When the Empress heard that the Crown Prince had been reprimanded by the Emperor, she sighed helplessly. She didn't plead for mercy for the Crown Prince and didn't mention the matter in front of Emperor Yunqing.
It wasn't until the next day that Ban Heng entered the palace to give thanks that the Empress had someone call Ban Heng and the Crown Prince in front of her. Seeing Ban Heng's sloppy appearance, the Empress couldn't help but smile, "I heard that you came to the palace to give thanks. What kind of grace are you thanking?"
"Wei chen greets Empress," Ban Heng smiled and bowed to the Empress, "A few days ago, His Highness the Crown Prince had the palace people send many things. The two elders of the family were very grateful and let wei chen come to the palace to thank His Highness the Crown Prince. Originally, I was going to enter the palace two days ago. Who knew that wei chen's father wasn't well these two days, so I stayed at home for a few days. "
"We're family, there's no need to thank," The Empress smiled and turned her head. Seeing the change in the Crown Prince's expression, she had a bad feeling, "Crown Prince, what did you give the Duke Of Jingting's family?"
"Er chen …" The Crown Prince didn't dare to meet the Empress's eyes, "It wasn't anything rare. Uncle's family was too polite."
The Empress's gaze swept over him and then smiled at Ban Heng, "Did you hear what the Crown Prince said? If you are so polite next time, I will be angry."
Hearing this, Ban Heng smiled embarrassedly, "This time, because of my father's matter, His Majesty has been troubled. The matter also involved …" He glanced at the Crown Prince and awkwardly swallowed his words, "If I knew the matter would become so serious, wei chen would have advised my family."
"Advised what?" The Empress glanced at the Crown Prince, her voice cold, "If you do something wrong, you should be punished. You are ben gong and His Majesty's relatives. These daring people dared to scheme. Sooner or later, they will scheme against ben gong and His Majesty. "
When the Crown Prince heard this, his expression became unnatural. However, the Empress acted as if she didn't see him. She only said, "In the future, you can't say such things to me. Otherwise, I will be angry with you."
Ban Heng wasn't good at anything else, but he had been with his mother and sister for a long time, so he had learned how to make girls happy. Therefore, it didn't take long for him to make the Empress so happy that she forgot that the Crown Prince was still present.
The Crown Prince was a gentle person. Seeing the Empress treat him like this, the first thing he thought of was not hate, but what he had done to make Muhou unhappy. When he heard what the Crown Princess said, he felt that the Shi Family was indeed innocent. That was why he was willing to plead on their behalf.
In the past few days, he had been thinking carefully in the study. It was possible that the Shi Family had been wronged, but it was also possible that they had lied. The Crown Princess said that her younger sister was a weak woman who only knew poetry and painting. However, after he sent people to investigate, he found that the Crown Princess's younger sister was not like that.
She had affairs with many men, and even had an unclear relationship with Huahua's former fiancé. Now that Huahua was engaged to Cheng Anbo, there were rumors that she liked Cheng Anbo. This made the Crown Prince suspect that Miss Shi had ulterior motives and that she was deliberately targeting Huahua. Otherwise, why would she choose from so many men in the capital, but always be involved with a man who was engaged to Huahua?
Most importantly, even on the day of his second brother's wedding, he had specially gone to see her. What kind of charm did she have to make his second brother abandon his bride? Thinking about how his second brother always had problems with Huahua, and even deliberately bullied Huahua, could it be that he had also listened to the Crown Princess's second sister's words and did such a thing?
The human mind was very strange. Once he believed in something, even if it didn't make sense, he would automatically fill in the gaps and make it reasonable.
The Crown Princess' recent actions had already made the Crown Prince unhappy. However, he had a soft personality and remembered old friendships, so he had always hidden this dissatisfaction in the bottom of his heart. It was even possible that he didn't notice this trace of dissatisfaction. Until this time, when he was reprimanded by his father because of the Shi Family, he suddenly woke up. Many of the things he did now, many of the decisions, were related to the Shi Family. It was to the point that he had developed a habit of asking his father-in-law if he had any problems.
