The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 100

Chapter 100 Emperor’s Heart
The higher the status of the Imperial Clan, the more honorable they were, and the more they were targeted by everyone, including the Emperor, Imperial Concubine Yu, and Prince Yu. Especially for a prince whose mother race was not strong, too much pet was equivalent to too many enemies. Chu Xizhi was such a prince.

Although the Emperor was still in his prime, his body was deteriorating. The Crown Prince’s aptitude was mediocre, but Duke Lu, the Duke of Zheng, had monstrous power. No one in the court could contend against him. Once the Emperor died, he was afraid that all of the rivers and mountains in Great Yue would fall into the hands of outsiders, and the Emperor would definitely not allow such a thing to happen. Therefore, he was bound to help out a new force to fight against Duke Lu, the Duke of Zheng behind the Crown Prince, so he chose Chu Xizhi.

It’s a risk, but it’s also an opportunity.

“Wei’er, if it were you, would you push your beloved son to bear all of this?” Chu Xizhi lowered his head and smiled at Chu Xizhi.

Xiao Xiwei raised his head and looked back at Chu Xizhi. “If it was me, then I would definitely clear all obstacles for my son and let him ascend to the throne safely.”

Chu Xi smiled, “Look, even you can see it.”

Xiao Xiwei’s eyes suddenly turned cold, “So, he is using you to pave the way for others! Who is that person?”

The corner of Chu Xizhi’s lips lightly smiled. He looked at Xiao Xiwei but did not say anything.

Chu Yanzhi.

A name suddenly popped up in his mind.

She still remembered the Emperor’s shocked and heartbroken expression when she learned that Chu Yanzhi was injured during the hunt. At that time, she was only slightly surprised. However, after hearing Chu Xizhi’s words, she suddenly realized that the Emperor’s favorite son was not Chu Xizhi but Chu Yanzhi.

After all these years, he had deceived everyone.

He used some false glory pets to plot against Chu Xizhi, while the other slowly developed under these wings until he finally ascended to the throne.

Xiao Xiwei’s pupils contracted abruptly, and she subconsciously opened her mouth and said, “Impossible … Impossible …”

Although she said it was impossible, she already knew that all of this was true.

Li Qingfeng was not the Crown Prince or Chu Yanzhi who had come to stir up trouble in the Marquis Manor. The person who had instructed him was the current Emperor. She and her father had guessed the Emperor’s thoughts wrong. He seemed to have pulled the Marquis of Loyalty to the same front as Chu Xizhi, but at the same time, he had given Xi Le to Chu Yanzhi. In the future, Chu Xizhi would use the strength of the Marquis of Loyalty to bring down the Crown Prince’s party with all his might. He would immediately suppress Chu Xizhi. At this time, he did not need to think about what his father would choose. He would unexpectedly have another daughter, the Fourth Princess. When the time came, he would defect and join forces with Chu Yanzhi. I’m afraid that Chu Xizhi would not even have room to retaliate.

Actually, this scheme had already been set up, but why did Chu Yanzhi instruct Xiao Xile to poison him? Was he afraid that something would go wrong in the middle, or was Chu Yanzhi already unable to hold himself back and didn’t want to go in such a big circle? Or something else?

Regardless of the reason, that plan was shattered when Xiao Xile was sent to Shuiyue Nunnery to cancel her engagement with Chu Yanzhi. Without Xiao Xile, they would be able to influence the chess pieces of the Marquis of Loyalty, so they did not even want this chess piece of hers. That was why Li Qingfeng made such a fuss at the entrance of the Marquis Mansion. The Emperor originally wanted to use this opportunity to cancel the marriage between her and Chu Xizhi, but he didn’t expect that Chu Xizhi would exchange his life for his and frame Duke Zheng. After weighing the pros and cons, the Emperor finally chose to let her go and concentrate on dealing with Duke Zheng.

All the dense mysteries were uncovered at this moment, but Xiao Xiwei felt cold and terrified.

“Nothing is impossible. He leaned on the Crown Prince and said, Taking advantage of the Crown Prince’s power to bribe the Crown Prince and turn his influence into useless, “The moment the Crown Prince falls, the rest of the forces will also join him. He quickly emerges from the crowd without any effort. However, because I have killed all of the Crown Prince’s people, my vitality has been greatly damaged. In addition, I have been praised too highly in the past and have inevitably offended quite a few people. As a result, the only person who can make it to the end is him …”

After hearing Chu Xizhi’s words, she suddenly remembered something. Her entire body seemed to have been thrown into an ice-cold pool of water. Her entire body was ice-cold and bone-piercing. Even her voice trembled slightly. “So … that imperial edict is also true?”

After the emperor died of illness passed down two testamentary edicts, one is located in the fourth son of Chu Yanzhi, and the other is the swallow king Chu Xi of law ancestor, not obey my training, but wantonly evil and violent, intentions do not plan, let me sad, today the decree will be executed, lest disrupt my great across the rivers and mountains. At that time, she thought that the two letters were forged by Chu Yanzhi. She was anxious, so she burned the latter letter and ordered someone to secretly inform Chu Xi.

It turned out that it wasn’t Chu Yanzhi forging the emperor’s decree, but the emperor’s original intention was to kill Chu Xizhi to help Chu Yanzhi ascend the throne …

“Wei’er, with your expression, could it be that you feel guilty because you misunderstood him?” Chu Xizhi’s long and narrow eyes were slightly tiny, and the corners of his lips slightly raised, seemingly carrying a hint of sarcasm.

