Chapter 192 - A Good Opponent
Chapter 192: A Good Opponent
However, the Emperor was such a sophisticated fox that even if he was stunned and inwardly cursing the Empress a stupid woman, his face didn’t betray him at all,
He pretended to be raging out of being cheated, springing up and pointing at the scholar Ning and the Zhao couple, “Take the three away and sentence to death at once!”
The three had been in tension and, on hearing the words, passed out from scare immediately.
“Wait.”
Mo Qianxue’s voice wasn’t high but shocked everybody present. This girl was too bold! She had just survived it and now dared to publicly challenged the Emperor’s authority.
All eyes were brought onto her, but Mo Qianxue seemed not have noticed, only giving the three a despising glance, “Your majesty, I have something to report. This is a sheer scheme. I don’t think a folk dares to slander a lady personally entitled by you. I’m afraid there is someone behind him. Please, your majesty, do me justice and ferret out the plotter behind the scene.”
The plotter behind him? Who should be investigated?! If the plot at the party was found out, not only the Empress would suffer, even he himself would become a shame.
The undercurrent of rage was boiling in the Emperor’s eyes. That stupid woman had never done a good thing for him. Now he had to be the one to clean up the aftermath for her.
Everyone could tell this was a trap. The Xie family’s censors certainly wouldn’t mention anything. The neutral remained silent and wouldn’t invent troubles either. Su Qi was satisfied since Mo Qianxue was out of trouble. Even if he wanted to, the Su family wouldn’t allow him to act willfully.
The Emperor had thought the matter was done since no one mentioned it. To his surprise, Mo Qianxue was so bold and unappreciative!
But she already mentioned it at court, so he must do her this favor.
The Emperor pulled his face silently, and Mo Qianxue continued to fuel his anger, “I’m just a humble girl and shouldn’t have made the request to baffle your majesty. However, our Emperor is wise and benevolent. Hence, I’m afraid if the plotter gets away, this immoral deed of slandering will pervade across the capital. By then, everybody would feel insecure…” which would be followed by a nationwide riot! The words didn’t need to be uttered and everybody could tell.
The words hit right to the point like a knife, but they made sense.
Mo Qianxue’s countenance remained unchanged and smirked secretly. She hadn’t watched so many TV series for nothing. They helped her made that speech of concerns for the country.
The Emperor’s expression was complicated, because Mr. Jia had taken the lead in echoing with Mo Qianxue’s words. This old man was known for his integrity. Now, he not only felt unfair for Mo Qianxue but also agreed with her words.
After Mr. Jia spoke, several others stood up and chimed with him.
For every reason, the Emperor had to approve. Irritation flickering in his eyes, he ordered in a peaceful tone, “Is the mayor of the capital here?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Then, this case is on you. Make sure to give a reply to the Founder mansion as soon as possible.”
“Yes.” The mayor took the order and asked the guards to drag the three people out.
Mo Qianxue didn’t really count on the Emperor to publicize the plot. After all, the Empress belonged to his family. No matter how he disliked her, she still represented the imperial family.
Her request only aimed to tell the Emperor that bullying her didn’t cost nothing and also reminded everybody here that it was a huge mistake to step on her casually only because she had lost her parents.
In fact, they had already changed the way they looked at her. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so quiet without anyone jumping out to say craps of high morals.
Taking a glimpse at the three people dragged outwards, Mo Qianxue continued, “Thank you, your majesty. You’re really a wise emperor as reputed among our people. With you being the Emperor, our country is so blessed.”
Complimented by Mo Qianxue, the Emperor pondered: The three people didn’t die right now and were still in his hand. They couldn’t ruin his face. Besides, Mo Qianxue’s words made sense. When a lady was slandered, he must express his attitude towards this matter for the officials and his countrymen.
Thinking of this, he got less angry and said amiably, “Get up.”
Mo Qianxue remained kneeling and kowtowed, “I don’t dare to. I have another thing to report.”
The Emperor’s face pulled again and his brows twitched, aware that it couldn’t be anything nice. But now it was hard for him to get off the tiger’s back and must agreed, “Go on!”
Mo Qianxue looked up and said loudly, “Yesterday, Princess Yuhe promised me that if I was wronged, she would apologize to me in public.
“Originally, I think it’s unnecessary to let Princess Yuhe apologize to me, but when Princess made this promise, many other ladies and Mr. Jia were there too. If she didn’t apologize, I’m afraid others would criticize her of believing in slandering and being irresponsible and unable to keep her words. If Princess Yuhe’s reputation was harmed because of me, I would feel so restless…”
Every of Mo Qianxue’s words made the officials and officers sweating. For a time, their feelings were complicated.
Every of her words was for the sake of Princess Yuhe’s reputation but at the same time, pushed Princess Yuhe into stupidity and unkindness. The censors found it hard to speak for Princess Yuhe, because if so, they were disregarding her reputation.