However, his father-in-law was still his father-in-law, not his father. In this world, the surname was Jiang, not Shi. No wonder his father was so disappointed in him.
After understanding this point and seeing Ban Heng, the Crown Prince couldn't help but feel guilty towards the Ban Family. Not to mention that the Empress was giving him the cold shoulder in front of Ban Heng, even if Ban Heng scolded him, he wouldn't talk back.
Ban Heng sat in the Empress' palace for a little less than an hour before he stood up and said his goodbyes. As a man, it wasn't appropriate for him to stay in the inner palace for too long. The Empress couldn't keep him, so she had a servant send him out of the palace.
After Ban Heng left, the Empress' face darkened.
"Crown Prince."
"Muhou," The Crown Prince stood in front of the Empress with his head bowed.
Seeing her son like this, the Empress was angry and distressed, "You, you."
"Erchen has disappointed muhou," The Crown Prince held the Empress' hand, "I only ask that muhou not be angry and harm your health."
"You should change your personality," The Empress patted the back of his hand and sighed, "You are the Crown Prince, the future Emperor. How can you not take care of your own backyard? The gift that the Ban Family received, was it sent by you, or was it sent by the Crown Princess in your name? "
"It was … … the Crown Princess."
"This is all muhou's fault. In the past, I saw that Shi shi was dignified and had a good reputation, so I felt that she was the best choice for the Crown Princess. Who knew that she was like this … …" The Empress sighed several times, "This matter cannot be spread, and you cannot let others know that this was done by the Crown Princess. She is muddle-headed, but you cannot be muddle-headed."
"Erchen will remember."
"None of them are easy to worry about," The Empress rubbed her forehead, "You can leave."
"Behind the scenes, erchen sees that your complexion is not good. How about I find a taiyi to take your pulse," The Crown Prince saw the Empress' tired expression and felt even more guilty, "Otherwise, erchen will not be at ease."
"It's fine, it's an old problem," The Empress shook her head, "If you and your brother don't make me angry, I won't have any problems."
"Yes."
The Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace and saw the eunuch that served the Crown Princess was looking around the door of the study. Thinking of muhou's words, his face darkened as he said to the palace attendants behind him, "Capture that eunuch that's poking his head out and flog him ten times."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, that is the Crown Princess … …"
"Are my words of no use?"
"Yes!"
In the years that the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess had been married, the Crown Princess did not have a son, and the Crown Prince had never embarrassed the Crown Princess. This time, the Crown Princess's face was probably going to be lost.
But the Crown Princess without face was still the Crown Princess. As palace servants, other than being obedient, they had no other choice.
Memorials to impeach Shi Chonghai quickly appeared in the court. The Shi Party tried to find a way out. This panicked appearance was just like last year when the Yan Family lost power. Unfortunately, Yan Hui's example did not teach them to keep a low profile. Instead, because of Yan Hui's loss of power, they became even more complacent and arrogant, which finally led to today's disaster.
How could Shi Chonghai admit to the crime of hiring assassins to assassinate a Duke of the Imperial Court? Therefore, the two sides had been arguing.
In the prison of the Supreme Court, Shi Feixian did not suffer much other than losing her freedom and not being able to wash up. The guards in the prison were very polite to her. Although they were not particular about the taste of her food, it was clean and easy to swallow. They did not even stop people from the Prime Minister's residence from visiting her. She could be considered the most well-treated person in the entire prison.
This was different from what Shi Feixian had expected. She thought that Rong Xia would deliberately make things difficult for her because of her relationship with Ban Han. But after these days, she realized that she was too petty. If Rong Xia had been cruel to her, she would have been even more upset. However, he did not appear in front of her again. It was as if she was no different from the other prisoners in the Supreme Court and was not worth his attention.
"Miss Shi." The prison guard walked over and bowed to her politely. "Your mother has come to see you."
"Mother?" Shi Feixian raised her head. When she saw Madam Shi, she stood up excitedly. "Mother!"
"Child." Madam Shi looked at her haggard daughter and walked to the prison door. She held her daughter's hand through the bars and said, "Child, you have suffered."
