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Chapter 216 - Threaten with Her Life
Chapter 216 - Threaten with Her Life
Chapter 216: Threaten with Her Life
The Wild Goose Pagoda was the tallest tower in Chang’an.
It was much higher than the city wall. The soldiers had come to search the Wild Goose Pagoda but didn’t find Zhou Sisi.
When a little monk went to ring the bell, he saw Zhou Sisi sitting by a window of the Wild Goose Pagoda, her clothes fluttering in the wind and her legs were dangling in the air.
She looked like a fairy from heaven.
The old abbot came over, and when he saw that it was Zhou Sisi, he hurriedly had other monks go up the tower to rescue Zhou Sisi.
Zhou Sisi said, “Don’t come over. if you come, I will jump from here. I want to see my imperial cousin! Call my imperial cousin over!”
The old abbot didn’t dare to force Zhou Sisi and quickly ordered people to invite Lu Chen, Zhou Siming and others over.
They quickly entered the tower.
Mrs. Zhou was so frightened that her heart almost jumped to her throat. “Sisi, Sisi!”
Zhou Sisi looked back and saw Lu Chen standing tall and straight under the light of the lantern. He was the most dazzling one in the crowd. “Imperial Cousin!”
However, Zhou Sisi didn’t see the usual gentle smile on Lu Chen’s face but a cold and stern look.
“Imperial Cousin, you have found me. I want to marry you, not anyone else. Auntie wants Sisi to marry someone else, but Sisi doesn’t want it. I will only marry Imperial Cousin!”
Mrs. Zhou hurriedly said, “Okay, okay. Sisi, come down first! Your imperial cousin will promise you!”
Most of Zhou Sisi’s body was already outside the window. It seemed that as long as the wind was stronger, she would fall from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda!
Lu Chen said coldly, “I won’t agree.”
Zhou Siming looked at Lu Chen pleadingly and said, “Your Royal Highness, my sister…”
Zhou Sisi looked down and shouted, “I will only marry Imperial Cousin.”
Mrs. Zhou knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Chen. “Your Royal Highness, Sisi is retarded. Her life is at stake. Aren’t you even willing to coax her? She is your cousin after all!”
Zhou Siming also knelt down and said, “Your Royal Highness…”
However, Lu Chen’s voice was extremely cold. “I don’t have a younger sister, so I always treat Sisi as my younger sister, and I don’t want to believe that Sisi, who was innocent and cute when she was young, can play tricks, but how can a retarded person know to threaten me with her life?”
The usual gentle air disappeared from Lu Chen, and he looked aggressively straight into Zhou Sisi’s eyes and said,
“Where did the daughter of the Zhou family learn to threaten a man with her life? If she wants to marry into the East Palace, just jump down from here and I can allow her ashes to be left in the East Palace.”
“You!” Mrs. Zhou suppressed the anger in her heart. The person in front of her was the Crown Prince. No matter how angry she was, she could only endure it.
Zhou Siming said, “Your Royal Highness, do you still remember the time when we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda to play when we were young. At that time, Sisi didn’t dare to walk down the steps from the Wild Goose Pagoda and you would carry her downstairs. She is your little sister. Do you have no regard for your childhood sister-brother bond?”
Zhou Siming always thought that Lu Chen was still the former Lu Chen.
However, he felt that Lu Chen had changed a lot.
For the sake of Qiao Jinniang, he would rather dump the Zhou family. Was it worth it?
Tears dripped from the corners of Zhou Sisi’s eyes. “Imperial Cousin.”
However, Lu Chen said coldly, “If I have no regard for our sister-brother bond, I won’t search for Zhou Sisi all over Chang’an. Now everyone in Chang’an is in panic, but she is here treatening to commit suicide. Since she doesn’t want to live, then die!”
“Your Royal Highness, please listen to me.”
Mu Qianqian came out with a big belly and said, “I’m Mu Qianqian, a good friend of the Qiao family. I lodge temporarily in a hut next to the Wild Goose Pagoda. Hearing the noise here, I came over to have a look.”
“Your Royal Highness, if Zhou Sisi jumps down today, I’m afraid that tomorrow, everyone in Chang’an will gossip that the Crown Princess drove your cousin to death out of jealousy. This will do no good to the crown princess’ reputation.”
