Chapter 299: A Life for a Life?

Seeing Baili Qingcang coming over, everyone bowed. When they glanced at the Crown Prince who was following behind him, many people did not have any expression on their faces, but deep down in their hearts, they were all worried.

The people who previously supported the Empress and Crown Prince had already been forced to death by the Emperor. Other than a few centrists, most of the remaining people were extremely supportive of deposing the Crown Prince. Now, it seemed that the Emperor would not depose the Crown Prince.

Many officials were nervous. If the Emperor really didn’t want to depose the Crown Prince, wouldn’t they come to no good end?

Shen Ninghua saw the expressions of the officials and could not help but sigh secretly. She thought to herself: Father Emperor was really capable. Just with a simple move, he had decimated a large number of officials who supported the Crown Prince. Now, he was going to get rid of those who were against the Crown Prince. It seemed that in the near future, the only ones who could remain active in the imperial court would be the centrists.

At that time, even if some officials had other thoughts, they would definitely suppress them at the bottom of their hearts, and no one would dare to air different opinions from the Emperor in the imperial court!

Thinking of this result, Shen Ninghua couldn’t help but feel scared. Sometimes, it was not necessarily a good thing to be too arbitrary.

Baili Jinyi, the Crown Prince, was dressed in a white mourning dress. There were no other accessories on his body. He seemed calm and peaceful. There was an aura of serenity over his body.

He did not cry out loud. Instead, he walked forward and respectfully kowtowed. He made no sounds at all when he moved. Even his tears were just quietly flowing down. There was clearly no sound, but everyone could feel his endless sorrow.

Even though he didn’t cry out loud, they knew he was in deep sorrow.

Baili Qingcang looked at the Crown Prince with pity in his eyes. “Crown Prince, your mother is gone. I know you are heartbroken. But you have to take good care of your body.”

The Crown Prince turned around and bowed to Baili Qingcang. “Father Emperor, before my mother died, she said that I had bad moral conduct and was not qualified to assume the position of the Crown Prince. I beg you to depose me and allow me to guard the imperial mausoleum for my mother.”

Baili Qingcang frowned. “What are you saying? I have not deposed you. You are the Crown Prince of the Da’an Kingdom. Even if Madam Zhao was your birth mother, she has been deposed and was just a commoner. What’s the point of you guarding the imperial mausoleum for her?”

“Father Emperor, I don’t have the face to stay in front of you, but I don’t want to be too far away from you. Therefore, guarding the imperial mausoleum is the best choice for me. Please allow me to do so.”

“I won’t allow it. Don’t bring this up again.”

“Your Majesty,” the Chief Imperial Censor stood out, “I shouldn’t say anything at the Empress’ funeral. But I have to say that the Crown Prince’s conspiracy and rebellion could not be forgotten so easily.”

“As an imperial censor, I must make fair and just comments on what happened in the imperial court. Your Majesty, you only punished the Empress, while the Crown Prince got away with what he did. Even if you love the Crown Prince, you can’t pretend that the Crown Prince didn’t plot against you.”

Baili Qingcang’s expression was solemn. Baili Jinyi turned around. “Chief Imperial Censor Qi is right. Father Emperor, there is no turning back…”

“How come?” An old yet energetic voice came in.

Old Lady Feng, who had an honorary title conferred by the imperial court and was dressed in the official attire, walked inside steadily step by step. She looked at the coffin in the hall with tears flickering in her eyes. “My daughter, my poor daughter…”

Shen Ninghua was surprised by the presence of Old Lady Feng…

Back then, when the Emperor imprisoned all members of the Zhao Family in the Heavenly Prison, Old Lady Feng was the only one he spared. Old Lady Feng had been his wet nurse and was already eighty years old. Therefore, he did not imprison her. No one expected her to come here.

Old Lady Feng had a head full of white hair and she was bony. However, her slightly deep-set eyes were extremely bright, making her look a little horrifying. “Greetings, Your Majesty, greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Grandmother.” Baili Jinyi stepped forward to support her. His lips shivered and his tears streamed down his face.

Old Lady Feng raised her hand to wipe away his tears, her face full of determination. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I came here today to seek justice. Let’s see if there is any fairness left in this world!”

After saying that, she walked forward and gently stroked the coffin that was made of extremely precious Phoebe zhennan wood. She couldn’t help but burst into tears. “Your Majesty, I have come today to ask you a question.”

Baili Qingcang looked solemn. “You can ask.”

Old Lady Feng turned around and gazed at everyone in the hall. She sneered and raised her voice, “Will a murderer be sentenced to death?”

“According to Da’an Kingdom’s law, a murderer should naturally be sentenced to death.” Baili Qingcang said firmly.

“Alright, then let me ask you another question. No one can defile the law of Da’an Kingdom, right?”

“Even if the Emperor violates the law, he should be punished by law. No one can defile the law of Da’an Kingdom. No exception!”

“Good.” Old Lady Feng cried out loudly. In her excitement, her face actually turned red. “Then there is one thing that I don’t understand. Noble Consort Xian poisoned my daughter. Why did Your Majesty allow her to get away with it? Is she above the law of Da’an Kingdom?”

Shen Ninghua’s heart trembled as she looked at Baili Junyi who was opposite her, afraid that he would be unable to restrain himself.

Baili Qingcang had an intimidating aura. “This matter has not been thoroughly investigated yet. I have already sent people to investigate. When I find out the truth, I will naturally deal with this matter.”