Only this girl dared to ask for an apology from Princess Yuhe at court.
This girl was not only courageous but also clever.
If Princess Yuhe refused to show up and apologize, her reputation would be ruined. If she did show up, her fame would be hurt too and become infamous for her believing in slandering and incapability.
When it came to this when no people stood out, the Emperor could do nothing but deal with it matter-of-factly. He raised his hand and let Mo Qianxue get up, “Yuhe indeed handled this matter inappropriately. Pass my words. Let Princess Yuhe apologize to Miss. Mo later at Founder mansion.”
The Emperor just finished when the voice of an eunuch rang, “Princess Yuhe requests to meet Your Majesty.”
The chief eunuch received the Emperor’s hint, “Let her come in…”
Gleam began to flicker in the eyes of everyone. There was going to be a nice drama. It wasn’t easy for a princess to apologize to a lady with a lower rank.
Princess Yuhe showed up before she received the Emperor’s edict. She must be angry at the result.
Unexpectedly, they were wrong.
As soon as Princess Yuhe walked into the palace, she kneeled down and confessed to the Emperor, “Yesterday, I put Miss. Mo into jail before getting father’s oral edict. When I got back, I’ve been feeling I did something wrong. I wanted to meet father to release Miss. Mo, but father was busy in the study and didn’t meet with me. For this matter, I couldn’t fall asleep the whole night, so today, I come here to beg for father’s forgiveness.”
Princess Yuhe’s speech was entirely different from Mo Qianxue’s sharp words. Her articulation was as soft as spring breeze, carrying infinite regret and readily touching people so deep as to praise for her kind-heartedness.
Finishing her speech, she looked up, face still honorable and decent, which by a closer look, was a little haggard from a sleepless night.
What a noble and broad-minded princess!
Mo Qianxue praised her ironically in secrecy. With such an attitude of confession, no one would further blame her about the jail mistake.
The Emperor nodded subtly. The Empress was stupid, but luckily she gave birth to a clever daughter.
Princess Yuhe confessed, but the Emperor also needed to play his part to the full in order to display his authority, “Yuhe, as a princess, how could you be so reckless and easily believe in those rogues? How dare you to make a decision without reporting to me first? I can’t forgive you…”
The Emperor also retreated in order to advance.
He certainly wanted to gain some benefit from the incident. As he said so, there would be people speaking for Princess Yuhe, while he himself just needed to put on the look of a just emperor who didn’t forgive an offender just because she was his daughter. Then, it was not because he forgave the Princess, but because he was forced to do so by the censors. As a result, he gained more of the fame as a wise emperor.
As expected, the censors started off again.
“Princess Yuhe is known for her fame, but she is too young. It’s inevitable she was cheated. As the ancient sayings goes, there is no bigger virtue than realizing and correcting one’s mistake. Now she has confessed. I think Princess Yuhe lives up to her face. It’s those three rogues’ mistake to…”
“The Emperor cares about the country and has numerous affairs to deal with every day. Not having seen Princess Yuhe in time is merely a coincidence leading to the mistake. I believe Princess Yuhe must have learned the lesion by not sleeping the whole night. No need to punish her further…”
“Princess Yuhe is noble and respectable and confessed of her own accord when she did wrong. I appreciate her broad-mindedness…”
As the censors suggested, the Emperor didn’t speak as if he was stumped.
Seeing the Emperor’s hesitation, Princess Yuhe talked about filial piety and apologized for having made trouble for father…
In tears, Princess Yuhe sobbed and repeated that she was so unfilial and begged the Emperor to do things justly without taking into consideration of her identity as his daughter. Looking ashamed, she pleaded guilty again and again…
At last, even Mr. Jia was moved and couldn’t help begging for the Emperor’s forgiveness. After this full set of role play, the Emperor finally pretended to scold Yuhe loudly, punished her to copy scriptures and pray for the country before the thing finally came to an end.
Mo Qianxue watched all this silently.
Since ancient times, be it schemes in the inner courtyards or the imperial court, they were all meticulously fabricated, and people only saw the result instead of the process.
To this point, she was a little surprised. Although she didn’t fail, she didn’t manage to beat the crap out of Princess Yuhe either.
After this incident, Princess Yuhe soon recovered her noble and approachable look.
She turned to look at Mo Qianxue who was standing next to her, apologized in an eager and mild tone, “Miss. Mo. I was indeed inconsiderable in this matter. Luckily, no serious consequence was made. Miss. Mo is the daughter of our noble commander. You forgive me, don’t you?”
Soon as Mo Qianxue had walked out of the wing palace, there had been maids who went out to report to her and mother the result. Mother hit the ceiling, but she smiled and quickly arrived at the imperial court to see the Emperor.
She had really underestimated this Mo girl before.
It was rare to meet such a good opponent. How could she easily give in? In order to defeat her, she must concede first. She would make friends with her and let it known to the world, so that later to tear up her face in public when the timing was right.