The old emperor stared coldly at her. In the past, he had also been very fond of Xie Lilan. She was beautiful and had a great figure. But over the years, he had only forced himself on her once, and never again.
Only now did he realize that even this one and only time was a scheme by this vile woman. He hated this mother and son with such wolfish ambitions that he wished he could tear them to pieces. How could he possibly let the imperial physician save her!
Seeing that his pleas to the old emperor were ineffective, Zhu Heng crawled to Lu Xiaoyun on his knees and kowtowed, pleading, "Fourth brother, I beg you, I beg you to let Mr. Lu save my mother, I beg you, I beg you..."
Lu Xiaoyun helplessly helped Zhu Heng up: "Second brother, it's not that I don't want to help, but Ayan is in Mucheng. There's a major epidemic in Mucheng. Half a month ago, he went to Mucheng with Physician Jiang and the others, and he hasn't returned yet."
Zhu Heng fell heavily to the ground. It was him, he was the one who had killed his mother: "Mother..."
A dull, stabbing pain shot through her abdomen: "Heng, Heng'er, it's no use. I took the Five Metals Powder before I came. There's no antidote. Don't beg them. Mother is so happy. I can finally see your father..."
Zhu Heng hurriedly crawled to Consort Xian's side again: "Mother, Mother..."
Consort Xian's eyes were full of love: "Heng'er, Mother was wrong. I shouldn't have let you take revenge... I shouldn't have told you about your background, Heng, Heng'er, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
"No, no!" Zhu Heng shook his head desperately. "Mother, how could your son recognize a thief as his father, Mother..."
The Consort Xian's hand fell to the ground with a thud, while her other hand tightly gripped the jade pendant at Zhu Heng's waist.
This jade pendant was meant to be left by Zhenlang to their child, but unfortunately, he never got to see their child.
"mother……!"
Zhu Heng was taken away by someone.
A palace coup that killed and injured thousands was finally quelled.
Zhu Dan went to the inner palace to see his mother. To avoid worrying her, he did not tell Consort Shu about his injury.
Consort Shu kept her palace under control, closing the palace gates and forbidding anyone from leaving, while ordering the eunuchs and maids to perform their duties. Therefore, although the rebels killed many people when the palace coup broke out, no one in Consort Shu's palace was harmed.
In fact, a month ago, when they learned that Zhu Heng was going to stage a palace coup on this day, he had told Consort Shu that his mother, the Empress Dowager, and Ruoling should use the excuse of worshipping Buddha to stay at Qinglong Temple for a few days.
However, Consort Shu refused, as having so many people leaving the palace would arouse suspicion from Zhu Heng and Consort Xian.
The Empress Dowager and Ruoling used to go up the mountain to stay for a few days every year, and their departure would not attract attention.
Zhu Dan was relieved to see that his mother was alright. After taking a bath and changing his clothes, he hurriedly went to the examination hall.
The candidates at the examination hall were still writing furiously, seemingly unaware that the Fifth Prince, who had been missing for three hours, had returned and there was nothing different about him.
He still wore a gentle smile, and his voice was as pleasant as ever when he spoke to the examiners.
His face, however, seemed to have little color in it.
Before leaving, Ayan left Lu Xiaoyun a lot of good medicine for her injuries. After returning to her residence, she immediately asked Jiang Chuan to send the medicine to Zhu Dan.
Zhu Dan held the medicine, feeling incredibly comforted. He knew that Yun'er still cared about him.
·
Zhu Heng, along with 232 people from the Second Prince's household, were all imprisoned in the Imperial Prison.
All the eunuchs and palace maids who served Consort Xian in Qinghua Palace were also imprisoned.
The residences of Ren Yushan and other ministers who went to the Gongyuan to stage a sit-in were surrounded.
Death awaited them.
As evening approached, thunder rumbled and a torrential downpour suddenly began.
The streets of Shengjing were littered with corpses, and the blood was washed into the moat by the rain, turning the entire moat red.
This palace coup resulted in the deaths of thousands. The blood in front of Chaoyang Hall congealed into a thick layer. After the heavy rain, palace servants had to lie on the ground and wash the bloodstains inch by inch until they were completely clean.
Three days later, the first exam of the spring imperial examination ended.
When the candidates came out of the examination hall, they could only smell a faint smell of blood in the air.
Lu Xiaoyun and Zhu Yu walked on the bluestone slabs in the palace. Looking into the distance, the vermilion palace walls seemed to be stained with blood.
Even the bluestone slabs beneath our feet are soaked in the blood of human lives.
"Zhu Yu, have you ever thought about the throne?" Lu Xiaoyun stopped and suddenly asked.
Zhu Yu looked up at Lu Xiaoyun and said, word by word, "I never thought of it, whether before or after I learned about my mother's background, I never had this thought."
He looked into Lu Xiaoyun's eyes and asked, "Lu Xiaoyun, do you believe me?"
Lu Xiaoyun smiled and said, "I believe you."
Zhu Yu smiled and said, "Fifth Brother is more suitable for that position than I am."
Zhu Dan, who had overheard their conversation from the corner, pursed her lips and turned to leave.
Zhu Yu raised his right wrist. After this palace coup, he had gained a lot of recognition and praise, and his score had dropped to eight thousand points.
The second and third imperial examinations followed immediately, each lasting three days.
Zhu Dan needed to recuperate properly these past few days, so he didn't go to the examination hall and instead entrusted all matters to the Right Chancellor, Bu Feizhang.
The ministers who were released from the duty room were all relieved to be alive and sighed with relief. They never expected that the Second Prince Zhu Heng, who was not competitive and did not fight for anything, would actually dare to rebel!
After nine days of testing, with Ayan's medicine, Zhu Dan's abdominal wound healed quickly.
Zhu Dan was already in the imperial study, though his face was still somewhat pale.
Upon seeing Lu Xiaoyun enter, the old emperor asked in a deep voice, "Fourth Prince, how is the investigation of the traitors I instructed you to do?"
Lu Xiaoyun respectfully handed over the completed memorial, and Zhang Zhongwei hurriedly stepped forward, took the memorial, and presented it to the old emperor.
The old emperor casually flipped through it.
Lu Xiaoyun said, "Your Majesty, Zhu Heng's private army totaled 52,312 men. In this incident, 3,782 men died. There are still less than 50,000 men left, which I have had Qi Shaocheng put under guard."
The old emperor gave a deep "hmm," then asked Zhu Dan, who was standing to the side, "Dan'er, how's your investigation into the Imperial Guards going?"
Zhu Dan also respectfully handed over the memorial, but this time the old emperor did not let Zhang Zhongwei take it for him. Instead, he stepped forward and took it from Zhu Dan's hands, and even patted Zhu Dan's shoulder lightly.
Zhu Dan said, "Your Majesty, of the 5,860 Imperial Guards, 1,7863 have died, and more than 4,000 are still needed. Your son has detained all of them at Yongding Gate."
The old emperor looked at Zhu Dan and smiled, "Dan'er, you've done a great job. You've been in charge of the imperial examinations for a while now, and you've also had to come up with a foolproof plan to deal with that scoundrel Zhu Heng. You've worked hard. Your father has noticed that you've lost weight."
"Zhang Zhongwei, send the ginseng I recently acquired from my private treasury to the Fifth Prince's residence."
Zhang Zhongwei smiled and immediately went to the old emperor's private treasury, thinking that the emperor still treated the fifth prince differently.
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