CH 33

Chapter 33 Meeting the Emperor

Shan Weiyi was also invited to the East Palace, but was not taken to the main hall.

From the servant’s contemptuous treatment, Shan Weiyi knew that the reason why he was not taken to the main hall was that the crown prince thought he was unworthy.

Even when the crown prince liked Shan Weiyi the most, he never felt that Shan Weiyi was really worthy of him, worthy of being in the East Palace.

Just like what the prince did to Wen Lu in the plot. Only after going through all kinds of hardships, going through fire and water, and melting real gold in the furnace, did the prince recognize the value of the other party from self-torture to chasing his wife thousands of miles away, and giving him the crown of a commoner crown princess.

The so-called crown princess was still the crown prince’s vassal, the most exquisite and expensive doll in the East Palace.

The prince’s arrogance lies in his very low-level logic.

No matter how much he loved Shan Weiyi, it was difficult to recognize Shan Weiyi’s independent status. All his connivance with Shan Weiyi was similar to the tolerance and absurdity of human beings to cute cats and dogs who occasionally tore down their homes.

What Shan Weiyi did was discovered by the prince, and the prince’s face was greatly damaged, and his heart was even more hurt. No matter how proud and selfish the prince was, he was also a young man who had just begun to fall in love. Of course, he was deeply saddened to encounter such a thing. He knew that Shan Weiyi was not tempted by him, yet he had given Shan Weiyi his heart. In such embarrassment, he also lost the courage to confront Shan Weiyi face to face.

He didn’t see Shan Weiyi, not only because of the arrogance given to him by the difference in status, but also because of the inferiority complex given to him by the temperature difference in love.

He needed to use greater arrogance to make up for the pain caused by inferiority.

Therefore, he was willing to meet and talk to the Taifu, but he refused to look at Shan Weiyi.

Shan Weiyi was taken to a spacious but dark palace. The room was empty, not even a few pieces of furniture were placed, and the tiled floor was hard and cold, similar to a hurt lover’s heart.

Shan Weiyi sat cross-legged on the floor, closing his eyes slightly.

He had expected this to happen.

If not, he wouldn’t have arranged Zhang Li’s life first.

The relationship between Shan Weiyi and the Taifu was not seamless. He intentionally left loopholes, as long as the prince became suspicious, it was not difficult to discover it.

The most obvious thing was that Shan Weiyi reminded the prince again and again that he spent the Taifu’s money.

If the crown prince became suspicious, he would definitely investigate the funds between the two of them.

Of course, the Taifu was not a big fool, and he would not blatantly use his own account to transfer money directly, but the money was always withdrawn from his account and added to Shan Weiyi’s account. Calculating the expenses of Taifu’s account and Shan Weiyi’s recent income, it was easy to find that the numbers matched.

There were also collars, fragrances, and even information exchanges…

As long as the prince searched hard, he would be able to find the clues.

Of course, knowing that the crown prince had become suspicious, the Taifu will definitely erase the traces with all his strength, and what remained was only scattered evidence, which was far from forming a complete chain of evidence to convict the two of them of adultery. 

However, a very important point was that this was the East Palace of the feudal empire, not the court of a democratic society. If the prince wanted to accuse you of a crime, he doesn’t need solid evidence at all.

He thinks you have done it, so you have done it.

When Shan Weiyi closed his eyes and meditated, the door of the palace slowly opened again——his eyes did the same.

He saw the servant leading a tall man in. The man with long hair, blue eyes, and an upright green shirt was the Imperial Taifu. When Shan Weiyi and Shen Yu saw each other, they didn’t show much surprise on their faces.

The servant’s face was expressionless, and he looked like an inhuman bionic. He saw him take out a knife and put it on the floor in the center of the palace. When the steel blade touched the tiled floor, it made a crisp sound, which felt like breaking the soul.

The servant stood back by the door again, and said, “The crown prince said: Shen Yu, Shan Weiyi, of the two of you, only one of you can leave alive.

The servant’s tone was as calm as before with no waves as if it was announcing rules of a competition.

After speaking, the servant left the palace.

The door closed and locked in front of him.

After closing the door, it seemed that even the air in the palace was not flowing, and the atmosphere was stagnant like flowing water freezing. Shan Weiyi and Shen Yu still kept their eyes facing each other, neither sad nor happy, and a dagger was placed impartially at the midpoint of the straight line distance between the two.

Shan Weiyi was still sitting cross-legged. The moonlight passed through the window lattice like a Milky Way, flowing on Shan Weiyi’s face, adding color and luster to him. His amber pupils were like the most beautiful gemstones, shining brightly in the moonlight, matching the steel blades on the ground.

