HCB Chapter 231 There is a future
Chapter 231 There is a future
The Empress's questions came one after another, startling Consort Xiande, who took two steps back, her face showing a look of panic.
But this expression, in the Empress's eyes, became irrefutable evidence that Consort Xiande had killed the Crown Prince!
A murderous glint flashed in the Empress's eyes. She pulled out a hairpin from her hair and plunged it into Consort Xiande's heart.
The imperial concubine frowned slightly, staring at the gold hairpin that was half-submerged in her chest, and her body went limp.
The Empress's boiling anger slowly subsided at this moment. As she watched Xiao Caiwei's body slowly slump to the ground beside her, she felt an infinite sense of desolation.
All she had planned for her life was her son, but now it had all come to naught.
What was the point of her living? She pulled another pair of gold hairpins from her hair and, without hesitation, pierced her own throat.
At this moment, the Imperial Concubine slowly opened her eyes. She looked at the pierced chest; she was only half an inch away from waking up.
She reached into her bosom, took out a pill, put it under her tongue, and lay down again.
By the time Princess Yongxian and the Emperor rushed over, it was too late.
The Empress and Consort Xiande were both dead.
Upon seeing this, Yongxian trembled so badly she could barely stand. The Emperor questioned Yongxian about why the Empress and the Imperial Concubine had both died.
Yongxian, however, became timid. She had just gone to call her father, the emperor, and only told him that her mother had gone to see the imperial concubine, without having had a chance to explain why.
Looking at the two cold corpses, she finally realized that it was her words that had caused the deaths of her mother and the imperial concubine.
She was too timid to tell the truth, fearing her father's wrath...
When the emperor asked her, she simply shook her head and said she didn't know the details...
The news of the Empress and the Imperial Concubine's deaths spread from the palace within an hour, causing shock throughout the court and panic among the people.
Now, the Crown Prince, the Empress, and the Imperial Concubine are all dead!
The eldest branch of the Xiao family was overjoyed upon hearing the news.
Xiao Chengyan had been worried about how he would get past the Imperial Concubine if he wanted to replace Xiao Zhijie.
Now that he's dead, it's practically God helping him out!
Once the old lady is dealt with, no one in the world will know about this anymore.
He even laughed happily, as if the throne was already within his grasp.
When the news of the Empress and the Imperial Concubine's deaths reached Qiao Qingshu's ears, she was shocked.
It should be noted that in her previous life, the Imperial Concubine died of illness several years later, while the Empress went mad rather than died.
She didn't know what had happened to change this course of events, but she was still anxious and worried, so she found an excuse to rush into the palace as the adopted daughter of the Imperial Concubine.
It was the chief eunuch Li Pu who received Qiao Qingshu. He said with a desolate expression,
"The Imperial Concubine died from a pierced heart and has now been laid in a coffin."
Qiao Qingshu pulled him aside and whispered a few words in his ear, which made Li Pu's eyes widen in surprise.
Qiao Qingshu nodded to him, and Li Pu's eyes flickered slightly before he finally nodded in agreement.
The emperor originally intended to summon the top three candidates in the imperial examination, but due to a series of deaths in the palace, this was postponed.
The emperor was also heartbroken. Three of his closest relatives had died in a short period of time, and he had hardly slept for several nights.
He was getting old and had long harbored thoughts of abdicating. He planned to hand over the throne to the Crown Prince in two or three years, and then live a life of leisure with his beloved concubine, enjoying tea and playing chess together.
Although he didn't have much affection for the Empress, they were still childhood sweethearts, and she had taken good care of him, so he naturally felt bad.
Now that all the people he cared about had left him, he had become a truly lonely man.
What's most troubling is what happened next: who will take over the vast Nanzhao Kingdom in the future?
A few years ago, the emperor lost his ability to have children due to illness, and now it is almost impossible for him to have another child.
Li Pu stood beside the emperor, holding a bowl of soup, intending to offer it to him, but the emperor waved his hand and refused again.
He simply couldn't eat anything, and he hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, so he had become quite haggard in just a few days.
Li Pu was naturally heartbroken, and he knelt down with a thud, saying...
"This servant has something to say. Even if His Majesty executes this servant, this servant will still tell His Majesty."
The emperor sighed softly.
"Say whatever you want to say..."
His words carried an air of indifference, devoid of desire or ambition.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you actually have another son! Consort Xiande gave birth to a prince back then, but fearing that the Empress's jealousy would endanger the prince's life, she switched the prince out of the palace and brought in a baby girl to raise."
Upon hearing this, the emperor, whose face had been ashen, regained his vitality. He stepped forward, grabbed Li Pu's arm, and said in surprise,
"Are you telling the truth!?"
Li Pu nodded and took out a confession letter written by Consort Xiande many years ago from his bosom. The letter stated that the child with a crescent-shaped birthmark on his lower back was her child, and that this child was now in the Xiao family.
Consort Xiande had been planning ahead for many years, worried that it would be a good thing if her child were found by chance in the future, and this letter was proof of that.
The letter was dated the day after the imperial concubine gave birth.
The emperor knew that notebook all too well, and holding the letter, he wept silently.
Li Pu, watching from the side, also wiped away tears, saying only,
"Now that the child is with the Xiao family, Your Majesty has an heir. All we need to do is bring the prince back."
The Xiao family had many descendants, and they were all summoned to the palace the following day.
Xiao Chengyan keenly sensed this, having already bribed the palace eunuchs, and thus learned of the news last night.
Knowing that the Emperor was to summon all the sons of the Xiao family today, he had already made preparations.
Old Mrs. Xiao knew that there must be something going on when she went to the palace. She was counting heads with great anxiety, but she found that one person was missing.
Knowing virtue?
Xiao Zhijie is gone!
Madam Xiao hurriedly ordered people to search, but they couldn't find anyone in the entire Xiao family compound.
What made Old Madam Xiao uneasy was that she didn't know whether this trip to the palace was a good thing or a bad thing. If it was about the prince, then revealing Xiao Zhijie's identity would be fine if the emperor was happy, but if the emperor was unhappy, then their Xiao family would be guilty of deceiving the emperor and the whole clan would be executed and their property confiscated.
Therefore, Madam Xiao did not want Xiao Zhijie to appear in her heart, so that she might be able to avoid this calamity.
Unable to find the person, he could only smile and apologize to the eunuch who came to fetch him.
"We are still missing one son born out of wedlock, but it's nothing. All the legitimate sons from the other branches of the family are already here. I hope you will understand."
The eunuch was also puzzled and had no idea why the emperor had summoned the Xiao family member. He thought that since the son was an illegitimate child, it wasn't a big deal if he didn't see him.
He accepted the gold ingot handed over by Old Madam Xiao and nodded perfunctorily.