Acuerdo de Mu Yucheng

Capítulo 46

The attendants stared at him in disbelief, then looked at Zhao Defang, who, after a moment of stunned silence, slowly closed his lips, which had been parted in surprise.

"Yeah?"

He lowered his eyes, unconsciously smoothing his sleeve, and called out to Lan Wen, "Let's go back to Beijing." He stood up as he spoke.

"Your Highness?" The group exchanged glances, and Lan Wen spoke up in surprise.

Zhao Defang smiled faintly, turned to look at Xiao Luzi, who also had a blank expression, and stepped towards the door. "Let's go, let's head back to the capital now." If Xiao Luzi had heard these words before he knew Wanlan's true identity, he would have been worried. But for him now, since Wanlan had agreed to stand by him through thick and thin, what did he have to worry about?

The eldest brother miscalculated this time.

=== ...

Um... I always feel like Zhao Dezhao's schemes are all too simple... *covers face*

Is it because the strings are too simple? ~＝＝｜｜｜

Chapter 54, Where to Go Amidst the Vast Mountains and Rivers (2)

Zhao Defang and his group of six split into two groups. Xue Weiji, Feng Xing, and Biyu returned to the capital via Luoyang, while Zhao Defang, Xuan'er, and the Lan brothers returned to the capital via Xiangzhou by land and water. Both groups hoped to meet Xue Suxin on their way and agreed to meet in Kaifeng in mid-August no matter what happened.

When Zhao Defang rushed back to the capital, the Northern Expedition was in full swing, with Dang Jin, the commander of the cavalry and infantry of the Hedong Road Army, defeating the Northern Han army and capturing the walls of Taiyuan. The emperor then ordered Guo Jin, the commander of the Xin and Dai armies, to lead troops to attack Xin, Dai, Fen, Qin, Liao, and Shi prefectures, and they were unstoppable.

The court and the public were relaxed. Although the ban on Prince Yan Zhao Dezhao had not been lifted, he was able to attend court with civil and military officials. Prince Jin Zhao Guangyi, however, was still under house arrest. Although the emperor was happy about the Northern Expedition, he unexpectedly ignored his younger brother, whom he had always doted on. As soon as Zhao Defang entered the capital, he went directly to the palace to see the emperor and told him about Wanlan's disappearance. However, the emperor only said that he knew about the matter and, because there was a reason for it, he would not pursue the matter of Zhao Defang's dereliction of duty. He was ordered to find Princess Deqing as soon as possible and return to Guizhou.

Zhao Defang realized that things had become extremely unusual. No matter how much his father doted on him, he shouldn't have let his repeated returns to the capital go unpunished. No matter how legitimate his reasons were, he couldn't escape punishment. Furthermore, when he expressed his desire to return to Anfu Palace to see his mother, his father used the excuse that he should hurry up and find Princess Deqing to delay, leaving him with a lot of questions when he left the palace.

The second thing Zhao Defang did upon returning to the capital was to seek an audience with the Prince of Jin at his residence, but he was ultimately unable to gain entry and had to give up. The group returned home dejectedly, and before they even stepped into the main hall, the servants brought news of another unexpected event—

Steward Pei has also disappeared.

According to the servants' recollections, on the day Lan Wen and Xuan'er left the capital a month ago, Steward Pei was summoned by the Prince of Jin's residence and never returned. The Prince of Qin's residence was left without a head overnight. The servants initially wanted to go to the Prince of Jin's residence to inquire about Steward Pei's whereabouts, but received no response. Fortunately, no one had come to the Prince of Qin's residence for a month. The accountant, Chen, who had been temporarily put in charge by the servants, ordered everyone in the residence to remain calm, managing to maintain peace in the Prince of Qin's residence for over a month amidst the chaos of this turbulent time.

Upon returning to the capital, Zhao Defang was immediately met with a series of unexpected events. He felt exhausted, unable to meet with his uncle or his mother. He suddenly didn't know where to begin his investigation. This time, he couldn't directly approach his elder brother. He figured Xiao Luzi had already informed his brother of everything that had happened in Junzhou. If he went to his brother's door now, he would definitely not find out anything.

He dismissed the servants, and summoned the Lan brothers and Xuan'er to rest. He then locked himself in the Canghan Pavilion, racking his brains for a solution. His father's unusual attitude, the reason for forbidding him from seeing his mother, the cause of his uncle's unjust imprisonment, and his elder brother's unreasonable provocations—this series of events was like an increasingly intricate mystery, trapping him within it, leaving him with no way out.

The Emperor's uncle's purpose has always been clear to me: he hopes to surpass my elder brother and ascend to the position of Crown Prince. However, I have never had such thoughts. My elder brother, who should be the heir apparent, has done many incomprehensible things in the past six months. If he really wanted the position, he should know that it would be best to do nothing to avoid giving others a reason to criticize him. But my elder brother is doing the opposite, stirring up trouble again and again at this critical juncture. If it were all just because of Wanlan, my elder brother would not have needed to make such a big fuss. Now, who in the court and the public does not know that the Prince of Yan is still in love with Princess Deqing and is therefore fighting against his own brother?

