Chapter 71: Forced Abdication
“Your Majesty, we implore you to immediately depose the Crown Prince and appoint the Fourth Prince as successor.”
But there was no time to delve deeper into these matters now. What exactly had just happened—
Li Youqing clutched his lapel, leaning forward to stare fixedly at his chin. “Xuan Rui, what happened just now?”
“Nothing.” He cast a contemptuous glance toward the direction of Changxin Palace across the riverbank and calmly stated, “It’s dangerous here. I’ll take you to a safe place first.”
His aura was too overbearing. Li Youqing felt drowsy and wanted to sleep, but when she saw the flames burning throughout the palace grounds outside, she instantly became fully alert.
“Xuan Rui, have you gone mad? What are you doing?” She struggled frantically, trying to break free from his control.
“I’m not mad. It’s the Li family who’s gone mad!” Xuan Rui’s eyes were bloodshot as he quickly strode forward and shoved her into the carriage.
The man glared fiercely at her, lifting the carriage curtain to order, “To Fahua Temple.”
Fighting had broken out everywhere in the palace. Two columns of personal guards protected the carriage as it charged through the encirclement and left the imperial palace.
Outside the palace, things were still relatively quiet. He had pretended to surrender the Military Tally during the day, so Yan Liang and others must have let their guard down. By attacking when the enemy was least prepared, he could minimize his own side’s losses.
Li Youqing was somewhat dazed, then gradually began to understand.
Xuan Rui had come from the very beginning with the intention of forcing abdication.
Everything—the marriage proposal to the princess, surrendering the Military Tally—was all just to make the Emperor and Crown Prince lower their defenses.
The people in the palace had been waiting to use her as bait to expose Xuan Rui’s weaknesses, never expecting he had been thinking the same thing.
Xuan Rui had obtained evidence of the Crown Prince’s misconduct this time, and catching the opponent at their most unguarded moment, he would inevitably seize the opportunity to strike.
Seeing her pale expression, Xuan Rui averted his gaze. “You’ll recuperate there before the wedding. We’ll tell outsiders it’s to pray for blessings for the royal family. You don’t need to go out anymore.”
“Wedding?” Li Youqing frowned at his ferocious appearance and voiced her doubts. “Xuan Rui, do you truly want to marry me?”
Or was he just like the others, using her too?
“Damn it—” Xuan Rui was on the verge of exploding. That she would still ask such a foolish question made him turn to look outside, wanting to wait until his emotions settled before speaking.
Li Youqing didn’t know what he had heard from his spies in the palace or how terrible his mood was. She continued on her own, “After being apart for a year, we’ve both been through many things. We’re no longer the familiar people we once were. Like what you did tonight—I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Not familiar with me, but familiar with that effeminate fiancé of yours?” Xuan Rui suddenly laughed, leaning over to bite her ear as he teased, “Do you think that scoundrel Jin Cheng truly wants to marry you? My dear, his heart belongs to someone else.”
Li Youqing was diverted by his change of topic and frowned while questioning him. “What do you mean by that? Explain clearly.”
Xuan Rui simply refused to tell her. “No time to discuss it with you tonight. Get some proper sleep first. Everything else will become clear in time.”
The carriage raced like the wind and had already reached Fahua Temple.
“Princess—” Zisu’s voice came from outside the carriage, filled with anxiety and worry.
Li Youqing lifted the carriage curtain. When she clearly saw the person standing beside Zisu, she froze in place once again.
In that instant, she seemed to understand something in her heart. Without saying a word, she stepped down from the carriage.
Having grown to this age, she had never imagined there would come a day when she would share a room with her mother, sitting close for a heartfelt conversation.
The meditation room was filled with the calming and mind-clearing fragrance of sandalwood, still the same one she had lived in for a year, with no changes in its furnishings.
But because there was an additional person in the room, the entire atmosphere had subtly shifted.
Unlike the sickly and weak appearance during their last meeting, Sima Shu now looked fairly well without makeup. Dressed in plain white robes and seated on a wooden chair by the window, she carried an air of serene simplicity.
