"In the opinion of the third prince, what should Huaijin do?"
Seeing that Xiao Che was silent, Emperor Chongming asked again.
Seeing that his father seemed to really intend to make the decision for him, a burst of ecstasy suddenly overwhelmed Xiao Che's brain, which was not very bright.
Or maybe, he can finally feel proud in front of Xiao Jue, whom he has been secretly jealous of since he was a child. So Xiao Che ignored the queen who was winking at him, looked at Xiao Jue mockingly, and said arrogantly:
"As the saying goes, 'If the king wants his minister to die, he will have to die.' Today, Xiao Jue was disrespectful to this prince. He should hit him twenty times to set a warning for others."
At some point, the dancer who had been dancing in the hall had quietly retreated. Everyone at the banquet was holding their breath and concentrating. The surroundings were quiet as if the air had stopped.
Only Xiao Che's voice echoed in the hall.
On the high platform, Queen Li's face turned pale, her whole body was shaky, and she almost did not dare to look at Emperor Chongming's face.
On the bright yellow dragon chair, the emperor was furious and repeated with a sneer,
"If you want your minister to die, you will have to die."
"What a good king and minister. Well said. He is indeed my good son."
Xiao Che didn't feel anything was wrong at first, but when he saw that the queen's expression was already visibly wrong, he slowly came to his senses.
Recalling what he had just said, Xiao Che's legs softened and he knelt down with a thump, speaking incoherently:
"Father...Father, spare...spare my life..."
"My son... my son... my son... my son... I didn't mean it."
Since ancient times, the king is the emperor, and only the emperor can be called the king.
In addition, the prince of the king and the second son of the country are all called princes.
The prince is also the crown prince.
However, Emperor Ming was respected and never established a prince.
Even though the third prince is now the only legitimate son, what happened today is enough to show that he is not Emperor Chongming's preferred candidate.
At least not yet.
None of the important ministers present were thoughtful, and everyone understood clearly just by looking at His Majesty's attitude.
The third prince, Xiao Che, has no hope for the time being.
Simply because Emperor Chongming is still young and in the prime of life, everyone is naturally not in a hurry to take sides.
Only the Li family, the right minister, had no choice at all. They were already firmly tied to the chariot of the queen and the third prince.
Seeing that the third prince was in trouble, the queen's father, the right minister Li Chun, stood up quickly, took a few steps forward and knelt beside the third prince. Looking at his grandson in front of him, Li Xiang could only bite the bullet and said:
"Your Majesty, calm down."
Li Chun was an important minister in the court. Emperor Chongming did not refute his honor, nor did he ask him to get up. He just said lightly:
"What do you want to say?"
Li Chun was already over sixty years old and was the biological father of the queen. In the past when he went to court, Emperor Chongming treated veteran ministers like them quite favorably, but today he could only kneel here in public, and Li Chun felt that his old face was almost lost.
However, in the face of the emperor's indifference, for the sake of his daughter and grandson, and even more for the future...
Li Chun could only continue to speak: "Your Majesty, the third prince is a direct descendant of the middle palace and has a distinguished status. What happened today was because he was humiliated by others and spoke out of anger."
"I hope Your Majesty will spare him this time because His Highness the Third Prince is young and ignorant, and there is a reason for the incident."
It is certainly not easy for Li Chun to reach such a high and powerful position today.
These few words seemed to be pleading for the third prince, but in fact they were emphasizing the third prince's identity as the legitimate son and the fact that Xiao Jue was the first to be rude.
In the eyes of some people, who is more noble, the emperor's legitimate son or the prince's eldest son, is very obvious.
As soon as he finished speaking, other ministers echoed his words.
Shen Qiaochen took one look and realized that these were basically the Third Prince's party, or they were trying to get into the Li family through covert means.
A hint of sarcasm flashed across his eyes.
"Ah."
The young man's deep voice rang in his ears. Shen Qiaochen raised his head and happened to meet the man's eyes.
"Discovered..."
Facing Xiao Jue's somewhat understanding gaze, Shen Qiao subconsciously showed a sweet smile.
