0p0 Chapter 637 Who to choose?
Chapter 637 Who to choose?
Empress Dowager Li couldn't help but glare at Emperor Shenwu: "Emperor, Mingzhu really knows she's wrong! Are you really so cruel?"
Emperor Shenwu drew his sword and said, "Today I will kill this ungrateful person who repays kindness with hatred! She has been under the Empress's protection for so long, and not only is she ungrateful, but she has also harbored evil intentions and waited for an opportunity to assassinate me!"
Empress Dowager Li said anxiously, "Emperor! You actually want to kill Mingzhu!"
Emperor Shenwu angrily said, "Why can't I kill her? She actually wanted to kill the one I love, so she must pay the price!"
Princess Mingzhu calmed down at this point. She looked at the coldness in her father's eyes and the long sword in his hand, which shone with a cold light. Her heart gradually calmed down. She no longer prayed, nor did she hope for luck. After such a long time, she could finally speak out what she had buried in her heart. "Beloved? Father, if I said I did this for An'er, you would definitely scold me for hating the wrong person! But what about my mother? My biological mother, she was neglected by you because of the Queen, and finally died of depression not long after giving birth to me! Do you dare to say it wasn't because of the Queen?"
Emperor Shenwu looked at Princess Mingzhu in disbelief: "What did you say?"
Princess Mingzhu ignored the drastic change in Empress Dowager Li's expression. She looked directly at Emperor Shenwu and said, "My daughter said that you and the Empress had a childhood sweetheart relationship back in the borderland, but you couldn't make her Empress at the time. Instead, you chose the daughter of the wealthy Li family in the imperial city as your first Empress. But because of your infatuation with the current Empress, you always ignored my mother, causing her depression and eventually her death from a serious illness! Do you dare to say that all this is not true? Didn't you and the Empress fall in love in your youth?"
A flash of cold fury flashed across the Emperor Shenwu's phoenix eyes. He swung his sword straight at Princess Mingzhu, "Mother, get out of the way! I must kill her today!"
Empress Dowager Li also came to her senses after hearing what Princess Mingzhu said, "No! The Emperor..."
"You heard what Mingzhu said, didn't you? This is why she's always been at odds with the Queen! How ridiculous! Mother, you know the true cause of death of Mingzhu's biological mother, Queen Duanhui, who was from the same clan as you! And she... actually blamed the Queen for her mother's death!"
Empress Dowager Li shook her head in panic, unsure how to stop this. She knew only that she couldn't let the Emperor kill the granddaughter she had raised. She gazed at the sharp sword in Emperor Shenwu's hand and pleaded, "Emperor, let's not talk about what happened back then. Now that the Empress has survived a catastrophe, let's not even mention those days..."
Princess Mingzhu screamed, "Why don't you mention it? Why don't you mention it? I've never had the love of my mother since I was a child. Apart from my grandmother, who else would take me seriously? You are the ones who caused all this! It's the Queen! Father, if you didn't like my mother, why did you marry her in the first place?"
Emperor Shenwu found all of this ridiculous and pathetic. He looked at Empress Dowager Li and Princess Mingzhu with a look of deep disappointment and roared, "What happened back then? Mingzhu, listen carefully. Back then, I made military achievements on the border and was designated as the crown prince by the late emperor. At that time, I chose all of you!"
The Shenwu Emperor looked around the room, his phoenix eyes sweeping over Empress Dowager Li, Prince Ding, and the others. "My biological mother, my father, my brothers, my ministers and generals, and all the family members who followed me! But the only one I abandoned, gave up, and betrayed was Lan Qingwu! I chose all of you!"
Emperor Shenwu recalled the painful moment he had let go. He couldn't stay at the border just for Lan Qingwu. He wasn't just Yun Heng! The responsibility he shouldered, the lives of so many people, all weighed on him!
"Mingzhu, this includes your mother! Don't you want to know how your mother died? I will tell you now!"
Empress Dowager Li began to tremble all over. The fear in her heart continued to grow. She could no longer hold back and shouted, "No! Emperor, you can't say it! You can't say it! If you say it, how can Mingzhu survive?"
Emperor Shenwu said sternly: "Then she shall die!"
Empress Dowager Li stared at the out-of-control Emperor Shenwu, then suddenly turned around and covered Princess Mingzhu's ears, "No! Don't listen! Don't listen! Emperor, don't say it! You can't say it!"
Princess Mingzhu was stunned. "Why? I want to hear it! I don't believe it! It's clearly because of the Queen..."
