Astute Princess: Married to be the Empress Novel - Chapter 218
Chapter 218 Unprepared
Father of the Emperor’s move had changed too quickly. This time, even Fu Yingran was unable to catch it. Who said that Father of the Emperor was brainless? Isn’t this really smart? Fu Yingran knew that he was in the wrong and immediately adopted the Huairou policy when he saw that he couldn’t stand it. He looked at what a good Father he was. He didn’t know what kind of family they were. Fu Yingran quickly shook off goosebumps and said to Father of the Emperor,
‘”Thank you for Father of the Emperor’s care. Daughter-in-law is grateful. As the so-called queen of Ye Lan, daughter-in-law has to shoulder the responsibility of being the mother of the country. No matter how much grievance she suffers, daughter-in-law will have to bear it. It’s time for you, Father, to rest for half your life. How dare daughter-in-law trouble Father of the Emperor again?” Who wouldn’t know how to play tai chi? What she, Fu Yingran, was most adept at was dismantling moves.
After saying that, she instructed outside the hall, “Someone, send Father of the Emperor back to rest. If you’re tired of Father of the Emperor, I’m the only one asking.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” When the guards in front of the hall heard the Empress’ instructions, they immediately rushed in from outside the hall. They pushed aside the people beside Father of the Emperor and were about to invite Father of the Emperor out of the hall. However, Father of the Emperor suddenly burst into laughter and looked at Empress Dowager Xiao.
‘”Hahaha, what a good Fu Yingran. What a good Empress Ye Lan. Xiao Rou, this is your good daughter-in-law. Don’t tell me that you will let her be so disrespectful to me? Aren’t you going to stop her? I’ll give you one last chance. For our sake, as long as you win Fu Yingran now, you will still be my Empress. Otherwise, you won’t regret it.”
Hearing this, Empress Dowager Xiao looked at him like she was looking at a fool. She sighed in disappointment, “Ah … why are you still so persistent?” Huyan Zhen, for you are Ming Shuo’s father, as long as you return to Beiyuan to be your Father of the Emperor, the Ai Clan can make the decision. Let’s pretend that nothing happened today. The Ai Clan has never seen you, and you haven’t been here. Otherwise, don’t blame us for being unkind. ”
“Xiao Rou, you are so presumptuous. Who gave you the courage to speak to me like this? You are a woman in the palace. When will it be your turn to make the decision?”
Father of the Emperor was very angry. Since he was sensible, everyone had been respectful to him. Even when he was still a prince, no one dared to be disrespectful to him because of Concubine Yan’s status and methods.
In Father of the Emperor’s eyes, Empress Dowager Xiao had always been gentle and obedient. She didn’t dare to show off in the palace all these years. Even in the face of Concubine Ni’s unprovoked rift and her bias, she was only submissive and tolerant. She had never refuted a single word. He was used to the semi-transparent Empress.
But ever since Fu Yingran married into Ye Lan, all of this had changed. First, Huyan Mingshuo became stronger and stronger, becoming more and more uncontrollable. Then, the identity of the son of his concubine, whom he had doted on for many years, was exposed, making him the laughingstock of the world. Later, even his mother, whom he had called her for decades, was fake. He became an accomplice in murdering his brother.
At that time, the gentle and obedient Xiao Rou also disappeared. Originally, he still wanted to make up for the debt he owed her over the years, but as Huyan Mingshuo became stronger and stronger, he had no choice but to abdicate early. From then on, Xiao Rou treated him with a lofty and arrogant attitude.
What was even more abominable was that she had actually helped her daughter-in-law run on her, and even boastfully said these words to her. Father of the Emperor couldn’t help but be furious in his heart, and his dissatisfaction with her in the past few years had also erupted in an instant.
“Let me tell you, Xiao Rou, Don’t think you have a great son, you can show off your might in front of me, “No matter what, Huyan Mingshuo is still a son of my Huyan Clan and my Huyan Zhen’s son. Don’t look so arrogant on my face. You are my wife. Without me, you are nothing. Quickly bring your daughter-in-law back to your palace. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not caring about your husband and wife’s feelings.”
Before coming, Xiao Yang had already told him their plan. As long as nothing unexpected happened, as long as the rumors inside and outside the palace were together, they could seize the opportunity to force Fu Yingran to hand over the power. It just so happened that Huyan Mingshuo was no longer in the palace. Wouldn’t it be his own words to deal with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law at that time?
However, the heavens did not intend to help him. At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded, causing everyone present to be dumbfounded. “Is that so? I want to see what Father Emperor wants to do with Mother Empress?”
Hearing the sound, Everyone looked straight at the door. Huyan Mingshuo walked in step by step, dressed in the royal robes of the emperor. When they arrived at Father of the Emperor’s side, they gave him a meaningful glance, then continued to walk to the upper seat. After saluting Empress Dowager Xiao, they sat down on the dragon chair and glared at Father of the Emperor and the others. When all the officials saw this, they all bowed and said, “Long live our Emperor! Long live our Emperor!”
Seeing that, Xiao Yang and the others instinctively wanted to kneel down together. However, when they thought about their current situation, they were stunned and did not kneel down. Thus, they seemed to stand out from the crowd. However, their legs were trembling non-stop. The moment they saw Huyan Mingshuo, they knew that they would probably lose today.
