Chapter 126 – There is a layer of skin on everyone’s heart

The sound of crying was faintly heard from the corner of the Shufang Palace, and Yi Gui Concubine, whose eyes were slightly red, looked at the eunuch kneeling in front of her, and smiled grudgingly, allowing the eunuch to leave the hall. After a moment of silence, her hand shrunk in her sleeve, tightly clutched the handkerchief, voice somewhat hoarse said: “I do not believe.”

At this time, the palace was already in chaos, the Empress Dowager sped out with several decrees one after another, no matter if it was the Empress of the Eastern Palace, or Ning Cai Ren, all of them had to move to live in the Hall of Containing Light right away, and Yi Gui Concubine, who raised the youngest son of the Emperor of Qing, was also not an exception.

At that time in the palace, Yi Gui Concubine clearly heard these orders, of course, she understood that the so-called move to live in the Hall of Containing Light was only to facilitate the surveillance of these people in the palace.

Her mind was a little dazed, not knowing what kind of situation she and her son were going to face …… The Emperor is dead? The emperor is dead! Her hair at her temples was a bit messy, and she shook her head vigorously, as if trying to drive this shocking news out of her mind.

“How could the Emperor die, how could he die?”

She bit her lower lip tightly, and blue and white marks were bitten out on her rosy lips. Outside the palace, the rain had stopped and the cicadas had rested, but the refreshing chill filled the air and wrapped around her body, causing her to shiver.

Although His Majesty the Emperor has never had any special preference for women’s colors, the concubines in the harem totaled more than twenty, but Yi Gui concubine is one of the most favored in these years, if you say that she has no feelings for the Emperor, natural false. However, at this time, her sadness, her fear, her uneasiness is not only because of the news of His Majesty’s death.

The military, the Supervisory Yuan, and the counties had sent thousands of miles of messages to Kyoto, delivering that heavenly news to the nobles in the capital – His Majesty had been assassinated!

However, the information from the military and the counties was that His Majesty’s assassin was Fan Xian, the Premier of the Procuratorate!

Lord Fan colluded with the Four Gu Swords of Dongyi City to commit treason and regicide on the occasion of the Great Eastern Mountain Festival!

The information from the Procuratorate, however, only confirmed His Majesty’s death, and the description of the specific process was extraordinarily vague, instead confirming the authenticity of the previous two pieces of information.

However, Yi Gui Concubine did not believe it!

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe that His Majesty had died, but she simply didn’t believe that this matter was done by Lord Little Fan! This simply did not make sense. His Majesty the Emperor was sacrificing the heavens to abolish the Crown Prince, and Fan Xian’s position would only be further solidified after the sacrifice, so how could he suddenly choose such an absurd move at this very moment?

Yi Gui Concubine was really scared, she sensed a net had been set on Fan Xian, and it was following closely on Shufang Palace. She came from the Liu Clan, and was honored with the Fan House, and Fan Xian was His Majesty’s handpicked …… master of the third prince!

If Fan Xian really became the first offender of the conspiracy, the Fan family would naturally be decapitated, the Liu family would hardly be spared, Yi Gui Concubine might be pushed into the well, and the Third Prince ……

“Mother! Mother!” The third prince, who had just received wind of the incident, ran in towards the palace, crying all the way. When he ran in front of Yi Gui Concubine, he stopped in a daze, and with those eyes that were more mature than those of his age, he carefully glanced at his mother.

Yi Gui Concubine nodded with some disorientation.

The Third Prince pursed his little lips, forcibly endured for a while, but still did not hold back, let out a loud cry and jumped into Yi Gui Concubine’s arms.

After a long time, Yi Gui Concubine gritted her teeth, ruthlessly pulled her son up from her own arms, looked viciously into his eyes, and said forcefully, “Don’t cry, not allowed to cry, now is not the time to cry …… Your father is a king of the heavens and the earth, you can’t cry. ”

Third Prince Li Chengping sobbed, but stood strongly in front of his mother and nodded heavily. With the long years of court life and the year of following Fan Xian in Jiangnan, the heart of this sinister prince who had dared to open a greenhouse at the age of nine had long since been honed enough to know that the words his mother had to deliver at this time were extremely important.

