Chapter 121 Chapter 121 is the only genuine version...

The emperor was caught off guard and a whip hit his arm. The barbs on the whip cut through his royal blue sleeve, leaving a deep red mark.

The emperor covered his hand in pain, his face furious: "Prince Li, how dare you!"

Prince Li has always been good-tempered and has taken good care of all the orphans and widows in the royal family. Since the emperor ascended the throne, he has always abided by his duties as a monarch and a subject. This is the first time he has been so angry.

The old man's chest rose and fell, and he pointed his whip at Ji and asked, "Do you know who she is?"

"You have a harem full of people, why do you have to..."

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.

I didn't persuade the emperor well, and I feel really sorry for the late emperor.

"Master." Ji's tears streamed down her fair cheeks. The rashes on her face grew even redder, several even oozing pus. She raised her head, like a frightened deer, and timidly said, "This is all my fault. Let me die. I don't deserve to stay by your side. As long as you hold me in your heart, my life will be worth it."

She pretended to leave, her posture was pitiful, but with that face, every move seemed artificial.

The emperor fell for it. He wrapped his arms around her and begged, "Ruo'er, don't go. Don't leave me."

Xiao Yunzi stood at the back, her face completely unbearable.

Xie Jing asked him to report the news, but he hurried over and got to the manor first.

However, no matter how he persuaded her, the emperor refused to leave or hide. Whenever Ji Shi cried, he would comfort her and then say that this was perfect because he could bring Ji Shi back to the palace with good reason and they would never be separated again.

He tried to persuade him, and Li Deshun also tried to persuade him, but the emperor simply didn't listen.

Xiao Yunzi was really about to cry.

Xie Jing simply didn't dare to look at other people's expressions. He could imagine how colorful they would be, just like his own a few days ago.

"I promised to take you back to the palace and give you a legitimate status. I won't break my promise." The emperor raised his head, and the tenderness in his eyes turned into anger. "Anyone who dares to stop me will be executed along with their entire clan."

These words were spoken while staring at Prince Li, and the person being scolded was clearly Prince Li.

Prince Li was so angry that he almost laughed. His hand holding the whip trembled: "Your Majesty, my surname is Xie, and yours is also Xie. My nine clans also include you. I am a close relative of yours, a close relative!"

"Let's just execute him. Let's all die together. We don't want this kingdom anymore. Lest our ancestors be harmed by you in the afterlife..." Prince Li slapped his cheeks and raised his voice, "...too embarrassed to face anyone!"

The emperor cursed angrily: "I took a concubine and you have the right to tell me what to do!"

Prince Li was in charge of the clan affairs, so he could ignore the affairs of the imperial court. However, since this matter involved the reputation of the royal family and could overthrow the country if not handled properly, he had to intervene.

This was what the late emperor had repeatedly instructed him to do when he appointed him as the clan leader and handed the whip to him.

He asked in a hoarse voice, "Who do you want to marry?"

"Ruo'er." The emperor took Ji Ruo's hand and gently wiped away her tears with his fingers.

"Who is she?" Prince Li asked loudly without the emperor's reply. "She is the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo. Her husband's surname is Gu! She is a married woman."

"The Duke of Zhenguo has made great contributions to the court. You can marry anyone but a minister."

He was so angry that he was a little confused and forgot that Ji had been demoted to a concubine.

"Your willful obstinacy is despicable!" Prince Li's voice trembled. "Now everyone in the capital knows that you have forcibly abducted a minister's wife and committed adultery. No matter how foolish the previous monarch was, such absurd things never happened. You don't want to repent and turn back in time. How long will you continue to be so stubborn and self-willed?"

"The Duke of Zhenguo is dead." The emperor's eyes reflected the beautiful figure of Ji Shi, and he said nonchalantly, "Let the Gu family issue a letter of release. From now on, Ruo'er will be a free person and will stay with me forever."

Crazy. He was absolutely crazy.

Prince Li was breathing heavily.

He originally thought that the emperor would not be so absurd.

Even on the way here, he was wondering whether this was a trap carefully arranged and designed by Xie Yingchen.

However……

If Xie Yingchen could force the emperor to say such crazy things, he might as well let the emperor write the abdication edict willingly. Why would he need such a trap?

