Chapter 278 You lied to me, you all lied to me

The gleaming dagger drew a silver streak across the hall.

Jin Shu, who had been sitting silently to the side for a long time, almost simultaneously with the flash of the cold light, suddenly stood up, biting her lip as she reached for the dagger.

In that instant, all she wanted to do was rush forward and snatch the dagger away.

Jin Shu took a step forward, her arm halfway out, but before she could even touch Li Jin's side, she froze in the hall.

The action happened so fast that she was momentarily dazed and couldn't see what was happening at all.

Li Jin dodged to the side and grabbed the prince's wrist. In the blink of an eye, the prince was lying on the ground, unable to move.

The black fan that Li Jin had somehow acquired was now precisely pressed against the carotid artery in his neck.

The dagger clattered to the ground and slid to Li Yi's feet.

An assassination attempt was over before it even began.

Sitting on the steps, the Emperor of Wei, who had been watching the show with his hands folded in his pockets for a long time, calmly picked up the dagger, held it in his hand, and looked it over a few times.

"You might call yourself foolish, but you know how to use your position to eliminate rivals and consolidate your power through the influence of high-ranking officials," Li Yi chuckled. "But you might also call yourself clever..."

He paused for a moment: "You insist on challenging a 'war god' who has been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years."

Li Yi weighed the dagger in his hand: "A dead end? A cornered dog will do anything?"

His voice was calm, even carrying a hint of a smile. As he spoke, he glanced at the stunned Jin Shu.

As if to offer the girl, who had abruptly stood up and seemed somewhat at a loss, a way out, Li Yi placed the dagger in her hand and smiled slightly.

At this moment, even the most hardened ministers knew that the Crown Prince's fate was sealed.

It's also clear what Li Yi was planning for such a grand palace banquet.

Crown Prince Li Jing, pinned down by Li Jin, glared angrily at Li Yi, pointing at his face and saying disdainfully, "I shouldn't have held back." He sneered, "You, you and Li Jin, you all deserve to die!"

No one was surprised that such treasonous words came from the Crown Prince's mouth at this moment.

A palace banquet without a proper feast caused the human skin mask worn by the crown prince to crack into pieces.

The twisted, filthy, dark, vicious, and self-centered soul hidden behind it taught everyone a lesson in a way that overturned the perceptions of all officials.

Li Yi looked at the pathetic man, lowered his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly stood up from the steps.

He stared coldly at Li Jing's disheveled appearance, and after a long while, he suddenly burst into laughter.

His laughter turned to anger, and he pointed at Li Jing, cursing him without any restraint: "You're worse than a pig or a dog!"

Li Yi stood with his hands behind his back, took two steps forward, bent down and questioned, "How do you think you got to this point today?"

"Did I force you?" He raised his hand and patted his chest, sneered, then patted Li Jin's shoulder. "Or did Prince Jing force you?"

"Ha!" Li Yi straightened up, raised his hands, and swept his gaze across the officials. "Or perhaps, it was the civil and military officials in this hall who forced you to become like this, causing you to end up in this state?"

"You brought this on yourself!"

Li Yi spoke these four words with extreme emphasis: "He only has himself to blame."

But before he could finish speaking, Li Jing, who knew he had no future, was pinned down by Li Jin. He stretched his neck and roared just as furiously as Li Yi, his face red and neck thick: "I brought this upon myself?! Don't think I don't know! Don't think I don't know about the things you've been doing, openly and secretly helping Prince Jing!"

"When have you ever truly treated me, your son, as the crown prince?!" He stared intently at Li Yi, his eyes filled with resentment. "You, Danfan! Danfan..."

“If only?” Li Yi interrupted him, sneering and his eyes blazing with anger: “If only you had behaved yourself as a dutiful crown prince and spared Li Mu’s life, this whole banquet wouldn’t have happened!”

"Spare his life?!" Li Jing exclaimed as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous. "Why? Are you letting a tiger return to the mountain so he can come back and chop off my head?!"

In the hall, Li Jing was panting heavily with resentment, while Li Yi's face was flushed red with anger.

He gritted his teeth, strode forward, and pointed at Li Jing's head: "Come back? You unfilial son!" Li Yi's finger trembled almost violently, "You think...you think Li Mu doesn't know, doesn't know why you did all this!"

"Why do you think he would admit to this fabricated crime?!" Li Yi roared, nearly losing his temper. "It's because he knows you're more suitable to be the crown prince than him! You're more strategic and more resourceful than him!"

"You become the crown prince, you take over the empire! He will be at peace!"

Li Yi's roar stunned Li Jing, who stood there dumbfounded.

He stared at Li Yi in astonishment, as if he had been struck on the head with a club and his head had gone blank.

In a flash, it felt as if I had returned to my youth, to the days when I studied with Li Mu at the Imperial Academy.

He looked at Li Jing with a beaming smile and shared all the delicious food and fun toys with him...

Returning to the direction Li Mu was looking towards, gazing at the Taiji Hall with a hint of helplessness, he softly said sorry.

I'm sorry, if I had been born a few years later, I wouldn't have forgotten you.

At the time, I only felt that he was deliberately showing off his status as the eldest son.

Only now do I realize that he truly felt guilty.

Li Jing looked up in a daze at Li Yi and shook his head: "Impossible, you're lying to me..."

Li Yi stood with his hands behind his back, a hint of tears in his eyes: "What do you think his mindset was when he embarked on the road to exile to the frontier?"

"Ha!" Li Yi pursed his lips. "I feel guilty towards Li Jin because he went to the battlefield at a young age and could not return to the capital without being summoned. He has always been separated from his mother and his elder brother by thousands of miles."

"But precisely because of this, Li Mu treats you like a brother." He pursed his lips. "Li Jing, do you really think that you obtained your position as crown prince entirely through your own strength?!"

In the ancient Wei dynasty, the custom of having the eldest son as the crown prince was not only a shackle on Li Mu, but also a nightmare that haunted Li Jing's mind.

From a young age, he heard from his maternal grandfather, Xu Weiyou, and Consort Shu that he should endure hardship and humiliation.

Therefore, Li Jing naturally believed that anyone who hindered him from reaching the pinnacle of power was his enemy.

The eldest prince is an enemy, Consort Xiao is an enemy, the General's Mansion is an enemy, and even his own father is an enemy.

As the snow fell heavily, Li Jing, who had never regretted his actions over the years, suddenly remembered Li Mu's appearance when he was young.

He recalled that when he was in the Imperial Academy, after being reprimanded by the Grand Tutor, he returned to the Forbidden City and was scolded by Consort Shu. It was Li Mu who stood up for him and took the beating for him.

He recalled the year when he had a persistent high fever, and the Imperial Hospital was helpless, thinking that his chances of survival were slim. It was Li Mu who stayed by his bedside every day, bringing him water and medicine.

He recalled a day like today, with heavy snowfall, when he and Li Mu built a small snow mound in front of the palace, set off a string of firecrackers, and made a wish.

Li Jing said: May the world be at peace and tranquil forever.

Li Mu said: May all your wishes come true.

In the main hall, Li Jing, tears streaming down his face, stared at Li Yi through the misty tears, gritting his teeth:

"You lied to me, you all lied to me, you all lied to me!"