However, only he knew that there was a faint sense of unease and jealousy hidden beneath that mocking smile.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help but wonder if she would have chosen him if she hadn’t reborn with her memories and if the memories of her previous life hadn’t been too bitter.

Xiao Xiwei’s eyes darkened, and there was a faint bitterness in them. “If I had known this earlier, perhaps I wouldn’t have chosen him in my previous life …”

In her previous life, the reason why she chose Chu Yanzhi was because apart from him saving her, there was also one thing that was more suitable for her to meet the Seventh Prince, who was famous for his glorious and pampered life at that time. Chu Yanzhi, whose birth mother was humble and had always been unknown amongst the princes, was more suitable for her. At that time, she was truly too cowardly and inferior. Perhaps, in her heart, she liked Chu Xizhi, but Chu Xizhi was a dazzling tomorrow for her at that time. She should not have thought of such a woman with a damaged face. However, she did not expect that the man she chose from the beginning was the heir to the throne that the Emperor had chosen early in the morning …

How ridiculous. Fate really played such a big joke on her.

“When did you know about this?” Xiao Xiwei looked at Chu Xizhi, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, his eyes filled with heartache.

Ever since Chu Xizhi was born, he had received favors. He had grown up like this, believing that his father loved him deeply. However, he did not expect that all of this favors were for another person … How uncomfortable should he feel when he knew this?

Chu Xizhi curled his lips and smiled. “I think I’ll see that imperial edict.”

Before this, he had always thought that his father had been bewitched by Chu Yanzhi. The previous blows were merely in the name of Chu Yanzhi’s father, right? How could a father who had pampered him for more than 20 years treat him like this? Until that night, he sneaked into the Revered Virtue Palace alone and saw him struggling to write down the two letters with his own hands. One ordered Chu Yanzhi to succeed, while the other ordered him to be killed.

He didn’t know how he had left the Chong’an Palace.

At that time, he had no lover, no friends, and even his father’s love was fake …

Everything was fake.

All thoughts were extinguished.

He quietly stayed in Prince Yan’s mansion and waited for the decree to kill him to come to his door. However, he did not expect that it was not the imperial edict that came first, but the message Xiao Xiwei had sent.

When everyone abandoned him, it turned out that she hadn’t given up on him.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a desire to survive.

If she was the only one still alive, then he had not lost yet.

He absconded from the capital, Prepare to gather all forces to counterattack the capital, Until the news of the new emperor wishing to cripple the Empress came from Wu City. The new loyal and courageous waiter Xiao Xiyang rushed back from Wu City to the capital overnight. He realized that this might be a conspiracy, so he sent people to save Xiao Xiyang and personally entered the palace to rescue Xiao Xiwei. Who would have thought that welcoming him was indeed the shocking fire of the Phoenix Cesteem Palace?

All the persistence dissipated in that instant.

After staying on the throne for half a lifetime, his power had completely disappeared along with the fire.

It turned out that all he wanted in the end was to hold onto one person’s hand, and a total of one person would die. However, the heavens didn’t give him a chance.

“Xiao Xi …” Xiao Xi stretched out her hand and forcefully held Chu Xi Zhi’s warm fingertips.

Chu Xizhi smiled relieved, “It doesn’t matter. It has been a long time.”

The heart that should have been hurt had already been hurt. Now that he had revived everything, he had already anticipated the first opportunity and would never allow the past to repeat itself. As for what they owed him and what they owed her, he would take them all back one by one.

Xiao Xiwei pursed his lips and didn’t want to continue the topic. Thus, he hurriedly changed his mouth and said, “But I still don’t understand. How could it be him?”

The Emperor had so many sons, why did he bother to pave the way for Chu Yanzhi to ascend to the throne?

“Do you know Concubine Li?” Chu Xizhi said.

“You mean the birth mother of the fourth prince? Isn’t she dead?” Xiao Xiwei frowned.

Chu Yanzhi’s birth mother, Li Concubine, was originally just a personal maidservant that the previous Empress had brought from the manor when she entered the palace. Because of her outstanding appearance, she was doted on by the Emperor. She gave birth to the fourth son of the Emperor, Chu Yanzhi. Not many years later, she died of illness. Later, Chu Yanzhi was carried to the care of the then Shen Fei.

Chu Xizhi smiled and looked sideways at the few red plums in the plum bottle on the table. “Everyone thought that the Emperor loved my mother the most, but who would have thought that my mother and I were just pawns he used to pave the way for that woman’s son?”

“What do you mean? Your Majesty, he … no, it can’t be. Isn’t Concubine Li the maidservant beside the previous Empress?” Xiao Xiwei’s face was filled with astonishment.

‘”That’s right. Who would have thought that the most beloved of His Majesty today is neither the first empress of the married couple, nor the princess of the Quan Qing Hougong, nor the former emperor’s concubine Yan, who spent a lot of effort to bring back from Chao An Temple, but a maidservant beside the first empress?” The corner of Chu Xizhi’s mouth curved into a mocking arc, and a cold aura burst out from Qi Mo’s eyes.

“Then … Consort … Does she know?”

Chu Xizhi chuckled a few times and his eyes slightly lowered. “I don’t know. Maybe she knows, maybe she doesn’t know, maybe … she pretends not to know …”

Maybe she knows.

Maybe she doesn’t know.

Maybe she pretended not to know.

Either way, it would be a painful blow to a woman …

The two of them looked at each other quietly, their eyes filled with indiscernible pain.