Chapter 104 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
The unconscious emperor finally woke up. When Empress Dowager Chen and other people who hoped very much that the emperor would continue to hold power after waking up learned the good news, they rushed to the emperor's bedside as soon as possible, fearing that the prince regent would harm the awakened emperor.
What disappointed Empress Dowager Chen was that there was no difference between the emperor waking up and not waking up.
The old emperor was lying on the bed with his eyes wide open and drooling. He couldn't speak a word clearly and couldn't move a finger freely.
Seeing the emperor unable to speak, Empress Dowager Chen felt as if she had fallen into an icy cave. She asked the imperial physician, "What's wrong with the emperor?"
The imperial physician replied in fear and trepidation: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has had a stroke."
Empress Dowager Chen's face turned pale instantly. The word "stroke" was not far away from her. After all, she was so old. She was once told by the imperial physician that she would be at risk of stroke if she did not take good care of herself. But as the empress dowager, she had the best medical conditions in the country, so she could naturally prevent a stroke.
But she didn't expect that she hadn't had a stroke, but her emperor son had a stroke after waking up from a faint.
Empress Dowager Chen looked at her son, the emperor, with crooked eyes, drooling mouth, and staring without being able to say a word. She felt very sad and got angry at the imperial physician: "You must cure the emperor. If you can't..."
"Why does Your Majesty make things difficult for the imperial doctors?" The Regent Prince Zhou Xi walked in slowly.
Zhou Xi was actually the first one to know the news that the emperor had woken up. However, he knew that if he was the first to rush to the emperor's bedside, Empress Dowager Chen would inevitably suspect that he wanted to murder the emperor and take the opportunity to ascend the throne.
So he waited until Queen Mother Chen arrived before rushing over. He would not be the first person the emperor would see after waking up, nor would he arrive later than the other princes, which would make him seem unfilial.
As soon as Zhou Xi came in, he heard Empress Dowager Chen threatening the imperial doctors again. Of course, he had to protect these imperial doctors who had surrendered to him.
Zhou Xi said slowly, "Grandmother, my father has been in a coma for a long time. He was able to wake up only because of the great efforts of the imperial doctors. I believe that the imperial doctors will continue to do their best to treat my father. Why should my grandmother be so harsh on the imperial doctors?"
Empress Dowager Chen was very dissatisfied with Zhou Xi's words. As the empress dowager, what was wrong with her threatening the imperial physician? Is it necessary for the prince to imply that she is not tolerant enough?
But thinking that the emperor had suffered a stroke and couldn't even speak, and that it was the Crown Prince Zhou Xi who was in power, and that the eldest prince, Concubine Chen, and the Chen family would all depend on the Crown Prince for their livelihood in the future, Empress Dowager Chen could only endure it and said, "Since the Crown Prince has pleaded for them, I will naturally not be unkind." She glanced at the imperial doctors kneeling on the ground, "You all should stand up and do your best to treat the emperor. If you cure the emperor, I will reward you handsomely!"
The imperial doctors expressed their gratitude one after another, but none of them took seriously the generous rewards promised by Empress Dowager Chen, because the emperor's severe stroke was almost impossible to cure. The only person they were grateful to was the prince who spoke for them.
The imperial doctors now have a clear understanding of the current situation. They cannot cure the emperor's illness. Even if they do, they will not gain any benefit and may even offend the crown prince. But if the status quo is maintained, with the Crown Prince protecting them, Empress Dowager Chen will not be able to do anything to them.
Therefore, the treatment plans that the imperial doctors gave to the emperor were all the most conservative ones, which could keep the emperor alive. However, such conservative plans were absolutely impossible to cure the emperor's stroke.
However, Empress Dowager Chen did not understand medical knowledge and could only let the imperial physicians treat her. The imperial physicians also had their own way of deceiving the nobles who held the power of life and death over them, and they fooled the Empress Dowager into believing that they were really trying their best to treat the Emperor.
The imperial doctors went out to discuss treatment plans, leaving only Empress Dowager Chen and Crown Prince Zhou Xi by the emperor's bedside.
The emperor stared at Zhou Xi with his crooked eyes as big as copper bells, and his mouth kept making vague "wu ah wu ah" sounds. Empress Dowager Chen asked in confusion: "What does the emperor want to say?"
Empress Dowager Chen noticed that the emperor was staring at the prince, so she looked at him suspiciously: "Prince, your father seems to have something to say to you?"
Zhou Xi leaned over with just the right amount of worry and concern on his face, held the emperor's trembling hand, and asked, "Father, what do you want to say to me?"
“Ahhh…” The emperor could only utter various ambiguous interjections and could not speak clearly at all.
Zhou Xi deliberately guessed, "Father, do you want to tell me to take good care of the government? Don't worry, father, I will be the regent on your behalf. With the assistance of the Duke of Ying and other important officials in the court, I am quite capable in the government. Now the world is peaceful and prosperous, the weather is good, and I haven't encountered any difficulties..."
Although the emperor was unable to move and could not speak clearly, his ears were good and he could hear what Zhou Xi said. When he heard Zhou Xi say that he had taken his place as regent and held the power of the government, the emperor became even more anxious.
The crown prince is a fake one and is not my biological son at all. How can he be regent?