“It’s all over the news now that it was your master, Lord Fan, who stabbed the driver.” Concubine Yi stared into her son’s eyes.

After the third prince’s eyes were slightly flustered, he immediately calmed down and said in a hateful voice, “I don’t believe it! Master is not such a person, and …… he has no reason to.”

Yi Gui Concubine reluctantly smiled, patted her son’s head and said, “Yes, although there are reports from the military and the states and counties, there are not many people who would believe that your master-sama, would be unfavorable to his majesty …… You have to know that he is your father’s most valued subject.”

“It’s not just us who don’t believe.” Yi Gui Concubine clenched her teeth and said, “Empress Dowager doesn’t believe it either, otherwise at this time the Fan House would have already been copied, and that crazy woman wouldn’t have been buried in the earth by the Empress Dowager.”

The Third Prince nodded.

Yi Gui Concubine lowered her voice and said, “But the Empress Dowager won’t be completely unconvinced either, although I don’t know why …… your aunt and uncle are going to enter the palace soon, and Sister Chen and Si Si that girl are going to enter the palace as well, and if the Empress Dowager really believes that what happened in Dadong Mountain was done by your master, I’m only afraid that right away, the two families, the Fan Liu family, will be be in desperate straits.”

“What can child do?” The Third Prince clenched his fists, knowing that his future had been completely pressed on Master Fan Xian’s body, and if Master was truly branded as a regicide villain, he would never have the power to turn around again.

“Don’t do anything, just cry, grieve, and accompany the Empress Dowager ……” Yi Gui Concubine suddenly sighed, a trace of pity flashed in her eyes, and she put the Third Prince back into her arms, “One day that the matter of the Great Eastern Mountain is not clarified and the day your master does not return to Kyoto, the Empress Dowager will not immediately take action against the Fan family. We need this time to influence the Empress Dowager, and then …… wait for your master to return.”

The third prince nodded after a moment of silence, he, like his mother, had always had great faith in Fan Xian, in their hearts, as long as his master returned to Kyoto, he would definitely be able to settle the whole matter.

The eunuch was outside urging.

Yi Gui Concubine was a little hexed as she began to prepare to move to the Hall of Containing Light.

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in the eyes of the Third Prince as he drew out a poisoned dagger that Fan Xian had given him from under the table and carefully hid it in his cute little boots.

He didn’t agree with his mother’s earlier words, the Hall of Contained Light wasn’t necessarily safe, what kind of crazy things couldn’t those two brothers do for the chair left behind by their father?

Crown Prince Li Chengqian slowly organized his clothes, his face did not have a trace of crazy joy. When the news of the emperor’s death reached the palace, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was just like all the imperial ministers, crouching on the ground and crying, his sadness was hard to hide.

It was just that his face had a trace of extra whiteness on top of the sadness. Walking to the doorway of the Eastern Palace, facing the twilight in the distant east, he bowed deeply, two strings of tears falling from his eyes.

Only after a long time did he straighten up and straighten his body, thinking sadly in his heart, “Father, it’s not that my son is unfilial, it’s just that you’ve pushed me to the point where there’s no way back.”

Hong Zhu led the guards at the entrance of the Eastern Palace, waiting to invite the Empress and the Crown Prince to move to the Hall of Containing Light.

The Crown Prince glanced towards the palace gates, turned back to look at the Empress, frowned slightly, forcibly hiding the helplessness in his eyes, holding his mother’s hand, whispering in her ear, “Mother, please save your sorrow.”

The Empress, who had always had a dignified look, had been trapped in the Eastern Palace for the past half a year, and had long since lost her splendor. However, today suddenly heard the news of His Majesty’s assassination in the Great Eastern Mountains, this and the emperor’s childhood sweethearts of the woman still broke down, the whole person like a walking corpse in general listening to the news that passes around the palace, while they only sit on the couch and cry.

“Your father died ……,” the empress looked at the crown prince with lifeless eyes.

The crown prince slowly bowed his head and said, “The child knows, it’s just …… that everyone is going to die.”

His face was still in mourning, while the words were said with extreme indifference.

The Empress seemed to have regained her sanity in an instant, understood the words, looked at her son with an incredulous face, opened her mouth wide, and didn’t say anything for a long time!

