Force the emperor to abdicate

He raised his hand and touched his face. "That's impossible. Before the boat trip that day, I spent a long time in my room getting ready and even posed in my best pose on the boat. How could you not remember me?"

Fu Huaiying chuckled, "I have no impression of you, but I do have some impression of the tea you gave me."

Lin Yanan knew she was joking and raised the corners of his lips, "I knew you would remember it."

Fu Huaiying lowered her eyes and rubbed his eyebrows. "It's not over yet. Prince Huan is going after the Crown Prince's life this time. He won't let it go."

Lin Yanan stared at her.

Fu Huaiying understood his look and shook her head gently. "He went there to target the Crown Prince and to warn me. We'll settle this account and the one with Jiang Yu'an later. Now is the time for us to hold back."

Lin Yan'an nodded obediently, but was thinking about how to vent his anger.

Fu Huaiying seemed to see through him and said calmly, "Don't act on your own."

"……oh……"

"The father is too strong, and the son is too weak, so they are suspicious of each other." Fu Huaiying picked up the fallen leaves from the tree and raised her hand to touch the wound. "When this matter will end, it depends on whether the prince can keep his composure."

…

Prince Huan pushed open the door and raised his hand to lift the curtain. The prince's bright yellow robe had not yet been taken off.

"Royal brother."

The prince looked back at him. If he hadn't seen him here, he would have probably thought that it was only his father who wanted him dead. "You bribed Yueru's maid to work for you. What a scheming person, Chen Youxiang! Aren't you afraid of backlash?"

Prince Huan was half a head taller than the Crown Prince. At this moment, he looked at him with his eyes lowered, with a natural majesty.

"Backlash? Hahahahahahahahahahaha, since ancient times, victors have been kings and losers have been bandits, so how can there be backlash? If there was, how could my father sit high up in the temple and remain unmoved?"

"Are you crazy? How dare you say that?"

Prince Huan looked at him as if he were a dead man. He raised his hand and held the dragon-patterned jade pendant high in the air. "Royal brother, you have been defeated. I advise you to die honestly, otherwise it would be bad to implicate your cousin in prison."

There were no lights on in the room, and it was dim, but the prince still recognized it at a glance. He stared at the jade pendant in Prince Huan's hand with bloodshot eyes. It was the one that his father always wore around his waist. He was imprisoned in Yihe Palace, but his father gave such an important thing to Prince Huan. It was obvious that this was to depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son.

Yes, could it be that my father would be so hasty as to believe the words of a maid and think that he was trying to frame King Huan?

My father is a wise man. If he had been willing to conduct a thorough investigation, he would have surely cleared his name. But he didn't. He imprisoned him in a few words and even handed over the dragon-patterned jade pendant.

Perhaps Father knew all about this from the beginning. He fanned the flames in order to have his beloved King Huan ascend the throne.

Prince Huan admired the ever-changing expressions on the prince's face. When he knew the time was right, he put the jade pendant into his sleeve and turned to leave the hall.

As soon as they left the palace, Prince Huan handed the jade pendant from his sleeve to Yan Qing and said, "Take this and destroy it. Don't let anyone else see it."

"yes."

"Royal brother, oh royal brother, please don't let me down."

Da Hu was lying on the wall bored. The girl didn't let her follow her, so she could only lie there in a daze.

She liked to wear black clothes and was lying on the wall. It was dark and if you didn't look carefully you wouldn't have noticed that there was someone here.

There was a slight sound of branches being crushed. Da Hu immediately focused his attention and could only see a person stealthily throwing something into the pond next to him.

Dahu waited quietly for him to leave, then immediately jumped into the lake. She was a good swimmer and could see clearly in the lake. She picked up the thing in no time. She climbed ashore dripping wet, hid the thing in her clothes, and quickly ran back to the yard.

When she returned to the house, Fu Huaiying had already returned. Seeing that she was soaked, he was a little surprised. "What happened? Where did you go?"

She stood up, took the clothes and handed them to Dahu, "Hurry up and change them, it will be bad if you catch a cold."

Dahu nodded, took out the thing and handed it to her, then quickly went into the inner room, changed his clothes, wiped his hair with a cloth, walked around the screen and came to Fu Huaiying.

Fu Huaiying held up the jade pendant Dahu had given her and examined it carefully under the candlelight. "Where did this come from?"

Da Hu sipped the water from his hair and shook his head, "I don't know what this is. Someone just threw it into the lake. I didn't think it was a good thing, so I fished it out in case it meant harm to you."

Fu Huaiying waved her hand, motioning her to come closer. "This belongs to His Majesty. He often wears a jade pendant with a dragon pattern around his waist. However, this one is fake."

"Fake?"

Fu Huaiying nodded. "The Crown Prince was imprisoned because of the wooden man, but His Majesty has been slow to depose the Crown Prince, so someone is getting anxious. I think he sent someone to create this jade pendant, and then let the Crown Prince see it, causing him to worry."

She put down the jade pendant and said, "This guy always makes mistakes when he gets anxious. He's trying to force the prince to rebel."

…

The sound of the night watchman's drum at midnight was particularly clear at night. Fu Huaiying had not yet gone to bed, and the silence outside was so unsettling.

"Miss," Da Hu pushed open the door and came in, "You guessed right, it's today."

Ji Yuan is not here today, so the prince would only choose today to take action. As soon as Da Hu finished speaking, the light outside suddenly came on.

"Here I come."

Outside Chenguang Palace

The prince held the sword, and his bright yellow robe was stained with blood, making it look particularly dull.