The girl in front of her was still young, with a cute and innocent expression, and even the down was clearly visible on her porcelain-white face.
Her smile was soft and genuine, like a newborn cub, stubbornly trusting the first person she saw when she opened her eyes.
Seeing her like this, for the first time in his life, Xiao Jue, the young prince of Prince Yong's Mansion who was not afraid of anything, felt like he wanted to run away.
The two people here were thinking a thousand times, but Emperor Chongming, who was sitting above him, saw the expressions of the ministers in the palace.
Seeing that the emperor was silent, everyone gradually became quiet.
The queen sitting aside saw this and felt a little relieved, but then she heard Emperor Chongming suddenly say:
"So, you blame me for not making Xiao Che the crown prince."
As soon as he said these words and the Prime Minister was about to speak, Emperor Chongming continued:
"Isn't that what you said? He is a direct descendant of the middle palace and has a distinguished status. That's not bad."
Hearing this, the Queen and the three princes who were kneeling by the side were all overjoyed. Only the Right Prime Minister, who had been in the court for many years, trembled in his heart and suddenly felt bad.
Soon, the deep and deep voice of Emperor Chongming came from the Qingliang Hall.
"By decree, Xiao Duo, the eldest son of the emperor, the eldest son of Empress Xiaoxian Chun, is the first heir of the clan and is destined by God. He is hereby conferred with a book of treasures and established as the crown prince, with the posthumous title of Jingde, and he is placed in the middle palace to bring peace to the world. "
As soon as these words came out, there was silence.
The corners of his mouth curled up, and Emperor Chongming said calmly:
"Everyone, please accept the order."
…
The first one to stand up was Concubine Shen. Regardless of the complicated palace attire, she pushed away the maid's hand and knelt down respectfully.
"I accept the decree, long live my emperor."
Her voice was soft but firm, and she was on the verge of choking at the end.
Then Mrs. Shen also came out with Shen Qiao and his brothers. Shen Qiaochen quickly went over to support Mrs. Shen, and then they knelt down deeply together. Mrs. Shen's old and hoarse voice rang in everyone's ears:
"My wife, together with the Shen family, accepts the order to express gratitude on behalf of Queen Xiaoxian Chun and Prince Jingde. Long live my emperor..."
Immediately afterwards, the sixth princess Xiao Mingwei also walked out silently. She no longer showed her usual pampering and knelt down firmly beside Concubine Shen. Her young face had the vague look of a princess of a country.
One after another, people continued to come out, but some were voluntary, and some were taken by the emperor's power.
Even the second room of the Shen family reluctantly knelt down under the pressure of Shen Congwu.
In the end, there were only a handful of people in the main hall who firmly supported the third prince, and they continued to hesitate.
The queen fell down in the phoenix chair, looking ferocious and pale.
Emperor Chongming didn't care what happened to others, he just stood up and personally helped up the tearful Concubine Shen.
The sixth princess also stood up with the help of the palace servants, walked silently to Shen Qiaochen's side, watched Shen Qiaoqi and Shen Qiaoran help the exhausted Mrs. Shen up, and quickly ordered the palace servants beside her to take Mrs. Shen to He rested in the side hall, then followed Shen Qiaochen closely, grabbing her sleeve and refusing to let go.
Looking at his little cousin who was stubbornly following him, Shen Qiao stroked her head and looked in the direction where Mrs. Shen was leaving. She was a little worried about her grandmother's mood, but the scene in front of her already involved the imperial concubine's aunt and the Shen family. The two brothers are still too young, and there are some things they just can't care about. You must stay here at all times.
After thinking again and again, Shen Qiaochen rubbed the sixth princess's little face and whispered to her: "Your Highness, could you please go and accompany my grandmother for a while? My grandmother is getting older, and I always feel a little worried."
The sixth princess likes her sweet-smelling and soft cousin very much, and her grandmother has always loved her very much. So he rubbed his little face in Shen Qiaochen's hand, then nodded, glanced at his father and mother who were in a bad mood, turned around and followed the palace people to the side hall.
