"Young tigers are mischievous. He bumped into the fourth prince; may it be forgiven." Mu Hanzhang rubbed the fluffy tiger that was rubbing against his legs and greeted Jing Yu with a little apology.
"Oh, fourth imperial brother, I'm really sorry. You didn't say that you were coming in advance. It just so happened that I threw out the chicken wing." Jing Shao very insincerely welcomed him and helped pat the dirt off Jing Yu's body, but he was pretty forceful, and almost knocked the fourth prince back down with his pats.
Jing Chen quietly looked at the three cups on the table, and signaled at Mu Hanzhang, who immediately put his small white jade cup into his sleeve.
The fourth prince had seen the emperor invite Jing Chen alone to the imperial study to have a talk, and then saw Jing Chen leave the imperial study and head to the south of the city. He thought his father had given him something important to do, so he followed him. Unexpectedly, Jing Chen had just arranged to meet Cheng Wang and his husband for a drink.
The four people sat in the peach orchard feigning civility and saying meaningless words for a long time. Jing Shao couldn't help yawning, and then came up with an excuse to pull his Wang Fei away.
When Cheng Wang left, the fourth prince, as the younger brother, couldn't stay any longer, so he took his leave as well. Just before he left, he glared fiercely at the tiger that was bouncing up and down. He was sure that the chicken wing which had been thrown at his face was no accident.
After the three left, Jing Chen sat alone in the pavilion for a while. The green plum wine was very light and he wasn't afraid of getting drunk if he drank more. His second son had fallen ill again in the last few days. Consort Xiao's temper was getting worse and worse. When Jing Chen went back to his palace, he would always get a headache.
When he married Consort Xiao, she had just been a sweet-tempered lady from a wealthy family. However, after she had her second son, she suddenly became a little overly suspicious. In addition, Rui Wang's fourth rank concubine's bastard son and Xiao Si had been born almost at the same time. She felt like she had been wronged...
Jing Chen looked at the peach trees full of branches in the orchard and thought about how his younger brother needed to have a descendant, but there was no hurry. After all, they couldn't do it when imperial father was in power. It wouldn't be too late to talk about it after he ascended the throne.
"It's boring to drown one's sorrows with alcohol alone. Do you want someone to accompany you?" A clear and pleasant voice with a trace of coquettishness rang out behind him.
Jing Chen immediately felt his head ache even more.
The next day, the fourth prince went to court and was pulled aside.
"Your Highness, I saw the Huainan King go into Rui Wang's peach orchard in the south of the city yesterday," the man said in a hurry.
"What did you say? Rui Wang's peach garden?" Jing Yu's eyebrows jumped. "You can't have seen wrong, can you?" He had been in the peach garden yesterday.
"It's absolutely true." The man seemed very excited. "This subject went to the south of the city to do business yesterday and happen to see the Huainan King; his two bodyguards were still outside the peach garden."
The fourth prince quickly recalled yesterday's situation and thought of the chicken wing flying toward him. He didn't believe that Jing Shao had done it unintentionally. He originally thought it was intended to embarrass him, but looking at it this way, maybe there had been another person in the pavilion at that time and Jing Shao did that to cover up the whereabouts of that person!
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case. Jing Yu's palms couldn't help sweating. If it was true, then Jing Shao was colluding with the vassal king. Since they actually met in the peach orchard, this may also involve Rui Wang. If it was done well, he could make Jing Chen take a big fall.
