Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

The old man now suspects that Cui Lian is also colluding with outsiders, and he was still questioning Cui Lian when the scout left.

Jin Yu sneered: "Oh? Cui Rong is colluding with unknown people? Could this person be the Fifth Prince? His methods are truly despicable. He only thinks about using such a thing to frame someone's innocence in order to seize the position of Crown Prince?"

The Fifth Prince was bewildered by the sudden and drastic change in events, especially regarding the Cui family. Had Old Master Cui personally killed Cui Rong?!

He knew he had to leave the palace and ask his retainers for information; surely there was another way to turn the tide!

He forced himself to remain calm:

"There must be something fishy about this. Is Old Master Cui trying to kill off his entire main branch and cut off his lineage? Your Majesty, Chu Mingkong's cunning is beyond my imagination. Please give me some time to leave the palace so I can find out what's going on immediately!"

Empress Pei did not want the court to be delayed by this matter any longer, and if it continued, it would also make Jin Yu lose face.

"Go."

------------

The Fifth Prince quickly ordered his carriage to be prepared to leave the palace, but the carriage stopped as soon as it left the palace gate.

"What's going on? Why have they stopped? I'm in a real hurry! I don't know where my horse is, you guys need to hurry!!"

The attendant's voice came from outside the carriage, trembling as if he had seen the Grim Reaper, the King of Hell, who was about to take his life:

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince Chu is blocking our way..."

The palace is right behind us. At worst, we can hide back in the palace. Does he dare to rush into the palace and start a fight? We can just kill him on the spot!

The Fifth Prince stepped down from the carriage and immediately recognized the horse Chu Ming was riding.

That's his beautiful mare!

Chu Mingkong stroked the horse's head and took out his bow and arrows:

"Your horse ran over to me and said she didn't want you to die, pleaded for you, and said she would be willing to let me ride her from now on. I must say, your beautiful horse is really something! There will be many more stories between you and your horse in the future, and I will try my best to ride gently."

"Alright, I'll count down from three. Hurry and run to the palace. I'll only shoot one arrow; if you're too slow, you'll die."

Chu Mingkong nocked an arrow, drew the bowstring taut, aimed at the Fifth Prince, and targeted his short leg in the middle.

"three!"

The Fifth Prince was still scolding him.

"two!"

The fifth prince used his internal energy to turn and run towards the palace.

"one!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the fifth prince rushed into the palace, but one leg was still sticking out of the palace gate.

An arrow pierced his thigh.

Screams echoed.

Chapter 48 Unable to Stop Someone from Trying to Commit Suicide (21/40)

After fleeing from the palace gates, Chu Mingkong found a corner, put on a cloak, and quickly blended into the crowd of people in the city, rushing to a teahouse to reserve a seat.

With such a big event happening, how could there not be some public discussion? This is his favorite part.

It just so happens to be morning tea time, and the teahouse is crowded, so this topic will probably spread faster than he imagined.

"Waiter, a seat right in the middle, or I'll share!" He tossed over a silver ingot, and the waiter eagerly found him a place to sit.

However, it's true that we'll have to share a seat now, as it's the busiest time of day.

Sigh, in his previous life, Chu Mingkong would have just gone for a butterfly stroke in the "cesspool" and checked the trending topics to join in the fun.

The atmosphere in teahouses is pretty good these days.

Coincidentally, the person sitting next to him was talking about him.

"Have you heard about the matter between the Crown Prince Chu and the wife of the Cui family? This morning, before the roosters even crowed, I heard several people gossiping that the Crown Prince was so desperate to have an heir that he did *that* to that beautiful, femme fatale from the East Mansion!"

Chu Mingkong took a sip of tea. This must be a rumor spread by the Fifth Prince.

Similar to the situation when Shangguan Rong was hastily married, Shangguan Mingzhe, in order to make the marriage "respectable," had people spread rumors that the marriage had been arranged long ago but had not been made public.

The Fifth Prince wants to first establish his "evil deeds" in the capital, and then, once the fact that Jin Yu was defiled by him is exposed, public anger and resentment will rise, and the hatred surrounding him will be at its peak.

It seems that the royal family of the Tianji Empire has already understood the power of public opinion.

It's a pity that Sister-in-law Keqing's reputation is completely beyond repair, even if the Cui family performs a physical examination to prove her innocence.

Having frequented places like this for a long time, Chu Mingkong knew very well what kind of rumors spread the fastest here: rumors about romantic relationships! The more outrageous and "exciting" the rumors, the harder they were to clarify.

Lu Xun said that the essence of mankind is that of gossip-eating machines. Ordinary people only believe what they want to believe. Obviously, the affair between Chu Mingkong and his sister-in-law is exactly what the people like to hear, especially since these rumors spread among aristocratic families.

"Wrong. People started spreading this news last night. I saw a few cunning little rascals in the ghost market telling everyone they met, 'Your news is too late.'"

"That's not necessarily true. The young master Chu is currently in the late stages of his injuries, and his top priority is to continue his lineage. As for the wife of the Cui family's East Mansion, it's said that she has the appearance of a fickle and promiscuous woman, so it's not impossible."

The people at the next table heard about this and came over to say:

"You two are really late with the news. Just now, Prince Chu blocked the palace gates and killed the Fifth Prince!"

Here it comes!

Chu Mingkong immediately perked up, ate several meatballs, and listened intently.

