Chapter 140: Finale (Part 2)
"It doesn't matter when I found out. What matters is that His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang thought he was the chess player, but he didn't know that you were also a chess piece on His Majesty's chessboard. He used you to get rid of the old ministers, which not only eliminated his own suspicion, but also cleared the hidden dangers of being controlled in the future for the successor new monarch. He also doted on His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang and used bait to investigate the ministers who were wavering. This kind of father-son relationship really opened my eyes!"
This remark hit the sore spot in the heart of the King of Xiang, making him angry and humiliated: "Shut up!"
Tang Ying seemed to kindly remind him: "If Your Highness continues to be sad and upset and do meaningless things, I am afraid that once the imperial guards in the imperial city get the news, they will soon come to kill the traitors."
Gan Jun blocked the Southern Qi Emperor with his sword and said angrily: "Stop talking nonsense, little girl!" Do you want to sow discord between the royal father and his son?
As expected, Prince Xiang was a man who could accomplish great things. He gently placed the body of Consort Wan where it was, raised his sword and walked towards the Emperor of Southern Qi who was lying on the bed. The guards he brought with him surrounded Gan Jun with swords drawn, intending to force him to take action.
Gan Jun's loyalty is unquestionable. He has been brainwashed since the first day he joined the secret guard. He regards the emperor as a god-like existence. Not only does he have no intention of disobeying, he is also willing to die for the Emperor of Southern Qi.
"What do you want to do?"
Gan Jun's questioning did not cause any panic, but instead caused one of the guards under the King of Xiang to persuade him: "Why are you so stubborn, sir? Wouldn't it be better for you to be loyal to my prince?"
"Don't even think about it!" Following his refusal, the men under Prince Xiang finally took action. Gan Jun had to fight back, but he still wanted to divert his attention to protect the Emperor of Southern Qi. However, this group of people surrounded him, constantly moving the battle circle, forcing him to move further and further away from the Emperor of Southern Qi. He could only watch Prince Xiang approach the Emperor of Southern Qi's bed with a sword in hand.
The secret guards who had previously kidnapped Concubine Wan hurriedly drew their swords to rescue Gan Jun, and the two sides started fighting.
Tang Ying followed behind the Prince of Xiang and stood in front of the Emperor of Southern Qi. She looked down at the aging face of the emperor and admired his sad, painful and fearful expression: "Your Majesty, did you not expect this day to come?"
The Southern Qi Emperor stared at his own son who was looking down on him and the girl he had raised, wishing he could tear them into pieces: "You...you..."
The eldest princess avoided the frantic crowd in the palace and came over. She stood at the head of his bed and gave the last bit of hospice care to the Emperor of Southern Qi: "Brother, I am here to see you off. When you go downstairs and see my Yan'er, don't scare him again. If you hadn't insisted on forcing him to leave the capital, would he have died outside?"
The Emperor of Southern Qi had never thought that he would witness the day when he would be deserted by his friends and relatives in his lifetime. His breath was choked in his throat, making his old face purple. He tried to struggle to get up, but half of his body had long been out of control, and the other half seemed to be out of control as well. The eunuchs serving him were trembling with fear and wished they could hide. How could they dare to move forward in the face of the murderous gaze of the Second Prince?
"Rebellious son! Rebellious son!"
He uttered a string of harsh curses with difficulty, and then the tip of the knife hanging high above his head stabbed down and pierced his chest. The man holding the sword had a hideous look on his face, as if he was filled with endless resentment: "It's all your fault! You favor the emperor's grandson! We are both sons, but you treat me like a monkey!"
The Southern Qi Emperor's incredulous gaze slowly moved from the face of the man holding the sword to the cold blade with blood on it. He also heard the little girl watching the show spit on his face: "Bah! My father and brother are heroes who serve the country and the people. And my 20,000 young men in Baicheng are all generous gentlemen. It's not worth it for them to die under your dirty calculations!"
"Hahahahahaha... haven't you always favored Yuan Yi? Then go to the underworld to accompany your good grandson!" A look of madness appeared on Prince Xiang's face - although his life had some twists and turns and the process was different, he finally killed the emperor and the crown prince, and would soon ascend to the throne.
Amid his son's madness and Tang Ying's cursing, the Emperor of Southern Qi closed his eyes unwillingly, ending his long and eventful journey as an emperor and finally lying down at the end of the road.
