Chapter 170: Little Prince【03】
The emperor looked at Yuan Jia with gentle eyes, stretched out his hand to hold Yuan Jia's little hand, and asked softly, "Are you afraid of Yuan Jia now?"
Yuan Jia shook his head and said, "Uncle, I'm not afraid! The bad guy has been caught, so I'm not afraid!"
The emperor laughed loudly: "Haha, as expected of my nephew, just don't be afraid!"
The emperor coaxed Yuanjia and ordered someone to take him out to play.
Yuan Jia knew that he was a child now, and it was impossible to stay and listen to the conversation between the emperor and the empress dowager, so he went out with the palace people.
As soon as Yuan Jia left, the smile on the emperor's face quickly disappeared, and he said to Princess Xihua, "Sister Huang, this time Yuan Jia was kidnapped, it is very likely that someone deliberately targeted it, not a simple accident."
Princess Xihua was not surprised, she also had some guesses in her heart, and said with a cold face: "Your Majesty, have you found out who is targeting Jia'er?"
The emperor shook his head slightly and said, "The people behind the scenes are very cautious, and they are still investigating. Several human traffickers have been uprooted along the lines."
Speaking of this, the emperor's face showed a look of anger and anger. He has never paid attention to human traffickers, and the government is not so concerned about this aspect, but I didn't expect that when I checked, those traffickers were no longer simply kidnapping and selling children. It has formed a complete industrial chain, and even has a huge network of relationships hidden behind it.
For example, the girl who was kidnapped was sent to be trained as a skinny horse, and finally sent to the mansion of some dignitaries, and the less beautiful girl was sold to the brothel Chuguan, or sold to some people as maids... boys They were sold to families without sons, or sold to the Nanfeng Pavilion, or trained as thugs, and some boys were sent to the palace since childhood...
Unknowingly, this human trafficker organization, after years of abducting and selling children, stretched its tentacles into the backyard of court officials, and even into the emperor's palace!
If it weren't for the abduction of his nephew this time, the emperor would not have realized the great harm of the human trafficker organization.
Thinking about it now, there must be someone behind the children of high-profile families who dared to be bold in the capital by the human traffickers organization, and how did the people who supported them get over there?
Seriously terrified.
Princess Xihua said unwillingly, "Did you just get rid of some human trafficker organizations? Didn't find any clues? Are there any suspects?"
In fact, Princess Xihua herself was suspicious. She suspected that it was the concubine Lu Shi who gave birth to a concubine to King Jianping.
After all, King Jianping now has two sons and one daughter, and the concubine needless to say, the two sons are one descendant and one concubine.
The concubine wants to ascend the throne, unless the concubine is gone, no matter how good the concubine is, it is impossible for King Jianping to abolish the concubine. Even if King Jianping wants to, he must see if Princess Xihua is a vegetarian.
Therefore, Princess Xihua suspected that the Lu family secretly attacked her son in order to let her son inherit the Jianping palace.
Princess Xihua, as the direct princess of the previous emperor, is now her own sister. She is arrogant. She did not bow her head when she married Queen Jianping. King Jianping had a concubine but no concubine, because she did not allow concubines to hinder her. Eye.
She never paid attention to the concubines of King Jianping who could not be on the table, and even if the Lu family was lucky enough to have a concubine, she did not take the mother and son seriously.
But her son almost lost...
As long as she thought about who would benefit the most without her son, Princess Xihua became suspicious of Lu's mother and son.
However, Princess Xihua did not express her doubts to the emperor. She was confident that she could find out a mere concubine, so there was no need to trouble the emperor.
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Yuan Jia strolled around the garden in the Empress Dowager's Palace and felt bored, so he took people to go outside.
As the son of Princess Xihua and King Jianping, the emperor loved his nephew very much, and the queen mother often took him into the palace to play. Yuan Jia's status in this palace was even higher than that of some unfavored princes.
While wandering in the imperial garden, Yuan Jia's mind gradually drifted away.
He didn't know the cause of the original owner's death in this world, but he thought that in the original plot, the original owner failed to escape from this abduction, and most likely died outside.
Qi Yuan is the male protagonist, so the original protagonist must have a brother relationship with Qi Yuan, whether it is his biological brother or not, at least he has had the status of a brother.
Then Qi Yuan, who was recognized back to Jianping Wangfu from a small mountain village more than ten years later, was not the original owner. How did the real original owner die?
Yuan Jia remembered the jade pendant that was taken away by Steward Mu when he was locked in the firewood room.
That jade pendant was brought up by Princess Xihua for the original owner since childhood. It is said to be a precious jade bestowed by the late emperor. It is of extraordinary significance and is the only one in the world.
When Princess Xihua changed his clothes last night, he found that his jade pendant was missing. Yuan Jia didn't tell the news that he knew that the jade pendant was taken away by steward Mu. After all, he was a comatose child at the time, and knowing too much was easy to provoke people. suspicious.
So he just said he didn't know when Yu Pei disappeared.
Princess Xihua didn't ask much at that time. Compared with the safe return of the child, the meaning of a jade pendant is not so important.
The original plot is based on the perspective of the heroine Lu Wan, so the plot of how the male protagonist Qi Yuan was identified by Princess Xihua who was far away in the capital was not described in detail, so Yuan Jia was not sure. In the original plot Did Princess Xihua rely on the jade pendant that was taken away by Steward Mu to identify Qi Yuan as her son?
All I can say is that there is a possibility.