All his extravagant hopes were completely destroyed in these few words.

Prince Li covered his aching chest and nearly fell. Xie Jing hurried over to support him: "Grandun, don't be angry. Talk to the emperor..."

Prince Li shook him off, staggered forward two steps, and asked again, "Is Gu Yan your illegitimate son?"

He prayed that the emperor would say "no".

If I remember correctly, Gu Yan is already six years old. If he is really the emperor's illegitimate son, it means that the emperor had already colluded with Ji when the Duke of Zhenguo was still alive.

Just as the common people said, the Duke of Zhenguo fought and shed blood for the sake of Daqi, until his life was lost and his body was mutilated.

While the emperor was enjoying the peace and prosperity he brought to the world, he was also seducing his wife.

If so, if so...

It is against the will of heaven!

Prince Li stared at him intently and shouted with all his might, "Is that so?"

"Yes." The emperor said nonchalantly, "Yan'er is my ninth prince. I will bring him back to the palace, enter him in the imperial register, and announce it to the world."

Prince Li's throat felt fishy and sweet, and boiling blood rushed to his forehead.

The emperor turned his head and looked at Ji gently: "Ruo'er, I promised you something and I will not break my promise."

"I will make you the Imperial Consort."

"I know." Ji was deeply moved and snuggled in his arms.

In full view of everyone, the emperor hugged her lovingly.

Everyone else had a look of shock on their faces. After hearing the emperor's tender and sweet confession, all conspiracy theories disappeared.

"Prime Minister, Prime Minister." Duke Weiguo tugged at Prime Minister Song's sleeve. "You're talking about this... Hey. The harem selects beauties every three years. Has our emperor seen too many beauties? Is he tired of them? Has his taste changed?"

He lowered his voice very low: "To be honest, I thought it was the eldest son who was behind this."

Prime Minister Song: "The eldest son is a man of radiant character."

"Yes, yes, yes," the Duke of Wei said repeatedly. He had really lost his mind. No matter how powerful Xie Yingchen was, he couldn't force the emperor to willingly admit to adultery.

A suspicious blush appeared on Prince Li's pale cheeks, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He clenched the whip and raised it.

Bang!

The whip hit the emperor's shoulders all over his head.

"ah."

The emperor jumped up in pain.

Prince Li had never used the whip before today, and he thought he would never need it in his lifetime.

This whip will be a symbol, passed down from the hands of each generation of clan leaders, protecting the Xie clan ancestral hall for thousands of years.

Bang!

Again.

The emperor didn't have time to protect Ji, and the whip passed through Ji's chest.

Ji Shi let out a cry, and the emperor panicked. He hugged Ji Shi tightly and said angrily, "Prince Li, you are using chicken feathers as a token of authority. Do you really think you have a whip in your hand? I dare not kill you!"

The little old man's breathing was disordered and his arms hung limply. When he heard these words, he suddenly raised his head and raised the whip.

The whip was swung out weakly, and the emperor grabbed the tip of the whip and pulled it hard towards himself.

Prince Li stumbled forward a few steps. His rage was raging, and he was at the end of his rope. He trembled and said, "A tyrant emperor, a tyrant emperor... You don't deserve it..."

Before he could finish his words, he fell forward and landed straight on the ground.

"Great-uncle."

Xie Yingchen was the first to notice and rushed over to catch him.

Xie Yingchen squatted down and supported his back with his arms.

Prince Li was foaming at the mouth, his eyes were wide open with most of the white showing, his limbs were twitching, and he was breathing barely.

His face flushed crimson, and all the boiling blood rushed to his brain.

Even though Xie Yingchen was not familiar with medicine, he could tell that it was a stroke.

I was so angry that I had a stroke.

"Prince Li!"

"Your Majesty!"

The others were also horrified and hurriedly gathered around. Prime Minister Song asked stiffly, "Doctor, where is the doctor here?"

There is no doctor here.

Farmers mostly bear their own illnesses, both major and minor, and only go to a town ten miles away to see a doctor when they can no longer bear it.

Xie Jing's face turned pale with fear: "Let's go back to the capital first and find the imperial physician."

Prime Minister Song shook his head: "It's too late. It will take at least two hours to return to the capital from here."

