青春期撞上更年期第1部

“Tiger… Tiger Token?” Prime Minister Zhang looked at the complete Tiger Token before him in shock, and his eyes were full of panic.

How could he not recognize the Tiger Token from the deceased emperor? It was equivalent to the token of his crown prince. When the Emperor took over the throne, there was no such a token, but because the deceased emperor was seriously ill, he died before mentioning this issue. Then, this Tiger Token disappeared.

They didn’t expect to see it again now. Surely, it represented the deceased emperor’s will.

It was the decision of the deceased emperor and the Emperor. Since the Emperor asked Chu Liuchen to show it, he must have agreed to this. Otherwise, Chu Liuchen wouldn’t have a chance to show the Tiger Token now.

Chu Liuchen found the other half of the Tiger Token according to the characters from Shao Wanru. A complete Tiger Token was formed when he combined it with the half Tiger Token given by Noble Consort Lan.

It could be used to mobilize troops or as a symbol of the crown prince.

No one dared to raise an objection in the face of this Tiger Token.

Prime Minister Wen reacted first. He turned his knees to Chu Liuchen and greeted, “Your Royal Highness!”

The ministers of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs also bowed their heads and said, “Greetings, Your Royal Highness!”

At this time, Prime Minister Zhang knew the situation was beyond salvation. Lowering his head, he opened his eyes again and bowed to Chu Liuchen. “Greetings, Your Royal Highness!”

When the Emperor’s imperial edict spread out from the Palace, the news that Prince Chen had become the crown prince immediately shocked the court and the commonality. How could it be? And more shockingly, it was the idea of the Emperor and the deceased emperor. In addition, Prince Chen was bestowed with the deceased emperor’s Tiger Token, which further stabilized Prince Chen’s position as the crown prince.

The crown prince was not Prince Yue or Prince Xin. The Emperor didn’t choose his biological son. Before putting the Emperor on the throne, the deceased emperor asked him to pass on the throne to his son. Therefore, there was no such thing as the Emperor murdered the deceased emperor. Now that the Emperor had returned the throne to Prince Chen, it proved that the Emperor had never intended to rebel.

No wonder the Emperor thought highly of Prince Chen and listed him as his third son. Therefore, Prince Chen could be regarded as the son of the deceased emperor and the Emperor. From this aspect, the Emperor always had such an idea. The previous doubts had been cleared up.

The Empress Dowager and the Emperor doted on Prince Chen and were very concerned about his health. How could they not be worried? He would become the crown prince. The benevolent Emperor never stopped worrying about his health. Though Prince Chen was not his biological son, the Emperor did not deliberately trouble him. Frankly, back then, Prince Chen might not survive without being taken good care of, not to mention being attacked by anyone…

With the Emperor’s imperial edict and the deceased emperor’s Tiger Token, Chu Liuchen became the crown prince. It was now an irrefutable fact. Many others were secretly shocked, for they had never thought Chu Liuchen would become the crown prince. Initially, they thought it would be Chu Liuyue or Chu Liuzhou.

Since Chu Liuzhou took the road to his doom, most people were secretly optimistic about Chu Liuyue.

There came a sharp turn — Chu Liuchen took the most incredible honor properly and justly. No one could argue against the decision. Anyone objecting to it was challenging the Emperor’s authority. Of course… no one had the guts to do it!

“What? Chu Liuchen has the Tiger Token?” Chu Liuyue anxiously walked around in circles like a trapped beast.

All his obstacles were removed. It should be an irreversible trend for him to become the heir to the throne. Unexpectedly, the deceased emperor’s Tiger Token appeared. Why didn’t he know about it?

“Your Highness, this Tiger Token is authentic, but I just discovered Minister Zhao was involved.” Mr. Liu said with a sullen face, “I was going to sort it out and report this matter to you. You should investigate Minister Zhao. The deceased emperor met Minister Zhao before he died. At that time, he was the deceased emperor’s favorite minister. Later on, when the Emperor ascended the throne, the deceased emperor’s Tiger Token was nowhere to be seen. I guess Minister Zhao knows about it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Chu Liuyue was increasingly annoyed. His success would have been easy and sure. But all of a sudden, someone else became the heir to the throne. How could he be in a good mood?

“I just traced the clues back to Minister Zhao and the marriage of his daughter with the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. I wondered if there was any hidden reason for his daughter’s marriage. Before the Heir of Duke Xing left the capital, he met Minister Zhao in private. They talked in the study for about two hours without any servants around.”

Mr. Liu said.

“The Heir of Duke Xing might be the one who knew the truth. I think there may be a specific reason for Minister Zhao to let his daughter marry into the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.”

“Then check it out. Why don’t you hurry up and get to the bottom of it?” Chu Liuyue said. His face was overcast with anger. He wouldn’t have been caught off guard if Mr. Liu had found it out earlier.

“When I was about to ask Miss Shao about it, the Emperor issued the imperial edict!” Mr. Liu said, lowering his head.

Shao Yanru was now in Prince Yue’s Mansion. Before Prince Zhou’s Mansion was crushed, she snuck out and hid in Prince Yue’s Mansion.

