Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 323 Urgent Report from the Northern Frontier by the Embroidered Uniform Guard
Early the next morning, led by Yang Shiqi and Yu Qian, and with Fan Zhong leading a group of people, escorting a magnificent coffin, the group set off in a grand procession towards Yunnan.

Meanwhile, in the Han Prince's Palace in Yunnan, it was already late at night.

"Your Highness, General Liu requests an audience! Urgent report from the Northern Embroidered Uniform Guard!" That night, Zhu Zhanhe had finished washing up and was about to undress and go to sleep with his wife's help when Xiao Xizi suddenly appeared outside the palace door, calling out urgently.

"Guan'er, you go to sleep first, I'll go check on things." Zhu Zhanhe stood up immediately after hearing Xiao Xizi's voice. Zhu Zhanhe knew that Liu Erniu would never bother him at this time unless it was something extremely urgent! So, Zhu Zhanhe gently patted his wife's delicate hand, soothing her tense expression, and told her to go to sleep first, while he prepared to go out and see what important matter had occurred.

"Your Highness, it's chilly at night. Please put on a robe before going out." Princess Xia was a considerate person. She knew that unless it was an emergency, the servants would never look for her husband at this time. So Princess Xia raised her hand to call Xiao Zhi, who was serving at the door. The two of them quickly put a robe on Zhu Zhanhe before letting her husband leave with worried expressions.

A moment later, Zhu Zhanhe brought Xiao Xizi into the study.

"Speak!" In the study, Liu Erniu and Xiao Xizi knelt directly in front of Zhu Zhanhe after entering, heads bowed and silent. Seeing this, Zhu Zhanhe's heart sank, and he ordered in a deep voice to have Liu Erniu recount the urgent report from the north sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Your Highness, please take a look." Liu Erniu took out a secret report from his bosom with a sad expression and held it in his hands. Xiao Xizi, who was kneeling beside him, took the report with great insight and knelt down to present it to Zhu Zhanhe.

Zhu Zhanhe slowly opened the secret report and his eyelids twitched. It contained detailed information about the Prince of Han being burned to death by the Xuande Emperor in Beijing.

"Block the news! Especially within the Prince's residence, all information about this matter must be blocked." After reading the secret letter in his hand, Zhu Zhanhe gripped it tightly, glanced at Liu Erniu and Xiao Xizi who were still kneeling, and then directly ordered the news to be blocked.

"Your Highness, I have already blocked the news immediately!"

"But Your Highness, this news will spread very quickly!" Liu Erniu naturally knew the gravity of the situation; the news of the Prince of Han's death was far too shocking. Therefore, he had already tried to suppress the news immediately. However, Liu Erniu also knew clearly that the news could no longer be suppressed! Because the news had not been suppressed in Beijing, it had already spread there, and the Prince's residence would find out about it sooner or later.

"The news is being kept under wraps for now. I will find an opportunity to tell the Princess Consort." Zhu Zhanhe knew that telling his mother this news and getting her to accept it would be quite difficult. So Zhu Zhanhe was waiting, waiting for the right opportunity, an opportunity for his mother, Lady Wei, to smoothly accept this astonishing news.

"Yes!" Liu Erniu knew that getting the princess to accept this news would be extremely difficult and would definitely take time. All he could do was to keep all news under wraps until the princess accepted it.

"In the coming days, someone will be visiting the Prince's residence. When that time comes, no matter when or where, bring them to see me personally." After Zhu Zhanhe finished dealing with the news of the Prince of Han's death, he directly assigned Liu Erniu a top-secret task.

"Yes!" Upon hearing this news, Liu Erniu was taken aback for a moment, but immediately agreed. He knew that something that could make the Crown Prince so cautious must be something very important, so he couldn't afford to be negligent.

"Go back." Zhu Zhanhe gently clutched the secret letter in his hand and slowly walked out the door with heavy steps. Seeing this, Xiao Xizi followed the young prince quietly, and Liu Erniu also silently retreated. They all knew that the young prince needed peace and quiet at this moment. "Master, you're back!" Unconsciously, Zhu Zhanhe strolled back to his palace. As soon as he entered, he saw Xiao Zhi waiting for him eagerly at the door. Upon seeing him, Xiao Zhi's face lit up with a bright smile, and she ran over very attentively, following behind him. Xiao Xizi also quietly retreated.

"Rest now." Zhu Zhanhe gently rubbed Xiaozhi's head before going inside.

"Your Highness~" Upon seeing her husband return, Princess Xia gently stepped forward to help Zhu Zhanhe remove his robe. Seeing this, Zhu Zhanhe knew that his wife hadn't slept at all and had been waiting for him to come home. A warm feeling filled Zhu Zhanhe's heart, and he felt very pleased.

Seeing that her husband didn't reply, Crown Princess Xia knew he was in a bad mood, so she diligently helped him remove his robe and handed it to Xiao Zhi, who was standing nearby. While she was busy, Crown Princess Xia unexpectedly noticed a piece of paper clutched in her husband's hand. Although she didn't know its contents, she obediently refrained from asking.

As his wife moved her hands, Zhu Zhanhe realized he hadn't dealt with the secret letter in his hand. He then simply folded the letter in half and handed it to the Crown Princess, Xia.

"Burn it!" After taking off his robe and changing into his pajamas, Zhu Zhanhe handed the secret letter to his wife and asked her to burn it to erase any trace of its existence.

"Alright." Although she didn't know the contents of the secret letter, since her husband had told her to burn it, Princess Xia didn't hesitate. She took the letter to the table, gently opened the candle shade, and prepared to burn the letter. However, out of curiosity, and since her husband hadn't said she couldn't look at it, Princess Xia unconsciously glanced at the contents of the letter as she lit it. But in that one furtive glance, in that instant, Princess Xia's scalp tingled with fear upon seeing the contents of the letter.

"Ah~" Princess Xia exclaimed in shock the moment she saw the contents of the secret letter. Hearing his wife's exclamation, Zhu Zhanhe quickly looked up and saw his wife standing there in a daze, while the secret letter had fallen to the ground and was burning.

"Guan'er, are you alright?" Zhu Zhanhe thought that the candle flame had accidentally burned his wife, so he quickly walked over to her to check if she had been burned.

"Your Highness, please forgive me!" Hearing her husband's cry, the stunned Princess Xia finally snapped out of her daze. She immediately knelt down, begging for forgiveness. In the corner of the room, Xiao Zhi, who was tidying Zhu Zhanhe's clothes, didn't know what had happened, but seeing her mistress kneel, she quickly knelt down as well, looking at Zhu Zhanhe with a panicked expression. Although Xiao Zhi didn't know what was going on, kneeling couldn't be wrong at this moment.

"It's good that the official is alright."

Get up, just burn the letter.

"Starting tomorrow, you should take Yu'er to spend more time with your mother." Zhu Zhanhe looked at his wife kneeling on the ground and knew she must have secretly read the contents of the secret letter. He didn't intend to say anything to her, since he hadn't said she couldn't read the letter. Instead, he took his wife's soft, warm hand and gently helped her up, holding her in his arms to comfort her. He reminded her to take the child to visit her mother more often.

"Yes~" Princess Xia, though shocked by her husband's words, naturally understood their meaning, and thus sadly agreed. Furthermore, Princess Xia knew that since her husband had burned the secret letter, it meant he wasn't planning to tell her mother about this, at least not yet. Therefore, this matter would be kept from the Princess for the time being!
(End of this chapter)