Only then did the Crown Prince and the other princes remember their father, the Emperor.
"Father, how are you?"
The sons immediately inquired with concern, but they didn't know how much of it was genuine.
"I'm fine!"
The Emperor was furious with his sons. "Look at Li Xiaochen," he said, "he can take precautions before things go wrong, come up with solutions when things do go wrong, and do everything meticulously."
Looking at my own good-for-nothing children, I get a headache just thinking about it. Oh right, he seems to have another son. I wonder if any of them will amount to anything?
The emperor looked at these people with disappointment and frustration.
At this moment, Lin Chenglie led a group of people in, bringing in two people and making them kneel before the emperor.
"Your Majesty, these two people are acting suspiciously outside the palace. I find them very suspicious."
Lin Chenglie clasped his hands in a salute to the Emperor, and then reported back.
The Emperor, still shaken, sat back down in his seat and glanced at the Empress with concern.
The Empress and the Emperor have been together for so many years, and she immediately understood the Emperor's meaning. She smiled and shook her head, indicating that it was nothing.
Only then did the Emperor look at the people below with relief. His gaze was no longer as gentle as when he looked at the Empress; instead, it was cold and sharp, as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly for me. I want to see who colluded with outsiders to betray their own country."
The Emperor is furious. Tonight's state banquet almost resulted in the Xia Kingdom changing hands.
"yes!"
Zhou Lei, the commander of the Imperial Guards, stepped forward to receive the order and then withdrew.
[Wait, someone's missing from this hall! The Sixth Prince is gone. We didn't notice him in the chaos, but now that things have calmed down, we've realized he wasn't there when he was dancing!]
[No way! Could it be that the Sixth Prince's power grab is today? Wasn't there still a year left in the story? How could it be earlier? Or did the Sixth Prince actually make his move at the state banquet in the original story? But he failed, and wasn't discovered, so he lay low until a year later before finally acting?]
[Very likely. No wonder the Sixth Prince seemed off today; he was testing the waters. If successful, he can then use the pretext of Qi poisoning the Xia emperor to detain the Qi people, putting pressure on Qi to help him ascend the throne.]
[If that fails, he'll still be a clueless newbie, able to lie low for a year until Li Xiaochen is seriously injured and unconscious, posing no threat. Then he'll have another chance.]
No wonder he was said to be the closest to the throne; he had made two preparations! So what is he doing out there now? Mobilizing troops??
Lin Yuxin looked around and, not seeing the Sixth Prince's men, immediately connected it to the poisoning incident and understood the whole story.
The emperor heard it too, and his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Where is the Sixth Prince? Why is he nowhere to be seen? Go and find him for me!"
The Emperor roared in anger.
"yes!"
The Imperial Guards immediately dispatched a squad to search for the missing person, but they were forced to retreat before they could even get out!
[Oh ho, looks like it's for real? The Sixth Prince is quick enough!]
The sixth prince led a group of soldiers in and rushed in, surrounding the area. The imperial guards immediately confronted the soldiers.
"Father, your son has come to your rescue!"
The sixth prince walked to the front of the hall, looked at his father sitting above, and gave a wicked smile.
"Qi'er, are you really going to do this?"
The emperor looked at his son's rebellion and asked with icy eyes.
"Father, what are you saying? Your son really came to save you!"
Cheng Lixiang said with an innocent look on his face, pretending to be stupid.
"Hmph, 'Save the Emperor'? Then take a look at the person kneeling on the ground. Isn't that someone from your household?"
The emperor pointed to a man kneeling on the ground and said.
The Emperor had some recollection of this person, having seen him twice before. Eunuch Liu had also just mentioned him to him, saying that he had seen this person at the Sixth Prince's residence.
Cheng Lixiang turned to look at the person on the ground, and his expression immediately changed. Hadn't he already left? How could he be here?
The person remained silent, head bowed.
The Emperor spoke again:
"What do you have to say now? Can you say that this whole thing has nothing to do with you?"
"Hehehe, Father, so what if I am your son? Father, you forced me to this! I am also your son, but you have never cared about me or valued me, just because my mother is a lowly servant? Father, you treat this outsider better than me!"
This time, the Sixth Prince Cheng Lixiang did not deny it. He pointed at Li Xiaochen beside him and shouted at the Emperor in resentment.
"Is this your excuse for colluding with the enemy, betraying the country, and poisoning me?"
The Emperor frowned, asking the question without a trace of emotion, as if the Sixth Prince's actions had no effect on him.
"No, Father, you are wrong. Your son did not intend to poison you, nor did he intend to betray the country. Your son only arranged for a dancer. I did not participate in anything else, so it does not count as betrayal at all."
Seeing that his father didn't care, Cheng Lixiang decided to throw caution to the wind and blurted everything out.
"Your subject is merely going with the flow. I originally thought that Jun Chenxi would make a move when she saw Li Xiaochen, since it is rumored that she is madly in love with Li Xiaochen."
"So I gave them a push when they took action. I only wanted Li Xiaochen to die."
"Unexpectedly, something went wrong. Li Xiaochen didn't go when taming the tiger. I guessed that Jun Chenxi, that crazy woman, would have another trick up her sleeve. Sure enough, the group of dancers came in handy."
"When those dancers came on stage, I was just going to get reinforcements. I felt that since Father Emperor was being controlled, the country could not be without a ruler for a day, so I could take over."
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