Chapter 346 The Prince is Really Filial
"Princess." Concubine Shu said, "I had lunch with Xiaowu today, and then I rushed to the Yangxin Palace to take care of His Majesty. But when I arrived, I found that His Majesty was not in a good condition, so I immediately sent someone to send a letter to the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess."
"When the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess arrived, His Majesty could no longer say anything. But... I know His Majesty's last words before he died."
She looked at Li Dajian and said, "Li Dajian can testify to this."
Li Daxun, who was kneeling beside the dragon bed with red eyes, raised his head immediately after hearing Concubine Shu's words and answered with a choked voice, "Yes, I can testify."
As the chief eunuch who served the emperor for decades, Li Dajian's words were naturally credible.
Hearing this, everyone's eyes fell on Concubine Shu.
Many court officials had subtle looks in their eyes. The Second Prince and the Third Prince, who had never gotten along with each other, looked at each other inexplicably. Their heartbeats quickened and their expressions were complicated.
When the emperor died, the throne became vacant.
According to tradition, the crown prince should naturally inherit the throne.
But they all knew that the prince did not have much time left and would not live long, and he was not liked by the emperor, so the emperor would definitely not pass the throne to him.
Then, to whom will my father pass the throne?
The second prince felt that he still had an advantage over the third prince. Thinking of this, a cold light flashed in his eyes as he looked at Concubine Shu.
He did not forget that Concubine Shu also had a daughter, Xiaowu, who was deeply favored by his father some time ago.
"When His Majesty was dying, he kept calling out 'Shuang'er' and saying sorry, saying he was wrong..."
Concubine Shu bit her lower lip lightly. In her red eyes, besides sadness, there seemed to be a little jealousy. "I wonder who this person is..."
"It was the maiden name of the late queen." Li Dajian added at the right time.
Concubine Shu continued, "Your Majesty repeated this for a long time, and then he seemed to suddenly wake up and left an oral instruction."
"His Majesty has decreed that after his death, the throne will be passed to..." Concubine Shu's eyes swept over the four princes present one by one, and finally landed on Xiao Ji, "Crown Prince."
"Impossible!" Before everyone could react and congratulate the crown prince, the second prince Xiao Hong shouted in anger, "Absolutely impossible!"
"Father said that he favors me, and he will never leave the throne to the crown prince."
The second prince spoke so rashly that the court officials were speechless. Of course, there were also many people who felt that what the second prince said made sense.
But at this moment, Cheng Fengqi took the lead and said: "Your subjects shall obey the order of the late emperor."
Then he turned his knee from the emperor to Xiao Ji and kowtowed, saying, "Long live your majesty."
After a moment of silence, everyone kowtowed to Xiao Ji in unison, "Long live His Majesty."
Xiao Hong's rebuttal just now became a joke.
Xiao An clenched his fists, but finally loosened them slowly, knelt down and said, "Congratulations, my brother. Long live my brother."
Whether sincerely or falsely, everyone acknowledged Xiao Ji's identity as the new emperor.
The throne of the emperor, a smooth transition.
The next thing to do is to attend to the emperor's funeral. This is a national mourning. The whole country will mourn for the emperor for half a year, and no one is allowed to marry during that time...
The court officials all went about their business.
After hearing what Concubine Shu said, the already weak Princess looked even more haggard.
"Aunt." Xiao Ji and Xie Yao looked at her, "You are weak, go back to Fengming Palace to rest first."
The princess was silent for a moment, then said to Suqin, "You all go out first. I want to stay alone with His Majesty for a while."
Suqin and others retreated immediately.
Only the eldest princess, Xiao Ji and Xie Yao were left in the palace. The eldest princess suppressed her voice and asked, "Are you so cruel?"
The emperor can only lie in bed, yet you still won't let him go?
Her eyes swept from Xie Yao to Xiao Ji, "Prince, do you really know what you are doing?!"
From the moment she heard the news, the eldest princess didn't believe it!
And knowing that the Crown Princess was missing, she became even more certain.
Because she felt that the Crown Princess' disappearance was most likely related to the Emperor. And Xiao Ji cared so much about the Crown Princess that he inevitably lost his sense of proportion...
But she still said "The prince is filial" in the carriage. She meant to let that word spread and dispel any possible doubts outsiders might have about the prince.
"Aunt." Xiao Ji would not admit it. He looked at the princess and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The princess laughed angrily, "Do you still want to pretend in front of me?"
"I also have something to ask you, aunt." Xiao Ji did not answer but asked, looking into the eyes of the princess, "Aunt, do you know why my father, who has always disliked me, would pass the throne to me after mentioning my mother?"
The eldest princess's expression changed slightly and she fell silent.
When Xie Yao saw this, an incredible thought flashed through her mind: Maybe the eldest princess knew about the late queen!
She suddenly raised her eyes and looked at the eldest princess.
Being looked at like that by the two men, the princess could no longer say anything else. Now all this... could be considered the emperor's own fault.
She did not ask any more questions, nor did she explain, but her already weak body suddenly became hunched over, as if she had suddenly become ten years older and more haggard.
Xiao Ji...knows everything.
The eldest princess was lost in memories for a moment...
In fact, it was not the emperor but her who chose Wei Shuang.
She had recruited many noble ladies in the capital, and finally locked onto Wei Shuang. She still remembered that Wei Shuang at that time had a clear distinction between love and hate, was frank and brave, enthusiastic and cheerful... and seemed to have no flaws.
