Chapter 12 Arriving in the Capital
Prime Minister's Mansion.
Li Xiaoci looked at Liu Ruiyun at the door and asked with a serious face, "What news do you want to bring to Ji Ying?"
After leaving the study, he casually asked the servants guarding outside. When he heard them say that Liu Ruiyun had just been there, he became suspicious and came to see if she was in his yard.
The result was not surprising.
Liu Ruiyun took a half step back and sneered, "What? Master Shangshu, are you trying to show off your authority to me? I'm telling you, I'm not buying it now. If you don't want to save your daughter, forget it, but don't even think about stopping me!"
Seeing her attitude, Li Xiaoci immediately became furious and shouted angrily, "Liu Ruiyun, don't be ungrateful! Killing someone means paying with your life. Your daughter killed Xiao Shen, so she must pay with her life to the Cao family!"
Liu Ruiyun immediately raised her eyebrows, staring fearlessly at him, and cursed, "If you hadn't sent me to that sinister family, where I was abused for nothing, would she have done such a thing as murder? Even rabbits bite when they're angry. Xiao Shen deserved to die!"
"You——!" Li Xiaoci slammed the table and stood up.
Seeing the two of them so tense, Liu Shanzhen hurriedly advised, "Uncle, grandma is talking nonsense. You are really something. Please apologize to me. After all, we have been husband and wife for so many years. How can we become enemies?"
Li Xiaoci didn't listen at all. He pushed Liu Shanzhen away and strode out. "Alright! You're determined to go against me today, right? Come here, guard this yard for me. No one is allowed to leave without my order!"
Liu Ruiyun suddenly panicked. In this case, wouldn't she be able to pass the message to Ji Ying?
Then he thought that Li Xiaoci always listened to his father, and Li Mian only cared about the face of the Li family. He wished that Ji Ying, this unfaithful woman, would disappear from the world immediately.
Both father and son are exactly the same cold-blooded beasts. If she doesn't keep a close eye on them, what if they cross Ji Ying off the amnesty list?
Seeing the servants obeying orders and about to close the gate, she immediately rushed forward, grabbed the door frame, sat on the threshold and shouted:
"My poor son, how could you have met such a heartless father? He doesn't even treat us mother and daughter as human beings. If you die, what will I have left to live for?"
"Li Xiaoci, you don't have to restrain me. If you don't save Ji Ying, I won't live either. I'm going to hit my head and die right here today!"
She was about to throw herself against the door, and Liu Shanzhen was so frightened that she rushed over to stop her. The maids and servants also shouted, "Auntie, you can't do that!"
Such a big commotion alarmed everyone in the mansion and they all rushed over to watch the fun.
Li Xiaoci's beard trembled with anger. He walked over and pulled Liu Ruiyun to her feet. Suppressing his anger, he growled in a low voice, "Shut up! Do you want everyone to hear you? Even if you have no shame, I still have it!"
Seeing how shameless he was, Liu Ruiyun turned around and looked at the wives and maids around her. She pulled up the corners of her mouth and laughed loudly, "Okay, come on, everyone! I wish everyone could hear it and see the consequences of being a concubine! Even if I die now, there won't be anyone to cry for me!"
Li Xiaoci felt that everyone was looking at him and laughing at him, and his face turned red instantly.
He grabbed Liu Ruiyun's arm and dragged her into the house. "Shameless thing, since you want to die so badly, I'll grant your wish today!"
Liu Ruiyun struggled desperately, "Murder! Li Xiaoci is going to kill someone!"
Liu Shanzhen stepped forward to stop him, but was pushed by Li Xiaoci and fell to the ground.
When he looked up again, he heard a loud bang. Li Xiaoci dragged Liu Ruiyun into the house and slammed the door shut.
Outside the house, everyone looked at each other.
"Master, you're not really going to beat Aunt Liu to death, are you? Let's go in and stop them."
"If you want to go, go alone. The master is furious and might beat you too! We are slaves, not like her concubine. If we are beaten to death, there will be no one to complain."
"You can't say that. Miss Ji Ying is in prison. I heard that the Ministry of Justice has sentenced her to death. Aunt Liu only has this one child. It's pitiful. Alas..."
"Humph! She's a concubine's daughter, marrying into the Duke's mansion. What a blessing! Yet she doesn't know how to cherish it. She's restless and complaining all day long. She deserves this fate!"
"That's right, what's the point of Aunt Liu being so crazy and unreasonable? It's not enough to embarrass others."
"Okay, all of you keep your voices down. Listen to what's going on in the room..."
Everyone immediately fell silent and looked up at the closed door. There was a loud bang, which scared them all and made them shiver.
About a quarter of an hour later, Li Xiaoci came out of the house with a frighteningly cold face.
Everyone looked at him curiously, wondering what was going on in the room.
Li Xiaoci shouted angrily, "What are you looking at? Don't you have anything to do?"
No one dared to look any longer and dispersed.
From that day on, Liu Ruiyun's yard was strictly guarded by the palace guards. All the maids and old women were driven out, and not a single servant was left.
After a few days, Li Xiaoci sent all the servants out of the mansion.
Everyone was talking about it, feeling that something bad was going to happen, but the Prime Minister's Mansion was getting calmer day by day.
Until this day, the emperor suddenly returned from the Nanyang Palace.
————
Finally arrived in the capital.
As dusk approached, flocks of returning birds flew across the sky, the clouds were brilliant and colorful, and the tall walls of the ancient city were set against the afterglow of the setting sun, bright red as blood.
