amaotonovel Chapter 390 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Chapter 390 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Emperor Xinghe glanced at the Third Prince, paused for a moment, and then continued, "The Marquis of Wu'an's family deserved to die. I never expected that after so many years, the Song family would still have remnants, and even dare to assassinate me. It's truly absurd."
And that vile Consort De, she schemed to get me into the palace, and dared to stir up trouble in the harem. After the Song family was wiped out, she even dared to fake her death and escape from the palace with my son. Even being slowly sliced to death wouldn't be enough to quell my hatred!
Emperor Xinghe's words contained a great deal of information, and the court officials were all very perceptive, their eyes constantly shifting between Emperor Xinghe and Shen Huaizhi.
Could this young man who suddenly appeared be the fourth prince who died by self-immolation with Consort De in the palace back then?
According to Emperor Xinghe, Consort De faked her death and escaped, taking the Fourth Prince with her. Now Emperor Xinghe has found his son.
"You dog emperor, you're spouting nonsense! You're only afraid of the Song family's high position and power, which is why you ruthlessly killed the Song family not long after you ascended the throne!"
Furthermore, you don't even like the son Consort De gave birth to for you, because he has the blood of my Song family flowing in his veins. Moreover, you even poisoned your own son!
The young master has never left the capital all these years, living under the alias Shen Huaizhi, and has been raised in the Xuanping Marquis's residence. If you truly loved him, why didn't you find him and bring him back all these years, instead letting him fend for himself outside the palace?
"Uh..." Emperor Xinghe was speechless. He had indeed not acknowledged Shen Huaizhi as his father, and he was in the wrong in this matter.
Once everyone in the hall learned of Shen Huaizhi's identity, their gazes quickly turned towards Lord Shen. However, Lord Shen ignored their stares and showed no reaction.
Moreover, poisoning? Looking at Shen Huaizhi, he doesn't seem poisoned at all.
Lady Xuanping looked at Lord Shen with surprise. If Shen Huaizhi was Emperor Xinghe's child, then what was the story behind Lord Shen's mistress?
Shen Huai stepped forward and said to Song Ming, "Regardless of why His Majesty ordered the execution of the entire Song family, if the descendants of the Song family are dissatisfied with His Majesty's decree, they can find evidence to exonerate the Song family."
But why did you choose the path of assassinating His Majesty?
You said you've been in the Xuanping Marquis's residence for eighteen years, so why didn't you come looking for me before, even though you knew I was there?
You only recently approached me, told me about my background, and then deceived me into hurting my biological father.
Now that the Great Xia Dynasty is thriving under Your Majesty's rule, and the world is at peace, why can't I choose to trust Your Majesty instead of trusting a traitor like you?
As for my poisoning, I suspect that your Song family harbors resentment towards His Majesty, and since you couldn't harm him, you chose to poison me, an infant who has no power to resist!
Song Ming was shocked. Was this still the same weak and unassuming boy he remembered?
"Young Master, you can't turn your back on us! You approved the plan to assassinate the dog emperor, and we were all following your plan. You can't just abandon us after we've served our purpose!"
How could you abandon the Song family for the sake of your princely status? And what about your own mother? Don't you want to know where she is?...
Shen Huaizhi remained unmoved. Su Jinyue glanced discreetly in the direction of Prince Jing and Consort Hua. Since the two failed assassination attempts, Prince Jing had kept his head down and remained silent. Consort Hua looked at Shen Huaizhi and Emperor Xinghe with resentment, but she couldn't bear to look at Song Ming and the others.
Based on this, there is a 90% chance that Consort Hua is Song Zhihua.
Emperor Xinghe was overjoyed to hear Shen Huaizhi's words of trust.
There is nothing that makes me happier than my son admiring and trusting me.
However, considering the complicated background of Shen Huaizhi, he cannot reveal it all at once. It would be good enough if he could restore Shen Huaizhi's status as a prince for now.
Emperor Xinghe thought for a moment, then waved his hand, ordering the guards to take the assassins and rebels away for interrogation.
"Put all these rebels in the Shenxing Division prison, and have the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the Prefect of the Capital jointly interrogate them to find out the truth as soon as possible."
Then, Emperor Xinghe pulled Shen Huai forward and announced to everyone in the hall.
"Shen Huaizhi is my prince. Eighteen years ago, he was smuggled out of the palace by Consort De. He was raised in the Xuanping Marquis's residence because of poisoning. Now that my son has recovered, I would like to take this opportunity to announce this news to everyone."
The people in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment. This birthday banquet had truly been full of twists and turns. They never expected that the prince who had died back then would come back to life.
Just as everyone in the hall was still at a loss for what to do, Lord Shen spoke first.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations on the Fourth Prince's good health and return to the royal family."
Since Lord Shen had already offered his congratulations, everyone in the hall followed suit and offered their congratulations to Emperor Xinghe.
The events at the birthday banquet were all strange, but everyone could see that Emperor Xinghe had made preparations in advance and that his imperial power was secure!
Even if there is an extra fourth prince, it doesn't matter. This fourth prince is the son of Consort De and Emperor Xinghe. Based on the Song family's treasonous background, the fourth prince has no chance of inheriting the throne.
In the future, they will just be a few idle members of the imperial clan, nothing serious.
Emperor Xinghe was reluctant to part with his son and insisted on officially recognizing him, which is understandable.
The three princes were somewhat bewildered, suddenly finding themselves with such a big younger brother; none of them could quite grasp the situation.
They were not very clear about what happened eighteen years ago, and naturally they were not familiar with this fourth brother.
In other words, the Third Prince Tang Ruiqian was magnanimous, and he accepted it well even though his savior had become his brother.
The Empress, however, was somewhat sinister, recalling the shadow cast upon her by Consort De eighteen years ago.
At that time, Emperor Xinghe disliked her as Empress, which led to Song Zhihua becoming arrogant and domineering after entering the palace, relying on her family background and not taking her, the Empress, seriously at all.
Fortunately, not long after, the Song family was destroyed by Emperor Xinghe, and Song Zhihua and her son also died.
The Empress was initially overjoyed, but to her surprise, eighteen years later, Song Zhihua was still alive! Her son had actually been recognized by Emperor Xinghe!
Consort Xian did not pay attention to Shen Huaizhi at first, until Emperor Xinghe announced that Shen Huaizhi was the fourth prince, at which point she glanced at him casually.
But that one glance drew Consort Xian's attention to Shen Huaizhi; she felt a strange familiarity about this fourth prince...
Grand Secretary Qin was also in the main hall. He recalled what Emperor Xinghe had told him before, that Qin Guannan was not allowed to attend the birthday banquet. Grand Secretary Qin had been a little puzzled at first, but now he understood.
The matter involves the Marquis of Wu'an and Consort De from eighteen years ago. The remnants of the Song family have resurfaced, and Consort De has faked her death and disappeared.
Emperor Xinghe orchestrated a scheme to wipe out the remaining members of the Song family, but Consort De, Song Zhihua, had not yet appeared.