Whether Zhu Zhi was stunned by this change or had some other idea, he suddenly tightened his grip on the old emperor's arm, even picking up a knife from the ground and pulling the old emperor back.
"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! It wasn't me, it wasn't me, Father! I didn't do it! Father, you have to believe me."
Zhu Zhi pulled the old emperor back into the Chaoyang Palace and then closed the palace door behind him.
Zhang Zhongwei was also quite frightened by this unexpected turn of events.
As the group confronted each other, the Imperial Guards surrounded the entire Chaoyang Palace.
Inside the Chaoyang Palace, Zhu Zhi's hand holding the knife trembled incessantly, yet he dared not let go of the old emperor.
The old emperor's face turned ashen: "Zhu Zhi, what do you want to do!"
Zhu Zhi's face was covered in tears, but he also understood that if he didn't stay with the emperor at this moment, the arrow in his old man's hand could pierce his chest at any moment, and he didn't want to die.
"Father, please issue an edict to have the Second Prince and all the Imperial Guards outside withdraw. As soon as they leave, I will immediately release you. I truly have no intention of forcing you to abdicate or rebelling."
"It really is you! Zhu Zhi, how dare you force the emperor to abdicate today! You have some nerve!" The old emperor trembled with rage.
"Father, I was used by the Second Prince. I was just sitting in my residence reflecting on my mistakes when someone suddenly came in and said that you were seriously ill and summoned me to the palace to attend to you. I was worried about your health, so I came without thinking."
"After entering the palace, they told me to wait for you in a side hall. But just now, Xiao Song suddenly rushed in, saying that some scholars were forcing the emperor to abdicate, and that I should take you away quickly. He even put the knife in my hand. I was used, Father. You must believe me."
The old emperor was furious and could not possibly believe him: "You colluded with Fu Yuanliang from the inside out, otherwise how could you have escaped from the First Prince's residence, which was guarded by the Imperial Guards! Zhu Zhi, you want to be the Crown Prince, you want the throne. Fine, I issued an edict to make you the Crown Prince when you were ten years old, and it has been almost twenty years. I have never had the thought of deposing you. But what you did on the Lantern Festival has truly chilled my heart!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhi suddenly felt how ironic it was that he had made him the crown prince at the age of ten.
Ha, how ridiculous!
Zhu Zhi suddenly calmed down. He had no way out today. His father was using him to restrain the third prince, and the second prince was using him to kill his father.
In this game, he was always the one being used. At worst, he would just die. What was there to be afraid of?
Zhu Zhi forced the old emperor back step by step until he sat down on the dragon throne. The bloodstained knife that Xiao Song had handed him gleamed with a chilling aura.
His face was still wet with tears, yet it revealed a hint of sinister cruelty. For nearly thirty years, he had always been an obedient crown prince and a cowardly prince in front of his father, but today he didn't want to do that anymore.
Zhu Zhi sneered: "You've never even considered deposing me? Ha, all of us princes combined aren't even half as hypocritical as you. It's been almost twenty years since the Empress Dowager passed away, and you haven't appointed another empress. Everyone says you and the Empress Dowager were deeply in love, and that she was your only legitimate wife in your life!"
The old emperor stared ahead, as if the person standing before him was not his eldest son, but the woman who had stood alongside him, wielding weapons, and helped him ascend the throne.
Twenty years? That's a long time.
"While you feigned deep affection for your mother in public, you secretly poured cups of poison into her mouth, causing her health to deteriorate day by day. You deceived everyone, and have you even begun to believe it yourself?"
Zhu Zhi slowly wiped away the tears on his face.
“Father, do you know? When you handed the last cup of poisoned wine to Mother, I was in the side hall. Through the crack in the door, I saw everything clearly and heard everything you said to Mother.”
The old emperor suddenly turned his head and looked at his eldest son in disbelief, as if he were seeing him for the first time, his pale lips slightly parted.
Zhu Zhi straightened up, his expression calm, as if recalling something insignificant.
"From the very first day you ascended the throne, you poisoned the Empress Dowager. You said that only when she died could you issue an edict to make me the Crown Prince, and only then could the Xu family remain in power. Did you think the Empress Dowager didn't know that the wine you had the palace servants serve her was poisoned?"
"The Empress Dowager did not like drinking alcohol, but since you became Emperor and Empress, she drinks a cup almost every day."
"Father, didn't you get this throne through dishonest means?"
The old emperor roared, "What nonsense are you spouting!"
"Nonsense? Heh, heh heh. Although I don't know what methods you used to obtain this throne, my grandfather had so many princes, and in the end, they all either died or were crippled. How could it be such a coincidence that only you were left? If it weren't for the fact that Uncle Hui was unable to continue the family line, you wouldn't have let him live, would you?"
The old emperor's eyes were cloudy like those of a dead fish, yet they revealed a ruthless glint like that of a hawk, as he stared intently at Zhu Zhi.
Hearing the conversation between the two inside the hall, Zhu Heng, who was outside the hall, turned pale with anger as he gripped his sword tightly. His face was so cold and stern that it seemed as if the bricks and tiles of the palace wall in front of the hall would explode. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Dog Emperor!
He closed his eyes tightly, forcefully suppressing the tears welling up in his eyes.
Inside the hall, Zhu Zhi's voice was neither hurried nor slow.
"Over the years, I have been thinking about one thing: was it because your mother and maternal grandfather did something that allowed you to ascend the throne so smoothly? That is why you were so eager to get rid of your mother and cut off the Xu family's influence in the palace after you obtained the throne."
"But the Empress Dowager knew all too well what kind of person the man beside her was, which is why she swallowed those cups of wine that you personally handed her without hesitation, with a smile."
"The last cup of poisoned wine was handed to the Empress Dowager, and her death was a matter of course."
The old emperor slumped on the dragon throne, the large throne making his already withered body appear even thinner and weaker, like a frail old man, having completely lost his former imperial demeanor.
Tears welled up in Zhu Zhi's eyes again: "Father, do you know how I have lived these past twenty years? Whenever I close my eyes, I see my mother dying a gruesome death with blood flowing from her seven orifices."
"I have been tormented for nearly twenty years." Zhu Zhi slowly exhaled. "Only recently, when you deposed me from my position as crown prince, could I finally get a good night's sleep."
"But Father, it has been twenty years. Has the Xu family truly stood firm as you promised Mother? Apart from my maternal grandfather still holding a position in the court, what else does the Xu family have?"
Zhu Zhi's voice grew increasingly shrill: "When my son's Crown Princess gave birth to Xuan'er, she suffered a difficult childbirth and almost lost both mother and child. Wasn't that your doing? You deposed my son from his position as Crown Prince, yet you immediately appointed a sickly Xuan'er as the Imperial Grandson. Do you really think I don't know what you're planning?"
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