Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 352: The Duck in the Third Prince’s Mouth Flew Away

Chapter 352: Chapter 352: The Duck in the Third Prince’s Mouth Flew Away

Murong Jiu had followed her master around the south and the north in those years, witnessing the downfall of the Su Family.

At that time, Su Qiaoyun had already hanged herself, and her parents had fallen gravely ill. A loyal old servant sought an audience with her master.

Yet, the sickness of the heart is difficult to cure, and the elderly couple, under the immense blow, lost their will to live and soon passed away, reuniting with their son and daughter.

She was still young then, clamoring to punish the unfaithful scoundrel, and though her master scolded her for meddling, he took her to find that Scholar Chen.

By the time they found him, he had been exposed and badly beaten, barely clinging to life. She thought it served him right.

But the lives of the Su Family members who had passed could never be brought back.

And those innocent young ladies who had been deceived would surely face a life full of hardships.

Murong Jiu had thought that man was dead, yet years later, she saw him in the Imperial Palace, transforming into a Daoist true person with an aura of immortality.

So from the moment she saw him, she did not want such a person to live; he should have died back then, and who knows if he has caused more deaths over the years.

After listening, Jun Yuyan remained silent for a moment before saying, "Many commoners are naive and foolish; it’s time we expanded the schools."

Murong Jiu was surprised and said, "I didn’t expect the Prince to relate this to education; I’m quite surprised."

He smiled wryly, "We’ve discussed this topic many times before. The ignorance and backwardness of many commoners stem from their empty minds, making them easy to deceive. If one cannot travel afar, then they must read extensively."

Murong Jiu didn’t remember their shared experiences, but it was evident that they had shared thoughts. She had seen too many ignorant people, and knew that reading more could only be beneficial.

Even if one could enlighten themselves to recognize a few more characters, it was still good; at least they could write simple letters, understand contracts, and legal documents.

She wholeheartedly supported him, "With you here, Great Yan is truly blessed, Prince."

"No," he said, "I’ve said this before, but I want to say it again, having Ah Jiu is the greatest blessing for Great Yan."

His eyes were profound, and his expression was sincere.

Murong Jiu, looking into his eyes, couldn’t help but blush, and her ears felt like they were burning.

She thought about her own failures; in her dreams, it seemed like she had been blinded by lard. She talked about others being easily deceived, yet wasn’t she the same in her dreams? The Second Prince had exploited her weakness, which was her lack of love and friends. At the time, she was ostracized by her "family" at the Marquis Mansion, and when the Second Prince took advantage of her vulnerability, expressing appreciation and affection, she willingly worked for him until she died and finally came to her senses.

But heaven had truly favored her, giving her a chance to start over.

Now, she felt as if the fog that had shrouded her mind had lifted, the clouds had parted to reveal the moon, and the mist had cleared, allowing her to finally see people’s true hearts.

The best gift heaven could give her was having someone like Jun Yuyan, a husband with shared ideals, by her side.

She hoped to regain her memory, wanting to know what had happened in the past year, when their love for each other began, and how they developed their understanding. She was eager to learn the whole story.

But she also understood that the human brain was always the most mysterious, and the lost memories might never return.

Still, she wasn’t going to obsess over it; living well in the present and cherishing the person before her was what she ought to do.

Life is short, merely decades.

The topic returned to Chen Yuzong.

The Fourth Prince might use their knowledge about Chen Yuzong having a son as a point of contention, but Murong Jiu had lied to Chen Yuzong at that time – he had no descendants, no so-called son. Therefore, even if there was an attempt to frame them, it would not succeed.

Just as they expected, things unfolded.

The Fourth Prince claimed they were acquainted with Chen Yuzong, but the Third Prince could not find any information about a wife or child. With confidential information from Prince Ling’s Mansion, the Third Prince successfully traced Chen Yuzong’s ancestry.

Although Chen Yuzong’s parents had both passed away, and the young ladies who had once been deceived by him either became nuns or had since married, they all had no further ties to Chen Yuzong.

Chen Yuzong was truly alone.

This also proved that the words True Person Zi Chen uttered before his death were false, Princess Consort Ling did not know whether he had a son, nor could she find any evidence of their connection.

On the contrary, it was the Fourth Imperial Son who had once stayed briefly in Yuhai City, where the Sanzhen Taoist Temple was located.

The Third Prince discovered that Chen Yuzong had once served as the Taoist Master of the Sanzhen Taoist Temple and even summoned people from that time to identify True Person Zi Chen’s body.

Whether Chen Yuzong was indeed the Taoist Master no longer mattered, since the Third Prince had found "irrefutable evidence," which meant he was the Taoist Master of the Sanzhen Taoist Temple.

However, all other evidence was gone; the Fourth Imperial Son indeed had some tricks up his sleeve. The Third Prince had his spies close by, and the forged crucial evidence was destroyed, leaving only the speculation that the Fourth Imperial Son and Chen Yuzong knew each other to be presented to the Emperor.

The Emperor, suspicious by nature, even if it was merely speculation, held serious doubts about his fourth son. Unexpectedly, the Fourth Imperial Son then produced other "evidence" that showed the impersonator, True Person Zi Chen, was invited by the Second Prince.

The two young Taoist boys provided crucial testimony, claiming they had seen the Second Prince and possessed his token.

In this way, the Second Prince was again implicated in the matter.

Of course, the Second Prince protested his innocence; he could not just sit and wait for his doom.

But the two young Taoist boys had already committed suicide out of fear of punishment, leaving no one to corroborate the story.

The scandal had grown so large that the Emperor unleashed his fury, summoning his four sons to the Imperial Palace, telling them that he was in fine health and they should not harbor any crooked thoughts, or else he would disregard any so-called paternal feelings of the Royal Family.

Originally, the event to select the Crown Prince was to happen, but because of the incident with True Person Zi Chen, the Emperor had no plans to appoint a Crown Prince in the next couple of years.

The most displeased was The Third Prince.

His ascension to Crown Prince had seemed guaranteed, yet due to the Emperor’s suspicions and wrath towards his sons, the decision to select the Crown Prince was postponed.

The prized duck flew away just as it reached one’s mouth.

The other three Princes, including Jun Yuyan, were more or less involved in the affair, although for Jun Yuyan, it mattered little, as he would fight for whatever he wanted.

However, the Fourth Imperial Son’s move to unmask True Person Zi Chen had backfired on him as well.

Though the punishment was not severe, both the Second and Third Princes became aware of the Fourth Imperial Son’s ambition.

He had moved from an obscure prince scheming in the shadows to an exposed enemy of the Second and Third Princes.

It was akin to lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet.

"It also shows that the Fourth Imperial Son, despite seeming calculating, is actually quite arrogant inside. His patience is nearing its end."

Murong Jiu evaluated him as such.

At that moment, Jun Yuyan was holding and playing with his daughter Zhiyu. He laughed upon hearing those words, "Ah Jiu is right. He seems no longer willing to pretend. Besides, he has gathered mostly officials stationed outside the capital, and now the officials in the capital are getting a good look at this Fourth Imperial Son."

"Hmph, he’s really delusional!"

She snorted coldly, but as her words fell, her brother Zhijin started crying loudly; he had wet himself. She hurriedly began to change the little one’s diaper.

"Let me do it."

Jun Yuyan handed Zhiyu to her and expertly changed his son’s diaper.