Rumor Has It That I'm Pregnant with His Highness' Child

317 Bad Feeling

As it turned out, they were right.

The next day, Meng Xizhou told Duke Lang the results of the investigation. The recent rumors about Duke Lang in the city were indeed deliberately spread by Wei Liao.

Yu Niaoniao did not understand.

“Why does he have to make things difficult for us?”

Xiao Juan said calmly, “What reason is there for a crazy dog to bite anyone?”

Meng Xizhou asked, “Should we teach Wei Liao a lesson?”

Xiao Juan said calmly, “The fact that you found out about Wei Liao so quickly means that Wei Liao didn’t hide anything when he spread the rumors. He deliberately exposed himself to us so that we could take the initiative to look for him.”

Meng Xizhou came to a realization. “This person is really cunning!”

Xiao Juan said, “You can leave first. There’s no need to investigate this matter anymore.”

Meng Xizhou was indignant.

“Are we just going to let that kid go?”

Xiao Juan said calmly, “I know what to do.”

Hearing this, Meng Xizhou did not ask further and obediently took his leave.

Yu Niaoniao carefully observed the change in Xiao Juan’s expression. Seeing that he was not angry, she asked curiously.

“How are you going to deal with Wei Liao?”

Xiao Juan opened the dossier and said calmly, “The best way to deal with a mad dog is to ignore him.”

Yu Niaoniao said, “Are you planning to deal with all changes by remaining unchanged?”

Xiao Juan replied indifferently.

“Yes, actually, Wei Liao is nothing. The real troublemaker is someone else.”

Yu Niaoniao was puzzled. “Who is it?”

Xiao Juan did not answer.

He knew in his heart that the reason Wei Liao dared to provoke him so openly was that Wei Huai’en was backing him up.

As for Wei Huai’en, why would he go against him?

Naturally, it was because someone had instructed it.

There was no one else other than the emperor who could order a eunuch to do things.

When the emperor used him, it was because he needed a knife to help him get rid of those obstacles in the court. Now that the Justice Department was getting stronger and the emperor’s paranoia was getting stronger, he no longer trusted him.

The Sky Wolf Guards were the ropes used by the emperor to restrain the Eagle Guards, and Wei Huai’en and Wei Liao were tools used to suppress Xiao Juan.

And that was the way an emperor weighed things.

Xiao Juan did not want to tell Yu Niaoniao these messy things, lest they caused her trouble.

At noon, Yu Niaoniao went to the kitchen to prepare lunch as usual.

Pan Dafu pulled her aside conspiratorially.

He looked very agitated, but he forced himself to suppress his emotions and spoke softly.

“Teacher, I’ve already found out who was spreading the rumors behind the scenes. You definitely won’t be able to guess who that person is!”

Yu Niaoniao blinked. “Was it Wei Liao from the Sky Wolf Guards?”

Pan Dafu was dumbfounded.

The answer he had prepared was stuck in his throat and he almost choked.

After a long time, he forced out a sentence.

“How do you know?”

Yu Niaoniao said, “The Eagle Guards found out.”

Pan Dafu understood. The Eagle Guards had many spies. It was indeed easy to investigate such a small matter.

He then said, “Something else happened in the capital recently. You probably don’t know yet.”

Yu Niaoniao asked, “What is it?”

“That Princess Tao Ran. She committed suicide yesterday and almost died. Fortunately, she was saved in time.”

Yu Niaoniao was puzzled. “Why did she commit suicide for no reason?”

Pan Dafu shook his head. “I don’t know. I heard about this from someone else.”

The reason why he told Yu Niaoniao this was because he had also heard the rumors between Princess Tao Ran and Duke Lang. He was worried that Princess Tao Ran would cause trouble again, so he gave Yu Niaoniao a warning in advance.

Yu Niaoniao was deep in thought. Her intuition told her that Princess Tao Ran’s actions would most likely implicate Xiao Juan.

She immediately put down her work and prepared to tell Xiao Juan about this. Unexpectedly, she was still too late.

When she arrived at Mirror House, she was told that someone from the palace had come and taken Xiao Juan away. They said that the emperor had something to ask Xiao Juan.

The bad feeling in Yu Niaoniao’s heart intensified.

As soon as something happened to Princess Tao Ran, the emperor sent someone to call Xiao Juan away. This was definitely not a coincidence.

Could it be that the emperor wanted to blame Xiao Juan for Princess Tao Ran’s suicide?

In the study, Xiao Juan cupped his fists and bowed. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

The old emperor sat behind the desk. He had just reviewed some memorials and looked tired.

...

He took the ginseng tea from Wei Huai’en and took a sip. He was slightly better.

“Mo Zhu, I called you here to ask you what’s going on between you and Tao Ran.”

“She committed suicide by taking poison in the residence yesterday. Fortunately, she was discovered in time. Otherwise, she would have been dead by now.”

“When I asked her why she wanted to take things so hard, she cried very sadly and said that it was all because of you.”

Xiao Juan answered seriously.

“Your Majesty, I’ve always treated Princess Tao Ran as my sister. As for why Princess Tao Ran committed suicide, I’m not sure.”

The old emperor put down his teacup and said solemnly.

“Tao Ran said that you bullied her when she was brought to the Justice Department for questioning.”

Xiao Juan immediately denied it. “That’s definitely not the case! When I questioned Princess Tao Ran back then, I wasn’t the only one present. There were so many people watching. I didn’t even touch a strand of her hair!”

Hearing this, the old emperor’s expression softened.

“You don’t have to be nervous. I know very well what kind of person you are. You can’t do anything to Tao Ran.”

...

Xiao Juan cupped his fists and bowed. “Your Majesty is wise!”

The old emperor sighed helplessly.

“Actually, I know that Tao Ran has always liked you. In the past, I wanted to arrange a marriage for the two of you.”

‘But you’ve always said that you only want to serve the country and don’t have any romantic feelings for the time being. I can’t force you, so I can only give up.”

“Initially, I thought that Tao Ran would give up on you after you became engaged to Yu Niaoniao. Now it seems that I underestimated her feelings for you.”

Xiao Juan lowered his eyes and said respectfully.

“Princess Tao Ran just took things too hard for a moment. As long as she’s given some time, she’ll slowly get over it.”

The old emperor shook his head.

“Tao Ran has been stubborn since she was young. I can tell from this incident. After all these years, if she could get over it, she would have. Why did it get to the point of suicide?”

Xiao Juan said respectfully, “When Princess Tao Ran was young, she had no other playmates. She treated me as her only playmate. As time passed, she felt that this was love.”

“Actually, that was not the case. She just lacked company. As long as His Majesty could spend more time with her, she would probably forget about me. After all, you’re her father. I’m sure you’re much more important to her than me. If anyone in this world can cure Princess Tao Ran’s heart disease, it will definitely be you.”

The old emperor was speechless for a moment.