Chapter 816: He Must Be Dead
Shen Xihe trusted Gu Zexiang.
She closed her eyes heavily and rubbed her temples.
"Your Highness..." Zhenzhu stepped forward worriedly.
Shen Xihe raised her hand to stop her. "I'm fine."
Lowering her gaze, her eyes fell upon the jade pendant. Below the tassel hung a love knot, swaying as if whispering something.
Her fingers suddenly tightened, and she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, her face instantly turning pale.
"A Xi!" Zhenzhu supported Shen Xihe and called out loudly.
"It's nothing." Shen Xihe weakly grasped Zhenzhu's hand in return. "He's just troubling me."
Biyu had already brought a cup of warm water. Shen Xihe drank from it, and her complexion gradually recovered.
However, Sui Axi had already arrived. Although Zhenzhu had checked Shen Xihe's pulse and found no abnormalities, she still had Sui Axi administer a few acupuncture needles.
After a while, Shen Xihe calmed down. She asked Zhenzhu to help her walk a few steps, finally stopping before the portrait of her and Xiao Huayong.
"Beichen, I may have to take a risky move," she whispered, gazing at him.
No one responded. Just as she smiled self-mockingly, Baisui's voice rang out: "If Youyou is happy, I can return; if Youyou is happy, I can return."
"Pfft." Shen Xihe couldn't help but laugh.
She picked up a soft peacock feather and brushed it against Baisui's face. Baisui leaned in closer: "Youyou, my love; Youyou, my love."
Before Xiao Huayong resolved to leave, he had often secretly spent time with Baisui, teaching it who knows how many phrases.
Shen Xihe's heavy mood lightened instantly. After playing with Baisui for a while longer, she composed herself and ordered, "Invite Prince Xin to come. I have matters to discuss with him."
It wasn't difficult for Xiao Changqing to see Shen Xihe. Since the Youning Emperor remained "unconscious," it was only natural for his sons to visit.
Accompanying each other to see Shen Xihe was also a matter of courtesy.
"Your Highness, have you found the right people?" Shen Xihe asked.
"Everything is arranged," Xiao Changqing nodded. "Tomorrow, I will have them reveal traces to reassure His Majesty and prevent further actions from him."
The ambush against His Majesty wouldn't begin rashly. Those who infiltrated the capital naturally wouldn't recklessly charge into the palace to assassinate him.
He needed to let His Majesty know they had arrived first, then observe His Majesty's reaction, waiting for His Majesty to provide an opportunity to act. That would be more secure than creating one himself.
After all, beside His Majesty were the Embroidered Uniform Envoys, whose depths he hadn't fully grasped. To set a trap for His Majesty, without His Majesty opening a convenient path, it might be difficult with only the remaining followers of Xiao Juesong.
This matter was of grave importance; he couldn't involve his own people in it.
"Give this to the person you've arranged," Shen Xihe said, handing the peony jade pendant to Xiao Changqing.
"This is..." Xiao Changqing took it. As a prince, he immediately recognized it as no ordinary item.
"The late Empress's relic," Shen Xihe said, her obsidian-like eyes fixed intently on Xiao Changqing.
Xiao Changqing frowned. Why was Shen Xihe giving him a relic of the late Empress?
"Beichen," Shen Xihe exhaled deeply, "was not Your Highness's brother by the same parents. He should be considered Your Highness's cousin."
Even with his steady temperament, Xiao Changqing couldn't help but sit up straight, his pupils contracting slightly.Xiao Huayong was not the Emperor's biological son—this rumor had long circulated, but he had never doubted it, dismissing it as mere gossip. He couldn't comprehend why a man like the Emperor would acknowledge another's son as his own, let alone as the Crown Prince and heir to the throne.
Now that Shen Xihe had voiced it aloud, he could no longer avoid confronting the issue. In fact, reversing his perspective made everything clear.
The Empress Dowager doted on Xiao Huayong more than any other prince. When Qian Wang and his wife were murdered, the Empress Dowager had stepped forward to support the Emperor's ascension. Yet she had always treated the Emperor with cold indifference. These puzzling pieces gradually fell into place.
The enemy attack back then was, in truth, a brother's assault!
The Emperor had killed his own brother to seize the throne. He couldn't bring himself to eliminate the Empress Dowager as well—whether out of lingering humanity or the realization that her death would incite rebellion among those who had followed Qian Wang in founding the empire, plunging the newly stabilized realm back into chaos.
To prevent Qian Wang's son from being either confined like livestock or exploited by power-hungry schemers, he couldn't be allowed to live openly as Qian Wang's posthumous child. The best solution, and a way for the Emperor to atone, was to transform Xiao Huayong into the Crown Prince.
Xiao Changqing was shrewd enough to grasp the rest without further explanation from Shen Xihe. If Xiao Huayong became Crown Prince, it meant his true younger brother must have been swapped away. And that child...
"Is the Crown Princess certain this child..." Xiao Changqing couldn't even finish the sentence.
He considered himself cold-hearted and ruthless, admitting he had killed innocent people before, but never a child—let alone an infant, and one of his own bloodline!
Yet if Shen Xihe wasn't certain, why would she entrust him with this task—to bestow another identity upon Xiao Juesong's son, making him the Emperor's biological child?
To be raised by one's enemy, then conspire with that enemy to poison oneself, causing organ failure... Even as The Supreme One, one could only helplessly await death's daily approach.
This was even more cruel than before—letting the Emperor know Xiao Juesong had just died, leaving him with no outlet for his rage. What did it matter that everything was Xiao Juesong's doing? He could do nothing but gnash his teeth in intensified bitterness.
"I am not certain," Shen Xihe replied lightly, shaking her head gently. "I have no proof, nor can I investigate openly now. If I search first and this person appears later, we cannot deceive His Majesty."
"I merely speculate. Based on what I currently know, I believe this child died shortly after birth. Not only him, but whoever took him away or was ordered to kill him has also died."
This created a loophole. The executor of the imperial order to kill the prince was dead—only he knew whether he had actually carried out the deed.
"Crown Princess, you..." Xiao Changqing stared in astonishment, "Do you realize... if our estimation is wrong..."
If the child hadn't been killed, but was being raised safely somewhere—possibly even known to the Emperor—and they fabricated an imposter, their carefully laid plans would become a ridiculous farce before the Emperor.
Not only would the Emperor see through it immediately, he would cease believing Xiao Juesong had ever existed. Since Xiao Juesong's appearance coincided with the Emperor's suspicions toward the Crown Prince, everything would be wasted. Even the Crown Prince's feigned death might be exposed.
The Emperor would certainly order the coffin opened!"I know." Shen Xihe's expression remained placid. "I know how perilous this move is, yet I have no choice but to proceed this way. I must verify something—a matter concerning my very survival."
Xiao Changqing parted his lips but refrained from asking "What matter?" Since Shen Xihe had spoken thus, it meant she was unwilling to disclose it.
He remained silent, hesitating, wrestling with himself, pondering: "Crown Princess, how certain are you?"
Her gaze was profound, unfathomable, tranquil, and resolute: "He is undoubtedly dead."
He, referring to the true Crown Prince.
She possessed no evidence whatsoever, yet was exceptionally certain.
That's all for today's update. Tomorrow's update will be longer, still at 10 PM.
(End of Chapter)
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