CH 20

The next time the emperor woke, he was in his bedroom.

This dark and familiar environment, as well as the immovable body, gave birth to great fear in his heart.

He quickly rolled his eyes and looked around.

He immediately saw others in the bedroom.

The crown prince, empress and several important officials.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, he heard the voice of physician Xiao Zhi from one side: “Forgive this humble servant for being unlearned. This poison is too complicated to be resolved. It’s entangled deep to the bone. It was suppressed before, but now the poison has surged again. Afraid…  afraid the medicine stone no longer works!”

Yuan Buwei’s sigh was light, but it hit the emperor’s heart like a heavy hammer.

The ministers did not know the inside story and their faces changed greatly when they heard the explanation.

The emperor didn’t believe his nonsense, so he clenched his teeth and stared at the man who was originally employed by him, but had now bitten him in turn.

He glared angrily, but Xiao Zhi was not flustered, looking calm as if he didn’t feel guilty at all.

——Anyway, his highness will bear everything behind him. Since he said that it could not be cured, whether it is true or false, it means that the emperor must be “incurable”.

Empress Zhou rushed to the emperor crying and pressed against the emperor’s chest. She was almost out of breath from crying.

Raising her head, she looked at Yuan Buwei with tearful eyes and begged: “Xuan’er, you must save your imperial father! The poison must be cured! Xuan’er, promise your imperial mother…”

“Imperial mother’s words… Seems to imply that er chen has superb medical skills like physician Xiao.” It’s not a strange way. “Doesn’t the imperial mother know the skills of er chen? Even if er chen were willing, there’s nothing that can be done.”

He sighed with regret.

What else can empress Zhou say? She raised her eyes but met with the dark pupils of the young man. There was no regret and helplessness floating on the surface, nor much joy and pleasure, only a calm examination.

Like an outsider, swimming through her whole person clearly and plainly from inside out.

Empress Zhou subconsciously bit her lips and even unconsciously held back the tears that were about to fall. She only looked at the eldest son with a very strange look.

At this time, headed by Prime Minister Su, there were several ministers waiting in the room.

Of course, they are not fools to get to their current positions. The behaviour of the three members of the most distinguished family today is so strange that they can vaguely understand.

Yuan Buwei is standing indifferently in place, towering and motionless, welcoming the eyes of conjecture and doubt from all directions.

He was unhurried, the ministers were unhurried, but the emperor lying on the couch could not help but be flustered.

The numb limbs were completely immovable. The emperor only felt that his consciousness was stuffed into a wooden doll’s body. He could do almost nothing except direct his eyes to move.

Gradually, he even felt that his consciousness began to faint, like falling into an abyss.

Familiar room, familiar paralysis, familiar faintness… The memory that almost drove him crazy in the previous month resurfaced. As long as he thought that he would fall into the same situation again, the emperor’s reason collapsed rapidly and only the instinct of survival was shouting.

“No, you can solve it!”

Consciousness hovered on the edge of death. The emperor was like a drowning man. He grabbed the last straw. He ignored everything else and shouted almost hysterically:

“You poisoned me. Why don’t you have an antidote? I heard you, it’s called half day drunkenness. It’s the original creation of physician Xiao. Why didn’t he create an antidote?!”

This remark is earth shattering.

Empress Zhou suddenly fell and sat on the ground. Her face showed fright and helplessness, but she was not too surprised.

… it seems that the idea emerged in her subconscious mind, but she has been avoiding and unwilling to face it before.

However the ministers could not believe it. They looked at the indifferent crown prince following the emperor’s desperate gaze, trying to read something from his face.

He brushed down his sleeves, glanced at them one by one, turned around and looked straight at the emperor.

“It seems that the imperial father’s thinking has been clouded by the poison.” He sighed again in a gentle tone.

“As we all know, the imperial father has a broad mind and is a wise king of the world. For many years, imperial father was never suspicious when er chen led the army outside. Blocking many discordent rumours within court and out in the public. He even allowed Gu to live in the military house of the great general of divine force as the crown prince and keep private soldiers… Gu felt imperial father’s great faith while donning armour for eight years and drinking the enemy’s blood.”

“– such good stories about loving fathers, filial sons, support between emperor and ministers, even if it were recorded in the historical records, are enough to linger for a hundred years. If imperial father’s thoughts were not affected by poison, how could there be such absurd delusions?”

His tone of voice was melodious and emotional, which made all the ministers present feel like they were listening to an epic story, their moods could not help being infected.

