Chapter 576 Settling the Final Accounts! (Second Update)
At the Marquis of Ding'an's residence, Gu Chengfeng had just finished taking a bath and was covered in sweat. Logically, he should have been very hot, but for some reason, he shivered!
"What's wrong?" Gu Chenglin asked him.
Gu Chengfeng scratched his head strangely: "I don't know, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine."
When the emperor awoke, Princess Xinyang naturally went to the palace to see him.
Xiao Heng and Gu Jiao also stood up. Princess Xinyang looked at the two of them and said calmly, "You two don't need to go. Stay home and wait for news."
After doing so much, including forging an imperial edict, who knows what the emperor is thinking, or whether he will take his anger out on them?
Princess Xinyang decided to go ahead herself and make sure it was safe before summoning her two children to the palace.
Princess Xinyang and Yu Jin boarded the carriage.
Xiao Heng saw her to the door and asked, "Aren't you taking Long Yi with you?"
Princess Xinyang said calmly, "I won't bring it. People always only listen to half of what they're told."
The emperor had been in a coma for several days and looked extremely haggard. When Princess Xinyang arrived at Huaqing Palace, Empress Xiao had just fed the emperor some porridge.
The Emperor said to Empress Xiao, "I am fine here. Go and take care of Xiao Qi. I have something to say to Xinyang."
"Your Majesty, I take my leave." Empress Xiao put down her bowl of porridge and went out.
Princess Xinyang gave Empress Xiao a slight bow.
The emperor felt weak and sore all over, and didn't even have the strength to lift his arm. He sighed and ordered Eunuch Wei and the others, "You may all leave."
"Yes!" Eunuch Wei glanced at Princess Xinyang discreetly. Strange, had she shaved her hand hair today? Her Adam's apple was nowhere to be seen… and the rash on her face had completely disappeared…
While muttering to himself, Eunuch Wei glanced at Princess Xinyang's collar.
Yu Jin's eyes darkened: "Eunuch Wei!"
As if struck by a blow to the head, Eunuch Wei quickly rolled away!
"What's wrong?" Princess Xinyang asked.
Yu Jin hesitated to speak, mainly because she found it difficult to say, and she had never realized that Eunuch Wei was so improper!
Yu Jin whispered, "Never mind, I'll talk to the princess later. The princess should see His Majesty first."
Princess Xinyang approached the dragon bed and gave a slight bow: "Your Majesty."
This is the difference between Princess Xinyang and Princess Ning'an. Princess Xinyang never called him "Royal Brother." Even when he was a prince, Princess Xinyang always addressed him as "Sixth Prince."
The emperor glanced at the stool beside him and said, "Please sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Princess Xinyang took her seat as instructed.
Yu Jin stood behind her. The emperor had dismissed all the palace servants, so Princess Xinyang should have dismissed Yu Jin as well.
Princess Xinyang didn't do that because she wasn't used to being alone in a room with men, except for Xiao Heng and Long Yi.
The emperor was unaware of her habits, but he also didn't care that she had left behind the jade pendant.
Princess Xinyang said, "The imperial physician said His Majesty would remain unconscious for several more days, but I didn't expect him to wake up so quickly."
The emperor gritted his teeth: "We really have to thank that brat from the Gu family!"
"What?" Princess Xinyang didn't understand.
"It's nothing." The Emperor coughed lightly and said, "I know almost everything that has happened in the palace recently, and the Empress also told me about Liu Lang's matter."
Princess Xinyang looked at the emperor: "Now that Your Majesty knows, what does Your Majesty intend to do?"
The emperor sighed with a complicated expression and said, "I will not pursue the matter of forging the imperial edict."
Princess Xinyang frowned slightly: "Aren't you going to pursue this?"
The Emperor nodded and said earnestly, "That's right, we won't pursue it anymore. I will not investigate any of the things she plotted. After all, no matter what, she is mine..."
“Your Majesty, what is that!” Princess Xinyang interrupted him, pointing behind the emperor.
The emperor turned his head to look.
Princess Xinyang suddenly grabbed the jade pillow from the dragon bed and smothered the emperor until he fainted!
Yu Jin exclaimed in surprise, "Princess! Why did you knock His Majesty unconscious?"
Princess Xinyang was furious and said, "If we don't knock His Majesty unconscious, are we waiting for him to pardon that woman? She's done so many heinous things, and His Majesty isn't even going to hold her accountable! I might as well deal with her first! I'll execute her first and report later! Then His Majesty can do whatever he wants with her!"
"Princess……"
"What do you want to say?" Princess Xinyang asked.
Yu Jin said awkwardly, "I think His Majesty wasn't talking about her, but about him!"
Yu Jin took her hand and wrote his name in her palm.
Princess Xinyang asked curiously, "Him?"