Prince Li certainly cannot travel in a hurry if he is in this condition. Even if he takes a carriage, he will have to travel slowly, and two hours may not be enough.

Even if the guards were sent back to the capital, it would take nearly two hours to go back and forth at full speed.

Prince Li's limbs were twitching. In just a few moments, he was breathing out more than breathing in. He definitely couldn't hold on until the imperial physician arrived, and there was not even enough time to go to the town to call a doctor.

Xie Yingchen checked his breath, took out an ordinary porcelain bottle from his sleeve pocket, and poured out a brown pill.

He pinched Prince Li's jaw with one hand and stuffed the pill into Prince Li's mouth.

"Your Majesty, this is..."

Prime Minister Song was about to ask, but immediately stopped talking.

"To save my life."

Xie Yingchen explained this to other people around him.

The pills were given to him by his master Wuwei Zi. There were eight pills in a bottle, and Yaoyao gave him four.

Even a person who has just died can be brought back to life.

The pill melted in his mouth and slid into Prince Li's throat along with his saliva.

Just as he swallowed it, he breathed back. Prince Li's pupils were dilated, and he said weakly with trembling fingers, "Your Majesty, as long as I am still the leader of the clan, I will never agree to... you marry this person."

When Prince Li fell to the ground, the emperor was a little panicked. Now, upon hearing this, he said angrily, "Humph, I want Ruo'er as my wife."

"Not only will I marry her, I will also make her my queen."

"I will make Yan'er the crown prince."

These words were somewhat blurted out in a moment of anger, but they still struck Xie Jing like a thunderbolt. Xie Jing looked at the emperor in disbelief.

The emperor was obsessed with Ji Ruo. He was confused and puzzled, but more importantly, he was just afraid of being discovered.

He was angry because Ji Nan Ke used him to help her aunt win favor.

However, he never thought that this fire would burn on his head. What does it mean to make Gu Yan the crown prince?

To make a son born out of illicit love the crown prince?!

All the love his father had shown him over the years was not as great as that shown to a child born out of wedlock. Ridiculous!

A sense of crisis loomed in Xie Jing's heart, a crisis far more intense than when he faced Xie Yingchen.

After all, Xie Yingchen was the son of the deposed crown prince, and the possibility of him succeeding to the throne was extremely small. However, Gu Yan was different. Once his father recognized his identity and recorded it in the imperial edict, he would be a prince, no different from himself.

Ke'er.

He never had any second thoughts about Ke'er.

However, Ke'er not only used him to win favor for her aunt, but also used him as a stepping stone to help her cousin ascend the throne.

He stood there in a daze, neither crying nor laughing.

"Master." Ji's eyes were filled with tears. Her years of waiting were not in vain.

She said softly and tenderly, "I don't deserve you to be so nice to me."

"You deserve it. I ignored you in the past and made you suffer for so many years."

The emperor looked down and said coldly, "I have made up my mind. Anyone who tries to dissuade me will die in the Golden Throne Hall."

The last one to fall was Chief Ji, who could hardly believe his ears. He had lived through the last years of the previous dynasty, and his own grandfather had been the last Prime Minister of that dynasty, but even the last monarch of that dynasty had not been so absurd.

Is it really worth it for the Ji family to serve in the Great Qi Dynasty?

Will I become a minister of a fallen country again?

Patriarch Ji was somewhat disheartened. He remained silent until he heard a voice saying, "Your Majesty, have you made up your mind?"

"No regrets?"

He suddenly looked up and looked in the direction of the sound.

He remembered this person. Ever since he stood on the city wall, this person had been the center of everyone's attention.

They call him King Chen?

He doesn't talk much, but every word he says always makes others unconsciously do what he wants.

It’s very similar to Miss Gu’s style of doing things!

"Of course I don't regret it."

The emperor cast a sharp gaze over, his voice so cold that it seemed to contain ice chips.

He is Xie Yingchen? Clan leader Ji was shocked. Crown Prince Xie Yingchen?

Xie Yingchen's eyes met the emperor's for a moment. "Your Majesty, I cannot obey your command."

He bowed his head and said to Prince Li, "Grandun, I will take you back to the capital first."

Prince Li realized dully that Xie Yingchen was talking to him and nodded very slowly.

