I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 118 Brother and Sister
The emperor could not just offer sacrifices to heaven; it was a rather complicated process.

So during this process, countless memorials fell on Emperor Qing's desk like snowflakes.

Without exception, all of them were memorials persuading Emperor Qing to stay in Kyoto.

Firstly, the turmoil in Kyoto has not yet subsided, at least the issue of abolishing the crown prince has not been finalized.

Furthermore, the Kingdom of Qing is now surrounded by enemies on all sides, and it really needs Emperor Qing to stay in Kyoto and control the overall situation.

But Emperor Qing insisted on his own opinion and kept all the memorials without sending them out, and asked the Ministry of Rites to prepare for the heavenly sacrifice.

That evening, Emperor Qing put down the memorial in his hand and said calmly, "Go and call Hong Sixiang."

Eunuch Hou quickly responded and went to Guangxin Palace to call for help.

Ever since Fan Xian failed to stop the man who broke into the palace late at night when he was drunk and reciting poems, Eunuch Hong, who had stayed in the palace since the founding of the country and was the chief eunuch in previous years, has become increasingly silent and low-key, especially after the third prince Li Chengzong left Kyoto, he has never left Hanguang Palace again and was willing to just bask in the sun outside Hanguang Palace all day long.

But no one in the palace dared to look down on Hong Sixiang. On the contrary, his silence made them feel that this old eunuch was unfathomable. Even Hong Zhu, who is now a big celebrity in the palace, actually got his current status and became the eunuch leader of the Eastern Palace because of him.

Even the Empress Dowager and the Emperor maintained a certain level of courtesy towards the old eunuch.

Among all the palace maids and eunuchs, no one could replace his position in the hearts of the emperor and the empress dowager.

This can be seen from the fact that the emperor sent him to guard the Guangxin Palace.

Soon, Hong Sixiang followed Eunuch Hou to the imperial study.

Eunuch Hou was sent away by Emperor Qing, leaving only Emperor Qing and Hong Sixiang in the imperial study.

"What do you think about this matter?"

Hong Sixiang hunched his body slightly, with an expression that seemed to be half asleep and half awake, and replied softly: "Your Majesty, what this old slave thinks is not important, the main thing is what decision Your Majesty makes, but this old slave still hopes that Your Majesty will wait until the Third Prince comes back, so that this trip can be safe."

If we were to say who in the world is the most unwilling to believe that Li Chengzong is dead, then Emperor Qing and Hong Sixiang would definitely be two of them. Apart from the emotional reason why they don't believe that Li Chengzong will die, it is also a rational analysis.

Firstly, with Li Chengzong's strength and intelligence, it is impossible for him to put himself in danger.

Even though what the Western Hu people said was reasonable and well-founded, and that the people who besieged Li Chengzong were the so-called messengers of the Western Temple, everything seemed to be fine, but in fact Emperor Qing knew the strength of the temple messengers very well.

In his opinion, the strength of the messenger from the Western Temple was probably similar to that of the messenger sent by the temple. Although he was comparable to a grandmaster, he was still far from being able to kill Li Chengzong.

Next, the people in Prince Ding's Mansion were too calm. They didn't care about the news of Li Chengzong's death at all. They continued to do what they were supposed to do. Even when Li Junxin returned to the capital without an imperial edict, it was not because of the news of Li Chengzong's death, but to stand up for Qin Yu.

This is obviously not normal.

Finally, it is the most important point.

After learning of his son's death, Qin Yu originally planned to take people to look for his grandchildren who were living outside, but after going to Prince Ding's Mansion, he returned to the palace peacefully and never mentioned a word again.

Obviously, the people in Prince Ding's Mansion had contact information with Li Chengzong, and it was confirmed that Li Chengzong was not dead.

Hong Sixiang knew that the question asked by Emperor Qing was nothing more than asking him what he thought of the trip to Dadongshan, so he hoped that Emperor Qing would wait for Li Chengzong to come back before making a decision.

