The prince coughed and then said: "Your Majesty, my father is hosting a banquet tonight and has invited us to come over in brocade clothes. We will talk about this later, so there is no need to make it too public."
It is human nature for young people to be lustful. The prince saw that Hanxiang had a good appearance and a romantic look on her eyebrows. She was also a maid who could make men's hearts flutter. He thought that Qining was young and might be interested in female sex. While wandering around the palace, it's not impossible to meet this maid and have your heart flutter for a moment.
But Hanxiang is just a palace maid after all, so it is not advisable to make this matter too public and cause trouble.
Concubine Chen immediately said reluctantly: "Prince, do you mean to pretend that this has never happened?" She snorted coldly and said: "The envoy of the Chu State dared to humiliate the maid in the forbidden palace. How audacious is this? There are no men anymore, so let the people of Chu insult the women of Qi?"
Her words were directed at the prince, obviously saying that if the prince gave in on this matter, it would be a cowardly act and he was not worthy of being a man.
At this time, he saw the young girl who had followed the prince step forward, stretched out her hand to hold Concubine Chen's sleeves, and said softly: "Concubine Chen, don't be angry, don't hurt yourself."
Concubine Chen's eyes were red and she said: "Tianxiang, you heard it too. You are also a girl. If you encounter such a thing, can you just let it go?"
Qi Ning's heart trembled, and he thought to himself that this girl turned out to be Princess Tianxiang. He took a look and saw that she was round and beautiful, and thought that if such a beautiful princess married that guy Beitang Feng, there would be no doubt that she would marry him. It's a flower stuck on cow dung.
Tianxiang looked at Hanxiang and asked, "Hanxiang, the Chu envoy wants to bully you. Have you ever entered the woods?"
"How dare you follow him into the woods?" Hanxiang's tears flowed down, and his whole body was trembling slightly. He seemed to be frightened: "My slave only said that she was Chen's maid, but he... He said not to mention Chen's maid, so what if she was the queen's maid? ? The concubine was afraid of him... Afraid of what he did, so she ran away in a hurry. The Chu envoy was not familiar with the roads in the palace, so he could only chase after him from a distance... all the way to here. After the slave entered the garden, he immediately reported Madam, at this time the Chu envoys also came after him, and it just so happened that... the guards patrolling passed by and surrounded him...!"
Tianxiang looked at Qining and asked, "Jin Yihou, do you know your sin?"
Qi Ning sighed and said: "Your Highness, the foreign envoy is indeed guilty and deserves death."
As soon as these words came out, everyone present was startled. The prince and the princess looked at each other. Concubine Chen was stunned for a moment, but immediately shouted: "You all heard it, you all heard it, he... He admitted it himself. , Prince, Tianxiang, you all heard it." He was afraid that Qining would regret it.
At this moment, they saw several guards suddenly kneeling on the ground. Others saw it and looked over, only to see the king of Dong Qi, dressed in bright yellow casual clothes, coming in from the door surrounded by several eunuchs. His face was quite ugly. When everyone saw the sudden appearance of the King of Dong Qi, they were all secretly frightened. They all knelt down and shouted long live. Qin Ning also turned around and saluted the King of Dong Qi.
"What kind of behavior can we do if the chickens and dogs are restless?" The king of Dong Qi snorted coldly and glanced at Qining. He saw that Princess Tianxiang had already walked over, quickly took the king of Dong Qi's arm and said coquettishly: "Father, can you come? Come on, Madam Chen is being bullied, you have to make the decision for Madam Chen."
Qi Ning thought that you, a little girl, don't know the truth. What are you doing here? He glanced at Tianxiang and saw that Tianxiang was staring at him with a half-smile.
"Your Majesty...!" Concubine Chen wailed sadly and ran to the king of Dong Qi. As if she had been greatly wronged and the one being insulted was her, she said with grief: "I... I can't live anymore. "This concubine has suffered such a shame and humiliation. I am unworthy of His Majesty's love. I only ask for His Majesty's death." She raised her hand to cover her face with a handkerchief, her eyes were filled with tears, and she was pitiful everywhere.