Chu Liuyue also helped her escape from the Palace. But she disappeared when getting out of the Palace. Then she tearfully came back to him, saying that Chu Liuzhou had secretly kidnapped and forced her into his mansion. But since she fully intended to go to Prince Yue’s Mansion, she sneaked away as soon as she got a chance.

When she came here, Chu Liuzhou was fine. But the next day, the entire Prince Zhou’s Mansion was confiscated because of his rebellion.

Because of the secret information provided by Shao Yanru, Chu Liuyue knew a large number of weapons were buried in the garden of Prince Zhou’s Mansion, and Princess Zhou had a pair of illegally made phoenix hairpins. As such, the confiscation went on smoothly.

The Emperor highly praised Chu Liuyue.

Because of her contribution, Chu Liuyue accepted Shao Yanru though she was no longer a pure woman. After all, she was just a woman. He had taken a fancy to her and wanted to take her in. Anyway, she could not be the legal wife. Receiving one more concubine was not a big deal in his mansion. Even when she entered the Palace with him in the future, he might as well grant her a low position.

He could say she was an orphan girl he met outside and asked her to be discreet. Anyway, there were many concubines with low status in the imperial Palace. No one would pay special attention to her.

Thinking of this, Chu Liuyue kept Shao Yanru by his side.

He was delighted with Shao Yanru, who had been playing up to him with the greatest care. At least Shao Yanru was much more beautiful than Zhang Qilan. Shao Yanru used to be such a noble lady, but now she could only serve him with the utmost care.

He never introduced her to Zhang Qilan. Instead, he had been hiding Shao Yanru as a humble concubine and called her Miss Shao.

“Miss Shao is with you. I had to get your permission before asking her,” Mr. Liu said hesitantly. He did want to get some answers from Shao Yanru. But since her identity was not ordinary, he had to ask Chu Liuyue for his opinion first.

“Bring her here!” Chu Liuyue turned around and ordered a guard in an unemotional voice.

The guard left and soon came back with Shao Yanru.

Shao Yanru looked a little pitiful in flimsy clothes. She was charming with an outstanding appearance. Otherwise, Chu Liuyue would not have accepted her after she had sex with Chu Liuzhou.

She was simply dressed and looked extraordinarily delicate and touching. When she looked up at Chu Liuyue, her misty eyes were fixed on him as if he meant the world to her.

“Greetings, Your Highness!”

However, Chu Liuyue didn’t take pity on her as he did in the past. Looking at her face, he couldn’t help wondering if she used to flatter Chu Liuzhou like this. She had been shy and yielding under him. But had she also been the same under Chu Liuzhou? Chu Liuyue felt a little disgusted at the thought.

“I could tell at a glance that such a woman wouldn’t act properly to her status. How could I let her into my mansion and be my woman?”

He was anxious, so everything looked offensive to his eye.

“Tell me about your sister-in-law,” Chu Liuyue ordered coldly. At this time, he was not in the mood to wheedle Shao Yanru into telling the truth.

“Sister Zhao?” Shao Yanru was stunned, for she didn’t expect Chu Liuyue to ask about Zhao Xiran. After a brief shock, she carefully read his expression. She didn’t know that the Palace had issued an imperial edict to appoint the crown prince.

Her residence was very remote, and she had only two servants around her. Every time she went to see Chu Liuyue, she would avoid others. She had little contact with other people in the mansion. Therefore, others only knew a woman, seemingly surnamed Shao, newly moved into the mansion. Besides, Prince Yue was quite fond of her. Since even Princess Yue wouldn’t care about this kind of thing, servants in the mansion gave little attention to her.

“Yes, talk about the matter between her and Minister Zhao. I heard before your sister-in-law married, her family had discussed the marriage with your mansion for three years. The two families were fairly well-matched. If the negotiation failed, they could give up this marriage. If it succeeded, it wouldn’t take such a long time. So, why would this happen?”

Chu Liuyue asked. When his guard went to bring Shao Yanru over, Mr. Liu had already told Chu Liuyue about these doubts.

Shao Yanru bowed her head and drooped her eyes. Then, she slowly looked up, her eyes pitiful. “Minister Zhao had been negotiating the marriage with my family. He could always find something that he was unhappy with, but he never gave up on this marriage. From time to time, he said his daughter was too young to get married. As a result, this marriage had been delayed for three years. Mother even suspected that Minister Zhao had ulterior motives!”

With genuine affection in her eyes, Shao Yanru was very docile and said everything she knew. She seemed willing to tell Chu Liuyue everything as long as she knew the answer.

“Did anything unusual happen when Zhao Xiran married into the mansion?” Chu Liuyue’s face softened a little. He reached out to help her stand up.

“It was okay when Sister Zhao married into our mansion. At that time, I had already… I didn’t know the details. If you want to know more about it, you can bring Mo Yan here. She is my former servant girl. Do you remember her?” Shao Yanru asked.

Shu Qi was dead, and Mo Yan was still in Prince Chen’s Mansion. Shao Yanru always feared that Shao Wanru would get something out of Mo Yan. Unlike others, Shao Yanru never dared to look down on Shao Wanru. Her delicate cousin was definitely not as weak as others thought…

Before this, she had no reason to take Mo Yan back. Finally, such a rare opportunity came…