He was very imposing when he shouted at the Jiangdu Palace before, but when he really stood in front of the emperor in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, the fourth prince was as quiet and honest as a quail. After all, his father's eyes were like knives, piercing his face, and his brother, the third prince, had a look full of reproach.
Even Zhang Shou could hear some complicated emotions in the emperor's tone besides anger: "I asked you to come back, but you ignored me. But your teacher brought you back, and you obeyed me!"
“Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince seemed to have acted impulsively this time. Not only did he contradict Chief Hong Shan in the street, he also took away those guards, which led to the farce that spread throughout the capital. However…” Zhang Shou heard the emperor’s implication in his words and had to stand up and explain for the Fourth Prince.
After a pause, he continued, "Actually, I don't want to plead for him, because he made a bunch of pretentious and twisted arguments in front of me in the carriage before."
He repeated the Fourth Prince's lies in the carriage in front of the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Seeing that the Fourth Prince was bowing his head deeply, and he didn't know if his eyes were rolling around, he smiled and said, "But these lies were most likely told to the coachman and the guards of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion outside. To be honest, I don't know how much truth there is in them."
The fourth prince raised his head in a hurry, but when he met Zhang Shou's cold gaze, he immediately shrank back. When he heard what Zhang Shou said next, he became even more panicked.
"When I was at the Jiangdu Palace, I claimed that he was forbidden to speak, otherwise he would be punished with a ruler if he said a word. As a result, he must have said hundreds of words on the way, and most of them were nonsense. Fourth Prince, tell me, should he be punished?"
"I... I..."
He stuttered out two words, and seeing that his father and brother were looking at him with very clear anger, the fourth prince finally felt extremely aggrieved, and finally said angrily: "This morning when I was in Ciqing Palace, I saw Madam Hong gave a letter to the crown prince and the third brother. I heard her say that Hong Shanchang might write a letter to speak for the second brother, so I was unhappy. After seeing this old stubborn man, of course I wanted to embarrass him!"
"But I really saw the followers of my eldest and second brothers before... Third brother, you have seen them too! They are not the followers who do chores in the other courtyard. One is the one who serves the second brother's pen and ink, named Mo Hai, and the other one was once my eldest brother's guard, and I think his last name is Shi! I am definitely not wrong. If you don't believe me, you can send people to search the whole city, and you will definitely find these two people!"
Faced with such an answer, Zhang Shou was finally speechless.
The next moment, he saw the Third Prince's face full of shame and embarrassment, as if he deeply regretted that his conversation with Hong was heard by the Fourth Prince. He, who had been standing beside the Emperor, actually retreated to the front of the Emperor, lifted the hem of his clothes, knelt down and bowed his head to apologize. Although he wanted to say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not cautious enough, when he saw the Emperor's eyes, he decided not to speak.
As expected, the angry emperor slammed the table and stood up, then shouted at the fourth prince word by word: "Since you said you have the ability to remember everyone you see, then I will pick two people at random for you to take a look, and then mix them with hundreds of people for you to recognize. If you can't recognize them, what's the problem?"