Chapter 417 Nanzhu

"What does the prince mean?" Hu Xiner looked at Mu Qing in confusion.

Mu Qing shook his head to indicate that he didn't know. "I only know that the prince was born to the late queen, who passed away when he was three years old."

The Duke's eyes flickered slightly, as if he had thought of something.

He said to the Crown Prince earnestly, "Your Highness, do you think the late Queen was murdered? You must have been deceived by a treacherous person!"

The prince laughed heartily, tears welling up in his eyes. "Deceived? Could it be true that the Emperor abandoned my mother? Could it be true that he neglected her and caused her death? Could it be true that when I was young, I had no mother and was nearly frozen to death by a eunuch?"

During the argument between the two, a past event slowly unfolds.

It turned out that after Liu Se was punished, Old Master Liu locked her in the dungeon in order to let her escape.

The relationship between the emperor and Prime Minister Lu is difficult to describe. They are suspicious of each other, but they are also good friends who have known each other for many years.

The relationship with Liu Se was even more complicated. The woman he loved killed his Prime Minister Lu because she misunderstood his instructions.

Due to etiquette, he ordered Liu Se to pay with his life, but he was reluctant to do so. In the end, he made a compromise, but he felt sorry for both Liu Se and Prime Minister Lu.

In his grief, he got drunk as soon as he entered the court and almost ignored state affairs.

The empress dowager was very worried. In addition to personally comforting the emperor, she also sent some palace maids to accompany the emperor. This was to help him relieve his loneliness and sadness, and also to help him get over it as soon as possible. If that didn't work, she wanted to leave another royal offspring.

The late Queen Nanzhu was one of these palace maids.

She was extremely clever and cunning. She got the information from somewhere, but she took advantage of the emperor's drunkenness, disguised herself as Liu Se, and climbed onto the dragon bed.

The emperor, in his drunken state, mistook her for Liu Se. When he sobered up the next day, he was furious and wanted to execute her.

But Nanzhu cried and said that she had always loved the emperor, and that she had used the drug and disguised herself as Liu Se last night in accordance with the empress dowager's instructions.

The emperor was not a bloodthirsty man, so he spared her life and sent her to do odd jobs in the laundry room.

However, a few months later, Nanzhu was pregnant!

The Queen Mother discovered the news in time and was immediately delighted.

The emperor felt that he had betrayed Liu Se, and his heart was even more painful. He gave up on himself and lingered among the concubines.

Nanzhu was very cunning and won the favor of the Queen Mother, and was made Queen.

Nanzhu originally thought that the emperor was a romantic man and after forgetting Liu Se, he would definitely stay with her for the rest of his life.

But the emperor did not love her. She was the queen, but her life was worse than that of a palace maid.

Driven by jealousy and resentment, she began to attack the concubines in the harem. The emperor knew the reason why she did this, but he did not blame her. He just silently resolved all the conflicts and saved her face as the queen.

Because he felt guilty towards the late queen.

But the queen's mind became more twisted day by day.

"Twisted?" the Crown Prince questioned, narrowing his eyes. "My mother is the Queen Mother. What's wrong with her wanting to be treated as a Queen? Isn't that as it should be?"

The Duke frowned and said, "Your Highness, the late Queen is your mother. It's natural for you to be protective of her, but she rose to power through scheming. How can she expect Your Majesty to love her?"

Hu Xin'er muttered, "The Emperor has lost his best friend and beloved, and now a palace maid has climbed into his bed and taken the Empress's place. Isn't the Emperor going to be pissed off? Who could possibly stand this?"

The Crown Prince, however, refused to listen and instead became furious: "Since he married my mother, he should have treated her well instead of letting her suffer such cold treatment in the palace! He is so kind to everyone, why does he treat my mother so coldly? My mother clearly loves him so much!"

Seeing that he couldn't think straight, the Duke was deeply distressed. "Your Highness, you are so confused! Is this the reason you are plotting rebellion?"

The prince said angrily: "They forced my mother to death and tried to kidnap me with false family affection. Shouldn't I take revenge?"

"But no matter how much the late queen hated Your Majesty, she shouldn't have poisoned Your Majesty!" When the Duke thinks about what happened back then, he is still full of confusion and contempt for the late queen.

As a woman, you should be familiar with the Three Obediences and Four Virtues. As the mother of the country and a role model for women all over the world, you should cultivate virtue, appearance and speech.

It would have been fine if the former queen had ascended to the throne by such despicable means, but she even dared to poison her own husband out of jealousy.

He was the ruler of a country! How could a mere woman like her harm him at will?

"Isn't it because the emperor hangs Liu Se's portrait in the secret room every day?" The prince was not at all surprised or shocked that his biological father was almost poisoned to death. It was obvious that he had known about it for a long time.

The princess was completely stunned. "What Liu Se? What poisoning? Didn't the late queen die from depression?"

The Crown Prince smiled coldly, "If it weren't for my mother poisoning you, and your good mother discovering it, do you think she would have been able to ascend to the throne of Queen so easily with her talent and beauty?"

"So the late queen really almost poisoned father to death?" The eldest princess couldn't even stand steadily. What happened today had a huge impact on her.

She grabbed the prince's sleeve and managed to keep her balance. "But, but this has nothing to do with you, Prince. You were still young at that time. Father would not implicate you because of this matter. Besides, you still have me and my mother!"

She spoke incoherently, tears welling up again: "Brother, at that time, the emperor was obsessed with refining the elixir, and our lives were so hard, have you forgotten? The eunuchs bullied me, and the queen mother would only let me endure it. It was you who stayed by my side to protect me..."

Seeing that the eldest princess still held on to that little bit of brotherly love and refused to give up, begging the prince bitterly, everyone fell silent.

Who could have imagined that the prince who seemed to be loyal and righteous was actually trying to kill his father and sister.

And the willful eldest princess, even though she was almost strangled to death, still tried to persuade the prince to stop?

However, her sincerity and true love could not win any sympathy from the prince.

Her sincerity was like a mirror, allowing the prince to see how despicable and shameless he was!

"Bitch, I told you not to act like this anymore!" The prince pressed her shoulders hard with a ferocious look on his face.

The eldest princess was frightened by his appearance, but she still cried and shook her head: "Brother, I'm not pretending. Can you come back with me? Mother must be very worried about you..."