“The heavenly sacrifice, it was not completed.” The crown prince said in a low voice, “My son will rightfully become the next emperor of the Kingdom of Qing, and you, on the other hand, will be the empress dowager.”

The Empress didn’t know how many complex emotions welled up in her heart for a while, her lips trembled, and it wasn’t until a long time later that she ate ai ai ai and spoke out, “Yes, yes, yes …… Fan Xian that God damned, I …… I’ve said long ago that That is the demon star …… Our old Li family …… is always going to be destroyed in the hands of their mother and son …… Stay to go to the Hall of Containing Light, immediately ask the Empress Dowager to give a decree, the Fan family will be decapitated all over the house! No, the entire Fan and Liu families will be beheaded! And also kill that old dog Chen Pingping!”

The Crown Prince’s hand holding the Empress suddenly became a few points heavier. The Empress ate the pain and stopped her mouth.

The Crown Prince attached himself to her ear and whispered word by word, “Don’t say this. Remember, don’t say a word …… If you still want me to sit in that dragon chair, don’t say anything. No one will believe Fan Xian’s regicide nowadays, and if you were to say that, even less would believe it …… So we have to wait in the Hall of Containing Light, and in four or five days, the witnesses and material evidence will all be back, and by that time, if you don’t say anything, the Empress Dowager will know what will be done.”

The Empress was trembling and seemed like she never knew this son of hers.

The crown prince finally whispered in her ear, “Qin Heng will be going to the palace …… on the old master’s side later, you say something, the empress dowager’s side is good to talk.”

Not far from the palace in the second prince’s mansion, the second prince is the same as his brother, one side of the side to organize the clothes, the other side of the simulation of grief, as a family member of the son of heaven, the best thing is to act, so when his heart thinking about a lot of things, the expression on his face is still in place as it is.

Crown Princess Ye Ling’er indifferently watched him from the sidelines and did not come forward to help, for a moment she softly asked, “Do you believe it?”

The Second Prince’s hand paused and calmly replied, “I don’t believe it. I admire Fan Xian, he has no reason to do this.”

Ye Ling’er frowned her good-looking brows and asked, “Then why are …… the rumors all talking like this?”

“Rumors are just rumors, they stop with the wise.” The Second Prince slightly lowered his head and rolled up his snow white sleeves, he was wearing a light colored singlet today, looking extraordinarily low key and silent, “Before there is any evidence, I won’t believe that Fan Xian would be so bold.”

Ye Ling’er’s heart softened a bit, and she said softly, “Be more careful when you enter the palace.”

The second prince smiled reluctantly, patted his wife’s face, and said, “What is there to be careful about? Father’s great line, only now secret mourning, when the matter of Dongshan is clear, will be the national mourning, and then the crown prince ascended to the throne, I am still the inconspicuous second prince.”

“You are willing?” Ye Ling’er looked at him in surprise.

After the second prince was silent for a moment, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, “I won’t hide it from you, I suspect that the matter of the East Mountain was done by the crown prince ……”

Ye Ling’er was shocked and covered her mouth in death.

The Second Prince gave a bitter smile and said, “It’s just a guess.”

After saying these words, he walked towards the door of the mansion, summoned his own followers in the corner, and softly instructed, “Inform father-in-law to always be ready to enter the capital.”

Yes, father-in-law was dead. The second prince stood at the entrance of the mansion, suddenly feeling that the sky above his head had begun to release its beautiful turquoise-blue light, and there was no longer anyone to stand in his way. He had a clear view of what was going on in the Great Eastern Mountains, because Her Highness the Eldest Princess had never hidden anything from him.

If the crown prince ascends to the throne, then so be it, but whether Fan Xian is dead or alive, how could those old men standing behind him possibly fold their hands?

The corner of the Second Prince’s lips spread a cold smile, he would help the Crown Prince, let him sit in that chair for the time being, let him face the strong backlash from the Supervisory Board and the Fan family, he only needed to indifferently look at that waste of a Crown Prince, and in the future, when he was revealed to be the mastermind behind the patricide and regicide, let’s see what he would be reduced to!

There was no time to grieve.

All the people who knew the news of His Majesty’s assassination did not have time to grieve, after a moment of shock, they began to calmly and even indifferently began to arrange the subsequent things, those who were qualified to sit in that chair began to make preparations, and those who were qualified to decide the belonging of that chair began to secretly communicate with each other.

