Chapter 329 Hairpin
Even though they stole the disaster relief money and fooled the Crown Prince and his entourage with rice, the Fourth Prince and his party were still not satisfied.
They also sent someone to inform on the prince, saying that the reason why he used some old rice to fool the common people was because he had hidden the disaster relief money in his own villa, and wanted to use the money to recruit soldiers and horses in order to usurp the throne.
His Majesty ordered people to search the Prince's villa, and indeed they found the official silver.
The prince cried out in injustice, "Father, I am innocent. I am the prince, and there is no need for me to do such a thing."
Emperor Jingxi asked loudly, "Then tell me why this batch of official silver is in your villa?"
The prince no longer concealed the truth and quickly told the whole story of the theft of government silver and how he had raised money for disaster relief.
The prince swore to the heavens, "Father, please send someone to investigate. In order to handle this disaster relief, Prime Minister Zhao has almost emptied out half of his family's savings, and my mother has also used her own pocket money. If I have lied to you, I hope that you will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingxi immediately waved his hand, and then the secret guards appeared. Emperor Jingxi ordered, "Go to the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Queen to investigate immediately, and report to me immediately after the investigation."
The secret guard replied respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty," and then disappeared in the hall in a flash.
Seeing that His Majesty was willing to believe him, the prince continued to complain, "Father, I really wanted to do a good job of disaster relief this time, but who knew that I would get off to a bad start. First, the government silver was stolen, and then I was fooled by a profiteer. They deliberately sold fresh rice on top of old rice, and that's how I got fooled. I originally wanted to send someone to catch the profiteer, but unfortunately he even gave me a fake name, and maybe even a disguised face, so I can't find the culprit at all."
Soon, the secret guard informed the old emperor of the results of the investigation, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhao and the Queen did use a large sum of money recently."
"I understand. You guys go down."
The prince immediately said, "Father, you should believe me now, right? There really is a villain who wants to frame me. Father, you must find that person and take charge of the matter for me."
Emperor Jingxi looked at his son, whom he once had high hopes for. Even though he was a little dull at times, he still believed that his son did not have the courage to do something as big as embezzling disaster relief funds.
However, seeing him being framed and fooled, and not even being able to find the mastermind, he still scolded him angrily, "You are not a three-year-old child anymore. Don't always let me make decisions for you. Who will make decisions for you when I am gone? If you have the ability, find out the mastermind yourself. If not, just admit defeat. Now that all the evidence points to you, I can only punish you first, otherwise I will not be able to explain to the officials and the people."
Emperor Jingxi thought about it and finally sentenced the prince to reflect on his mistakes in seclusion at home for a month, and also took back some of the rights he had previously given him.
The prince had no choice but to accept the punishment with grievance.
Now that the disaster relief work has been messed up by the crown prince, the people are very agitated, and Emperor Jingxi has no choice but to quickly send people to provide disaster relief again.
The fourth prince volunteered to go to provide disaster relief, but the old emperor did not agree to his request.
The old emperor wanted to examine the abilities of other princes more carefully, and finally handed the matter over to the eldest prince Teng Yaochen, who had not been involved in the court for a long time.
At the same time, in order to prevent the refugees from rioting, Prince An was asked to lead troops to assist the eldest prince.
The eldest prince had long been named Prince of Xin by the old emperor, and he no longer had any hope of becoming emperor.
Now that the crown prince is no longer capable of being used, his father suddenly entrusts him with an important task. The eldest prince feels a little hopeful again. Perhaps as long as he performs well, his father will pass the throne to him.
The Fourth Prince originally wanted to dethrone the Crown Prince, and then take the initiative to ask to go to disaster relief and make meritorious contributions so that the Emperor would take notice of him. However, who knew that His Majesty would rather let the First Prince do this task than give himself any chance.
The Fourth Prince no longer has any father-son affection for the Emperor, and no one knows what crazy things he will do.
The prince was sent to provide disaster relief. Qianhuan saw him off, "Zi Yu, you are going to Cangzhou to assist the eldest prince in providing disaster relief. Be careful on your way and make sure you come back safely."
"Don't worry, Huan'er. For your sake, I will protect myself. You will be coming of age in a few days. I'm really sorry that I can't attend your coming-of-age ceremony."
Qianhuan said indifferently, "It's just my 15th birthday, it's nothing important. In comparison, helping the people is definitely more important. Just go. My parents will take care of my coming-of-age ceremony for me."
The prince held Qianhuan's hand and said affectionately, "It's important to help the people, but your coming-of-age ceremony is equally important. I have prepared a gift for you in advance. Someone will deliver it to your house on the day of your coming-of-age ceremony. When I come back after finishing my work, I will use this achievement to ask His Majesty to grant us a marriage. What do you say?"
