Chapter 76

It was just dawn when Que Ming moved his eyelids and woke up quickly. He looked at the ceiling of the tent with his eyes open, and felt the gentle breath of the woman lying on his chest in his arms.

Qingning hadn't woken up yet, sleeping soundly with her head resting on his arm.

He looked at her silently for a long time, his eyes fixed on her. The slow and scattered sadness crossed the mountain ridge and lingered in front of him. By the time he noticed it, he could no longer escape the cage of reluctance.

He leaned over and gently kissed the tip of her nose. Seeing that she didn't seem to notice, he couldn't help but place a kiss on her lips.

The kiss was long and painful, but it finally ended. He quietly got up and put the person on the pillow. Without making any noise, he put on his clothes and looked into the tent again.

Then, without hesitation, he opened the door and walked out into the dim morning light.

——

In the hall, the emperor was pointing to the position where the top scorer of this year's exam would enter the court. When it came to the number one scholar, he was about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted.

Li Mu took a look and found that the person who interrupted him was none other than the Minister of Revenue Yue Zhizheng. He was holding a board in his hand and it seemed that he was going to talk to him endlessly about Shu Hu's difficult problem.

The emperor kept tapping his hands on his head, hoping that he would not say anything to spoil the fun at such a great time. However, before the Yue Lord could finish his preparations, the younger Yue Lord also stood up like his father-in-law.

"If you have anything to say, please write it down and hand it over. Don't waste time here."

Before Lord Xiao Yue could speak, he saw Prince Shou, who was standing outside the queue, glance down. After this glance, Pei Wei straightened his robe and seemed to have something to say.

The emperor was looking at the actions of this group of nosy people and felt very worried. Minister Yue had not finished speaking yet and had not yet gotten to the point after quoting two allusions.

Seeing that Lord Xiaoyue behind him seemed to be about to interrupt, the emperor leaned back, his eyes gradually revealing displeasure.

"Your Majesty! I have something important to report!"

Que Ming's voice was slightly higher, drowning out the teacher who was arguing with words in front of him. He probably understood something, and the teacher also knew what he was going to do, so he was trying his best not to give him a chance to speak.

But these are all useless efforts. He must do what he should do today.

"What do you want to say?" the emperor asked, leaving Minister Yue no longer able to delay.

"minister……"

Just as he uttered a word, he was interrupted by a loud thud. Everyone looked over and found that it was the old Protector of the Country kneeling in the hall, begging the emperor for help.

"Your Majesty, please investigate the cause of my son's death. Cui Hu could not have died of malaria. Please seek justice for my son!"

The sobbing mixed with crying made everyone cry, not to mention that the old Protector of the Country was over fifty years old and his hair turned white overnight after the death of his third son. Looking from a distance, one could only see a misty and frosty color, which made the emperor frown.

But he didn't feel sad at all. In his eyes, the Duke of Protectorate was deliberately embarrassing him, His Majesty, by bringing up the old matter again after such a long time.

Therefore, the emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and asked him in a low voice.

"My dear, do you want me to give you a response by bringing up this case again now?"

Seeing that no one dared to answer, the emperor stood up and walked down the stairs step by step. As he moved, the people below also shrank back, not daring to look directly at the emperor.

"Didn't we investigate it clearly then? Didn't we give you a reason? You all kept silent at first, yet now you think of questioning me!"

When the emperor was angry, everyone was shocked and knelt down, fearing that the old emperor would be angry and their lives would be in danger.

However, Prince Shou, who was standing nearby, thought differently from them. He was very curious. These people had condoned the emperor in doing so many wrong things on weekdays, but why did they start to make suggestions one after another today, as if they were deliberately delaying time.

The emperor's wrath shocked all the ministers, but it could not shock the Duke of Protectorate who was kneeling on the ground. He raised his head, his eyes filled with bloodshot, and stared at the face of the Marquis of Qingyuan in front of him.

"I have discovered that the third son's death was not an accident, but a deliberate murder. It all happened because of the evidence my son found in Shuhu, which involved people in the court, so someone killed them to silence them."

The emperor stared at him and saw Qingyuan Hou kneeling on the ground with a pale face. When he saw the emperor looking at him, he knelt down and begged.

"Your Majesty, please understand! This matter has nothing to do with me! Cui Bo, please stop slandering me. You've repeatedly humiliated me because of my background, and I've tolerated you for a long time. General Cui's death was witnessed by envoys from both countries. How can you confuse right and wrong with just a few words?"

"His Majesty!"

Two equally powerful ministers were arguing at this moment. The emperor walked towards the dragon throne with his hands behind his back and squinting his eyes. No one could see his expression, nor could they tell which side he, as the emperor, was biased towards.

However, suddenly in the middle of the quarrel, a report came from outside the palace.

"The eldest princess has entered the palace to meet His Majesty."

The emperor, who was walking with his hands behind his back, seemed to shake violently twice, and waved his hand to signal people to come in.

Soon, the eldest princess, supported by the wife of the top scholar Yue, stepped into the Golden Palace. As soon as she came in, she spoke.

"Your Majesty, Xiao Wen wishes to sue Qingyuan Hou Gong and Yuan San for three serious crimes."

The court officials in the palace were shocked. They couldn't believe that the eldest princess would actually break off relations with the prince's faction.

The eldest princess was supported by someone and walked into the hall. She lifted her skirt and knelt on the ground. She kowtowed to the head and then spoke.

