A Cutie Spoiled by Her Seven Uncles-Chapter 577: Have you only noticed that the princess has taken off the Emperor’s Dragon Crown?
Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Have you only noticed that the princess has taken off the Emperor’s Dragon Crown?
The Duke of Pingnan could only clench his teeth, silently enduring it all.
"Princess! Might this old servant trouble you to send a young eunuch to find my page, Fugui? Have him take my token home and fetch some silver?"
Xiaosuisui nodded and instructed, "Eunuch Ling, give this old gentleman a brush, ink, and paper. Let him write down the amount of silver he needs and have it passed to his page!"
Eunuch Ling was very cooperative and immediately had a young eunuch attend to the matter, doing as instructed.
"My dear daughter, the Duke of Pingnan didn’t bring any money. Perhaps the other officials did? You could play with them first," the Emperor reminded his beloved daughter from his Dragon Throne.
Xiaosuisui responded with an "Oh," then casually pointed. "You, old gentleman, your turn!"
"Duke of Zhenguo! Please rise!" Dugu Xiao called out the man Xiaosuisui had indicated. He was present today primarily to intimidate and maintain order.
"Pr-Princess! I... I also didn’t bring any silver!" the Duke of Zhenguo stammered as he stood up.
Xiaosuisui didn’t reply, but the Duke of Pingnan, who had risen earlier, spoke up. "Lord Duke, why not do as I have done and write a note for your page to fetch money from your home?"
The Duke of Zhenguo: "..."
At this moment, the Duke of Zhenguo really wanted to spit on the Duke of Pingnan. What money could he possibly get? Just last night, his younger brother born of a concubine had risked death to burst into his study and tell him something major had happened. Only then did he realize that the Duke’s Mansion’s most profitable Gambling House had lost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in less than an hour. Even now, he still didn’t know exactly what had happened. The person said to be responsible was a highly skilled gambler with a noble identity. Most importantly, all the informants in the Gambling House had been secretly taken away, and it was still unknown who had taken them! They couldn’t find a single clue!
"Lord Duke?" Dugu Xiao called out, noticing the Duke of Zhenguo hadn’t spoken for some time.
When the Duke of Pingnan heard his own disobedient son directly questioning the Duke of Zhenguo, he seethed internally.
This was truly a disobedient son! How could he afford to offend the Duke of Zhenguo? His Majesty on the Dragon Throne hadn’t even spoken yet! What on earth was Dugu Xiao thinking, sticking his neck out like this?
Sure enough, just as this thought crossed the Duke of Pingnan’s mind, he heard the Duke of Zhenguo erupt, cursing at Dugu Xiao.
"Dugu Xiao, you greenhorn! Who do you think you are, giving orders here? Every prince and Minister gathered in the Imperial Court today is your elder, your uncle! How dare you be so arrogant and disrespectful? Do you even know how to write the words ’propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame’?"
The Duke of Zhenguo’s outburst terrified the Duke of Pingnan, who quickly scrambled to his feet again, having just sat down. "Lord Duke, please calm your anger! Don’t lower yourself to a child’s level. He’s still young, this matter he..."
"Father!" Dugu Xiao called out sternly, successfully cutting off the Duke of Pingnan’s attempt to smooth things over.
"You wretched boy, do you even know what you’re doing?" The Duke of Pingnan looked worriedly at Dugu Xiao, frantically trying to signal him with his eyes, but Dugu Xiao pretended not to see.
"What Minister Dugu is doing today is by My Imperial will," the Emperor stated. "If any of you Ministers wish to retaliate against him in the future, be absolutely sure you target the correct person!"
As soon as the Emperor spoke, not only the Duke of Pingnan but also the Duke of Zhenguo and a crowd of other Ministers in the court immediately fell to their knees and kowtowed. "Your Majesty, we wouldn’t dare!"
The Emperor, sitting on the Dragon Throne, did not bid them rise. So much for progress! Just moments ago, two had risen, and now even the Duke of Pingnan and the Duke of Zhenguo, who had just stood up, were kneeling again!
