Chapter 105 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
Zhou Xi's acting was heartfelt, but no one cared whether Zhou Xi was truly sad or just pretending to be sad. Anyway, he looked OK on the surface, and people who knew what was good would praise him for his filial piety.
Soon, the imperial physician who was guarding the palace came to check the emperor's pulse. As soon as he put his hand on the emperor's wrist, he knelt down quickly and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty has passed away——"
Zhou Xi performed the image of a filial son who was in disbelief, grief-stricken and on the verge of collapse.
Si Yuan mingled among the court officials, watching Zhou Xi's performance and silently gave him a thumbs up.
It was worth it that he gave Zhou Xi acting lessons. In his opinion, her acting skills were up to par and it was a piece of cake to hide it from others.
Probably only a few princes at the scene were truly saddened by the emperor's death.
After all, once the emperor passed away, they really changed from princes of the direct line to royal family members of the side line.
The emperor's son and the emperor's brother are two completely different identities. No matter how strict his father is to him, it is better for the person sitting on the dragon throne to be his biological father than his brother with whom he once fought to the death.
Especially the four princes from the eldest prince to the fourth prince, who had competed with the crown prince for the throne, were even more panicked and cried bitterly. They were not only crying for their dead father, but also for their bleak future.
After Empress Dowager Chen received the news of the emperor's death, she suddenly lost her breath and fainted.
However, her health was better than the emperor's. The emperor died before he could even breathe his last, but she just fainted for a while and didn't even have any symptoms of a stroke after waking up.
Empress Dowager Chen knew in advance that the royal family and court officials would support the crown prince to ascend the throne in front of the emperor's bedside today. She was not very happy with the crown prince's ascension to the throne and did not want to see this scene, but she was powerless to stop it, so she had to stay out of the show.
So it took Empress Dowager Chen a while to receive the news of the emperor's death, plus she had been unconscious for such a long time. Now that she woke up, the emperor's mourning hall had been set up.
Empress Dowager Chen struggled to get up from the bed, asked the palace maids to dress her, and then went to the emperor's mourning hall crying: "My son! Emperor, why did you die so early at such a young age? How can I live with my old son being buried alive?"
Empress Dowager Chen was quite young when she gave birth to the emperor, so she is less than 60 years old this year, and the emperor who passed away was only in his 40s.
However, an emperor who died in his forties was not considered to have died young, as there were not many emperors who lived long lives.
In Empress Dowager Chen's crying, the emperor seemed to have died young in his teens or twenties.
However, since Empress Dowager Chen had lost her only son, this level of incompetence is understandable.
Zhou Xi has not yet officially held his coronation ceremony, but he is already considered the new emperor.
Now there is neither a queen nor a crown princess in the imperial palace. The highest ranking ladies in the harem of the late emperor are three concubines. However, Concubine Shu, Concubine Xian, Concubine De are all worried about their sons' future and have no mood to come and comfort the empress dowager.
It was the new emperor Zhou Xi who stepped forward and walked to Empress Dowager Chen to comfort her: "Grandma, please accept my condolences. My father's spirit in heaven does not want you to be overly sad and hurt your body."
Queen Mother Chen was so grief-stricken by the loss of her beloved son that she lost her mind. She angrily pushed Zhou Xi's hand away and shouted, "It's my son who died. Isn't he your father? Why don't you let me be sad? You don't feel sad for your father's death, so why can't I feel sad for my son?"
These words were extremely hurtful, as they were simply putting the blame of being unfilial on Zhou Xi's head.
Zhou Xi's face also looked a little gloomy. His father was still alive and well, and the dog emperor who should have died long ago was not his biological father. It was good enough that he could pretend on the surface.
Zhou Xi didn't bother to care whether Empress Chen was taking advantage of the situation or really noticed that he was pretending to be sad. He coldly ordered the palace servants around Empress Chen, "The Empress Dowager is so grief-stricken that she is unconscious and talking nonsense. Send her back to the palace to rest. Send someone to ask the head of the Imperial Hospital to see her. Don't neglect her!"
When Empress Dowager Chen heard Zhou Xi's words, which appeared to show concern for her but were actually meant to put her under house arrest, she immediately reacted and felt a little annoyed that she had not thought carefully before and had said something that offended the new emperor.
Empress Dowager Chen took a look at her son's mourning hall and knew that the one sitting on the throne in power was not her biological son, but her grandson who was not related to her. If she fought with the new emperor, she, the grandmother of the new emperor, might not be in any trouble. After all, the new emperor had to be filial to her out of filial piety. However, the Chen family and Concubine Chen and the eldest prince might not be able to escape well.
Empress Dowager Chen still had many concerns and did not dare to confront Zhou Xi directly, so she said in a gentle manner: "I just spoke without thinking because I was too sad and could not control myself for a while. I hope the emperor will not blame me."
Empress Dowager Chen addressed Zhou Xi as "Emperor", which was obviously a recognition of Zhou Xi's status as the emperor in her capacity as the Empress Dowager.
Although whether she admitted it or not would not affect Zhou Xi's becoming emperor, Empress Dowager Chen was sending a signal of submission that she would not cause trouble again.
