Father and Son Stab Each Other in the Back

Di Yunqian looked askance at Zhu Juxuan below him. "Were those medicinal herbs properly concealed when you came?"

Zhu Juxuan understood at once. "Rest assured, Your Majesty. I sealed them in a chest. Apart from Your Majesty and me, no one else will know why I entered the palace."

"Leave the chest and go back. I will decide what to do about this." Di Yunqian drew a light breath, his voice grave. "I don't want to hear another word about it, including from that Bai Lian."

After a pause, he remembered something. "Since that Bai Lian is so skilled in medicine, go and invite him to the palace to examine Qingyu. If he's unwilling to come, let it be."

Divine Physician Valley belonged to none of the four kingdoms. It was a jianghu organization whose members traveled through the kingdoms each year, treating ordinary people without charge, and it enjoyed an exceptionally high reputation in all four.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I obey."

After Zhu Juxuan left, the guards carried the chest in from outside the hall. Once they had gone, Di Yunqian rose, walked over, and opened it. The herbs inside were indeed of the finest quality. It was just a pity they had been put to the wrong use!

"Attendants, prepare my procession to Cining Palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Mistress, Zhu Juxuan has left the palace, and His Majesty has gone to Cining Palace."

In Yaohua Hall, Di Qingyu was playing a game of Go against herself. With her jade fingers, she picked up a smooth black stone, warm to the touch, and placed it firmly on the board. Her lips curved.

She tilted her head leisurely. "It's time to draw in the net. Tell Shao Chi he can release them."

It was time for her imperial ambitions to show themselves.

Excitement flickered in Chunzhi's eyes as well. "Yes!"

Night fell.

Cining Palace.

The palace attendants waiting outside could faintly hear porcelain shattering and the clamor of a confrontation.

None of them dared say or look too much. Before long, the emperor emerged from Cining Palace with a cold expression, having stayed less than half an hour.

An edict followed.

The empress dowager had caught a chill that night and was unwell. She was to recuperate in peace at Longhua Temple for several months, eating vegetarian meals and chanting Buddhist scriptures, without concerning herself with outside affairs.

The edict spread throughout the inner palace. Some found it strange: the empress dowager had always been hale and hearty, so how had she suddenly fallen ill?

But His Majesty's decree had been issued, and no one else dared say anything.

It had happened so suddenly that the empress dowager's people at court had yet to react before she was sent out of the palace to Longhua Temple.

She was escorted entirely by people from the emperor's side. The empress dowager took only one personal matron with her, and no one else was allowed near her.

In an instant, every gust of wind and cry of a crane put the inner palace on edge, and those working in the shadows grew uneasy.

This is bad!

Du Chengji had been just about to go to sleep when he learned the news. Lying in bed, he thought about it and found it more and more troubling. In the darkness, his eyes snapped open, all sleep gone as alarm bells rang in his heart.

The empress dowager had been sent away, and the Du Family had lost its backer. His Majesty had evidence and was about to move against the Du Family!

Without a second thought, Du Chengji quietly got up. After dressing in dark clothes, he made his way silently to the rear courtyard, intending to climb over the wall and leave.

"Lord Du, where are you going? His Majesty requests your presence. Come with us."

A tall, slender figure in black sat atop the wall, one leg propped up and the other dangling down its side. His right arm rested against a sword on the wall, and his phoenix eyes glanced sideways, looking down at Du Chengji in the corner.

"How are you here? Weren't you recuperating from your injuries?"

The young man spoke mockingly. "Wasn't it so I could come and arrest you? I've been tending to my health for days. Then His Majesty said you'd make a move today, so here I am."

Di Yunqian had deliberately refrained from suppressing news of the empress dowager's serious illness precisely to warn her followers at court.

"I don't understand what you're saying. It's late today, and it wouldn't be proper for me to disturb His Majesty. I'll go with you to see him tomorrow."

As he spoke, Du Chengji tried to turn back.

But Zhu Wuyang drew the sword at his waist, a chilling, fearsome killing aura showing beneath his swordlike brows and bright eyes.

"It seems Lord Du intends to defy the imperial decree."

"Whoosh!"

