Chapter 809 The Real and Fake Kings (Two Updates)

After an incredibly long and tumultuous night, the last person still awake in the Maple Garden also fell into a deep sleep.

The crescent moon climbed out of the clouds, echoing the stars, and the hot summer gradually came to an end, even the noisy cicadas chirped much softer.

Everyone slept soundly.

The next day, as the first hint of dawn appeared in the east, the sleeping capital of Shengdu awoke in the soft morning light.

The people at Maple Garden began their busy day.

Xiao Jingkong was the first to wake up.

He's been kept by his wicked brother-in-law like a lackey lately, and can't openly move in with Gu Jiao. So, every morning he throws in a tantrum to express his strong dissatisfaction.

But this morning, when he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in an unfamiliar small bed.

Huh?

He got up, jumped out of bed, and pushed open the door to take a look.

Wow!

It's the courtyard of the Duke's mansion!

He slept at the Duke's mansion last night!

He and Jiaojiao are together!

"Jiao—uh—"

The little guy rushed over to find Gu Jiao, but before he could even enter Gu Jiao's room, he was swept away by a tall figure.

On the other side, the king slowly woke up. There was still a trace of the effects of the muscle relaxant in his body, which made him feel weak and sore.

Whether it was his imagination or not, apart from the soreness, he felt pain all over his body.

The king frowned, struggled to sit up, and held his forehead with one hand, feeling dizzy for a while. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong. He touched his head, then touched it again, and it was gone!

His wig is gone!

Ever since Han Ye shaved his head bald, the king couldn't bear the shame and would wear a wig whenever he went out, only taking it off when he slept.

When he went to the Cold Palace to see Lady Han, he was suddenly knocked unconscious by her. He woke up in the cellar with his hair still intact.

cellar--

Oh, right, he was locked in the cellar by the Han family—

How could there be such strong light in the cellar?

This is not a cellar!

What kind of tricks is the Han family up to now?

creak—

The door was pushed open, and Zhang Dequan walked in carrying a pot of cooled tea.

The king raised his aching arm and pulled back the curtain, immediately seeing Zhang Dequan placing tea on the table.

He frowned: "How did you end up here? Have you betrayed me too?!" Otherwise, why would you be in Han's territory?

Zhang Dequan was startled by the king's sudden stern shout. If it weren't for his years of experience as a eunuch, he probably would have dropped the teapot in his hand.

He composed himself, went to the bedside, bowed to the king, and said with delight, "Your Majesty, you're awake?"

"Where is that poisonous woman, Han?" the king asked coldly.

"Hmm?" Zhang Dequan was taken aback, thinking that the king was asking about Han's whereabouts and fate. He quickly replied, "Han is in the Cold Palace."

"It's just cold here..." The king was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly realized the meaning behind Zhang Dequan's words. He frowned, "Where is this?"

Zhang Dequan replied, "Your Majesty, this is the Duke's Mansion."

Seeing the king's bewildered expression, Zhang Dequan recounted in detail how he had escaped from the palace and come to the Duke's mansion to seek help from Lord Xiao: "...This time, thanks to His Highness the Grandson and Lord Xiao, it was they who devised a way to rescue His Majesty from the Cold Palace."

The king was truly shocked.

He never expected that the person who saved him from the jaws of death would be the weakest of the imperial grandsons and Xiao Liulang, whom he usually disliked the most.

It seems the saying is truly true—you can't judge a book by its cover.

The king asked, "Where are they?"

Zhang Dequan replied, "They also live in this courtyard. They were up late last night and are probably exhausted. They haven't gotten up yet. Should I go and wake them?"

The king waved his hand: "Never mind, let them sleep."

Zhang Dequan smiled and said, "Yes."

"Help me up and help me change my clothes."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhang Dequan helped the king off the bed, and the king covered his dragon buttocks, frowning strangely.

Why does his butt hurt so much? Was he kicked?

On second thought, it was impossible. He was the emperor of a country, the current emperor. Who would dare to kick his butt?

"Hiss—"

It really hurts.

The king's "hair" was lost during his escape last night. As for whether it was lost while crawling through a dog hole or when Gu Chengfeng carried him back to the Imperial Preceptor's Hall, no one remembers.

He did have spares, but unfortunately they were all in the palace, so he had to ask Zhang Dequan to find him a bamboo hat.

Just as the king put on his straw hat, Duke Anguo arrived in his wheelchair.

Zhang Dequan glanced into the courtyard and said, "Your Majesty, it is the Duke of Anguo."

"He's here so early to pay his respects to me. Alright, let him in." Although the king had never gotten along with Duke Anguo, he would give him a chance to prove himself in light of Duke Anguo's loyalty this time.

