Chapter 108 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
After Si Yuan sent the Dog Emperor away, his mission in this world was actually completely completed.
The original male protagonist of this world is the real prince Zhou Jing. The fake prince is a cannon fodder serving as a shield for the male protagonist, and even the entire family of the Duke of Ying are cannon fodder.
If Si Yuan wants Zhou Xi to succeed in competing with Zhou Jing for the father, he can either kick the dog emperor down and become the emperor himself, or let the dog emperor die before him.
In the end, Si Yuan, who didn't want to be emperor, chose the latter.
The world is still peaceful and prosperous nowadays. It is too troublesome to rebel and usurp the throne. It is better to just send the damn emperor down.
Although the protagonist's father was the emperor, he lived short and could not allow the protagonist to become emperor.
Although Si Yuan is only a duke, he not only lives longer than the protagonist's father, but is also able to send his cannon fodder son to the throne, so he lets Zhou Xi compete with his father to defeat Zhou Jing, and his mission in this world is naturally accomplished.
Si Yuan kept Zhou Ming by his side and taught him carefully, so that Zhou Ming could at least support the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion.
Anyway, the current emperor is Zhou Xi. Considering the blood relationship, Zhou Xi will take care of Zhou Ming.
In order to prevent Zhou Xi from harboring any resentment, Si Yuan divided up the Duke of Yingzhou's mansion before he finished the mourning period for the late emperor.
Among the original owner's illegitimate sons, except Zhou Ming who inherited the entire Duke of England as the crown prince, the rest of the illegitimate sons were divided their property according to the rules and allowed to live in separate houses.
Anyway, with the support of the British Duke's Mansion, you will not die no matter what. As for whether you can live a glorious life, it depends on your ability.
Si Yuan doesn't worry too much about non-mission targets.
After all, Zhou Jing is still the legitimate son of the Duke of England. When dividing the family property, Si Yuan cannot be too harsh on Zhou Jing, lest people notice something is wrong.
After all, Si Yuan used to be very fond of his legitimate son Zhou Jing, but his attitude suddenly became too cold and ruthless. People would speculate about the reasons behind it, and it is hard to guarantee that people would not think that Zhou Jing is not his biological son.
After all, Zhou Jing already knew the truth. If he let it slip in the future and caused those gossipers to speculate, Si Yuan's change in attitude at this time might become evidence for others' speculation about Zhou Jing's life experience.
Si Yuan would certainly not reveal such a flaw. Not only did he not give Zhou Jing less of the family property, but in order to show his favor for this legitimate son, he left all the original owner's private property to Zhou Jing.
Even if Zhou Jing lives off his savings in the future, he will be able to eat for a long time.
However, Si Yuan decided to leave some of the more hidden, valuable and special treasures in the original owner's private vault to Zhou Xi. After all, Zhou Xi was the original owner's true son, and the only son born to him by his beloved wife.
Si Yuan still gave Zhou Jing the dowry and the visible properties left by the original owner's wife. After all, Zhou Jing is now the only son of the Duke of Yingguo's wife. If these properties are not left to him, it will give people the opportunity to gossip and suspect him.
However, Si Yuan also decided to leave some of the more valuable and special items in the Duchess of England's dowry, which were unknown to outsiders, to Zhou Xi.
There were not many items, so Si Yuan just packed them in a small box. After the family split up, he took the small box into the palace to meet Zhou Xi.
Zhou Xi, who had become the new emperor, met Si Yuan in the imperial study. Si Yuan looked at Zhou Xi, who was now a well-behaved emperor, and nodded with satisfaction. Then he handed the small box in his hand to Zhou Xi and said, "I divided the property among them. In order to prevent people from doubting Zhou Jing's identity, I gave him your mother's dowry and most of my private property. These are unknown to outsiders. They are also what I left for you from my private storehouse and your mother's dowry. They are all unique and have special meanings. Only you are qualified to be their heir."
Zhou Xi accepted this division of the family well. After all, concealing his background was of utmost importance. He could not give the world the opportunity to speculate and question his background as an emperor.
As the ultimate winner, Zhou Xi naturally wouldn't care about the material possessions that Zhou Jing got. After all, the entire empire left by Zhou Jing's biological father was inherited by Zhou Xi. No matter how you look at it, Zhou Xi got the greater advantage. Naturally, he would be tolerant and not care about the little property Zhou Jing got from the division of the family.
Especially since Si Yuan left all those items of special significance to him, Zhou Xi felt more at ease. He was indeed the most beloved child of his father and mother. Even if the fake Zhou Jing took his place, he would never get the love that belonged to him.
Si Yuan looked at Zhou Xi's expression and felt relieved to see that he was quite satisfied.
He was worried that Zhou Xi would take an extreme path because of his memories of his past life. He would insist on killing Zhou Jing and take the family property that should have belonged to him, the legitimate son of the Duke of England, regardless of his reputation, just to prove that he was the only qualified heir to his biological parents' estate.