When the Prince of Xiang was at his most proud, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, as if he had been stabbed by a weapon. He turned around in shock and found that the eldest princess had been holding a dagger. He thought that was the weapon that stabbed him.
"Aunt——" he began, puzzled.
Yuan Heng had a face full of resentment, but was finally able to face him honestly: "You killed my Yan'er! You killed my Yan'er, but you still coaxed me to pave the way for you..." She was patient and patient. Every time she saw Yuan Lang sincerely caring about her food, clothing, and daily life, she felt sick from the bottom of her heart - how could there be such a heartless person in the world?
Yuan Lang chuckled, not caring at all: "Oh, so my aunt knew about it?" He was not embarrassed or ashamed of being exposed, but was confident: "He is just a waste. He has all the advantages, but he is just a good-for-nothing. He might as well die !"
"I'm going to kill you!" Yuan Heng screamed and rushed forward to stab Yuan Lang, but was stabbed through by his sword instead.
He finally took off his mask in front of the Grand Princess: "How stupid! It's your fault for giving birth to such a fool and letting him become ignorant of the immensity of the world!" His back was bleeding constantly, but the Grand Princess had been ill for a long time, her hands were weak, and she stabbed in a hurry, so she didn't hit the vital point, so he was still able to stand.
On the contrary, Yuan Heng was stabbed in the heart by him, and then pushed out fiercely by him with disgust, and fell backwards on the Emperor of Southern Qi who died with his eyes open. The brother and sister were suspicious of each other during their lifetime, but they died together, which was a worthy death.
"You are the one who doesn't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is. Isn't that you?"
Yuan Lang felt a slight chill in his chest. He looked down and saw a sword in his chest. He was still puzzled: "Why?"
Why is this life so different from the previous one?
Tang Ying was different from the eldest princess. She used a killing move and stabbed the prince of Xiang in the heart. After stabbing him, she stabbed him back fiercely, leaving only half of the sword exposed from behind him. Blood dripped from the tip of the sword: "Why?"
She didn't know, and she didn't want to know.
"Your life is not enough to offset the evil you have done. But... who told you to only have one life?" She seemed to be very sorry that Yuan Lang died too easily.
"Who are you?" This couldn't be Tang? This was definitely not the Tang who died in the prince's mansion in her previous life.
There were a few spots of blood on Tang Ying's face. She pulled out the sword with force. Yuan Lang lost his support and knelt down staggeringly at her feet.
"I am an evil ghost that crawled out of the purgatory on earth, and I am here specifically to take your life!" At this moment, she laughed very happily, as if all the haze that had been suppressed for years had dissipated.
When the guards of Prince Xiang saw their master being stabbed, they turned around quickly to rescue him, and it seemed that they were going to take Tang Ying's life.
Gan Jun and the secret guards stood a few steps away, suddenly not knowing where to go.
They all exist because of the Emperor of Southern Qi. Now the Emperor of Southern Qi has been killed by Prince of Xiang, and the culprit Prince of Xiang has been executed. They are like headless flies, having lost their goals in life.
Outside the Qingliang Palace, there was suddenly a huge noise, and the rescuers arrived late.
The guards of the Prince of Xiang's mansion were loyal and dedicated. Seeing that their master was dying, they probably would not survive either, so they tried their best to kill her. Their long swords weaved a long net, and Tang Ying was the small fish in the net.
Tang Ying was fighting with the guards of Prince Xiang's mansion. Through the open palace door, she saw Prince Qing, who was rushing in, and the tall figure standing next to Prince Qing. He looked familiar and kind, and she gave him a bright smile.
※※※
"and after?"
A dozen brothers from the Imperial Cavalry Department sat together chatting and asking questions. Liu Chong acted as a storyteller and mentioned the palace riot at the end of May in the 16th year of Jiazheng, as if he had been there in person.
"Of course it was... Manager Tang was unable to save the emperor, allowing the rebellious king to succeed and kill the Crown Prince and His Majesty. She fought desperately and killed the rebellious king. She waited until the new emperor entered the palace before she was injured and fell to the ground."
Gan Jun was standing ten steps away. The corners of his mouth twitched as he listened and he looked up at the sky in silence.
