Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

199. The Finale

Translator: Sissy That Walk

Prince Xing knelt down in front of Chongwu Palace where Prince Ning begged for leniency for his mother.

This controversial behavior didn’t stir up much debate in court thanks to Taifu Yao and other officials who were in Prince Xing’s camp, they had all been praising Prince Xing for being filial to the empress.

The emperor, on the other hand, turned furious in court, he threw everything on the ground and pointed at Prince Xing, “Look at the good son of mine! Forcing me like this, what have I done to deserve this disrespect!”

“Your Majesty, please understand Prince Xing’s way of showing filial piety, how can he just sit back about watch his Father Empress suffer in the Imperial Palace! Prince Xing is filial to the empress, he is even more filial to you, Your Majesty! Prince Xing just doesn’t want the common people to talk about how you and the empress became estranged!” Xiao Yi stepped forward and said that in a domineering manner.

The emperor sneered, “People would call me merciless if I punish Prince Xing for begging for his Father Empress, and they would call me cold-hearted if I choose not to forgive him after what Prince Xing has done. Are you forcing me to forgive both of them in the name of people?”

“Your Majesty, how dare I! Prince Xing has made great contributions to our country over the years, he has eliminated the pandemic, settled down the victims from the drought, raised army provisions! But never has Prince Xing claimed credit for himself and become arrogant, now the prince just wants to beg for leniency for his Father Empress so he could fulfill his filial duties, please approve this, Your Majesty!” Xiao Yi kowtowed to the emperor.

The emperor turned livid on hearing that, what he heard from Xiao Yi was ‘this country would have been doomed if not for Prince Xing, just be smart and make the right decision, otherwise Prince Xing and his supporters will make you make the right decision!’

The emperor pretended he didn’t understood what Xiao Yi meant, he just asked the servants to arrest Xiao Yi as punishment.

Han Qi marched in the hall before the servants grabbed Xiao Yi, several soldiers followed Han Qi with Imperial Concubine Fair being seized by both arms.

“Your Majesty, please hear Shizi out!”

The emperor sprang to his feet on seeing Imperial Concubine Fair, “Han Qi! How dare you intrude my palace with your private troop and hijack my concubine!”

“To uphold justice!” Han Qi flashed the true lovers’ knot in hand and shouted, “Send for the Imperial Physician! And summon Madam Modest!

All the officials looked at each other in astonishment.

Han Qi handed the knot to the Imperial Physician, “Check this thing for me!”

The Imperial Physician sniffed the knot and knelt down promptly, “There is opium in the knot!”

Han Qi sneered, “What is that?”

“It’s a strong narcotic drug, it’s highly addictive, the users would feel extremely painful when they suffer a withdraw, it feels like thousands of arrows are penetrating the heart!”

The emperor was greatly frightened, “Imperial Concubine Fair, why did you do this to me!”

Imperial Concubine Fair sneered, “I blame myself for not killing you, I wish I could kill all of you who disrespect my son! My son, he is so smart, so filial, so capable, but what have you all done to him! You look down upon him, all of you, now he is reduced to a laughing stock in the capital city!”

“You… you are out of your mind, this is his own fault! He used to sell ranks and titles for personal gain!” the emperor now kept yawning and trembling.

“What is happening to me? I want the tobacco Imperial Concubine Fair has been serving me!” the emperor screamed.

Han Qi shook his head, “Lock Imperial Concubine Fair into the prison now, the emperor is feeling unwell, ask Prince Xing to come serve on the emperor. Taifu Yao, please preside over the court!”

With that Han Qi asked two eunuchs to support the emperor to his palace.

The officials in court dared not raise any objection, clearly Han Qi and Prince Xing were winners in this battle.

Xiao Yi was surprised when he saw the soldiers Han Qi brought with him were all the private troops they had been maintaining, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on?”

“Imperial Concubine Fair asked your father to help her to force emperor to abdicate when she heard Han Qi asked the emperor to punish Prince Ning.”

“My father?” Xiao Yi was shocked.

Cao Mo said, “I’m about to tell you something shocking now, it’s Imperial Concubine Fair who has arranged Concubine Fang to marry your father!”

“No way! Concubine Fang has married into our manor for years!” Xiao Yi said with disbelief.

“Have you noticed your father only spends nights in Concubine Fang’s room for the last few years? And there’s always the smell of tobacco when Concubine Fang is around.” Cao Mo continued, “Do you know why Dowager Xiao insists on raising Xiao Qian by herself, because she knew Concubine Fang has been feeding your father opium and she didn’t want Xiao Qian to get addicted to that smell.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Xiao Yi looked even more shocked.

“I just found it out as well!” Cao Mo explained, “Concubine Fang stopped feeding your father opium since the empress was discrowned, your father acted so bizarre when you visited Prince Xing, he insisted on moving troops from Dingzhou. Dowager Xiao asked the servants to tie your father up and lock him in the room in case he does anything stupid, she also asked me to find you and deal with this matter together. I ran into Eunuch Lai when I was on my way to the palace, Eunuch Lai told me the empress has summoned me. It turned out the empress wanted to warn me about this as well.”

Xiao Yi broke into a cold sweat, “Imperial Concubine Fair, what a vicious viper!”

“Concubine Fang has even tried to steal Xiao Qian away, luckily Dowager Xiao has caught her and punished her to kneel on the tile pieces, she committed suicide after she was caught. And your father is still suffering opium addiction.”

“How about the soldiers followed Han Qi to the palace?”

“They are our private troops from Dingzhou, the empress summoned me to borrow a few soldiers, I knew it was a do or die moment, so I promised the empress we would be loyal to him from that moment on.”

“Good, I can’t even imagine what would become of us if Imperial Concubine Fair had seized power!”

Xiao Yi frowned slightly on thinking about what had just happened.

Cao Mo stroked Xiao Yi’s forehead and said, “Yi, let’s leave this place and conquer the sea, I’m tired of kneeling down.”

Xiao Yi smiled and said, “Can I look after my father for a few days first?”

“I knew it, I knew you feel reluctant on giving up your title and your wealth… …” Cao Mo pouted.

Xiao Yi looked at Cao Mo in the eye, “Mo, you are wrong, I just want to fulfil my filial duty before we leave for good!”

Cao Mo threw himself at Xiao Yi, “Yi! My best best best Yi!”