King Jing was about to call Danruo's name when he saw Danruo pull his hand and place it on her shoulder, while she exclaimed in surprise:
"Prince Jing, how dare you covet the concubines in the harem? I will remain loyal to the emperor even if I die."
As soon as he finished speaking, Danruo fell through the railing into the lake.
The former Concubine Shu, now Dai Zhaoyuan, saw this scene when she arrived with King Jing.
King Jing actually wanted to molest Su Zhaoyi, and then Su Zhaoyi fell into the water to protect her innocence. When she saw this scene, she wanted to escape.
As long as Su Zhaoyi died, she would pretend to know nothing about King Jing's matter.
But at the critical moment, bees surrounded her face and were about to sting her. She screamed in fright, and King Jing also discovered her presence.
Dai Zhaoyuan's scream attracted everyone, and they were a little surprised to see that King Jing was also present.
At this time, the palace servant who served Danruo came to report to Gu Chengzuo:
"Su Zhaoyi disappeared after changing her clothes."
Gu Chengzuo's cold eyes forced Dai Zhaoyuan to say: "Tell me, how did you hurt Su Zhaoyi? If Su Zhaoyi had even a scratch on her skin, I would have you pay with your life."
Dai Zhaoyuan had never seen such a terrifying emperor. She had a hunch that once the emperor found out that Su Zhaoyi was dead, he would definitely kill her.
She didn't want to die. She pointed at the still panicking King Jing:
"Your Majesty, I just saw Prince Jing acting suspiciously, so I followed him. I discovered that Prince Jing actually coveted Su Zhaoyi. To protect her innocence, Su Zhaoyi jumped into the lake.
I was hunted down by Prince Jing all the way. I didn’t dare to tell you just now because I was afraid the Emperor wouldn’t believe me. After all, Prince Jing is the Emperor’s only brother.”
King Jing cried out that he was wronged.
Concubine Jing was extremely confused. How could this happen?
Gu Chengzuo didn't care and ran to the lake. When he saw the woman floating on the lake, he was frightened and jumped into the water without even taking off his clothes.
The closer Gu Chengzuo swam, the more he saw the familiar figure. He fearfully hugged the woman in his arms.
Looking at that beautiful face, his eyes were already blurred, and he could no longer tell whether the water on his face was tears or lake water.
He held the woman in his arms, quickly went ashore, and asked the imperial physician to save her.
After the imperial physician examined him, he was so frightened that he fell to his knees.
"Your Majesty, Empress Zhaoyi has long since lost her pulse and passed away. I hope Your Majesty will accept my condolences."
Gu Chengzuo felt dizzy. He couldn't believe that the woman who ran into the lake to save him was gone just like that.
The fate he had waited for for so long was gone just like that.
He doesn't believe it.
"She must still be alive. You quacks, please ask the doctor from the Divine Healer Valley to come."
"Minister Su, I remember that Zhaoyi was weak before, and it was the doctor from the Divine Doctor Valley who cured her. Please find him quickly."
Minister Su staggered and told Gu Chengzuo's secret guard Wushang's address.
Wu Shang was tied up by the secret guards as quickly as possible. After checking:
"Your Majesty, Empress Zhaoyi is indeed dead. Even if Master Zhaoyi came, it would be useless. However, I just took her pulse and found that she was already one month pregnant."
There was a sound of gasps from all around, and some ministers even cried out.
The emperor is already 32 years old this year. Some people of this age already have grandchildren, but the emperor has just had his first child.
The entire court has been waiting for an imperial heir for so many years.
It's gone just like that.
Gu Chengzuo hugged Su Zhaoyi's body and wailed in grief, exuding a captivating aura. He now wanted to destroy everything.
When the Queen Mother heard the news, she collapsed to the ground. She was unwilling to believe it was true and angrily scolded the imperial physician, asking why he couldn't see that Su Zhaoyi was pregnant.
The imperial physicians knelt down, and the head of the hospital, Nie Nuo, said:
"I just noticed something unusual in the pulse and suspect pregnancy, but I'm afraid I'm not a good doctor, so I dare not speak out. Your Majesty, please calm down."
In fact, they just felt that since Su Zhaoyi was already dead, it was better to have less trouble than more, so as to avoid the empress dowager and the emperor being angry and themselves being implicated.
Gu Chengzuo raised his sword and was about to stab his only brother, Prince Jing. Prince Jing hid behind Concubine Dowager Jing and cried out that he was wronged, saying that he was framed by Concubine Su.
Su Zhaoyi is Sultan Ruo, not Sultan Ying. The Su family is lying.
Gu Chengzuo was restricted by Concubine Jing's obstruction and was unable to stab King Jing's vital points.
Minister Su raised his head and howled, "How has my Su family wronged His Royal Highness Prince Jing? Just because my eldest daughter didn't follow Prince Jing's wishes, kept her affair with Qi Yizhi a secret, and raised the child, Prince Jing has so arbitrarily ruined the reputation of my daughter. He has repeatedly harmed my Su family. I might as well just die and ask the late emperor for justice."
The ministers on good terms hurriedly stopped Minister Su. Gu Chengzuo stopped and said forcefully with red eyes:
"I believe in Minister Su. I must avenge the Queen and bring justice to the Su family."
Concubine Jing exclaimed, "Queen?"
"I have said before that whoever has a child first will be the queen. Now that Prince Jing has killed the queen and my son, I will make him pay with blood."
"Come here, tie up King Jing."
Prince Jing held Concubine Jing tightly in his arms. Gu Chengzuo couldn't possibly kill Concubine Jing.
The ministers of King Jing's faction knelt down and pleaded with Gu Chengzuo for King Jing. Gu Chengzuo ignored them and turned to the Queen Mother, asking her to put the overall situation and his offspring first.
Give King Jing another chance to explain himself. There must be a misunderstanding on his part.
King Jing then remembered the note that the young eunuch had slipped to him. He tried to take it out from his pocket, but he couldn't find it.
He took off his outer robe but still couldn't find it, so he went to look for the eunuch.
Even if all the eunuchs in the palace were to stand there and look for it for him, he still couldn't find it. It was as if the eunuch and the note were all a dream.
No one else present saw King Jing speak to the eunuch at that time.
One minister recalled that King Jing had been looking at Concubine Zhaoyi during the banquet, and he must have been plotting something bad against her. Seeing that Concubine Zhaoyi was alone, he waited for an opportunity to take advantage of her, but he didn't expect her to be so chaste and loyal.
Moreover, King Jing was so arrogant that he had previously shouted and called for the killing of officials and noble children in the streets.
In addition to the affairs of Prince Jing, Qi Yizi and the eldest daughter of the Su family, he has always been confused when it comes to relationships with women.
The ministers talked together and helped him piece together the truth of the matter.
King Jing had never felt so wronged before. "Royal brother, ask the Su family to call Sultan Ruo into the palace now."
Minister Su agreed without hesitation: "It's just that my eldest daughter was previously assassinated by King Jing Qi Yizhi, and is now bedridden. After hearing about her sister's situation, I'm afraid she will be seriously ill again. Can you let my eldest daughter recuperate before showing her to everyone?"
Prince Jing wanted to say something, but Gu Chengzuo directly ordered him to be shot to death. If Concubine Jing tried to stop him, it would be considered as disobeying the imperial order and she would be shot to death as well.
Concubine Jing shouted, "Wait, I have the will left by the late emperor in my hand."
Before his death, the late emperor was worried about his young son and left behind an imperial decree, stating that no matter what mistakes King Jing made, even if it was treason, he must be spared.
All the ministers in the court checked and confirmed that it was indeed the edict written by the late emperor himself.
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