Mother, daughter, and son held hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes. After crying for a while, Madam Shi began to talk about trivial matters in the family. She talked about how the Crown Princess was despised by the Emperor, how the Prime Minister was struggling in the Imperial Court, how the Imperial Censor was overbearing, how the Shi Party was fence-sitters in the past and how few of them could be trusted.
Shi Feixian listened to her mother's complaints and looked at her arms that had lost their luster because she had not taken care of them for a long time. She gradually calmed down.
"Mother, did you come here today just to tell your daughter these things?" Her voice trembled as she released her grip on Madam Shi's wrist.
"Child …" Madam Shi looked at her daughter. She wanted to say something, but she could not say it out loud.
"Mother, do you want me to take the blame alone?" Shi Feixian's eyes were filled with tears, but she showed a mocking smile. "My reputation has been ruined. Even if I am released, I can only find a useless man to marry into my family. Moreover, I will implicate the entire Shi Family. Why don't I take the blame? Father, Big Sister, and Big Brother will not be implicated. Don't you think so? "
Madam Shi covered her mouth and shook her head as she cried bitterly. She did not know what to say.
"But I didn't do any of this. As my family, shouldn't you seek justice for me?" Shi Feixian's voice became shrill. "Just like the Duke Of Jingting, he smashed the door of anyone who bullied his daughter. No matter how bad her reputation is, he should protect her and not let her suffer any grievances. This is what parents and family should do, isn't it?"
Madam Shi leaned against the railing and cried until she was out of breath. She did not dare to look at her daughter's face. She was too ashamed to face her.
"I know." Shi Feixian looked at the crying Madam Shi and wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand. "You can go now."
"Child …"
"Don't worry. I will take the blame." Shi Feixian turned her back and did not look at Madam Shi. Her voice trembled. "Just take it as a daughter repaying your kindness for raising her."
"I didn't want to. I didn't want to." Madam Shi cried and beat her chest. "I was useless. I couldn't protect you."
One day later, in the Great Moon Palace, the Supreme Court Chancellor bowed to Emperor Yunqing.
"Your Majesty, Miss Shi confessed."
"What did she say?"
The Supreme Court Chancellor presented the confession with both hands and bowed. "Miss Shi admitted that she did not want Princess Fule to marry Cheng Anbo out of jealousy. Therefore, she wanted to hire assassins to assassinate the people in the Jingting Gongfu. However, the Prime Minister's Mansion was very strict and would never allow her to do such a heinous thing. Therefore, she could only secretly find some hooligans and ask them to assassinate Princess Fule. However, she could not find a good opportunity to do so, so she changed her plan and asked those hooligans to assassinate the Duke Of Jingting. In this way, Princess Fule would have to observe mourning for three years. During these three years, she could not marry Cheng Anbo. "
"Oh?" Emperor Yunqing put down the memorial in his hand and said with a serious expression, "Did she say how she met the servants in the Prince Hui Mansion?"
"Miss Shi said that she did not know that this person was a servant in the Prince Hui Mansion. She only thought that he was a middleman who introduced her to the assassins."
The Supreme Court felt that this reason was a bit far-fetched. Miss Shi obviously wanted to take all the blame so that the Shi Family would not be implicated.
He thought that His Majesty would not believe such a clumsy reason. He did not expect that His Majesty would not refute it. He only asked him to put down the confession and let him go.
A few days later, the truth of the Duke Of Jingting's assassination was revealed. The reason was a woman's jealousy. Cheng Anbo's reputation as a Rong Junpo was spread all over the world. A man who could make a woman in the boudoir kill must be very outstanding and charming.
For a time, Rong Xia's popularity in the capital did not decrease. Instead, it increased. If he had not been engaged, he would have been buried under flowers, handkerchiefs, fruits, and other gifts thrown at him by women every day.
Shi Chonghai "learned that his daughter had committed such a serious crime. Not only did he cry tears of blood in front of the Emperor, but he also went to the Ban Family to ask for punishment." His actions of not covering up for his daughter and bravely admitting his mistakes won the praise of some scholars.