Lu Chen looked at Mu Qianqian, who appeared out of nowhere, and said coldly, “How can I let her marry into the East Palace just because she threatens me with her life? I don’t just have one cousin sister. If this trick works, every cousin of mine will climb to the pagoda and threaten to jump down!”
“His Majesty, Her Majesty, and Her Highness arrive.”
There was such a big incident here, and the Ci’en Temple where the Wild Goose Pagoda was located was a royal temple, so the Emperor and the Queen came together.
Seeing Zhou Sisi like this, the Queen was very disappointed. She couldn’t believe that her little niece that she had always doted on would do such a thing.
Mrs. Zhou screamed at Qiao Jinniang, “Your Highness, please show some mercy and save my daughter. You don’t want to get blood on your hands, do you?! You don’t want to be cursed by everyone for killing a young girl, right?!”
Seeing this scene, Qiao Jinniang walked to the window and said with tears, “No matter what I do, I will be scolded for not being tolerant enough and forcing Cousin to marry and even forcing her to threaten with her own life.
“Even if Cousin marries into the East Palace, my reputation would still be ruined.
“In this case, I might as well jump down from here and die! Let the world see how the daughter of Duke Wu would force the Crown Princess to die in order to marry into the East Palace!”
Qiao Jinniang didn’t move a step, but the imperial maids around her hurriedly stopped her.
Hongling said, “Your Highness, please don’t. You are the Crown Princess who was welcomed into the East Palace by His Royal Highness himself. Even though some shameless woman is desperate enough to be a concubine, what does this have to do with you?”
The Zhou family was scolded, but they could only come up to stop Qiao Jinniang.
Qiao Jinniang certainly would not commit suicide, but it was not Zhou Sisi’s exclusive right to threaten people with her own life. Even if Zhou Sisi really jumped down today, Qiao Jinniang wouldn’t be afraid.
Anyway, she wanted to jump, but the imperial maids stopped her.
She, the formal crown princess, was almost forced to commit suicide by the Zhou family. She’d like to see whether the public opinion supported her or the Zhou family.
Even if Zhou Sisi died, she would not get any benefit.
After Mu Qianqian figured this out, she frowned.
Lu Chen grabbed Qiao Jinniang’s wrist and glared at the people of the Duke Wu Mansion, asking, “Uncle, Aunt, are you forcing the Crown Princess to die?”
The Zhou family people hurriedly shook their heads, and at this time, a secret guard sneaked down from the top of the tower and suddenly kicked Zhou Sisi into the tower while she wasn’t paying attention.
After Zhou Sisi was surrounded by the guards, Lu Chen ordered, “Call over an imperial physician to examine if Miss Zhou is really retarded. If she fakes it, hand her over to the Ministry of Public Security, no, to the Ministry of Penalty!”
Zhou Sisi lowered her head and kept muttering, “Imperial Cousin, Imperial Cousin…”
The steps of the Wild Goose Pagoda were steep and narrow, and it was dark at night. Mu Qianqian was about to secretly leave while no one paid attention to her when she missed her footing and rolled all the way to the ground.
A lot of blood flowed out of the lower part of her body.
When Qiao Jinniang saw Mu Qianqian, she frowned. Why was it this woman again? But the baby in her belly was innocent, so Qiao Jinniang called over an imperial physician to deliver Mu Qianqian’s birth.
In the carriage back to the East Palace, Qiao Jinniang leaned close to Lu Chen and gently kissed his lips…
Lu Chen looked at Qiao Jinniang. “The carriage of my parents is right in front. Even if you want it, you have to endure it a little longer. We’ll be arriving at the East Palace soon.”
Qiao Jinniang blushed and said, “What are you talking about? I just gave you a little reward for doing the right thing. When I heard the news that Zhou Sisi was threatening you with her own life, I thought that you would agree to marrying her. After all, she is your younger sister who you’ve been doting on since childhood.”
Lu Chen took Qiao Jinniang into his arms and said, “When she was threatening me with her life, she was no longer my younger sister. I had suspected that she had been faking being retarded, but I couldn’t figure out the reason. Now it turns out that my guess is right.”