Su Shaoyan sighed heavily, "Indeed, the Crown Prince was appointed as the successor at a young age. The emperor pitied him for losing his mother and protected him everywhere. The Crown Prince has never endured any hardships or setbacks."
"Alright, if it were an ordinary family, it wouldn't matter. But he is the Crown Prince! Statecraft is not lacking in difficulties. It requires all kinds of balancing. Emperor Taizu was such an extraordinary man, full of talent and wisdom. When the dynasty was just established, he depended on his martial prowess to roll heads in the imperial court."
Su Shaoyan shook his head and said, "But what good does it do? Emperor Taizu still needs people to govern the country. Since it involves people, they inevitably have their own calculations in mind. Killing one batch and replacing them with another will still lead to the same situation."
"Statecraft requires patience and strategy. The Crown Prince is outstanding in all aspects, but there is just one thing he can't bear: any inconvenience."
"When the emperor is still alive, he can protect him. But after the emperor's death, when the Crown Prince faces officials who pretend to follow him but in reality disobey him, what will he do? Kill them?"
Su Shaoyan sniffed dismissively.
"The founding emperor of this country built up his empire from scratch, had complete control over the army, and could act without any hesitation. But what about the Crown Prince?"
A person who ascends the throne by virtue of bloodline and family succession.
The emperor is supreme, but whether the emperor can do anything they want depends on the personal ability of the emperor themselves.
Feng Goujia remained silent. Lord Yougui could freely evaluate the Crown Prince, but he couldn't. He only said, "Miss, you've been wronged."
Su Shaoyan recalled what Guan Shi had said, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. His face remained calm as he said, "When I received the imperial edict of marriage, I was worried that they would cause trouble. After all, both of them were pampered by their elders as children. I didn't expect such an incident to occur. In the end, it's my fault for spoiling them too much."
The room fell silent again, with only the soft scratching sound of a brush on paper.
Feng Goujia lowered his eyes and stood aside, but he felt that Lord Yougui was pretending.
What is he spoiling?
It's clearly about the Crown Prince being spoiled by the emperor!
As for the concern that Miss and the Crown Prince would cause trouble?
Feng Goujia remembers the things Lord Yougui has said for the past two years. He is concerned that Miss, his daughter, has a big temper and might take physical action against the Crown Prince!
For this, Lord Yougui has prepared quite a few apologies in written form.
He tried to bite back before the emperor could blame him, implying that the Crown Prince was forcing the virtuous and noble princess to do such things.
This must be the fault of the Crown Prince!
Of course, such a conclusion couldn't be written in the official document. But Su Shaoyan is renowned for his literary essays. He gained recognition and climbed to success after winning an essay contest in his youth.
With his long career in the imperial court, Su Shaoyan is undoubtedly an individual who can engage in fierce debates with the court officials without changing his expression.
Of course, aside from his eloquence, the most crucial factor is Su Shaoyan's merits.
As long as Su Shaoyan is still alive, the Su family will have nothing to worry about. Even if Miss Su accidentally hurts the Crown Prince or they even get into a physical altercation, it would still be considered a couple's quarrel.
After all, this is the individual with Zhou Gong's virtue, who stabilized the world and pacified Annam during his tenure.
For this reason, Su Shaoyan used many of his connections to arrange Dong Shuang, who was well-versed in human meridians, to be by Miss Su's side. This was in case there was a misunderstanding between the couple and they ended up fighting fiercely, to ensure that Miss Su would not be the one mistreated.
Of course, these are all the worst-case scenarios.
Su Shaoyan, with one foot in the coffin, still hopes that his children can live well. He cannot protect Su Jün for a lifetime.
After watching for half a year and confirming that Su Jün and the Crown Prince were getting along well, without any disputes, his worried heart finally settled.
Since there is nothing else to do, he can only help his beloved daughter gain a good reputation.
Feng Goujia thought of this and couldn't help but twitch his lips.
Outsiders may not know the inside story, but he knew that since Miss Su got married, she always paid respects to her elders in the afternoon!
Even so, she still visits them every day!
Although it's a significant improvement compared to before she got married, when Su Jün didn't need to pay respects at all, she still has to visit her elders now.
But when compared to the praise for the Crown Princess in the capital, this is not just misleading; it's a complete fraud!
Indeed, great figures all have impressive psychological resilience.
