Chapter 309: Closing the Net Part 3 (Two Chapters Combined into One)
"My Lady Consort, I just asked Xiao Cui, and he said that the Emperor's time is coming up, and His Majesty wants to confer the title on my father's behalf."
The nanny leaned over to Concubine Li and whispered in her ear.
Xiao Cui is the godson of Eunuch Jin. He was ordered to welcome Concubine Li in front of the gate of Wuji Temple.
Concubine Li was stunned. The sudden surprise made her feel dazed for a moment.
Canonized on behalf of the father?
The emperor wants to make her the queen in place of the retired emperor?
Back then, the retired emperor was preparing to move to Changshou Palace. On the day before his departure, she knelt outside the door for four or five hours, but the retired emperor did not give in.
The next day, her legs hurt so much that she couldn't walk, so she couldn't escort the retired emperor out of the capital. The censors impeached her for this, saying she was arrogant and lacked etiquette.
The emperor's biological mother was not named empress dowager. This illogical fact was covered up by the impeachments of the imperial censors. No one mentioned it, no one asked about it. Both the emperor and his ministers pretended to be ignorant.
She had cried, made a fuss, and even attempted to hang herself. Over the years, she had made a fuss several times every year, but it was all in vain. She was still the Dowager Concubine, the unreasonable Dowager Concubine Li, and the emperor's attitude towards her became increasingly cold.
But it was not until now that she realized that she could be enthroned on behalf of her father!
It turns out that the emperor could make her the empress dowager without the emperor's order!
It turns out this is possible!
The emperor must have known it long ago, and the royal family must have known it as well. As for the civil and military officials, they are well-read and proficient in laws, so they must have known it as well.
But no one mentioned it, no one mentioned it in more than ten years.
They let her feel aggrieved, let her become a laughing stock, let her cry.
Especially the emperor. It was obvious that the problem could be solved by enthroning her on behalf of his father, but he delayed it for more than ten years and deceived her for more than ten years. Now that the emperor is dying, he wants to be a filial son and make her the empress dowager?
Ridiculous, so ridiculous!
Concubine Li's mood changed from surprise when she first heard the news to overwhelming hatred in an instant.
It's been forty years. Does he really think he is the son of a dragon and the grandson of a phoenix?
Concubine Li looked outside the sedan fiercely, and suddenly, that face came into her sight again.
Concubine Li subconsciously rubbed her eyes again, but this time, the face did not disappear again.
They look alike, really alike, but he looks much older than her Xu Lang.
Her Xu Lang was in the prime of his life, while this man was already very old.
If her Xu Lang lived to this age, it would probably be like this.
No, how is that possible? Xu Lang is more handsome and more dashing!
"Tiffany, the sedan chair is ready, please get off."
Concubine Li's thoughts were interrupted, and when she looked again, the old man was gone.
She thought she must be so angry that her eyes were blurry.
At this time, the emperor was still lying on the bed with his eyes closed.
Han Yuanshi took the emperor's pulse again and sighed, "The emperor's pulse is getting weaker."
Emperor Yongjia was filled with grief, his voice thick with nasal sounds: "How long can Father hold on?"
Han Yuanshi glanced at the clock in the corner and said, "Two hours at most."
At this time, the eunuch's voice was heard outside the door.
"Concubine Li has arrived—"
"The Queen has arrived—"
"The Sixth Prince has arrived—"
"The Seventh Prince has arrived—"
"The Eighth Prince has arrived—"
......
The little princes followed Concubine Li and the Queen and entered one after another.
They had been warned by the people around them before they came, so as soon as they came in, they knelt in front of the emperor's bed and sobbed.
Emperor Yongjia looked at their performance, nodded with satisfaction, and his gaze subconsciously paused on the Seventh Prince.
When the Third Prince saw all this, he wanted to kick the Seventh Prince out.
This prince has done so much for my father, but he still pays more attention to the seventh prince.
Although my father has often brought the seventh prince with him recently, I didn't care about it in the past. The seventh prince has no support from his mother's family and is young, so he is not worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with me.
But now is different from the past. With the Fan Qiujun incident, although Father only fined me one year's salary, I can feel that Father treats me differently...
Concubine Li just glanced at the retired emperor from a distance and then looked away.
This old man is still so hateful!
Prince Lu was still crying, but when he heard Concubine Li coming, he stopped crying immediately and asked, "Is everyone here?"
The third prince was determined to take advantage of the funeral for the retired emperor to behave well in front of his father.
He quickly said, "Everyone is here."
Prince Fu shook his head: "No, there are still three missing."
As he said that, he looked at Xiao Zhen who had been silent the whole time: "How do you do things, kid? Where are the people? Why haven't they arrived yet?"
