Chapter 13: The Prince is My Savior

Just as they exited the palace gates, Zhuang Xian rushed forward.

“Xiaoyu, are you alright?”

“I… Oh, Father, thank goodness the Prince arrived in time. Otherwise, I would have gone down to accompany my mother.”

“Good, good, as long as you’re fine, thank the Prince. Thank you, Prince. I keep my word, I will not go back on it.”

Murong Xuan smiled faintly, “No need to thank me.”

This is what a real father should be like. Unfortunately, his own father wanted to kill him.

“The Prince is your savior. A life-saving grace should be repaid with one’s body. Right, Prince?”

Zhuang Xian seemed to be worried his daughter might not get married.

“Huh? No, no, no, Father, don’t trouble the Prince. He saved me, and you want to repay him with such a thing?”

Murong Xuan was a bit lost. He would be willing to repay a life-saving favor in such a way if it were someone he wanted, but why would this girl think that marriage was a form of revenge for a favor?

“You child, what nonsense are you talking about? You’re not a little girl anymore, it’s time for you to get married.”

“Oh, Old Zhuang, I understand. You don’t want to support me anymore. You think I eat too much, you want to shirk your responsibility. You’re not taking care of me, you’re too shameless.”

“You’re the one talking nonsense. Shut up! Shut up! Prince, I apologize, this child…”

Zhuang Xian was flustered, not knowing what to say to salvage his daughter’s image. This girl could never behave well in front of the Prince. With her demeanor, the Prince would surely not be interested in her.

“Hehe, Miss Zhuang is quite adorable,” Murong Xuan couldn’t help but respond.

“Does that mean the Prince is willing?”

“Xuan Wang…”

“Minister, my lord already has someone he likes,” said Jian Yi, worried that Murong Xuan might not understand and might refuse.

“He does? Who is she?”

Zhuang Xian’s eyes sparkled as he eagerly looked at Murong Xuan, waiting for him to reveal the identity of the woman.

Murong Xuan glared at Jian Yi, surprised by his unusual sharpness.

“Old Zhuang, let me tell you, does the Prince really need to announce his romantic affairs to you? You shouldn’t keep asking, you have no sense of the situation.”

Zhuang Xiaoyu noticed that Murong Xuan couldn’t say anything. He wasn’t interested in her daughter and was just finding an excuse. Why was her father being so tactless?

“Ah, Xiaoyu is right, Father, I won’t ask anymore. Sorry, Prince, I’ll take my leave.”

Zhuang Xian also tacitly accepted his daughter’s way of addressing Murong Xuan and led Zhuang Xiaoyu home.

Murong Xuan watched them walk away, regaining his thoughts. With such a daughter, the Zhuang family must be quite lively.

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The confidentiality around Renxi Palace was done well, as no rumors of the Empress’s promiscuity had leaked. However, the crown prince’s debauchery was exposed. Leading officials, including Minister Liu, jointly submitted a petition accusing the crown prince of using official duties as a pretext to seduce women from various households, including the most talented lady, Sun Yulan, who was at the forefront. Several other noblewomen were also named, some already taken as concubines in the crown prince’s residence, while others had no status at all.

At the same time, the Minister of the Household also submitted a memorial accusing the crown prince of colluding with local officials to embezzle silver, presenting evidence to the emperor.

The pro-monarchy faction, led by Zhuang Xian, also directly advised the emperor that the crown prince was unworthy of the throne and should be replaced by a more virtuous heir.

This time, the emperor couldn’t suppress the issue any longer. As the crown prince of the nation, it was not unusual for him to take concubines. However, when several women came forward to testify that they had been coerced and didn’t want to be his concubines, the crown prince had used their fathers and brothers to force them into submission.

Sun Yulan became the center of attention. As the capital’s top talent, she was considered pure and virtuous in everyone’s eyes. It was unimaginable that she had fallen victim to the crown prince’s lewdness.

Young scholars who had admired Sun Yulan angrily cursed Murong Xiao. Their “moonlight” had been trampled by a beast, and they even submitted a petition urging the emperor to depose the crown prince.

“I can’t believe the power of ‘moonlight.'”

Sun Yulan was still seen as flawless in everyone’s eyes. Once they managed to pull the crown prince down, she would transform from a perfect “moonlight” to a mosquito’s blood. That scene would certainly be more lively.

Despite Murong Xiao’s defense, the evidence was irrefutable. Within a few days, it was confirmed that the crown prince had no powerful adversaries in the past years, which had made him feel invincible. He never bothered to cover up his wrongdoings, and when confronted with all the evidence, the emperor had no choice but to issue the decree to depose the crown prince, although no new crown prince was named.

Murong Ze felt that he had struck it rich. He thought that with Murong Xiao deposed, the crown prince’s position would surely be his. He knew that the third prince was more talented than him, but their father didn’t like him, and the fourth prince preferred to travel and had no interest in the court. So, he began to step into the spotlight and try to win over the officials.

