“Your Majesty, Zhen’er must have been fooled by someone else. It must not be his intention. It might be his subordinates who did it themselves and he might really not know anything. He has a good relationship with King Chu and the other brothers. How could he do something like that?” The Empress Dowager paused and said anxiously. She did not continue the topic of asking the three judiciaries to deal with the case.
“Good relationship?” Emperor Zongwen gave a wintry smile and looked the Empress Dowager in the eye. The Empress Dowager had no choice but to look away. “Mother, King Ning really has a good relationship with his brothers. Not only does he treat them well, but he also treats me well. When he heard that I lacked sons, he entered the palace to help me. As Consort Yu has lost her child, I wonder if Feng Yuzhen is really sad.”
Emperor Zongwen’s words were extremely harsh, and in the end, he was fierce both in look and voice!
He slammed his hand heavily on the table, causing the tea bowl on the table to jump up.
He was angry. How could he not be angry? As the Emperor of a country, he was superior. However, he had been cuckolded and the man had even tried to steal his throne with this child. How could Emperor Zongwen not fly into a rage? If he had not been the Emperor, and was shrewd and deep, he would have put Consort Yu and Feng Yuzhen to death the moment he heard the news. They would not have been alive now.
“Your… Your Majesty, what… what did you say?” The Empress Dowager felt as if she had been struck by lightning and she almost jumped up from her chair. She looked at Emperor Zongwen in front of her in horror, who was angry and cold and filled with killing intent as she held the corner of the table with her trembling fingers. She swayed and almost fell.
How could Emperor Zongwen know about this matter?
How was it possible that he knew?
“Mother, are you curious where I got the truth from? After Consort Yu was sent to the Cold Palace, you cared about her many times and even asked people to send her some food. It is said that the one who pretended to be a eunuch and carried the food box was King Ning. Mother, are you dissatisfied with me being the Emperor for so many years? Do you think that I stole King Ning’s throne?”
Emperor Zongwen did not hide his anger and pressured her coldly.
Back then, the legitimate son was short-lived, but it wasn’t anyone else’s fault. If he had not given consideration to the past, the Empress Dowager would not have been so glorious in the palace. He really did not understand why she messed around. Emperor Zongwen was deeply disappointed in her. She had a hand in at least half the tumult at the palace.
If not for the Empress Dowager, something like this would not have happened and Consort Yu and Feng Yuzhen would not have done such a shameful thing!
One of them was a court official and the other was an imperial consort. How could they have an affair when they could not meet each other? It was all because of the Empress Dowager. Emperor Zongwen had placed the evidence in front of the Empress Dowager. There were no outsiders in the imperial study right now, so Emperor Zongwen had directly told the Empress Dowager about what he had known.
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…” The Empress Dowager’s head buzzed and she only called out subconsciously. Her hands that were holding the corner of the table trembled visibly and the sweat that beaded her temples was also visible. A nanny who was by the Empress Dowager’s side had just wanted to support the Empress Dowager when Liu Xi glared at her coldly. She did not dare to do anything else, hurriedly lowered her head and did not dare to speak.
“Empress Dowager, do you want Feng Yuzhen to usurp power and the throne? It’s a pity that King Ning is about to be beheaded. It’s a great crime to plot against the two princes and have an affair with a consort in the harem. He and his relatives of nine generations will be killed. In this way, Ding General Manor is within the nine generations. Empress Dowager, wait for the blood of Ding General Manor and King Ning’s Manor to stain the steps of Cining Palace!”
This time, Emperor Zongwen directly called her the Empress Dowager. He stared at her coldly. The bloodthirsty look in his eyes was like something that existed, piercing into the Empress Dowager’s trembling heart like a sharp sword. Ding General Manor was the Empress Dowager’s maternal family, where she grew up. King Ning, Feng Yuzhen, was her hope, and she had raised him up by herself.
She thought that the two that she cared about the most would be killed with blooding spattering on the ground. Furthermore, according to Emperor Zongwen’s words, he was going to kill them in front of her Cining Palace. A bloody scene spontaneously appeared before her eyes; it was as if she had seen Feng Yuzhen being beheaded and covered in blood; it was as if she had seen the blood flowing in Ding General Manor and people whining.
She felt as if she had seen the memorial tablets of Ding General Manor’s ancestors dyed red with blood.
There were mountains of corpses and seas of blood. There was blood everywhere. She almost could not see any other colors. Before she could say a word, her body shook and she fell down when the blood turned black…
“Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager…” Someone exclaimed in her ear, but then the voice disappeared in the darkness.
The Empress Dowager had a stroke. When she received the news that King Ning had gotten into trouble, she had a stroke on the way to the imperial study. All the imperial physicians in the palace were sent to treat her. The Emperor ordered them to cure the Empress Dowager and asked King Ning, who had made a mistake, to guard Cining Palace, hoping that the Empress Dowager would get better.
The mistake King Ning made had something to do with King Chu and King Xuan. And it was said that it was a great crime to plot against King Chu and King Xuan. The Emperor could give up on punishing him for the sake of the Empress Dowager. It could be seen that the Emperor was filial, which moved the whole country. Everyone praised him for his loyalty and filial piety.
As for King Ning who was sent to Cining Palace, although he still bore the title of King Ning, it was because the Emperor did not punish him for the sake of the Empress Dowager. His title was not sufficient to offset his crime. Of course, the Emperor would never tell others that King Ning once had an affair with Consort Yu.
It was a shameful thing for even an ordinary man, not to mention an Emperor. Otherwise, Emperor Zongwen would not have put up with Consort Yu back then. On the one hand, he kept Consort Yu because he wanted the Empress Dowager and Feng Yuzhen to experience “the greater the hope was and the greater the disappointment was”. He wanted them to fall from the high clouds to the bottom. On the other hand, he wanted to save the face of a man and the Emperor.
