Would You Like to Have a Drink

This was the first time Pei Qianxue and his fellow ministers saw Emperor Yuan lose his composure.

They tried to persuade him, with some of the old ministers even threatening to die, barely convincing Emperor Yuan to put down the Zhanlu sword and return to the dragon chair.

But that was the result of their last effort.

For the rest, no persuasion would work.

“The emperor guards the country’s gate, the king dies for the country. You go to evacuate the people, the ministers can retreat, the princes can leave, the old, weak, sick, and women and children go first.”

Emperor Yuan held the imperial edict in one hand and the Zhanlu in the other, “Zhen will not go anywhere, if the army of 500,000 breaks through the Imperial City, Zhen will die here.”

“Your Majesty!” All the confidant ministers panicked, all trying to dissuade him, their heads red from kowtowing.

What does it mean for an emperor to make such a decision? Everyone present knew.

If the Imperial City was breached, it meant that the Third Prince would be the first to die for the country. If the emperor did not leave, it meant that the king and heir of this kingdom would both die here.

The great country, after this battle, would surely cause great damage to its vitality.

Whether there would be future blessings was still unknown.

“No need to say more, Zhen has made up his mind.”

Emperor Yuan waved his hand tiredly, no longer speaking.

In a daze, several old ministers seemed to see the shadow of the previous emperor.

When the previous emperor received the news of the young Emperor Yuan killing his brothers and sisters, washing the Imperial City with blood, and fighting all the way into the palace, he also made the same choice.

Decades later, in front of the high golden throne, where the previous emperor once sat, looking straight at his own prince washing the Imperial City with blood but never retreating a step on the dragon chair, Emperor Yuan’s attitude was just as firm, as if he had welded himself to it.

Pei Qianxue sighed.

Emperor, general, father.

The emperor always ranks above other identities.

So even if he holds a treasure sword and wears armor, he cannot abandon his ministers and people.

However, when he lost his beloved son and as the white-haired person gives the black-haired person a gift, he was just an ordinary father, no different from all the fathers in the world. (TL: white-haired person gives the black-haired person a gift-to see one’s child die earlier than oneself)

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The imperial physician finished preparing the medicine, took out the medicine for treating the eyes tonight, calculated the time, and murmured to himself. “According to the results of this old imperial physician’s pulse last time, His Highness should be able to take that pill soon.”

The medicine boy was silently decocting the medicine on the side, fanning the fire on the stove with a small fan, his eyes fixed, not daring to relax a bit.

When the medicine was almost ready, the old imperial physician walked out, stopped an inner servant of Yuchun Palace. “It’s almost time to take the medicine, has the Third Highness come back?”

The inner servant was about to say no, but turned his head to see a slowly returning carriage.

The prince, clad in a heavy crane cloak, stepped down from the carriage, his face excessively pale.

The imperial physician was startled and quickly stepped forward to take his pulse.

After feeling a steady pulse, he couldn’t help but doubt for a few more seconds. After confirming that there was no mistake, he finally let go of his worries.

The medicine boy brought the witch’s medicine, and Zong Luo didn’t say a word. He didn’t talk about it, or discuss with the imperial physician why the medicine tasted worse day by day. He just picked it up and drank it all.

Even the little medicine boy noticed that the Third Prince was not right.

Except for the last time when the King of Beining came, the prince usually took half a day to drink the medicine, and there would never be such a decisive moment.

“Oh, that’s right, Your Highness.”

The old imperial physician was puzzled, but he didn’t dare to ask more.

Among the nobles in this palace, the Third Highness was the easiest to get along with, but the servants have no right to ask, at most they could only worry themselves.

“His Majesty specially instructed this minister to pay attention to your tonic time last time. You could have taken the pill a few days earlier, but it was delayed because of the cold.”

“This minister just remembered when he was boiling the medicine just now, you can take the pill today.”

The imperial physicians were also curious about the effect of that pill.

Zong Luo had ‘unintentionally’ revealed before that half of the pill made his eyes much better, and he could see the light. So the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Courtyard tried their best to write to His Majesty, and got the pill formula from the Fourth Prince. Unfortunately, several of the medicines in it were extremely hard to find. As Zong Chengsi said, at least one furnace could be refined in ten years.

This also greatly facilitated Zong Luo’s nonsense. Without the second furnace of medicine, even if he ate the pill and recovered miraculously, no one would doubt it.

Zong Luo had discussed with the medical sage before and carefully planned the time.

Under the ‘careful treatment’ of the medical sage, everyone knew that the Third Prince’s eyes had improved a lot, and only needed to wait for a recovery opportunity.

These days, Zong Luo had been planning this matter, and had not yet decided whether to recover his eyes and completely recover his identity, catch up with the last bus to send troops to Yu Country, and directly mix into the seizing of the throne, or continue to hibernate in the Imperial City, make preparations to collect power to seize the throne.

In the final analysis, everything depended on Emperor Yuan’s attitude.

Even if Emperor Yuan had been too good to him in this life, Zong Luo, who had a precedent, still felt like a steel wire that was not stable. If he was not completely sure, he would not choose to take risks.

But now, Zong Luo’s voice paused imperceptibly. “I know.”

After today, everything was settled.

Zong Luo returned to his sleeping chamber in a daze.

He stood in front of the bronze mirror, trembling as he slowly unwrapped the white silk wrapped around his eyes, revealing the slightly reddened edges of his eye sockets.

The room was filled with a faint fragrance.

Zong Luo suddenly remembered some things that happened a long, long time ago.

Before the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony in his previous life, he always believed that Emperor Yuan valued him. He could see it in every aspect, otherwise, he would not stubbornly break into the palace just to seek an answer.

What exactly happened at the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony, whether the imperial edict was fake or not, those contradictions that have not yet been explained clearly, and the so-called truth that only Yu Beizhou himself claimed to know.