Empress Shi remained silent for a moment and said, “I know that you dotes on your grandson. Come with me.” She led the Imperial Uncle to the Crown Prince’s residence.
The little prince was playing with several servant girls in the room when he saw his mother coming later. He jumped up and stretched out his hands, giggling while bouncing towards Empress Shi. Upon seeing the lively and lovely Crown Prince, Empress Shi finally showed a smile on her face. She took a few steps forward and crouched down to embrace the Crown Prince who had thrown himself into her arms. She kissed the Crown Prince’s pink and tender little face several times before standing up and holding the Crown Prince’s hand, pointing to Imperial Uncle Shi, saying, “Hong’er, your grandfather came to the palace to see you today.”
When the little prince saw Imperial Uncle Shi, he pursed his lips and hid behind Empress Shi, unwilling to come out. Imperial Uncle Shi often visits the palace, and the little prince has also seen him several times. Moreover, Imperial Uncle Shi has also brought him small toys.
However, Imperial Uncle Shi was not satisfied with Empress Shi, and he did not have any good feelings for her son. In addition, there would soon be dragon sons born by other daughters of the Shi family in the palace, and Imperial Uncle Shi had other thoughts in his heart. When he met the young prince, he couldn’t help but be perfunctory. Although he was flattery, he lacked the kindness of the elders.
Children are the most sensitive, and they can feel who was genuinely good to them and who was not good to them, so every time he saw Imperial Uncle Shi, he was not very happy.
Imperial Uncle Shi smiled awkwardly twice and said, “I have come too few times, and the Crown Prince is still a bit unfamiliar with me. I will often visit the Crown Prince in the future.” However, in his heart, he cursed, “You ignorant little brat, just like your mother.”
Imperial Uncle Shi held a wooden box in the hand of a nearby attendant, opened the lid, revealed several toys inside, and said to the young prince, “Your Highness, these are some toys that I have given you.”
The Little Crown Prince was really a child’s nature. Seeing a toy, he immediately became happy and ran out from behind Empress Shi, stretching his neck to look into the box. In the box, there are wooden horses that can be shaken, Huarong Road, nine rings, and a small deer made of a large piece of crystal mud.
The Huarong Road and Nine Ring are not new things, so the little prince directly picked up the little mud deer.
Watching the little prince happily playing, the corner of Imperial Uncle Shi’s mouth slightly curled up.
The mother poison was sealed in the crystal mud, and children will inevitably rub it against their hands when playing with it. He has made a thorough inquiry. Empress Shi pays attention to the filial piety and etiquette of the Crown Prince, so the Crown Prince must greet the Emperor twice a day.
Although the emperor’s palace was now under supervision, the Crown Prince had great freedom of entry and exit. After the mother’s poison dehydrates, it can still survive for three hours. As long as the Crown Prince touches the mother poison on his hand and approaches Liu Yu, Liu Yu will undoubtedly die!
Empress Shi slowly picked up a cup of tea and said to the Crown Prince, “Go and offer your grandfather a cup of tea. He hasn’t eaten the tea you offer yet.”
Upon hearing this, the little prince obediently picked up the teacup and handed it to his grandfather.
Upon hearing this, Shi Yikuan wanted to refuse it.
Empress Shi smiled slightly and said, “Although there may be differences between monarchs and ministers, you are his grandfather. Even if he becomes an emperor in the future, he will still respect you for this cup of tea. As a child, one must ultimately understand filial piety and righteousness towards their parents and elders.”
After Shi Yikuan withdrew, he instructed his spies in the palace to monitor the movements of the Crown Prince. In half an hour, it would be time for the Crown Prince to greet the emperor.
At this time, Liu Yu usually needed to administer the medicine again, and the feeding process was usually done by Empress Shi. So every time, Empress Shi will lead the Crown Prince over personally.
After hearing that the Crown Prince had already followed the Queen to meet the emperor, Shi Yikuan breathed a slight sigh of relief and nervously waited for the news of the emperor’s death due to a stroke.
As long as the emperor dies, his widowed daughter has no choice but to rely on the strength of her family to support her young eldest son on the throne.
At that time, even if Cui Xingzhou had ironclad evidence, he would have no choice to send him to justice.
Thinking of this, Shi Yikuan began to calmly wait for the bad news to come from the palace.
