the one he was about to abandon.
Fortunately, she did not buy into his occasional fondness and meager affection over the past two years, and she was sober enough not to let herself fall into isolation and self-loathing.
Thinking about the strange things she had noticed in the past few days, she slowly connected them with what she had just heard, and everything seemed to make sense.
For Xiao Yu, the Zhao family was indeed a good choice.
She paused and suddenly turned her head to look at the complicated-looking Xiao Kezhi and asked, “Did His Majesty already know about this?”
She remembered that he did not look surprised when he heard the Duke of Lu say this, and when he faced himself, he also seemed to have expected it.
He reached out and wrapped his hand around her thin shoulder, first nodding and then shaking his head.
“I guessed that the Crown Prince and the Zhao family would collude, but I didn’t know he was going to marry another.”
He had always sent people to keep an eye on both Second Lady Zhao and Xiao Yu, and naturally their brief encounter outside the palace that night did not escape his eyes.
But he didn’t know what they had said, but he could only guess, based on the current situation, that Second Lady Zhao was looking for another way out, and that switching to the Crown Prince was indeed an option.
He didn’t expect that Zhao Yue would be so unscrupulous, and Xiao Yu would be willing to abandon his wife to enlist the Zhao family.
So easily swayed, even if he sat on the throne, he would not be able to control the situation.
“So the two of them are like this, has Your Majesty thought of a countermeasure?” Chu Ning thought of the military power in the hands of the Zhao family, although things have not reached the point of no return, but it should be somewhat tricky.
“Naturally.” He said it in a light-hearted manner, as if he didn’t put these two people in mind at all, but instead lifted her jaw and asked in a low voice, “Why are you asking this?”
Chu Ning couldn’t help but shrink under his focused gaze and whispered, “I don’t want the Crown Prince to get what he wants.”
A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.
But she hesitated and added, “I don’t want to see His Majesty bothered either…”
His eyes suddenly lit up.
“I am not. What about you? May I directly give an order to bring you into the palace?”
Chu Ning lowered her eyes and did not say anything, thought carefully for a moment, and shook her head firmly. “No. I will leave him, for myself, not for others.”
