The eunuch was kicked to the ground but didn’t dare make a sound. He scrambled back up and resud his kneeling position.
Xuanyuan Hongjun, seething with rage, smashed everything he could get his hands on in the room.
How could he not be furious?
The prize that was already in his grasp had just flown away.
And to think he had gone out of his way to recomnd Lu Zhan to his father, the Emperor, just to get him out of the way.
But now, with such a perfect opportunity, the beauty had run off.
After venting his fury, Xuanyuan Hongjun suddenly realized this was no simple matter. Soone must have leaked the news beforehand.
"Guo Yingrong!"
The Crown Princess Consort was the first person who ca to mind.
His face darkening, he stord over to Guo Yingrong’s chambers.
Guo Yingrong wasn’t surprised to hear the Crown Prince had arrived.
She rose to greet him.
However, before she could even curtsy, Xuanyuan Hongjun kicked her to the ground.
"You bitch! I trusted you completely, yet you dared to betray !"
Before Guo Yingrong could even react, Xuanyuan Hongjun hauled her up from the floor.
"Speak! Was it you who leaked the news to Zhi Wan?"
"No, I did not." Guo Yingrong shook her head in denial.
"No? If not, then how did she get away?" Xuanyuan Hongjun’s face was a mask of disbelief.
"I truly did not. If Your Highness refuses to believe , there is nothing I can do," Guo Yingrong said, closing her eyes and enduring the pain. ’I didn’t notify Zhi Wan. I just had Xi Ying take a letter to Lu Zhan, that’s all.’
Xuanyuan Hongjun shoved her away and said coldly, "Do you think I’m out of options just because you sent Zhi Wan away? There are only a few temples in the suburb of the capital. I’ll just go find her myself."
Guo Yingrong’s face went pale with fright. She grabbed his leg and pleaded, "Your Highness, please reconsider! A Buddhist Holy Land must not be desecrated! If Father Emperor finds out, he will surely reprimand you."
"Hmph. Father Emperor has already left for the hunting ground. I am in charge of the entire Capital City now. I’d like to see who dares to report this to him." Xuanyuan Hongjun was completely unconcerned. In fact, the idea of a temple piqued his interest. ’If I could take that beauty right there in the temple...’
At this thought, he ignored Guo Yingrong and left, unable to wait any longer.
When she saw he was gone, Guo Yingrong imdiately got to her feet, her expression completely indifferent.
’I tried to warn him. He’s just determined to dig his own grave.’
’Go on, hurry up and go. Once you do, your position as Crown Prince will be forfeit.’
’This is for the best. Otherwise, with a character like his, he would surely be a fatuous ruler if he ascended the throne. The world would be plunged into chaos, and the common people would be the ones to suffer.’
...
Xuanyuan Hongjun easily found out that the temple Zhi Wan had gone to was called Puzhao Temple.
When he heard the na, he froze for a mont. ’Isn’t that temple on the way to the hunting ground?’
His attendant had the sa thought and quickly advised, "Your Highness, the Emperor’s procession will pass Puzhao Temple on their way to the hunting ground today. If you happen to run into them, it would be difficult to explain yourself. Perhaps you should go another day."
"What’s there to be afraid of? Father Emperor’s party left the city long ago. By the ti we reach Puzhao Temple, they’ll be long gone," Xuanyuan Hongjun said dismissively.
The attendant knew his master’s temper—one more word of protest and he would feel the lash of a whip, so he held his tongue. In his heart, he also felt it was too much of a coincidence. The Emperor’s party had left so much earlier that a chance encounter seed impossible.
The thought of a beauty like Zhi Wan, all alone in a temple, made Xuanyuan Hongjun’s blood boil with lust. With no ti for further consideration, he imdiately gathered his n, spurred his horse out of the city, and galloped straight for Puzhao Temple.
What he didn’t know was that the Emperor’s procession had just passed Puzhao Temple when they ran into trouble, bringing the entire retinue to a halt.
Two won in tattered clothes scrambled out of the nearby woods in a panic, stumbling and falling before the procession.
"Help—"
Faced with the two won who had appeared so suddenly, the Imperial Guard drew their swords, on high alert. "Who are you?"
The two won were clearly delirious, crying out over and over, "Help... save us..."
The head of the Imperial Guards waved his hand, and several guards imdiately advanced toward the woods. Spotting a few furtive figures among the trees, they gave chase. "Who goes there?"
The commotion at the front of the procession naturally caught the Emperor’s attention.
He imdiately sent a nearby eunuch to see what was happening.
A mont later, the eunuch returned and reported to the Emperor in his carriage, "Your Majesty, we’ve encountered two won fleeing for their lives. Soone is pursuing them. Commander Shen has already sent n after the culprits."
Hearing this, the Emperor’s expression soured. For soone to dare commit such a cri in broad daylight, so close to the Capital City—it was a blatant disregard for the Court.
The journey had been tedious, so this incident piqued the Emperor’s interest. He commanded, "Bring them here. We shall personally question them and find out who dares to be so audacious."
The two won were quickly brought forward.
The Emperor saw that their clothes were in tatters and their exposed skin was covered in whip marks. They had clearly been severely abused. A flicker of compassion stirred in him, and he ordered his attendants to cover them with outer robes and give them so water.
The two won, who had been cowering, cald down slightly when they were given clothes and water. But seeing the crowd around them staring with strange looks, they began to tremble with fear again, clinging tightly to each other.
"Do not be afraid. The Emperor is here. Whatever injustice you have suffered, speak of it freely. His Majesty will see that justice is done for you," Lu Zhan said at that mont.
Hearing this, the two won froze. It took a long mont for them to react, then they began to kowtow forcefully toward the imperial carriage, crying out, "Your Majesty, save us! Please, grant us justice..."
"Who are you, and why were you being pursued?" the Emperor asked in a grave voice.
At his question, the two won let out a wail and burst into tears.
It was a long while before they stopped crying. One of them finally spoke. "I am originally from Qingzhou. My family mbers are all law-abiding people. But one morning, when I went out to buy vegetables, I was knocked unconscious from behind. When I woke up, I found myself locked in a dark room with many other girls my age.
"Those people... they forced us to learn ’rules’... to learn... to learn how to seduce n. If we didn’t learn or disobeyed, we would be brutally beaten.
"But once we learned, we would be sent off to serve clients in brothels all over the country.
"The two of us couldn’t bear the humiliation, so we risked our lives to escape, but we were discovered.
"Those n pursued us relentlessly all the way here. If we hadn’t run into you, we would have been dragged back, locked up, and beaten again..."
"Your Majesty, please save us! We don’t want to be taken back! We want to go ho..." the other woman cried, her voice filled with heart-wrenching despair.
"Outrageous! For soone to be so audacious right under the Emperor’s nose!" The Emperor flew into a rage and smashed a cup.
"Your Majesty, calm your anger! Please mind your health!" the eunuch attending him in the carriage cried, dropping to his knees in fright.
It took a while for the Emperor to compose himself. He finally spoke in a low, serious voice, "Lu Zhan, how do you think this matter should be handled?"
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