"Your Highness! Don't hesitate!" Yan Qing raised his knife. "We have no way out. If we fail today, we will die."

The prince looked at the golden dragon circling on the stone pillar of Chenguang Palace with a sharp gaze. Thinking of the dragon-patterned jade pendant that King Huan held high that day, he gritted his teeth, raised his sword and led the way in.

Emperor Huanyu was not asleep, and there were no candles lit in the bedroom. He sighed and quietly looked at the prince who broke in. Besides helplessness, he also felt a little relieved.

The prince raised his hand and thrust his sword into the quilt, but missed.

The hall suddenly lit up, and the brightness made him close his eyes instantly. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Ji Yuan staring at him coldly from a distance.

He understood instantly and laughed, "As expected of my father, you can see everything clearly."

Emperor Huan Wang opened the curtain and walked out from the darkness, "Prince, are you trying to force the emperor to abdicate?"

The prince stood there quietly, looking at him, "Father, did you never intend to pass this position to me?"

His tone was firm.

The sound of weapons outside continued, and the ambergris in the hall could not cover up the stench of blood that was rising to the sky.

Emperor Huanyu said nothing, but just looked at his son, whom he had high hopes for, and sighed softly.

"I entered the Shangshufang at the age of four, and learned riding and archery at the age of eight. I devoted all my energy to becoming a qualified crown prince and a qualified emperor. In winter, to avoid falling asleep, the charcoal fire in my palace was always half as small as others. You said that the harem should not interfere in politics, so I dare not see my mother often. You said that as a crown prince, I should be kind, so I treat everyone with courtesy. Father, I don't understand. If you favor my second brother, why did you push me into this position?"

Emperor Huanyu listened to the prince's tearful sobs, closed his eyes gently, and his eyes were slightly moist. When he looked up again, the trace of softness in his heart was gone.

"Because you take after your mother, you are dull, unintelligent, and easily trust others. Do you think you are qualified? No, you are far, far from being able to be an emperor."

The prince's hand trembled as he gripped the sword. He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You're always like this, blaming everything on my lack of ability. But if you've always looked down on me, why did you make me the crown prince? Since ancient times, the Ministry of Revenue has been entrusted to the crown prince! But you gave the real power to my second brother! You want him to fight, but you want me to die! Is my life just a stepping stone on his road to becoming an emperor?"

The noise outside the palace gradually became quieter until it was completely silent. The prince knew that he had been defeated today.

Wen Chuyan's body was covered in blood, and his face was covered in several knife wounds. He held his sword and stood respectfully outside the palace, "Your Majesty, the rebels have been wiped out."

The voice in the hall was cold, neither happy nor angry, "I understand."

"Your Majesty the Queen...you can't go in!"

The queen glanced at the young eunuch, lifted her robe, and knelt outside the palace. "Your Majesty! I have failed to educate my son. I am willing to take the blame for what happened today. I beg Your Majesty to spare the prince's life!"

She leaned forward and kowtowed heavily, "Your Majesty! I am willing to take the blame on your son's behalf. I beg Your Majesty to spare Xiaoze's life!"

"Your Majesty! I am willing to take the blame on your behalf!"

She kowtowed again and again, and her tears mixed with blood dyed the floor tiles red.

Listening to the noise outside, the Crown Prince felt as if he had fallen into an icy cellar. He was wrong. Today's abdication was like roasting his mother on the fire. It was his fault, forcing his mother to suffer humiliation outside the palace for him...

"Your Majesty! I am willing to take the blame on your son's behalf! Please spare Xiaoze's life!"

Outside the palace, the Queen's pleading voice came in waves, making it difficult for the Prince to stand firm.

His eyes were bloodshot and his body was covered in blood, and he couldn't tell whether it was his own or someone else's.

He raised his sword and pointed it at his father. "Father, you once said I was too dull, not smart enough, that I didn't have my second brother's strategy and scheming, that I wasn't like you. But you forgot that when we were young, you held me high above your head and regarded me as your pride. I didn't want to fight, but you pushed my second brother to fight with me, and watched us brothers kill each other. Is that enough for you?"

Emperor Huanyu looked down at him, with an emotion in his eyes that the prince could not understand, like heartache, like trance, and like helplessness.

"Your Majesty! I am willing to take the blame on your son's behalf! Please spare Xiaoze's life!"

"His Majesty!"

The prince closed his eyes. He knew that today's plan would fail, and he and his mother would surely die. However, he still put down his sword and spoke softly, "You said I was too soft-hearted and incapable of great things. You said that I was unlike you and unfit to be emperor. But amidst all these conspiracies and intrigues, I was the only one who regarded you as a father. You once told me and my brother that father and son, brothers, ruler and subject, first father and son, then ruler and subject, first brothers, then rivals. You have all forgotten these words, but I remember them."

Emperor Huanyu felt a dull pain in his heart. "From the beginning to the end, you are the only one I have chosen as my heir! Prince! Being an emperor is not just about family!"

"Father, you want your younger brother to fight me. How is this any different from what happened between you and the late Crown Prince? You killed him and became the Supreme Emperor, but you no longer have an older brother who was both a father and a brother. The path you walked, we must walk again. Youxiang is like you. When he provoked me with the dragon-patterned jade pendant, he had already set the trap, waiting for me to fall into it. He wants me dead, just like you wanted the late Crown Prince dead all those years ago. Of all these brothers, he is the most ruthless, and he is the only one who is most like you, Father. If he were the Crown Prince, you would never be able to sleep peacefully."