Zhou Xi's actions would only arouse suspicion among outsiders. If Zhou Jing let slip his background one day, outsiders would associate Zhou Xi's strange behavior at this time with it, and would inevitably make speculations, causing unnecessary trouble for Zhou Xi.
Even if there is no evidence that cannot shake his throne, all kinds of rumors are flying around, and they may be passed down and turned into unofficial history known to future generations. Si Yuan feels bad when he thinks that this unofficial history will be passed down to future generations, and may be fabricated by future generations to make it appear that he, the Duke of England, replaced his son in order to usurp the throne, and put the blame of being the dog emperor on his head.
Therefore, Si Yuan wanted to nip this threat in the bud in advance.
Zhou Xi opened the small box and looked at the small objects inside. They were all visibly precious and not much less valuable than the treasures in the emperor's private treasury.
Si Yuan introduced them to him one by one, telling him the stories and origins behind these treasures.
There was a warm affection between the father and son. After telling the story, Si Yuan couldn't help but ask, "When does Xi'er plan to get married?"
Zhou Xi smiled and said, "I have not married yet, but it is the mourning period for the late emperor..."
Si Yuan frowned slightly. Was he going to wait until the three-year mourning period for the dog emperor was over before marrying a queen?
The emperor had no children and the court was unstable, which inevitably affected Zhou Xi's ability to sit firmly on the throne.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Xi continued, "I'm sure my father's spirit in heaven would not want to see me without a successor, so I plan to wait for the full twenty-seventh day, and then marry the queen into the palace."
Zhou Xicai didn't want to observe mourning for the late emperor for twenty-seven months. The fact that he was able to observe mourning for twenty-seven days was already commendable for his filial piety. He also decided to observe mourning in his heart during these twenty-seven days. After all, no one could be wronged but he, the emperor, could be wronged. The twenty-seventh day was almost a whole month. How could he, the emperor, not eat meat for a whole month? What a negative impact on health!
I guess his father's spirit in heaven would not want to see him ruining his health by not eating meat for a month in order to mourn for his father, right?
When Si Yuan heard Zhou Xi's words, he just felt that he was mean. He knew very well that if the dog emperor knew about this after his death, he would definitely hope that Zhou Xi, his fake son, would have no successor so that the throne could return to the hands of the royal family of the Zhao family.
If the dog emperor could really hear what Zhou Xi said, he would be so angry that he would come back to life even if he died.
However, as Zhou Xi's cannon fodder father, Si Yuan certainly agreed: "Xi'er is right. The late emperor loved Your Majesty very much when he was alive, and he would definitely not bear to see Your Majesty postpone marrying in order to observe mourning." No wonder, when the dog emperor was alive, he tried to delay it again and again in order to prevent Zhou Xi from marrying the Crown Princess.
Si Yuan and Zhou Xi looked at each other and smiled.
A month passed quickly, and soon it was the day when the new emperor Zhou Xi married the queen.
The wedding of the emperor and empress was naturally a grand ceremony.
This grand wedding immediately dispelled the gloom of the late emperor's death and filled the entire capital with joy.
It was as if the previous emperor had never passed away, and everyone was happy that the new emperor had married a queen.
Only Zhou Jing was still thinking about the throne that should have belonged to him. He lay in a house that he had been given when the family was divided, listening to the joyful sounds outside and drinking pot after pot of wine. But no one would care what this fallen man thinks.
Si Yuan left this world shortly after the new emperor got married.
Si Yuan did not plan to stay in this world for too long. After all, Zhou Xi was not the child he had been raising. The relationship between the two was mixed with something else because of their status as monarch and subject. Although Si Yuan did not have any idea of ​​controlling Zhou Xi by relying on his status as his biological father, he even gave the military power to him after Zhou Xi ascended the throne.
Zhou Xi also seemed to have a lot of admiration for his biological father.
But Si Yuan would never gamble that an emperor would continue to trust him. Although he was Zhou Xi's biological father, he also held Zhou Xi's biggest leverage.
Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance that father and son will turn against each other in the future, Si Yuan doesn't want to gamble on this possibility, it's troublesome.
So after seeing Zhou Xi get married and arranging the remaining children of the original owner, Si Yuan simply left this world.
In fact, just as Si Yuan predicted, after his death, Zhou Xi, although heartbroken, also felt a little relieved - it was the relief that there was one less person in the world who knew the secret of his life.
Zhou Xi immediately changed his public statement about mourning: he married the queen for the sake of the country, but he was still a filial son, so he decided to mourn for the late emperor for three years.
On the surface, he was mourning for the late emperor, but in reality he was mourning for his own biological father.
Zhou Ming and other illegitimate sons of the Duke of England did not know Zhou Xi's background, so Zhou Xi could openly take care of his brothers and sisters in the name of remembering the Duke of England.
Zhou Jing, who also knew Zhou Xi's true life experience, later fell into the lake while drunk and drowned.
As for whether it was really an accident, no one would care about the truth behind the death of a drunkard who squandered his wealth and got drunk every day.
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