Facing Huyan Mingshuo was different from facing Fu Yingran. Huyan Mingshuo was the current Emperor. Even if he ordered them to be beheaded immediately, no one would dare to say another word. At that time, even Father of the Emperor would not be able to protect them. After all, Ye Lan was still in charge of Huyan Mingshuo, and Father of the Emperor was afraid that he would not be able to protect himself.
At this time, they could only hope that the West Palace would spread the news smoothly, so that they could make use of the pressure of public opinion and perhaps save their lives. Otherwise, they would probably not be able to leave the palace today.
As a result, they kept looking outside the hall, wondering why there was no movement from the West Palace. They had already sent them a letter yesterday, asking them to attack Fu Yingran at the same time. Why was there still no movement? Could something have gone wrong halfway?
The more these people thought about it, the more uncertain they became. They didn’t know if their family had escaped from the city. Because they were in a hurry, they only sent their family into the carriage last night and then turned around to bring people to rescue Father of the Emperor from the Northern Garden. Therefore, they didn’t know what happened afterwards. They only hoped that the heavens would bless them and let their family escape from this calamity.
They thought they could seize the opportunity by buying time to act, Fu Yingran was caught off guard, but judging from the current situation, he should have been caught off guard by the Emperor. Logically speaking, Huyan Mingshuo should still be on his way to Tianshui Kingdom, so he shouldn’t have appeared here. From the looks of it, the Emperor and the Empress should have agreed beforehand to dig a pit and wait for him to jump in.
Seeing this, Fu Yingran slightly curled his lips and sneered in his heart, “Are you waiting for someone? This palace has invited some sisters to speak. I wonder if the adults are waiting for them. Little Yizi, invite the sisters in.”
“Yes, Empress.” Xiao Yizi turned around and left. Not long after, Xiao Yang walked in with five or six women. Seeing this, he was so scared that his legs almost couldn’t support his body. These women were the concubines who had received a letter yesterday asking them to cooperate in the palace. As for why they were here, the answer was obvious. It seemed that their actions had also failed.
When the others saw this, they also looked at Father of the Emperor nervously, hoping that he could try to save his life. Fortunately, his family had already given him away. Otherwise, they would be the sins of the entire family.
From the moment they saw Huyan Mingshuo, they knew that there was no room for change. They only begged the heavens to show mercy and let their family escape from the imperial capital. From then on, they could live in seclusion and safety.
Huyan Mingshuo was not angry when he saw that these people not only did not pay their respects to him, but also had the time to think about other things. He calmly said, “It seems that what the Empress said is true. You are unwilling to pay respects even if you see me, let alone the Empress.”
“Since everyone is unwilling to pay their respects, I won’t force you to do so. It seems that you are indeed waiting for someone. Coincidentally, when I entered the city, I saw that the garrison commander Yu Wenhao had brought people to capture quite a few spies. It just so happened that I was about to enter the palace as well, so I brought them back. Why don’t I also bring them over to let everyone see if there are any people waiting?”
Huyan Mingshuo struck twice, Lei Yu and Yu Wenhao walked in wearing armor. He knelt in the middle of the hall and said, “Your Majesty, I received a tip last night that a large number of spies wanted to evacuate the imperial capital, so I brought people to seal the city gates overnight. Indeed, dozens of carriages left the city after midnight. I was worried that there would be some deception among them, so I detained them all. Please make a decision, Your Majesty.”
“Well, then I’ll have to trouble Commander Yuwen to take everyone to see if there’s any misunderstanding. Don’t make any mistakes. It wouldn’t be good if you hurt your harmony.”
‘”Yes,” Yu Wenhao answered and stood up to invite those people out of the hall along with Father of the Emperor.
Because of the large number of people, I’m afraid that the hall can’t hold them, so Yu Wenhao arranged people in front of the hall on the open space, and sent people to guard them. These people were men, women, young and old, and most of them were old, weak, women, and children. They all had panicked expressions on their faces.
In fact, they had no idea what had happened since last night, He only knew that he was suddenly called to clean up and was sent away by the carriage overnight. Then, he was captured by Yu Wenhao for no reason. Now, he was taken to the palace. Although they did not know exactly what had happened, they knew that something big was about to happen based on the situation.
Sure enough, when they saw their master and Father of the Emperor being escorted out, Yu Wenhao and Lei Yu, who were still standing beside them, were fully armed. Even fools knew what was going on when they saw this. As a result, some people in the crowd began to cry softly. This was a great crime of conspiracy. They wanted to exterminate their families. How could Master be so foolish?
When those people saw that their entire family had been captured, their bodies immediately collapsed onto the ground. They knew that this was all over. If it was only Fu Yingran, they might even think of a way to see if they could make a deal with her to save the family.
However, who knew that the Emperor would suddenly appear at this critical juncture, and even capture them to reveal themselves. Based on the Emperor’s usual attitude towards them, this time, they would probably be doomed. However, they knew that they should beg for mercy. After all, this was the life of the entire family.
Thus, they all turned around and knelt in the middle of the hall, kowtowing their heads to the point that they could not stop begging for mercy, “Your Majesty, please spare my life, this is all my fault. I beg Your Majesty to let go of the younger generation of my family and spare their lives. I will obey Your Majesty’s orders.”
Seeing this, the concubines and the group of people outside hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy, “Your Majesty, please spare me.”