Yu Jin said, "Yes! Think about what His Majesty said before you asked him what he planned to do?"
Princess Xinyang recalled, "He knows almost everything that's been happening in the palace lately, and the Empress also told him about Liu Lang's matter..."
Yu Jin said, "What else could it be about Liu Lang? It's about the young marquis's background! When His Majesty mentioned forging the imperial edict, he meant that the young marquis forged the imperial edict appointing you as regent, had someone impersonate you to enter the palace, and carried out some other secret schemes. His Majesty said that he would not pursue any of the young marquis's actions."
Princess Xinyang was like someone who had been bitten by a snake once and was afraid of a rope for ten years. The emperor was completely infatuated with that mother and daughter, and she had lost basic faith in His Majesty, so she thought he meant that he would not pursue Ning An.
Princess Xinyang looked at the emperor, who had been smothered unconscious by her pillow, and her teeth ached slightly: "...I was too hasty!"
The Heavenly Prison is a place where serious criminals are imprisoned; it is heavily guarded and riddled with traps.
In the most heavily guarded cell, Ning An, whose legs had been broken, gripped the filthy wooden plank and roared hoarsely, "Let me out! I want to see His Majesty! I want to see the Empress Dowager! I am His Majesty's most beloved sister! If His Majesty and the Empress Dowager find out that you dare to imprison me here, they will surely punish you with death!"
The guards were as hard as iron, and not one of them was moved.
She grabbed a steamed bun that was brought in and threw it violently at one of the jailers.
The steamed bun had long since hardened into a stone, and when it hit the jailer's back, the jailer didn't budge.
"Are you all dead?! I am Princess Ning'an! I want to see His Majesty!"
"I want to see His Majesty!"
"The emperor will not come to see you; give up on that idea."
A majestic and domineering voice slowly rang out from the other end of the corridor, instantly filling the narrow prison with an aura that commanded submission.
The jailers all bowed in salute.
Princess Ning'an stared blankly as Empress Dowager Zhuang, dressed in a black and gold phoenix robe, walked toward her with an icy expression.
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at her, who was covered in blood, without a trace of pity in her eyes.
Princess Ning'an's heart skipped a beat: "Mother..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said expressionlessly, "I have told you, do not call me Empress Dowager."
Ning An said aggrievedly, "Mother... I am your Ning An... If I don't call you Mother, what should I call you..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "Fine, call me whatever you want. It won't last much longer anyway."
Ning An looked up with tears in her eyes: "What do you mean by that, Mother?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked down at her: "With your intelligence, how could you not understand what I mean?"
Ning An cried out, "Mother! Xinyang has harmed me! They've all harmed me!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said coldly, "What did they do to you? Did they make you abandon your husband and return to the capital to seek revenge? Or did they make you take over the power of Consort Jing and collude with the people of Yan to harm the meritorious officials of my Zhao Kingdom? Or did they make you assassinate His Majesty and ultimately frame me for it all?"
A flicker of panic crossed Ning An's eyes: "Mother... don't trust them..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at her coldly: "Now that things have come to this, you don't need to pretend to be innocent. I didn't come here to hear you admit the truth. Whether you admit it or not, I don't care. If I say you are guilty, then you are guilty."
Ning An gritted her teeth and choked back tears as she accused, "Mother is completely biased! Mother wasn't like this before... Mother used to love Ning An the most... Ever since that girl appeared... Mother no longer cares about Ning An!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said sternly, "So what if I'm biased! Do I need your permission?"
Ning An's heart trembled violently!
She never expected that Empress Dowager Zhuang would be so direct, so frank, and so ruthless!
Ning An's tears fell in a steady stream: "But Mother... I am your Ning An..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at her coldly and asked, word by word, "Are you really Ning An?"
Princess Ning'an's pupils constricted sharply!
Gu Jiao didn't need to go to the palace. After leaving the clinic, she returned to Bishui Hutong with Xiao Heng.
Huangfu Xian woke up and was sitting in a wheelchair in the west room, lost in thought.
Xiao Jingkong secretly peeked at him several times.
"What's wrong with him?" Gu Jiao stood in the front yard, looking at Huangfu Xian through the half-open window.
Little Jingkong sighed like a little adult, "My little brother misses his mother. His mother treats him badly and even beats him, but he is still very worried about her. I was just thinking, if Jiaojiao hit me, I would still like Jiaojiao very much."
If Ning An is convicted, Huangfu Xian will be the one who suffers the most.
“I’ll go see him,” Xiao Heng said.
"Never mind, I'll go and check on his injuries." Gu Jiao handed Xiao Jingkong to Xiao Heng and stepped into the west room.
The sun had long since set, and the west room was dimly lit.
Gu Jiao took out a tinderbox.
"Don't light the lamp."
Huangfu Xian said.
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(End of this chapter)
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