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Home/ There’s A Beauty / Chapter 62 (Part 2)

Princess Mingzhu took pity on her elder brother and brought him to the Zhao Mansion to take care of him, and finally went to the palace to ask the empress for help. But which of the three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two Concubines didn’t know that the Empress had fallen out of favor? 

So even though the empress knelt down in front of the Hall of Mental Cultivation with tears streaming down her face and kowtowed, the emperor didn’t give her a glance and ordered her to be escorted back to the cold palace, where she was confined for half a year. The empress had no choice but to secretly send some belongings to Zhao mansion, and asked her daughter to take care of the sixth prince on her behalf.

After the downfall of the several princes, many ministers were also implicated. Those who stood on the wrong side were all dismissed from their posts, with some of them even implicating their whole family, causing them to be imprisoned. 

The Zhao family was also one of them, but because of the big house(You Shu’s family), and Princess Mingzhu who was married into the second house, they were given a lighter sentence, and the death penalty can be avoided. The second master, third master, and fourth master who were originally promoted by the sixth prince when they helped him in suppressing the Ninth Prince, were successively deprived of their fame, never being able to stand up again. While the fifth master was exiled by the whole family because of his greed and corruption.

On the other hand, Zhao Zhizhou has now been promoted to the position of Minister of the Household Department, and it is rumored that he will become the Grand Bachelor of the Cabinet in the near future.  

And You Shu, who followed the Ninth Prince, has been appointed as the third general. A third rank military general might not be a big deal, but he is only seventeen or eighteen years old this year, and is deeply loved by the Ninth Prince. When the Ninth Prince ascends the throne as the new emperor, it is not difficult to imagine how glorious the big house will be.

Originally, everyone in the Zhao family thought of the big house as mud that couldn’t even support the wall of the house, but now it has become the backbone of the entire Zhao family. Not to mention the Old Master Zhao, even Princess Mingzhu has to rely on their faces to make a living.

In the past two years, apart from the turmoil in the court, a strange thing also occurred among the families in Shangjing. Almost every two days, a person would be found dead at home, with not only the skin peeled off, but also a big hole in the chest, without the heart. 

In the beginning, people who died belonged to ordinary families, but after several consecutive months, the identity of the deceased gradually changed from ordinary people to high-ranking officials, and their status became increasingly high, attracting the attention of the government.

Under the orders of Emperor Zhongkang, Dali Temple(Judicial office) investigated for several months, and ordered the guards to patrol around the clock, but they still couldn’t catch the murderer.

After another year passed, the Jin Kingdom was also conquered, and the Ninth Prince finally decided to return to the imperial court. When the army arrived in Shangjing, they were welcomed by the common people, and all the meritorious officials also met with the Emperor and were conferred various titles. 

Several generals were all conferred the title of marquis, with a reward of tens of thousands of taels, which was understandable. However, the fifth son of the Zhao family who hadn’t earned any military achievements, was granted the superior title of Duke of Anguo, which was a bit unacceptable.

Some officials expressed dissatisfaction with this, but Emperor Zhongkang blocked them all. Some people also pretended to defend the generals, saying that their blood was shed in vain, and they still couldn’t compare to a male pet. 

Nowadays, everyone believes that this Fifth Young Master of the Zhao family has never been on the battlefield, nor has he killed any enemy troops, and his only role was to stay in the tent and sleep. They even heard the rumors that he and the Ninth Prince even lived together during the march, doing shameless things.

If it weren’t for the soaring prestige of the Ninth Prince and his strong protection, You Shu might have been suppressed by his colleagues.

Now that he has served the Ninth Prince well, and even surpassed all the meritorious generals to obtain a superior title in comparison. What does other people think? Won’t the soldiers feel chilled because of this? So the minister of court thought of a comprehensive plan.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth to complain, he was scolded back by several generals, who then frequently glanced at the expressions of the Fifth Young Master and the Ninth Prince, as if they were very afraid.

What’s this? Isn’t it just a fox pretending to be a tiger? Several courtiers felt even more indignant and wanted to argue again, but they were directly kicked out by Emperor Zhongkang. 

The court suddenly quieted down, and then the generals finally breathed a sigh of relief one after another. These ignorant people even dared to criticize and belittle the immortal master, they really are fearless for those who don’t know the truth.  

If they really knew that this master was the immortal who trapped and killed a million coalition soldiers, built a ten foot long city defense overnight, and instantly froze the thousands of miles of Mijiang river, what expression would they make? Even granting the superior title of Duke of Anguo is wronging the immortal master.

Zhao Zhizhou, no, it’s Minister Zhao Zhizhou now, he vaguely guessed something, but didn’t ask much. As long as his son could safely return home, it doesn’t matter where he learned all his skills. After finally waiting for the court to finish, he immediately grabbed his son and dragged him out of the court.

