"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This medicine is... is... is a death-simulating drug. I truly couldn't bear to see my wife imprisoned, so I resorted to this desperate measure. I beg Your Majesty to forgive my filial impiety. Please do not anger yourself to the point of harming your health."
The Crown Prince's intention was clear: he cared for Lu Peishan, so he gave her a death-simulating drug to feign death, and then planned to rescue her, sparing her the suffering of imprisonment.
Heh heh heh, how touching!
But Wang Qingyao didn't believe a single word.
Could the Crown Prince be so kind?
The medicine might indeed be a death-simulating drug, but the Crown Prince might not necessarily give Lu Peishan the antidote.
Once Lu Peishan took the death-simulating drug and "died" in prison, the Lu family would receive the "corpse" and proceed with the funeral arrangements and burial.
By then, all of this would have nothing to do with the Crown Prince.
"May I ask Your Highness, how is this death-simulating drug used?" Wang Qingyao asked, shaking the pill in her hand towards the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince faltered, hesitated for a moment, and said, "This medicine... after taking it, the person will enter a state of simulated death. For three days, there will be no breath or pulse. After three days, they will awaken on their own."
Wang Qingyao was taken aback. No antidote was needed? They would awaken on their own?
After a pause, the Crown Prince added, "This death-simulating drug is very precious. I only have two pills in total. I implore my Imperial Sister-in-law to return it to me."
The Crown Prince extended his hand towards Wang Qingyao.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, with the Emperor present, Wang Qingyao seemed unable to keep the death-simulating drug for herself. However, if she returned the so-called death-simulating drug to the Crown Prince, she would lose the only important piece of evidence.
She grinned at the Crown Prince and retracted her hand, "No."
The Crown Prince: "..."
Inner roar: I'll go to your mother!
Fang Zheng covered his smile with a clenched fist near his mouth.
The Princess of Ding'an was truly... unrestrained!
He glanced at the Emperor's expression. The Emperor did not seem angry, appearing as interested as he was.
"What do you want this medicine for?" the Emperor asked Wang Qingyao in a very casual tone. "Could it be that you can find a use for it?"
Wang Qingyao grinned again, "That's hard to say."
The Emperor favored Wang Qingyao because she had helped Ling Yun return and break the curse on the Xiao family.
He no longer found fault with her and glanced at the Crown Prince, "Since you have two, give one to your Imperial Sister-in-law."
The Crown Prince's inner roar sounded again: I'll go to your mother!
He showed a reluctant expression, "Your humble servant obeys."
Wang Qingyao obtained the death-simulating drug but did not put it away immediately. Instead, she sent someone to summon the National Preceptor and Imperial Physician Lu.
"Such a good thing, let the late Imperial Physician Lu take a look, perhaps they can produce more. Oh, by the way, Your Highness, who gave you these death-simulating drugs?"
The Crown Prince's expression changed, and his palm tightened involuntarily.
"It was a retainer of mine. He also obtained it by chance during his travels in the past. It is said to be very difficult to produce. There are probably only these two pills in the world. Imperial Sister-in-law, it's best not to bother the National Preceptor and Imperial Physician Lu, lest it be a waste of effort."
"It's alright, people should have a spirit of innovation. It's okay to fail, the important thing is to try!"
The Crown Prince's palms were sweating, and his body was stiff.
They were originally interrogating Lu Peishan, but the matter had veered off course due to the Crown Prince's death-simulating drug.
Soon, the National Preceptor and Imperial Physician Lu arrived.
After bowing to the Emperor and others, Wang Qingyao gave them the pill and briefly explained the situation.
Imperial Physician Lu asked the National Preceptor to examine it first.
The National Preceptor brought it to his nose and sniffed lightly. His face changed drastically. He quickly wrapped it in a handkerchief and fumbled to stuff it into Imperial Physician Lu's hand, stepping back three feet away himself.
"What death-simulating drug? This is clearly a poison that kills people silently!"
The Crown Prince's face turned ashen.
Lu Peishan's expression trembled, and she looked at the Crown Prince in disbelief.
The Emperor's face also showed disbelief.