After all, Li Chengzong said he would be back in three to five years, and now it has been three years, maybe Li Chengzong is already on his way back.

"Given the current situation, we can't wait for him to come back."

Emperor Qing shook his head, exuding an unparalleled domineering aura. "I have to admit that the boy has surpassed me by a lot in martial arts, but I am not so easy to kill. I want to tell you that boy, he misjudged me. I have not lost my warrior spirit. I am still the fierce general who dared to use 500 people to attack the Northern Wei cavalry... This time, I will use myself as bait to lure out those rats in the gutter."

Hong Sixiang remained silent. He did not agree with Emperor Qing's decision, but he understood Emperor Qing's character and knew that he could not persuade him.

"How's the investigation going on?"

"The news spread from the palace. I found out that the palace maid was dead. Later, I found out that the nobleman was also dead in the clan's house outside the palace."

Hearing these words, a strange smile flashed across Emperor Qing's lips.

"Interesting. Whether in the palace or outside, there are not many people who can get ahead of you in everything. I have always liked her methods."

Hong Sixiang did not speak. The whole world knew about the eldest princess's methods, but they had not been put to use in recent years. If the eldest princess' methods were used to help His Majesty balance the court and the opposition and target the world, His Majesty would certainly like them. But if they were used to destroy traces and deceive the emperor, His Majesty would not like them very much.

Emperor Qing thought for a moment and said, "There's no need to investigate this matter. It's a tarnish to his mother's reputation anyway. When he comes back, leave it to that kid to deal with it."

Hong Sixiang nodded and said calmly: "It could also be a frame-up."

Among all the civil and military officials in the court, there was only one person who could frame Li Yunrui.

Emperor Qing's eyes fixed, but he shook his head, stood up and said, "Let's go, I'll go see her."

Ever since the incident between Li Yunrui and Li Chengqian, many things have happened one after another in Kyoto, so Emperor Qing only asked the Supervisory Council to wipe out Li Yunrui's forces and locked Li Yunrui up in Guangxin Palace, and he has not yet gone to see him.

Li Yunrui returned to Kyoto last year, and an incident happened last winter that made Guangxin Palace extremely silent. Except for the palace maid who was close to Li Yunrui and had martial arts skills, all the palace maids in Guangxin Palace died overnight. It was Hong Sixiang who personally led people to kill them. Those palace maids had no ability to resist at all, and none of them even had time to say a word before they died.

Even though several months had passed since the massacre, there still seemed to be a strong smell of blood in the Guangxin Palace.

Emperor Qing and Hong Sixiang came to Guangxin Palace. Hong Sixiang bowed deeply and then disappeared like a ghost.

In the entire Guangxin Palace, only Li Yunrui inside the palace and Emperor Qing outside the palace were left. The brother and sister remained silent behind the thick palace walls, and no one knew what each other was thinking.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow.

A flash of lightning split the night sky, and countless rain poured down.

Li Yunrui, who was sitting on the couch, slowly raised his head and looked at Emperor Qing at the palace gate with a cold and ridiculous look.

Emperor Qing strolled forward in the rain and slowly walked into the main hall of Guangxin Palace. The dragon painted on his dragon robe seemed to be struggling in the wet water, wanting to rush out and tear down everything in this world.

Li Yunrui looked at him indifferently and said with a smile: "I never thought that you would be so embarrassed."

With a crackling sound, lightning flashed in the night sky, and the lightning illuminated the dim palace. In a very short time, everything in the palace was illuminated with an extremely bright light, especially the figure of Emperor Qing, that lonely and domineering figure.

There were bursts of muffled thunder, as if shaking the entire palace. Heavy rain poured down, soaking everything in the imperial city. The rain flowed along the gaps between the glazed tiles, making a very loud noise.

Emperor Qing turned around and slowly closed the palace door, then took off a hairband from his wrist and carefully tied up his wet hair, meticulously and without a single strand out of place, and it was impossible to tell what his mood was at the moment.

