The third prince and the fourth prince went to the Duke of Zhao's mansion to visit the dowager lady. Although they were traveling incognito, they had to bring the Sharp Cavalry Battalion with them, so the momentum certainly could not be too small. Therefore, as soon as they entered the Duke of Zhao's mansion, many well-informed people had already received the news.
Even though the Dowager was the Empress Dowager's biological sister, the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince should call the Dowager great-aunt, which is what people call great-aunt. But before the Third Prince was enthroned as the Crown Prince, the Emperor did not often take the two brothers out of the palace. After the Third Prince was enthroned as the Crown Prince, he and the Fourth Prince were not seen often visiting the Duke of Zhao's Mansion. Now, of course, more and more people had some speculations.
If the lady had not suddenly fallen seriously ill and was dying, why would the two little princes in the palace suddenly come to visit
For a time, even the director of the Ministry of Rites, who was in charge of Huitong Hall, suddenly made a desperate move and publicly impeached Zhu Er and Zhu San for trespassing into Huitong South Hall at the court meeting. As a result, the emperor angrily took out the joint letter of apology signed by the three of them and rejected the rebuttal. This also has another explanation.
The Madam is the Emperor's aunt after all. Now she is dying of illness. Why are you still going to hold her grandson responsible? He just broke into the Huitong South Pavilion, not the six ministries. Is the head of the Ministry of Rites crazy? It would be better to endure it for the time being and wait until Zhu Jing surrenders his post as Minister of War. Then it won't be too late to pursue him!
Of course, there were smarter people, such as relatives of the Zhu family, who urgently prepared many gifts for visiting the patient and then quickly rushed to the Duke of Zhao's mansion, hoping to have a wonderful encounter with the Crown Prince. However, if the Fourth Prince knew what they were thinking, he would definitely laugh and ridicule these people for thinking too much.
He used his own experience to "educate" Luo Sanhe along the way, but he had just arrived at Qing'an Hall with the Third Prince and had not sat there for long when the Madam started to drive him away. Even though she was still very weak, she was always strong-willed and still spoke in a very tough tone.
"Your Highness, have you attended today's class? What will your teachers think if you ask for leave casually? The Fourth Prince has been away for so long, how many classes does he have to make up? Do you still have time to waste here with me?"
"Don't mention that I'm not dead yet. Even if I were dead, there would be no need for you to mobilize a large force. A prince and a prince would come to see me together! Yingying can go to the girls' school without worry and say that she will come to accompany me in the afternoon. You should do the same. Hurry and go back to Ciqing Palace to study!"
Zhu Er, who had been obediently tending to the sick in Qing'an Hall this morning, saw that his grandmother could blame the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince as if it was justified. He couldn't help but feel that the scolding and even beatings he had received from his grandmother in the past were nothing. Therefore, he didn't dare to speak up for the Third and Fourth Princes, but just held his breath and pretended not to exist.
However, since the lady had regained consciousness, she naturally would not see such a big grandson next to her, so she immediately said without question: "Erlang, go and send His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince back to the palace, and do your own thing."
Zhu Er was slightly startled, and then he realized that the Madam was not sure whether the Third and Fourth Princes knew that he, Ji Jiu, and Zhang Dakuai were acting on orders, so she did not make it clear what he was going to do. However, he had promised his father and brother in the morning to take good care of him at home, so he could not help but hesitate.