Chapter 54
The emperor’s face changed several times, but suddenly became clear: “Did Xian Yang go to the Western Mountain with you?”
Rong Xiangxian nodded.
King Li didn’t know what was going on and asked, “What kind of festival?”
Rong Xiangmian said, “May 15th is my mother’s birthday.”
“Nonsense, isn’t the Duke of England’s wife’s birthday in the fall? Princess Li even went to your house to congratulate you!” King Li thought to himself, “This is really a conspiracy to lie.
Rong Xiangmian glanced at King Li: “Doesn’t Your Highness know that I’m a concubine, and that my birth mother is buried in the western mountains. In the past years, Empress Hui and the Sixth Princess would let me out of the palace to pay my respects on the day of the Qingming Festival, the Cold Food Festival, and my mother’s birthday ceremony, and Father is aware of this.”
The emperor nodded his head, signaling her to continue.
“This year, coinciding with the big wedding, my father instructed me that I am already a royal person, and that I should not go to worship in the future. But …… my mother only gave birth to me, how can I marry and not visit her? She is alone in her grave, besides me, who else will go to see her?”
Said Rong Xiang see can not help but tears, delicate features pear with rain, end is people see people pity.
She gently wiped tears, choked: “His Highness King Yuh saw me so sad, and could not stand my bitter pleas, in the heart, then promised to accompany me to pay homage once. We agreed that it would be just this once! Let my mother see that I’m married and have a lifelong support, she can also rest assured in heaven.”
Speaking of this, Rong Xiangshi see grievances: “His Highness said that this matter is detrimental to the Royal Decency, we do not take the royal carriage, not the royal ceremonial, dressed in civilian clothes, quietly come and go, do not let people know, to do their filial piety is also. However, I don’t know which person has the intention to shake out ……
Daughter-in-law behavior oversteps the rules, offending the royal heavenly authority, willing to bear any chastisement. It’s just that my father and elder brother have no knowledge of this matter, please Your Majesty do not take it out on the Duke of England’s House, I beg Your Majesty to be clear about this!”
After saying this, Rong Xiangmian fell to the ground in obeisance, tears dripping onto the masonry of the Chongzheng Hall. Zhou Xian Yang also followed her and knelt beside her, “My son is guilty, please forgive me, Father.”
Silence reigned in the hall, leaving only the sound of Consort Yu’s sobbing.
King Li and Wei Ying signaled with their eyes, saying that their hearts were not good.
The Western Mountain was in the southwestern outskirts, and the Imperial Tomb was in the northeastern direction. If you go to the west mountain in the afternoon, you need a night to come and go, the time is definitely not enough.
At this time, King Li argued again, “Wangfei and fourth brother are naturally of one mind, does her words leave no doubt in father’s mind?”
Rong Xiangshi did not understand what he meant: “Is Third Highness saying that I am lying?”
“Whether or not you know in your own heart!”
Rong Xiangmi was puzzled: “Why don’t you say that Your Highness and I ate wine at the Smoky Rain Restaurant? You want to tell a lie that will make Father angry? That day, I was with His Highness from morning to night. After the worship, we even went to the Caged Moon Nunnery to buy roasted meat from Nun Ming Jing. After sunset, we even went to the Huan Yu Gate to watch a hundred arts and crafts. If you don’t believe me, just call the jugglers and ask them. People who have seen us have dozens without a hundred.”
“That kind of pariah, also worthy to come to Chongzheng Hall to desecrate the holy hearing?” Li Wang aggressively, Rong Xiang see extraordinarily annoyed, “My family this lackey can come to Chongzheng Hall, people innocent good citizen is not. Can and can’t, is it all the third highness a mouth to say?”
“You!” King Li had never seen Rong Xiangmian so domineering, he had first met her in the palace and was attracted by her looks. Whenever he met her later, she was always shy and evasive, he thought she was shy and a chaste girl, who would have thought that she would be a formidable one.
The emperor saw Rong Xiangmian crying with such sincerity, and had long believed a few points. He heard the Sixth Princess say that Rong Xiangmian’s birth mother was burned to death by the fire to protect her, and was quite saddened. It was reasonable for Xian Yang to sympathize with her as her husband and accompany her to pay her respects.
He then asked, “This lackey, Xian Yang said he had never seen him, but you do recognize him?”
Rong Xiangxian replied, “Father, His Highness is mostly in the front yard, he doesn’t care much about the affairs of the back house. This lackey is called Jiang XII, and he specializes in kitchen purchases. His Highness is accustomed to seeing killings on the battlefield and can’t eat offal, so I specifically asked him not to buy. He is good, not put his mind on the errand, today at noon even served a bowl of pig liver soup, causing His Highness did not drink a mouthful. It was only then that I wanted to find him to ask him questions, but who knew that he wasn’t even in the mansion, and had actually run into the Chongzheng Hall.”