Li Yunrui half leaned on the low couch, looked at the middle-aged man in front of him and chuckled.

Although the rain was very loud, it could not cover up Li Yunrui's silver bell-like laughter. The crisp laughter echoed in the empty Guangxin Palace, which seemed very strange. Emperor Qing's expression remained unchanged. He walked forward slowly. When he came to the low couch, he looked down at Li Yunrui from a high place and asked word by word, "Why?"

Hearing this question, Li Yunrui fell silent.

But she didn't remain silent for long. She raised her head and looked calmly at the most powerful man in the world. She parted her red lips and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Emperor Qing did not say anything, but just looked at Li Yunrui quietly.

After a long while, Li Yunrui seemed to have thought of something. He took a breath, blinked his big eyes, and laughed, "You ask why?"

She suddenly stood up and stood in front of Emperor Qing without showing any weakness, her eyes full of resentment: "Are you asking me why my sister hasn't married yet? Or why I shamelessly seduced the top scholar at the age of fifteen? Or why I have so many concubines?"

Li Yunrui took a step forward and asked in a tone that was cold to the bone: "Why did this idiot Li Yunrui force herself to suppress her disgust and recruit talents for the Emperor of Qing? Why did she bother to deal with other countries? Why did she form the Junshan Society to kill people who were inconvenient for the Emperor of Qing to kill, and to engage in conspiracies that would bring shame to the court?"

Emperor Qing remained silent, just looking at the crazy woman in front of him with indifference and pity.

"why?"

Li Yunrui gave the answer with a neurotic smile.

"It's all for you. If you want to leave your name in history, someone has to do those dirty things. I did it, but how did you treat me?"

Li Yunrui looked at Emperor Qing angrily and said bitterly: "I have done so much for you, what have you done to me? You took away everything from me. Of course, I don't blame you for taking everything from me, because I was willing, but you shouldn't have given him everything I had. Why did you give it to him? Why did you give it to that illegitimate child who is not presentable?!"

Emperor Qing looked at her in silence. After a long while, he slowly said, "Those things never belonged to you in the first place."

Li Yunrui smiled, and then looked at Emperor Qing with a pitiful look: "Yes, you, Chen Pingping, and Fan Jian all think that it doesn't belong to me, so you want to give it to the illegitimate child, but my dear emperor brother, the illegitimate child still only wants to be named Fan. I am actually very curious, if the illegitimate child knew..."

"How dare you!" Emperor Qing was furious. He interrupted Li Yunrui and instantly raised his hand, pretending to hit him.

Li Yunrui raised his face and looked at him indifferently, looking at his raised hand, not caring at all.

"Since you have done it, don't be afraid of others talking about it. Unless you kill me, I will spread the news sooner or later."

Emperor Qing looked at the woman in front of him who had fallen into madness, and suddenly laughed, his laughter was filled with an extremely cold taste.

"Do you think I can't bear to kill you?"

"Of course you are willing to do so."

Li Yunrui laughed sarcastically and said, "Is there anyone in this world that you would not kill?"

A trace of pain suddenly flashed across Emperor Qing's cold face, which made Li Yunrui laugh.

"Don't pretend in front of me, do you think you really are loyal and righteous when you pretend to be loyal and righteous all day? Wake up, you are a hypocrite, stop deceiving yourself. You have always wanted to get rid of me, but you feel that you owe me, so you need a suitable reason to convince yourself that it's not your fault, but that I... deserve to die."

Li Yunrui's voice became sharp at the end, but then she calmed down again and said mockingly, "You are willing to kill anyone. You were willing to kill Ye Qingmei back then, and you are willing to kill Zong'er now. As long as they threaten your rights, you will kill anyone. You don't actually like Zong'er, you just like the younger you in Zong'er. The person you love has always been yourself."

Emperor Qing did not comment, but calmed down and asked the original question again, which was also the question he cared about most.

"why?"

