The emperor rolled and wailed in pain.
Some palace staff outside the bedchamber heard it but did not take it seriously, only thinking that one of the palace staff had made a mistake and was being chastised, fearing that they might accidentally be implicated, and ran over at a quicker pace.
The 1,000 archers hidden in the shadows stiffened, and behind them were the same 1,000 forbidden guards, with bows and arrows pointed at them.
A quarter of an hour later, the pain disappeared and the emperor lay on the ground with half a breath left in his body, his clothes long creased and not wanting to look the same, his hair dishevelled and covered in dust, without the look of an emperor.
“How does the emperor feel?”
Consort Xiao Xian squatted down, her voice as gentle as ever.
The Emperor wanted to jump up and kill him, but there was no way to have the strength in him, so he could only stare at his eyes in anger.
Xiao Xianfei gently removed his hair from his face with compassion and smiled.
“When I entered the palace eleven years ago, Your Majesty knew what was in my mind, didn’t you? At that time, it was easy for you to kill me unnoticed, but you thought you were in control of everything and that no one could escape you, so not only did you not treat me coldly, but you even favoured me, allowing me to walk around the harem and giving me a son. You do not know how grateful I am to you when I know I have a son, because with a son, what I have to do will be much easier.”
“You must be regretting now that you have been so clever. But don’t worry, Your Majesty, we won’t kill you.”
“What do you …… want?”
“Quite simply, the Emperor will issue an edict of guilt to tell the world what was done to my sister back then, and clear King Qin’s name.”
“You …… don’t think so!”
The emperor gasped, “I will not be at your mercy even if I die!”
Consort Xiao Xian smiled, seeing through everything, “You will not spare death.”
The emperor indeed could not let go of death.
To die would be to have nothing, to live would be to have hope, to be able to kill these people who betrayed him and take back his power.
“I will not force Your Majesty, when Your Majesty has figured it out, when will you tell me, just ah ……”
Consort Xiao Xian took a handkerchief and tenderly wiped the cold sweat from His Majesty’s face, “This medicine, it attacks once an hour, I don’t know how long Your Majesty can hold out.”
……
Ding Guo Gongfu
Duke Ding Guo and Xiao Zheng were sitting upright and looking at the direction of the palace at the same time.
In the courtyard, there stood two thousand men, all in strong uniforms, holding weapons and ready to strike.
The Xu family.
The old gentleman and Xu Yan and Xu Er sat in the flower hall, also looking in unison in the direction of the palace.
From morning to noon, and from noon to half an afternoon.
The sound of bells came.
Xu Yan jerked to his feet, took a few steps towards the door, and jerked back, “This is the bell of the temporary court, they, they ……”
The old gentleman closed his eyes, his nerves that had been tense all day slowly loosened, his voice hoarse, “Go on.”
Xu Yan went out with quick steps.
Mr. Xu Er poured a glass of water and handed it to the old gentleman, who took it with a shaking hand, “Don’t worry, nothing is wrong.”
If Yue’er and the others had been taken down, what they would have heard at this time would not have been the sound of the court bell, but the forbidden guards surrounding the Xu family.
Mr. Xu Er also thought of this and sat back heavily in his chair.
……
Outside the palace gates, a hundred officials came in a hurry either in sedan chairs and carriages or in horse-drawn carriages.
When the capital’s governor got off the carriage and saw Duke Ding, he quickly caught up with him and asked in a low voice, “Your Excellency, do you know what has happened? Why have we suddenly been summoned to court?”
Duke Ding shook his head.
“Could it be that something has happened to the Emperor?
As soon as the words left his mouth, the capital minister realized he had said the wrong thing and hastily covered his mouth.
“I don’t think so, didn’t you say that His Majesty has improved in the past few days?”
The Duke of Zhen came forward, and heartily exchanged a glance with the Duke of Ding.
He had been having people keep an eye on Song Yin’s movements, knowing that he had gone outside the city and that he might have entered the palace in disguise, and he had guessed some of this when the bell rang for the temporary court.
The civil and military officials entered the Golden Palace in turn, and when they saw the curtain hanging over the high seat, they looked at each other and understood in their hearts that the emperor should not have recovered from his illness, otherwise he would not have hung the curtain to prevent them from looking.
Eunuch Huang walked over slowly, flung his duster and spoke in a thin voice, “Your Majesty has arrived!”
All the officials knelt down and shouted long live.
Two chamberlains helped the Emperor to sit behind the draped curtain and stood behind him, one on the left and one on the right.
The Prince approached and stood in front of the hundred officials.
“Flatten yourself!”
The Emperor’s frail voice was devoid of its usual majesty.
After saying this sentence, he seemed to take a breath, “Huang De.”
Eunuch Huang slowly stepped over and took a scroll from the emperor’s say, walked back and stood, slowly opened it and closed his eyes before reading, “The Edict of Guilt.”
The words came out in stone shock!
The civil and military officials raised their heads in unison and looked at Eunuch Huang incredulously.
He wanted to shout out that the emperor was being controlled, so that the civil and military officials could take down these traitors, but he had also been fed pills, and if he didn’t do as they said, he wouldn’t live for more than a moment.
It didn’t matter if he died, he was afraid they would turn on the Emperor, he had to make sure he was alive, alive was the only way to have hope.
“Seventeen years ago, I had the then Crown Princess Qin tricked into the palace under the guise of catching up with old times and defiled her ……”
The hundred officials all suspected that their ears had heard wrong, and subconsciously looked at their colleagues beside them to see that they were also staring at them in a dazed manner, both of their worst moved at the same time, but neither could make a sound.
The Ding Duke’s fists slowly clenched into fists.
“After it was over, I was remorseful and afraid, so I fed her beauty smile with my own hands. I thought that God was unaware of it, but who knew that King Qin rushed back to his house just at this time, and when he learned the truth, he rushed into the palace and wanted to kill me, so I slandered him for stabbing and had him taken down and given the punishment of boning.”
There was silence in the Imperial Palace.
The only sound that could be heard was the Emperor’s heavy breathing.
The civil and military officials could not recover from the shock.
They couldn’t believe that the rumours of the other day were true, that the Emperor had really defiled Concubine Qin and killed his own brother who, in a time of crisis, had single-handedly suppressed the palace turmoil and secured his ascension to the throne.
“For the past ten years, I have been having trouble sleeping and eating. I have always wanted to tell the world the truth, but I was afraid that the world would be disappointed in me. Now that I have gone through a life and death experience, I am afraid that if I do not speak out, I will not have the chance to do so in the future, and I hope that all of you will take me as an example.”
“I have no face to sit on this throne any longer, so I will abdicate from this day onwards and the Crown Prince will succeed me.
There was silence in the hall.
The officials had not yet recovered from their shock.
“My son receives the decree, long live the Father.”
The prince’s still slightly childish voice rang out.
Only then did the hundred officials return to their senses and kneel down in unison.
Behind the draped curtain, the emperor rose to his feet, “I am being ……”