In Li Youqing’s memory, her mother had always been proud and distant. Those dark, ink-black eyes, when gazing at her, always held a purposeful scrutiny, as if looking at an outsider.
The high fever at age seven, which had nearly claimed her life, had pushed her young self toward Changxin Palace. From then on, she became the little shadow of the East Palace, a person under the protection of the Empress.
“Your Highness may not know, but back then, rumors about your origins circulated in the imperial harem. Chief Eunuch Gao, who had once received favors from the Sima family, came specially to report that His Majesty intended to secretly execute you to ensure the purity of the imperial bloodline. To protect you, Consort Sima used medicine to induce a high fever and had this servant carry you to seek help from the Crown Prince.”
Zisu spoke calmly, tears glistening in her eyes. Her final words were uttered with great reluctance: “The Empress, in her benevolence, used the influence of the Cui family to suppress those rumors and personally pleaded for Your Highness before His Majesty. Only then did His Majesty relent. If Your Highness does not believe this, you may ask the Crown Prince himself.”
Li Youqing’s mind was in a daze, unable to even continue pondering what would unfold that night.
She only felt that everything was so bitterly ironic.
From childhood to adulthood, she had always believed her Father Emperor doted on her, only to realize it was all an illusion.
Her Father Emperor did not truly cherish her mother either; he was merely elevating the Sima family to counterbalance the Empress’s maternal clan.
And though her mother seemed not to love her, everything she had done was to protect her.
She had thought herself perceptive within the palace walls, but now she realized that all her thoughts and assumptions were nothing but a farce.
Sima Shu, who had remained silent all this while, never once shifted her gaze away from her daughter.
When she sent someone to tip off Xuan Rui, she already knew what the outcome would be. And this day—she had waited far too long for it.
Now, at last, she could slowly repay what she owed her daughter.
“Youqing, the imperial city and the palace will not be peaceful in the coming days. Fahua Temple is guarded by Commander Xuan’s personal troops. Stay here with your mother, and do not trouble yourself with the people and affairs of the palace.” Over the past year, she had been exchanging messages with the northwest, all with the aim of helping Xuan Rui return to the capital as soon as possible.
Neither His Majesty nor the Crown Prince would let the Sima family off easily—they were still needed to keep the Cui family of Donglin in check, which was why they had not yet been eradicated.
All these years, to win over the Sima family’s influence, His Majesty had showered her with superficial favor, while the real benefits were all reaped by the Empress’s faction.
That man had never shown her an ounce of sincerity.
Just as after the northwest was pacified, his first instinct was to eliminate Xuan Rui—to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.
The Sima family never served as stepping stones for others, and she, Sima Shu, would not guard a kingdom for a man who never loved her.
“Mother, is my biological father truly the rebel king Lu Zhan?” After a long silence, Li Youqing finally asked the question that had long been buried in her heart.
“No!” Sima Shu firmly shook her head in denial, rising to stand before her, a flash of hatred in her eyes: “You have absolutely no connection to him.”
“Youqing, you must remember that you are yourself. You don’t have to be anyone’s daughter – you only need to be who you are.”
Li Youqing was moved by these words, lowering her eyes as she softly called out: “Mother.”
She felt more exhausted than ever before in her life, her long eyelashes casting small shadows on her cheeks like fluttering butterfly wings.
“My good daughter, I’ll be with you tonight. Youqing has nothing to fear.” Sima Shu’s outstretched hand trembled slightly as she placed it on Li Youqing’s head, gently stroking it.
Li Youqing had never known what it felt like to be cared for by a mother – it was both tense and unfamiliar.
And all of this had been arranged for her by Xuan Rui.
“Mother, do you want the Crown Prince to die?” she asked as she lay down, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.
She didn’t hate the Crown Prince. No matter what terrible things he had planned to do to her tonight, Li Youqing found she still couldn’t bring herself to hate him.
Nor was she foolish – the Sima Family’s involvement made their intentions perfectly clear.
“Youqing, he won’t let the Crown Prince die.” Based on her dealings with that man and her understanding of him, Sima Shu assured her daughter: “Sleep well. Leave the big matters for tomorrow.”