The Ninth Prince hurriedly chased after him, but was stopped by Emperor Zhongkang, “Jiu’er(Little nine), what are you doing? You haven’t seen your father for three years, and you still have the heart to leave immediately? As the saying goes, you forget your parents when you have a daughter-in-law. Alas…it’s true.” Emperor Zhongkang sighed with a sad expression on his face.

The Ninth Prince didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and had no choice but to turn back and support his father. After the father and son slowly withdrew from the main hall, the officials in the court looked at each other with astonishment in their eyes. The emperor used the words “daughter-in-law”, which is equivalent to recognizing the identity of the Fifth Young Master of the Zhao family. That is to say, he is the Duke of Anguo on the surface, but in fact he is the future crown princess?

“Hiss, strange things keep happening this year. Now a man can also become a crown princess?” A minister muttered to himself.

He happened to have a colleague beside him who was well versed in criminal law, and he said firmly, “Of course it’s possible. In Xia Qi, Ji family is a royal orthodox family, and all laws and regulations follow the “Great Ming Law” promulgated by Emperor Zhongsheng six hundred years ago, one of which states that a man can also marry another man.”

“You mean, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is likely to marry the Fifth Young Master of the Zhao family? Then what about the imperial heir?”

“The issue of the imperial heir can also be resolved by referring to the “Great Ming Law”, and he will be selected from the royal family. I think the royal family will welcome this male crown princess very much.” The minister waved his hand and left, leaving his colleagues standing in the hall in a daze.

When You Shu and Zhao Zhizhou returned home, the Old Master Zhao and the Old lady had already led everyone to wait at the main entrance for a long time. They have already learned from the servant boy who reported back home that You Shu is now the Duke of Anguo, and can open a new Duke’s mansion and take Zhao Zhizhou and Mrs. Wang out to live separately.

How can this be done? Today’s Zhao family is fully supported by the big house. Once they leave, the former aristocratic family will immediately be reduced to an impoverished household. So what if they have a princess married into their family? 

Princess Mingzhu has long been demoted by the emperor because she embezzled military funds to add make-up to her dowry. If it weren’t for the fact that she was the sister of the Ninth Prince, she might not have been able to maintain her royal identity. She is no longer the backer of the Zhao family, but the star of tragedy. If she hadn’t induced the second house to stand with the Sixth Prince, the other houses would not have followed suit, causing disaster for their family.

The several sisters-in-law who once used to be very arrogant have now become Mrs. Wang’s companions. Seeing the carriage approaching, they hurriedly hugged her and kept flattering her.

You Shu jumped out of the carriage first, then went to help Zhao Zhizhou, and then ran to Mrs. Wang, hugging her tightly. He showed an indifferent attitude towards several uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins, and just nodded slightly. 

Suddenly, his gaze landed on the woman with a bloated figure and sallow skin, and he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows, feeling a bit familiar.

“This is your sister-in-law, Princess Mingzhu.” Mrs. Wang said lightly. When the sixth prince gained power back then, Mrs. Wang was not less angry with this princess, who even brought her into the palace once to be reprimanded by the Empress, causing her to suffer a lot.

It turned out to be Princess Mingzhu, my master’s blood related sister. You Shu suddenly realized that she really couldn’t compare to the girl he once saw. 

In front of him was a woman whose body looked three or four times swollen and her complexion was several times darker in comparison to the bright and arrogant princess back then. 

You Shu nodded slightly, and said perfunctorily, “It turned out to be Princess Mingzhu. I haven’t seen her for many years, and I can’t even recognize her.”

“Fifth Young Master, long time no see.” Princess Mingzhu gritted her teeth and forced a smile.

Zhao Yusong glared at her, then quickly stepped forward and said a lot of flattering words, with a completely opposite attitude than that of three years ago. 

After Zhao Yusong switched to the Sixth Prince’s side, he did live in prosperity for a period of time, but now his life is extremely miserable. The original “banned from imperial examinations for five years” has been changed to “banned from imperial examinations for life”, and all his previous achievements have also been taken away. In other words, he has no future prospects now, unless he meets some noble person who can help him.

The Ninth Prince swept through the four nations and unified Kyushu. Although he was still the crown prince of Xia Qi, he is already the undisputed ruler of the four nations. After he comes back this time, he will definitely select a group of officials to go to the four nations to handle the post-war affairs. 

Zhao Yusong also knows that this is a great opportunity to make progress. In order to get this opportunity, the nobles in Shanjing have already turned red eyed with jealousy, but they have no way to curry favor. You Shu is the pillow companion of the Ninth Prince, and no one’s words would be more useful than him. It should be a safe bet to start with him.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yusong became even more enthusiastic, pulling him to reminisce about the old days, as if the feelings between them were very deep.

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