The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 252
Chapter 252 Yumu Imperial City
Hearing the noise, Chu Xizhi turned around. However, he did not look at Consort Shen. Instead, his slender eyes looked towards the emperor who was somewhat similar to him. “Father, are you well?”
Father Emperor …
Hearing this address, the Emperor’s heart was filled with joy, guilt, and unhappiness … At this moment, the Emperor did not know how he should face his abandoned son.
“Daddy Emperor, don’t you have anything to say to your son?” Seeing that the Emperor was silent, Chu Xizhi held the corners of his mouth. His deep eyes were like a bottomless pool of water, making it hard for others to guess what he was thinking.
The Emperor knitted his eyebrows tightly, and after a long while, he spat out this sentence with difficulty, “Cherish it, I … I am truly sorry for you …”
The Emperor was still the Emperor. Even though he was now like a stray dog, he was once the Sovereign of the Emperor. It was indeed not easy to let this apology come out of his mouth. However, when Chu Xizhi heard these words, there was not the slightest fluctuation on his face. His expression was even colder than before.
“Royal Father, I don’t want an insignificant apology from you.”
The Emperor did not expect Chu Xizhi to refute his words without the slightest bit of face. For a moment, his expression became extremely ugly. However, the current situation did not allow him to display the majesty of an emperor. One had to know that the Crown Prince was pressing for the palace. His only hope now was that he had abandoned his son. In the end, he was the one who had wronged him first. It was only right for him to receive a few cold words from him now.
“What do you want me to do?” The Emperor pursed the corners of his lips and took a deep breath. He looked straight at Chu Xizhi with his deep eyes.
“Royal Father, it’s not my son who wants you to do anything. Rather, at this moment, you have to make a choice!” Chu Xizhi stared at the Emperor and said word by word.
The Emperor stared at Chu Xizhi. Suddenly, the space between his eyebrows twitched. A terrifying thought flashed through his mind …
“It’s you!”
Today’s change happened so suddenly, why would he suddenly appear here? The only possibility was that he had already anticipated that today’s change would occur, and that he would even contribute to today’s change! If that’s the case, then Concubine Xiang’s death won’t be as simple as it seems, or …
The Crown Prince didn’t even make a move on the medicinal pills! The one who really attacked was him!
Thinking of this possibility, the Emperor looked at Chu Xizhi’s eyes and was about to spit fire. His hands hidden in his sleeves also tightly clenched into fists.
“That’s right, it’s me.” Chu Xizhi looked at the Emperor and lightly tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Chu Xizhi had never thought that this matter could be concealed from the Emperor. He was unexpectedly not someone that could be easily fooled by his father for decades. However, at this moment, even if he knew all of this, it would not change anything. Therefore, he admitted it without any hesitation.
“You! You!” The Emperor pointed at Chu Xizhi, his eyes wide open, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
It was him! It was actually him!
He really underestimated him! When did this son he brought out have such a deep castle! He really couldn’t believe it!
“Royal Father, it doesn’t really matter if that pill can kill people. The important thing is, Your Highness the Crown Prince, who sacrificed everything to pave the way for it, did not hesitate to force the palace when he learned that Concubine Xiang was dead! This is the most important thing, isn’t it?” Chu Xizhi looked at the Emperor with a faint smile on his face. However, what he said was like a basin of ice water, causing the Emperor’s originally resentful heart to cool down.
He was right, so what if all of this was secretly controlled by him? In the end, the son that he held in one hand wanted to force the palace to kill his father …
Thinking of this, the Emperor fell back into his chair dejectedly.
“Your Majesty” Zhang Shichang called out worriedly.
The Emperor closed his eyes tiredly. Perhaps he was really old …
After a long time, the Twilight Emperor, who was lying on the chair, finally said faintly, “What else do you need me to do?”
Now, how could he have a choice?
In his entire life, he had played politics and schemed against the hearts of the people, but he didn’t expect that he would end up in the hands of his two sons. Could it be that this was the so-called retribution?
“Your Majesty still doesn’t understand. In the eyes of the world, the Swallow King is already dead. If you want to calm down this palace change, Your Majesty still needs to return the title of Swallow King!”
Hearing this, Imperial Concubine Shen understood the reason why the Swallow King was here.
No wonder Imperial Concubine Yan had been standing still. It turned out that she had been waiting for the Emperor to come looking for her.
King Yan’s fraudulent death must have been planned for such a long time. His strength had probably already surpassed the Crown Prince’s. However, if he wanted to return to the capital and replace the Crown Prince in the name of King Yan and be acknowledged by the people of the world, then he had to have an edict from the Emperor.
Hearing Honored Concubine Shen’s words, the Emperor’s gaze gradually focused, and in the end, it all landed on Chu Xizhi.
Leaving the capital, swindling death, returning to the capital, and appearing here at this moment, his every move was extremely accurate. What was ridiculous was that he thought that this son had always been under his control, but he did not know that he had actually become a chess piece on his chessboard. Perhaps, he had never seen this son clearly.
“Could it be that His Majesty is still in the Crown Prince Xi Yi’s place at this moment? Is he merciful enough to spare His Majesty’s life?” Seeing the Emperor not snorting, Consort Shen couldn’t help but mock him.
