Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

"Your Majesty, if you forgive the crime committed by Prince Ning so easily, aren't you condoning the rebellious intentions of some people with ulterior motives?" General Cao swept his eyes over the royal relatives in the hall with a sharp gaze.
The royal relatives were all worried. What did General Cao mean by this? Did he suspect that they were accomplices of Prince Ning, or that they were eyeing the throne?
They are not destined to have such great wealth, so why are all the blame placed on them?

Two years ago, the two princes forced the emperor to abdicate and seized the throne, and many members of their clan were implicated and killed. Although the two princes did not succeed in forcing the emperor to abdicate, it was not a complete failure. At least they angered the late emperor to death, and burned Zeng's evil concubine to death in the palace.

The previous emperor passed away without leaving any will. Apart from the two rebellious princes, he was left with only two sons, Your Majesty, who was then Prince Li, and Prince Ning.
At that time, some court officials suggested that the late emperor loved Prince Ning and that he should be the heir to the throne. However, the royal family disagreed and supported Prince Li to ascend the throne according to the ancestral family law of establishing the eldest son as the heir.

An old prince of a senior generation stood up at this moment. He was afraid that if he did not stand up on behalf of the royal family, word would spread tomorrow that they wanted to rebel against His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, I think General Cao's words make sense." The old prince had gray hair but a loud voice: "Although your majesty has forgiven Prince Ning's guilt, you cannot easily let this matter go, lest others follow suit."
Who would follow his example? No one knew, but it wasn't someone from their clan.

"What you mean is..." The emperor stopped crying immediately. According to seniority, he should call the old prince "great uncle". He was afraid that he would make the old uncle faint from crying.

“It would be better to strip Prince Ning of his princely title and demote him to a prince of a county, and give him a light punishment but a stern warning.” The old prince of a county stroked his beard and felt that his suggestion was a good one.

"Isn't this a bit too much? My fourth brother has been spoiled since he was young..."

"Your Majesty!" The old prince was unhappy when he saw that his opinion was not accepted. As the most senior member of the royal family, he said, "As the saying goes, spoiling a child is like killing him. Do you want to let Prince Ning continue to be confused?!"

"It's my fault, uncle, please don't be angry. Don't get yourself hurt." The emperor stepped down from the dragon chair and personally supported the old prince: "Thank you for your teachings, uncle. I was confused."

"Yes." The old prince was supported by the emperor, and he felt proud. He patted the emperor's arm and said, "I'm glad you understand. Ruijing has been spoiled by the late emperor since he was a child. He should have been disciplined long ago."

"Yes, I'll listen to you." The emperor nodded repeatedly and asked the eunuch to bring a chair for the old prince to sit down and talk.

The more the old prince watched, the more satisfied he was with the emperor. He was respectful to his elders and tolerant to his younger brothers. He was even more broad-minded than the previous emperor. What a good emperor he was.

After the emperor's efforts and cries, Prince Ning was demoted to a county prince and fined eight years' salary.
After the court was dismissed, the ministers saw that His Majesty's eyes were red and his departing figure looked lost and lonely, which made the old prince feel distressed.

"Mr. Zhou." The Dali Temple Minister called the Minister of Justice: "The case of Prince Ning's Mansion..."
"Your Majesty is lenient and kind to me, so there is no need to investigate this case any further." The Minister of Justice smiled and said, "The people we have arrested and the evidence we have found will all be handed over to the commander of the Jinwu Guard. As your subjects, we would not want to make things too difficult for your Majesty."

"Thank you for your guidance, sir." The Dali Temple Minister couldn't understand why no one asked a question at the morning court session, whether Prince Ning had rebelled.

"I'm so thirsty." The emperor strode into Zhaoyang Palace, picked up the tea on the table and drank it all. He had been crying all morning and his voice was hoarse.

"What has your majesty done?" The queen filled another cup and handed it to him.

"Today I fined Sui Ruijing eight years' salary and stripped him of his princely title, making him a county prince." The emperor said with a refreshed look, "From now on, our Heng'er will pay him respect as a junior, and he will return the respect to our Heng'er obediently."

The queen's eyes lit up immediately: "Tell me in detail."

When the emperor finished telling the story, the queen laughed and said, "You used this tactic of retreating to advance well."

"I can't help it either." The emperor sighed. The previous emperor was extravagant and spent money without restraint. After he ascended the throne, he was faced with an empty treasury, numb court officials, comfortable and hedonistic royal family members, and soldiers on the frontier who were owed wages for several months.

"Who did you learn this method of retreating while crying from?" The queen was a little curious.

"you guess?"

"Can not guess."

"The daughter of Minister Yun." The emperor was very proud and took off the crown on his head. "I saw that little girl twelve years ago. She taught me that crying children get candy."

The Queen laughed when she heard this. Twelve years ago, the Yun family's daughter was only six years old. Your Majesty, at such an old age, actually learned the ways of a child. "Then you should thank her."

"I don't know what the little girl likes. Why don't you call her into the palace to talk and have a meal with her, so that others know that you like her." When it comes to the word "thank you", the emperor's face shows a distressed look: "How can gold and silver compare to the appreciation of the queen?"

The queen knew that he had fallen into his old stingy habit again, but she still wrote a note herself, inviting Fu Yi to come to the palace for a small gathering the next day.

