Chapter 220 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
Si Yuan did not comment on Lin Shu's original intention to use his position as the legal wife as a bargaining chip for marriage. Although he felt that using marriage to strengthen one's own power meant that one's own strength was not strong enough, he had to admit that when one's strength was not strong enough to suppress everything, marriage between two strong forces was indeed a good idea.
Lin Shu is willing to make such sacrifices for the greater cause and has this awareness, so Si Yuan naturally won't say anything.
Now that Lin Shu didn't need to use marriage as a bargaining chip, Si Yuan asked, "Do you have a favorite candidate? Choose the right person first, and then marry the queen directly."
After the establishment of the new dynasty, the emperor and empress got married and a general amnesty was issued, which also won the hearts of the people.
Lin Shu smiled slightly and said, "Dad, there is no rush for now. Let's wait and see. As the heir of a country, of course I have to choose the one who is most loyal to my son."
If it was for the purpose of marriage alliance, he would have to win over the power behind his wife by offering her the position of legal wife and make them loyal to him. But now that he no longer needs an arranged marriage, he naturally wants to choose the daughter of a loyal minister as his queen, so that the couple can be of one mind and they don't have to be on guard against their future bedmates.
Si Yuan nodded and said, "You know what's going on. Just make your own decision. Once you've chosen someone, just let me know."
He is an open-minded father and never interferes with his children's marriage choices. After all, whether their lives are good or bad, it is up to them to live their own lives and it has nothing to do with him as an old father.
As Lin Shu's biological father, Si Yuan's trip to Beijing touched the hearts of countless people.
The emperor sent the eldest prince to the Prince of Loyalty's Palace to invite Si Yuan to the palace for an audience.
Lin Shu was dissatisfied. The emperor was just a title. He said that the other party was the emperor and that was why he could continue to use the title of emperor. In fact, the emperor was essentially under house arrest in the palace. How could such a prisoner be qualified to summon his father?
Lin Shu directly drove the eldest prince away: "If he wants to see my father, he should come to see him in person. Summon him? Is he qualified to summon my father?"
These words really did not give the emperor any face at all, and the eldest prince felt embarrassed after hearing them, as if the rabbit had died and the fox had grieved for the loss of the other party.
The eldest prince knew that the entire capital was now under the control of Lin Shu. Although they, the royal family, seemed free on the surface, they were actually under surveillance by countless people. They could not escape or seize power. It was like being under house arrest.
What Lin Shu said was true, but he was finally unwilling to give the emperor face anymore and lifted the veil.
The eldest prince was filled with trepidation, fearing that Lin Shu's words would get out and further damage the emperor's reputation, causing the emperor to completely lose face.
Now, because Lin Shu is still willing to put in superficial efforts and show respect for the emperor, the emperor still has a little prestige in the capital. But if Lin Shu's words were to get out, I'm afraid many people would speculate on Lin Shu's thoughts, thinking that Lin Shu is going to take action against the emperor, and thus be smart enough to take action against the royal family in advance on Lin Shu's behalf.
The lives of the emperor and his princes will only become more difficult, and their lives may even be in danger.
So after the eldest prince embarrassedly left the Loyalty Palace, the first thing he did was to quietly kill the few servants who followed him.
Even though these servants were basically his confidants, the eldest prince did not completely trust them in his heart. This was related to his future treatment and life, and he would rather kill a thousand people by mistake than let one go.
After the eldest prince killed the servants, only he and Lin Shu were left, as well as the people around Lin Shu when Lin Shu said this, who knew the content of the conversation.
The eldest prince could only guarantee that the content of the conversation would not be leaked on his side, but he could not guarantee that Lin Shu would not leak it either. However, he could not do nothing but do his best and leave the rest to fate.
After dealing with the attendants around him, the eldest prince immediately went to the palace to report to the emperor the details of the incident and his own handling method.
After hearing this, the emperor was shocked, angry and terrified. He summoned Lin Shu's father into the palace just to show his goodwill to Lin Shu. After all, it was said that Lin Shu was a filial son and was willing to listen to his father's words.
So the emperor wanted to influence Lin Shu's decision by influencing Si Yuan.
In order to show his respect, the emperor specially sent the eldest prince, who was the best representative of the emperor, to personally invite Si Yuan into the palace in a humble manner. Before the eldest prince left, the emperor repeatedly urged him to be humble and never offend Lin Shu's father.
As an emperor, he had lowered himself to this level to invite someone to the palace as a guest. This was still an invitation, not an ordinary summons. Lin Shu was unwilling to even give him this little face and directly drove the eldest prince out of the palace. It was really too much!
However, apart from cursing Lin Shu in his heart in anger for going too far and not giving him face, the emperor did not even dare to say a bad word about Lin Shu in public.
Although it seemed that there were only him and the eldest prince in the palace, the emperor was not sure whether there were people around sent by Lin Shu to monitor him. He was afraid that if he complained about Lin Shu to the eldest prince in private, Lin Shu would hold a grudge against him.
