Chapter 7 — Saving the Emperor One Sugar Cube at a Time

The premium string of beads snapped instantly, the precious pearls scattering across the pristine white jade floor, producing crisp yet heavy sounds of impact that echoed in the silent hall.

"Enough! Do you all not yet feel that you have lost enough face!"

The Empress Dowager trembled all over from pure fury.

"I previously assumed you merely vied for power and influence within the inner palace, but never did I imagine that your hearts had become black to the very core!"

"Even such venomous plots to murder the sovereign and assassinate a father could be conceived and executed!"

"He is the ruler of an entire nation, your own flesh and blood father, and your hair-bound wedded husband!"

Xiao Qiyuan paid no heed to the Empress's weeping, nor did he cast a glance at the Crown Prince kneeling upon the floor. He strode directly before the imperial desk, seized a thick stack of investigative dossiers, and swung his arm to strike them fiercely across Xiao Chengyu's face.

"Benevolent and filial? Wronged and aggrieved?"

"Three years ago, you covertly colluded with the salt administration officials in Jiangnan to embezzle state funds."

"Two years ago, you stealthily planted your brother-in-law into the three imperial guards battalions."

"One year ago, you brought this so-called miraculous physician Wu Xuezhou into the palace, allowing her to gradually manipulate and poison my pulse diagnosis!"

"In all of these matters, have I wronged you even in the slightest?"

He descended the jade steps one heavy pace at a time, the dark fabric of his dragon robe sweeping across the scattered evidence upon the floor. Finally, he halted directly before Xiao Chengyu, looking down at him from towering heights.

"Did you truly believe that because I was bedridden and gravely ill, I had transformed into a blind and deaf fool?"

"You courted officials in the imperial court and formed private factions; out of lingering affection for your status as Crown Prince, I repeatedly suppressed the matter and chose not to punish you, hoping to grant you a chance to mend your ways."

"Yet what did you do?"

"You could not even bear to wait for me to die a natural death; you were determined to personally escort me to the grave!"

The atmosphere within the grand hall grew suffocatingly heavy, none daring to draw a full breath. The last glimmer of desperate hope in Xiao Chengyu's eyes extinguished completely. He slumped helplessly against the floor, then suddenly lowered his head and began to chuckle. The laughter grew steadily louder until it morphed into the wild frenzy of a cornered beast driven entirely mad.

"So be it! I did it, so what if I did!"

Xiao Chengyu jerked his head upward, his eyes bloodshot as he glared directly at Xiao Qiyuan.

"Imperial Father, you have occupied this dragon throne for far too long!"

"As the Crown Prince, I have walked upon thin ice every single day of my life. If you refuse to die, how am I supposed to survive?!"

Before his voice had even faded, his gaze whipped violently toward me, standing off to the side.

"If I am barred from ascending the imperial throne, I shall first execute this lowly maid who ruined my grand scheme!"

Not a single soul anticipated his sudden move. Xiao Chengyu abruptly flashed a cold, gleaming dagger from within his sleeve, lunging directly toward my chest with murderous intent!

A flash of cold steel lunged straight toward my chest. Yet even as the humblest palace maid, the ten years of torment I endured within the Washing Bureau had long since forged within me an unyielding instinct for survival. The very instant Xiao Chengyu lunged forward, I threw my body backward, tumbling and scrambling desperately behind a massive red-lacquered wooden pillar carved with coiled dragons. A crisp metallic clang rang out as the dagger plunged deep into the floorboards right where I had been standing a heartbeat before, sending sparks flying.

"Seize him!"

Seething with murderous rage, Xiao Qiyuan roared the command aloud. The imperial guards stationed outside the hall surged inward in a coordinated wave, instantly pinning Xiao Chengyu face-down onto the stone floor and twisting his arms violently behind his back.

"Let go of me! I am the Crown Prince! You wretched slave, I will have your life..."

His face was pressed flat and distorted against the jade tiles under their heavy weight, yet he continued to glare venomously in my direction, screaming in fierce, unresigned fury. Xiao Qiyuan’s gaze turned bone-chillingly cold as he looked down at his own flesh and blood lying in the dirt, all paternal affection completely erased.

"Hear my imperial decree!"

He pronounced each word distinctly, his voice reverberating mightily throughout the vast Dragon Deity Hall.

"Strip Xiao Chengyu of his position as Crown Prince. As of this day, he is placed under strict confinement within the fallen prince's residence, forbidden from stepping outside even a single step for the remainder of his days!"

"Without my personal seal, no one is permitted to visit him under any circumstances!"

"Your Majesty!"

Meng Yuanrou’s eyes rolled back in utter horror, nearly causing her to faint on the spot as she scrambled forward to desperately clutch at Xiao Qiyuan’s boots.

"I beg Your Majesty to show mercy, Chengyu merely acted in a moment of foolish confusion..."

Xiao Qiyuan kicked her aside with ruthless coldness.

"The Empress of the Central Palace, the Meng clan, has failed in her maternal duty to properly instruct her son, and is an accomplice in treason and usurpation!"

"Strip her of the Empress's golden book and imperial seal. Banish her immediately to the cold palace; without an imperial decree, she is forbidden to step outside!"

The imperial guards stepped forward without a shred of mercy, dragging the deposed Empress and the fallen Crown Prince away. Their piercing, wretched cries echoed through the palace doors, gradually fading into the distance. Immediately afterward, Xiao Qiyuan’s gaze shifted toward Wu Xuezhou, who had collapsed limply into a puddle like mud, along with the several eunuchs who had provided false testimonies.

"The demonic physician Wu Xuezhou utilized her medical skills to commit evil deeds, harbored malicious intentions, and plotted to assassinate the sovereign."

"Strip her of her license to practice medicine forever, and banish her instantly to the bitterly cold northern frontiers to perform hard labor until the day she draws her final breath!"

"As for the eunuchs of the Imperial Kitchen and those treacherous slaves who aided in these wicked plots, deceiving their ruler..."

Xiao Qiyuan’s voice was frigid.

"Execute them severely according to imperial law, beat them all to death!"

Their desperate pleas for mercy had barely left their lips before the imperial guards forcefully gagged them and dragged them out of the hall. This earth-shattering tempest was ultimately suppressed through the monarch's formidable and thunderous methods. Xiao Qiyuan leaned slightly back against the dragon throne, turned his head, and cast a deep, inscrutable gaze upon me. The Empress Dowager likewise surveyed the chaotic, ruined scene littered across the hall, exhaled a long breath, and finally relaxed her expression entirely.

"Yanshu."

Xiao Qiyuan called out in a deep, resonant tone.

"This servant is here."