Once the area was finally under control, Xiao Sui, though being held down by soldiers, roared defiantly:
"Hahaha, even if I failed, the Emperor has already passed away. You still couldn't save the Emperor. Without a leader, Li Xiaochen, do you intend to become Emperor yourself?"
"I don't care for that position, but who told you the Emperor has passed away?"
Li Xiaochen glanced at him and said calmly.
"I saw it with my own eyes, how could it be false?"
Seeing that Li Xiaochen did not believe him, Xiao Sui emphasized again that he had personally witnessed the emperor vomiting blood and dying, and the empress also died by poisoning. How could it be false?
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Minister Xiao, but I may outlive you!"
At that moment, a hoarse, deep voice came from behind.
Upon hearing the sound, Xiao Sui and Consort Xiao trembled and turned incredulously toward the source of the sound, only to be utterly shocked.
The emperor, dressed in a bright yellow robe, was being helped in by Lin Yuxin, and he entered step by step.
"Are you... are you a human or a ghost?"
Consort Xiao trembled and took a few steps back. She had been hiding earlier, but Zhao Yinglan had caught her and thrown her next to Xiao Sui and the unconscious Crown Prince.
He stepped back, not seeing the prince lying behind him, and stepped directly on the prince's leg. He was caught off guard and fell backward.
Because she instinctively tried to stand up, she hurriedly stepped on the ground with her other foot, but the Crown Prince was too big. Noble Consort Xiao stepped on the Crown Prince several times and finally fell to the ground.
If Li Xiaochen wasn't mistaken, he stepped on the Crown Prince's spot.
Li Xiaochen seemed to have heard a sound. He raised an eyebrow. It looked like the crown prince was going to be deposed.
"My beloved consort, would you prefer me to be a human or a ghost?"
The Emperor was in much better spirits now and was in the mood to joke around with these treacherous officials.
"You're still alive? How is that possible?"
Xiao Sui also realized what was happening and looked at the emperor in disbelief, muttering to himself.
"Xiao Sui, I want you to meet someone, but I don't know if you have anything to say to her."
Lin Yuxin helped the Emperor step by step to sit on the dragon throne at the top, and he spoke calmly.
I just detoxified him and haven't had a chance to rest before coming out to take charge of the situation. He doesn't have much yang energy left in his body, so he's feeling a bit weak.
Xiao Sui looked at the Emperor with confusion, and then saw the Empress Dowager being helped in.
Xiao Sui's expression changed, and he was speechless for a long time.
Although he resented his sister for taking away his opportunity and looked down on her incompetence, he also knew how much his sister had sacrificed for the Xiao family.
"Brother! I never expected that after I turned against my son and the late Emperor for the sake of the Xiao family, this is how you treat me?"
The Empress Dowager was over fifty years old, with a head of white hair, and looked rather haggard. It was clear that she had just returned to the capital after a long journey when she encountered the betrayal, and she was somewhat traumatized both physically and mentally.
I felt a little dazed.
The Emperor couldn't bear to see it, but he also knew that only by letting the Empress Dowager see it for herself could he succeed. No matter what he said before, the Empress Dowager never believed that Xiao Sui harbored any wolfish ambitions.
"How did I treat you? If I hadn't saved the late emperor, would you have become a concubine, an empress, or an empress dowager?"
Seeing that he had already been exposed, Xiao Sui stopped hiding and went all out.
"Brother, you're wrong. The late emperor made me his concubine, which he had already agreed upon with the late empress dowager. As for your life-saving grace? The late emperor found out long ago that it was you who did it, but he let it go for my sake."
"They directly pinned this false favor on me, and took the opportunity to bring me into the palace. Otherwise, why do you think the late emperor only gave you a trivial official position? You're so scheming against the late emperor. Do you think you could have escaped without the extermination of your entire family?"
The Empress Dowager forced a bitter smile and recounted what had happened back then.
She thought she had really stolen her brother's credit and felt very guilty towards him, so she always tolerated him and tried to help him in every way.
Once, she had a big argument with the late emperor over her elder brother, and only then did the late emperor tell her the truth.
But after so many years of helping each other, it had become a habit that couldn't be changed. Besides, she really needed a powerful maternal family.
Therefore, the late emperor also made it clear that as long as the Xiao family did not provoke the royal family, he could turn a blind eye to it.
Because of the late emperor's concessions, the empress dowager intensified her efforts to profit from the Xiao family, and over time she became estranged from the late emperor.
She believed she had done nothing wrong until the late emperor passed away.
Her son was the same; her elder brother wanted to send his daughter into the palace, and she agreed. She thought her son wouldn't have any objections, that it would just be another woman, but that was until the Empress appeared.
In order to take the then-minor official's daughter, the Empress, as his concubine and later establish her as Empress, the Emperor was forced by her to sign many unequal terms with the Xiao family, all of which the Emperor agreed to.
This is why the emperor has been restricted in everything he does for so many years, and the Xiao family has been the main culprit.
Her niece was ruthless and jealous, and she was responsible for the deaths of most of the princes in the harem, leaving only a few alive in the end.
She knew all this, but because they were members of the Xiao family, she always downplayed the issue.
It wasn't until the Empress's child was murdered by Consort Xiao that the Emperor took drastic measures, sending her directly to the imperial palace for three years before bringing her back.
Yet every year they still send her away for a period of health and rest.
Consort Xiao was also packed up and sent out.
The harem had only been peaceful for a few years.
Unexpectedly, the Xiao family still caused trouble, committing the heinous crime of regicide and treason.
She couldn't help anymore, and she didn't want to help anymore; she was tired.
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