The deposed prince was stunned for a moment. He thought he had hidden it well.

He thought Emperor Xiao Ping was just as he appeared to be, obsessed with worshipping Buddha and chanting sutras, and just didn't know much about the previous dynasty...

It turned out that he was wrong. His decades of operation were completely exposed under the nose of Emperor Xiao Ping.

"Have you been pretending all these years? You lied to me? You even hid it from my mother?" The deposed prince was extremely angry.

Emperor Xiao Ping shook his head. "No one can pretend for more than ten years. If you want the throne, you can. But if you can walk into the palace openly and challenge me to a fair fight, I will accept your challenge."

"But in order to seize the throne, you sent people to secretly disrupt the morale of the army, collude with foreign tribes, and attempt to split the country. This is something I cannot tolerate."

In fact, Emperor Xiao Ping was telling lies. He said this only to show his tolerance and benevolence in front of all the civil and military officials in the court and the royal family.

If he would accept any challenge from any prince, wouldn't the court be in chaos?

The late emperor ordered that the deposed prince was not allowed to leave his fiefdom. If the deposed prince really left his fiefdom openly and prepared to go to the capital, Emperor Xiao Ping would directly order the secret guards to kill the deposed prince on the spot, and there would be no chance for the deposed prince to enter the palace.

Emperor Xiao Ping looked at the deposed Crown Prince's dejected appearance and sneered in his heart.

"The path your Royal Brother took to the palace was unobstructed, and several of the palace gates weren't even manned by guards. Didn't your Royal Brother become suspicious?"

"And the Queen Mother, I didn't even take the medicine she used to send me. Did she think I would drink the poisoned wine she brought me?"

The bright yellow palace lanterns gave Emperor Xiao Ping a golden glow, and the five-clawed golden dragon on his dragon robe was domineering and arrogant, shining with golden light, just like its owner.

Emperor Xiao Ping lowered his eyelids slightly, and said with great dignity, "Sixth Brother, you and the Queen Mother still underestimate me."

Do they think he is still the mediocre little prince?

They didn't know that they had already arranged everything.

Two years ago, he denounced Su Bojue, Su Shaoxuan and others, saying that they were merely trying to confuse the deposed prince's party.

Of course, the purpose was also to confuse Xiao Huaihe and induce him to take the initiative to divorce Su Wanti.

In the past two years, Earl Su has traveled all over the country and has thoroughly investigated the former subordinates of the deposed crown prince.

Su Shaoxuan was stationed at the border and drove the foreigners who were secretly colluding with the deposed prince out of the desert.

These days, those who were secretly in contact with the deposed crown prince were all people arranged by him, not the deposed crown prince's old subordinates.

The funny thing is that the deposed crown prince and the queen mother knew nothing about all this. They were too arrogant.

They didn't believe that Emperor Xiao Ping could keep his composure.

They also didn't believe that Emperor Xiao Ping had the ability to shatter their carefully planned plans one by one.

Now that everything has settled, the deposed crown prince and the queen mother realized how wrong they were. The person before them was already a real emperor, but they were still immersed in the past and refused to open their eyes.

Emperor Xiao Ping took one last look at the deposed Crown Prince and said coldly:

"The deposed crown prince is guilty of treason and should be executed by lingchi according to the law. However, out of consideration for our brotherly love, I will drown him in Chunhui Lake in the Western Garden."

He did not forget that twenty-seven years ago, his Da Mi sank into Chunhui Lake. He always remembered that he wanted to avenge Da Mi.

The deposed prince shouted, "You thief! If you let me go, I will challenge you to a fair duel of martial arts, knowledge, and ability to govern a country. I don't believe you can be better than me!"

Emperor Xiao Ping's eyes were indifferent, and a cold smile curled his lips. "Why should I compete with a traitor like you? I am the Son of Heaven. I don't need to prove anything to you."

He turned and left without looking back.

But he still left a message, "Let's throw him into Qiuning Lake outside the palace, don't let him dirty my palace."

He thought about it and decided to let Da Mi rest in Chunhui Lake instead of sending a dirty person down to disturb it.

The deposed prince was taken away by the imperial guards, and what awaited him was bottomless cold.

The Queen Mother had collapsed on her seat, her eyes filled with despair, her lips trembling, but she couldn't say anything.

Emperor Xiao Ping returned to his seat and glanced at the empress dowager. "Xiao Dezi, the empress dowager is tired. Send her back to the Cining Palace. Send her a decoction of tranquilizing medicine every day. Don't make any mistakes."

Outside the palace, hundreds of palace servants were cleaning up the mess in an orderly manner, removing the corpses and washing away the blood on the ground.

The palace gate was still open, and the guests could see clearly what was happening outside.

They frowned and dared not speak again.

Emperor Xiao Ping took a sip of cold wine. The cool liquid slid down his throat and passed through his chest. He did not feel cold, but instead felt a burning heat rising from his internal organs.

The princess curled up in Su Wanti's arms. Seeing her father coming back, she babbled and danced with joy.

Emperor Xiao Ping was delighted. He held the princess's hand, but felt that her hand was a little cold, so he asked the palace servants to close the palace doors.

Twelve young eunuchs walked in a line, pushing the heavy palace door, separating the bloody and cruel scene outside from the banquet, singing and dancing inside.

The banquet continued, the singing and dancing continued as usual, and the guests all averted their gazes, sitting upright, and were extremely respectful.

Emperor Xiao Ping held the princess in his arms, embraced Su Wanti, and whispered, "I have said that I will protect you and the princess for the rest of your lives."

His eyes were like stars, shining with warmth. "I can protect anyone I want to protect."

————

The Queen did not attend the Lantern Festival banquet due to illness. Later, Su Wanti told her what happened at the banquet that day. The Queen regretted it so much that she slapped her thigh.

"Such a wonderful thing, and I actually missed it! What a pity! What a pity!"

The queen's face was full of regret, and her thighs were almost bruised from slapping herself.

"Next time, I will attend any palace banquet and will never miss it again!"

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!