Chapter 260 Li Ye's Death
But Chen Yanqing slowly shook his head, "I can't bring myself to say it."
Li Ye was shocked and instantly understood.
Could it be... that this child also hates him? Hates him for killing Shen Lang?
This thought, like the final boulder, crushed his already overburdened spirit.
In an instant, scenes from the past flashed before my eyes.
As a child, he was not favored in the palace and suffered bullying from his brothers.
Only after marrying Shen Lang did he gradually come to be seen by others.
But his good fortune didn't last long. After killing Shen Lang out of fear of his growing power, he had no choice but to rely on powerful families to stabilize the court, and was constantly hampered by them.
He was also deceived by Cui Yunyi, who treated a bastard child as a treasure and poured all the fatherly love that should have belonged to the child in front of him into him.
After his daughter grew up, she was finally able to help him solve his problems.
But this daughter has gradually pushed him to this point.
Think about his life: he deceived others, schemed against others, and used others, while also being deceived, schemed against, and used by others...
Perhaps, as Cui Yunyi said, he was a failed monarch, a failed husband, and a failed father.
A sudden surge of regret, despair, and excruciating pain gripped his heart, as if countless needles were piercing it simultaneously.
He suddenly stiffened and vomited a mouthful of black blood.
Everyone was caught off guard; even Zheng Wenkai and Chen Yanqing were stunned.
Zheng Wenkai immediately cried out in alarm, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, hold on! Quickly, summon the imperial physician!"
His Majesty has not yet publicly acknowledged Chen Yanqing's identity; he must not die now!
He rushed to the dragon bed and frantically shook Li Ye's already limp body.
But Li Ye was like a lifeless piece of wood; no matter how much he shook him, he no longer reacted.
Those inside the hall exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with shock.
Soon, the imperial physician arrived. After trembling as he checked the emperor's breath and pulse, he prostrated himself on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "The Emperor Emeritus... has passed away!"
"Impossible!" Zheng Wenkai took a step back in disbelief, his legs giving way as he collapsed onto the cold floor tiles, muttering to himself, "How could... how could he die now..."
He had meticulously planned for so long, and was just one step away from success, but Li Ye passed away at that very moment.
Chen Yanqing never expected that his nominal "father" would be so easily angered to death by a single sentence from him.
Only Shen Xu reacted quickly, immediately rebuking, "Zheng Wenkai! How dare you! You actually used a person of unknown origin to coerce the Emperor Emeritus into acknowledging his kinship, and angered him to death! This is a heinous crime, and you will never atone for it!"
Pei Huaijin also stepped forward and said, "Prime Minister Zheng, as a veteran of three reigns, you should have assisted the emperor and stabilized the court, but instead, you orchestrated this farce for your own selfish desires, imprisoning us here and forcing the retired emperor to his death! Do you have any respect for the late emperor's entrustment and for the people of Great Qi?"
Seeing this, the others, though deterred by the intimidation of the Longwu Army, dared not speak out in support of Shen Guojiu and Pei Huaijin, but they all expressed their agreement in their hearts.
After all, the entire process of Zheng Wenkai forcing the retired emperor to acknowledge his relatives, which led to the retired emperor vomiting blood and dying, was witnessed by everyone. The evidence was conclusive and no one could refute it.
Upon seeing this, Liang Cheng immediately stepped forward to testify, "This child is definitely not of unknown origin! He is General Shen's own flesh and blood, and he looks exactly like General Shen."
Shen Xu pointed at Chen Yanqing's face and asked, "Tell me, how can you tell from this face that he looks exactly like my sister?"
Liang Cheng was speechless for a moment, then instantly thought of the palace maid. "Someone, bring that palace maid up here."
Not long after, the palace maid who had delivered the letter for Chen Yanqing that night was brought up by two Longwu Army soldiers.
The palace maid was somewhat bewildered. That night, she had already left with her companions when, for some reason, Guard Chen suddenly caught up with her and called out to her, asking her for a favor.
At first she refused, but when Chen Yanqing looked at her with those earnest eyes, she somehow softened and agreed.
Later, after much effort, she managed to get someone to deliver the secret letter to Prime Minister Zheng, thinking that the matter was now closed.
Not long after, the Duke of Liang found her and asked her to identify whether the guard Chen looked like the woman in a portrait.
After she nodded, she was locked up by the Duke of Liang without explanation, and today she was inexplicably brought here.
Liang Cheng took a scroll of portraits from the servant and unfurled it with a "whoosh".
That was a portrait of Shen Lang when he was young. The woman in the painting had beautiful features and a heroic spirit.
He held the portrait up to the palace maid and said urgently, "Tell me, did Chen Yanqing look exactly like General Shen in this portrait before he was disfigured?"
The palace maid nodded hesitantly: "Yes...yes, they look exactly the same."
Liang Cheng turned to the officials impatiently, "Look, this palace maid saw what he looked like before he was disfigured, and she said that he looked exactly like General Shen. How could he not be General Shen's biological son?"
"Absurd!" Shen Xu immediately retorted, "Let's not even talk about whether looking exactly alike can prove they are blood relatives?"
"Now, can the emperor's bloodline and the prince's status be determined solely by the one-sided testimony of a palace maid?"
"Zheng Wenkai, Liang Cheng, do you think the Great Qi's empire is something to be manipulated at will?"
Upon hearing this, the officials began to whisper among themselves.
Shen Guojiu is right. How can a disfigured face and a palace maid's testimony prove that this is the biological prince? It's absurd!
Upon hearing this, Liang Cheng was momentarily at a loss for words.
Cui Yunyi, Granny Wang, and Imperial Physician Wen, who learned the truth that day, all died. Chen Yanqing's face was also disfigured, and even the only person who could identify him, the Emperor Emeritus, passed away.
Now, although he is certain that Chen Yanqing must be the general's son, he has no way to prove it to everyone for the time being.
Chen Yanqing stared blankly at Shen Xu.
He never expected that his blood-related uncle would deny him so resolutely.
By this time, Zheng Wenkai had recovered from his brief loss of composure.
He wiped his eyes, stood up, raised his arms and shouted, "Gentlemen! Please hear me out!"
"We are all men, serving in the same court, and should be united as one! Think about it carefully, what good is it for us that Li Yuanzhao, a woman, ascends the throne? She favors women and promotes female officials. In the future, won't our careers as men be overshadowed by women? Won't the ethical and moral principles of our Great Qi, which have lasted for thousands of years, be destroyed in an instant?"
Upon hearing this, the hall fell into an instant silence.
Zheng Wenkai accurately pinpointed what these men feared most.
They weren't afraid of whether the person who ascended the throne was of genuine or not; what they feared was that their interests would be harmed if a woman came to power, and that the traditional male-dominated society would be broken.
Many officials had a hint of wavering in their eyes.
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