After all, his life is now in the hands of Lin Shu. All the guards in the palace have been replaced by soldiers of the Lin family army. He has no hope of turning the situation around and can only rely on Lin Shu's mercy for his life.
The emperor sighed, looked at the eldest prince with sad eyes, and then said: "The eldest prince's words were rude. First he offended the loyal king, and then he was disrespectful in front of the emperor. He is stripped of his title and confined to his mansion!"
The eldest prince was shocked and looked at his father in disbelief. Was he going to use him to quell Lin Shu's anger?
However, after meeting his father's sad eyes, the eldest prince lowered his head in despair. He also knew that the situation was irreversible.
What else can the emperor do except use him to quell Lin Shu's anger? This is the best way and the only way to ease the situation.
Even the eldest prince was unsure whether Lin Shu would be able to calm down after being stripped of his title and imprisoned in the palace.
After he recovered from his anger at becoming a victim, he hoped that his sacrifice would make Lin Shu no longer care about the matter, otherwise he was afraid that he would lose his life.
Although the emperor was the mastermind behind this incident, his status was special. Lin Shu could not just kill the emperor because of a fit of rage. So if he wanted to vent his anger, he could only take it out on the eldest prince who was running errands. He could not just kill the emperor, but it would not be a big deal to just kill a prince.
After realizing this, the eldest prince obediently accepted the order and expressed gratitude. He also knew that his father's order was also intended to protect him.
The other princes were shocked when the eldest prince was suddenly imprisoned.
Although the royal titles of these princes are no longer valuable because Lin Shu has occupied the capital and the change of dynasty is imminent, it is better to have it than not. After all, hasn't the dynasty been officially changed yet?
Even if the dynasty changes, as long as the prince of the previous dynasty surrenders obediently, he may be able to get a title in the new dynasty. If he were an ordinary bald prince, no one would care if he died quietly one day.
Therefore, the princes still cared a lot about their royal titles. When they heard that their eldest brother, who was most favored by the emperor, was stripped of his title and imprisoned in the palace by the emperor, they were shocked and terrified, and they all secretly tried to find out the news.
However, the eldest prince's timely killing of his own attendants did conceal Lin Shu's angry words. Those who were trying to gather information only found out that the eldest prince went to Prince Zhongyi's mansion, and after coming out, he went to the palace to meet the emperor. Somehow he angered the emperor, and was imprisoned by the emperor on the grounds of offending Prince Zhongyi with indecent words and being disrespectful in front of the emperor.
This caused all kinds of speculation in everyone's mind. Offending the King of Loyalty? How did the eldest prince offend King Zhongyi?
Everyone turned their attention to Lin Shu.
Lin Shu acted as if nothing had happened and did not show any expression, as if he had no idea that the eldest prince was imprisoned by the emperor.
Seeing Lin Shu's attitude, everyone guessed that there must be some hidden story involving the emperor and Lin Shu, so not many people dared to continue investigating.
The eldest prince was also lucky. He executed his servants in time and kept the secret he wanted to keep.
Because of what Lin Shu said in anger, apart from the eldest prince himself and the emperor who was informed by the eldest prince afterwards, only Lin Shu and his men knew about it.
After Lin Shu's anger subsided and he regained his rationality, he certainly would not take the initiative to publicize his words. The people who served Lin Shu had already been trained very well and knew what to say and what not to say. They served Lin Shu and inevitably knew many secrets, but they had already learned how to be a deaf-mute.
Therefore, no one around Lin Shu dared to spread the news, and the secret that the eldest prince and the emperor wanted to keep was not spread out.
Lin Shu's attitude of letting the matter go made the emperor and the eldest prince feel relieved.
Originally, the emperor had planned that if Lin Shu was still angry after imprisoning the eldest prince, he would reluctantly sacrifice the eldest prince's life to avenge Lin Shu. Now that he doesn't have to kill his son, that's the best thing.
The eldest prince also felt fortunate to have escaped death and managed to escape disaster.
Si Yuan, who was at the center of this vortex, had no idea that this was happening. After all, Lin Shu did not tell him that the eldest prince had come to invite him to the palace to meet the emperor.
In Lin Shu's opinion, the emperor sending the eldest prince just to summon his father was simply disrespectful to Si Yuan. He could just send the man away and give him a good beating. There was no need to disturb Si Yuan at such an infuriating time.
Si Yuan also lived a leisurely life of retirement and flower growing in the palace. He was too lazy to even expand his spiritual consciousness. He was wholeheartedly contemplating the laws of heaven and earth in this world and did not pay attention to mundane affairs.
After this incident, Lin Shu became more and more aggressive towards the emperor. He used to just pretend to be nice, but now he directly bows and praises without naming his name, does not walk in the court, wears a sword and shoes when entering the palace, and often does not give the emperor face.
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