Shi Chonghai even asked for his resignation. He felt that he was not strict enough with his daughter and did not have the face to be the Prime Minister. The Emperor was moved by his sincere attitude and felt that he should not bear the responsibility for his daughter's mistakes. In the end, Shi Chonghai was fined five thousand taels of silver and personally held an apology banquet to apologize to the Duke Of Jingting. His salary was also suspended for half a year.
Shi Chonghai did not object. The next day, he held a grand apology banquet. Not only did he invite Ban Huai to be the guest of honor, he also invited many famous people to be his guests.
Once he did this, he won a lot of praise.
When Ban Huai arrived with his son and daughter, there were already many people in the restaurant. Although the banquet was held on the second floor, there were still many people in the main hall downstairs. Everyone was waiting to see how the Ban Family would react.
Ban Han looked at the excited scholars downstairs. He snorted and looked away.
Ban Heng saw that the people downstairs were staring at his sister like wolves. He squeezed to the side of the stairs and blocked Ban Han.
"Duke Of Jingting!" Shi Chonghai saw Ban Huai. Before he could say anything, his eyes turned red. He bowed deeply to Ban Huai and said, "I did not teach my daughter well. I am really ashamed. I don't have the face to see you."
Ban Huai glanced at the guests who were watching the scene. He avoided Shi Chonghai's bow and said casually, "It's okay. Although you did not teach your daughter well, she was lucky to be alive."
After saying this, he sat down on a nearby chair, panting. He said embarrassedly, "I've made a fool of myself. I'm a coward. This incident scared me so much that I fell ill. I didn't want to go out today, but I thought that if I didn't come today, Marquis Shi would be embarrassed. So I reluctantly came. It's just that I'm not in good spirits. If I've done anything rude, please forgive me. "
Hearing this, everyone started to care about Ban Huai's health. A bunch of people were talking at once. It was very lively.
Shi Chonghai kept smiling and apologizing. However, many people were busy trying to please Ban Huai. For a while, no one cared about what he did.
Ban Han was not in the mood to watch this farce. He turned his head and met Shi Jin's eyes. Their eyes met in the air. Ban Kiwi was silent and did not speak. Shi Jin hesitated for a moment. He walked to a spot two steps away from Ban Han and asked, "How is Your Highness?"
"My father is ill. As his daughter, how can I be well?" Ban Han said indifferently. "Lord Shi, is something the matter?"
Shi Jin clasped his hands in front of his chest and remained silent.
Ban Han turned his head and looked at his father, who was sitting in the VIP seat. "Lord Shi, how is Miss Shi?"
"My sister committed a heinous crime. The Supreme Court sentenced her to fifteen years of military service." Shi Jin was silent. He had nothing to say to Ban Han.
"Where is she serving?"
After a while, Shi Jin heard Ban Han ask. He raised his head in surprise. When he saw that Ban Han did not look angry, he replied, "Xi Zhou."
"Xi Zhou is far away and bitterly cold. It's windy and sandy. Can your sister stand the climate there?" Ban Han lowered her eyes and softened her tone. "Why not move to a place with a better climate?"
"She should be punished for her mistakes. The Shi Family does not dare to complain." Shi Jin lowered his head and did not look into Ban Han's eyes.
"Of course you have nothing to complain about." Ban Han was tired of the Shi Family. Although she had a grudge against the Shi Feixian, she did not want him to die if he really had nothing to do with the attack on her father.
On the other hand, the Shi family was more open-minded than an outsider like her. If she continued to talk nonsense, it would be annoying.
That day, Shi Chonghai offered Ban Huai tea as an apology. Ban Huai drank it calmly. Just as the banquet was about to officially start, Ban Huai's face suddenly turned pale and he fainted. Everyone was so scared that they hurriedly called for a doctor. Only then did they know that his body was still very weak and he could not be too tired.
Thus, the banquet was canceled and everyone sent Ban Huai home. When they walked out of the Ban Family's gate, they turned around and wondered if Ban Huai had accepted Shi Chonghai's apology or not.