The young man jumped straight down from the two-meter-high wall. Dozens of guards also appeared and surrounded Du Chengji. Knowing now that he still had no way out, he drew the sword at his side and fought them.

Zhu Wuyang held his sword but did not join the fight because of his injuries. He had merely volunteered to make the arrest; he only needed to take the man back.

Du Chengji's resistance was futile, and in the end Zhu Wuyang captured him and took him back to the palace.

In Xuanzheng Hall.

"Your Majesty, Du Chengji has been brought here."

Du Chengji was brought blindfolded into Xuanzheng Hall and made to kneel. Once the blindfold was removed, he let his eyes adjust to the light, then looked closely.

The hall was full of familiar faces.

Gao Qian, Gao Shen, Zhang Lingshen, Zhu Juxuan, the vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and his son.

Du Yutao!

When Du Chengji caught sight of Du Yutao glaring at him with hatred, his heart sank. He already had an inkling of what was coming.

"Du Chengji, do you admit to harming the four members of the Li Family seven years ago?"

At the center of the raised platform in Xuanzheng Hall, Di Yunqian sat expressionless, commanding awe without anger, his gaze piercingly stern. The hall was utterly silent, weighed down by a pressure that seemed capable of crushing hearts.

"Your Majesty, I do not admit it. That matter had nothing to do with me."

Even now, Du Chengji remained perfectly calm. Though held by guards, he kept his head high and his chest out.

He was certain that the witnesses to what had happened back then were dead and the evidence burned. Even if Du Yutao stabbed him in the back, he had no evidence; his words alone proved nothing.

Di Yunqian had expected this. In no hurry, he turned to Du Yutao.

"You said you had evidence to accuse your father of corruption. Where is it?"

?! Corruption!

At those words, Du Chengji froze. He raised his head and snapped around toward Du Yutao beside him.

"You ungrateful wretch, what nonsense do you dare spout?!"

Wasn't the emperor asking him for evidence about what happened seven years ago? Why was he asking for evidence of his corruption? Why had he suddenly changed direction? Were they no longer going to investigate the events of seven years ago thoroughly?

"Your Majesty, I have already told Young Master Zhu. Beneath the cushion of the chair in my father's study is a recess, and in the hidden compartment inside are records kept specifically of the corrupt silver he and the court ministers exchanged during his many years in office. The evidence is all there!" Du Yutao, who had been locked up in prison all this time, was now filled with hatred, wishing he could drag his own father down with him.

Di Yunqian looked at Zhu Wuyang, who took a booklet from his robe, walked forward, and placed it on the desk.

"Your Majesty, I did indeed find this booklet in the chair in Du Chengji's study."

Di Yunqian picked it up and opened it.

After only a few glances, he frowned. The farther he read, the fiercer the anger in his eyes grew. Then he hurled the booklet straight at Du Chengji's face.

"So this is what you, Du Chengji, call serving as an official with a clean record all these years! How dare you, you dog! Even a minister of punishments dares embezzle hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. No wonder I've always felt the tax revenues reported from every region have been declining year after year."

"?!"

The booklet struck Du Chengji hard. He lowered his eyes to the floor and saw that it really was his account book. It clearly recorded the details of how he had bribed officials and won people over. In an instant, the blood in his body froze.

He knew he was finished. This was something the emperor could tolerate even less than murder and arson, and it was only a matter of time before the emperor investigated the entries and verified them.

"You unfilial son, you actually turned around and bit your old man! I should have strangled you to death back then and sent you to die like that money-losing mother of yours!"

Du Chengji dropped all pretense. He raised a foot and kicked Du Yutao beside him, wishing he had never fathered this son.

"Ah! Guard Zhu, save me!"

Frightened by his father's viciousness, Du Yutao hurried to hide beside Zhu Wuyang. When he saw that Zhu Wuyang did step in to stop Du Chengji, a smile of vengeful satisfaction spread across his face.

"You old bastard, are you the only one allowed to sacrifice family for righteousness to save yourself? I only learned it from you. You taught me well! You don't trust anyone. If I hadn't kept an eye out and secretly watched where you put things, I wouldn't have been able to report you like this!"