The maid's road to success

On New Year's Eve, Prince Li held a simple family dinner and invited the Huaiyuan Marquisate to celebrate together. Everyone thought that Prince Li wanted to elevate the Huaiyuan Marquisate and compensate them for the injustice and tragic deaths they had suffered over the years.

No one noticed that Chen Luoxi quietly came to the emperor's bedroom when the banquet was at its most lively.

Gong Qisu felt much more sober today. He looked at the strange young man beside him and wondered why the Imperial Hospital would send a new one over.

"Your Majesty is in high spirits today."

Gong Qisu looked at the familiar face and couldn't help but wonder why An Zizhong came?

"I forgot to greet you. I am Chen Luoxi from Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion. I am here to see His Majesty."

Chen Luoxi, upon hearing this name, Gong Qisu was horrified. Wasn't Chen Luoxi already dead? Did he see a ghost?

"Your Majesty, do not be afraid. I am a living person, not a ghost. I am still alive thanks to Your Majesty. When Duke Cheng'en wanted to strangle me, you called him away in time, saving my life and allowing me to come back to pay my respects to you."

After all, Gong Qisu was the one who defeated the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince to become the emperor, so he immediately understood what was going on.

He happened to ask his uncle to come to the palace to discuss something, so he let Chen Luoxi escape. He disguised himself as An Zizhong to take the imperial examination and went to Kyoto to be an official just to take revenge. How could it be such a coincidence that he became the son-in-law of the eldest princess and could still have contact with the Sixth Prince.

This person was behind all of this. He used his own hands and the Sixth Prince to force Duke Cheng'en to abdicate. He used the affairs of the Grand Princess and the Queen Mother to force the Fourth Prince and himself. In the end, he let the Sixth Prince come to rescue him. Of course, the one who was rescued was himself, who would not live long.

Then he would expose the secret that he had been holding on the Sixth Prince, and let Prince Li become the emperor.

What a powerful method, what a sinister plan.

"Oh, I forgot. This new imperial physician's surname is Yuan. Does Your Majesty remember him?"

An Qing had stopped taking the disguise drugs two months ago. At this moment, his face was similar to that of Doctor Yuan, causing Gong Qisu to struggle and cry for help.

"Your Majesty, don't waste your time. There is no one in this palace that you can order around. People always have to bear the consequences of their actions. I wish your Majesty a wonderful New Year's Eve."

This was promised to An Qing. He would deal with their family's enemies personally. Duke Cheng'en would belong to Chen Luoxi, and Gong Qisu would belong to An Qing.

And there is that noble empress dowager. At this moment, An Yun should be serving the noble daughter of Duke Cheng'en, the honorable empress dowager.

An Qing looked at the girl lying on the bed sobbing and calling for help, and took out a pack of silver needles from his arms. These were his grandfather's things. His grandfather was a master of needlework, and these needles were stolen by a servant during the house search.

It was the young master who found it based on the information he provided. His grandfather once saved the second prince, but he didn't expect that he actually saved a butcher who killed the Yuan family.

"Your Majesty, my grandfather said that as a minister, I must be loyal to you and share your worries. I have extended your life for so long, and I see that you are in great pain, so I will help you get rid of it."

In fact, ever since Gong Qisu was injured, An Qing has been treating and prescribing medicine behind the scenes, just to delay until this day so that he can send Gong Qisu away personally.

The overall situation was more important. He looked at Gong Qisu's medicine every day and wanted to put a dose of Myriad Insects Gnawing at the Heart in it, but the young master advised him to endure it for two more days and then let him do as he pleased.

"you you......"

An Qing held the silver needle. He had been working on this poison since the young master started planning the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. Being poisoned felt like thousands of insects gnawing at the skin, flesh, and bones all over the body.

At first, you will feel extremely itchy, then your whole body will become cold and stiff, and finally, you will feel unbearable pain all over as if being burned by fire. This was also what An Qing prepared specifically for Gong Qisu.

Some of his clansmen were humiliated, some were thrown into the lake, and some were thrown into a fire pit alive. All of this was because they poisoned the late emperor to death. My grandfather was the only witness, so they wanted to silence him. However, my grandfather was unwilling to hand over the Yuan family's medicine and poison books, so he was killed by them.

Prince Li looked at Chen Luoxi returning calmly and knew that he had done what he wanted to do and now it was all over.

Tomorrow he will naturally become the emperor. This is obviously a great thing, but he feels very bleak.

The wine tasted more and more bitter.

It was agreed that one would be the emperor and the other would be the general protecting the country, but fate played a trick on them and they became strangers.

I have always been blaming that man, but his descendants still put me in that position.