Zhou Xian Yang was on the side and glanced at the crown princess in confusion, there was even this?
Seeing the wrong direction, King Li immediately said, “Father, we can’t just listen to the crown princess’ side of the story on this matter! How can it count without witnesses?”
Rong Xiang saw that he was becoming more and more confused, “Father, we have already confessed and are willing to accept the punishment, what exactly do we still need to ask? I really don’t understand.”
“Do you have any witnesses on the Western Mountain?” The emperor continued to pursue the question for the sake of safety.
Rong Xiangshi and Zhou Xianyang glanced at each other and shook their heads in silent agreement, “No one found out about the worship.”
Lord Wang was kind enough to conceal it, how could he be implicated?
But this time, it was seen through by His Majesty, “Dare to lie in the Chongzheng Hall! Don’t you want your heads?”
Only then did Zhou Xian Yang reluctantly reply, “Yesterday, the Minister of Rites was also at the Western Mountain to pay homage to his late wife. ”
“Wang Coroner?” The emperor immediately remembered the good story of their couple, “His late wife died five years ago, right? I gave him a matchmaker, but he refused to remarry, he is an extremely sentimental person.”
Shen Duzhi aside back: “exactly, Wang Taoshi these years will go to the west mountain in his spare time, his piece of ‘to his late wife’s book’, ‘the mound of the west mountain, my homecoming’, touched the country up and down the dynasty.”
The emperor’s heart has been counted, but in order to show fairness or pass Wang Coronation to ask questions.
Wang Coronation saw this situation, the heart knows what is going on. His majesty asked, then confessed: “I know not to report, really deserve to die.”
“You are the Ministry of Rites, always emphasize etiquette. How is it that you don’t even care about something that goes against etiquette like this.”
Wang coronation bowed: “Yu Wangfei hours in his late wife’s female school, I have seen her since she was young many times to worship alone, and every year to go to the west mountain she will worship his late wife, this heart I also for the touching. Now that the princess has married into the royal family and has a lifetime of dependence, it is only human nature to take her husband to her mother’s grave to tell her.
In addition, they were dressed in ordinary people’s clothing, not as a royal status to pay tribute, but just to fulfill the filial piety of a child. Rituals are nothing more than human feelings. All the ritual system, is not to restrain the world virtue? This kind of filial piety is exactly what the rites and laws want to achieve, why should we sacrifice the root for the root? Therefore I am only advising them, just this once, the next is not an example ……”
“You have always been able to speak well! There aren’t many people in the entire dynasty who can speak better than you.” Hearing this, the emperor was certain about the sacrifice, so he symbolically rebuked Wang Coronation a few times, telling him not to divulge the matter. Wang Coronet promised in fear and retreated.
Seeing that this matter was indeed as Yü Wang said, and that the imperial tomb had nothing to do with him, King Li was immediately surprised and said, ”Father, if it wasn’t Fourth Brother, then who was the one who broke into the imperial tomb? How did he happen to be wearing the same clothes and the same hat …… riding the same horse?”
Zhou Xian Yang was surprised, “Such a coincidence? That intruder also rode a black horse.”
Wei Ying nodded, “It is because of this coincidence that I am puzzled and ask the palace to confront him.”
Zhou Xian Yang shook his head and turned to look at the Emperor, “Father, I did return to the capital with only a black mount. However, at the wedding, Princess Zhaoren gave the crown princess twelve good colts from the Northern Zhen Kingdom, and I rode two white steeds with the crown princess on that day, and the Changfu official has seen it and can testify to it.”
Of course, he knew that the Changfu official was here to take care of the affairs of the royal family, and also to monitor his every move, which would be most credible to the emperor.
These words made both King Li and Wei Ying a little weak. In fact, that night, the firelight is dark, all the people did not see these details clearly, just decided that the intruder is him, so all the details towards him right.
In the emperor’s stern gaze, Wei Ying only had to say stiffly: “At that time the night was already deep, the color was …… not very clear.”
“Black and white you can not distinguish? Imperial tomb guards are blind?” This kind of testimony involving the royal family was actually so ambiguous, and His Majesty was already impatient.
When Rong Xiangmian heard this, she realized the reason why King Li had been saying that she was lying. It turned out that someone had broken into the imperial tomb that night. Compared to this, worshipping in private was nothing.
She glanced at the clothes and draperies on the ground and saw Wei Ying holding an identical one in his hand, and asked somewhat nervously, “Father, can that evidence allow my daughter-in-law to take a look at it.”