The Empress was also close to losing her mind. How had everything changed so suddenly? What went wrong?

She suddenly recalled something—had it started when Murong Xuan and Zhuang Xiaoyu returned to the capital? She realized they had both returned at around the same time.

Had Murong Xiao heard that Zhuang Xiaoyu was back and tried to get close to Zhuang Xian to approach her? And when Zhuang Xiaoyu refused to play along, things spiraled out of control? It seemed like the answer was clear. The words of that scholar back then weren’t wrong. Zhuang Xiaoyu’s grudge was too strong. She killed her own mother, and even after eighteen years, her grudge remained. Now she was back to disrupt the court. Zhuang Xian must have been incited by her to cause all this trouble.

The Empress still has some connections. Within a few days, rumors began circulating in the capital that Zhuang Xiaoyu was a reincarnated calamity star, who had killed her mother when she was born. For the past 18 years, when she wasn’t in the capital, everything had been stable, but as soon as she returned, the court of the Great Zhou began to stir. She was being labeled as a beauty who brought disaster, the one who would bring about the downfall of Great Zhou.

Surprisingly, someone brought this up during the morning court session.

“This is complete nonsense! The Crown Prince has been immoral for many years. What does that have to do with my daughter? He takes bribes and doesn’t care about the lives of the people. Could it be that my daughter made him do these things? Her mother was already weak, and before the child was even born, the doctor predicted that she might not survive the birth. It was her mother’s decision to give birth to her. How could that be the child’s fault?”

Zhuang Jian was arguing for his daughter, and anyone who would say such things was easy to guess. Even today’s report to the court was from the Empress’s family.

“You say my daughter is a beauty who brings disaster? Who has she harmed? Since she returned to the capital, she’s kept to herself, never interacting with any men. How can you call her a disaster?”

“Sir, I… I only heard others saying it, and I reported it as it was.”

The man who had brought up the accusation was silenced by Zhuang Jian’s strong rebuttal and shrank back, not daring to speak.

“Zhuang Xiaoyu, you don’t need to be so angry. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It’s just a matter of tracing the origin of the rumor.”

The Empress wanted to stir the waters in the court. The fact that the Crown Prince had been deposed was certain, and stirring things up was futile. Unfortunately, none of the remaining sons could surpass that bastard.

Murong Xuan took on the task of tracing the source of the rumor and even gave a public explanation to the officials.

At this time, Zhuang Xiaoyu was lying in bed, sound asleep. She had gone out for a walk the previous night and ended up staying up late.

She found that going out at night allowed her to see things that she couldn’t see during the day. For example, the young master of the Wang family had a mistress, and they already had a child. He still acted as if he were deeply in love with his wife, playing the part of a devoted husband. Oh my, such acting! Even the Oscar-winning actor would feel ashamed.

Another example was the daughter of the Wei family, who secretly kept a portrait of a man in her boudoir and gazed at it lovingly, looking like she was fantasizing. Zhuang Xiaoyu took a closer look, and the man in the painting seemed familiar—he was none other than Murong Xuan.

The painting wasn’t very skillful and didn’t capture Murong Xuan’s essence. It seemed that the Wei girl had painted the portrait of her so-called Prince Charming based on her imagination.

Murong Xuan’s bodyguard had said that he had someone he liked. Could it be Miss Wei? She was pretty, but she was also too infatuated. What a shame for a woman.

She didn’t know that her father was arguing fiercely with someone in the court. Zhuang Xiaoyu was still asleep when Zhuang Xiaowan came to call her for breakfast.

“Sister, get up! Father has already returned from court. You’re still sleeping?”

“Huh? Old Zhuang’s back? Ah, eating from someone else’s hand, and having to be controlled by them…”

“Sister, what are you talking about? Father seems to be in a bad mood today. Hurry up!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, I’m coming.”

To avoid her father’s nagging, Zhuang Xiaoyu quickly washed her face and rinsed her mouth before rushing to the dining hall.

The maidservants serving her were completely useless.

When she entered the dining hall, she greeted them politely: “Hi, good morning, everyone.”

“Xiaoyu, you’re here. Come eat.”

Her stepmother was as kind as always, while her father was as stern as ever.

“Father, which blind dog offended you?”

“The Empress is being restless.”

“How do you know?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu thought her father had found out about the Empress and her nephew’s affair.

“This matter doesn’t even need to be investigated… Did Xiaoyu know about it?”

He had just returned from court and hadn’t said anything yet. How did she know?

“Huh? What are you talking about, Father?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the Empress and her nephew playing games.”

“What game?”

“Well, it’s not that important a game… What were you talking about, Father?”

“I was saying that the Empress is despicable. She’s using you as a pawn, calling you a reincarnated calamity star, the beauty who brings disaster and shakes the court.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Oh my god, you sit at home, and disaster comes from the heavens!”