Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The Empress Dowager kept insisting on going to Qingzhuyuan to find Concubine An in person. She had to see the Emperor's body before she would believe that he was really dead.
Wei Ruyan tried to persuade the empress dowager for a long time, but she didn't listen. She lost her patience and slapped the empress dowager in the face.
The Queen Mother was stunned. She covered her face and looked at Wei Ruyan in disbelief: "Queen, how dare you hit me?"
The last time she was slapped was ten years ago, when she was still just a concubine and her son Chu Zan had not yet become emperor.
She has been in this palace for more than twenty years, but she has also walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood to reach the position of empress dowager.
She hadn't expected this! She had painstakingly summoned Wei Ruyan to the palace and promoted her to the position of Queen Mother, only to be slapped in the face by Wei Ruyan.
Wei Ruyan also felt that she had been impulsive at this time and regretted it very much.
But the beating was already done, and it was too late to undo what had been done. She simply turned hostile, "Queen Dowager, let me tell you the truth! The Emperor is dead, and Prince Xiang will be here soon. You must write an imperial decree to allow Prince Xiang to ascend the throne."
The Queen Mother was even more confused, and it took her a while to figure it out. "You, you mean to say that the Emperor was killed by you and Prince Xiang, and Prince Xiang is about to come to the Qianqing Palace to force his way to the throne."
Wei Ruyan sneered, "Queen Dowager, you're smart for once."
How ironic this is. Is it saying how stupid the Queen Mother was to summon her into the palace to be the Queen?
The Queen Mother wanted to slap herself at this moment. She had invited a wolf into the house! She had killed the Emperor, caused a coup in the Imperial Palace, and destabilized the court.
"Wei Ruyan, you will be punished. I treated you so well, yet you dared to collude with outsiders to rebel and usurp the throne."
Wei Ruyan's eyes tightened, and she said coldly, "Empress Dowager, are you really good to me? Back then, there were rumors that the Emperor was impotent, but you still summoned me to the palace. If I hadn't pretended to be sick, I would have been summoned to the palace by you."
The Queen Mother gnashed her teeth and said, "So, your willingness to enter the palace this time is to help Prince Xiang rebel and usurp the throne?"
Wei Ruyan smiled: "You are right. The reason I was willing to enter the palace was to assist Prince Xiang in his rebellion and usurpation of the throne."
The Queen Mother: "But the Emperor is not impotent. He and Concubine An..."
Upon hearing this, Wei Ruyan instantly became furious and yelled at the Empress Dowager, "It's all because of Concubine An. Although the Emperor is a capable woman, he doesn't love me. He only favors Concubine An. I once thought about standing on the Emperor's side, but I don't see any hope with him. He even kept silent about the Empress's coronation ceremony."
The Queen Mother smiled bitterly: "So you still chose Prince Xiang."
Wei Ruyan smiled again: "Yes, in the end I still chose Prince Xiang. He said that as long as he became emperor, I would still be the queen."
"Hahaha……"
The Queen Mother burst into laughter.
Wei Ruyan suppressed her smile: "What are you laughing at?"
The Queen Mother couldn't stop laughing. After a long pause, she pointed at Wei Ruyan and said, "You are really stupid! Much more stupid than me. I was stupid because I summoned you to the palace to be the Queen, but you actually believed that Chu Chenmu would make you the Queen after he became the Emperor."
Wei Ruyan: "Of course he would let me be the queen. He was able to become the emperor because of my contribution."
The Queen Mother laughed again: “You are so stupid that you don’t know what to say.
Wei Ruyan, just think about it! If Chu Chenmu really became the emperor, as the empress of the previous emperor, would he ignore the criticism of the court officials and let you become the empress?
Don't forget that Chu Chenmu has a wife, and you are the empress of the late emperor.
Besides, Chu Chenmu ascended to the throne through rebellion. Your presence will only make him always remember that his throne is not legitimate.
Ultimately, death is your destiny."
Wei Ruyan felt as if she was being scratched by a cat's claws when she heard this.
She shook her head: "Impossible, Chu Chenmu said that he would definitely continue to let me be the queen."
The Queen Mother sneered, "Dream on! Wei Ruyan, the words you can't trust the most in this world are the words of men."
Wei Ruyan panicked and raised her hand to hit the Queen Mother again, but she heard a noisy sound coming from outside. She smiled and looked outside: "Great, it must be Prince Xiang coming."
But when she arrived at the door, she felt like she had seen a ghost, because the person who came was actually Emperor Chu Zan.
Someone in the palace shouted, "The emperor is in good health. Long live the emperor!"
All the eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace immediately knelt down and shouted in unison: "Long live the emperor!"
When the Queen Mother heard this, she immediately stood up excitedly and ran outside.
Chu Zan was dressed in a dragon robe, looking handsome and majestic. He held Yu Jinshu's hand and walked up the steps of the Qianqing Palace together.
Thousands of palace guards followed behind.
The Queen Mother ran to the gate of the Qianqing Palace and cried with joy to Chu Zan: "Your Majesty, my son, you are still alive!"
Wei Ruyan was terrified and tried to escape like a rabbit, but was caught by the guards who ran into the hall.
Chu Chenmu's men were also all captured by the guards.
Chu Zan looked at the Queen Mother and bowed first: "Queen Mother, I am sorry to have frightened you!"
The Empress Dowager was somewhat baffled. "Your Majesty, what on earth is going on?" She noticed the large yellow dog beside Yu Jinshu. "Wei Ruyan said earlier that you were bitten to death by a vicious dog in Qingzhu Courtyard."
Da Huang barked twice at the Queen Mother, as if he was dissatisfied with what she said.
The Queen Mother was so frightened that she hid behind Chu Zan.
Yu Jinshu quickly tightened the dog leash.
Chu Zan comforted the Queen Mother: "Don't be afraid, Queen Mother. Dahuang is my life-saving dog. When Concubine An saved me outside the palace, it was Dahuang who bit the assassin who wanted to kill me to death."
The Queen Mother relaxed a little: "I see!"
She looked at Chu Zan carefully again: "My prince, why do some people say that you died suddenly?"
Chu Zan's face was stern as he looked outside the palace: "Queen Dowager, I will show you a good show soon."
General Pei personally dragged Chu Chenmu up.
Chu Chenmu was hit by arrows in his arms and legs, and was in excruciating pain.
Wei Ruyan, who was being held by guards at the palace gate, looked at Chu Chenmu, who looked like a dead dog, and her heart was broken.
She had made the wrong choice after all! She had originally thought she could entrust herself to Chu Chenmu, but in the end her plan failed.
Not only could she not become Chu Chenmu's queen, she would also be executed.
Chu Zan looked at Chu Chenmu lying in front of the palace and said coldly, "Prince Xiang, I have always treated you well. Why did you rebel and usurp the throne?"
Chu Chenmu raised his face, revealing the pendant hanging around his neck. He looked at Chu Zan, then at Yu Jinshu, his face full of unwillingness.
"Chu Zan, you are a man, but you still have no children. You are not worthy of being the emperor. What I am doing today is just to revitalize the Chu family. I am the most suitable person to be the emperor."
Chu Zan sneered: "Why do you say that I have no children? I already have children now."
He hugged Yu Jinshu and looked at her lovingly, "My concubine An is pregnant with the heir."
This sentence immediately shocked everyone present.
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