Chapter 164 This is the evidence! (Seeking monthly votes)

“Viscount Haiqing, Your Highness asks you to wait in the side hall.”

Outside Chengping Palace, Zhao Qi’an waited for a while and was soon led into the palace by the eunuch who came to pick him up.

Perhaps it was because he brought a very valuable gift with him on this visit, or perhaps the Second Prince really valued him, the eunuch who came to lead the way was none other than the Second Prince’s close companion “Eunuch Fu”.

Eunuch Fu still looks chubby, and the smile on his face is as amiable as ever.

As the son-in-law of the emperor, Zhao Qi’an was granted the “Palace Walker” badge by the current emperor, so he could enter and leave the palace freely without notifying in advance.

But he did not have the authority to bring in followers, so he came alone to meet the Second Prince Ji Haoyu.

The second prince now lives in Chengping Palace in the imperial palace.

This used to be the bedroom of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengping. Even the palace was named “Chengping”. But now it is the residence of the second prince.

This is obviously not in accordance with etiquette, but it is the only solution.

In the past, the princes lived in the harem with their mothers before they came of age. But now the eldest prince is over fifty years old, and the youngest fourth prince is in his thirties. It is obviously inappropriate to live and eat in the harem with their mothers.

However, as long as the position of crown prince remains undecided, the other princes will not be able to be granted fiefdoms.

Originally, there were some old royal palaces in the inner city, but was it a violation of etiquette for a prince who had not been crowned as a king to live in one of the palaces?

There was a lot of debate in the court about this matter, but in the end no solution was reached.

In the end, the problem was simply not resolved. Now the four princes still live in the palace, but they have moved out of the harem and found other palaces to settle down in.

The original old royal palaces were razed to the ground and rebuilt into “Yongkangfang” after the “Tenmu Reduction of Feudal Regime” to accommodate the royal relatives who were recalled to Kyoto.

Zhao Qi’an had entered the palace quite a few times, but most of the time he went to Fuyan Palace to see Concubine Zhen. He had only been to the “Pingle Palace” of his eldest brother-in-law Ji Qingkong, the residences of several princes.

This was the first time that the Second Prince came to the Chengping Palace.

When he followed Eunuch Fu into the courtyard, what he saw was a courtyard with quite elegant decoration.

A small bridge, flowing water, bamboo forest and rockery… Although the courtyard is not big, you can tell that it took a lot of effort to decorate it.

Zhao Qi’an saw a crooked swing built on a lawn, which seemed out of place with the surrounding scenery. He asked curiously, “Eunuch Fu, who built that?”

Eunuch Fu looked in the direction he pointed and explained with a smile, “That was built on a whim by His Highness.”

“Your Highness is good at carpentry?”

“That’s not the case. It’s just… a whim.”

The fact that the Second Imperial Concubine is pregnant has not yet been made public.

So Eunuch Fu didn’t know how to explain to Zhao Qian’an for a moment and could only speak vaguely.

Fortunately, Zhao Qi’an just asked casually and didn’t ask any further questions.

Eunuch Fu breathed a sigh of relief, stretched out his hand to the right and made a “please” gesture, saying: “The reception hall is over here, Viscount Haiqing, please follow us.”

……

Come to the side hall to have tea.

Zhao Qi’an didn’t wait long and soon saw Ji Haoyu.

He stood up and saluted: “Second Prince.”

“Haiqing, there’s no need to be polite. We are all family. Please sit down.”

Ji Haoyu was still as warm and generous as ever, as if he really treated Zhao Qi’an as his own family.

He was a very etiquette-conscious person. Because he was obese, he often sweated, so he had to bathe several times a day to ensure that there was no odor on his body. Now that he was in front of Zhao Qian’an, Ji Haoyu had already bathed and changed his clothes, and he looked much more energetic.

After Ji Haoyu sat down, he took a breath and then looked at Zhao Qian with a smile: “Is Yu Zhen feeling better? I haven’t heard from her in recent days.”