Of course, these were all on the surface. On the surface, no matter how one looked at it, Emperor Zongwen was extremely benevolent. As an uncle, he took good care of his nephew. Not only did he not deprive King Ning of the title, but he also asked him to take care of the Empress Dowager before her bed. This time, not only did his kindness show the benevolence of a son, an uncle, and an Emperor, he even raised the Empress Dowager high in front of the altar.
Look, for the sake of the Empress Dowager, he, her son, could do this. He could let go of the nephew safe and sound when he had tried to plot against his two sons. Wasn’t he a kind Emperor? In the future, if anyone used Feng Yuzhen to blame the Emperor, it would be unreasonable. In fact, it had already put an end to Feng Yuzhen’s rebellion.
In the dark, Feng Yuzhen was brought to Cining Palace to serve the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager had a stroke and would not be cured in a short period of time. Feng Yuzhen was brought into the palace, which meant that he was under house arrest. In this case, his subordinates had already panicked. Those who were found out by Emperor Zongwen would be removed in various names. The rest who hadn’t been found out didn’t dare to stick their necks out.
All of them shrank their heads and lived their lives, without any other ideas!
With the fall of the Empress Dowager, King Ning’s good days would come to an end. King Ning would have nothing to do with the throne in the future!
Crown Prince Xieyue left quietly on the second day of the Empress Dowager’s stroke.
It did not mean that he had left in private, but everyone in the court was paying attention to the Empress Dowager and King Ning and he did not want to be too high profile. He only told Feng Yuran about his leave. At noon that day, Feng Yuran bade farewell by preparing a feast at a pavilion on behalf of the Qin Kingdom.
Qin Yufeng, who was sent by Emperor Zongwen, was also there. He attended the farewell feast on behalf of all the officials.
Feng Yuran picked up the wine cup lazily and filled it for Crown Prince Xieyue personally. Smiling, he pushed it to the latter’s hand. Then, he picked up the other cup of wine in his hand and stood up, saying, “Your Highness, I heard that the Third Prince of your country is already on his way here. It will definitely be a smooth journey. I shall toast you.”
The Third Prince of the Southern Barbarian Lands was finally going to come and escort his fiancee, and he came in person. The three people present had already received the news that the Southern Barbarian Lands was in chaos. The main reason was General Hu. He not only killed the Right Prime Minister who came to persuade him, but also killed all the people of the Right Prime Minister’s family, as well as the people sent by the Empress.
General Hu’s son was also in charge of the military. When he heard that his favorite sister had an accident because of the plot of the Empress and the Third Prince, he could not bear it. Although Hu Qianyue was only a daughter in the Hu family, she was smart and talented since she was a child. She grew up with the Third Prince and could be regarded as his childhood sweetheart. Everyone in the entire Hu family treated her as the Third Prince’s wife to cultivate.
Unexpectedly, she died because of the Third Prince and the Empress’s tricks. How could the whole Hu family not be angry?
They seemed to want to rebel. The Hu family had the most troops in the Southern Barbarian Lands. Originally, with the Empress and the Third Prince, no one would be worried that they would rebel. However, they did not expect that the matter of Hu Qianyue would irritate the Hu family. The Hu family suddenly got mad. It seemed that they were going to rebel.
Originally, the Third Prince and the Empress relied on the military power of the Hu family. But now, not only did they not become their supporters, but they also became their obstruction. What was more, the Right Prime Minister, who had been firmly on their side and even wanted to marry his daughter to the Third Prince, was killed with all over his family, which made things worse.
At this point, the marriage with the Qin Kingdom’s princess became important to the Third Prince. If he married the princess of the Qin Kingdom, at least he could rely on the Qin Kingdom in the future. Therefore, the Empress sped up the communication with the Hu family in an attempt to repair their broken relationship with affection. On the other hand, the Third Prince rushed straight to the Qin Kingdom, trying to finish this marriage as soon as possible.
After what happened to the Hu family, all the people in the imperial court were very displeased with the Empress and the Third Prince!
Crown Prince Xieyue, who had always been kind and generous, had a better reputation among the people.
“Many thanks, Your Highness. please take good care of Caifeng in the future.” Crown Prince Xieyue also stood up, picked up the wine cup, drank it up, and said with a deeper meaning in his words.
Feng Yuran smiled slightly and nodded in agreement as a solemn expression appeared on his handsome face, as if he and Crown Prince Xieyue were really important to each other. He raised his pretty eyes and said frankly, “You too. When my sixth sister gets married to the Southern Barbarian Lands, please take care of her, Your Highness.”
There were some things that they were well aware of. Princess Caifeng and the Sixth Princess were both the princesses who were going to marry into another country, and all they needed to do was to bear the title to promote friendship between the two countries. In private, they had made another decision. How could it be completely decided by sending two princesses to marry into each other’s country? The decision that the two countries agreed on in private was the most important.
On the surface, it was just the attitude of each other. Now, it was obvious that Xieyue and Feng Yuran were satisfied with each other’s attitude!
“Of course, but for Consort Xuan’s life-saving grace, I’m afraid that I won’t have the chance to repay it!” Crown Prince Xieyue sighed and said in a low-spirited manner.
“Never mind. My wife has already forgotten the matter that she had saved Your Highness. You don’t have to think too much about it.” Feng Yuran smiled devilishly. This time, he filled up all three of their cups. Then, he lifted his cup up again and skipped the topic. “Bon Voyage, Your Highness!”
“Your Highness, Bon Voyage.” Qin Yufeng also stood up and raised his wine cup to toast Crown Prince Xieyue. With a bright smile on his lip corners, he calmly took over Feng Yuran’s topic.