The king of Dong Qi said: "I already know." He looked at Qining and frowned: "Qining, I just heard that you have confessed?"
Qi Ning saluted and said, "Reporting to your Majesty, Qi Ning is already aware of the crime, and the crime is extremely heinous."
The king of the Eastern Qi Dynasty was slightly stunned, and heard Qi Ning slowly say: "It is the first time for a foreign envoy to enter the deep garden of the Qi Palace. He knows nothing about the roads in the palace, but he can accurately catch up to the Queen Mother Chen. This is a crime. 1. A foreign envoy was summoned to the palace to wait for His Majesty’s summons, but he had no patience at all and dared to leave alone and wander around the palace grounds without respecting the rules of the palace. This is the second crime.”
The prince looked slightly calm when he heard what Qi Ning said. He only thought that Qi Ning really confessed his crime. Only then did he realize that it was just a small strategy. In the current situation, if Qi Ning had a tit-for-tat argument with Concubine Chen, it would be easy to anger her. The king of Dong Qi, retreating in order to advance at this moment, can actually give the king of Dong Qi a chance to think, but his methods are also clever.
"The third major crime of a foreign envoy is that he knew that the inner palace of the palace was heavily guarded, but he didn't worry about the crime of beheading at all. He dared to molest or even insult the palace maids in the palace. It is really reckless and completely mindless." Qi Ning said slowly. Said: "The fourth most sinful crime in foreign affairs is to know that the palace maid is Chen's wife. Instead of restraining herself, she even thinks about what she can do even if she is the queen's maid, and speaks rudely and boldly."
He didn't speak quickly, even a little slowly, but after these charges were uttered, everyone around had different expressions. The King of Dong Qi didn't look as ugly as before, and there was thinking in his eyes. The corners of Chen Guifei's eyes twitched, but she looked Somewhat uneasy, Qi Ning continued: "The foreign envoy failed to flirt with me. He should have been buried immediately, but he didn't know whether to live or die. He continued to chase him deep in the palace, and did not take Qi State's palace seriously at all. This is the fifth most deadly sin. Although the foreign envoy has little knowledge, he is still a Marquis of Chu State and has seen many beauties. However, when he arrived at Qi Palace, he felt as if he had never seen a woman in his life because of a pretty maid who did not care about the face of Chu State and the Qi family. Shameless, this is the sixth deadly sin. Although the foreign envoy has mediocre martial arts, but he wants to chase a palace maid, but he can let her escape easily and chase her all the way to the palace. This is an insult to the martial arts of the Qi family. This is the seventh deadly sin."
There was already a slight smile on the prince's lips, but Tianxiang blinked his eyes. The king of Dong Qi raised his hand to stroke his beard, and the previous anger on his face was gone.
"The foreign envoy heard the movement of the guards in the palace and did not run away immediately. Instead, he was surrounded by them here. He was extremely stupid. This is the eighth deadly sin." Qining looked calm: "Your Majesty, you have these eight deadly sins , it is already a capital crime to be a foreign envoy, and the crime is unpardonable, but there is still one last thing that I don’t understand, please enlighten me.”
The king of Eastern Qi asked: "What do you not know about?"
His tone was quite calm. Qi Ning cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, our country of Chu has sent an envoy to the country of Qi to propose marriage. This is a lesson from our sincerity. Of course, we must treat this matter as the top priority of our country of Chu. Foreign envoy His talents are mediocre, and he can be appointed by the emperor's order, but he is only careful and careful in doing things. Your Majesty is giving you a banquet tonight, and the envoy has not yet finished a glass of wine, and there seems to be no sign of going crazy. I really don't understand why he committed this crime in Qi Palace. Such a heinous eight deadly sins, could it be that our country of Chu regarded this marriage proposal as a child's play and sent a madman here?"