Standing there, Shen Yu could easily see the complacency and calculation in Shan Weiyi’s eyes.

But he also felt that perhaps he had never really looked into Shan Weiyi’s eyes.

Shan Weiyi’s eyes fell, passed over Shen Yu’s peacock blue eyes, and fell on the collar around his neck. Seeing the silver bell hanging from the collar, Shan Weiyi raised the corners of his lips: “It suits you very well.”

Jokingly and contemptuously.

Shen Yu’s eyes trembled, he didn’t expect that Shan Weiyi would still insist on playing the game between them at this juncture. Shen Yu should feel angry and humiliated, and his face showed corresponding emotions. He let out a cold tone on his lips: “At this juncture, do you think I will still be seduced by you?”

As he spoke, he sneered: “There can only be one between you and me, who do you think it will be?”

But he shook his head and said with a smile: “Before you speak harshly, pick up the dagger, Imperial Taifu.”

Jokingly, contemptuously.

The Taifu’s face was still angry and humiliated.

But his body was trembling and excited.

As if to prove that he hadn’t lost all his sanity, the Taifu restrained his body’s impulse and decisively picked up the dagger on the ground. The movement was as swift as the wind, rushing towards Shan Weiyi.

However, Shan Weiyi still did not evade. He smiled like a bodhisattva, sitting there cross-legged, waiting for the worshippers to offer.

Shen Yu’s saber eyes had come to Shan Weiyi’s throat, but Shan Weiyi still smiled and didn’t move.

He didn’t move, but Shen Yu didn’t dare to move, his hands froze in the air, and his movements stopped for a second.

At this second, Shan Weiyi moved.

He suddenly burst out with the speed and strength that an A-level warrior should have, grabbed the dagger with his hands, and cut Shen Yu’s cheek with the knife.

Shen Yu was a reformer with excellent skin self-healing ability. However, the dagger given by the prince was also specially made by the military, which can destroy the self-healing function of the artificial skin, making the modified person as fragile as a natural person again.

There was a dripping bloodstain on Shen Yu’s handsome face, and the bright red blood dripped on his literati gown, blooming shocking red flowers.

In an instant, the butcher’s knife was in Shan Weiyi’s hands, but he was still sitting like a Bodhisattva, barely moving his body, just looking down at Shen Yu who fell on the ground.

Shen Yu’s profile was on the ground, red blood meandering and flowing on the white tiles, his blue eyes trembling with plentiful eyelashes, looking up at Shan Weiyi like a lamb.

Shan Weiyi smiled faintly: “Do you like it?”

Shen Yu was trembling.

I like it…

I like it so much… 

I like it so much…

Shen Yu’s trembling looks was like a hamster in the palm of the owner, shaking all over his body, which made people suspect that it was out of fear. His eyes looking up became more and more transparent, and the corners of his eyes even soaked with crystal water. His blue eyes were like peacock blue round beads soaked in cold water.

Shan Weiyi didn’t move, still holding the dagger in his hand. The tip of the steel blade pressed against the tiles, blood dripped from the tip, and scattered on the floor in a cinnabar circle.

“Get over here.” Shan Weiyi said, “I’ll give you another knife. “

———

After pronouncing the rule that “Shan Weiyi and Shen Yu, only one can live”, the servant returned to the main hall of the East Palace.

Open the door, and one can see the prince sitting high in the hall, with a deep and unpredictable expression.

The servant was a bionic person, with apathy and indifference. Thanks to this feature, he didn’t feel frightened by the prince’s gloom. If the little eunuch was here, I’m afraid he’d be so frightened by the prince’s face that he wouldn’t be able to straighten up.

The servant bowed to the prince and said that he had completed the task.

The prince kicked the servant to the ground.

The bionic servant was insensitive to pain, unlike the little eunuch, who would feel painful and flustered after being kicked. He just knelt down on the ground: “This slave is guilty.”

“Do you know where you were wrong?” The prince asked coldly.

The servant replied: “I don’t know, please make it clear, Your Highness.” 

The prince said indifferently: “You didn’t salute when you took the Taifu away, and you didn’t use honorific words to him.”

The prince did his utmost best to preserve the solemnity of a superior: “No matter what the Imperial Taifu did wrong, he is still the Imperial Taifu and my teacher. I can execute him, but slaves are not allowed to look down on him.” 

The servant nodded again: “This slave is guilty.”

Waving his hands wearily, he looked at the kneeling person in a casual manner. That obedient appearance made him feel bored: “Get up.” 

The servant stood up and bowed his head: “Your Highness, it’s time to go to the evening ceremony.”