But after a long wait, no one had been knocking on the door of the Shi Mansion.
Even if the emperor dies and Empress Shi decides not to mourn secretly, she still needs to consult with some senior officials to make up her mind! How could it be so peaceful?
Shi Yikuan couldn’t sit still any longer, so he sent someone to inquire about the news in the palace. However, the person sent out didn’t come back until dark. It was a situation where he couldn’t see anyone alive or dead!
Shi Yikuan couldn’t sit still anymore. Thus, he could only send someone to search for Cui Xingdi. After a while, Cui Xingdi wrote a letter asking Imperial Uncle Shi to go to the Pavilion outside the city for a chat.
If it were normal, Shi Yikuan would never venture into danger with his own body and rush to unfamiliar places for such secret dates.
But now, he was plotting to harm the emperor today without knowing the outcome. For a moment, the prosperity and wealth of the whole family are about to disappear, and he must find someone capable to discuss.
So after weighing the situation, Shi Yikuan didn’t hesitate much for a moment, and he hurriedly got on the carriage and rushed to the secret meeting pavilion.
When the carriage left the Capital and stepped on a wooden bridge in the suburbs in the darkness, it reached the center of the bridge and heard a click, causing the bridge to collapse into two sections. Amidst the sound of people shouting and horses hissing, Imperial Uncle Shi and his carriage fell into the deep river together.”
The next day at dawn, when someone passed by and discovered this tragic incident, five or six corpses were floating on the water’s surface, and the scene was unbearable to witness.
When the news of Imperial Uncle Shi accidentally encountering a broken bridge and falling into the water while traveling at night spread throughout the court and the public, the courtiers suddenly turned pale and privately discussed that there was another world behind this accident.
Empress Shi was deeply saddened by the loss of her father. The emperor also issued a decree, severely blaming local county officials for not paying enough attention to the safety of the bridge trees in the county, which led to such a tragedy. In addition, he buried his father-in-law with great care and posthumously granted the territory to show his longing for his father-in-law.
But Cui Xingdi, who was in a big mansion in the suburbs of the capital, couldn’t relax.
To be honest, he doesn’t want to see the news that his second strategy has also failed. But when the person sent by Imperial Uncle Shi was captured at the entrance of the palace, he guessed that Imperial Uncle Shi had already been exposed.
So, he made a decisive decision and formulated a plan to kill all of them, causing Shi Yikuan to die in an accident, which can also be considered as cutting off the trace of the mother-child poison. His spy sent the news stating that Cui Xingzhou in the State of Zhen had already boarded the ship with Liu Miantang and entered the capital. After calculation, even if they traveled day and night, they would only arrive in the capital in ten days.
With these ten days of hard work, it was enough for him to annihilate the evidence and tidy up the mess.
Just in this way, he had fewer capable personnel to deal with Cui Xingzhou. However, he was not in a hurry. The civil and military personnel of the Dynasty were restless, and the power struggle never ceased. Even if there were no Prince Sui or Shi Yikuan, new power ministers would soon emerge. At that time, Prince Huaiyang would still be a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of the new power ministers.
At that time, he will take advantage of the situation, absorb the lessons of these two failures, and make more clever arrangements. Sooner or later, he will be able to overthrow Prince Huaiyang. After all, he has endured it for so many years, and it doesn’t matter if he takes another ten years.
“Commander! The Emperor has summoned you into the palace!” At that moment, the subordinate suddenly came to deliver a message.
Cui Xingdi’s face darkened, and the emperor… Was indeed awake.
The entrance of the Hidden Dragon Guard into the palace was not through the palace gate, but through a secret dedicated passage that leads directly to the emperor’s study. Every time, he secretly came to see the emperor like this.
When Cui Xingdi arrived at the study in a wheelchair, Liu Yu was sitting behind the dragon case correcting the memorial. For a person who had been unconscious for more than a month, the emperor’s expression was really good, without any sense of weakness from someone who suddenly woke up in bed.
When Cui Xingdi came in, Liu Yu slowly raised his head and looked up and down at him, saying, “The Cui family is full of loyal soldiers, but they have always been feared by the royal family. I didn’t expect to choose a helpless and disabled person like you to become the Hidden Dragon Guard, but have raised all kinds of poisons and are disloyal and unjust…”
Cui Xingdi’s heart sank upon hearing this, and he slowly said, “Where did I make a mistake? I ask Your Majesty to punish severely, but Your Majesty’s words, I don’t understand.”