"Hahaha!" Lu Peishan burst into laughter, her expression filled with grief and the despair of betrayal.
As she laughed, tears streamed down her face.
"Good, truly good. I bore infamy for you, willingly suffering imprisonment, and you couldn't wait to put me to death! You are truly ruthless and cold-hearted!"
The Crown Prince's lips moved.
Lu Peishan didn't give him a chance to speak and immediately said to the Emperor, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Chen Zuo was indeed instructed by me to assassinate that assassin. But His Highness the Crown Prince knew about this from beginning to end. He told me he had no one he could use and asked me to find a way to deal with that assassin! Because the one who attacked the Prince of Yue was sent by him!"
The Crown Prince, already kneeling, felt his limbs go weak upon hearing this, and his mind went blank.
It's over, he thought.
"Not only that, but he personally delivered the medicine to abort the former Crown Princess's child. Before the former Crown Princess died, she left a letter detailing all of the Crown Prince's crimes, but the letter's whereabouts are unknown..."
Wang Qingyao appropriately showed a surprised expression, "It's with me! Wei Yu's maid sent it to me. Father, you know, Wei Yu and I have never gotten along. I thought she was deliberately setting me up. Our Crown Prince is virtuous and upright, how could he do such things? So I never paid much attention to it."
Ling Yun gave Wang Qingyao an appreciative glance. Her reaction speed was incredible!
The Emperor's expression had become indescribably grim.
"Where is the letter?"
"I casually put it in a box at my residence."
"Fetch it."
This letter was now of utmost importance, so Wang Qingyao and Ling Yun personally returned to the Ding'an Prince's mansion to retrieve the letter and hand it to the Emperor.
The Emperor read it page by page, his face turning ashen, the veins on his forehead throbbing, his eyes seeming to spew fire.
"Your second brother's leg was also your doing?!" The Emperor's eyes widened in fury, and he grabbed the paperweight on the imperial desk and hurled it.
The Crown Prince dared not dodge. He was struck on the forehead, creating a bloody gash that bled profusely.
The Emperor clutched his chest, appearing on the verge of death from anger. "I taught you from childhood to be fraternal and supportive of each other, and this is how you treat your brothers?"
The Crown Prince dared not speak, nor could he. He prostrated himself on the ground as if his parents had died.
He never expected that Wei Yu would have a backup plan.
And that she would send it to Wang Qingyao!
The tide had turned, and he was finished!
Consort Wei of Huayang Palace also received some news. She didn't know the specifics of what had happened, only that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess had angered the Emperor, and the Crown Prince had been beaten by the Emperor until he bled profusely.
She rushed over to plead for mercy.
The Emperor absolutely refused to see her.
Wei Yu's letter clearly stated that she was also implicated in the later misdeeds, especially the near-marriage of Ling Yun to the fifth princess, who was his half-sister, a plan orchestrated by her.
This woman had deceived him for years!
Consort Wei was stopped outside Ninghui Hall.
The Emperor would not let her in, so she knelt outside the hall, begging for mercy.
"No matter what the Crown Prince has done wrong, it was all for Your Majesty and for Da Sheng!"
"For the Crown Prince's filial piety, please spare him!"
Consort Wei was definitely a hindrance.
She had no idea what had happened and dared to plead blindly?
It was like adding fuel to the fire!
Not long after, Shun Fu emerged with an imperial edict.
Upon hearing it, Consort Wei fainted.
"...Deposed Crown Prince... Deposed Crown Princess... Consort Wei banished to the cold palace..."
In the twenty-first year of Yongping of Da Sheng, the Emperor deposed the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and established the legitimate son of the late Empress Xiaoxian, the Prince of Ding'an, as the Crown Prince, and the Princess of Ding'an as the Crown Princess.
In the twenty-sixth year of Yongping, the Emperor abdicated and passed the throne to the Crown Prince. The new Emperor changed the reign title to Chengho, historically known as Emperor Chengho.
For decades thereafter, Emperor Chengho ruled diligently, governed with benevolence, appointed worthy officials, and implemented reforms. Da Sheng prospered, its people became wealthy, and its military strong, becoming the most powerful nation in the Central Plains.
—End of Main Story—