Chapter 283 It’s All Because of Me
"Reading ancient texts?"
Emperor Qing narrowed his eyes, with a slightly strange expression. If the atmosphere had not been inappropriate at the moment, he would have almost laughed out loud. It was too much of a farce.
The eldest princess did not blush or feel nervous, she bowed slightly and nodded.
"Your Majesty clearly shows you!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Qing glanced calmly at Chen Pingping who was sitting in a wheelchair beside him, then slowly walked towards him with his hands behind his back.
During the whole process, Emperor Qing kept squinting at the eldest princess, as if he didn't quite trust her, but didn't know what to ask her.
It was not until he was almost in front of Chen Pingping that Emperor Qing turned his gaze away and looked at him.
"What do you want to ask?"
Chen Pingping, who had been keeping his head down and keeping silent, first looked up at Emperor Qing, then glanced at the Princess, and then replied.
"Let's not talk about whether or not to read ancient Chinese. The harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Princess, you have secretly won over Guo Youzhi, which is already a crime of forming a clique and pursuing personal interests!"
Hearing this, Emperor Qing looked at the eldest princess with sharp eyes and asked in a deep voice.
"Do you recognize it?"
The eldest princess had a calm expression and replied softly with a smile.
"I dare not disobey Dean Chen's words."
After calmly giving Chen Pingping a soft stab, the princess looked at Chen Pingping with a provocative smile.
Chen Pingping noticed it out of the corner of his eye, but didn't look at him. He just looked at his nose and his heart, too lazy to respond.
Emperor Qing hissed and walked back to his original position with his hands behind his back.
"So how do we deal with this?"
Emperor Qing's question was ambiguous, as if he was asking himself, but also as if he wanted the princess to answer it herself.
The eldest princess looked at Emperor Qing and spoke.
"Guo Youzhi was a court official who colluded with the harem. According to the law, he should be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for trial!"
Emperor Qing watched her listen quietly, then squinted his eyes and slowly walked towards her, staring into her eyes and asked curiously.
"You can't even protect your own people?"
The eldest princess looked at him calmly.
"The king's law is ruthless, Guo Youzhi deserves what he has done!"
Emperor Qing looked at her for a moment, then suddenly reached out and snatched the document with the evidence of her guilt from her hand, chuckled, and made a comment that was not sure whether it was praise or ridicule.
"As expected, you are a descendant of the royal family!"
After saying this, he turned around and walked away with the letter in his hand.
The eldest princess didn't care about this meaningless remark. What she cared about was that Emperor Qing meant that he agreed with the solution she proposed.
Looking at Emperor Qing's back, the princess put away the smile she had been trying to maintain and slowly breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression was a little confusing.
Doesn't she want to protect Guo Youzhi? She has to protect him. The solid evidence has been thrown in her face. She has to protect him with her head.
Since it is destined to be lost, it is better to sell it off, making its fall more valuable and making the best use of it.
If she could show more understanding of the situation and know when to advance and retreat, Emperor Qing would show her some mercy when it is her turn to be dealt with.
Alas, it was all done out of helplessness. If you want to blame someone, just blame that damn Fan Xian and that damn thief!
……
The palace was extremely efficient. As soon as the decision was made, a team of palace guards and the Ministry of Justice launched a surprise attack on Guo's mansion.
People were being arrested and searches were being conducted. The entire Guo residence was in chaos.
Guo Youzhi knew very well why he was captured. The moment he saw the palace guards, he knew his fate.
So he did not struggle or resist, but surrendered obediently, allowing the two guards to escort him out without saying a word.
He knew what was going on, but his son and concubine didn't. They were stunned when they saw this scene. After a long while, they finally reacted and hurried out the door.
"Dad, Dad, what's going on? Let my dad go!"
Because he didn't know, Guo Baokun was not afraid even when he was stopped by the fully armed guards. He pushed and shouted angrily.
"Let me through! My father is the Minister of Rites! He is a second-rank official! The Ministry of Justice has no right to arrest him!"
After scolding, Guo Baokun then stretched his neck and anxiously shouted "Dad" twice towards Guo Youzhi's back, but unfortunately there was no response.
When he realized that the person blocking his way had no intention of moving aside after hearing what he said, he shouted again.
"How dare you! I'm going to file a complaint with the emperor! Let..."
Seeing that his father was about to be taken away and the people in front of him were unmoved, Guo Baokun finally realized that it was useless to waste time arguing with them.
Seeing the gap in their blocking, Guo Baokun ducked down and squeezed through, breaking through the blockade and quickly running forward to chase after them.
The guards did not rush to chase after them as they had to intercept the remaining women who kept shouting "Master, Master".
Guo Baokun, who had a smooth passage for a while, quickly caught up with the escort team in front and started to dig without saying a word.
"Dad, Dad, please let go, please let go. Do you know who you are holding? Dad, Dad, please let go."
Seeing that Guo Baokun was pestering endlessly, two people from the escort team immediately controlled and intercepted him.
"Let me go! Dad! Dad! Dad~"
While struggling hard, Guo Baokun shouted miserably towards Guo Youzhi's back.
In order not to implicate his son's family, Guo Youzhi, who was under control earlier, had no intention of responding.
But his stupid son still can't see the situation clearly and is still trying desperately to save him. He can't let him go on like this!