Qianhuan nodded shyly, "Yes, okay."
The day before Qianhuan's coming of age, she had her menstrual period. Yinhua and Banxia were very happy for her, "Miss, Doctor Bai's medical skills are really superb. Your cold symptoms were cured after taking the medicinal bath, and now you have your menstrual period."
Qianhuan was also very happy. She had been worried that her menstrual period would not come, and it would be difficult to have children in the future. Now that her menstrual period has come smoothly, she will be able to give birth to children for Ziyu in the future.
On the day of Qianhuan's coming-of-age ceremony, Jingyuan was very lively.
Not only did Chu Yichen come, but even Chu Laner, who had just given birth and was in confinement after giving birth, came to show her support accompanied by her husband Song Zhe.
Qianhuan was both happy and touched to see Lan'er. "Lan'er, you've only been in confinement for a few days, why are you running out? Although it's May now, the weather in the capital is still cold. If you get frozen, I'll be guilty."
Chu Laner smiled and said, "It's okay. I'm wearing a lot of clothes. You're my best friend, so how can I not come to your coming-of-age ceremony?"
When Chu Lan'er had just given birth, Qianhuan also went to the Song Mansion to visit them and their child with gifts. Chu Lan'er gave birth to a chubby little boy who looked very much like Chu Lan'er.
Now, more than a month has passed, Qianhuan asked Chu Lan'er about the baby's condition again, and Chu Lan'er told her everything.
The two chatted for a while, and soon, Situ Jing, who got along well with Qianhuan, came over, followed by Mr. Fan, and finally even Madam Qian and Qian Bolin came to show their support.
Liang Laoer and Chen were born in the countryside and were not very familiar with the procedures of the coming-of-age ceremony. Originally, the couple picked out a set of jewelry as a gift for their daughter and planned to have a meal together and be done with it.
But things were different when Madam Qian came. Madam Qian took Qianhuan to dress up, and all the subsequent procedures were completed according to the etiquette of the coming-of-age ceremony for a young lady from an aristocratic family.
Qianhuan asked Madam Qian curiously, "Madam, how did you know that today is Qianhuan's coming-of-age ceremony?"
Madam Qian smiled gently and said, "The prince told me. He was afraid that you didn't understand the process of the coming-of-age ceremony, so he specially asked me to be your main guest and host the coming-of-age ceremony for you."
Qianhuan then realized that Ziyu had already arranged everything for her in advance.
Madam Qian also prepared a coming-of-age gift for Qianhuan, which was a blood-red jade bracelet. Qianhuan recognized it as a priceless blood-red jade bracelet at a glance. She waved her hands and refused, "Madam, this is too expensive. Qianhuan cannot accept it."
Madam Qian pretended to be angry and said, "You child, you accept other people's gifts, why don't you want mine? Are you looking down on my gift?"
Qianhuan explained, "Madam, please don't misunderstand me. Qianhuan is not looking down on your gift. It's just that your gift is too valuable."
Madam Qian took Qianhuan's hand and put the jade bracelet on her wrist. As she put it on her, she said, "When accepting gifts, how can you distinguish between the cheap and the expensive? As the saying goes, a gift from an elder should not be refused. Just take it if it's given to you."
After putting on the blood jade bracelet, Madam Qian took Qianhuan's hand and said with emotion, "I was worried that the size of this blood jade bracelet would not fit your wrist, but I didn't expect it to be just right. This is really fate."
Qianhuan didn't want to spoil Madam Qian's fun, so she had no choice but to accept this precious gift.
Qian Bolin took a look at the blood jade bracelet. He didn't expect that his mother would be willing to give this blood jade bracelet to Qianhuan. Blood jade bracelets are an extremely rare type of jade in Dayuan, and even few people in the royal family have them.
The one in his mother's hand was a trophy his father brought back from the war. It is priceless. His mother also said that she wanted to keep this blood jade bracelet. In case his sister finds it one day, she would give it to her.
Unexpectedly, it was given to Qianhuan now. It seems that his mother really likes Qianhuan.
At this time, Madam Qian handed Qianhuan the gift prepared by the prince. It was a jade comb carefully carved by a craftsman. The texture of the jade comb was crystal clear, and there was a row of rubies engraved on it. It was obviously worth a lot of money.
As soon as Qianhuan got the jade comb, she couldn't let it go. It was obvious that she liked this gift very much.
Although the Crown Prince was not there, this coming-of-age ceremony was truly unforgettable for Qianhuan. With the company of her relatives and friends, and the careful arrangements made by her lover, she suddenly felt that she was really happy.