Chapter 55: Emperor Chu Wen’s Choice
“This son indeed has an important matter. The interrogation of Zheng Demin has yielded results. He admitted that he secretly changed the materials for the dam construction and pocketed the difference.
“However, there are still suspicious points in this matter—he claimed that he knew nothing about dam construction and that even changing the materials was someone else’s idea. Then how did he become the River Transport Governor? And who is this so-called ‘someone else’?
“If this son remembers correctly, this person was recommended by Second Royal Brother.”
“…” Hearing these words, Emperor Chu Wen’s expression was very solemn. “Did Zheng Demin directly implicate anyone else?”
“No. Zheng Demin was probably afraid that his family would suffer retaliation, so he kept his mouth shut about the person behind the scenes.”
Emperor Chu Wen said solemnly, “Since there are no witnesses or evidence in this matter, you should not speculate wildly about your royal brother. Perhaps De’er simply misjudged the person at the time and did not do it intentionally.”
Chu Lianmo’s heart sank abruptly. As expected, Emperor Chu Wen still favored his legitimate son.
“Speaking of witnesses, indeed, there are none for this matter, but there are for another.
“Does Royal Father remember the assassination attempt on this son back then? In fact, one of the two assassins survived. His name is Ying Dong, and he has been working as a guard in this son’s residence for some time. He is right outside the hall now, and Royal Father can summon him at any time. He personally told this son that the one who sent him to assassinate me was Eldest Royal Brother!”
“What did you say?” Emperor Chu Wen’s face instantly turned ashen. “You said both assassins were dead back then. Were you deceiving Us?!”
A deep sorrow surged in Chu Lianmo’s heart instantly—upon hearing this, Emperor Chu Wen’s first concern wasn’t whether the murderer was Chu Ziqian, but that he was deceiving the emperor.
Fortunately, he had already prepared his explanation.
“Royal Father, this son did not intend to deceive. It’s just that it involved Eldest Royal Brother, and this son didn’t want to hurt the brotherly feelings between us, nor did I want to put Royal Father in a difficult position, so I dared to conceal it.
“This son originally thought that it didn’t matter if Eldest Royal Brother hated me or wanted to kill me, as long as he was a good Crown Prince. But this son never expected that this time he would do something that endangered the lives of the people! I hope Royal Father will thoroughly investigate the origin of Zheng Demin’s official position and the destruction of the dam!”
“Enough!” Emperor Chu Wen waved his sleeve. “We have already said that there is not enough evidence to link the dam incident to the Crown Prince. How do you expect Us to investigate thoroughly? As for that Ying Dong, since he has been working for you for some time, he has probably already been bought by you!”
“…Since Royal Father thinks so,” Chu Lianmo smiled mournfully, “then please punish this son for the crime of intentional framing.”
“…” Emperor Chu Wen stared at him silently.
After a long while, Emperor Chu Wen finally spoke, “Perhaps that Ying Dong is talking nonsense. You can deal with him. We do not believe you are someone who would intentionally frame your brother. You may leave. We are tired and want to rest.”
“This son takes his leave.”
With mixed feelings, Chu Lianmo withdrew from Emperor Chu Wen’s bedchamber.
He glanced at Ying Dong, who didn’t even have the chance to enter and pay his respects, and silently got into the carriage.
After returning to Prince Rui’s residence, Qi Xiaojun was waiting for him at the door.
“Lianmo, how did it go?” As soon as he saw Chu Lianmo get off the carriage, Qi Xiaojun eagerly went to greet him.
“Ah Jun, have you been standing here all this time?” Chu Lianmo took his hand and said softly, “Look, your hands are freezing. Why don’t you know how to take care of yourself? Go inside quickly.”
“What about you?” Qi Xiaojun countered. “You’ve been in the carriage all this time, why are your hands so cold too?”
“…Because my heart is cold.”
Chu Lianmo smiled bitterly and pulled Qi Xiaojun into his arms, borrowing his body heat to give himself a little warmth.
“Royal Father is indeed partial to Chu Ziqian and Chu Weide. He said I was framing them.”
“What?!” Qi Xiaojun gasped. “Did the Emperor make things difficult for you?!”
“No.” Chu Lianmo shook his head and sighed softly. “Actually, I know Royal Father is already suspicious of Chu Ziqian. If he really believed I was deliberately framing him, he wouldn’t have let me off so easily. The fact that he won’t investigate thoroughly means he doesn’t dare to investigate.”
“…Is he… really that partial to the Crown Prince?” Qi Xiaojun found it hard to believe that a monarch would suspect his son of doing things that endangered the country and the people, yet leave it alone.
“To be honest, I expected this. That’s why I didn’t let Jiang Yingnan identify Chu Ziqian directly in front of Royal Father. Royal Father spared my life because I am also his son, but that doesn’t mean he would spare Jiang Yingnan!
“And that account book, if it were really sent to Royal Father, do you think he would change the Crown Prince or destroy it on the spot?”
“…” Qi Xiaojun broke out in a cold sweat. Did Chu have such a monarch who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong?
And this monarch happened to be Chu Lianmo’s biological father. No wonder he felt disheartened.
“So this Prince intends to put the account book to more important use.” Chu Lianmo let go of Qi Xiaojun, took his hand again, and walked towards the bedroom. “Alright, let’s rest first. We’ll talk about these things tomorrow. Ah Jun, you’ve worked hard these past few days. You look much more haggard.”
Qi Xiaojun smiled brightly at Chu Lianmo. “How could I be more tired than you? With such a big thing happening, I only wish I could share some of your burden.”
Chu Lianmo also smiled happily at him. With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?
The next day, Chu Lianmo gave the account book to Jiang Zhenxiong.
Jiang Zhenxiong looked very solemn after reading it.