The Wei family controlled the military power and were founding nobles, so they could quickly help the emperor stabilize the court. More importantly, the Wei family members were very upright and had no intention of disloyalty.
Marrying Wei Shuang is the best choice.
But after all, it was the emperor's marriage, so she did not act on her own, but tentatively mentioned the matter to the emperor.
The emperor flatly refused.
She chose to respect the emperor and wanted to find a suitable queen for him, but the emperor told her that he already had a lover.
The emperor was still very young at that time, and when he mentioned his sweetheart, his eyes were full of sincere love.
She chose to respect.
But she didn't expect that the emperor's sweetheart was Wei Shuang.
Later, the two got married successfully, and they lived a loving and happy life. The emperor had only Wei Shuang in his harem, and he allowed her to be alone with him for the rest of his life.
Then... everything changed.
By the time she found out that Wei Shuang's poisoning was related to the emperor, it was too late to save the situation.
She consulted numerous doctors, but none of them could help.
In desperation, she could only choose to keep this matter in her heart and never revealed it in all these years.
Of course, besides the people left by the late queen and the Wei family, she was also the one who protected the prince and helped him grow up safely when he was young.
She originally thought that those old things would be sealed in the past, but unexpectedly... the prince still found out after all.
After a long period of strange silence in the hall, the eldest princess walked out slowly with a hunched back.
Xiao Ji stepped forward, "Aunt, let me help you."
He just felt that some of the princess's behaviors were not right, so he had doubts in his heart. Now he asked...
The eldest princess's attitude already explains all the answers.
But Xiao Ji also knew that those things were not said by the princess, otherwise Xiao Zhige would not admit it.
The eldest princess’ silence...is due to her selfish desire to favor her younger brother, but she also wants to maintain the stability of the court.
Xiao Ji couldn't get close to the eldest princess, but seeing her almost staggering and falling, he couldn't bear it.
"No, no need." The eldest princess raised her hand to stop Xiao Ji, indicating that Xiao Ji did not need to approach her.
She staggered out step by step, her pace was slow, and she said as she walked: "It's me, I'm sorry for your mother..."
Xiao Ji stopped and stood side by side with Xie Yao, watching the eldest princess slowly leave.
The eldest princess...admitted it.
Xiao Ji didn't say anything for a long time, and Xie Yao stood beside him and slowly but firmly held his hand.
The warmth in his palm gave Xiao Ji some strength. He held Xie Yao's hand, looked at her sideways, and said, "Aunt will conceal things in the same way as she did before."
Even if the eldest princess guessed all the truth.
Xiao Ji's identity has been confirmed. The fifth prince Xiao Ze was already convinced, and now the third prince Xiao An has also chosen to surrender. Xiao Hong, who questioned in public today, is in a very embarrassing situation.
When he returned to the palace, he was so angry that he smashed things!
"Damn it! They must be in the same group. Xiao Ji must have bribed Concubine Shu!"
As Xiao Hong spoke, he paced back and forth in the palace anxiously, "Based on how much my father loves and values me, how could the throne not belong to me?"
When Xiao Hong said this, his confidants knelt on the ground and not only did they not dare to speak, they even dared not to breathe, for fear that their presence would be too prominent.
My ancestor, how can you say such things?
Xiao Hong continued, "And that idiot Xiao An, he used to be quite daring in arguing with me, but why did he give in when he faced Xiao Ji?"
"You are indeed a rootless thing, a wimp!"
Xiao Hong kept cursing, then covered his chest with his hands, coughed violently a few times, and his face turned pale.
It hurts!
He was so angry that his wounds hurt.
Xiao Hong took a deep breath and finally said, "If they don't dare to resist, then I will do it!"
"Xiao Ji wants to seize the throne that originally belonged to me?"
"impossible!"
After Xiao Hong finished speaking, he looked at the guards kneeling on the ground and said, "Where is the person I asked you to invite?"
Before he was assassinated, he held banquets every day and had many supporters, all of whom were ministers in the court. As long as these ministers stood on his side, humph... let's see what Xiao Ji would do.
Upon hearing this, the guard lowered his head and said in a very low voice, "Your Highness, please understand. I have already gone to invite you personally, but..."
Xiao Hong frowned, "But what but? I'm asking where you are!"
The guard's forehead was already pressed against the cold floor tiles. "But the adults... all said they had important matters to attend to and could not keep the appointment..."
Bang!
Xiao Hong raised his hand and smashed the vase beside him, throwing it on the ground. "What do they mean? Are they betraying me?"
"My father just passed away today, and they treat me like this. Are they worthy of my father? They are a bunch of ungrateful people!"
The anger in Xiao Hong's heart continued to boil over and ferment, and he felt that the whole world had let him down!
"Get lost!" Xiao Hong kicked Shi Wei and tried to walk out immediately, "Useless thing."
"I will go and find them myself. I want to see how those fence-sitters will face me—"
Xiao Hong went to look for people in person. The court officials did see him, but they pretended not to understand Xiao Hong's explicit and implicit hints.
Not to mention those who had stood on Xiao Ji's side in the past, even those who had really been wavering in their thoughts at the beginning did not dare to show it at all at this moment and were extremely honest.
Xiao Hong was frustrated and became even angrier.
But when he did not see Concubine Li in front of the emperor's mourning hall, he could no longer contain his anger.
"Royal brother!"
"Why isn't my mother here?" Xiao Hong looked at Xiao Ji and said, "I also ask my brother to release my mother so that she can also see my father off for the last time!"
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