Although the empress dowager asked the relevant people to enter the palace within the first hour, she still gave those people more than enough time to communicate.

All of them seemed to have forgotten that the one who died was the most powerful monarch since the founding of the Qing Kingdom, the supreme king who had ruled this land for more than twenty years, and the spiritual symbol of all the people of the Qing Kingdom.

They were so disturbed by the dividends in front of them and the scent at the end of their noses that they only had time to be excited and terrified and to disguise their grief, but their hearts were too late to truly grieve.

There was only one exception.

The Eldest Princess slowly pushed open the door of the nominally closed Imperial Residence that had been closed for several months, and calmly stood on the stone steps, looking down at the carriages and eunuchs that had come to welcome her into the palace, her beautiful and delicate features not a single tremor. She was dressed in a thin white dress, pretty, plain, and sad to the core.

She did not turn around to look at the other courtyard for a glance, slowly raised her head and looked at the blue sky in the sky after the clouds and rain dispersed. The sadness on her face is getting heavier and heavier, more and more thick, thick to the extreme is light, light to a trace of emotion are not, such as jade-like skin seems to be transparent, so that all the world, to see the real emotions of her heart.

That touch of pain and calm.

Li Yunrui smiled faintly, clear light scattered in all directions, and in her heart, she whispered to a certain wisp of the emperor’s soul on that distant mountain, “Brother, go well.”

Then she got on the carriage and drove towards that imperial palace that was about to decide the belonging of the Qing Kingdom.

Unlike the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, she didn’t even bother to guard against the Supervisory Court and the Fan Mansion because she stood taller and saw farther. The key to the entire matter had already been confirmed with those three tired horses that had traveled thousands of miles to return to the capital, and the things that followed were all just very simple water under the bridge.

As long as His Majesty died, the whole thing would be over.

Regardless of whether or not the Empress Dowager would believe that Fan Xian had committed regicide, she was, after all, the Empress Dowager of the Kingdom of Qing, so she had to believe it, and the Eldest Princess had the means to make her believe it as well.

As for whether it was the crown prince or the second prince who succeeded to the throne, Eldest Princess Li Yunrui didn’t really care, all she cared about was the death of that person.

I can help you. When you abandon me, I can destroy you.

The woman in the carriage laughed, then cried.

Rain dripped slowly from the branches of the trees at the city gates. Some days have passed since the three horsemen entered the capital to report the news, there is no impermeable wall in the world, the strange movements of the palace city and the city gate division, the Kyoto government officials doing their best to maintain law and order, and the unusual silence of the Supervisory Court, made the people of Kyoto vaguely guess the truth.

The truth that they couldn’t believe.

The reaction of the people was never the same as that of the powerful, they viewed things more directly and sometimes more accurately, they only knew that His Majesty Qing was a good emperor, at least from the point of view of the lives of the people of Qing, Emperor Qing was a rare and good emperor.

That’s why the people were sad sad sad crying confused, not knowing what the future of this kingdom would become. They also have doubts in their hearts, and in any case, they do not believe that little Lord Fan will be …… the traitor who should kill a thousand knives!

The officials didn’t believe it either at first, but with the 500 Black Riders of Fan Xian’s relatives still missing, the disappearance of the official ship anchored in Tanyu, and the testimonies of the surviving survivors of Dadong Mountain pointing directly at Fan Xian, countless pieces of evidence have begun to converge on the palace, not enough to prove anything, but enough to convince those who are willing to be persuaded.

The Fan residence was under control.

The State Duke’s Mansion was also under control.

Perhaps what is coming soon is a bloody storm.

I’ve heard that the palace has begun preparations for the Crown Prince’s succession.

The crown prince who will soon be abolished will succeed the throne …… History and reality are always this ridiculous.

Just at this time, a merchant selling soybean oil, wearing a hat, with the Palace Department of the paperwork, a long way into the fully closed to semi-closed East City Gate, walked to the South City, a corner, live in the inn.

Through the windows of the inn, you can vaguely see the front and back of the Fan residence surrounded by heavy troops. The merchant took off his hat, looked at the mansion in the distance, covered his chest and coughed twice, a hint of complex emotions flashed in his eyes.