Favored concubine deposed empress? I'll seize your throne and marry you to a powerful minister.

The Imperial Noble Consort was naturally unwilling to accept this.

She spent so much time and effort to climb to this position, why should she reveal everything as soon as Ling Xianru comes back!

She has a prince, and she's only one step away from becoming empress. Who knows if the old king's mind has been bewitched? No matter what she's tried all these years, he still won't make her empress.

Otherwise, why would she have taken this step?

Forcing someone to abdicate is a last resort.

All she wanted was for her son to rightfully inherit the throne!

Ling Xianning was too young and was so frightened by this turn of events that he cried uncontrollably. Without power, how would he survive in the palace in the future?

"Your ambitions are blatant. Whether you truly want to pave the way for Aning or for your Su family, you know it in your heart," Ling Xianru said without the slightest softening. "If I don't force you to take action, how can I save Aning from her child?"

The Imperial Noble Consort's face was filled with disbelief: "You used him?"

"It's not about using him. If I wanted to use him, I would use his life. Why would I need you to make a move?"

Wei Rong remembered that when Ling Xianru coughed lightly, it was Ling Xianning who rushed in first.

Did he even plan this out?

The purpose was to use Ling Xianning to reveal the prelude to his physical weakness, so that the Imperial Noble Consort would feel that the time to take action had come.

Seemingly sensing her confusion, Ling Xianru lowered her eyes and patted her back reassuringly.

"..."

Looks like I guessed right.

His cunning was indeed more unpredictable than I had imagined.

"Ling Xianru, you scheme against people's hearts, aren't you afraid of retribution in the future?" The Imperial Noble Consort smiled sadly: "You seem the most harmless, but in the end, you are the one who will suffer the most."

Ling Xianru was too lazy to waste words with her: "Take her away."

"Wait," Wei Rong suddenly spoke up to stop them. She took two steps forward and looked at the Imperial Noble Consort: "You say he schemes against people's hearts, but if he didn't, he probably wouldn't have lived past twenty. When you, the lions, tigers, wolves, and leopards of Donglin, were all fighting over his life for the position of Crown Prince, how were you not afraid of retribution?"

Why should losers be allowed to criticize winners?

Wasn't it the people of this imperial city who drove Ling Xianru to this predicament?

The Imperial Noble Consort was slightly taken aback, then became enraged: "And who are you? Even if I have lost, you are not someone a lowly person like me can mock at will!"

*Smack!*

Without hesitation, Wei Rong slapped her across the side of the face, showing her the wound on her palm: "This slap is to repay this wound and the insults just now."

"Take him away."

The Imperial Guards quickly took control of Ankang Palace under orders.

The Imperial Noble Consort was taken away.

Ling Xianning cried out even louder, seemingly imbuing the palace with a somber atmosphere.

The old king on the dragon bed had completely lost his strength. His eyes were fixed on Ling Xianru, looking at him expectantly yet hesitantly.

Wen Ran dared not delay and hurriedly gave the prepared medicine to Ling Xianru.

He drank the medicine, but instead of going to see the old king first, he sent someone to bandage Wei Rong's hand wound.

Then he walked to the bedside and looked down at his biological father.

He didn't understand why, despite their weak kinship, the man insisted on waiting to see him before he was willing to die.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

The old king's eyes were fixed straight ahead as he reached out to touch Ling Xianru, murmuring a name: "Yu Jue—"

"You have no right to call her by her name." Ling Xianru's voice was as cold as ice: "What are you pretending to be so affectionate for now?"

Yujue is his mother's name.

The woman who was murdered because she gave birth to him, and who never had the chance to see him.

Although the throne remained vacant for more than twenty years afterward.

But Ling Xianru felt that it was just a way for someone with a guilty conscience to make some compensation for the deceased.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Tears welled up in the old king's cloudy eyes.

He knew he was deeply guilty, and that if his son hadn't been so cowardly, he wouldn't have lived such a painful life for the past twenty-odd years.

"Go tell my mother that," Ling Xianru said without any emotion, "but it also depends on whether she's willing to see you."

With a broken sob, the last glimmer of light in the old king of Donglin's eyes was completely extinguished.

The withered hand that had been hovering in mid-air, attempting to touch its parent, fell heavily to the ground, landing on the brocade mattress, and remained motionless.

A deathly silence fell over the hall.

The next moment, the imperial physician bowed his head and kowtowed to the ground, his voice deep and mournful, piercing through the entire Ankang Hall: "The late Emperor has passed away."

The mournful tolling of the national funeral bell immediately resounded from the highest altar of the imperial palace, echoing across the entire eastern capital.

The city's clamor subsided, pedestrians stopped and bowed their heads, and officials knelt and wept. The decades-long reign of the late Emperor Da Yin came to an end.

Immediately, eunuchs carried plain white mourning clothes into the hall and distributed them to all the members of the imperial family and court officials.

The brocade and crimson have all faded away, leaving only plain white silk. The wind blows through the hall, billowing the curtains and sending chills down one's spine.

Ling Xianru stood before the dragon bed, still wearing his crown prince's python robe, with scattered bloodstains on it. The bright yellow robe contrasted sharply with the stark white of the room, making him appear even more desolate and lonely. There was no trace of sorrow in his eyes, only a deep, indifferent gaze.

More than twenty years of estrangement and indifference, and a few belated apologies, cannot outweigh the bitterness of his life of hardship, the tragic death of his birth mother, and the bloodshed he endured at every turn.

The princesses, who had been making a ruckus just moments before, finally fell silent at this moment.

They certainly didn't want to see Ling Xianru ascend the throne.

Because those murders, ostracism, and assassinations in the past were more or less related to them or their mothers and brothers.

However, after Ling Xianru was made crown prince, the only thing he didn't touch was women.

They remained princesses, living happily in the palace.

I'm alive, but I'm not content.

But my father really died.

From now on, the East will be under the control of Ling Xianru.

Someone knelt down and loudly proclaimed, "The late emperor has passed away, the crown prince has ascended the throne, please let the new king take charge!"

"Please, new king, take charge!"

After a long pause, Ling Xianru stood before all the kneeling people and announced: "Improve my last will and testament."

His voice was not loud, yet it overwhelmed the sobs in the hall; it was steady and powerful, carrying the resolute imperial majesty.

The close attendant eunuch bowed and stepped forward, unfurled the bright yellow imperial edict, and read it aloud.

The imperial edict proclaimed to the court and the public: The late Emperor abdicated in favor of the Crown Prince, Ling Xianru, who would succeed to the throne of Donglin and rule over the land; the youngest son, Ling Xianning, was too young and ignorant to participate in politics or be implicated; the Imperial Noble Consort Su framed the Crown Prince and attempted to force him to abdicate, so she was stripped of her title as Imperial Noble Consort and her entire family was exiled and never allowed to return to the court; the remnants of the old faction in the court and the public would be thoroughly investigated and eliminated after the new Emperor ascended the throne.

The words have been spoken, and the dust has settled.

The entire court, filled with civil and military officials, simultaneously performed three kowtows and nine prostrations, shouting like a thunderclap: "Your subjects respectfully welcome the new emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

The recent palace coup witnessed firsthand the new emperor's far-sighted planning and meticulous execution, along with the elite Imperial Guards' unwavering loyalty. The situation is now settled; any further action would be suicidal.

Ling Xianru raised her hand and said calmly, "During the period of national mourning, all officials shall perform their duties, strictly abide by palace rules and military discipline, seal off the nine gates of the capital, stabilize the people's hearts, and suspend all criminal punishments and killings. The enthronement ceremony will be held three days later."