From now on, he has to guard the world alone. That damn old dog just abandoned him.

The next morning, nine bell strikes rang out throughout Kyoto, followed by seven more, and the Emperor and the Empress Dowager passed away one after another.

White silk was immediately hung inside and outside Kyoto, and everyone knelt in the streets to welcome the messenger who announced the emperor's death.

Everyone requested that Prince Li ascend the throne as soon as possible, and this had long been tacitly agreed upon.

Prince Li Gong Lan sat on the dragon throne, looked at the ministers below who were shouting "Long live the emperor", and spoke loudly.

"I ascend the throne today and shall govern with benevolence and justice, follow the teachings of my ancestors, treat the people well, and do three things."

"First, we should reduce taxes and provide livelihood for the people of the world."

"Second, we should work hard, cancel the general election, and establish an inspection department to supervise all officials and clan members."

"Third, we must strengthen the country, raise military pay, recruit more soldiers, expand the territory of Chen, and protect the people of Chen."

These three sentences were so powerful that the ministers, who originally did not have much emotion, felt excited and shouted that the emperor was wise.

"My ascension to the throne was actually caused by internal strife in the imperial family. The death of the previous emperor shocked the world. To avoid the injustice of the innocent, I specially promoted the Huaiyuan Marquisate to a first-class duke's residence, renamed it the Huguogong Mansion, and granted it a gold medal of immunity from death. The Yuan family has been the imperial physicians of the inner palace for generations, so I specially granted my son Yuan Zhengqing a royal family of imperial physicians, a plaque, and a jade ruyi."

The ministers below were whispering to each other, and some wanted to refute, but were stopped by Prince Li.

This was the result of his overnight thinking. When he ascended to the throne, he would definitely treat everyone in the Duke of Protectorate Mansion well, and he would also be able to ensure that the next emperor would make use of the Duke of Protectorate Mansion. But what about after that?

By then, he would have been dead. Which emperor would watch his minister become powerful? And become a threat to him? If the new emperor was afraid of the Duke of the Protectorate, how could he face his dead friend if such a thing happened again?

Therefore, the golden medal of immunity from death must be given. As long as they do not commit the serious crime of treason, their names can be protected, which can also make up for some of their guilt.

Chen Luoxi was still looking at the emperor with An Zizhong's face, feeling somewhat surprised that he would actually go this far. No wonder the old marquis was still thinking about her before he died.

"Your Majesty, think twice. The Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion now only has one young master and one child. I'm afraid they can't bear the burden of the mansion."

Gong Lan waved his hand and didn't care.

"The Duke of the Guardian's Mansion will not be inherited by Brother Zong. Princess Yong'an opened her own Princess Mansion, and Brother Zong will inherit her property. The Duke of the Guardian's Mansion has a living heir, the second son of the former Marquis Huaiyuan, Chen Luoxi, who was replaced by me in advance and has been placed in the west."

Gong Lan thought a lot and felt that it would be best if he took on the responsibility to save Chen Luoxi's reputation. After all, he had ascended the throne now, and no one could bring up old scores. However, if they ran away on their own, it might cause misunderstanding.

"I have summoned him back to Kyoto. I am afraid that within a month, Chen Luoxi will be able to come back and inherit the title of Duke of Protectorate."

There was an uproar below, but no one really dared to question anything. After all, the emperor's power was not comparable to that of Qi Su, the former emperor. Even after he barely ascended the throne, the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were eyeing him covetously and trying to divide the military power.

When the current emperor was a prince, the Emperor Taizu personally appointed the Dragon and Tiger Army in the west to belong to Prince Li forever, and Marquis Wu'an was already the emperor's confidant. And the north now seems to be on the emperor's side.

Who else in the world can compete with the emperor? It is no longer the time when the king is cowardly and the ministers fight for power. The world has changed.

There hasn't been a duke's mansion in Chen State for many years. The reason why Duke Cheng'en became a duke's mansion was because his daughter became the queen. However, the Huaiyuan Marquis's mansion had no female relatives in the harem and had not made any outstanding military achievements for many years. Being able to become a duke's mansion was considered a good compensation.

Only Chen Luoxi, standing at the back, felt a little bitter. When he was young, his grandfather often said that his dream was to become a general who protects the country, but he was destined to fail.

Unexpectedly, it has now become the Duke of Protecting the Country, the first marquis in the history of Chen State to use the word "Protecting the Country" as his title. Many generations of people in the Huaiyuan Marquisate had sacrificed their lives but never got this title, but it was obtained at the cost of so many people's lives.

My father and brother died tragically, and my mother and sister-in-law are left alone. It's really not worth it.