Xiao Zhen hurriedly said: "We're here."
He shouted towards the door, "Come in."
Everyone in the room was stunned, especially Emperor Yongjia.
Everyone's eyes turned to the door. The door slowly opened and two young men walked in.
Prince Lu: "Why are you here?"
The ones who came were his two funny sons, the Stone-Breaking Brothers!
The two men seemed not to see him, their backs straight and their expressions serious.
Prince Lu couldn't believe his eyes. Could it be that these two unfilial sons had been possessed by another spirit? Shouldn't they be jumping up and down?
Emperor Yongjia frowned slightly. It was normal for the two children to come since Prince Lu and his son were here. What was abnormal was their relationship with Xiao Zhen.
It was Xiao Zhen who let them in just now.
Since when did Xiao Zhen and Prince Lu’s Mansion become so close?
Jiayi has been hiding Zhao Yuan for so many years. Now Xiao Zhen and Zhao Yuan have returned to Beijing together and are colluding with Prince Lu's Mansion. I didn't expect that Prince Lu's Mansion would also be involved.
Okay, after today, I will make sure you die without a burial place!
But the next moment, Emperor Yongjia saw three people following the brothers of Shattering Stone.
Three familiar people!
Emperor Yongjia just felt that these three people looked familiar, but the others present were stunned.
The three people were an old man in his sixties and two middle-aged men in their forties.
What surprised everyone was that the two middle-aged men looked 60% to 70% similar to Emperor Yongjia!
You can even see the shadows of several princes on their faces!
The most surprised person was Concubine Li.
She recognized at a glance that this old man was the one she had just seen outside. She was not dazzled, she really saw him.
If Xu Lang had not died forty years ago, she would have thought that this person was her Xu Lang.
"Who are you and who are they?"
Concubine Li felt dizzy and heavy, and an inexplicable fear came over her like a tidal wave. Her body swayed and she almost fell down.
"Xiao Zhen, who are they?" Emperor Yongjia said in a deep voice.
Xiao Zhen said in a cold voice: "Who are they? You should ask Concubine Li. Your Majesty, please tell me, who are they?"
Concubine Li's expression changed drastically. She shook her head vigorously: "I don't know them. I don't know them. Come on, drag them out, drag them out!"
"It's not your turn to give orders here!"
A voice suddenly sounded, and Concubine Li trembled. She looked around nervously, but no one spoke!
But the next moment, she heard a thrilling scene!
The retired emperor, who had been lying on the couch waiting to die, was slowly sitting up.
The little princes kneeling in front of the couch were startled. The youngest, the eighth prince, was so scared that he burst into tears, and the seventh prince quickly covered his mouth.
Han Yuanshi and Wang Daban helped the emperor up from the couch, one on each side. The emperor nodded at Han Yuanshi and said, "Old Han, there is nothing for you to do here. Take the people from the Imperial Hospital and leave."
Dean Han bowed and walked out without looking back. When he passed by Doctor Jiang and Old Doctor Han, he glanced at them. The two didn't understand why, but subconsciously followed Dean Han. The other doctors also retreated with him.
The emperor looked around and his eyes fell on Xiao Zhen: "You get out too!"
Xiao Zhen: "Grandson..."
The Emperor interrupted him: "Everyone here is from the Zhao royal family. What does this have to do with you, Xiao?"
Okay, I see.
Xiao Zhen also wanted to follow Zhao Shiqing's example and roll his eyes at the old man, but at this moment he remembered to save face, as if he still had any face left.
After Xiao Zhen left, only the man surnamed Zhao and his wife were left in the room.
Of course, there are those three people.
The wooden door slammed shut behind Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Zhen walked down the stairs with an expressionless face.
Seeing Lu Gan coming towards him, he smiled and nodded: "Commander Lu, thank you for your hard work."
Lu Gan looked at the tightly closed wooden door and asked, "Master Xiao, I just heard that the young master of Prince Lu's Mansion brought three people in. They are..."
Before he could finish his words, a sharp knife pierced his chest.
Lu Gan looked down at his chest in disbelief, the sharp knife was pulled out, and blood spurted out.
"Where is Li Qing?"
Li Qing, dressed as an attendant, walked over from the shadows. Xiao Zhen nodded at him and said, "I'll leave this to you."
Li Qing couldn't hide his excitement and clasped his fists towards Xiao Zhen: "Don't worry, Master. Li Qing will definitely live up to your trust!"
He was put on the bench as soon as he came back from Tongzhou. He was first detained in the yamen, and later he was released after it was confirmed that he had no contact with Zhao Guanyue. However, he was not assigned a new job, so he simply claimed to be sick and stayed at home.