Regardless of whether she had accepted it or not, this matter had come to an end. On the surface, Shi Chonghai and Yan Hui were still Prime Ministers and their statuses were not affected. However, in reality, the two families were no longer as glorious as they used to be. Not only were they no longer glorious, but they also had to live as if they were treading on thin ice.
On the surface, the Shi and Yan factions no longer existed in the imperial court. However, under this calm surface, there seemed to be a hidden undercurrent. It was just waiting for someone to reveal it, and then the world would turn upside down and change color.
Three days after Shi Chonghai apologized to Ban Huai, Shi Feixian was shackled and put on a headlock. Together with a group of prisoners who had been sent to Xi Zhou, she sat in a shabby wooden carriage.
The cramped and shabby wooden carriage was filled with a strange smell. The women in the carriage looked at her and couldn't understand. What kind of crime did such a delicate girl commit to be sent to such a bitter and cold place like Xi Zhou?
The oldest woman in the carriage looked to be in her forties, but she was actually in her early thirties. She had killed her husband and mother-in-law, who had tortured her all day long. However, because she had saved the daughter of an official when she was young, she had gained some favor. Therefore, she was not sentenced to death, but was instead sent to exile.
She couldn't help but ask Shi Feixian, "Miss, what crime did you commit?"
"Me?" Shi Feixian stared blankly at the woman in front of her, whose face had experienced the vicissitudes of life. After a while, she said, "I was born in the wrong body and did the wrong thing."
The wooden carriage was firmly nailed to the sides, leaving only a few small holes for the people in the carriage to breathe. Listening to the bustling noise outside, she couldn't help but think absentmindedly that this was probably the last time she would hear the bustling sounds of the capital.
In Xi Zhou, the wind was strong and there was little rain. The blazing sun was hot enough to burn her skin. She didn't know if she could endure it.
After the wooden carriage left the city, the prisoners' families on both sides of the road came to deliver clothes. Some of them cried and some of them kowtowed. However, the bailiffs who escorted the prisoners took money from these people and turned a blind eye to this situation.
Except for Shi Feixian, all the female prisoners in the carriage had received things from their families, including the woman who had just asked her.
She bent over in the narrow wooden carriage and looked at the parting of life and death outside the carriage. Her face was numb to the extreme.
"Miss Shi." A guard on horseback chased out of the city, carrying a large bundle in his hand.
Shi Feixian's eyes lit up, but the light in her eyes disappeared when she saw the guard's face. She had never seen this person before. He was definitely not a member of the Shi Family.
"My master said that the mountain is high and the road is long. From now on, we will be separated by the ends of the world. All the grievances of the past will be written off. Please take care of yourself." The guard stuffed the bundle into Shi Feixian's hand and said in a flat voice, "Goodbye."
"Wait." Shi Feixian held the bundle and looked at the ordinary-looking guard. "Who is your master?"
The guard saluted. "Please forgive me for not being able to answer your question. Goodbye!"
Shi Feixian held the huge bundle and stared blankly at the back of the guard as he rode away. Soon, the other female prisoners were locked back in the wooden carriage. They all began to rummage through the bundles prepared by their families. Shi Feixian was the only one who didn't touch the bundle.
She didn't know what was inside. Maybe it was something to curse her, or maybe it was a dead rat.
She had always known that some young ladies in the capital were secretly jealous of her. But she knew even more clearly that even if they were jealous, they didn't dare to show it in front of her. They even tried their best to please her.
As for those so-called men who adored her, they had already stayed far away from her. Even her family didn't want to get involved with her, let alone these men.
"My dear daughter, the material of your bundle is so good." A female prisoner said, "It won't break even after many years of use."
Shi Feixian clenched her teeth and began to open the bundle.
She wanted to know who on earth had a grudge against her and dared to send her something at this critical moment. Even the Shi Family didn't dare to do this. How could she have the courage to do this?
When the bundle was opened, there were no dead rats or dirty things inside. There was only a water sack, a few inconspicuous sets of clothes for the four seasons, a bag of dry food, and a small purse. She reached out and squeezed it. There might be copper coins and pieces of silver inside.
They were separated by the ends of the world. All the grievances were written off.
Her vision blurred and tears fell on the bundle.
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