Chapter 257: Serious Illness

There is a high probability that there will be no liquidation. The ministers under the emperor are like tools. There is no fixed answer. They are reused when needed and abandoned like pawns when not needed.

It would be fine if the emperor was merciful, but if he met a cruel person, losing his life would be a small matter, and his family might even be implicated.

Now, more than 20 years have passed since his father ascended the throne, and the influence of his grandfather’s family in the army has been almost eliminated. Besides, Xiao Ming had no direct conflict with his grandfather’s family before, so the possibility of being purged is not great. It should just be the time to recruit people again.

Ye Shuo thought about it and didn’t think this was a trap, so he just told his cousin to relax.

Seeing that his younger cousin agreed with him, the older cousin slowly let down his guard.

In addition to the eldest cousin, not long after, Emperor Taicheng named the youngest and most talented grandchild in the entire Zhen Mansion and asked him to go to the military camp for training.

Ye Shuo’s eighteenth cousin is only one or two months younger than him. He is only in his twenties this year, at the prime of his life. After entering the military camp, he was like a fish in water and he was doing very well in just a few days.

Of course, this was due to his own abilities, but also to the influence of his father and grandfather. After all, who doesn’t know the title of the old Duke of Zhen?

From the current point of view, everything in the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion is going well.

While Ye Shuo breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn’t help but start to worry about Xiao Ming.

Then, just three months later, my cousin brought me another shocking news.

It turns out that Xiao Ming’s temperament didn’t change suddenly, but he… was sick.

Although Emperor Taicheng concealed the secret very well and deceived so many people, he was unable to hide it from Wei Wen.

Wei Wen is such a smart man. He has been very meticulous since he was a child and vaguely felt that something was wrong. After daily observation, he discovered such a shocking secret.

The new emperor has been on the throne for less than two years and the crown prince is still very young. If this news were to get out, there would probably be chaos throughout the country.

No wonder, no wonder Xiao Ming suddenly became like this!

This way, everything makes sense.

Ye Shuo’s first reaction was to prepare to return to Beijing and scold him severely, but then he realised, what else can he do after scolding?

Help him cure his illness? Although Yao Zhi’s medical skills are good, they are not to the extent of changing people’s fate. When his father was cured, Xiao Ming was also present. He could not hide whether those people in the Imperial Hospital were doing their best.

After returning home, should he be advised to take medicine and rest? If he could make it in time, even if there was a glimmer of hope, Xiao Ming would not take this step.

Or help him share the burden? How could Xiao Ming allow himself to lose power?

He has been an extremely insecure person since he was young. He only believes in himself, so from birth to death, Xiao Ming will only keep everything firmly in his own hands.

Just like what happened with the crown prince at that time, Ye Shuo could only watch helplessly as they walked towards the abyss step by step.

Ye Shuo could do nothing and no one would listen to him.

It is always like this between him and his brothers. They know everything in their hearts, but because they know it too clearly, they feel powerless.

He can’t say he can’t do it or move, otherwise Xiao Ming will be the first to attack him, and it will be like a vicious circle.

He will never be able to change a person’s thoughts and character, or change a person’s predetermined fate, like a saviour.

On the other side, in the palace——

“Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life!”

The young eunuch came to serve tea as usual and accidentally saw the emperor holding the brush habitually, but the brush suddenly fell from his hand. The emperor’s fingers were trembling constantly. By the time the young eunuch reacted, it was too late. 𝙧𝘼Ŋ𝖔ＢĚṥ

Emperor Taicheng was silent for a moment, then waved to the eunuch beside him.

“Let’s deal with it.”

“Remember to be careful.”

The head eunuch understood and immediately stepped forward to cover the mouth of the younger eunuch, then ordered his men to drag him out.

The young eunuch had no power to resist, and couldn’t even make a sound, and just died.

He was just a servant, so he was killed without causing any commotion. When the chief eunuch personally followed the situation and came back, he found that the box of elixirs in front of the emperor had been emptied without him noticing.

At this moment, Emperor Taicheng had picked up his pen again, and there was no sign of anything unusual.

It is already autumn now, and Emperor Taicheng’s usually cold hands and feet no longer feel cold. Instead, his body is getting hot, and his heartbeat is much faster than usual. He seems to be drunk and a little tipsy. However, within half an hour, sweat begins to appear on Emperor Taicheng’s forehead.

After such a long time, Emperor Taicheng had become very familiar with this scene. He knew that this was the effect of the elixir. He had never felt so comfortable before. He felt as if he was soaking in warm hot water.

Those Taoists do have some skills, but it would be great if this medicine could really make people immortal.

In just over half a year, the dosage of the medicine has been increasing. At first, it was just one or two pills, and later it became three, four, and five pills… I don’t know how long I can last like this?

I am becoming more and more dependent on these things, and I am revealing more and more flaws. The court is full of cunning people, so how long can I hide it?

I just hope this matter will be exposed slower and slower.

I hope no blind people will show up, otherwise…

As time went on, the effect of the medicine became stronger and stronger. Emperor Taicheng could not bear the heat at all, so he threw away the pen in his hand. It was not until he went outside and the cool wind blew that he felt much better.