Based on this possibility, Yuan Jia contacted the known situation, that is, the original owner was abducted and died. The specific cause of death and the time of death are unknown. The jade pendant that Director Mu took should be on Qi Yuan. After more than ten years, Qi Yuan Yuan Yuan was regarded as the original owner and was recognized by Princess Xihua and returned to the Jianping Palace.
Maybe Princess Xihua can find out that Qi Yuan is her son, and someone is guiding it behind the scenes, so is this someone who deliberately lost the original owner with Qi Yuan?
What is the purpose of the man behind the scenes? Why do you want to do this? If the swap was for Qi Yuan to inherit the Jianping palace, why not let Qi Yuan recognize him before Jianping's concubine Xie Ying was canonized as the heir?
In the original plot, Qi Yuan was recognized from a small mountain village when he was seventeen years old. Qi Yuan was the same age as the original owner, and Xie Ying, the concubine of the original owner, was three years younger than the original owner.
If Qi Yuan recognized Xie Ying before he was established as the heir, that would mean that he was recognized two years earlier, at the age of fifteen.
The original owner was only five years old when he was abducted. Ten years later, even if Qi Yuan looks different from the original owner, the difference between a five-year-old child and a fifteen-year-old boy is so big that people can't recognize the difference, so there is no need to worry about Qi Yuan's identity being revealed. .
So what is the reason behind the delay for two more years?
Yuan Jia pondered over and over all kinds of guesses in his heart, and every guess had something he didn't understand.
In the end, I sighed slightly in my heart, but I still knew too few clues.
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Princess Xihua took Yuan Jia to see the emperor and the empress dowager, and took him back to the palace of the long princess.
Princess Xihua, as the emperor's sister, naturally has her own luxurious princess mansion, which is built not far from the Jianping palace.
Because there were several concubines in the Jianping palace, Princess Xihua did not like them and was unwilling to live in the Jianping palace, so she took her son to live in her own palace most of the time, and the Jianping prince was willing to cooperate with her. Stayed in the Princess Palace for a long time.
Yuan Jia had just returned to the eldest princess' mansion and was talking with the eldest princess Xihua, when someone came to report: "His Royal Highness, Mrs. Changninghou brought the prince of Changninghou to see you."
"Changning Marquis Mansion?" Princess Xihua tried her best to think about it, and then she remembered who the Changning Marquis came from.
There are a lot of nobles in the capital with titles, but most of them are empty titles, and few have real power in their hands.
This Marquis of Changning is a poor household among nobles. The dignified Marquis's mansion is already poor to the point of taking the collections handed down by the ancestors in the warehouse to the pawnshop to exchange for money to maintain the expenses. Official position, not to mention power, spends all day playing at home with women and giving birth to children.
The backyard of the Marquis of Changning is also very complicated. The current Mrs. Marquis of Changning is the successor, but the son of the Marquis of Changning is the eldest son of the original spouse. The two direct sons of the current Mrs. Marquis Changning have no hope of inheriting the title. .
In addition to his three direct sons, the Marquis of Changning had seven concubines and five concubine daughters, for a total of fifteen children.
After Princess Xihua remembered what kind of family the Changning Hou Mansion was, she knew that today's visitor was not a person with a reputation.
But at the same time, she also remembered that it seemed that among the children who were kidnapped with her son was the Prince of Changning Hou Shizi, so she said, "Announce them to come in."
Mrs. Changning Hou walked in with a five-year-old boy, and when she saw Eldest Princess Xihua and Yuan Jia, she hurriedly bowed down: "Meet Your Highness the Eldest Princess, and the Little Prince!"
The boy beside her also saluted.
Yuan Jia, who was sitting next to Princess Xihua, saw the boy and said in surprise, "It's you!"
This child was the boy who woke up first among the seven children locked in the woodshed with him, and dared to ask him to help untie it.
Yuan Jia was a little interested in him, and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"
The boy replied shyly, "My name is Zhou Hongyuan."
Yuan Jia smiled and said, "My name is Xie Yuanjia, and we meet again."
Upon seeing this, Mrs. Changning Hou said: "His Royal Highness Princess, the concubine learned from the child Hongyuan that he was imprisoned with the little prince at that time. Thanks to the little prince's wit, he was able to follow him. I was saved, so my concubine brought Hongyuan's cheeks to thank her."
Princess Xihua saw that Yuan Jia and Zhou Hongyuan were able to chat very well, and she was in a good mood. She spoke to Mrs. Changning Hou in a softer tone: "You have a heart."
Yuan Jia said to Princess Xihua, "Mother, Zhou Hongyuan and I are going to play in the garden."
Princess Xihua hurriedly motioned for the maid next to her to follow: "Pay attention to safety, be careful when playing, don't fall."
Yuan Jia had already dragged Zhou Hongyuan and ran out, and the voice of the answer floated in from a distance: "I know!"
Yuan Jia took Zhou Hongyuan to the big garden of the princess' mansion, and let the servants wait in the distance. He and Zhou Hongyuan seemed to be playing, but in fact Yuan Jia had been telling Zhou Hongyuan's words.
I don't know if his hunch is correct, but he feels that this Zhou Hongyuan is likely to be the male protagonist Qi Yuan in the original plot.
Because it was mentioned in the original plot, the male protagonist Qi Yuan has always had a vague impression of his childhood memories. He remembers that his home was originally very big and luxurious, and he remembers that there is the word 'yuan' in his name.
He was abducted and sold to the Qi family in a remote small mountain village, and it was he who insisted that he was named Qi Yuan by the Qi family's parents.