Chapter 178 Brother...I was wrong...

Half a month after Prince Chen returned to the capital, there was finally some movement in the peaceful palace.

Concubine Qi, who often came to the emperor's study to kneel and beg the emperor, suddenly hanged herself in her own palace. The matter was secretly suppressed, and the outside world was only told that Concubine Qi had suddenly become seriously ill and died.

Inside the bedroom, the emperor was in a sad mood.

Eunuch Xu stood aside and dared not say much.

Because of the matter of Concubine Qi, the palace did not hold an early court session today. The emperor, dressed in simple bright yellow clothes, sat by the bed for a long time before getting up.

The summer scenery is supposed to be full of vitality and hope, but at the same time it also conceals a lot of unknown ugliness and selfishness.

"Concubine Qi is no longer the Concubine Qi of the past." These words seemed to be expressed with emotion, but in fact they were disappointment.

Eunuch Xu didn't dare to answer: "..."

When she first entered the palace, she was smart, straightforward and intelligent. Whenever the emperor saw her, he would forget a lot of troubles from the previous dynasty.

Because of this, she rose from a minor beauty to the position of a noble concubine, and gave birth to a son and a daughter. However, the younger daughter was weak and could not be kept alive, and died early.

This is also one of the reasons why the emperor loves her, and thus becomes more lenient towards Prince Chen.

Now things have changed and his tolerance has brought him today's irreversible result. Concubine Qi wanted to end everything with her death and save Prince Chen's life.

**

The next day, He'an entered the palace in the afternoon and presented the records of his interrogations in recent days.

The emperor was not in a hurry to read it: "I heard that there is a secret behind Princess Chen's life experience. What is going on?"

"Your Majesty, Princess Chen is not the real daughter of the He family, but a personal maidservant of He Nianqing. She suddenly had evil intentions and replaced her. This shows that she has ulterior motives and evil intentions."

"Then the baby in her belly..."

He An hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this is a matter of royal bloodline, I dare not speak rashly, but according to the time of the imperial physician's diagnosis and the testimony of the maidservant beside Princess Chen, this child is not Prince Chen's."

emperor:"……"

The emperor let out a long sigh, lowered his head and looked through the records in his hand, and found the pages about Princess Chen.

It was clearly recorded that the personal maid confessed that Princess Chen had an affair with He Zhen. In this case, no matter whether the child was of royal blood or not, he could not be kept.

He also believed in He An, so there was no need for him to do anything about this matter: "Let's get to the bottom of the matter of Prince Chen as soon as possible and close the case as soon as possible."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

**

The once prosperous Prince Chen's mansion was now in a desolate state. All the servants in the mansion were thrown into jail, and even Prince Chen's close associates were detained. Only two or three older maids were left to serve.

Late at night, Mother Wang cautiously came to Prince Chen's door and called softly, "Prince."

"Come in."

Mother Wang used to be an elder by the side of the Concubine Mother. After he established the palace, she was transferred to be in charge of the affairs. The reason why she was able to stay was because she was over sixty years old, which was considered as giving Concubine Qi a little face.

Mother Wang had obviously been crying. Her cloudy eyes were lifeless and sad. She knelt on the ground as soon as she entered the room: "Prince, the queen...is dead."

King Chen: “…”

Over the next few days, the Dali Temple's trial of Prince Chen's case progressed significantly faster. Not only was the identity of Prince Chen's wife revealed, but she was also unable to conceal the fact that she had an affair with He Zhen.

When she was taken back to prison, Princess Chen was still confused.

Her mother had sent her a letter a few days ago, saying that she and her child would be protected and asked her to firmly stick to her identity and not give up.

How did it end up like this today?

In another cell, Pei Chong had been tortured beyond recognition and was lying on the grass, barely gasping for breath.

In the past, I thought of it as a big plan and could ignore life and death, but when it really came to the moment of life and death, many ideas changed.

The reason why he held on to this tone was that he hoped to see his newborn child again before his execution.

If his calculations were correct, the baby should be born.

Hearing footsteps in the distance, Pei Chong did not raise his eyes and continued to lie there until the iron chain of the prison door was removed and a limping figure walked in. Only then did he move his head.

When he saw who was coming, Pei Chong subconsciously wanted to get up, but the chain on his scapula was too tight. Every movement caused him to tremble with pain, and his veins were exposed.

Pei Zhan stood at the door and looked at him for a long time, feeling uneasy for a long time.

He couldn't help but think of that night a few years ago when his father died of poisoning. Because he hadn't drunk much and was still conscious, he was beaten with sticks and finally tied to the outskirts of Beijing and thrown off a cliff...

At that time, he never dreamed that there would be a day when he would confront him.

Pei Zhan was filled with sorrow: "Pei Chong, you and I are brothers, and my father is your uncle. How could you have the heart to do this to me?"

Pei Chong: “…”

Pei Chong seemed to be stimulated, his body was shaking constantly, and his eyes were full of fear when he looked at Pei Zhan.

Thinking back to the past, he had never been afraid of gods or Buddhas, and had never felt the slightest bit of guilt, but when I saw him today, I was agitated and extremely frightened.

He murmured, "Don't look for me, don't look for me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being nosy."

"It was King Chen who told me to keep silent. I had no choice."

"Don't look for me, go find King Chen, don't look for me..."

Even though he couldn't get up, he still tried his best to move his body backwards until he hit the wall and gasped in pain.

Just like him now, there is no way back.

Pei Zhan squatted down with great effort: "Have you ever regretted it?"

Pei Chong kept shaking his head, unable to utter a word.

Seeing his fate today, Pei Zhan couldn't be happy.

Both Pei Chong and the entire Pei family were victims of Prince Chen's conspiracy to rebel. Pei Chong's fate was his own fault.

Having committed such a heinous crime, there is no way for him to survive. Rather than suffering like this, it is better to reincarnate early.

Pei Zhan took out a dagger from his sleeve and said, "Pei Chong, our brotherhood ends in this life. If anything happens, we will never see each other again."

The sharp blade pierced into his body, and Pei Chong just groaned and stopped struggling.

At this moment, he seemed to be liberated. Ever since he was old enough to understand, his mother had taught him that a man should establish a career, settle down a family, pursue fame and fortune, and revive the Pei family.

He has always done so, and whenever he had the chance, he would join King Chen.

In the beginning, he did have his moments of glory, and was promoted to the position of commander of the city defense army, which was a rare achievement considering the current situation of the Pei Mansion.

Gradually, King Chen's orders became more and more difficult to accomplish, either requiring huge sums of money or the actions were extremely dangerous. But by then he had already fallen into it and it was impossible for him to get out unscathed.

People are like this sometimes. When they have no way out, they can only move forward and it gradually becomes a habit.

Unfortunately, the Pei family ended up in complete ruin. Instead of prospering, they became infamous traitors...

In the end, the family was broken up and the people died...

"Brother... I was wrong..." Pei Chong raised his hand with great effort, and when it was about to touch Pei Zhan, it fell heavily. Pei Zhan stood up holding the railing and wiped his eyes while turning around.