Originally, Jiang Zhenxiong had some hesitation about raising troops to help Chu Lianmo usurp the throne.
After all, publicly, this was treason and disloyalty to the monarch; privately, if this matter didn’t succeed in one fell swoop, it would lead to the execution of the entire Jiang family.
But after reading the account book and learning about Chu Ziqian’s selfish disregard for the people, Jiang Zhenxiong completely made up his mind.
“My Chu state must not have such a monarch in the future! Prince Rui, whenever you give the order to act, Jiang will swear loyalty to you to the death!”
“Thank you, Lord Jiang, for understanding the greater good!” Chu Lianmo bowed deeply to Jiang Zhenxiong. “As for when to act, this Prince still needs to find the best timing.”
In fact, unless absolutely necessary, Chu Lianmo didn’t really want to resort to war.
Moreover, relying solely on the military power in Jiang Zhenxiong’s hands, they weren’t guaranteed victory.
Just as Chu Lianmo was hesitating, another major event occurred in Chu—
The Emperor of Qi, Qi De Di, personally led a large army to launch a surprise attack on the border of Chu!
Because it was a surprise attack, the Chu army was unprepared and caught off guard, suffering a crushing defeat. The Qi army had completely occupied the small border city and was continuing to march towards the capital.
When this news reached the court, Emperor Chu Wen and the princes were a little stunned.
“Has that old man not been taught a lesson for too long!” Chu Weide was the first to shout resentfully. “Royal Father, please let this son lead troops there and teach them a good lesson again!”
“You’re going again?” Chu Lianmo said coldly. “It’s precisely because of your ruthless style of extermination last time that Qi submitted superficially but remained dissatisfied, holding a grudge and waiting for an opportunity to retaliate…”
Chu Weide interrupted him impatiently: “This time I’ll kill the Emperor of Qi directly, and see who else can retaliate against us!”
“Heh, don’t forget that he still has an eldest son. If this cycle of revenge continues, there will never be peace between Chu and Qi! Royal Father,” Chu Lianmo couldn’t be bothered with Chu Weide anymore and looked at Emperor Chu Wen, “this time, let this son lead the troops to quell the rebellion.”
“…” Emperor Chu Wen pondered for a moment upon hearing this.
In fact, just as Chu Lianmo guessed, he had long been suspicious of Chu Weide and Chu Ziqian. He was already fed up with the two brothers recently. Two days ago, he had called them over and scolded them severely, warning them not to do anything detrimental to the interests of Chu again.
The person he truly trusted now was only Chu Lianmo.
It was only because he didn’t want to shake the foundation of the country by easily changing the Crown Prince that he gave Chu Ziqian one last chance.
So Emperor Chu Wen finally nodded to Chu Lianmo. “Prince Rui, you will be responsible for this matter.”
“Yes! This son will definitely fulfill the mission!” Chu Lianmo promised solemnly.
Chu Weide’s face was ashen. But he knew that his father had been very dissatisfied with him recently because of Zheng Demin’s matter, so he dared not say another word.
When Chu Lianmo returned to Prince Rui’s residence and brought the news to Qi Xiaojun, Qi Xiaojun was also stunned for a moment.
He staggered and slumped onto the bed, staring blankly for a long time before speaking with a pale face:
“You said… Royal Father is personally leading troops to attack the Chu army? You’re going to… fight him?”
“Ah Jun, don’t worry!” Chu Lianmo understood how complicated Qi Xiaojun’s feelings were at this moment and hugged him distressedly. “The reason this Prince is going is to solve this matter most peacefully! This Prince will absolutely not harm a single hair on your Royal Father’s head!”
“…Lianmo, please don’t go, okay!” Qi Xiaojun rarely interfered with Chu Lianmo’s decision willfully, sobbing in his arms. “I indeed don’t want you to hurt Royal Father, but I also don’t want Royal Father to hurt you! My two closest people are now going to slaughter each other, how can I bear it?!”
“Ah Jun, did you hear what this Prince just said clearly?”
Chu Lianmo held Qi Xiaojun’s face lovingly with one hand and gently wiped away his tears with the other. “This Prince wants to solve this matter most peacefully. This Prince won’t let anyone get hurt.”
“Swords have no eyes on the battlefield! Can you not get hurt just because you don’t want to! I don’t care, I won’t let you go!” Qi Xiaojun hugged Chu Lianmo tightly again, uncharacteristically acting somewhat unreasonably.
The more uncharacteristic he was, the more Chu Lianmo knew how great the impact of this matter was on him, and the more his heart ached.
But Chu Lianmo had to maintain a rational side. He couldn’t let both of them be drowned in emotions.
“Ah Jun, listen to me. If I don’t go, Chu Weide will go. Do you know what the consequences will be if he goes?
“If your Royal Father stabs Chu Weide to death with a spear, I would be grateful to him for eliminating a menace for the people, but what if it’s the other way around? You being able to regain a new life is a blessing from heaven; does your Royal Father have such good luck?”
“…” Qi Xiaojun couldn’t say anything to refute, just hugging Chu Lianmo and sobbing continuously. The tears he shed in his lifetime probably didn’t add up to as much as he shed on this day.
“Ah Jun, not only is this Prince going,” Chu Lianmo endured the pain in his heart like a knife cut and said, “I also want to invite you to go with me.”
“…What are you going to do?!” Qi Xiaojun suddenly broke away from Chu Lianmo’s embrace and roared at him, “Make me fight against Royal Father too?!”
“No, quite the opposite.” Chu Lianmo didn’t have any emotions because of Qi Xiaojun’s misunderstanding, because he felt that whatever Qi Xiaojun did or said at this moment was forgivable. “You are the greatest peace envoy between our two countries.”
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