Zhou Xi naturally didn't have to deal with the Empress Dowager Chen, who was older than him but couldn't be touched casually due to filial piety. Seeing that Empress Dowager Chen was so tactful, Zhou Xi smiled and said, "I can understand your grief, so how can I blame you for your excessive grief?" Then he looked at the palace servants beside Empress Dowager Chen, "Why don't you help the Grand Empress Dowager back to her bedroom to rest? Serve her well. If there is any mistake, I will hold you responsible!"
Zhou Xi quickly expressed his stance and changed his address to Empress Dowager Chen to "Grand Empress Dowager", implying that he accepted Empress Dowager Chen's advances.
In fact, because the previous emperor passed away suddenly, although Zhou Xi confirmed his status as emperor with the support of all ministers, his coronation ceremony had not been held yet. Naturally, there was no decree to enthrone Empress Dowager Chen as the Grand Empress Dowager, nor to enthrone the previous emperor's concubines as concubines.
Now Zhou Xi called Empress Dowager Chen "Grand Empress Dowager" as a gesture of goodwill to her.
With the help of Empress Dowager Chen, Zhou Xi would undoubtedly find it much easier to stabilize the court and the harem.
After all, the current dynasty still rules the world with filial piety. Many times, things that are not suitable for the emperor to do directly can be done much better in the name of the empress dowager or the grand empress dowager.
For example, the treatment of the eldest prince and several other princes who had fought with Zhou Xi for the throne.
If Zhou Xi imprisoned them or something after he ascended the throne, people would easily think that he was narrow-minded and had no brotherly love and could not tolerate his own brothers.
No one would think about how fiercely they had fought in the past, or how new and old hatreds turned them into mortal enemies. Everyone would just think that since Zhou Xi was the ultimate winner, he should show mercy and be magnanimous and let his brother go.
Therefore, for the sake of his reputation, Zhou Xi really couldn't deal with those princes casually.
But if the Empress Dowager reprimanded them for being unfilial and confined them indefinitely, even if everyone knew that the new emperor Zhou Xi was behind it, and the superficial reason was acceptable, no one would make up anything about the new emperor Zhou Xi, and Zhou Xi's reputation would be preserved.
So Zhou Xi accepted Queen Mother Chen's kindness with a smile in his heart.
When the emperor passed away, the heads of every household in the capital and their wives had to go to the palace to mourn for the emperor and wear mourning clothes.
This is especially true for the Duke of England's Palace, which is a super-class duke's palace.
However, because the Duke of Yingguo's wife died early and Si Yuan did not remarry after traveling through time, no female relatives entered the palace to mourn. Only his two sons, Zhou Ming and Zhou Jing, followed him into the palace to mourn.
As the prince of the Duke of England, Zhou Ming had a rank, so naturally he needed to enter the palace to cry for the deceased.
Although Zhou Jing was the legitimate son of Duke Yingguo, and not the crown prince, he was deeply loved by the late emperor and was awarded a nominal title by the late emperor. He was considered to have a rank and was also required to enter the palace to mourn.
The other illegitimate sons of the Duke of England were just commoners, so they had no right to enter the palace to mourn.
When Zhou Jing followed Si Yuan into the palace, he felt sad that the late emperor passed away too early, before he could separate from the Duke of Yingzhou's Mansion and before he could start a family.
The noble wife and future career prospects promised to him by the late emperor, all turned into nothing.
It was obvious that the new emperor would not help the previous emperor fulfill these promises. When the new emperor was still the crown prince, he had been at odds with him. Now that the previous emperor had passed away and the new emperor had ascended the throne, he might deliberately take revenge on him just because he didn't like him...
The more I thought about Zhou Jing, the more nervous and sad I felt. How could the late emperor die so early? His backer was gone just like that.
Zhou Jing felt sad and worried for a long time, and he even blamed the late emperor for not arranging a way out for him.
If I had known this, I should have asked for more benefits that could be obtained immediately while the late emperor was still alive, instead of listening to his empty promises. The late emperor passed away suddenly, and all these promises became empty.
Zhou Jing sat in the carriage, feeling the swaying of it. He had been unable to sleep well because he was worried that the new emperor would target him after ascending the throne. The regular swaying of the carriage made his eyelids droop.
When Zhou Jing was about to fall asleep, he was woken up by Zhou Ming's elbow.
Zhou Jing woke up with a start and subconsciously looked at Si Yuan's expression. Seeing Si Yuan staring at him expressionlessly, he was so scared that he sat up straight, not daring to doze off again.
Finally they arrived at the palace. Under the guidance of the palace servants, Zhou Jing knelt where he was supposed to kneel and cry. He wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeves soaked in ginger water, and tears quickly welled up.
At this moment, Zhou Jing looked up in the direction of the late emperor's spirit tablet with tearful eyes. Suddenly, a series of images from blurry to clear flashed through his mind.
——"Today I am going to announce a shocking conspiracy. The Duke of Ying secretly replaced the prince with his own legitimate son, with evil intentions..."
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