books44 Chapter 366
Chapter 366
Hearing this, Zhu Jingchen was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected his older sister to be so direct. He had already deliberately changed the subject, yet the Grand Princess had turned around and thrown the question right at Xu Heming.Xu Heming did not answer the Grand Princess immediately, but instead cast a somewhat pleading look at Zhu Jingchen. After all, this was the Grand Princess; she was not someone he could simply refuse.
Zhu Jingchen coughed lightly in slight embarrassment before saying, "Haha, Imperial Sister, you truly have a sharp eye! This is indeed iron ore."
Zhu Jingchen thought to himself that since the Grand Princess had already discovered it, there was no need for him to hide it any longer.
"Your Majesty, does this mean an iron mine has truly been discovered?" the Grand Princess asked in pleasant surprise.
Xu Heming watched from the side, remaining silent.
After all, the matter of the iron mine was not yet intended to be made public.
However, if the Emperor himself were to speak of it, that would be another matter entirely.
Furthermore, even Li Tianyou did not know that there was an iron mine on Mount Wangxian.
"Yes, an iron mine was discovered." Zhu Jingchen no longer concealed it; after all, this matter could not be kept hidden forever.
Hearing this, the Grand Princess was overjoyed and said happily, "Heaven truly blesses our Lannuo Kingdom! This is truly a blessing for our Lannuo Kingdom!"
"I congratulate Your Majesty! Congratulations to Your Majesty!" the Grand Princess said as she knelt down in excitement.
"Imperial Sister, please rise quickly. This matter has only just been discovered, so I hope you will not speak of it to anyone." Zhu Jingchen trusted the Grand Princess's character, but he still felt the need to caution her once more just to be safe.
"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will keep this matter strictly in my heart," the Grand Princess quickly replied.
"Then this stone, was it found at the iron mine?" the Grand Princess asked, looking again at the heart-shaped iron ore still pinched in Zhu Jingchen's hand.
"Yes. Since Qingshi gave this to Nuonuo, let it be kept for Nuonuo!" After Zhu Jingchen finished speaking, he quickly handed the stone in his hand to the Grand Princess.
"This..." Now knowing that it was iron ore, the Grand Princess was a little hesitant to accept it. After all, the Emperor had just said that this matter must not be publicized. If someone were to notice something amiss with it, she feared she might leak the Emperor's important secret.
"Imperial Sister, Nuonuo is still a child right now. You can just keep it for her for the time being. In the future, when Nuonuo grows up, you can simply hand it over to her," Zhu Jingchen said, seeming to see through the Grand Princess's hesitation.
"Your Majesty is right." The Grand Princess thought about it; as long as she kept this thing well hidden, no one else would know.
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress and Second Miss Cheng have arrived," a little eunuch came in bowing and said in a low voice.
"Send them in," Zhu Jingchen said directly.
"This concubine greets Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be blessed with profound peace and good health!" The Empress had not expected Prince An and the Grand Princess to be here as well.
"This subject's daughter greets Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long live Your Majesty!" Cheng Qingli did not know why the Emperor had called her over again, but with the Empress present, even though she was afraid, she was not quite as anxious.
"Dispense with the formalities."
"Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress!"
"Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years!"
The Grand Princess and Xu Heming also each bowed to the Empress.
"This subject's daughter greets the Grand Princess and Prince An!" Cheng Qingli had not expected to run into the Grand Princess.
In her heart, she felt a bit of fear toward this Grand Princess. After all, the Grand Princess was famous for being strict.
Given her own lively and unrestrained personality, she was afraid she would not be liked by such a strict person as the Grand Princess.
"I didn't expect Imperial Sister to be here today as well. Since Imperial Sister has entered the palace, you must come and sit at my Kunning Palace for a while later," the Empress said to the Grand Princess with a smile.
"Yes!" The Grand Princess was also very respectful toward her sister-in-law. She did not have the slightest intention of overstepping her bounds with the Empress just because she was the Grand Princess.
"I wonder if Your Majesty has a matter to discuss, since you summoned this concubine and Qingli over?"
After exchanging pleasantries with the Grand Princess, the Empress finally turned with a smile to ask the Emperor beside her.
"Qingli, did you encounter assassins when you entered the palace today?" Zhu Jingchen did not answer the Empress's question, but instead looked at Cheng Qingli next to her and asked.
"What? You encountered assassins? Why didn't you tell your sister? Are you hurt?" Hearing this, the Empress anxiously grabbed Cheng Qingli and asked.
"Sister, I'm fine. I'm not hurt," Cheng Qingli said somewhat sheepishly.
She then turned around and bowed to Zhu Jingchen before saying, "To answer Your Majesty, when this subject's daughter was entering the palace, I did indeed encounter a wave of assassins."
"Your Majesty, who exactly is it that dares to be so rampant?" The Empress was furious, not expecting that someone would be so blind as to target her own biological sister.
"Your Majesty, could this matter be related to that?" The Grand Princess frowned, thinking to herself, could it be that someone had already found out they had discovered the iron mine?
"The culprit has already been caught, so we will definitely be able to investigate this clearly. However, Qingli, have you recently offended anyone you shouldn't have?" Zhu Jingchen thought about it and decided to ask Cheng Qingli. Otherwise, why would there be an assassination attempt on her?
"To answer Your Majesty, recently, other than tricking Miss Li, I haven't offended anyone else," Cheng Qingli thought for a moment and said truthfully.
"Your Majesty, Miss Li and Lord Li wouldn't do such a thing. Furthermore, Lord Li is still recovering from his injuries right now," Xu Heming pleaded on behalf of Li Zhiwei without a second thought.
"If it wasn't the Li family, have you had dealings with anyone else recently?" Zhu Jingchen frowned; he was also unwilling to believe that Li Tianyou would have someone do this.
"Today, this subject's daughter also won five thousand taels of silver and two land deeds from Prince Lanhuai's Secondary Consort." Cheng Qingli carefully stole a glance at the Empress beside her, feeling a bit dissatisfied in her heart. Why was her Emperor brother-in-law like this? He had clearly promised not to tell her Empress sister about her going to the gambling den, but now he was making her confess the truth herself.
"Prince Lanhuai's estate?" Zhu Jingchen frowned.
"Imperial Uncle is just an idle prince—" The Grand Princess had wanted to say a few good words for Prince Lanhuai, but she stopped halfway through.
In the imperial family, where was there any real familial affection? Even though that Imperial Uncle was an idle prince, it was hard to guarantee that he didn't harbor disloyal intentions.
"I have already had Jinyan investigate it. However, Qingli, why did you make a bet with Prince Lanhuai's Secondary Consort today?" Zhu Jingchen asked, somewhat puzzled.
At this moment, the Empress still did not know that her precious younger sister had actually gone to a gambling den.
"This subject's daughter doesn't know where Prince Lanhuai's estate heard that Qinlou is a property of the Cheng family. Prince Lanhuai and his Secondary Consort came to the door saying they wanted to buy Qinlou. However, this subject's daughter had already given Qinlou to Sister Li. But that Secondary Consort Huo felt that Qinlou was still in my hands. In a moment of playfulness, this subject's daughter told her that as long as she could beat me, I would give Qinlou to her."
As Cheng Qingli reached the end of her explanation, her voice grew softer and softer. She was worried that if the Empress heard her, she would scold her.