But in the eyes of the young man looking at the emperor, there was only an indifferent smile.

Expressing curiosity about what he would do next.

The emperor felt a thump in his heart.

Now his life and death are entirely in the hands of the crown prince and all the imperial guards have been replaced by the crown prince’s people. As long as the crown prince pretends to be stupid and doesn’t want to detoxify him, he can only wait for death.

No one knows how powerful the poison made by Xiao Zhi is better than the emperor.

In the original history, this physician Xiao was famous for his amazing feat – a few years later, he poisoned his family, his father, stepmother and brother.

If it were not for the great crime of killing family, Qi Xuan would have openly appreciated his outstanding medical ability. Discovering he was in a miserable situation within his family, cornered into counterattacking Qi Xuan waited for the opportunity to blackmail him. Using the excuse to atone for his sins to make use of his skills.

Except Xiao Zhi himself, no one can dissolve the poison he created.

The fear of death engulfed the emperor’s heart, and the crown prince’s words were still ringing in his ears—

The loving father, filial son and support between emperor and ministers. Therefore, the prince with a pure filial nature is certainly unable to harm the emperor. Only if it’s proven that the father is unloving can the rest…

The emperor suddenly realised that he understood the crown prince’s mind. This is to make him plead guilty in front of the ministers! In this way, the crown prince will be able to ascend the throne righteously.

When compared to life, the emperor doesn’t care about his reputation. He doesn’t hesitate to speak and his tone is full of regret: “Zhen made a mistake first. Zhen was afraid that the crown prince would make overwhelming achievements and was momentarily confused…”

“Qin Mo, the leader of the crown prince’s personal guard, was sent by me. The poison of heart erosion was created by physician Zhao on zhen’s order…”

In the shocked and strange eyes of all the ministers, flustered because the emperor was treating such a major event so casually.

But that doesn’t matter. What matters is—

“Now, these two people have become loyal to the crown prince. The poison on my body was made by physician Xiao… Call them and zhen can make them confess on the spot. What zhen just said is absolutely true.”

The emperor was sincere, almost confident and his tone was full of sincere regret. As soon as he finished speaking, he took a deep breath.

“The crown prince has always been shown filial piety and has made great achievements in the dynasty. Blame zhen for being confused first and ignoring the feelings between father and son. The crown prince fought back on impulse. Zhen doesn’t blame you. ..”

At this point, the emperor paused, forcibly calmed his tumultuous emotions and continued:

“As long as the poison is detoxified, zhen is willing to write down the edict confessing to zhen’s sins, abdicate and give way to the virtuous, never to bother about the affairs of the court again. The empress can testify that zhen says this from the bottom of the heart. If zhen violates it, zhen will be punished by heaven in the future!”

The words were resounding, and all the officials were silent.

In the past, although the emperor’s level of governance was average, he created an image of generosity, benevolence and love for the people, and always had great faith in the crown prince. Hundreds of thousands of troops were handed over to the crown prince without any suspicion .

For many literary officials who believe in “Governing by hanging arches”1 , the emperor’s ability is not important. As long as he is lenient, benevolent and can delegate power to the lower level, he is as sacred as Lord Mingjun.

Now, the emperor took the initiative to expose his dark side. Even if he used “momentary confusion” as an excuse, he could not deceive these ministers who survived in politics.

Looking at this motionless and paralyzed form on the couch, he has completely lost his pride and dignity as an emperor. At his majesty who only begs for his life, the ministers fell silent.

Even Prime Minister Su and others need face.

Seeing this, the emperor looked at empress Zhou with some disappointment: “Zitong, do you want to watch zhen die so much?”

His voice was soft and deep.

“Remember when I promised you that I would take you to the north and south of the river after I abdicated in the future…”

Empress Zhou sobbed: “Your Majesty…”

She fell to the bedside , firmly clenched the emperor’s limp hand, raised her eyes and looked at Yuan Buwei in tears.

“Xuan’er, your imperial father knows that he is wrong. The heavens will not tolerate killing between father and son… Just forgive him.”

Suddenly, empress Zhou remembered that her two sons had become closer and more harmonious recently. She hurriedly added:

“… and Yu’er! Yu’er must not want to see this scene. Imperial mother doesn’t want you two brothers to turn against each other in the future, there will only be regret left at that time. “

1 Governing by hanging arches (drop arches: draping clothes and arching hands) refers to the effortless management of a place or country and the enjoyment of peace.