However, the Emperor ignored Consort Shen’s mockery. He looked at the son in front of him, who seemed to be a bit like his own. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Chu Xizhi when he was a child. It turned out that in a blink of an eye, so many years had passed, and the little boy who had once acted coquettishly in front of his knees had already grown into such a great young man. The Emperor lowered his eyes and a dejected smile bloomed on the corners of his lips. Forget it, he was already old. It was unknown how long he could live. Even so, he still cared about what to do. Moreover, at the very least, he was still his son. He was Chu Lian’s blood and bones. Since that was the case, what was wrong with leaving Jiang Shan in his hands?
“Zhang Shichang, bring me my jade seal.” The Emperor suddenly said.
“Yes.” Zhang Shichang answered, then carefully pulled out the jade seal hidden in his sleeve.
The Emperor looked up at the jade seal that had accompanied him for decades. A moment later, he withdrew his gaze and waved to Zhang Shichang, “Leave it to King Yan.”
“This servant obeys the decree.” Zhang Shichang bowed to the Emperor before holding the jade seal in his hands and handing it to Chu Xizhi, “Your Highness King Yan.”
Chu Xizhi curled his lips slightly, then reached out to take the jade seal from Zhang Shichang’s hand. Finally, he raised his foot and bowed to the Emperor, saying, “Your son thanks Father Emperor for your help.”
The Emperor closed his eyes and took a deep breath before saying to Chu Xizhi, “What do you plan to do to him?”
“Him?” Chu Xizhi’s sharp eyebrows slightly raised, and the corner of his lips curled into a meaningful smile. “Father Emperor, do you want me to suppress this rebellion? Or do you not want to?”
The Emperor was stunned, “Xizhi, I …”
“Your son knows that the Crown Prince is the son that Father Emperor values the most. Father Emperor, don’t worry. Your son will not harm a single hair of his.” The corner of Chu Xizhi’s lips curled up coldly.
That’s not what I meant …
Before he could utter these words, the Emperor saw a purple corner of his sleeve fly past, bringing with it a gust of cold wind. When he regained his senses, there was no longer that figure in the room.
“Your Majesty is really kind to the Crown Prince, but I wonder if the Crown Prince will return the same kindness to His Majesty?” Shen Guifei’s lips curled into a cold smile as her slender phoenix eyes swept over the Emperor’s body coldly. At this point, Consort Shen smiled again. She turned to look at Consort Yan, her eyes rolling, and said, “Sister, did you say that?”
Imperial Concubine Yan raised her eyes and gave the Emperor a faint glance, but this glance contained unprecedented disappointment …
Even at this time, he was still thinking about the woman’s son …
Then she, then what did this deep affection of hers count as in his eyes?
Actually, she should have already understood. However, she was still unwilling …
Imperial Concubine Shen looked at Imperial Concubine Yan’s expression at this moment and knew that her heart towards the Emperor must be dead. Because many years ago, she had revealed the same expression as her.
In this palace, no matter how deep the affection was, it would still be completely wiped away by these plots …
In the middle of the night, there weren’t many lights in the Imperial City, and the surroundings were pitch black. Only the endless raindrops kept falling …
At this moment, in front of the Eastern Palace Gate, Chu Xizhi was wearing armor, a long sword on his waist, and boots. He was riding on a half-man-tall war horse. His deep gaze penetrated through the rain and he didn’t know where to look.
Shortly after learning that Xiang Fei had been poisoned by the pills and had died, Chu Yanzhi quickly controlled more than half of the city gates. Although the Divine Policy Camp closest to the capital would no longer come to rescue him, he was not guarding against Zhang Shu, but Chu Xizhi! Although he had used up most of his troops, as long as he had Xiang Mingxuan’s cooperation, it would be easy for him to control the Imperial City with the remaining troops in his hands.
“Your Highness, everything has been arranged according to your instructions.”
“Alright!” A smile suddenly appeared on Chu Yanzhi’s solemn face. He raised his hand and unsheathed the longsword on his waist, drawing a sharp arc in the air. “Everyone, please follow me into the Imperial City!”
“Yes!” The neat voice broke the silence of the rainy night.
When Chu Yanzhi brought the troops to the north gate as promised, he saw Xiang Mingxuan leading a group of imperial guards to greet him at the door. He rode his horse forward and said to Xiang Mingxuan, “How is it? How does the palace react?”
Xiang Mingxuan smiled. “Two hours ago, the Emperor sent Eunuch Zhang out of the palace to look for Xiaoguan. Unfortunately, Xiaoguan had already gone to His Highness’ appointment. Then, His Majesty went to Imperial Concubine Yan’s Yikun Palace with Eunuch Zhang. Until now, he still hasn’t come out.”
“Consort Yan!” Chu Yanzhi raised his head and sneered, “Could it be that he is still thinking that Chu Xizhi can save him?”
Even though Chu Xizhi was extremely capable, the capital was already under his control. So what if he had the help of Zheng Lin and Xiao Xi Yang? In the eyes of the world, ‘King Yan’ was already dead. He was just a conspirator pretending to be ‘King Yan’! At that time, he would use this excuse to destroy the Zheng Clan and Xiao Clan. Let’s see who else dares to oppose him in this Great Yue!
“Mingxuan, you did a good job. After this is done, I will definitely not mistreat you!” Thinking that he was about to climb onto the dragon chair that he had always dreamed of, Chu Yanzhi’s gloomy face revealed a rare smile.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Xiang Mingxuan bowed to Chu Yanzhi and immediately moved sideways to make way for Chu Yanzhi.
Looking through the city gate at the undulating palaces in the rain, Chu Yanzhi felt extremely happy for the first time.
This world was finally going to become his Chu Yanzhi’s!