Yesterday, Dazhuang suddenly appeared in front of him...
Li Qing looked at Lu Gan lying on the ground. He knew in his heart that after today, Lu Gan's position would be his.
Xiao Zhen is indeed his benefactor, always has been!
Xiao Zhen continued to move forward. The sound of fighting and the clashing of swords came from the front. He knew that this was an internal fight among the Royal Guards!
On one side were Duke Dingguo's close associates in the Imperial Guards, and on the other side were Emperor Yongjia's men. Both sides were evenly matched.
Yan Xia came over with a knife in hand, followed by Zhao Guanyue, Shen Wangxing and Niu Qiu.
"Xiao Zhen, the person was rescued, not even a hair was lost."
Xiao Zhen thanked him, looked Zhao Guanyue up and down, then looked at Chen Wangxing and Niu Qiu: "Are you all okay?"
"It's okay, I'm fine."
Xiao Zhen patted Zhao Guanyue's shoulder and said, "You go in alone later, and the other two don't need to follow you."
Chen Wangxing and Niu Qiu were puzzled: "We have to follow him. What if he goes in alone and gets bullied?"
But when they met Xiao Zhen's cold gaze, they both shrank their necks and dared not argue.
"Okay, I'll go in alone." Zhao Guanyue looked at the others, and finally his gaze fell on Xiao Zhen's face. "Brother, don't worry, I've grown up."
This brother has protected him for more than ten years, from the Princess's Mansion to the Wuji Temple. He never let anyone bully him when he was a child, and later he planned and raised funds for him. They are not only brothers, but also people who can support each other.
Xiao Zhen smiled and said, "You died for me in your previous life. In this life, I will help you reach a high position. The rest of the way depends on you."
In the autumn wind, the boy's slightly thin figure walked forward until he pushed open the door.
Inside the door, the Third Prince stared at the Retired Emperor in astonishment: "Grandfather, you, you..."
The Emperor snorted coldly, "Third Brother, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The string of incense beads you sent me only made me sleep for a few hours. It won't kill me."
The Third Prince was stunned: "Impossible, this is a ghost flower, ghost flower is extremely poisonous..."
Before he finished speaking, the door that was originally closed was pushed open from the outside and Zhao Guanyue walked in.
Looking at the person in front of him who was supposed to be tied up and waiting to be tortured to death, the third prince's face turned pale.
"Let me tell you, the ghost flower seeds are indeed highly poisonous, but the ghost flower seeds used in the incense beads you sent me had an extra herb added to them that just counteracted the toxicity of the ghost flower seeds. The side effect is that you will be in a coma for several hours, and the symptoms of the coma are exactly the same as those caused by the ghost flower seeds' toxicity."
The third prince still couldn't believe that the eunuch Hu De who prepared the ghost flower beads was from his mansion. After the incense beads were made, Hu De was silenced.
Even Chen Wangxing and Niu Qiu, who replaced the incense beads, didn't know what kind of poison was used in the beads.
Seeing the astonishment on the third prince's face, Zhao Guanyue couldn't help but laugh. His smile was refreshing, as if he was talking about something very interesting.
"Because Hood knew that if he made the poison for you, you would definitely kill him. In your eyes, he was just an ant, but ants are also lives, and he didn't want to die in vain.
He couldn't escape from the palace, nor could he kill you. The only thing he could do before he died was to make a string of non-toxic incense beads.
You would never have imagined in your wildest dreams that the eunuch whom you treated like a piece of trash would set a trap for you before he died.
Are you disappointed that the Emperor's grandfather just had a good sleep? You failed to kill him, and your plan to put the blame on me failed."
The muscles on the Third Prince's face kept shaking. He stretched out his hands to cover his face, but his hands were shaking so badly that he could only look at Emperor Yongjia for help, only to meet Emperor Yongjia's murderous gaze.
"Beast!" Emperor Yongjia squeezed out two words from between his teeth, and the disappointment on his face said it all.
"How dare you murder your grandfather!"
The third prince was shocked. What did his father mean?
Is the emperor going to abandon him?
He took a few steps back, panicked.
"I am not his grandfather. His grandfather is standing over there."
The Emperor pointed at the old man and said, "Xu Lin, did you hear everything? Your nephew is trying to murder me. Should I execute all nine generations of your Xu family?"
Xu Lin was startled and fell to his knees with a thud, followed by his two sons.
They were imprisoned by Zhen Wuduo for almost two years, and only they themselves knew how they survived those two years.
Now they are no longer the idlers in Weijia Village, but are now frightened birds!
"Your Majesty, please spare my life! My eldest brother is an old beast, and his descendants are all little beasts. They all deserve to die. Your Majesty, please kill them if you want to, and don't implicate us!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com