At this moment, a person came out from behind the bookshelf next to the study and said, “Fifth Brother, what do you not understand that I need to explain to you?”
Cui Xingdi fixed his eyes and saw that Cui Xingzhou, who was supposed to be still in the State of Zhen, appeared in the palace.
He silently looked at Cui Xingzhou and slowly smiled, saying, “Your Majesty, I have received the duty. I should have acted secretly. But why did you reveal my identity to Prince Huaiyang?”
Liu Yu said with a gloomy face, “Do you still know that you have received the holy ordination? Since that’s the case, why are you harboring ulterior motives? Not only did you leak the artillery map to the Japanese, but you also used Miao’s evil insects to harm your legitimate mother and me.”
Cui Xingdi didn’t change his expression and said, “What are you talking about, Your Majesty? I don’t understand.”
Cui Xingzhou stared fixedly at the half-brother who had been hiding for many years and said in a deep voice, “Fifth Brother, it’s better not to argue. You thought you killed people cleanly without leaving any traces, but in fact, you left the biggest flaw.”
Cui Xingdi raised his eyebrows and asked, “Although I don’t know what you’re talking about, it sounds interesting. Let’s talk about it.”
Cui Xingzhou also saw that he wouldn’t shed tears until he saw the coffin, so he just went straight ahead and said, You brought a pair of mother-child poison from the Miao region, but you carefully nurtured and bred multiple pairs. You didn’t do these secret things without anyone else’s knowledge, but you did them yourself. Unfortunately, you learned how to raise and use poison, but you didn’t know that this poison has the power to backfire. If you keep the insect for too long, your armor will show blood stains, such as black spots. If I’m not mistaken, your wife also personally helped you raise those insects, right? That day, she went to my residence for a greeting, and when Miantang was chatting with her, she accidentally saw some invisible black spots on her fingernails, which led to suspicion of your husband and wife. When your wife asked about my whereabouts, I was already halfway to the capital with Zhao Quan. Finally, I arrived before you and Shi Yikuan and helped solve His Majesty’s poison. Letting your cunning schemes be exposed! You claim to be innocent, dare you reach out and allow us to examine your nails?”
Of course, Cui Xingdi knew that there were several invisible spots on his nails. He didn’t initially care, let alone have the heart to scrutinize the changes in his wife Lian Binglan’s fingernails.
But it never occurred to him that the strange people that Marquis Zhennan had befriended in the North Sea were the true experts in raising insects, and Zhao Jiayu, who had diagnosed them and saved their lives, was even more generous in giving him the gift.
So although Marquis Zhennan had never raised poisonous insects to harm anyone, he was very familiar with the principles of black magic, so he told the details on how to discover the secret person who raised poisonous insects to the prince and princess consort.
And Miantang’s eyesight was amazing. She could have discovered the universe in the insect eye of the painting, and naturally, with her sharp eyes, she also discovered the clues of Lian Binglan’s fingers.
So Cui Xingdi carefully planned a conspiracy for many years was exposed by the small flaw of the fingernails.
When Miantang informed Cui Xingzhou of her discovery through a pigeon, Cui Xingzhou was completely taken aback.
However, upon closer consideration, in those days when the descendants of Cui Residence conflicted, in addition to his layout, it seems that this frail Fifth Brother also contributed a lot.
Following this vine, finding Cui Xingdi’s big melon became extremely simple.
After he asked Zhao Quan to detoxify the emperor, he also mentioned that the Japanese had obtained the artillery drawings from the Military Weapons Department. Liu Yu, who knew the identity of the Hidden Dragon Guard, naturally suspected Cui Xingdi.
It was then that Cui Xingzhou also learned another important identity of his Fifth Brother, Cui Xingdi from the emperor’s mouth.
Upon closer reflection, Cui Xingdi still has the pride unique to the men of the Cui family in his bones. During his half-life of hiding in the dark, the pseudonym he used to make paintings was the character “Wei”.
Wei, the ghost of the Cui family. Perhaps this was Cui Xingdi’s dark mockery of his identity.