Emperor Shenwu said word by word: "Listen! Your mother, instigated by her father, Cheng En Gong, wanted to poison me! At that time, I was crowned the crown prince, and the court was unstable. I had to let the Li family go, had to let Li Wanhui go! Your mother was pregnant with my first child, but she was coerced and bribed by her own father, and wanted to poison me, who was still the crown prince at the time, in order to control me! Your mother, with a weak and wavering temperament, was so nervous when she offered me the poisoned tea that she fell asleep. She revealed the truth again, and I discovered it! I gave her two choices: First, you die and she lives! Let the Li family no longer use the prince in her belly to control the princes! I will take into account the affairs of the previous dynasty and my mother, and will still give her the honorable status of my wife, but I will never look at her again! Second, you live and she dies! After her death, I will posthumously confer the title of Queen on her, and I will let the Li family and you go! Your mother chose to let you live and let the Li family live! Before she died, she begged me to let you live a rich and peaceful life! I agreed! "
Everyone inside and outside the house looked at Emperor Shenwu and Princess Mingzhu in shock.
There was also the faintly collapsed Empress Dowager Li who was holding Princess Mingzhu, "Emperor, stop talking! Stop talking!"
Emperor Shenwu's eyes were red as he stared fiercely at Princess Mingzhu. "I have fulfilled my promise to your mother. I have brought you wealth and safety, chosen a husband for you, and always given you the dignity and status of Princess Yuandi, putting you above all other princesses! I have even indulged you, tolerated you, and forgiven your mistakes time and time again! Enough! I have done enough! I have fulfilled my promise to your mother!"
Princess Mingzhu had already become dazed. Then, with trembling hands, she grasped Empress Dowager Li as if grasping at a lifeline: "Grandmother, this can't be true, can it? Father is lying to me, isn't he? He's doing this for the Empress! Yes, Father must be saying this for the Empress's sake!"
Emperor Shenwu said coldly, "Although I am not a good man, I will never kill any woman who follows me unless she commits a serious offense! Mother, please move aside! Mingzhu has only been holding a grudge against the Queen for her own suspicions, and has repeatedly resorted to vicious means to deal with her. I cannot tolerate her any longer!"
"No! I don't believe it! My mother is the Empress Dowager, she wouldn't do that! She wouldn't do that! She is noble! She is gentle!"
Emperor Shenwu spoke word by word, "You should be thankful that Li Wanhui poisoned me before I ascended the throne, causing me so much concern. If she had harmed me after I ascended the throne, I would have destroyed her long ago! I would have destroyed the entire Li family! I even let her bear the title of Empress, which was already the greatest kindness I could show her! How could I possibly have any romantic feelings for someone who poisoned me! Over the years, you've tested me time and time again, and I've been concerned about you time and time again. In order to allow you to live a life of dignity and without distractions, I've concealed things from you time and time again! Now I'm telling you, I truly do not regard your mother as an empress or a wife! Because in my heart, she's just a bitch who tried to poison me! I only have one empress! I only have one wife! Mingzhu, do you understand?"
Princess Mingzhu collapsed to the ground. She couldn't accept it! How could her gentle and noble mother, the mother of Empress Yuan, poison her father? How could she do such a treasonous thing! Even her death was so... dishonorable!
"Your biological mother poisoned me, and you poisoned my wife. I will never forgive you! Mother, get out of the way!"
Emperor Shenwu pointed his sword at Princess Mingzhu. Empress Dowager Li, regardless, stretched out her arms to stop him. However, Princess Mingzhu was determined to die at this moment. She cried out and was about to hit the tip of Emperor Shenwu's sword, "No! It's not like that! I don't believe it!"
How could Princess Mingzhu accept the collapse of the faith that had supported her all along!
At the critical moment, Empress Dowager Li threw herself at Princess Mingzhu. She stood between Emperor Shenwu and Princess Mingzhu, and said tearfully to the unyielding sword, "Emperor, no matter what, you have already destroyed Mingzhu's dreams. You cannot take her life! You can vent your anger on behalf of the Empress, punish her, beat her. The Empress is safe now, so why can't you let Mingzhu go? She is your biological daughter after all! I will never allow this!"
"Why can't I let her go? Because I will never let the Queen down again! I will never let her be in danger again! Mingzhu's life is decided by me!"
Empress Dowager Li shouted, "Emperor, then you'll have to kill me first! Kill your own mother first!"
Emperor Shenwu half-crouched, his eyes bloodshot from the long charge, like a trapped beast. "Mother, I gave Li Wanhui two choices back then, and now I give you two choices too. One: I kill Mingzhu and spare the Li family and Li Wanhui. Two: If you insist on saving Mingzhu, I will depose Empress Duanhui, publicize Duke Cheng'en's crimes, and punish the Li family! Now, mother, you choose!"
Empress Dowager Li looked at Emperor Shenwu in disbelief, as if he were a monster. "You...Emperor, how could you do this? The Li family is your mother's family. For the Empress, I think you've gone mad! Fine! You insist on forcing me to this extent. Aren't you afraid that the world will accuse you of being unfilial? Aren't you afraid that the world will accuse the Empress of her beauty, and even the Empress Yuan's princess and her mother-in-law can't tolerate her?"
A trace of anger flashed across the Crown Prince's face, but the Emperor Shenwu was not surprised at all. He stared at Empress Dowager Li with his deep, dark phoenix eyes, sighing and despairing: "So, mother, who will you choose? If you don't move aside, then I will assume that you chose Mingzhu!"