The Emperor didn’t speak, so no one dared to rise, leaving everyone holding their breath.
Xiaosuisui looked at the people kneeling on the ground, then at her Imperial Godfather, the Emperor, whose face was dark and grim. With a wave of her hand, she declared, "Rise, rise! Quickly, quickly! Who among you brought silver? Come play a few rounds of ’Guess the Size’ with me!"
When Xiaosuisui shouted "Rise," everyone was startled. The Emperor hadn’t spoken, yet she had told them to stand. This was...
"The Princess has bid you rise," the Emperor roared. "And still you don’t get up? Are you showing blatant disrespect to the Princess?"
The Emperor’s roar left the Ministers disoriented. They all scrambled clumsily to their feet, taking out handkerchiefs to wipe the cold sweat from their foreheads.
"Those who brought silver, come before the Princess first!" Dugu Xiao announced. "Those who did not, quickly take paper and pen, write a note, and send it home to fetch your money!"
As soon as Dugu Xiao finished speaking, the young eunuchs arranged by Eunuch Ling entered, carrying trays with ink, brushes, and paper.
However, no one approached Xiaosuisui. Instead, they all began writing notes and then sat on the chairs brought by the young eunuchs to wait.
Seeing that no one had brought silver to play with her, Xiaosuisui pouted. "If I’d known none of you brought silver, I would have slipped out of the Palace to a Gambling House, played for a while, won a few hundred thousand taels, and then come back."
With that, she listlessly hopped down from the table, ran to the Emperor’s Dragon Throne, and started touching this and looking at that.
Finally, she looked up and saw the beautiful tassels hanging from the Emperor’s Dragon Crown. She reached out and took it off his head.
"Impudence!"
A powerful, rebuking voice suddenly echoed in the Great Hall; it was an enraged roar from an old man.
All eyes turned towards the source of the rebuke: an imposing figure in a brown, python-patterned robe, his face stern and wrathful, his build broad-shouldered and stout.
"Prince Yan!" the Courtiers exclaimed in surprise. Prince Yan hadn’t attended court for a long time; why had he suddenly come to the morning session today?
The Courtiers looked at Prince Yan in confusion. Was his furious rebuke directed at them?
"Which brazen young whelp dares to climb onto the Emperor’s Dragon Throne and even remove His Majesty’s Dragon Crown? Who gave you the audacity to behave so outrageously?" Prince Yan ignored the Courtiers who were respectfully questioning him. Instead, he pointed towards the Dragon Throne, glaring angrily at Xiaosuisui, who was examining the tassels on the Dragon Crown she held.
At this moment, the Courtiers’ gazes followed Prince Yan’s pointed finger toward the Dragon Throne. A wave of shocked gasps rippled through the Great Hall.
"This... Heavens... The Grand Princess is far too audacious!"
The Courtiers began to whisper among themselves.
"Indeed! There’s no precedent in this world of anyone daring to remove His Majesty the Emperor’s Dragon Crown!"
"Have you only noticed that the Grand Princess removed His Majesty’s Dragon Crown?"
Suddenly, a different voice spoke up. Everyone turned to look and saw it was none other than Lord Jiao Mu, the Champion Scholar from the last imperial examination, now serving as a Secretary in the Central Drafting Office.
"Lord Jiao, what is your different perspective?" an old Minister asked.
"Yes, what is your different view?" others chimed in.
Lord Jiao quietly pointed towards His Majesty the Emperor’s face. "Do you see any sign of anger on His Majesty’s face?"
Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but sneak a glance at His Majesty the Emperor on the Dragon Throne.
Good heavens! There wasn’t the slightest hint of anger on His Majesty’s face! In fact, his expression was one of utter doting!
"His... His Majesty actually dotes on the Grand Princess this much? So the rumors circulating in the capital were true?" someone whispered.
While everyone was murmuring, Xiaosuisui, who was being stared at sharply by Prince Yan, finally, belatedly, looked up at him.
"You... Are you talking about me?"
.
!
Chapter 577: Have you only noticed that the princess has taken off the Emperor’s Dragon Crown?
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