dognovel Chapter 426 The Imperial Tutor's Scheme
Chapter 426 The Imperial Tutor's Scheme
The Imperial Tutor held the teacup in his fingers, took a small sip of the clear tea, the tea soup was refreshing and sweet, with a hint of plum blossom fragrance.
He slightly raised an eyebrow, surprised that Zhao Yi had fetched snow water to brew tea.
Seeing that the Imperial Tutor had taken a few more sips, Zhao Yi knew that he liked the taste of the tea: "This is snow that the Princess Consort personally picked last year. She specially selected the fine snow from the flower branches, and the fragrance of plum blossoms is infused into the snow water. The tea brewed with this snow water is sweet and fragrant."
He poured the Imperial Tutor another cup of tea and tentatively said, "The teahouse has half a jar of snow water left. If the Imperial Tutor likes it, I will have someone send it to the Imperial Tutor's residence."
The Imperial Tutor lowered his eyes to look at the clear, bright tea, twirling the teacup with his fingertips. As if thinking of something, he raised the corners of his lips and said politely, "Your Highness, I thank you for your generosity."
Zhao Yi listened to the Imperial Tutor's insincere words, looked up and saw that his face was bathed in candlelight, and his eyes and brows were tinged with a gentle warmth.
In the eyes of the world, the Imperial Tutor is like the wind in the forest and the moon in the mountains, pure, noble and otherworldly.
He was gentle in nature and had a deep love for his country. Apart from that, nothing and no one could stir his emotions.
In Zhao Yi's view, this was merely a facade used by the Imperial Tutor to mislead the public.
How could a powerful minister who could control the Northern Qi dynasty and stir up trouble be an ordinary person?
Especially after learning that the Prince of Qi had gone to see the Emperor of Northern Qi, he realized that something was wrong. Given the Prince of Qi's temperament, he was afraid that he might do something. So he immediately prepared to go to the palace.
As soon as he stepped out of the mansion, Yan Yi invited him to a teahouse.
This teahouse is owned by Boss Qin. The fact that the Imperial Tutor chose this particular teahouse is also a way of telling him that he knows everything about him.
As soon as he sat down, he heard the Imperial Tutor say in a calm tone, "You don't need to worry about the Prince of Qi; his life is not in danger." After a brief pause, the Imperial Tutor added, "You should worry about your own situation."
Although Zhao Yi was wary of the Imperial Tutor, he felt that the Imperial Tutor's words made a lot of sense.
Because the Prince Xian was not in the capital, and only Prince Qi, whose bloodline was not pure but who held great power, was in the capital, no matter what serious mistakes Prince Qi made, the Emperor of Northern Qi would spare Prince Qi's life before the Prince Xian returned to the capital.
He remained silent for a moment, then instructed the shopkeeper to fetch snow water and personally brewed a pot of tea for the Imperial Tutor.
Now that the Imperial Tutor has drunk the tea and has not refused the snow water he offered, it means that the Imperial Tutor is temporarily an ally.
Silence fell over the tea room once again.
Both of them were waiting for something, or perhaps they were secretly competing to see who would lose patience first and reveal their hand.
"Knock Knock-"
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
Yan Yi's voice rang out from outside: "Master, Yan Er has sent a message."
The Imperial Tutor spoke: "Come in."
Yan Yi pushed open the door and reported, "Prince Qi's assassination attempt on His Majesty failed, and he has been imprisoned for life in Guangyang Palace. Meanwhile, Lord Feng entered the palace overnight to reveal that Prince Qi was not of royal blood and requested His Majesty to examine the Empress... The Empress has quelled the turmoil."
The Imperial Tutor was not surprised: "How is the Empress?"
Yan Yi replied, "The Empress herself requested to guard the imperial mausoleum."
The Imperial Tutor nodded slightly.
The empress was a clever woman. The emperor of Northern Qi was a suspicious man. Even if she presented irrefutable evidence that the Prince of Qi was the "crown prince," she could not completely dispel the emperor's doubts.
She seized the opportunity to suggest guarding the imperial tombs, hoping to escape the trouble and save her life.
Yan Yi took out a blue brocade pouch from his bosom and placed it on the table: "This is from Lvzhi to Yan Er. Please ask us to save the life of the Prince of Qi."
The Imperial Tutor glanced at it: "Keep it safe."
Yan Yi quickly put away the brocade pouch, waited for a moment, and seeing that the Imperial Tutor had no further instructions, withdrew.
"You heard everything," the Imperial Tutor asked. "What are your plans?"
Zhao Yi did not hide anything from the Imperial Tutor, because the Imperial Tutor's invitation to the teahouse at this critical juncture, and his response to his probing, had already confirmed his guess—the Imperial Tutor intended to support him to ascend the throne.
“With the Prince of Qi imprisoned, His Majesty will surely send someone to bring the Prince of Xian back to the capital in secret. Before the Prince of Xian returns to the capital, he will probably take action to suppress me.” Zhao Yi said tactfully, “If I want to protect myself, the only way is to prevent the Prince of Xian from returning to the capital smoothly.”
He then frowned slightly: "However, His Majesty will be wary of me targeting Prince Xian, and will likely send someone to keep an eye on me. If I were to harm Prince Xian, he would eliminate me first."
Zhao Yi's eyes narrowed: "If the Prince Xian makes even the slightest mistake, His Majesty will suspect that I did it. Even if I am his only son, he probably will not pass the throne to me, but will choose a suitable person from the clan to inherit the throne."
Seeing that Zhao Yi had figured out the Northern Qi emperor's temperament, the imperial tutor pushed a letter in front of Zhao Yi: "The wise king is nothing to fear, whether he returns to the capital or not will not help."
Zhao Yi's gaze fell on the envelope.
"It's getting late, Your Highness should return to your residence soon." The Imperial Tutor calmly rose and said, "This humble subject will take his leave now."
Before Zhao Yi could speak, the Imperial Tutor left the tea room.
With a "bang," the door slammed shut again.
Zhao Yi withdrew her gaze from the doorway and opened the letter.
He read the contents of the letter and his expression turned serious.
The people of Yongqing County rose in rebellion.
The prefect of Yongqing County was Feng Xiaozhong's son.
Suddenly, a guess arose in his mind... The Imperial Tutor had specially invited him to the teahouse to meet him, in order to prevent him from entering the palace and to ensure that things in the palace could proceed smoothly.
The imperial tutor had already arranged how things would end in the palace.
He even suspected that the revelation of the King of Qi's true identity was orchestrated by the Imperial Tutor.
The purpose was to eliminate Feng Xiaozhong, so that no one would provide protection for his son. The riots in Yongqing County could no longer be suppressed and broke out, and the imperial court sent people to suppress them.
Who would the Northern Qi emperor send?
Without a doubt, he will be sent.
Firstly, transferring him out of the capital would prevent him from establishing his own power base in the court.
Secondly, riots... are most prone to unexpected events.
If he were to die in Yongqing County, even the Great Zhou Dynasty could not seek justice for him.
After all, it was the work of a mob.
Similarly, he handled the matter well, and no one could shake his position anymore.
-
Feng family.
Upon hearing the devastating news that Lord Feng had been beheaded, Madam Feng was unable to bear the shock and fainted.
When she woke up again, it was already the next morning.
Overwhelmed with grief, Madam Feng fell ill and lay listlessly in bed, instructing her maid, "Send a letter to Huan'er."
The maid took out a letter from her sleeve: "Madam, this is a letter from the eldest master to the master. The master... the master has passed away, and the servant just delivered it to you."