kingnovel Chapter 305: Life and Death
Chapter 305: Life and Death
"What's going on here?"
Li Wei rushed forward and grabbed the leading eunuch.
The eunuch said in embarrassment:
"Your Highness, Duke Xie was talking to the Emperor when he suddenly developed an old illness. The imperial physician examined him and said that his body couldn't handle the extreme emotional ups and downs he'd experienced today. He's had a stroke!"
"Stroke?"
The old Duke Xie in the sedan chair had a crooked mouth and squinting eyes, and looked very unwell.
"Yes. Your Highness, please don't stop me. I'm anxious to send the old Duke back." She said and was about to leave.
"What about Liao Zhiyi?"
Li Wei kept pulling the young eunuch, who frowned in embarrassment.
"Princess, please don't embarrass me."
After saying this, he urged the four people carrying the sedan chair to hurry up.
Li Wei suddenly had a bad feeling and ran towards the imperial study.
As soon as I ran to the front of the hall, I saw two imperial guards carrying a stretcher down the stairs.
"Stop!" Li Wei shouted sternly.
When the imperial guards saw that it was the princess, they stopped and saluted.
Looking at the familiar stretcher, Li Wei's heart sank little by little, and she didn't dare to step forward and lift the white cloth covering it for a long time.
"what is this?"
She asked in a trembling voice.
"Your Highness, Lieutenant General Liao has died from his injuries."
died?
Li Wei suddenly lifted the white cloth. The person who had smiled and said, "Princess, I have something to tell you" a few hours ago had now turned into a cold corpse.
Liao Zhiyi's face was pale and he lay breathless on the stretcher, with a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.
Li Wei felt as if her heart was hit by a blunt object. Her vision went dark and she staggered, almost falling down.
"Princess!" The maid beside her quickly supported her and waved her hand, asking the imperial guards to quickly carry the body away. "Princess, are you okay?"
"Why? How could this happen?"
Li Wei was shivering. What had happened in the imperial study? Old Duke Xie had suffered a stroke, and Liao Zhiyi was dead. Father, what had he done?
At this moment, she urgently needed the truth.
Lifting her skirt, she staggered towards the stairs. Not caring about the eunuch who was blocking her at the door, Li Wei suddenly broke the door open and rushed in.
Inside, Emperor Jingde was talking to Prime Minister Cui:
"You old bastard, you incited the people to persecute me, causing me to lose face, and you even dared to hit me with your golden mace. Does he think I'm still the child who trembles at the sight of him?"
He was now the emperor! The supreme emperor! He wasn't just an ordinary person who could be beaten or scolded at will!
But Duke Xie, relying on the golden mace bestowed upon him by Emperor Gaozu, had never taken him seriously. He had endured this humiliation for a long time, but today, he could no longer endure it.
"Your Majesty, from now on no one will dare to hit you with the golden mace." Prime Minister Cui said flatteringly.
"Why!"
Li Wei suddenly rushed out and questioned Emperor Jingde.
"Father, why are you doing this!"
Li Wei's sudden appearance scared Emperor Jingde and Prime Minister Cui, but Emperor Jingde soon calmed down and waved to Li Wei.
"Xiaojiu, come here."
In the eyes of Emperor Jingde, Li Wei was his youngest child and his most beloved. Since childhood, Li Wei had adored him. No matter what he said, Li Wei would say with respect and admiration, "Father, you are truly amazing!"
"Xiaojiu, this is a matter between adults. You don't understand, so don't get involved."
Emperor Jingde coaxed.
But Li Wei not only did not go over, but also stepped back, "Father, Duke Xie and Liao Zhiyi pleaded for the people, what did they do wrong? Why did you kill them!"
"Xiaojiu, you don't understand."
"Why don't I understand?" Li Wei suddenly thought of the "but" that Concubine Jiang and the eldest princess wanted to say but hesitated in Concubine Jiang's palace just now. At this moment, she finally reacted.
"Father, Duke Xie and Liao Zhiyi are loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and they serve the country and the people, yet you, for the sake of so-called face, want to kill them to vent your anger. Father, in Xiaojiu's heart, you are wise, open-minded, and care about the world. How could you become like this?"
Emperor Jingde's face darkened when he saw that his most beloved little daughter was not only no longer gentle and lovely, but now even questioned him. He immediately became furious.
"Loyalty to the emperor and patriotism? Do they still see me as the emperor? I am the heaven, but they want to fight against it. I can't swallow this! I gave them enough face, so they have to give it back in return!"
Listening to Emperor Jingde's words, Li Wei seemed to have just met him for the first time. She looked at him in disbelief and shook her head repeatedly.
"No, that's not the case. Father is not that kind of person. He is not that kind of person!"
At that moment, the tall and majestic image of her father in Li Wei's mind collapsed and shattered. It turned out that his wisdom, intelligence, and generosity were all illusions.
He is a selfish, suspicious and vindictive person.
In his heart, he has always been the most important.
Anyone who offends him will be punished and pay the price. Unfortunately, I only realized this fact today.
"Someone is coming!"
Emperor Jingde roared and two young eunuchs ran over.
"The Ninth Princess has gone insane and is imprisoned in the Princess's Mansion from today. No one is allowed to visit her without my permission!"
Li Wei glared at him, and there was no longer any admiration and respect for Emperor Jingde in her eyes, only cold hatred.
"Princess, let's go."
Shun Dajian sighed softly and stepped forward to help Li Wei, but was slapped down by Li Wei and cursed:
"Grudge!"
Shun Dajian was shocked. The Ninth Princess had never scolded him like this before. It was obvious that the Ninth Princess really hated the Emperor. But the crime was committed by the Emperor, and it was really unfair for him to be implicated when he was innocent.
The news reached Concubine Jiang's palace.
"Your Majesty, the news from the Imperial Court is that Liao Zhiyi died from his injuries. Old Duke Xie was so overwhelmed with joy and grief that he couldn't control himself and suffered a stroke."
Concubine Jiang was stunned, and the cup in her hand fell to the ground with a bang.
Although they expected Emperor Jingde to take action against them, they did not expect it to happen so soon.
He might have gone crazy!
If Guo'er was not still in the north, she really wanted to give Emperor Jingde another taste of her best medicine and send him west.
At this time, the Xie Mansion was shrouded in gloom.
Ever since Duke Xie was sent back by the young eunuchs, the doctors in the mansion took turns to examine him and finally came to the same conclusion.
The old Duke had a stroke and can't move or speak. No one knows when he will wake up.
Xie An felt very guilty and knelt down in front of the bed crying.
"I should have gone in with Grandpa. Grandpa is old and needs someone by his side. How could I have come back alone? Dad, Mom, it's all my fault!"
Duke Xie stood by the bed and sighed.
"Your grandfather is old and in poor health. He has been going through a lot of emotional ups and downs recently because of the Zhenbei Army."
He has always been loyal and honest, and he never thought of doubting the emperor.
Xie An also cried and said:
"Dad, Brother Liao's injuries had clearly healed, so how could he suddenly die of his injuries? He was such a good man, how could he die? I was looking forward to learning real enemy-killing kung fu from him so I could show it to my master in the future."
Mrs. Xie had her doubts in her heart, but she didn't dare to speak out. She coaxed her son and said:
"Okay, stop crying. Your grandfather just had a stroke. If you take good care of him, he might recover someday. But your big brother Liao has no relatives or friends, and there's no one to collect his body."
Xie An wiped away his tears.
"Mom, I'm going."