After thinking about it, Guo Youzhi took a deep breath, stopped and asked the guards escorting him.
"Let me talk to him. I won't make things difficult for you!"
After all, Guo Youzhi was a high-ranking official in the court, and he had just been very cooperative. The guards did not dare to make things too difficult for him, and they let him go upon hearing his words.
"Thank you!"
After saying thank you, Guo Youzhi turned and walked towards his son. Seeing this, the two guards who were controlling Guo Baokun also let go and let the two of them go. Guo Baokun staggered forward and grabbed Guo Youzhi's arm, saying in a crying voice.
"Dad, I, I will save you now."
Guo Youzhi felt mixed emotions as he looked at his son who was trying desperately to save him from his miserable state. He took a deep breath and spoke softly to persuade him.
"Okay! It's useless. Can't you see? The people who arrested me include not only the Ministry of Justice but also the Imperial Guards!"
Seeing his son's confused look, Guo Youzhi asked.
"Don't understand yet?"
Guo Baokun didn't say anything, but the expression on his face said it all.
Guo Youzhi took a breath.
"This is your Majesty's wish."
Guo Baokun widened his eyes and became even more confused.
"Why is that so?"
Guo Youzhi told him frankly.
"You insisted on going to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests that day, and I shouldn't have agreed. It was all because of my carelessness that I told you about that matter."
Guo Baokun muttered to himself.
"That day at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests..."
Seeing that he had not figured out the cause and effect relationship, Guo Youzhi simply told him directly that there was no time for him to think about it.
"You said the wrong thing in front of Fan Xian. It would have been fine if he had been ruined, but now he has achieved the reputation of being an immortal poet. I knew at the time that this day would come sooner or later."
After hearing this, Guo Baokun burst into tears.
"I've hurt you, Dad!"
Guo Youzhi smiled and said softly.
"It's not your fault. It's Dad's fault. Kun'er, from today on, you and I are no longer father and son! Remember, you must do your best to file a memorial to attack me and insult me, saying that I have evil intentions and that you can no longer tolerate it! Do you understand?"
With tears in his eyes, Guo Baokun replied subconsciously.
"No, no, I don't."
Seeing that his son didn't understand what he meant, Guo Youzhi could only tell him frankly why he asked him to do so.
"Only in this way can you avoid being implicated!"
But Guo Baokun was a stubborn person and refused to listen.
"I don't, I don't!"
Guo Youzhi took a deep breath, put his arms around his neck and pulled him towards him.
"Listen, Kun'er. Even though I often scold you, from the bottom of my heart, I hope to see you become a prime minister, get married, and have children! I want to protect you all the way, but now... I can't do it!"
Feeling so grateful at this, Guo Youzhi couldn't help but burst into tears.
"father!"
Guo Baokun's eyes were completely blurred by tears.
"Son, son, listen to me. Dad is useless now. Only if you are ruthless can you be safe. Do you understand?"
Guo Baokun tightly grasped Guo Youzhi's arm, crying so hard that he could no longer speak, and just kept shaking his head.
All that needed to be explained had been explained, and even though he was reluctant, Guo Youzhi could only turn around and leave with great pain.
Upon seeing this, the two guards who had previously controlled Guo Baokun hurriedly held Guo Baokun to prevent him from harassing them again.
In fact, Guo Baokun didn't have the energy to chase after him at this time. After learning the truth, he cried out of breath and just shouted helplessly towards Guo Youzhi's back again and again.
"Dad, Dad, Dad..."
Guo Youzhi, who had already walked out of the gate, turned around and shouted angrily in front of the crowd watching outside the gate.
"Who is your father? From today on, I will sever the father-son relationship with you and have nothing to do with you anymore!"
After scolding, Guo Youzhi waved his sleeves fiercely, glared at his son fiercely, and left decisively.
Guo Baokun was completely anxious. He struggled to break free and hurriedly ran out of the door. In his haste, he didn't pay attention to the threshold of the door, and he tripped and fell heavily in front of the door.
By the time he struggled to get up and run down the stairs, enduring the pain, Guo Youzhi had already been put into a prison van and was being escorted away.
Guo Baokun, who was no longer able to catch up, slowly stopped and stared blankly at the receding team, his eyes were empty and his mind was blank.
Obviously, everything was fine before, how come it suddenly became like this, why, why...
After a while, as the Ministry of Justice and the imperial guards who had completed the search left, the crowd watching the excitement in front of Guo's mansion gradually dispersed.
On the wide and empty street, Guo Baokun was the only one left, standing there like a walking corpse.
A carriage slowly drove over from a distance and slowly stopped beside Guo Baokun, but he did not react at all, as if he did not notice anything.
Mei Cheng'an walked out of the car, looked down at Guo Baokun who had no reaction, and sighed silently.
Mei Cheng'an stepped down from the carriage on the horse stool and slowly walked to his side. He patted his shoulder gently without saying anything.
Guo Baokun, who was awakened, looked at him blankly.
"Mei, Master Mei, my father has been arrested..."
Mei Chengan nodded, gently helped him brush off the dirt on his body that was stuck on him due to the fall, then looked at him and whispered.
"I already know about my uncle's matter. Let's go home first."
Tears welled up in Guo Baokun's eyes again.
"It's all because of me, it's all because of me..."
……
I got up late, so the second chapter will be a little late. I will try my best to catch up.
(End of this chapter)