To everyone's surprise, Zhang Dequan opened the door with a smile, but the Duke of Anguo's wheelchair simply passed right by the door.

monarch:"……"

Zhang Dequan: "..."

Duke Anguo came to have breakfast with Gu Jiao, but found that Gu Jiao was not awake. So he asked the servant to push the wheelchair back and he would come back later.

Seeing the Duke of Anguo's wheelchair return, Zhang Dequan hurriedly said to the king, "Here he comes! The Duke of Anguo must have gone to the wrong house!"

The king straightened his expression, trying his best not to let the straw hat affect his imperial aura.

Then he watched as the Duke of Anguo's wheelchair passed by his door again...

The king glared angrily at Zhang Dequan.

Zhang De gave an awkward smile.

If it were only Duke Anguo who did this, it would be fine, but as the people in the courtyard gradually woke up, not a single one of them came to pay their respects to the king!

The king's face turned extremely ugly.

Zhang Dequan chuckled and said, "You're traveling incognito, they don't know you've moved in, and they don't recognize you at all."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Empress Dowager Zhuang, who was sitting under the crabapple tree eating melon seeds, glanced at the king in the room and asked the maid beside her, "Hey, does the king of your Great Yan have no hair? Why is he wearing a bamboo hat while sitting in the room?"

The king clenched his fist.

Zhang Dequan, I want to kill you!

-

The aunt and her group learned about what happened last night from Gu Chengfeng while having breakfast in the main room this morning.

Everyone remained calm.

Empress Dowager Zhuang: Men are all big pig trotters.

Old Master: We're about the same age, but he doesn't have as much hair as I do.

Nan Shi Niang: I've just invented a poison and I'd like to find someone to test it on.

Master Lu: No emperor is a good person.

...

Gu Jiao didn't have to go to the military camp today, and she could have slept until late morning, but she was awakened by the noise in the courtyard just after 9 am.

It wasn't Long Yi and Xiao Jingkong, nor Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun, but Steward Zheng who rushed in, shouting, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened!"

It turned out that after the king was abducted last night, Lady Han was worried that they would retaliate, so she devised a plan overnight and, at great risk, read out the imperial edict restoring Crown Prince Shangguan Qi to his position at the morning court this day.

Not only that, he also issued an order to arrest the Third Princess Shangguan Yan, and ordered the Commandery and the Imperial Guards to seal off the Imperial Preceptor's Hall.

The reason given was that the Third Princess, Shangguan Yan, was misled by the Imperial Preceptor's Palace and committed acts of disloyalty and filial impiety towards the King, framing the former Crown Prince—who was innocent, and that the assassin in the secret chamber of the Imperial Preceptor's Palace that day was part of a conspiracy between Shangguan Yan and the Imperial Preceptor's Palace.

The assassin's accomplices have been captured and have confessed to their crimes. They also revealed that the Imperial Preceptor had been using the pretext of treating Shangguan Qing's illness to secretly have an affair with Shangguan Yan all these years.

Shangguan Yan's return to Shengdu was also part of a plan by both sides.

The assassins in the Crown Prince's residence were actually assassins from the Imperial Preceptor's Hall in disguise, and the imperial mausoleum was also damaged by people from the Imperial Preceptor's Hall.

Shangguan Yan's repeated injuries after returning to Shengdu were all just a ruse to gain the emperor's pity and sympathy.

If the king hadn't been too busy with official duties to see Shangguan Yan yesterday, causing Shangguan Yan to become suspicious and order her subordinates to secretly inquire about the king's movements in the palace, the king might not have discovered this secret.

Most importantly, according to the assassin, Shangguan Yan has another trump card that no one knows about.

This trump card is Shangguan Yan's biggest secret, and even his close bodyguard has no way of knowing it.

But one thing is certain: Shangguan Yan came prepared this time, and she will stop at nothing and pay any price to take back everything she has lost.

Upon hearing this, Gu Jiao almost wanted to applaud Consort Han.

The story was so well-constructed that she almost believed it.

This woman is truly ambitious and daring.

Rather than waiting for the real king to enter the palace and expose her, it's better for her to strike first.

That way, even if the real king returns to the palace, she can say, "Shangguan Yan, is this your trump card? For the throne, you actually found someone to impersonate the king?"

The smartest step in the whole plan was not to "expose" Shangguan Yan's ambition, but to make the Imperial Preceptor's Hall no longer clean.

Originally, the Imperial Preceptor Hall was the most valued by the monarch, and the Imperial Preceptor was the most qualified person to distinguish between the true and false monarch. But now the Imperial Preceptor has become an "accomplice" of Shangguan Yan's conspiracy to rebel. How much credibility does his word still have?

The family went to the study in Fengyuan.

Except for children.

—Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun were listed as children.

