novelraw Chapter 699 - 688: The Cuckolded Prince
Chapter 699 - 688: The Cuckolded Prince
Old Prince did not make this statement without reason, considering the will of Emperor Ming.
Emperor Ming was the founding Emperor of Dongchen Country, born into an aristocratic family. The history books have witnessed the tales of numerous fallen monarchs; hence, upon his accession, he issued an imperial decree stating that if future emperors dealt with matters unjustly or ineptly, the family and nine-tenths of the court ministers could discuss and appoint a descendant as the new Emperor.
Of course, this decree seems very unfavorable to an emperor, but how inept must an emperor be for nine-tenths of the family and courtiers to agree on his abdication?
Even if someone harbored ulterior motives, which courtier could possibly have the power to exceed the Emperor and control the new Emperor?
Thus, unless the emperor’s conduct incited public outrage, unless his actions were detrimental to Dongchen, this imperial decree would not be invoked.
It was already bad enough that Emperor Xingwu favored the late Empress in his youth, and after finally taking governance seriously, Consort Hui arrived, causing chaos in the harem.
The ministers could not criticise the affairs of the Emperor’s harem, but what about the Crown Prince? His mistakes were intolerable to everyone; as the Crown Prince, he sets an example for the World, how could he be fit to rule if his character was flawed?
But now, Your Majesty sacrifices the welfare of his subjects for the affections towards his own children, how could this not lead to criticism?
Moreover, following the Crown Prince’s unqualified rule, he even tried to bypass the legitimate eldest son, planning to make Fifth Prince, Seventh Prince, Prince X, and Fifteenth Prince as Crown Prince in succession, wasn’t this clearly intended to destabilize the court? Wasn’t this making a joke out of the entire Dongchen?
Such a responsible Emperor, no wonder Old Prince sought the will of Emperor Ming!
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" The courtiers knelt down one after another, their shared sentiment was self-evident.
Watching the crowd kneeling down, Emperor Xingwu sprawled on the dragon throne, despairingly closed his eyes.
After a long while, he tremblingly opened his mouth: "Fine, as per your advice, Crown Prince Ye Zheng is of poor character, not fit to rule, hence his position as Crown Prince is revoked, and the legitimate eldest son, Ye Ke, is appointed as Crown Prince."
After uttering these words, he seemed drained of all his strength, uttering no further words.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Throughout this entire upheaval, the ultimate beneficiary, Ye Ke, didn’t say a word, but his commanding presence alone proved his capability.
The very day the decree was issued, Ye Ke entered the Eastern Palace, while Ye Zheng and Shen Xiu knelt nervously on the ground.
"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Crown Prince Ye Zheng has dishonored his brother’s wife, plotted fratricide, and is unfit to rule. As of today, his position as Crown Prince is revoked, he is demoted to Prince Rong, granted Rong Royal Mansion, and without summons, he shall not leave the mansion, personally decreed!"
Having heard the imperial decree, Ye Zheng raised his head with teary eyes: "Impossible, Father Emperor wouldn’t treat me this way, I need to see Father Emperor, I must see him."
The eunuch delivering the decree stated expressionlessly, "Prince Rong, receive the decree. The Emperor is gravely ill; the Empress and Your Highness have instructed that without their orders and summoning from His Majesty, no one should disturb His Majesty."
"Your Highness? Who is the Crown Prince? I am the Crown Prince!" Ye Zheng said fiercely.
But Shen Xiu beside him remained unusually calm, receiving the decree on behalf of Ye Zheng: "Thank you, Mr. Xie, we have received the decree and will move to the mansion as soon as possible."
"Shen Xiu, what do you mean? What are you doing?" Ye Zheng no longer shouted at the eunuch, but roared at Shen Xiu instead.
With a mocking face, Shen Xiu said: "Your Highness, after doing such things, did you never consider the outcome? It’s already the mercy of the Empress and Crown Prince that you are still able to be a Prince."
"You...you are presumptuous!" Ye Zheng’s face turned red.
"Your Highness, it’s better to accept your fate sooner!" With these words, Shen Xiu walked into the house without looking back, then arranged for the palace maids and eunuchs to pack up in an orderly manner.
In Fifth Prince Mansion, Ye Kai and Ye Qi were exchanging cups at Ye Qiu’s place.
"Ye Zheng has finally received punishment, but our Father Emperor is really merciful. Despite Ye Zheng’s actions, he was still bestowed the title of Prince Rong. When we first left the palace to establish our mansion, we did not have any title, and everyone just called us Fifth Prince, Seventh Prince, and even those Ministers and aristocratic family members with some real power looked down on us," Ye Kai scoffed.
Ye Qi shook his head, still clueless to how complaining to his fifth brother ended up making his eldest brother the Crown Prince. However, having the eldest brother as Crown Prince was better than the second one. What if one day the second brother ascended the throne and coveted his Princess Consort?
Thinking of this, Ten secretly glanced at Ye Qiu, silently lamenting how unlucky their Fifth Brother was, to end up with a Princess Consort like Lin Jingxian.
"Eh, Fifth Brother, how do you plan to deal with Lin Jingxian?" After drinking too much, Ye Kai asked without any reservations.
Ye Qiu, who had seen sympathetic looks for some time and had a strong mental resilience, said nonchalantly: "She has been frightened enough during this time, there’s no rush. Once our dear Second Brother moves to Rong Royal Mansion, I’ll send his beloved right to the doorstep."
Listening to this, Ye Kai chuckled, "Fifth Brother is so cunning, our dear Second Brother will see the lover who cost him the position of Crown Prince, who knows how ’happy’ he will be then!"
"What about the two children?" Recently, Ten’s Princess Consort had borne him a legitimate daughter, and as a man, looking at that soft tender child was a time of emotional softness for him, he said somewhat reluctantly.
Ye Kai also showed a distressed face, but thinking of Ye Qiu’s plight he still cruelly remarked: "Those parents’ earlier sins, what else can be done?"
Ye Qiu paused upon hearing this; he still hadn’t told the two children about Lin Jingxian. He didn’t know how to tell them, although from the beginning he had planned to keep his distance from the children, precisely to avoid soft-heartedness when the time came to deal with them.
But even now, he realized that he still couldn’t bring himself to act, and even letting them know the truth was a bit more than he could bear.
Yet, things had already reached this stage, keeping them in the mansion was not possible; the best solution was to send them away from the capital, but would Lin Jingxian and Ye Zheng feel reassured to leave them in his care?
"If possible, I would like to send them to Jiangnan."
"Alas! The sins of adults, poor the two innocent children," Ye Kai finished the wine in his cup in one gulp.
"Your dear brother has been named Prince Rong, he cannot leave the mansion without an order, Lin Jingxian, what if I arrange for you to reunite with him?" At night, Ye Qiu said mockingly to Lin Jingxian.
"My children? What have you done with Ming’er and Lingling?" she asked, nearly driven mad by torment.
"Rest assured, I am not as despicable as you, thinking of harming the innocent. If you agree, I’ll send them to Jiangnan, to give them a happy and peaceful life, where no one knows their past. But the condition is you must stay by Ye Zheng’s side, you cannot commit suicide for your whole life. Of course, if you don’t agree to send them to Jiangnan, how they live in the capital is none of my concern anymore. It’s your choice to make!"