His mind seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog, and only the last bit of energy kept him clear-headed.

Xie Yingchen said he didn't care and he really didn't care.

He borrowed a carriage from a farmer, had Chongjiu place Prince Li in it, and then, without paying any attention to the others, he returned to the capital, leaving the ministers staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Prime Minister." Duke Weiguo tugged at his sleeve again and asked softly, "What does Prince Chen mean by this? Doesn't he care anymore?"

Prime Minister Song thought for a moment and understood Xie Yingchen's intention.

It is not enough for just these people to see his stupidity, there are so many people "waiting" to watch at the Meridian Gate.

Disappointment is good.

I wish everyone was disappointed like me.

He snorted coldly and asked, "Control? How do we control?"

"Even Prince Li's life isn't certain to be saved, and you still want Prince Chen to take charge. If he does, will you disobey his orders and obey him?" Prime Minister Song shook off the hand that was grabbing his sleeve. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Let Prince Chen block the way while you wait for the opportunity to act."

After being extremely disappointed, all of Prime Minister Song's emotions turned into indifference.

Even the emperor is not afraid of losing face, so what should they, his ministers, care about?

The emperor wanted the whole world to know that he had committed adultery, and wanted to bear this eternal infamy and be despised by the world, so he went ahead and did it.

"Ruo'er, after we return to the capital, I will order the Duke of Zhenguo to write a letter to release you as a concubine and bring you and Yan'er into the palace."

The emperor held Ji's hands. When he saw her, his heart beat faster and his heart felt incredibly soft.

Why hadn't he realized before that he liked her so much?

Thinking of having missed her for so many years, the emperor wanted to make it up to her like crazy.

Compensate her.

Compensate their children.

"Master..."

Ji was so moved that she threw herself into his arms. She tilted her head back, her face covered with rashes full of shyness.

Duke Weiguo couldn't bear to watch it any longer. Facing Prime Minister Song's cold face, he asked painfully, "Prime Minister, according to the Daqi Law, what is the sentence for adultery?"

Prime Minister Song ignored him and perfunctorily bowed in the direction of the emperor: "I will take my leave."

Someone followed Prime Minister Song and left.

Some people hesitated and stayed.

"Your Majesty," Li Deshun came back and reported woodenly, "The carriage is ready."

The emperor bent down, picked up Ji Ruo, and walked towards the carriage.

He had been pampered for so many years, and even though Ji Shi was slender and graceful, she weighed heavily on his arms, and after a few steps he couldn't hold her. He gritted his teeth, puffed out his cheeks, and used all his strength to prevent her from falling. He collapsed from exhaustion the moment he got into the carriage.

"Go back to Beijing."

Those who mounted their horses mounted their horses, and only Xie Jing remained.

After everyone left, Ji Nan Ke came out and smiled before she spoke: "Your Highness, the matter of the Crown Prince was just something the Emperor said casually to irritate Prince Li."

Xie Jing: “…”

He stayed just to see her and see if she felt any guilt towards him.

It seems that he was overthinking it.

Xie Jing smiled bitterly, turned around and left without saying a word.

His feelings for her, perhaps from the very beginning, were just one-sided.

Xie Jing caught up with the emperor's carriage, emptied his mind, and ran forward desperately.

After an unknown amount of time, I finally returned to the capital.

It was completely dark.

When the carriage galloped into the Meridian Gate, the square was full of people. Lanterns were lit around them, and the candlelight shone on their bodies. Their eyes were staring at the carriage.

When the emperor left the palace, he was in casual clothes, and there were no royal insignia on his carriage. However, the officials behind him were all in official uniforms, guarding the carriage, so one could guess who was in the carriage at a glance.

emperor!

It must be the emperor.

"I saw it. When the carriage curtain blew up just now, the emperor was holding a woman in his arms."

"What Principal Ji said is true. The Emperor committed adultery with my wife."

There was a sudden commotion all around.

A young man dressed as a scholar shouted angrily, "The Great Qi Code says that anyone who commits adultery with a married man shall be punished with ninety strokes of the cane."

"When the Son of Heaven breaks the law, he shall be punished as severely as the common people."

It was like a fuse that completely ignited the Meridian Gate Square.