The matter has come to an end, and Cui Xingdi probably knew he had been exposed, and he no longer refuted it. He and Cui Xingzhou’s look-alike faces and eyes showed a sarcastic expression and suddenly laughed bleakly.
Just as the emperor called for someone to tie him up, he suddenly pulled out his double blades from a wheelchair, and with a force from his legs, he jumped straight up the beam, pierced the roof, and escaped from the hole in the roof.
He had been planning for many years and naturally made various unexpected preparations. The wheelchair was equipped with a jumping bow spring and a blade, which was truly beyond defense.
The guards outside rushed up, calling for people to carry ladders to chase Cui Xingdi.
But when Cui Xingzhou turned to look at Liu Yu, he found that his face was calm and there was no unintentional look of panic.
After thinking for a moment, Cui Xingzhou immediately knelt and said, “Your Majesty, my family is unfortunate. Having this thief and sycophant to rise, and I would like to request Your Majesty to punish severely for the crime of laxity.”
Liu Yu stood up and personally helped Cui Xingzhou, saying, “What is the crime of you, Minister Cui? You have traveled day and night to the capital to bring me the antidote. Your loyalty can be learned. Moreover, your efforts to pacify the North Sea are also a matter of merit and virtue. What is your crime?”
Cui Xingzhou then asked, “Do you want to blockade the capital and capture this thief?”
Liu Yu shook his head and said, “The Hidden Dragon Guards are secret divisions established by the former emperor to ensure that everyone is loyal to the royal family. However, I know that people’s hearts are unpredictable, and naturally have installed valves… These Hidden Dragon Guards are all selected when they are young, and their bodies are all buried with hidden toxins. If they are loyal all their lives, they will naturally die peacefully. But if they have a second heart and show disrespect to the royal family, their death will be extremely painful and tragic.”
When he said this, the young emperor’s face showed a frosty indifference.
Cui Xingzhou didn’t speak, just stood respectfully by the side, but his mind remembered the words Zhao Quan said when he came back from detoxifying in the palace, “Your Majesty haven’t been poisoned at all. Why did he pretend to be poisoned and lie in bed for more than a month?”
When Prince Huaiyang heard this news, he asked Zhao Quan if he had pointed it out. Zhao Quan wiped a cold sweat on his forehead and said, “You think I’m a fool! Not to mention the emperor pretending to be poisoned, or the emperor pretending to have diarrhea, I have to pretend it to be true. Of course, there’s no puncture, just follow the procedure to dispense the antidote and give it to the emperor… Do you think the emperor… Will kill me?”
By the end, Zhao Quan had already put on a crying tone.
At that time, Cui Xingzhou couldn’t predict the life and death of Brother Zhao. But this time back, he can make Zhao Quan feel relieved.
The emperor, who experienced palace upheaval at a young age, and later relied on various forces to constantly show weakness and kindness, only to toss and turn all the way to the throne.
Unfortunately, after taking the throne, he was constrained by various factors and found it difficult to fulfill his aspirations. In fact, the endurance skill of the emperor, who has been practicing nepotism, should be deeper than his Fifth Brother who escaped.
People who can tolerate it are also suspicious. If Cui Xingzhou had guessed correctly, the emperor should have discovered Cui Xingdi’s activities early on, but he remained hidden and even cooperated with the “insect poison“.
The emperor was testing, testing the Shi family, perhaps even the empress, and even testing himself, Cui Xingzhou.
If he comes to the capital too late or refuses to present the antidote, it is considered that he has not passed the imperial examination.
The outcome of failing the palace examination was like that of Imperial Uncle Shi and Cui Xingdi, who will never turn around.
As an emperor, being suspicious should be considered a virtue. If the emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty had a strong and sturdy body, he should be able to sit on the throne steadily.
Ten days later, Miantang finally arrived in the capital. When she was in the State of Zhen, she chose a person with a body shape similar to Cui Xingzhou. Although he wore a bamboo hat and didn’t frequently leave the cabin, Miantang always showed her face and blinded Cui Xingdi.
However, she didn’t expect that as she walked slowly along the way, there had been a tremendous change in the capital.
After she entered the capital, Empress Shi, immersed in the pain of losing her father, summoned Miantang to the palace to meet her.
Loveguy On CFRFGC Chapter 12