Zong Luo somewhat didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
If this assassination attempt at the Nanxiaozhu was orchestrated by the Fourth Prince, that would be interesting.
Firstly, the targets of the assassination were the Third and Fourth Princes. If one were to assign blame, it would inevitably fall on the Fifth and Sixth Princes, who were often involved in mutual assassination attempts.
Even if this assassination attempt was not exposed, Zong Chengsi could still gain some favor from Zong Luo. Moreover, the assassination of a prince was a major event, and the garrison might take corresponding measures to take precautions.
In summary, this was a profitable deal, and the Fourth Prince would always be the innocent white lotus.
After bidding farewell to Zong Chengsi, Zong Luo returned home.
Sure enough, the next day he received a secret letter from Gong Sunyou, which detailed the arrangements of the Fourth Prince.
Zong Luo casually threw the secret letter into the furnace, watching the flames destroy the paper, he sighed in his heart.
To infiltrate the Fourth Prince’s inner circle in such a short time and gain his trust, on one hand, showed Gong Sunyou’s exceptional abilities, on the other hand, it also showed that the Fourth Prince had no reliable people around him in this life.
He thought of Yu Beizhou’s betrayal and pondered in his heart.
“Did Zong Chengsi not give up the throne for love in his previous life, and finally started fighting?”
Otherwise, it would be inexplicable why Yu Beizhou did not cooperate with the Fourth Prince in this life.
However, without necessary clues, this idea could only be put aside for now.
On the third day, the weary medical sage knocked on the door of the Third Prince’s Mansion.
“Last time, I told you not to mess around, now you’ve been found out and you’re dragging me into the water as well.”
The medical sage was a fiery character, and he scolded Zong Luo as soon as he arrived.
Last year at the Confucian residence, the medical sage did not fully agree with Zong Luo’s ideas, pinching his beard and calling him whimsical. It was only after Zong Luo promised to use the pile of unique medical books in his mansion as collateral, it was only then that he reluctantly obtained the help of this headstrong old man.
Zong Luo made a bitter face. “The old imperial physician in the palace is too formidable, even Master’s acupoint technique can be solved.”
“What? Solved it?” The medical sage was taken aback.
The acupoint technique of Guiguzi, which he had seen before, was determined to be able to confuse the senses, otherwise Zong Luo would not choose to pretend to be blind.
The medical sage immediately burned with eagerness in his mind.
“Forget it, for the sake of being able to discuss with the old imperial physician, I’ll go to the palace first.”
The medical sage waved his hand and hurriedly entered the palace with his medical box.
The old imperial physician of Great Yuan had traveled through various countries in his early years, and his golden acupuncture technique was considered miraculous. He was later recruited by Great Yuan and joined the court. The medical sage had long been fascinated, he did not expect to have the opportunity to meet him.
After trying to persuade and deceive the big shot, Zong Luo finally relaxed.
The next few days were uneventful.
Finally, time slowly approached the New Year.
The biggest event before the New Year was the Emperor of Yuan’s birthday banquet.
Last year, it was not celebrated grandly, and everyone joined in the jubilation. This year, the officials were ready to make it lively and add the joy of the Third Prince’s return.
Coincidentally, the New Year was three days after the Emperor’s birthday. The streets and alleys of the Imperial City were hung with strings of red lanterns. Looking around, it was a sea of red, very festive.
Even the usually solemn and dull palace was decorated with lights and colors, and red paper was put up in advance for the New Year, which also added color to the birthday.
The Third Prince’s Mansion began preparing for the banquet early in the morning.
For such formal banquet occasions, the princes must wear corresponding crowns and attend, the palace concubines must wear specific palace costumes, and the court officials must wear official uniforms, and there should be no overstepping in terms of etiquette.
After taking the medicine and finishing lunch, Zong Luo went to bathe and cleanse himself.
When he came out of the bath and put on his inner clothes, he happened to hear the angry voice of Steward Liao outside the door. “Nonsense! The large clothing bureau, how could they make a mistake with the prince’s ceremonial clothes!”
In the cold twelfth lunar month, Zong Luo pulled on a fox fur coat and asked in a low voice, “What happened?”
Outside the door, the eunuchs from the palace were holding brocade boxes in their hands, kneeling all over the ground.
Zong Luo was puzzled and looked into the open brocade box.
Inside was a Jiu Zhang Gun Mian, with a black robe and red skirt, embroidered with Kui patterns, Huachong, Zongyi, flames, and woven mountain embroidery. The robe had five patterns, and the skirt had four. The white gauze was single, and the ribbons were colorful, with three small ribbons, clearly divided. At a glance, one could see the dark gold patterns printed on it, with fine stitches, golden hooks on top, and jade beads strung through, extremely intricate and luxurious.
(t/n Jiu Zhang-means the nine patterns on the imperial robes of ancient emperors, generally refers to a variety of patterns; Gun Mian-ceremonial robe worn by emperors; Huachong-pheasant; Zongyi- refers to the images of tigers and dragonflies embroidered on the emperor’s sacrificial robes)
That’s not all, there was also a nine-tassel crown on the velvet pad next to it, all strung together with tassels of gold and jade, with a red tassel on top.
A Jiu Zhang Gun Mian, and this color scheme, without a doubt, this was a ceremonial dress that only the crown prince was qualified to wear.
Even Zong Luo, who was not very familiar with etiquette, couldn’t help but blank out for a moment.
Great Yuan had very strict regulations on dress etiquette. Only the emperor could wear a black robe and use twelve crowns. Next was the crown prince’s nine crowns, and finally the standard pattern system for ordinary princes. Overstepping in clothing was a very serious crime. If it occurred, the light punishment was to strip the clothes and be flogged, and the heavy punishment was to be charged with rebellion and sent to prison.
The palace people from the clothing bureau who were kneeling on the ground trembled and said, “Reporting back, His Highness is still registered as the Crown Prince in the Zongzheng’s office, so according to the rules of etiquette, the Crown Prince should indeed wear this set of ceremonial clothes.”
Knowing that His Highness could not see, Steward Liao also quietly explained on the side.
Hearing this explanation, Zong Luo came back to his senses.
Last year, after the Third Prince died at Hangu Pass, Emperor of Yuan was greatly saddened and issued an edict posthumously conferring him as the Pious and Respectful Crown Prince, entering the imperial ancestral temple to enjoy incense offerings.
Now although Zong Luo had returned to Great Yuan, the Emperor had not made any explanation on the matter of the Third Prince’s official return.
Otherwise, according to common sense, such a big happy event should be announced to the world, stating that the Third Prince of Great Yuan had not died.
Zongzheng did report this matter, but if the Zongzheng’s register was changed, it would be equivalent to announcing the return of the Third Prince, therefore the internal affairs department chose to suppress it but not resolve it.
After reporting to Emperor of Yuan without result, Zongzheng had no way to make changes.
Since Zongzheng did not change it, the clothing bureau did not dare to inquire, and could only make the ceremonial clothes according to the list given by Zongzheng, which led to the current big misunderstanding.
After asking in detail several times, Zong Luo finally confirmed that this was a misunderstanding caused by passing the buck, and there was no deliberate manipulation behind it.
With the Emperor in the palace, even if the situation of seizing the throne was severe, with this mountain pressing down, the other princes could only be considered as minor troubles. Not to mention reaching into the palace, it would be more practical to have a dream.
He was somewhat at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. “I definitely can’t wear this ceremonial dress, you all can take it back.”