Every time there is a palace banquet, the Empress Dowager praises Miss Su for her filial piety. Those events……how to put it?
Not less than 80%, and more likely 90%, of those stories are purely made up by the Empress Dowager out of thin air.
Nevertheless, Lord Yougui seems to think that Miss Su has become wiser, though he claims that she has still been wronged after getting married.
That's how things work in the world. Miss Su did what was proper and expected of her, and because of that, her elders naturally favor and treasure her even more.
It can be said that she has completely not experienced the bitterness of being a daughter-in-law.
Then there was a big one, and she was directly beaten!
Lord Yougui looked calm, but after hearing this, he decided to take action against the Crown Prince.
Before Lady Guan's arrival, Lord Yougui was hesitating about whether to take action against the Crown Prince. Although Duke Qi seemed to be deeply in love with Miss Su, this could very well be an act!
Duke Qi has military achievements and wants to be the Crown Prince. The next step is to attract the support of the officials, and among them, the most important one is the Su family.
So, to secure the throne, he temporarily endures and acts as if he is deeply in love with Miss Su. This is quite possible.
He plans to wait until Duke Qi ascends the throne, Su Shaoyan passes away, and then he can revenge against the Su family, discard Miss Su, and wash away the dishonor of the past.
Lord Yougui doesn't want Duke Qi to ascend the throne because Duke Qi has military achievements!
The stronger the monarch, the weaker the minister. Therefore, if Lord Yougui were to pass away one day, the remaining backup might not be able to protect Miss Su.
Alas, the Crown Prince himself is foolish.
Su Shaoyan handed over several letters and said, "Deliver them personally."
To depose the Crown Prince, the first step is to make him lose control and feel a sense of crisis. Once he feels that he is at a disadvantage, he will undoubtedly act rashly without considering the consequences. He will do anything he believes will consolidate his position as Crown Prince.
Miss Su Jün emphasized that You Tianyue advised the Crown Prince to be vigilant in times of peace, which is exactly what this means.
This means that Miss Su Jün has noticed that the Crown Prince's mental state is unstable, and all he needs is a push to make things worse.
Feng Goujia tiptoed out of the study, sighing inwardly. Lord Yougui, who criticized the emperor for blindly favoring the Crown Prince, is no different in his blind adoration for Miss Su.
Winter Frost returned with a heavy heart. She first asked one of the maids to call Autumn Dew and whispered, "The snow fox mantle is not in the inner treasury. It was delivered to the East Palace yesterday."
Autumn Dew was startled in her heart, but she hadn't seen anything yesterday. Things of this rank would only be sent to Miss Su Jün at the East Palace.
Autumn Dew said, "Have you asked Mrs. Chen?"
Winter Frost's face became even heavier. She said, "No, I was afraid of causing suspicion and didn't dare to ask, but last night a maid saw Zhang with a snow fox mantle on."
Autumn Dew shivered upon hearing this, her breath stopping for a moment.
Miss Su Jün would be upset if she knew about this.
Autumn Dew looked back towards the room, where Miss Su Jün was writing something on a table, with a lipstick case beside her, decorated with a plum blossom motif.
Back when Miss Su Jün sent Duke Qi off at the Cining Palace, Autumn Dew was following behind Miss Su and knew about the incident with the plum blossom. Therefore, the lipstick case must have been a gift from Duke Qi.
Miss Su Jün likes Duke Qi so much that she even keeps the lipstick case he gave her next to her.
After listening to this, Winter Frost and Autumn Dew reached the same conclusion: Miss Su Jün must not find out about this!
At least not now!
Miss Su Jün noticed the movement outside and loudly said, "Is it Winter Frost who has returned?"
Autumn Dew and Winter Frost exchanged glances, replied to Miss Su Jün, and then walked into the room as if nothing unusual had happened.
Miss Su Jün saw that Winter Frost had empty hands and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Was it given to some princess?"
Winter Frost pretended to be calm but actually looked anxious, saying, "Miss, the inner treasury has been busy with the palace banquet recently, and many of the items presented have not yet been registered. When I went today, I didn't see the snow fox mantle."
Miss Su Jün frowned. Items like the snow fox mantle wouldn't be casually placed aside like ordinary items; they would need to be categorized and registered separately.
It's only that the Baroness manages the inner treasury; after all, she is an elder, so she can only suppress her discontent.