"These three major crimes, the first of which is accepting bribes and interfering with the judiciary, leading to corruption in the administration. The Imperial Household Department embezzled over 100,000 yuan in taxes and grain, and falsely reported the deficit to cover it up. The imperial investigation was repeatedly obstructed, and this is known to all in the capital."

"Secondly, he is dedicated to slandering and murdering his colleagues. There's the case of Cui Hu and General Cui, and previously the case of the imperial consort, the Ling family, and even the murder of the former crown prince—all of them are linked to him."

Hearing the words "former crown prince", everyone looked at the eldest princess in disbelief, then quickly lowered their heads, unable to believe that she dared to mention that person.

They looked up at His Majesty in fear, only to see that the old emperor was also frowning and suddenly became angry, telling her to shut up.

However, the eldest princess did not listen to what he said, but continued to speak lightly.

"Third, it concerns the ancestral temple and the state. The Marquis of Qingyuan and the Queen are not blood relatives, and the Crown Prince is the product of their affair..."

Before he could finish his words, the emperor angrily snatched Su Fu's dustpan and threw it over, almost hitting the princess on the head.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

The princess was as if she had never heard of this before. "He wants to confuse the country with the blood of a foreign race. These are his three major crimes!"

After she finished speaking, the hall became as quiet as the dead of night. Everyone covered their ears, not daring to listen or look, and even breathed softly, fearing that the slightest noise would alarm the furious emperor.

Regardless of whether they moved or not, the emperor's anger had been aroused. He tried to sober himself up and not bother with this woman. He raised his hand and called the prince over.

But the prince was so surprised by these words that he did not look at the emperor, but instead looked at his "uncle" who was so close to him.

When Marquis Qingyuan heard the eldest princess accusing him, he didn't show any expression at first. However, when the third charge came out, he clenched his fists as if he hadn't noticed anything, and beads of sweat involuntarily slid down his temples. When he looked up again, he saw the prince looking at him with an expression of seeking confirmation. He was so shocked that he stood there, forgetting even to make an expression.

The emperor called out to the prince three times, but no one came to help him. He turned to look at his favorite son, but saw that "his son" was staring at his "falsely accused father" in a daze, and could not even hear the call of his real father.

Thinking of the secret behind this, the old emperor staggered several steps and was quickly supported by Su Fu.

Thinking about how he had raised someone else's son all these years, he couldn't help but slap his thigh and laugh like a ghost howling, and ordered someone to bring the queen immediately.

When the prince heard the word "Queen", he finally came to his senses. He stepped forward and knelt in the middle, crying bitterly.

"Father, please do not listen to slander. The Queen Mother is devoted to you, and such foul language is disturbing. My uncle and the Queen Mother are siblings, and I am your own son! Please, Father, punish those who are spreading such nonsense!"

At the same time, Marquis Qingyuan also knelt behind the prince and said.

"Your Majesty, please understand! The Empress and I share the same mother and have treated each other like siblings since childhood. We have never done anything despicable. Now, someone is trying to frame us for this matter. Although I feel wronged, I cannot allow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to suffer humiliation because of this!"

The emperor's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the two men in a daze. His eyes were a little blurry as he saw the two of them kneeling in the middle of the hall, one in front of the other, as if they were really being wronged.

But his cloudy eyes wandered back and forth across their faces, and no matter how he looked at them, the two men looked more and more alike.

Because the queen was a Hu person, he thought that the prince did not look like him because he had Hu blood. Now, he saw that these two were really father and son.

They are a family!

The eldest princess also spoke at the right time, "Your Majesty, although Xiao Wen has had many disagreements with you, since this concerns our national name, Xiao Wen dare not lie. Gong Heyuan is the younger brother of the King of Shuhu. The old King of Shuhu has no princesses except his two sons. It was because General Cui had seen the King of Shuhu that he became suspicious and was silenced by them."

"If you don't believe me, I have here a portrait of King Shuhu and a letter from the old king."

Su Fu carefully took the evidence and spread it out in front of the emperor. At a glance, the portrait that was almost identical to Gong and Yuan pierced his eyes.

The princess then explained, "These were given to me by former palace servants who I sent to Shuhu to collect from the people. The paintings also have the king's seal on them, proving their authenticity."

"As for the Crown Prince..."

She said, "I've found a descendant of one of the imperial physicians who was murdered that year. There are records from the court's ruling. Although the Marquis of Qingyuan bribed the person and then silenced him, he didn't anticipate that the imperial physician had distant relatives. This matter is serious, and he didn't dare to completely betray Your Majesty, so he hid the evidence in the hands of his relatives. If this evidence isn't enough, the palace maid who performed the examination was already waiting outside the palace walls. She herself admitted to accepting bribes and not examining the Empress."

Every single thing the princess said was based on solid evidence and could not be denied.

The emperor looked at Marquis Qingyuan to see how he could argue further, but Marquis Qingyuan disappointed him. He was sweating profusely at this moment and didn't even dare to raise his eyes. He cried "unfair" for a long time but couldn't even utter a word in defense.

The emperor pulled the portrait and threw it on the ground, pointing at it and asking him.

"What else do you have to say? I trusted you so much back then, and this is how you repay me?"

Qingyuan Hou knocked his head to the ground, his eyes darting around as he thought of a solution, but suddenly a voice came from behind him.

"The Queen has arrived!"