On the day of the palace riot, Prince Qing was appointed to the position and won the unanimous approval of the old ministers. Moreover, although Prince Liao was not a traitor, he had always been close to Prince Xiang. By the time he slowly entered the capital, not only had the funerals of the Crown Prince and the Emperor been almost completed, but even the day for the new emperor to ascend the throne had been chosen. He only needed to kowtow before the spirit of the late emperor and then kneel down to pay homage to the new emperor, and there was nothing else for him to do.
When he heard that his good brother, Prince Xiang, was executed for treason, he secretly thanked his luck that he came late , otherwise he would have arrived just in time for Prince Xiang's rebellion. Would he have helped or not?
The more the King of Liao thought about it, the more he felt that he was lucky. Although he still felt a little uncomfortable when he kowtowed to the new emperor, his attitude of kneeling was obviously much more respectful.
The new emperor had not yet ascended the throne, but that did not prevent him from presiding over the overall situation. He issued an imperial edict to rehabilitate Fu Chen, saying that the late emperor had secretly ordered Fu Chen to leave the capital to protect him. In order to confuse Prince Xiang, he imprisoned Fu Chen and secretly released him from the capital to Qingzhou.
Fu Chen was not only innocent, but also meritorious. He was reinstated first and will be rewarded after the coronation ceremony.
Liu Zhong and others were involved in this matter that day. As they were in the Imperial Cavalry Department, they were used to the royal family's style of saying one thing in public and another in private. They were quite receptive to the new emperor's statement. After warmly welcoming Fu Chen back to the office, they gathered together to discuss the palace chaos.
They were all sent away by Tang Ying and had no chance to participate in the palace riot, which they deeply regretted. It was all up to Liu Zhong to make up stories to satisfy everyone's curiosity, but it was amazing that he could make up stories that were so convincing and self-consistent.
Fu Chen had just come out of the palace. After listening to Liu Zhong's performance, he stood next to Gan Jun and thought: "Are they too idle?" He had been away from the Forbidden Cavalry Division for a long time, and these monkeys seemed a little lawless.
Gan Jun had become accustomed to being the emperor's shadow. Suddenly, he lost his restraints and felt uncomfortable all over. He didn't know what to do.
"A bit noisy." This was his evaluation of the idiots from the Forbidden Cavalry Sifeng Department.
Fu Chen hinted to him: "Actually... Zhulin Temple is quite quiet."
Gan Jun's eyes lit up and he turned and left.
"...Is it true that men are not allowed to enter Zhulin Temple?"
Unfortunately, Lord Gan walked too fast and did not hear what Lord Fu said.
Fu Chen walked past the group of idiots who were talking big and went straight to Tang Ying's office. When he opened the door, he smelled a strong smell of medicine. Chun Niang looked up at him expressionlessly, then continued to lower her head to clean the wound on Tang Ying's back and change the bandages.
Tang Ying thought it was Chunniang's servant who came to deliver medicine, and she lay on the couch with her eyes closed and almost fell asleep.
Fu Chen signaled Chun Niang to come and help. Chun Niang glanced at him and tiptoed out.
He recalled the situation at that time and attributed Tang Ying's injury to "a mistake made when she was relaxed and had no fighting spirit after her great revenge". He washed his hands and carefully applied the medicine to her. When all the wounds were smeared with the best medicine, he finally spoke in a gentle voice: "Yingying, do you still mean what you said?"
The person on the bed sat up suddenly, almost hitting his face with her back. She realized that she was still topless, and quickly lay down again, pulling the outer robe beside her to cover herself: "You, you, you...get out of here right now." Her back turned pink with shame: "Who let you in?"
Fu Chen chuckled: "Does what you promised me still count?"
Tang Ying had escaped death, so she had no idea what she had promised. She just asked him to get out of here quickly. No matter what she had promised, she agreed to everything at once: "It's a deal! Isn't it okay? Get out of here quickly!"
She thought of this incident a long time later and complained bitterly: "Everyone else thought that Master Fu was a gentleman, but who knew that Master Fu was actually a hypocrite and a villain!"
Lord Fu, a hypocrite and a real villain, accepted her evaluation in its entirety: "Everything Yingying said is right." This was in stark contrast to his shrewd image, and he seemed to be blindly following others, which left his colleagues and subordinates in the Forbidden Cavalry Division dumbfounded.
However, when the iceberg-like Lord Fu met the rogue Manager Tang, he finally fell under her black official uniform. Manager Tang didn't even have to wear a pomegranate skirt to conquer Lord Fu, which can be regarded as a good story in the Forbidden Cavalry Division.