He and Zhao Qian’an are uncle and uncle, so it is normal for him to open the topic with “Yuzhen”.

The last time Zhao Qi’an attended a banquet, he asked why Yu Zhen didn’t come, but Zhao Qi’an evaded the question by using the excuse that Yu Zhen was sick.

When asked again, Zhao Qi’an shook his head and said, “No improvement.”

“Oh? Is the illness so serious? I know some famous doctors, can I ask them to go to your house to see Yuzhen?”

“Your Highness is thoughtful, but Yu Zhen has already entered the palace, and the Fifth Marquis is treating her.”

“Is it that serious?!”

It was just a greeting, but when Ji Haoyu heard that Yu Zhen was sent to the palace and even the Fifth Marquis was invited, he was shocked and confused for a moment.

Could it be that Yu Zhen really has some serious illness?
Zhao Qi’an looked calm and replied, “Your Highness, don’t worry about your life. It’s just that the disease is hard to cure.”

Ji Haoyu was skeptical, but seeing what Zhao Qi’an said, he could only nod his head: “No wonder you refused to come to the banquet I invited you to several times before. I never thought that such a big thing happened in your house. I guess you are not in the mood to attend the banquet. As a brother, I am ashamed that I didn’t even know about this.”

He sighed softly, then looked at Zhao Qi’an: “But you are also the kind of person who would not come to see me for no reason. Tell me, what is the important matter that brought you to Chengping Palace to see me today?”

Ji Haoyu claimed that he had figured out how to get along with Zhao Qi’an.

There’s no point beating around the bush with such a “straightforward” person. It’s better to be direct and to the point.

He also roughly knew why Zhao Qi’an came to see him.

A few days ago, the Astronomical Observatory raided the Gao family’s house in the outer city, which caused a lot of uproar. The second son of the Gao family was even thrown into jail.

Behind this incident, not only the Astronomical Observatory was involved, but also the Zhao family.

So Ji Haoyu asked directly: “Are you here for the Gao family’s matter?”

Zhao Qi’an nodded and said, “Your Highness is indeed a man of insight.”

Ji Haoyu laughed heartily and said, “You’ve got the wrong person. I can’t interfere with the affairs of the Sky Patrol. Moreover, this time the Sky Patrol is helping us deal with Lao San’s dog. Let’s just wait and see what happens.”

The Gao family was targeted by the Astronomical Observatory, and if they didn’t die, they would be skinned alive. If the Gao family was eliminated, it would be like the third brother having one of his arms chopped off.

Naturally, he was happy to see the third brother suffer a loss, and now that someone was doing it for him, it was exactly what he wanted.

Zhao Qi’an shook his head and said, “The Gao family has the Patrol of Heaven to deal with it, but many people in the court are colluding with the Gao family. Even your Highness has people who have defected. How should we deal with these people?”

Ji Haoyu frowned and said helplessly: “Hai Qing, you don’t understand the affairs of the officialdom. Don’t I know that the Third Brother has won over many people on my side over the years?”

“But the question is… if you go to them and ask them, will they honestly tell you whether they have colluded with the Gao family?”

He spread his hands and said, “Without evidence, what can you do? Are you going to judge someone based on guesswork? If you really do that, it will only make the people under you feel disappointed.”

“There is evidence.”

“Yeah, if there’s no evidence then…what did you say?!”

Ji Haoyu was a little slow to react, and when he finally reacted, he looked at Zhao Qian’an in surprise.

Zhao Qi’an didn’t waste any words. He took out a few pieces of paper and gently placed them on the tea table. He tapped his fingers and said, “This is the evidence.”

I have had a low-grade fever since yesterday, my throat is sore, and my whole body aches. I will go to the hospital for an IV drip tomorrow. Please forgive me for not updating for the next two days. I will make up for it later.

Also, considering that the author Jun Fa Fever is still updating, please give me a few votes, thank you!

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(End of this chapter)