Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

926

Dear Wife, Look, It Is the Dead of Night

After many months, the trial of the eighth prince about the mine incident was still carrying on. Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng had gone to visit Xu Jing Yuan. It had to be known that this case was not that easy to try. Although there were people acting as witnesses, the eighth prince claimed that those people were framing him. Adding in all of the concubines of the imperial harem helping him tidy up, a number of problems had been created. This led to the trial becoming more and more complicated.

Although the members of the imperial family that were part of the eighth prince’s faction were women that had been sent into the palace and ended up without children, which resulted in their maternal families not being able to stand as tall as the first and second rank officials, the Emperor had given these people quite the lucrative positions to make it up to these people. It was for the sake of keeping these people quiet and to ensure that they did not cause trouble by using Imperial Concubine Yun as a talking point.

It was also because of this that Xu Jing Yuan was running into all kinds of difficulties with this trial. It was practically every day that he would need to put up with difficulties that came from all angles. But while there was no actual progress in the case, Xu Jing Yuan had forced the eighth prince to report to the Board of Punishments every day, leaving him no time to worry about the matters of the court. Thinking about it that way, it was quite beneficial.

But Xuan Tian Ming said that ever since they had returned to the capital, the eighth prince had changed quite a bit, as had the path that he was taking. He began to inquire about the Emperor’s well-being. Aside from attending court, he would make daily visits to pay respects to the Emperor. He would say nothing else aside from asking if he was in good health and say some kind words. This information had come from Zhang Yuan. The Emperor was getting older and older. While he might have been proud and demanding of his sons in the past, when people reached this age, they would begin to cherish family bonds more and more. That was why the eighth prince’s actions were quite to the Emperor’s liking.

When Xuan Tian Ming said this, it was time for bed, and the two were laying in bed. Unable to fall asleep, they simply began to chat. Feng Yu Heng said: “How about you also go into the palace more often? Old eighth can’t be allowed to enjoy this on his own.”

Xuan Tian Ming shook his head and said: “I never wanted that throne. Why bother going to mess around with old eighth like this? If he really can focus his efforts on something proper and just, while no longer harming the circumstances of the common citizens for the sake of obtaining the throne, and while governing well, so what if the imperial throne is given to him? It’s just a pity that his heart is not in the right place. If I tolerate his sinister actions, I fear that the ones to bear the burden in the future will be the people of this world.”

“Yet you still won’t go and fawn on Father Emperor?” Feng Yu Heng said: “You even understand the reasoning, yet you still say that you won’t meddle with him?”

Xuan Tian Ming continued: “It’s not that I won’t go mess with him. Instead, I feel that him doing all of this isn’t going to have much effect. The old man is growing to be more and more muddled by the day, but he’s actually quite sharp! Or it might be that the old man wanted us to compete at the beginning, but old eighth’s actions have been exposed. I fear that he himself has already given up on that idea. Where is there any need for this prince to tear him down?”

“That’s also true.” Feng Yu Heng pondered to herself for a while then said: “I fear that the matter with the mine won’t be able to trip him up, but he can’t get off easily for that evil. I still want to think of a way to regain what we’ve lost from him. After all, the reparations that I paid added up to quite a large sum. I need to go and claim this expense.”