The crown prince complied with the filial piety in the imperial palace. Every day there were morning and evening visits to the parents to complete his Rites.

He came outside the central hall, and the hall door opened automatically, welcoming him in alone.

After entering the palace, the prince immediately smelled an intoxicating aroma of Longnao. This kind of Longnao was quite special. The original species was collected from earth, but it was a specially developed cultivation made after the space radiation of the emperor star. Only the emperor can use it, so it was called the nine-five Longnao aroma.

The smell of nine-five Longnao was like the sound of the whip in the ancient feudal court, which was self-evident “the emperor was coming”.

The prince’s heart was extremely messy.

He knew that he had to give the emperor an explanation for what happened today.

Shan Weiyi was not worth mentioning, but the Taifu was the Taifu of the Empire, and he was the Taifu personally appointed by the emperor.

Even if the crown prince killed a hundred Shan Weiyi’s, there was no need to panic, but if he moved against the Imperial Taifu today, he must give the emperor a good reason.

While thinking, the prince followed the guidance of the smell of nine-five Longnao.

The central hall was very large, but it was very empty, because there were no attendants in the hall, only the emperor.

The emperor’s whereabouts were not fixed, and the prince can only find the monarch by smelling like a dog.

The smell of nine-five Longnao was like a rope, leading the prince to the back hall.

The back hall was simply furnished, with white gauze curtains hanging on all sides, and a coffin in the middle. The tightly sealed white jade coffin was covered with a layer of ocean-colored sand dotted with light white shark beads, wrapping the coffin like waves in the moonlight, as gentle as a lover’s embrace.

For such a precious and delicate coffin, the person lying in it was naturally the former empress.

When the prince saw the coffin of the former empress, he dared not go forward and bowed his head.

The emperor of the empire turned out from behind the curtain, and saw that he was wearing the same moonlight-colored robe, and his long hair was dyed the color of frost. It was rumored that his hair turned gray overnight for the death of the former empress. Before turning gray, his hair should have been the same color as his pupils, showing the color of flowing sand. From the color of hair and eyes to the bones of his eyebrows and eyes, there was no similarity between the prince and the emperor.

But this was also an advantage, the crown prince was more like the former empress, so the emperor favored him – at least the whole world thought so, the whole world thought that the emperor loved his son very much.

After all, the emperor had only one son, if he doesn’t love him, who can he love?

The prince paid homage to the emperor, he had already prepared a draft in his heart on how to report the Taifu’s affairs. Now that he had decided to attack the Taifu, he had naturally thought about how to explain it to the emperor.

For a period of time, he didn’t see Shan Weiyi, and he didn’t look for the Taifu, naturally, he wasn’t idle. He used his intelligence network to search for traces of the Taifu’s connection with Shan Weiyi, and he was also searching for evidence of the Taifu’s disrespect, disloyalty and dishonesty. Of course, Shen Yu himself was not disloyal, he was still willing to be a capable minister. However, it was impossible for a person to be perfect, especially a person like Shen Yu, who always breaks the law and discipline, and uses power for personal gain. For example, no matter how cautious the Taifu was, it was impossible for him to speak perfectly. As long as one or two loopholes were caught in his speech, he can go through literary prison and accused of disobedience. Even his collection of philosophy books by scholars of the Free Federation and his investment in the Free Federation can also be used as evidence of his opposition to the Imperial system.

The prince took a deep breath, sorted out everything he had thought about in his head, and said in a flowing manner: “About the Taifu, I have something to report. First, he set up a private bank account in the Freedom Federation…”

“No.” The emperor interrupted lightly.

The prince’s manuscript that had been prepared for a month was killed in this way. His confidence, nervousness, and recitation were like a duck with its neck stretched out. It was suddenly caught by a strong hand, and he could only open his mouth dumbly and then close it again. .

The emperor said another sentence: “I know everything.”

This sentence was said lightly, but it was like a huge slap in the face to the prince.

The prince was stunned and astonished: Did the emperor know about it? What does he know? Could it be that he…

Horrible guesses emerged from his mind: I, Shan Weiyi, Taifu…the emperor knows everything…

This guess was unexpected, but it was also reasonable.

The prince’s heart beat fast.

After confirming this guess, the prince was very shocked. After the shock, what came to his heart was a huge sense of humiliation. The prince was as embarrassed as if he was stripped naked and thrown on the street. His face was hot, his ears were buzzing, and his eyes were bulging. It was even more uncomfortable than being stabbed directly at this moment.

The emperor didn’t seem to notice the prince’s embarrassment, and only said in a gossiping tone: “Do you want to hear my opinion on this matter?”