How could such a big thing only be getting this news now? I've almost finished all my meatballs!

But he interjected, correcting, "Wrong, it's not 'kill,' it's 'shoot'!"

"Oh, you've heard about it too, sir? I wonder what happened. Apparently, the Crown Prince Chu got addicted to riding the Fifth Prince's horse and they got into an argument? In the end, an arrow pierced through the Fifth Prince's knee!"

"They dare to use force in the palace?! They're not satisfied with killing the crown prince, so they've come to the palace to kill other princes, are they? They're tired of living! The experts in this palace will surely be taken down by the young master!"

"No! Didn't I just say that the Crown Prince used a bow and arrow?"

"Bows and arrows are weapons too; entering the palace gates is against the law!"

"But the Crown Prince of Chu didn't commit any offense. Guess what? His arrow struck the Fifth Prince's leg right before he stepped into the palace! It doesn't count as a fight in the palace!"

"That's okay? Did he cough up blood this time?"

"I didn't notice that."

Hey!

I forgot to cough!

Chu Mingkong slammed his hand on the table in frustration, startling the two men.

"It's alright, it's alright, you can continue."

This time they were really careless. After showing off, they were so busy running to the teahouse to reserve a seat and eat their own melons that they forgot about coughing up blood.

Big problem: what if others think I'm cured?

Then I heard the person in the next seat say:

"Then the Crown Prince Chu's injuries are probably beyond saving. He calmed down this time and did not kill the prince, but only lightly injured him. This is because the Crown Prince Chu knew that if he killed another prince, the royal family would definitely take action against him. However, he has not yet left any offspring. Of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no descendants. The incense offering of the Chu family has managed to calm him down."

Oh? You've all thought of everything for me.

That's alright, let's continue.

In terms of lineage, if we really have to say, Xiao Yunhan's younger brother could also be considered another male descendant of the Chu family. However, he also changed his surname to Xiao along with his sister, forcibly making the Xiling Chu family a single-lineage family.

The teahouse was packed with people, even more so than before. Some people would squeeze in just to listen to a song, even if they could only eat standing up.

Because so much has happened from last night to this morning.

Last night, the old patriarch of the Cui family died, and this morning, the new patriarch of the Cui family died. Before we could even finish hearing the untold secret between Prince Chu and his sister-in-law, news came that Prince Chu had been shot through the knee by the Fifth Prince.

Chu Mingkong did not linger any longer. He mounted the Fifth Prince's beautiful horse and walked back towards the academy while thinking about it.

"Although I promised Consort Wan that I would spare the Fifth Prince, this brat has directly caused the Cui family's Eastern Mansion to die out, and Jin Yu was forced to suffer humiliation in the court. Shooting him in the leg is a bit too lenient."

How to do?

"No, although it's wrong for me to kill the Fifth Prince, he can commit suicide. Let's find an opportunity to make him do it."

"Judging from the rumors I just heard, the most suitable persona for me right now doesn't seem to be that of a mad dog killing indiscriminately, but rather that I'm eager to have children."

Damn it, it seems that for a long time to come, I, who am usually so indifferent to women, will have no choice but to play the role of a lecherous man, forced to do so against my will and in great pain.

Why--!"

"But the coughing up of blood must continue. After that, we'll find a brothel and ride a horse while coughing up blood."

[System Treasure has arrived in your account, 3000 points of filial piety (undesirable).]

"Wow, so much filial piety, where did it come from?" Chu Mingkong exclaimed in shock. "Did I give anyone a gift?"

----------

After the Fifth Prince was shot and wounded by Chu Mingkong, the palace was in great shock, but no one could do anything about it.

Even though Chu Mingkong didn't give any specific reason, and was shot by the Fifth Prince while blocking the palace gate, the royal family still couldn't do anything about him.

Because the Fifth Prince had just falsely accused Jin Yu of losing her virginity in court and even tied up Jin Yu's maid, and before he could explain the matter of Jin Yu clearly, he started spreading rumors that Chu Mingkong had stolen his sister-in-law and killed the clan leader. As a result, he was punished as soon as he went out.

Moreover, Chu Mingkong was quite cunning, relentlessly testing the limits of what was forbidden, rubbing against the edges but never actually entering.

The royal family could not find anything wrong with him, so they could only keep the fifth prince in the palace to recover.

Consort Wan went to visit her son immediately and looked at the arrow wound on his foot with heartache.

But suddenly he felt a little grateful to Chu Mingkong. At least when his son went so far, Chu Mingkong didn't actually take a big knife and break his leg; he just shot him with a bow and arrow.

"My son, how is your injury? Let your mother take a look. I have some excellent healing medicine, and I'll have someone send it over to you in a bit... How could you do such a foolish thing? You've gone too far. Even if you really forced Chu Mingkong to his death, you've brought shame to Jin Yu and the royal family. Your status will only be diminished!"

"What do you know!" The Fifth Prince slapped Consort Wan's hand away. "It's precisely because you're just a concubine that I have to go to such lengths. Otherwise, how could that good-for-nothing First Prince have risen to the position of Crown Prince and surpass me? It's all because he's the Empress's son!"

"Someone, show the guest out!" he said coldly.

After Consort Wan left in sorrow, the Fifth Prince remembered the horse Chu Mingkong was riding—his beloved horse!

It was a gift from the Empress to him!

He summoned his trusted aides, and, enduring the pain of his arrow wound, coldly said: