Favoring a concubine and destroying the wife? I'll abandon my husband and children and wipe out

Upon hearing this, Cheng Qingshan and Xie Chengbi, a married couple, beamed with joy.

They ate dinner for over an hour, chatting almost the entire time, as if they had endless things to say.

Finally, Cheng Qingshan said with emotion, "I didn't expect Zhizhi to have changed so much. She is not only intelligent but also so sensible. Now she can even protect our family. I am so proud of her."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Qingshan thought of Emperor Qi's matter, and his expression instantly hardened.

Xie Chengbi could tell what Cheng Qingshan was thinking as soon as she saw him. After hesitating for a moment, she shook her head slightly, indicating that she shouldn't ask him tonight.

My daughter isn't fully recovered yet, so we'll talk about everything after she's better.

Cheng Qingshan understood and gave Xie Chengbi a look to show that he understood as well.

Unexpectedly, it was Cheng Nanzhi who took the initiative to speak: "Father, I was just about to tell you about His Majesty's previous actions towards the Cheng family."

"Zhizhi..."

Cheng Qingshan looked at Cheng Nanzhi.

Cheng Nanzhi asked, "Father, don't you really think the Emperor would have wanted to kill you a long time ago?"

The question was so crucial right off the bat that Cheng Qingshan was speechless for a moment, his expression changing several times. Xie Chengbi was a little worried and held her husband's hand under the table.

Cheng Qingshan took a deep breath, shook his head at Xie Chengbi to reassure her, and then said seriously to Cheng Nanzhi, "To be honest, I can't believe it."

“Zhizhi, you don’t know, back when His Majesty was still a prince, it was your father who went through the most difficult time with him. When he went to the border, everyone in the capital wanted him dead and wanted to see him die from the plague at the border. Therefore, he told your father that he would consider you his best friend for life. We were already in life and death together then, and we will share honor and disgrace in the future!”

Cheng Qingshan also witnessed firsthand how Emperor Qi, even when plagues raged on the border, ate and lived with the people, showing no disgust at the harsh conditions or fear of infection.

In order to cure the plague, Emperor Qi tirelessly searched through medical books and tried every method he could find!

As a prince, even if the border generals truly disregarded Emperor Qi because of his lack of favor, they could not completely ignore him. They had advised Emperor Qi not to mingle with commoners, but Emperor Qi firmly stated that those were not commoners, but his subjects, and he should devote himself to them.

It was precisely because of this that Emperor Qi was willing to let him follow him.

Emperor Qi was such a good person back then, how could he have changed so drastically in just a few years?

Cheng Nanzhi couldn't directly talk about the dream. She organized her thoughts and said, "Father, at first I didn't expect it to be His Majesty."

"At first, I thought Zhao Ye was acting on the orders of the Third Prince to target the Cheng family, which is why I went to Qingzhou to find evidence. But I didn't expect to learn from Min Liuxin and others that they were actually acting on the orders of the former Right Chancellor Wen Baihan. Wen Baihan was the real culprit, and the Third Prince was also following his orders."

"So after returning to the capital, I tried every means to bring down the Wen family and remove the Third Prince from power. I thought that would be the end of it, but a while ago, on the night of the palace banquet, I got lost in a garden behind the Phoenix Palace and unexpectedly ran into the Emperor and Empress who were meeting in private."

Cheng Nanzhi paused for a moment and said, "That's when I heard with my own eyes that, firstly, Huo Jintang was actually the Emperor's biological daughter with Abbess Fang of Yunyin Peak, but was being raised by the Huo family; secondly, the Emperor personally told the Empress that he wanted to welcome Abbess Fang into the palace, and for this, the Cheng family had to be eliminated!"

These two pieces of news are bigger than the last.

Cheng Qingshan and Xie Chengbi were astonished: "His Majesty has not yet let go of the Fang clan, and he even had a daughter with her?!"

Cheng Nanzhi nodded and said, "I heard it from Abbess Fang Xi myself. After learning this, I found a way to see Abbess Fang Xi, and she admitted it."

"You were able to see Fang Xi again??" The two were even more shocked. "Zhizhi, how did you manage that? Wasn't His Majesty keeping a close watch on Fang Xi?"

“Where there's a will, there's a way. We'll talk about that later,” Cheng Nanzhi said. “The most important thing is that His Majesty said that the Cheng family must be eliminated first before he can feel at ease letting Abbess Fang Xi into the palace.”

The two were puzzled: "Why? What does Fang's entry into the palace have to do with our Cheng family?"

“Father knew quite a bit about the entanglements between the Fang family and the Emperor back then,” Cheng Qingshan said. “But Father never opposed it like those old ministers, and he certainly wouldn’t now! How could he turn against the Cheng family because of a woman…”

As Cheng Qingshan spoke, his expression grew increasingly grim; he couldn't accept this pretext.

Xie Chengbi frowned and asked, "Zhizhi, is there another reason behind this?"

"That's right!"

"What?!"

Cheng Qingshan immediately perked up.

“When I met Abbess Fang that time, it wasn’t just to verify Huo Jintang’s matter, but also to find an answer to this question. Abbess Fang didn’t know why either, but she told me an old story that might be the reason.” Cheng Nanzhi said, “It is related to the time when Father and the Emperor dealt with the plague at the border.”

"Back then? Why is it related?" Cheng Qingshan asked, puzzled.

Cheng Nanzhi hesitated to tell Cheng Qingshan for a moment, and after thinking for a long time, she finally spoke: "Father, when you and His Majesty were at the border, were there other friends who shared hardships with you, besides the two of you?"

“That’s right.” Cheng Qingshan didn’t quite understand why she said that, so he answered truthfully, “Besides Father and the Emperor, there’s also A-Ling and Wu Shou’er.”

Cheng Nanzhi was about to speak when she heard something that surprised her greatly.

"Weren't there three people? How come there's a fourth?? Master Fang didn't say there was a fourth one."

"There were indeed four people. It's normal that Fang didn't know."

Cheng Qingshan said, "When the four of us met in the quarantine camp, Fang was not there. The Emperor did not want her to take risks, so he did not allow her to enter. When she came later, there were only three of us left. She did not see the fourth person."

"Which of these two is the one who helped you deal with the extraordinary people? Abbess Fang only said that she helped solve the plague, and she didn't have time to say the name because of the time urgency," Cheng Nanzhi asked.

Cheng Qingshan looked somber.

Xie Chengbi could tell from his glance that he was grieving for his deceased friend, and explained on his behalf: "Your father and mother told me that it was Wu Shou'er. He had a very special identity, being from a reclusive clan. However, he had secretly slipped out of the clan at the time, and would have been punished if he had returned. Even so, he still went back to the clan to solve the plague, and as expected, he brought back a feasible solution."

"That's right, he's also an extremely good and kind person!"

Cheng Qingshan sighed, "It's just a pity—"

"Later, the entire clan was killed, and he died too, but when you found out the news, you couldn't find the reason, right, Father?" Cheng Nanzhi continued.

The two were surprised: "Zhizhi, how come... Fang also told you?"

Cheng Nanzhi nodded.

Cheng Qingshan paused, then hesitated slightly, "What does her telling you this have to do with guessing why the Emperor is targeting the Cheng family?"

Cheng Nanzhi looked at him and said, word by word, "Because Father, your friend and his entire clan... were killed by His Majesty!"