Zhao Mingyue lifted the curtain of the car and looked past the team in front of her. She saw a large area of swaying white in front of the city gate, and she couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.
Prince Zhao Chun's carriage was right in front of her. During the time on the road, she had been avoiding him and the two had never spoken to each other alone.
The carriage moved forward for a while and then stopped.
Then, a heavy bell sound came from the distant wind, one after another, faintly mixed with sad crying.
Zhao Mingyue got off the carriage and walked forward. At first, he walked slowly, but later he walked faster and faster. Chunying and Qiushi had to jog to keep up.
Soon, she reached the front of the team. Chi Qi was standing there with her head held high, the maids were holding ceremonial objects, and the Jinwu Guards with swords were guarding her side with solemn expressions.
Zhao Mingyue knew the leader, the one who dug out Li Xianyou's eyes.
She walked over quickly and stood beside Chi Li, then looked up and looked forward, her eyes widening in surprise.
In front of the city gate, there were officials kneeling to greet them. All of them were wearing mourning clothes and had tears in their eyes.
Prime Minister Li Mian knelt in the front with a sad expression, and the wrinkles on his face and beard were wet with tears.
He trembled, banged his head on the floor tiles that were illuminated by the setting sun, and let out a heartbreaking cry:
"Your Majesty! My Lord! Why did you abandon your subjects and leave first? This old minister, Li Mian, deserves death. I cannot accompany Your Majesty and allow Your Majesty to be harmed by the thieves. I deserve death..."
The rest of the officials fell to the ground one after another, wailing loudly, the sound echoing through the sky, scaring the returning birds away.
Chi Qi watched the grand performance in front of her, her eyes sweeping across the faces filled with grief one by one, and a sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth.
False sadness.
It goes without saying that the news of the emperor's death could not be concealed, but there were only a few people who dared to disobey her orders and pass the news back to the capital.
The obituary of the late emperor hasn't even been issued, but Li Mian is waiting here with all the civil and military officials in mourning. Is he trying to slap her in the face?
Li Mian, a seasoned official, should understand the principle of a new emperor and his ministers better than anyone else, right? He probably wouldn't be so arrogant as to oppose her, the soon-to-be Empress Dowager.
From this point of view, his purpose is very clear.
Li Mian was not waiting to honor the deceased emperor, but to welcome the new emperor who had not yet grown up.
It's a pity that she had already sent someone to warn Zhao Chun, this cowardly loser would not come out to see them.
Thinking of this, Chi Qi wanted to laugh, but she had to try hard to recall the sad things before she could barely suppress the smile on her lips. She looked at these officials who were crying as if their father had died at ease.
Since you want to cry, I will let you cry enough. I want to see how long you can howl.
One minute, two minutes... ten minutes.
Li Mian raised his eyes and glanced at the indifferent Queen Chi, then looked behind her for a long time, wondering in his heart, Princess Mingyue has come out, why is there no sign of the Crown Prince?
He raised his hand, and the officials' crying stopped abruptly, as if they had rehearsed it many times.
Li Xiaoci bent down and walked forward, helped him up, and walked tremblingly to Chi Lu.
Li Mian bowed slightly, not even bending his knees. "Old minister Li Mian, I pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen. May I ask how she is doing."
Chi Li couldn't act sad, so she could only keep a cold face and lower her voice, "It's hard for Prime Minister Li to be so dedicated. If His Majesty knew about this, he would be moved."
Li Mian was stunned for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty is the father of all people in the world, and also of me. With your passing, I am deeply saddened. However, the world cannot be without a ruler for a day. We hereby respectfully welcome the Crown Prince to ascend the throne!"
At the last sentence, Li Mian suddenly raised his voice. Upon hearing this, the ministers shouted in unison: "All officials respectfully welcome the new emperor."
Zhao Mingyue was startled by the loud shout and subconsciously took a step back. Looking at the excited expressions on the officials' faces, her heart suddenly tightened.
Why? Why is Zhao Chun supported by so many people?
It is obvious that Zhao Chun is just a naughty and childish child with a bad temper and vicious behavior. He has no strengths and is simply unable to bear the burden of being the leader of a country.
Zhao Mingyue used to always secretly fantasize in her heart that when Zhao Chun was criticized by the tutor for not being able to memorize the books, when he was lazy and asked his study companion to do his homework for him, when he complained about the hard work of riding and shooting arrows, if she did it, she would definitely do better than Zhao Chun. Then, would her father like her more?
But when she really did it, no matter how perfectly she did it, her father would not praise her like he praised Zhao Chun. Instead, he would accuse her of being too out of line as a princess and of competing with her brother, which was too inappropriate.
Only then did she realize that she and her brother were different after all.
No matter how bad her brother is, he is still the crown prince admired by everyone, and no matter how outstanding she is, she can only be a princess living deep in the palace.
This is not fair.
Obviously, she is also the emperor's child, a descendant of the Zhao family, and has royal blood.
Zhao Chun must not be allowed to become the emperor. A vicious person like him will definitely find an opportunity to take revenge on her and her mother.
Zhao Mingyue took a deep breath and looked at Chi Li anxiously. What should she do now?
Chi Li's face was calm as she said calmly, "The Crown Prince was overly sad and exhausted from the journey, so he fell ill yesterday. I'm afraid he won't be able to come out to see you."
"What——" Li Mian widened his eyes. This is impossible!
If the prince was really too sick to get up, how could there be no news from Li Xianyou?
But then again, where is Li Xianyou? Why hasn't he come out yet?
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