When night came, Emperor Taicheng stayed in the Queen’s Palace.

Naturally, the changes in the palace could not be hidden from the Queen’s eyes, especially the smoke rising from the stoves in the palace every day, which made the Queen very worried.

However, whenever she mentioned it, the emperor would get furious. After a long time, the queen dared not say anything more.

Although she was the Empress and had the responsibility to advise the Emperor, she could not go against the Emperor’s will.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but since the beginning of autumn, the emperor’s temper has become more and more moody. He especially can’t stand seeing withered flowers and fallen leaves. Whenever he sees them, he will punish the palace servants who are responsible for sweeping the floor every day.

As time went on, the emperor’s prestige grew, so much so that everyone in the palace was on tenterhooks.

The queen always felt that the emperor seemed to have something to say to her, but in the end he didn’t open his mouth, so the queen didn’t ask.

But for some reason tonight, the emperor was particularly crazy. When he was in love, he suddenly said in his ear: “Ah Tan, give me another prince.”

The emperor only called me by this name on our wedding day, and never did so again since then.

The queen subconsciously wanted to look into Emperor Taicheng’s eyes, but she saw that Emperor Taicheng had taken a step ahead of her and touched her eyes with his hands.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The queen hesitated for a while, and finally nodded slightly.

“It’s all up to the Emperor.”

What the queen didn’t expect was that there was no movement in her belly, but a little beauty who was selected to enter the palace last year became pregnant first.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Taicheng was naturally overjoyed. He had few children, so he naturally hoped to have more pairs of children. Especially at this time, when the news came out, Emperor Taicheng could not help but be happy.

However, in just over a month, before the imperial physician could even diagnose whether the child was a boy or a girl, the beauty just sneezed and the child was gone.

Emperor Taicheng thought that it was other women in the palace who did it, so he asked the secret guards to investigate, but they found nothing.

In other words, the child was gone by himself.

After experiencing great ups and downs, joy and sorrow, Emperor Taicheng’s sanity finally collapsed completely.

“The heaven is blind! The heaven is blind!”

Emperor Taicheng didn’t know what he had done wrong to deserve such a punishment from the heavens. He didn’t understand why the heavens first let him have it, but then let him lose it.

That day, Emperor Taicheng smashed everything that could be smashed.

From then on, Emperor Taicheng became more and more cruel and ruthless, and Ye Shuo, who was far away, heard one piece of news after another, each one worse than the last.

In the end, there was really no other way, Ye Shuo could only cut off most of the connections.

However, despite such caution, the news that Emperor Taicheng was seriously ill eventually broke out, like a spark falling into an oil pan, immediately causing a huge earthquake.

In a rage, Emperor Taicheng was merciless and executed the man, but what was the use? Once someone opened a hole, it could never be closed again.

At that time, Ye Shuo was still performing in Bingzhou City. Now he is considered one of the world’s top magicians, so his performance is naturally different.

Knowing that he was coming, the wealthy businessmen in the city paid out of their own pockets and spontaneously built a stage for him in the most prosperous area.

The stage was more than half a person’s height, and the people below were surrounding it in a crowded manner. Ye Shuo’s top hat kept fluttering, and soon a white dove appeared out of thin air. Before the people could marvel at it, the dove in his hand suddenly turned into a rose.

I saw the young man on the stage suddenly throwing the rose, and then a strong wind blew, and the rose turned into petals in the air, falling from the sky one after another.

After all, human vision is limited, and with some sleight of hand, for a moment, these petals seemed to be falling directly like rain.

Just as Yao Zhi turned the gong over and caught the copper coins thrown by the people one by one, Ye Shuo saw from afar that there seemed to be an army coming not far away.

The army consisted of only about a hundred people, and their attire was extremely familiar.

If it were normal, it would be fine, but now is different from the past, Ye Shuo does not want to get involved in the turmoil in the imperial city of Shangjing.

Because just three months ago, Yao Zhi was diagnosed with pregnancy.

After five years, the two were finally ready to welcome the arrival of their new life.

Ye Shuo naturally hoped that she could live in a stable and peaceful environment, rather than living in Shangjing, which was full of dangers.

Ye Shuo did not hesitate and was about to take his wife and run away, but he saw that the group of black-armoured guards surrounded him from the front and back, blocking his way as if they had expected it.

The people who were originally spectators were all panicked when they saw this scene. At first, they thought that the magician in front of them had committed a serious crime that caused such a big commotion.

As a result, when they turned their heads away, they saw this majestic army kneeling down at the same time.

“The emperor has ordered us to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Rui back to the palace.”

Seeing that the young man turned a deaf ear, the leading black-armoured guard took a deep breath and had to shout again.

“The emperor is seriously ill, please return to the palace!”

As soon as the words fell, the people around were shocked. They never thought that the young man in front of them, wearing coarse clothes and with an ordinary face, was actually a prince.

When he heard the word “serious illness”, Ye Shuo lost control and his breathing suddenly stopped.

After the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Fourth Prince, and his father, Xiao Ming was ultimately not spared.