If this incident was also the work of the eldest brother, where would he hide Wanlan? Xuan'er told him that Wanlan was sick the day she was kidnapped. It's been so long, has her illness improved?

Zhao Defang was still deep in thought, his brows furrowed with worry for the person he was thinking about, when he heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He snapped out of his reverie, looked up, and stared in astonishment at the person who had suddenly barged into the study and then closed the door behind him.

The person who came locked the door turned around, ignoring Zhao Defang's increasingly astonished expression, and strode towards him, saying in a deep voice, "Defang, Princess Deqing was not abducted by Dezhao, but by someone else."

"Royal Uncle?" Zhao Defang stared at him blankly. "You... how did you get here?"

Zhao Guangyi flicked the short sleeves of his gray cloth robe and said with a faint smile, "I've been hiding here for a month now. After learning that Lan Wen went back to Guizhou to find you, I started wondering when you would return to the capital. A month is a bit long, but the two places are far apart, so I won't say anything more."

"A month?" Zhao Defang stared blankly at his servant's clothes, then a thought flashed through his mind and he exclaimed, "Could it be that Steward Pei is currently in the Prince of Jin's residence?" Did the Imperial Uncle have Steward Pei impersonate him and imprison him in the Prince of Jin's residence?

Zhao Guangyi nodded slowly, walked to the side and sat down. "That's right, but don't worry, because of the Emperor's decree, no one has dared to come to the Prince of Jin's residence to see me in the past month. Steward Pei is doing well."

Nodding slightly to indicate understanding, Zhao Defang resumed the previous topic, "You said that Wanlan wasn't kidnapped by my elder brother, so do you know who did it? And what was their purpose in doing so?"

"The root of this matter is because of me," Zhao Guangyi said calmly, without looking at Zhao Defang. He had never felt a trace of guilt in front of his elder brother, even though "she" was the Empress and his sister-in-law. His elder brother had countless beauties in his harem, and he only loved "her." But in front of this nephew whom he had watched grow up and who had always been pampered by "her," he suddenly felt guilty.

"Defang, I—"

"I don't want to know the reason, Imperial Uncle." Zhao Defang smiled slightly, his eyes were gentle and warm, and there was no other curiosity or worry in them. He just smiled and looked at Zhao Guangyi, who was rarely flustered, and said in a warm voice, "Imperial Uncle, I just want to know who kidnapped Wanlan, where she is now, and when I can see her. I don't want to know anything else."

Zhao Guangyi was stunned for a long time before finally letting out a long sigh. "The person who kidnapped her was my brother. I'm not sure when you can see her. I haven't been able to leave the capital for the past month. Because of my brother's ban on me and Dezhao, the city gates are very heavily guarded. But I've been investigating through other channels for a while and haven't come up with nothing. At least I've narrowed down Wanlan's location to two of the most important places."

Zhao Defang remained silent for a long time without making a sound. His attitude towards the fact that the "murderer" was his own father, the Emperor, greatly worried Zhao Guangyi. After waiting for a long time without any action from him, just as Zhao Guangyi was about to ask, Zhao Defang suddenly spoke—

Which two places?

Zhao Guangyi quietly observed his overly calm expression and said slowly, "The Imperial Palace, and Luoyang Palace."

"Then... I will go to the palace tomorrow."

“No,” Zhao Guangyi shook his head and sneered, “Your Majesty is doing this simply to force out your fighting spirit. Unless you stand up and fight Dezhao face to face, you will never have a chance to see Princess Deqing again. Otherwise, I am sure you will never see her again in this life! Your Majesty clearly understands the significance of her to you and Dezhao. As long as Princess Deqing is restrained, then you and Dezhao will have to make a choice.” In fact, his situation was the real “unexpected” one. His Majesty probably never thought that he would appear as an unexpected figure in this brotherly struggle that he had orchestrated.

“There are trade-offs…” Zhao Defang chuckled softly, stood up and walked out. “I thought I had always been clear about this matter, that the only one I chose was her.”

"Defang..."

"I will go to the palace tomorrow."

== ...

Zhao Guangyi and Chief Steward Pei switched places (well, not really switched, since Zhao wasn't coming to the Prince of Qin's residence to be the chief steward).

Isn't it incredible that these two managed to switch seats so discreetly that no one noticed for a whole month? (The original schedule wasn't this long, but Mr. Zehua was far away in Guizhou, and his return trip involved a detour through Junzhou, which lengthened the time...)

I had actually considered inserting some things during this month, but I couldn't think of anything. I always felt that everything could only begin after Zhao Defang returned to Beijing (but as soon as he came back, he dodged the issue with a few words, and that was it. ==||| He doesn't even care about what our classmate Zhao is thinking. This man... isn't he very selfish...?)

...Therefore, his character was originally portrayed as somewhat cowardly, I wonder if the readers like this aspect...＝＝

...And then, I don't know why I'm writing all this...

And then again, I'd be happy if a friend wanted to give me some advice...

And then... if you like my writing even a little bit, I hope you'll acknowledge me by adding this article to your favorites, hehe!

Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me this far. Please continue to support me. This article is for a competition this month, so even if I can't update daily, the update speed will definitely be much faster than before... um...

Chapter 55, Overlapping Tear Stains Seal Words (1)