Husband, Be A Gentleman

Chapter 48

Chapter Forty-Eight

'If I didn't save Bei Dou's life then I wouldn't have known the empress secretly used the Thinh Household's support to secure the crown prince's position,' Pei Jin said.

'Then why was the Thinh Household framed?' Yan Shi Ning asked.

'It was a complicated situation,' Pei Jin said. 'The Thinh Household became too rich and powerful and imperial father became weary of the Thinh Household. The empress and the crown prince's supporters found out about the emperor's plan to investigate the Thinh Household so they sent people to frame the Thinh Household to get rid of evidence of their connection with the Thinh Household. But many court officials received bribes from the Thinh Household and those court officials were implicated too. Imperial father couldn't demote almost half of his court officials so he could only sacrifice the Thinh Household, and the empress and the crown prince escaped death by association with someone convicted of treason.'

'Does that mean the empress and the crown prince betrayed the Thinh Household to protect themselves?' Yan Shi Ning asked.

'That's right,' Pei Jin said. 'Imperial father only wanted to take away the Thinh Household's properties. He didn't intend to kill them because he didn't want another rebellion in Southern Jiang. But the empress and the crown prince framing the Thinh Household meant imperial father couldn't spare anyone from the Thinh household... Shi Ning, I want to tell you a secret that I haven't told anyone before.'

'What secret?' Yan Shi Ning asked.

'Shi Ning, apart from the emperor everyone else involved in this secret were killed,' Pei Jin said.

Yan Shi Ning shivered.

'Shi Ning, my imperial grandfather intended for my imperial uncle to be emperor,' Pei Jin said. 'But my imperial father changed the name of imperial grandfather's intended heir to my imperial father's name.'

'Is that true?' Yan Shi Ning asked.

Pei Jin rubbed his chin.

'Pei Jin, the emperor sat on the throne before you were born,' Yan Shi Ning said. 'How did you find out?'

'My imperial uncle cryptically told me when I was a boy,' Pei Jin said. 'I didn't understand what his words meant until I became an adult.'

Pei Jin remembered how his father pretended to have a close bond with his imperial uncle, Prince Chen Nan.

Prince Chen Nan was the person who led army forces to conquer Southern Jiang. But after Prince Chen Nan returned to the imperial city he behaved like a carefree prince so citizens of the Dian Kingdom would forget about his contribution.

Up until Pei Jin was six years old, he was close to his imperial uncle who always tossed him in the air and asked about his life each time his imperial uncle returned to the imperial city. In the past he felt his imperial uncle was more of a father to him than his own father who never showed any affections toward him.

The empress gave birth to the crown prince when Pei Jin was six years old. His imperial uncle pretended he drank a lot of wine and carried him outside the palace, 'Xiao Jin, your uncle will take you horse riding.'

Pei Jin's imperial uncle held him tightly on a horse and his imperial uncle rode as fast as the wind.

'Xiao Jin, your imperial uncle loves you,' Prince Chen Nan said. 'But your uncle is powerless to help you. The crown prince is born, he'll become my imperial older brother's heir. It's a pity, I thought I could see you become emperor. In the past if I could predict the future then I wouldn't pretend I didn't know my imperial older brother, your father changed your imperial grandfather's edict... Xiao Jin, your imperial father... still thinks I don't know. Your imperial father has a rock head. All these years he never intended to spare me. If I wanted to be emperor then I wouldn't have given up control over my army forces. But why is your imperial father this cruel toward me? Xiao Jin, in the future you need to act close with your imperial father.'