The incense’s calming effect was truly powerful. Li Youqing felt her eyelids growing heavy, and combined with the long-lost care she felt from her mother, she soon fell into a deep sleep.
·
The southern reinforcements and imperial guards quickly arrived.
However, no matter what kind of army it was, none stood a chance against the wolf-like ferocity of the Zhenbei Army.
Moreover, with the Sima Family’s trained assassins serving as inside agents and Xuan Rui’s well-prepared surprise attack, by the time dawn broke, they had complete control of the situation.
Chengqian Palace was completely surrounded. Emperor Jian stood with Grand Tutor Jin at his side, while Xiao Ziqi stood nearby like a menacing demon, watching intently.
Across from them, Xuan Rui sat calmly in an armchair, casually playing with a string of Nine-Eyed Dzi Beads, his voice slow and deep: “I, the Commander, traveled thousands of miles with betrothal gifts, sincerely seeking to marry the princess. I had planned to return to the northwest after achieving my wish, to continue guarding the border for Your Majesty. Who would have thought I would witness the Crown Prince’s disgraceful behavior tonight.”
“Tsk tsk, truly unexpected.” His cold laugh carried a hint of killing intent as his gaze pressed toward Emperor Jian, then shifted to the vermilion brush in the emperor’s hand, signaling him to quickly write the edict.
For over a year, with Consort Shu and the Sima Family as his inside agents in the capital, he had maintained complete awareness of the capital’s situation, already united with various anti-Crown Prince forces.
He had long removed the spies Emperor Jian had placed in the northwest. Not even news of Zhenbei Wang Lu Zhan’s house arrest could reach the capital. Emperor Jian had become like a deaf and blind man, and by the time they finally realized something was wrong, Xuan Rui had already grown powerful wings.
“Such a Crown Prince, lacking virtue and capability, is unfit to inherit the throne.” He furrowed his brows, wearing an expression of concern for the nation and its people.
Yet in his mind, he couldn’t dispel the scenes described by his spies.
That dog Li Jing had actually committed such beastly acts.
His tone intensified as he spoke word by word: “I request that Your Majesty immediately depose the Crown Prince and establish the Fourth Prince as heir.”
Grand Tutor Jin tremblingly took two steps forward, about to say something, when Xiao Ziqi already drew his long sword, appearing like the King of Hell come to claim lives.
Such treasonous actions were truly shocking.
“Xuan Rui, how does your behavior differ from that of rebellious traitors?” Grand Tutor Jin glared furiously, his ten fingers trembling.
“This Commander has given His Majesty ample opportunity.” He had followed the principle of reasoning before force, fulfilling his duties to the utmost extent. He didn’t even mind the other party using the princess as a bargaining chip.
It was that worthless, incompetent dog of a Crown Prince who forced his hand!
With a loud crash, the huanghuali wood table before Emperor Jian was kicked over by the man, scattering the prepared banknotes across the floor.
Xuan Rui’s previous composure vanished completely. Like a wild wolf baring its fangs, he grabbed Emperor Jian by the collar and dragged him violently to the ground, forcing his hand onto the blank imperial edict.
“This Commander has only ever wanted one thing from the beginning. It’s you fucking people who brought this upon yourselves!”
Emperor Jian’s hand had turned pale blue, as if his wrist bones would snap with just a bit more pressure from the man.
Grand Tutor Jin, a scholar confronted by brute force and witnessing such a scene for the first time, fainted from sheer agitation.
Xiao Ziqi, having grown accustomed to his master’s various fits of madness over the past year, remained remarkably calm. Without attempting to dissuade him, he considerately picked up the vermilion brush from the floor and forcibly shoved it into Emperor Jian’s hand.
As for who would be deemed a rebellious traitor—that would depend on who ultimately emerged as the sovereign.
The hall was guarded solely by trusted military confidants. Given that Emperor Jian and this old stubborn fool would never allow such a disgrace to the imperial family to become public knowledge, there was nothing to fear.