But the more anxious the emperor became, the more unclear he became. In the end, he couldn't even utter "Ahhh". He could only drool vaguely and stare at Zhou Xi.
But his crooked eyes looked like he was glaring at everyone with dissatisfaction. Even his own mother, Empress Dowager Chen, could not read what he wanted to say from his eyes.
Even if Empress Dowager Chen guessed that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the Crown Prince, what could she do? At most, Empress Dowager Chen thought that the emperor was angry that she was lying on a sickbed, unable to speak or move, while the crown prince was young and strong and was about to replace her, so the emperor was dissatisfied with the crown prince.
But the emperor had suffered a stroke and was unable to take care of state affairs. As the crown prince, it was legitimate for him to act as regent and later ascend the throne as emperor.
Even if Empress Dowager Chen guessed that the emperor was dissatisfied with the crown prince, she did not dare to say so openly because the emperor was unable to depose the crown prince, so as not to offend the crown prince and affect the Chen family.
As the Crown Prince Zhou Xi who also knew the truth about his life experience, he certainly knew why the Emperor was so anxious when he stared at him with dead fish eyes. He pretended to know nothing and deliberately misinterpreted the Emperor's anxiety. On the surface, he comforted the Emperor but in fact he provoked the Emperor by saying: "Father, please rest assured. I will not let you down for your years of teaching and will manage our country well. My brothers are all well, please rest assured. Although my third and fourth brothers handled things improperly and caused you to faint, they are my brothers after all. I really can't bear to be too harsh on them. Moreover, I also think that my father is so kind that he will definitely not have the heart to punish my two brothers too harshly, so I just order my two brothers to reflect on their mistakes in seclusion at home for three months..."
The emperor was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
What is 'our family's kingdom'? This is the Zhao family's empire. Why should you, a bastard named Zhou, inherit their Zhao family's empire?
And the unfilial third son even dared to cheat on me. How could I have any fatherly love for him? Quickly strip him of his title and put him under house arrest! Just reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors? Or is it just a three-month period? Who asked a bastard like you to be so soft-hearted?
The emperor thought that his kingdom would be inherited by the bastard he had exchanged for, and that the bastard and unfilial son who had cheated on him and made him suffer a stroke would only be released after three months of confinement. He was so angry at Zhou Xi that he almost did sit-ups on his bed.
But unfortunately, no matter how angry the emperor was, he couldn't bear the pressure due to his physical condition. He couldn't move a finger, and even his tongue couldn't obey and say what he wanted to say.
The emperor was extremely desperate. Was he going to lie in bed for the rest of his life, unable to move or speak, and watch his kingdom being inherited by an outsider?
He deeply regretted his act of exchanging children. Why was he so shameless? Why do you want to change your son? Now, he was in big trouble. Before he could expose the fake prince's background, and before he could let his real son Zhou Jing recognize his ancestry, he fell unexpectedly.
Now, apart from himself, there is no one else who knows the truth. Those who were involved in the matter and knew the truth have all been killed by him one after another.
Now, he wanted to expose the fake prince's background, but he couldn't open his mouth. He could only watch the fake prince Zhou Xi pretending to be a filial son in front of his sickbed. After all the doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau confirmed that he could not recover, the important officials of the royal family and the dynasty all came to his sickbed to ask for permission to let the fake prince ascend the throne.
But he couldn't move or speak, and everyone's requests for instructions were just a show in front of him, and there was no room for him to express his opinions at all.
The fake prince pretended to ask and refuse three times in front of him, and then accepted the support of all the ministers and agreed to ascend the throne as emperor.
The emperor stared with bloodshot eyes as he watched the fake prince being surrounded by everyone and wearing the dragon robe legitimately. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe and died with his eyes staring.
The first person to discover that the emperor had died was Si Yuan, who had been covering the entire bedroom with his spiritual sense.
However, Si Yuan only glanced at the emperor lying on the bed with his eyes open, and continued to look at Zhou Xi, who was wearing a dragon robe and was surrounded by people to become the new emperor.
At this moment of great joy, there is no need to worry about a dog emperor who died with his eyes open.
It's a pity that the dog emperor was a little bit impatient, otherwise he would have let Zhou Xi, who had ascended the throne, sit at the head of the dog emperor's bed in a dragon robe and tell the emperor about Zhou Jing's life as a useless person who had lost his position as the crown prince and was separated from the family, and had accomplished nothing. Then he would have waited until Zhou Xi married a queen and had an heir, so that the emperor's last hope - that Zhou Xi had no son and could only adopt a real descendant of the Zhao family to inherit the throne - would have been shattered.
I believe the emperor would feel even more painful and unbearable.
Unfortunately, the emperor was not very quick to anger. He was so angry when he saw Zhou Xi being surrounded by clan members and court officials and wearing a dragon robe that he died. The script that Si Yuan prepared for him had not even begun.
After putting on the dragon robe, Zhou Xi came back to his senses and remembered that he should wear the dragon robe so that the emperor could take a closer look at him, so he turned his attention back to the emperor.
Zhou Xi was the second person to discover that the emperor had passed away. He immediately went into filial piety mode, threw himself on the emperor's body and cried loudly: "Quickly call the imperial physician! Father! Father, you haven't seen your son ascend the throne yet, please wake up! Where is the imperial physician? Imperial physician, please come and save me!"
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