With a dark expression, Gu Yan returned to his room with Gu Xiaoshun.

As soon as Manager Zheng left, the two of them leaned against the wall.

In the study, the aunt and the old priest sat in the main seats, with Nan's wife and Master Lu sitting to the left of the aunt, and Duke Anguo, Gu Jiao, and Xiao Heng sitting to the right of the aunt.

Gu Chengfeng didn't sit down. He frowned and paced back and forth in the room, pinching his chin.

He wondered, "I just don't understand. Since the Han family has even restored the position of Crown Prince, why not clear her name and make her Empress or something? Anyway, the Emperor is in my hands, and I have the imperial decree!"

Gu Jiao thought for a moment and said, "Han believes that the curse was cast by Consort Wang. To clear her name, Consort Wang must be eliminated. However, to be made empress would mean making enemies of the entire harem. She doesn't have the energy for that right now."

Xiao Heng nodded in agreement: "Besides, the king she holds is ultimately a fake. Even if she goes all in, she will still have some reservations. Restoring the crown prince is already a risky move. She needs to observe the reaction in the court. Only when no one suspects her will she dare to take the next step."

Gu Chengfeng asked, "Has anyone in the court had any doubts?"

Xiao Heng shook his head: "Things happened too suddenly, and everyone probably hasn't reacted yet. Once we get back and think about it carefully behind closed doors, perhaps some people will notice something is wrong. However, the king is always unpredictable, and no one dares to object to any absurd decision he makes."

Gu Chengfeng felt his brain was starting to malfunction: "If that's the case, why is the Han family still being so cautious? Why not just have the fake king kill us all?"

Xiao Heng said, "Because we have a real monarch in our hands, this has always been a threat to the Han family. Her actions today are a test of the court officials, and also a test of us. She wants to see what we will do."

Gu Chengfeng gave an "oh," seemingly understanding but not quite: "Then what do we do?"

Master Lu gave a sharp chop to the neck: "Charge into the palace! Kill the fake king!"

Xiao Heng shook his head again: "I can't kill him."

Now that things have come to this, the Han family cannot afford not to take precautions. The Imperial Guards and the Commandery must already be on high alert. Even if they have a master like Long Yi, they cannot possibly wipe out an entire army.

The Han family was just waiting for them to walk right into their trap.

Master Lu scratched his head, "We can't kill him. Are we supposed to confront him in court? But who would believe the king we have is the real one? I'm not saying this to be mean, but the Third Princess's reputation isn't very good. The Crown Prince is so cunning, secretly doing evil, and hypocritical, yet he's highly respected among the people... On the other hand, the Third Princess is a habitual traitor. No matter how you look at it, the king she brought seems more like a fake..."

Han's move was indeed too direct and to the point, leaving almost no room for maneuver.

Gu Chengfeng said irritably, "If the Xuanyuan family were still around, why would we need to go through all this trouble? We could just lead the Xuanyuan army into the palace, capture the fake king, and behead him! In the end, it's all the king's fault! Instead of using the loyal Xuanyuan family, he insisted on supporting the Han family, the Nangong family, and this family and that family! Now that things have gone wrong, I want to see which of the eleven great families will stand up for him and which one will believe him!"

Under the eaves, near the entrance, the king's face flushed and paled in turns.

Zhang Dequan didn't dare to utter a sound.

He hadn't expected to hear such blasphemous words.

Although they are all true, that's precisely why they hit the nail on the head.

If the Xuanyuan family were still standing tall in Shengdu, how could these evil spirits have been born?

Xuan Yuanli dared to do what others dared not do.

The Xuanyuan family dares to bear the blame that others dare not.

Xuanyuan Li would never mistake him; with just one word from him, Xuanyuan Li would believe him.

In the end, he destroyed his strongest shield.

"His Majesty……"

Zhang Dequan opened his mouth and called out softly, but he didn't know how to comfort His Majesty.

The king didn't say a word, slowly turned around, and silently returned to his room.

Zhang Dequan gazed at the king's retreating figure. Even when betrayed by his own flesh and blood and his wife, His Majesty had never been so dejected. Yet, the moment he remembered the Xuanyuan family, His Majesty seemed to have aged considerably.

The only family that could protect you, the Xuanyuan family, has been killed by you.

Your Majesty, do you regret it?

study.

Gu Chengfeng continued to passionately criticize the King of Great Yan for being blind to the truth and reaping the consequences of his actions.

The aunt cracked open a melon seed and said calmly, "Alright, everyone's gone. Stop talking, it's too noisy."

"You're leaving?" Gu Chengfeng plopped down on the stool and let out a long sigh. "Talking for so long is exhausting!"

Don't waste your monthly pass on the last day of the month!

(End of this chapter)