“Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, please allow this servant to announce you, Empress Dowager…”
At that moment, the pleading voice of the eunuch grew closer from outside. Hearing this, Emperor Youning immediately stood up to welcome her. At the doorway, facing the furious Empress Dowager, he quickly bowed: “Mother…”
“I don’t deserve such courtesy.” The Empress Dowager avoided Emperor Youning, her face cold as she refused to look at him.
Liu Sanzhi, seeing the situation was unfavorable, immediately dismissed the palace servants and eunuchs, leaving only the Empress Dowager and Emperor Youning in the room.
“Mother, I never intended to harm Seventh Brother,” Emperor Youning explained in a low voice.
The Empress Dowager turned around, her gaze sharp, staring at him in prolonged silence: “Isn’t betraying your allies your usual method? Seventh Brother isn’t your flesh and blood. You poisoned him, brought him to this state, and he’s already not long for this world. Yet you’re still not at ease? Must you push him to his death?”
“Mother, the poison in the candied cherries back then wasn’t administered by me,” Emperor Youning explained once again, feeling utterly exhausted. “The poison in the candied cherries was meant for me, but Seventh Brother ate them by mistake.”
“By mistake?” The Empress Dowager let out a mocking laugh, looking at Emperor Youning’s bitter smile with what seemed like both ridicule and sarcasm. She continued, “Fine, let’s say Seventh Brother ate them by mistake. He saved your life then, didn’t he? If he hadn’t eaten those candied cherries, think about it – if you had eaten them, could you have survived until today?
“Do you know how much torture he’s endured all these years because of that strange poison? Only in these past two years has he improved somewhat. In previous years, when the poison flared up, his entire body would turn ice-cold. Even submerged in a vat of hot water, he would still be delirious from the cold. Come autumn, he would cough incessantly, and at the poison’s worst, he would cough up handfuls of blood…
“If this had happened to you, could you have achieved your great accomplishments today? Could you have focused on state affairs?
“He’s struggled to survive until today, and merely staying alive has been difficult enough. What more do you need to guard against?
“The Empress Dowager’s eyes reddened as she spoke, her voice choked with emotion: “How much did your elder brother owe you in his previous life to deserve such treatment in this one?
“You killed him out of greed, and now you won’t even allow a trace of his bloodline to remain? If you don’t wish to pass the throne to him, I won’t blame you. When he was made Crown Prince back then, you know very well who benefited the most!
“You could have deposed him if you wanted. But you couldn’t bear to, because his presence helps keep your empire stable for a few more years. You want to use him, yet you guard against him, torturing him like this. Is your heart still made of flesh?”
As long as Xiao Huayong remained Crown Prince, the other princes knew he wouldn’t live long, and though they schemed privately for succession, they dared not do so openly. The officials hadn’t yet taken sides either, most still loyal to His Majesty.
This benefited His Majesty’s control over the court, allowing numerous policies to be implemented and promoted with maximum efficiency.
This was why Emperor Youning, despite having evidence of Xiao Huayong’s color blindness and disability – grounds enough to easily depose the Crown Prince – didn’t do so, but instead chose to test Xiao Huayong.
“Mother…” Emperor Youning called out heavily and lengthily, his tone revealing deep exhaustion and helplessness. “Whether Mother believes it or not, I have never treated Seventh Brother differently from my other sons.
“If he could live a long life, I would truly be willing to pass the throne to him. This is my debt to my elder brother. I just wanted to know…” Emperor Youning looked up, gazing deeply at the Empress Dowager, “If Seventh Brother… hates me.”
He suspected Xiao Huayong already knew about his true identity. He could return the throne to Xiao Huayong if he could handle it, but he couldn’t tolerate Xiao Huayong plotting against his life at every turn.
He was the emperor – he could give, but he wouldn’t allow others to take by force.
The Empress Dowager caught his deep, probing gaze and said coldly: “Are you suspecting that I poisoned your ‘father-son’ relationship?”
Indeed, she had revealed Xiao Huayong’s true identity after the candied cherry incident. The sensitive, intelligent, and suspicious Xiao Huayong – only eight years old then – had already deduced that the poison might have been administered by Emperor Youning. It was a devastating blow to him.
He couldn’t understand why his father, whom he had admired and respected, who had shown him such favor and protection, would try to poison him. He coughed blood daily, feeling abandoned by the whole world. Such a small child, with no more will to live – what could she have done?
If this knot in his heart hadn’t been untied, Xiao Huayong might have perished that year at age eight.
He was the only blood remaining of her eldest son. In her life, she had wronged her eldest son the most. How could she watch his only child give up on himself, allowing the poison that clung to his bones to consume him?
Looking back at his daily struggle against the deadly poison, she regretted her decision. Perhaps it would have been better to let him pass quickly back then.
“Mother, it was indeed my men who took Seventh Brother, I won’t hide this from you. But I truly meant him no harm,” Emperor Youning withdrew his gaze, explaining in a softer tone. “I hadn’t expected Old Three to interfere at this time, causing Seventh Brother to fall into his hands.”
“Heaven sees all our deeds. It’s because you’ve done too many evil things that heaven is making you face the consequences,” the Empress Dowager spoke harshly. “If anything happens to Seventh Brother, I will hang myself at the palace gates.”
With that, the Empress Dowager left without further argument with Emperor Youning, striding away.
When Shen Xihe returned to her residence, she heard that the Empress Dowager had gone to see His Majesty, and they had parted on bad terms.
“The Empress Dowager understands His Majesty far better than we do,” Shen Xihe thought of Emperor Youning’s past actions in pursuing the throne.
In truth, if anything happened to Xiao Huayong, the Empress Dowager would naturally assume it was His Majesty’s doing.
His Majesty had only wanted to force Xiao Huayong to show his true colors but hadn’t expected Xiao Huayong to counter every move and make such a big scene of it.
Now Xiao Huayong’s fate was unknown, and rumors spread that his disappearance was the work of His Majesty’s secret guards. People’s hearts were turbulent, and everyone was anxious and unsettled. How many court matters would be delayed because of this?
“When will His Highness return?” Biyu was quite worried about Xiao Huayong.
This time, His Highness had undoubtedly played with fire – how could the Crown Prince of Jiachen let him go?
“The Crown Prince of Jiachen won’t harm him,” Shen Xihe was the least concerned about Xiao Huayong’s safety.
Just as Li Yanyan hadn’t betrayed Xiao Huayong that day, the Crown Prince of Jiachen, knowing this was Xiao Huayong’s scheme, would believe in Xiao Huayong’s true identity. They shared a common enemy – His Majesty.
The Crown Prince of Jiachen couldn’t bring down Emperor Youning by himself. Like Li Yanyan, he hoped for conflict between Xiao Huayong and Emperor Youning. Not only would he not harm Xiao Huayong, but he would follow and assist him.
He wouldn’t think this was a plot by Emperor Youning and Xiao Huayong working together as father and son to lure him into total defeat because from the moment Xiao Huayong sought him out, he understood that if Xiao Huayong had meant him harm, there would have been no need for such a roundabout approach, no need to make His Majesty sacrifice so much.
Those sacrificed men were genuine elites – it was like cutting out His Majesty’s flesh.