The second time she entered the palace after returning to Beijing, Fu Yi brought Qiu Shuang and Xia Yu with her. The eunuch who came to the palace gate to pick her up was the same eunuch as last time.
Seeing that the eunuchs treated her even more attentively than last time, Fu Yi knew in her heart that His Majesty highly praised her behavior of finding trouble with Prince Ning.

"Your humble servant greets Her Majesty the Queen." Fu Yi walked into Zhaoyang Palace and was helped up by the Queen before she finished paying her respects.
"I've told you long ago that you don't have to be so polite." The Queen held Fu Yi's hand and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"

"I wanted to see the queen earlier, so I only had a few snacks to fill my stomach." Fu Yi usually gets up late, and today she got up early to dress up, so she didn't have time to eat breakfast. "Then you can eat with me." The queen took Fu Yi to sit at the dining table, and the palace maids and eunuchs brought in various meals. Fu Yi wanted to get up to serve the queen, but was stopped by the queen.

"Rules are for outsiders to see. You and I don't need to pay attention to them in private." The queen brought the shark fin soup to Fu Yi and said, "Sit down and eat well."

These words made Fu Yi straighten her back subconsciously, because her mother also said the same thing to her at home.
Did the Queen treat her as her own so easily?
Would it be a bit... sloppy?
After breakfast, the queen heard that the peach blossoms in the garden had bloomed, so she took Fu Yi with her to appreciate the flowers.

There were not many peach blossoms in bloom, most of them were just small buds, looking a little lonely and pitiful. The queen sighed with regret: "The flowers are not blooming well enough. When they bloom vigorously in a few days, I will send someone to take you to the palace."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." When Fu Yi walked past a peach tree, she remembered that she had buried two jars of wine under this tree when she was thirteen years old. At that time, she had made an agreement with King Ning to dig them out and taste them when she turned eighteen.

"Is there something under this tree?" The queen noticed that Fu Yi's eyes were strange.

"Your Highness, I buried two jars of wine under this tree a few years ago. I don't know if the wine is still drinkable." Fu Yi smiled shyly at the Queen: "I want to dig them out."

"It's better to dig it out. Dig it out and let me taste it." The Queen became curious and asked, "What kind of wine is buried?"

"A jar of girl's red wine, a jar of peach blossom wine." Fu Yi took the small hoe brought by the eunuch: "I will do it myself."

She remembers not digging too deep.

When Sui Tingheng passed by the Peach Garden, he saw his mother with her sleeves rolled up and a hoe in her hand. He asked in confusion, "Mother, what are you doing?"

"Dig some wine." The queen handed him a hoe and said, "Come and dig, find out which tree has wine."

Sui Tingheng looked around and saw that pits had been dug under several peach trees, and Fu Yi was digging the soil with his back bent in the distance.

"That's not right. I clearly remember it was under these trees. How could it be gone?" Fu Yi twisted her aching waist, stood up straight and whispered to Qiu Shuang, "Could it be that King Ning secretly dug it away?"

Qiu Shuang: "..."
Although Prince Ning is indeed a piece of shit, he shouldn't steal from a lady's bar, right?
"How about trying this tree?" Sui Tingheng looked at the peach tree next to Fu Yi, "Miss Yun, if you don't mind, I can help you dig."

"Greetings, Your Highness." Seeing Sui Tingheng appear, Fu Yi smiled and said, "I remember that the peach tree was not this small back then."

"You were young five years ago, so the peach tree looked very big to you." Sui Tingheng lifted the corner of his robe and began to help Fu Yi dig the wine jar: "Now you have grown up, the tree may not be as big as you remember."

"It seems to make sense." Fu Yi moved closer to Sui Tingheng and dug the hole with him.

Qiu Shuang and Xia Yu were hesitant to talk. After returning home, their lady asked them what the young lady had done in the palace. How should they answer?
Could it be that the girl brought the queen and the prince to dig the pit together?

They thought the Queen was being polite when she told the young lady not to be so particular, but they didn't expect that the Queen was speaking the truth. However, this was too ungentlemanly.

"Found it!" Fu Yi saw a corner of a wine jar exposed under the pit dug by Sui Tingheng, and said in surprise: "Your Highness, you are not only good at studying, but also good at digging pits!"

Sui Tingheng glanced at Fu Yi, whose eyes were sparkling, and smiled faintly, "Maybe I'm lucky today."

Seeing Fu Yi bending down to pick up the wine jar, he stretched out his hand to stop her: "Let me do it, don't get your hands dirty."

Fu Yi looked down at the dirt on her hands, then looked at Sui Tingheng's clean white palms. After two breaths of silence, she took a step back and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Sui Tingheng rolled up his sleeves and squatted down. He gently brushed away the dirt on the wine jars with his hands, and carefully took out the two wine jars that had been buried for five years.

Seeing Sui Tingheng being so serious and careful, Fu Yi couldn't help but wonder whether she was burying two jars of wine or two jars of priceless treasures?

"Good wine is hard to come by." Sui Tingheng looked up at Fu Yi and said, "I wonder if I will be lucky enough to taste the wine in this jar today?"

"Of course." Fu Yi squatted in front of Sui Tingheng and roughly wiped the dirt off the wine jar with a handkerchief: "I just don't know if this wine tastes good and whether it suits your Highness's appetite."
Who can guarantee the authenticity of something that has been buried for five years?
"How can it not taste good?" Sui Tingheng smiled like a spring breeze: "This must be a rare fine wine."

(End of this chapter)