Chapter 1 Many Affairs of the Wei Dynasty

In the sixth month of the fifteenth year of Jingyuan, many major events occurred in the Wei Dynasty.

First, the Xiao family, most valued by the court, was raided. Without Xiao Yunqi, the head of the Xiao family, knowing, the court's secret guards infiltrated the Xiao family and found letters from Xiao Yunqi communicating with the enemy. They also discovered evidence that Xiao Yunqi had provided military supplies to the Southern Yue army several times.

Finally, a skeleton was unearthed under the ancestral statue of the Xiao family.

After investigation, it was confirmed to be the body of the real Xiao Yunqi, the head of the Xiao family. The current Xiao Yunqi was actually Xiao Qi, a nobleman from Southern Yue.

Even Xiao Fengyun, the young master of the Xiao family, was the son of Xiao Qi's eldest brother. In other words, Xiao Qi had killed even the true bloodline of the Xiao family and replaced them with his nephew.

As soon as the news spread, the entire Wei Dynasty was shocked and terrified. Fortunately, Xiao Qi and a group of Southern Yue spies were all arrested.

Xiao Qi had committed many evils, and his fate was naturally death.

His nephews and nieces were sent back to Southern Yue along with the Southern Yue prince and princess.

All of this was out of consideration for Empress Zhou.

The second event was that Prince Ning confused the royal bloodline and colluded with the eunuch Yu Qi to attempt a rebellion, for which he was sentenced to be cut in half at the waist. The eunuch Yu Qi clashed with the eldest son of Prince Ning while fleeing, and both of them died.

The third event was that the Crown Princess of the Great Wei, the only consort from a merchant family, requested to be deposed.

The reason was that she could not accept the太子 Xie Jin Yan's future harem and was also unable to manage the inner palace.

Originally, Yu Shi's background was not worthy of being a Crown Princess. If she hadn't donated her family property and the Crown Prince had insisted on making her a consort, how could the high position of Crown Princess have fallen into the hands of a pheasant like her?

Moreover, the Crown Prince at that time was not promising and was a complete纨绔 (wan ku, playboy).

Anyone with some ability in the court was unwilling to push their daughter into the fire pit, fearing that the Crown Prince would be deposed one day and their family would suffer along with him.

But now, the First Prince, Xie Qiyun, was a cripple, and the You family had lost power. Xie Rufeng, who was originally considered a rising star, was also executed for confusing the royal bloodline.

The remaining princes either had poor maternal families or lacked ability.

The Crown Prince, Xie Jin Yan, who was once a 纨绔 (wan ku, playboy), had now become a hero in the hearts of the people and had also gained the support of the Qingzhou Tusi.

Anyone who wasn't a fool knew which side to take.

As a result, there were countless noble ladies who coveted the position of Crown Princess.

Even if the noble ladies had no intention of fighting for it, the ministers wanted to curry favor.

Therefore, the Crown Prince's residence had been besieged for the past month.

The emperor and empress were also constantly petitioned for favors.

Now that the strongest external enemy had been eliminated, the emperor needed to promote new talents and balance the new nobles. Therefore, it was common for him to grant the Crown Prince several daughters of ministers as consorts and let them fight among themselves.

However, with a merchant's daughter occupying the position of Crown Princess, their targets would naturally be aimed at Yu Shi.

Therefore, Yu Shi's request to be deposed at this moment was in line with Emperor Jing's wishes.

Thus, while the Crown Prince was still on official duty outside the city, the imperial decree to depose the Crown Princess was delivered to Yu Qingwu.

"This commoner thanks His Majesty for his grace."

Yu Qingwu clutched the bright yellow silk in her hand and kowtowed heavily to Emperor Jing.

Emperor Jing sat in his chair, his face, which resembled Xie Jin Yan's by seven or eight points, revealed a complex expression.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table and stared at the kneeling woman for a long time before slowly saying, "Rise."

"Yu Shi, once you leave, I'm afraid you will never have a relationship with the royal family again. You, will you not regret it?"

"Actually, I never thought of taking Jin Yan's life, nor did I ever think of establishing another heir."

"However, sometimes, doing certain things requires me to be a temporary昏君 (hun jun, inept ruler), and someone needs to make sacrifices."

"You are a good girl."

"Yu Qi was also the best of subjects."

"And also... the best elder brother. Although he was not a complete man, he did what a man should do. He handled family feuds and national hatred very well. If he were still alive, he would definitely want you to be well."

Emperor Jing's tone was extremely calm, with words of persuasion and explanation.

Explaining for Xie Jin Yan...

And also trying to persuade her to stay for Xie Jin Yan.

Even more... indirectly informing her that he had already known about her relationship with Yu Qi.

Perhaps because he knew about the relationship between Yu Qi and Yu Qingwu, Emperor Jing's gaze was much kinder than before when he looked at Yu Qingwu. It was, truly, kindness.

But at this moment, looking at Emperor Jing's persuasive appearance, Yu Qingwu only felt ironic.

So many things had happened these days, and she had come to understand.

What beloved chef, what Xie Rufeng, were all just fronts, just means to eliminate Prince Ning.

What kind of person was Emperor Jing? He had climbed to the throne through sword and shadow, and he had even fought on the battlefield. If he were truly so foolish that he couldn't even distinguish his own children, so foolish that he would use such a ridiculous way to protect his so-called beloved, then he wouldn't be him.

Emperor Jing was truly ruthless, ruthless to the point of disregarding his own reputation, ruthless to the point of using his most beloved son as a gamble.

If in the battle of Yunzhou, Xie Jin Yan had truly died at the hands of Xie Rufeng, what would Emperor Jing have done? Or how would he have faced Empress Zhou?

He didn't not know the consequences, but he did it anyway.

Just like Xie Jin Yan, he didn't know Emperor Jing's plan when he was in Qingzhou, but in order to turn the tables, he still chose to sacrifice her brother.

Perhaps her brother volunteered, but volunteering didn't mean that Xie Jin Yan could use her brother's life to set up his schemes.

Afterwards, he put on a hypocritical, high-sounding appearance and advised her to be magnanimous.

How ridiculous? And how hypocritical?

The Emperor Jing in front of her was the same...

Perhaps he could be considered a good emperor, but in Yu Qingwu's eyes, he was so ugly.

Ugly to the point that she didn't want to look at him even once more, but her brother's voluntary sacrifice also made her understand that her brother would not agree to her fighting with the royal family.

Looking at Emperor Jing coldly for a moment, Yu Qingwu curled the corner of her mouth, her voice cold, as if she hadn't heard Emperor Jing's persuasion, and said to herself, "This commoner thanks His Majesty for his grace."

"If there is nothing else, this commoner will take her leave."

After speaking, Qingwu slowly got up, ignoring the expression on Emperor Jing's face, and walked out of the palace without looking back.

Walking down the steps all the way, looking at the huge imperial city, she couldn't help but smile, a smile that reddened her eyes and brought tears to her face.

She thought that walking into this imperial city could reveal those污秽 (wu hui, filth), but she didn't expect to see an even dirtier side.

She and Xie Jin Yan were ultimately not the same kind of people. Some decisions may be for the sake of the overall situation, but she was ultimately unable to accept them.

Walking slowly and woodenly all the way, she passed through one door after another, and passed countless palace paths.

Finally, she saw the light outside the cage.

However, when the sunlight shone down, a familiar and disgusting figure also reflected in her eyes.