Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 526 - 517: Complain

Chapter 526: Chapter 517: Complain

Princess Rong Zhao was more frightened, she didn’t dare to fight back but cried and attempted to grasp Marquis Chu’s clothes, sobbing, "Chu Lang, what are you talking about? I don’t understand..."

Before her hand touched Marquis Chu’s clothes, he pushed her away and said coldly, "Rong Zhao, you disgust me. Get lost and don’t touch me again."

Then, he left without looking back.

Rong Zhao was furious, frightened, and embarrassed. She burst into tears, screaming, "I’m a princess; you can’t do this to me!"

An old maid who was unaware of Princess Rong Zhao’s suffering suggested, "Your Highness, it’s unheard of in our dynasty for a prince consort to hit a princess. If you inform the emperor and Lady about the situation, Prince Chu certainly won’t have his way."

Rong Zhao slapped the old maid in response, barked, "Back off!" After a moment, she dried her tears and said, "Prepare my makeup and clothes. I want to see my mother and father at the palace right away."

She was not going to complain, but to save her marriage. She didn’t want to let Marquis Chu go nor let the event of the night be blamed on her and her mother.

She had never been as afraid as she was at that moment. She was afraid of completely losing the man she had longed for and carefully won over the years.

Marquis Chu went directly to Wanqing Palace. Because of his previous relationship with the emperor, his visits to Wanqing Palace or to the emperor’s office at Qianyang Hall were always smooth.

At that time, the emperor was leaning on the dragon couch, with the crown prince sitting by his side reporting the court affairs. The assembly had just ended a short while ago.

Both the emperor and the crown prince were astonished to see Marquis Chu, especially since he was carrying a tree branch.

The emperor asked, "My dear minister Chu, why are you like this?"

Marquis Chu knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, I am guilty and deserve death."

The crown prince asked again, "Mr. Chu, why is this so?"

Marquis Chu kowtowed three times, saying, "Out of righteous indignation and fury, I hit Princess Rong Zhao."

The emperor and the crown prince looked at each other and asked in unison, "What?" They both felt they misheard, never in their dynasty or even in the former, had they heard of a prince consort hitting a princess.

Marquis Chu continued, "Princess Rong Zhao committed a serious misdeed by plotting against court officials’ families. Firstly, she had Lady conspire to force Abbot Liao Chen out of Dingzhou, where she had taken refuge in my son’s house, then she had someone set fire to the Luos’ estate, nearly killing my daughter-in-law, granddaughter, nephew, his wife, and Abbot Liao Chen. Thanks to God’s mercy, my daughter-in-law Xuan’er had a premonition of danger that night and had made preparations in advance, saving the family from disaster. Even so, my granddaughter was so terrified, and the maid who saved her was severely burned..." Before he could finish, he collapsed in tears.

After listening to him, the emperor was so shocked that he sat up, and the crown prince also stood up. They shouted in unison again, "Rong Zhao, how dare she!"

The crown prince added, "If she has committed such a heinous deed, even the laws and moral principles of the land cannot tolerate it!"

The emperor also said, "My minister, please rise and explain in detail, what exactly happened? If she did indeed do this, I will support you."

Marquis Chu did not stand up and explained from the beginning; from the attempt to capture Liao Chen on Chinese New Year’s Eve last year by the Second Prince’s party to Lady Ma reprimanding Liao Chen, which forced Liao Chen to leave the Chu’s residence and stay at the Luos’ estate, which was set on fire the next night.

At this point, Mrs. Chu came supporting Empress Shan, and Rong Zhao came supporting Lady Ma.

As for Marquis Chu’s allegations, Lady Ma and Rong Zhao naturally denied them. Lady Ma started crying to the emperor first, "Your Majesty, they accused my daughter and me of setting fire to murder people; they have to show us the evidence. We mother and daughter will not bear this baseless accusation. The people who set fire must have been the remnants of the Second Prince party. Everyone knows how much they hate Prince Consort Chu. As they found no way to harm Chu, they simply retaliated against his family... Your Majesty, you must stand up for us."

Then, she turned to Marquis Chu and continued crying, "Prince consort, son-in-law, I truly did not send anyone to set the Luo’s estate on fire. I’m not a fool; how could I force Liao Chen out of your house one day and then send someone to burn down the estate the following day? That would just make people suspicious. Don’t hold grudges against Rong Zhao, she didn’t know that I sent someone to reprimand Liao Chen. I did this because I want you and Rong Zhao to live happily. Considering that Liao Chen had become a nun, she shouldn’t miss worldly affairs and should not stay among ordinary people..."

Mrs. Chu sneered, "Lady, you’re really good at shirking the responsibility. No one is a fool here, aside from Rong Zhao, no one else would wish for Liao Chen’s death. You set a trap to hurt people and refused to admit it."

Rong Zhao added, "Mrs. Chu, it isn’t righteous to wrongfully accuse people. Yes, I indeed don’t like Liao Chen, but I’m not ruthless enough to want to burn her to death. I genuinely love Chu Lang and for his sake, I would not have done that."

The empress sighed, "Rong Zhao, don’t pretend to be so innocent. Let’s put this matter aside – you’ve hurt the Chus more than a few times before. If you claim that you genuinely love Mr. Chu, why can’t you be good to his family? Alas, what people do is watched by God. Whoever commits such wicked deeds will definitely suffer retribution."

Both women refused to admit guilt, which is what Marquis Chu expected. Although he couldn’t come up with any evidence right now, he knew that the emperor and the crown prince understood the situation. Even if it turned out that Lady Ma and her daughter were not responsible for this incident, considering their past plots with the Second Prince against important court officials and the previous promise of the emperor, the emperor must punish them.

The emperor initially thought of turning a blind eye and using Rong Zhao as a restrain against Marquis Chu. But unexpectedly, these mother and daughter did not perceive the emperor’s thoughts and thought that he would not punish Rong Zhao out of fatherly love. However, given the gravity of the situation now, if the emperor continued to condone them, not only the Chu family but also other officials, would lose faith in him.

The emperor saw the grief-stricken face of Marquis Chu and looked back at the bickering women. He felt a surge of anger and abruptly coughed several times. After the eunuch patted his back, he said, "Crown prince, ask everyone to leave. Marquis Chu, stay."

Mrs. Chu, supporting Empress Shan, and Rong Zhao, supporting Lady Ma, bowed to the emperor and left the room.

In the afternoon, petitions accusing Rong Zhao flew into the imperial palace like snowflakes. The petitions not only accused her of persecuting the families of senior officials but also of upsetting the "Bird Fairy" and causing the dowager empress’s severe illness...

Meanwhile, at the Chu family residence in Dingzhou, everyone was laughing and singing.

After the evening dinner, Chen Afu saw them off to the main court, then he took Chu Hanyan to Luomei Nunnery. Liao Chen was reciting sutras in the Small Buddha Hall, they did not see her, so they left after asking about her health.