Li Yunrui finally gave the answer that Emperor Qing was most concerned about. He shook his head and smiled, "There is no reason. It's just because he respects me, and you are too ruthless to me, so I want revenge. I want to play with him until you are heartbroken and desperate..."

Looking at Emperor Qing's calm appearance, Li Yunrui sighed and said regretfully: "Unfortunately, you don't value the Crown Prince as much as I thought. I still underestimated your indifference and ruthlessness."

Emperor Qing's calm expression changed, and he looked incredulous: "You mean him?"

"Is it weird?"

Li Yunrui's pretty face flashed in the occasional lightning, and she looked particularly tempting with her charming smile. She said proudly: "There is no man in this world who doesn't like me..."

"Why don't you continue?"

Emperor Qing smiled and said happily: "Did you think of that kid?"

"Zong'er was just an accident." Li Yunrui said stubbornly, with a complicated look on his face.

Emperor Qing saw through Li Yunrui's thoughts at a glance.

"Unfortunately, that boy will never like you."

Hearing this, a trace of despair suddenly flashed across Li Yunrui's face. It was obvious that these words had hit her deepest vulnerability.

Seeing this, a trace of cruelty flashed in Emperor Qing's eyes, and he continued: "I know what you are thinking, but I will never care about you. Your position in my heart will never be as good as hers. You know this yourself, because no one will like a woman with a vicious mind like you. Everything you have now has been taken over by me and her son. Are you in pain?"

Li Yunrui stared at the man in front of him with hatred, and said without showing any weakness: "You said I have a vicious mind, but how are you better than me? Don't think that I was young and didn't know about the things between you, Chen Pingping and Ning Cai. You stole the most beloved woman of your subordinate, you plotted to kill the woman you loved most, and played with your own biological son. Do you think you are cleaner than me?"

The heavy rain was beating on the buildings of the imperial city and on the hearts of people in the palace. The brother and sister from Guangxin Palace attacked each other with the most vicious words, but under the cover of the thunder and rain, not a single sound could be seen outside the palace.

Li Yunrui thought that Emperor Qing would be angry, but to her disappointment, Emperor Qing just looked at her with only calmness and pity in his eyes, without even the indifference at the beginning, which made her very uncomfortable.

"You know, your true identity will be revealed sooner or later. At that time, you will be deserted by your friends and family. You will be alone and have nothing. After you die, no one will remember you. You will always be a lonely ghost."

Looking at the hysterical Li Yunrui, Emperor Qing shook his head and laughed from the bottom of his heart: "No, even if I die, I will not become a lonely ghost, because someone will pay tribute to me."

Li Yunrui was silent.

Because based on her understanding of Li Chengzong, even if the true face of Emperor Qing was revealed, Li Chengzong would not care too much about his past. As long as Emperor Qing did not do anything that would be unacceptable to Li Chengzong in the future, then Emperor Qing would definitely be able to accept the incense of the Dingwang Mansion.

Seeing Li Yunrui in silence, Emperor Qing said with some lack of interest: "Li Yunrui, you know, I wanted to kill you at first, but now I don't want to kill you anymore. I will keep you and let you see that I have never been a heartless person."

Li Yunrui couldn't believe that Emperor Qing could say such shameless words. He was stunned for a moment and said sarcastically, "Everyone says I'm shameless, but you're the most shameless one. I still underestimated your shamelessness. Brother Emperor, not killing me today is the most wrong decision you've ever made, because if I'm alive, I'll definitely try every possible way to kill you."

"No one can kill me." Emperor Qing replied calmly and left Guangxin Palace directly.

From then on, the conversation between the brother and sister ended.

However, neither Emperor Qing nor Li Yunrui expected that this would be the last conversation between the two siblings.

Shortly after Emperor Qing left, Hong Sixiang brought a team of guards to Guangxin Palace, and then Li Yunrui was escorted to the villa in the west of the city.

Here, she met her personal maid who was skilled in martial arts.

(End of this chapter)