His tone was calm before, but in the last few sentences, he spoke faster. His voice was sonorous and powerful, and his expression was solemn and upright. Concubine Chen was a little panicked and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, he is quibbling. Don't believe his words. Hanxiang and He has no grievances, so how can he be wronged? He is so bold that he thinks he is a Marquis of Chu, so he has no scruples and goes wild in our Daqi Palace."
The king of Dong Qi looked at the prince and asked, "Prince, what do you think?"
The prince cupped his hands and said: "Father, I think that although Jin Yihou comes from a family of martial arts in Chu, he is well-educated, brave and resourceful. What happened today...!" He did not continue.
Princess Tianxiang suddenly smiled and said: "Father, why don't you let me judge this case?"
The king of Dong Qi obviously doted on Princess Tianxiang. He smiled and stroked his beard and said, "What do you know, little kid? Don't do any nonsense."
"Father, I am just asking a few words. If I am wrong, you will think that I am talking nonsense." Princess Tianxiang took the King of Dong Qi by the arm and shook it: "Just promise me."
The king of Dong Qi sighed: "How do you want to judge the case?"
Princess Tianxiang chuckled, walked up to Hanxiang, and asked, "Hanxiang, you said before that you were going to Eunuch Chen, the general manager of the inner treasury, to collect the silk. Am I right?"
Hanxiang lowered her head and said, "Yes!"
"Zhang Cai, you brought the Chu State envoy to wait in the side hall of Juxian Palace, is that correct?" Princess Tianxiang looked at an eunuch, who was the father-in-law who led Qining into the palace, and immediately said: "Reporting to the princess, I led the Jin Yihou to the side hall of Juxian Palace and asked the Jin Yihou to wait a moment before His Majesty summons him immediately."
Princess Tianxiang smiled and said: "Let's not talk about Jin Yihou knowing that the father is about to summon him and still wandering around. Zhang Cai, is the inner library going to the northwest?"
"Yes!" Zhang Cai said: "All the expenses needed in the palace are stored in the warehouse in the northwest."
"To go from Empress Chen's palace to the palace warehouse, go to the northwest corner. The Juxian Palace is in the southeast corner." Princess Tianxiang raised her fingers, spread her middle and index fingers in a figure eight shape, and said, "The two directions are not the same. , Hanxiang, are you heading towards Juxian Palace?"
Concubine Chen's color changed slightly, Hanxiang immediately said: "To tell you what the princess is saying, slave... I have no direction to go to the Immortal Palace."
Princess Tianxiang smiled and said: "Then Jin Yihou can only walk around and walk towards the warehouse. On the way, he met Hanxiang who was returning from the warehouse, right?"
Hanxiang said: "My slave... I didn't find Eunuch Chen, so... I went back from the warehouse and met the Chu State envoy on the way."
Princess Tianxiang said to the King of Dongqi: "Father, on the way from Juxian Palace to the warehouse, there are two palace walls, which are usually guarded by guards. Father has decreed that no one is allowed to walk around in the palace at night. Unless he has a palace card in his hand, and Jin Yihou is an envoy of the Chu State, he will naturally not have a palace card in his hand."
Qi Ning had already understood and said with a smile: "What the princess said is absolutely true. I am just a foreign minister. Thanks to your kindness, I went to the palace to attend the banquet. How could I have the palace card in my hand?"
"Father, without palace cards, foreign envoys can move around the palace at will?" Princess Tianxiang said: "Those guards are not loyal to their duties. Father, I must spank them hard."
The prince already said solemnly: "Huang Sheng, are you on duty tonight?"
The leader of the guards, Huang Sheng, had changed his expression miserably. He heard the prince say coldly: "Inside the Forbidden Palace, the guards are not good, and the foreign envoys are allowed to move around at will. Father, Huang Sheng has greatly neglected his duties. I think this He must be severely punished.”