“Not thoroughly investigated? What about those grievances that my daughter suffered?” Old Lady Feng said word by word, full of grief and indignation. She took out a stack of letters from her sleeve, opened them tremblingly and spread them on the ground one by one.

“Your Majesty, it’s all my fault. My daughter, Huiying, is innocent! She never thought of rebelling. It’s because I am too greedy and always want a higher status for the Zhao Family. She did those things for the people of the country, and for you, Your Majesty…”

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She laid out the last letter and knelt heavily on the ground. She looked at the letters and cried her heart out.

“Since last year, Huiying discovered my plan and kept writing letters to persuade me. But I kept ignoring her, which forced her to make this plan. She was a fool, a complete fool. She thought that by making you depose her and her son, the Crown Prince, she could make me give up. That was why she pretended to plot against you.”

After hearing this, the officials immediately started discussing it.

“How is this possible?”

“That’s right. What benefits would the Empress have from doing this?”

“It’s too absurd. Even though the Zhao Family has ulterior motives, how could she solve it by planning a rebellion?”

“That’s right. As the Empress, it’s easy for her to suppress the Zhao Family. If she planned a rebellion, the entire clan would be exterminated. Why did she use such a dangerous method to stop the Zhao Family? It doesn’t make sense.”

Hearing the discussions around her, Old Lady Feng’s eyes suddenly turned red. She roared at the crowd.

“What do you know? Do you know what preparations the Zhao Family has made? Hahaha. In the back garden of the Zhao Mansion, hundreds of kilos of arsenic are buried. As long as they are sprinkled in the upper reaches of the Bian River, most of the people in the capital will die. You know, people all drink water in the Bian River.”

“Moreover, in the Northern City Camp, the Northwest City Camp, and the Southern City camp, there are spies from the Zhao Family, and they all had arsenic, which was enough to poison more than half of the soldiers. As long as the Zhao Family makes a move, most people in the capital will die.”

“What… What?”

Baili Qingcang’s face turned pale as he shouted at the Dragon Scale Army, “Someone!”

A dozen or so soldiers of the Dragon Scale Army quickly ran in, pointing their swords at Old Lady Feng, ready to arrest her as soon as Baili Qingcang ordered.

Old Lady Feng laughed heartily.

“You didn’t expect it, did you? This is why Huiying didn’t dare to act recklessly. Because I warned her that if she dared to harm the Zhao Family, I would directly take action. Even if I didn’t succeed, I would destroy half of the capital!”

Because of anger, Baili Qingcang’s face trembled a little. “The Zhao Family! How dare you!”

The Crown Prince’s face was full of pain. He stepped forward to support Baili Qingcang but was pushed away by him. He could only beg Old Lady Feng.

“Grandmother, don’t say it anymore. Didn’t you promise my mother and me? You promised not to mention these things again!”

“Why not?” Old Lady Feng turned around and looked at the red coffin. She was in complete madness. “If the Emperor was fair and killed Noble Consort Xian, I would have kept the secret. Unfortunately, the murderer is still at large. Why can’t I avenge my daughter?”

Bu Yunqing, who was dressed in imperial consort attire, walked in. She had carefully dressed up, and her scarred face looked much gentler. “You want to avenge your daughter? I am here. How do you want to avenge her?”

Baili Junyi got up and walked quickly to Bu Yunqing. “Mother.”

Shen Ninghua followed behind Baili Junyi, silently expressing her support.

Bu Yunqing turned around. “I will shoulder the responsibility myself. It has nothing to do with you. I asked the palace maids to force Zhao Huiying to swallow the bowl of medicine, but I didn’t know that it was a bowl of poison that could kill people. I just wanted to feed her the medicine that could weaken her body.”

Old Lady Feng stared at Bu Yunqing with bloodshot eyes. “Haha, that’s funny. My daughter died in your hands, and you still want to make excuses?”

Bu Yunqing sneered, “You took the lead to distort the facts. Your daughter committed a crime of treason, and you said that she did it for the sake of the people and the country. I was only being used by others and killed a deposed Empress. What is the big deal?”

“What I said is the truth. All the evidence is here, but you have no proof. Who can testify for you?”

“Evidence? Haha, it’s just a few letters. How dare you say that they are evidence? Who knows if the letters were arranged by Zhao Huiying in advance to avoid being punished after her conspiracy failed? If what you said is true, then hand over the list of names of those people in the Biyun Pavilion and Qingtian Pavilion. Then let the Emperor execute them one by one. After that, I will admit that those letters are your evidence!”

Baili Qingcang wanted to stop the two of them, but when he heard Bu Yunqing’s words, he did not speak.

The power of the Biyun Pavilion and Qingtian Pavilion made him afraid. The Empress was dead, and the list was nowhere to be found. If Old Lady Feng really handed over the list, then what she had said might be true.

Old Lady Feng laughed.

“Hahaha, I have always been in charge of the Biyun Pavilion. At first, the Qingtian Pavilion was controlled by my late husband, but after he passed away, he handed it over to Zhao Kun. Unfortunately, this disappointing son was too weak, and he couldn’t grasp the opportunities. Now that my daughter is dead, and the members of the Zhao Family have been killed overnight, what’s the use of keeping these two organizations…”

Baili Qingcang’s eyes turned cold, and a look of faint anticipation appeared in his eyes.

Old Lady Feng stared at Bu Yunqing with hatred. “I can hand over the list. What will you do after that?”

“Hand over the list and prove that the list is accurate. Then, I will die in front of you!”

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