4206
Chapter 4206: Send Her on Her Way!
Of course, he recognized this Chen family member, but the problem was, no matter how bad the Empress Dowager was, how could she commit such a scandalous act with a grandnephew from a collateral branch?
And in such broad daylight, no less?
Was she that lonely and desperate?!
This must surely be a false accusation.
Although Chen Chaozhi felt the Empress Dowager was wrongly accused, he couldn't find any evidence to prove it.
Thus, he could only stammer, "Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Em… Crown Princess."
Mo Lian raised his hand and said coldly, "Prime Minister Chen, there's no need to quibble for her. This matter concerns the imperial family's reputation, and I trust the Prime Minister knows where his loyalties lie."
Loyalties? Chen Chaozhi's heart sank.
Empress Dowager Chen knelt there. Seeing a trace of hesitation and confusion on her nephew, the Prime Minister's face, she couldn't help but shriek in anger, "No, it's not as the Crown Prince says! Why aren't you waking him up?! Wake him up!"
Empress Dowager Chen, acting like a madwoman, shrieked at the two Chen family servants.
Those two family-born servants from the Chen family wished they could poke out their own eyes, pretending they saw nothing.
Trembling with fear, they stepped forward a few paces. Under Empress Dowager Chen's stern gaze, they heavily slapped the grandnephew from the collateral branch of the Chen family across the face, twice.
The man jolted awake, only to hear a sharp, piercing cry.
"Chen Qian, tell me honestly, who did you come to the garden to see?"
Chen Qian's face was filled with confusion, and he quickly blurted out the words he had silently recited hundreds of times before, "This humble one came to see the Crown Princess. It was the Crown Princess who arranged for this humble one to meet her here..."
Qiao Mu let out a cold sneer.
Empress Dowager Chen quickly scrambled forward two steps, her face twisted as she glared at Mo Lian, "Did you hear that? You hear… Ah!"
Mo Lian delivered a vicious kick, sending her sprawling to the ground. She let out a "wah" and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"You! You." Empress Dowager Chen's face changed dramatically, seemingly not expecting Mo Lian to disregard her face so completely?
The little Crown Princess's eyes swept disdainfully over the trembling Chen Qian who was kneeling on the ground, then she suddenly threw herself into Mo Lian's arms.
The latter naturally put his arm around her, lightly stroking the back of her head.
Qiao Mu twisted her small head, staring intently at Empress Dowager Chen with the gaze one would reserve for a corpse, and only after a long moment did she say sarcastically, "Mentally ill."
"I'm not as mentally ill as the Empress Dowager, who would inexplicably run off to the unfamiliar Prince Jianping's residence for a tryst with someone."
"Furthermore, if the Empress Dowager wants to frame this Crown Princess, could you please find a more presentable man?" The little Crown Princess made no effort to conceal the disdain on her face.
She tilted her head up, extended her small hand, gently lifted Mo Lian's chin, then turned and looked at the Empress Dowager with sarcasm in her voice, "Am I perhaps crazy, to abandon a husband as beautiful as a flower for some trashy thing by your side??"
The husband, as beautiful as a flower, silently lowered his gaze, blinked, and looked at his little wife.
…
"It's you, Empress Dowager, who is so old, buried in this deep palace every day, withered long ago. That's why you're so desperate, willing to pull in any kind of ghoul to 'moisten' yourself. Heh."
Chen Chaozhi shivered all over, feeling the little Crown Princess's words were utterly malicious. For a moment, he couldn't find anything to refute.
"How did the Chen family produce a woman like you?" The little Crown Princess's voice was cold and heavy, with a sudden flash of cold light in her eyes.
"Shamelessly craving attention! What are you all still standing there for?!"
"Send her on her way!"
"No, no!"
"Let's see who dares to stop me!"