Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 608 Rewards (2)_1

Chapter 608: Chapter 608 Rewards (2)_1

Although Chu Heng had only seen the gentle and loving Pure Empress in portraits, no one could surpass his birth mother’s position in his heart. Thus, when a palace concubine, ten years ago, attempted to use him to deal with Lin Imperial Concubine in order to benefit from the situation, "unintentionally" revealed that it was actually Lin Imperial Concubine who was the real killer of the Pure Empress, he planted the seeds of hatred in his heart.

Later, Emperor Huian secretly gave him a Hidden Guard, whom he ordered to thoroughly investigate the true circumstances of the Pure Empress’s murder. He hoped to gather strong evidence, then expose Lin Imperial Concubine and the Lin Family’s crimes to Emperor Huian, seeking revenge both for the Pure Empress and for himself.

However, what he could never have anticipated was that this affair would implicate his most revered father, the Emperor. After he had gone to great lengths to collect evidence of Lin Imperial Concubine’s conspiracy against the Pure Empress, he did not present it to Emperor Huian, simply because Emperor Huian had uncovered the true perpetrator years ago but chose to cover for Lin Imperial Concubine. He even discreetly banished her to the Cold Palace, while preserving her noble status.

From that moment on, Chu Heng began to refuse to trust Emperor Huian internally. As of today, sensing that he didn’t have much time left, he took advantage of the trap set by King Heng for Xiao Ruiyuan. He chose to act against King Heng and then took the opportunity to eliminate threats such as Prince Qi and King An, completely securing Xiao Ruiyuan’s position!

Chu Heng did not want his cousin to bear the brunt of their wrath, so he concealed the latter part of the reason. Watching Emperor Huian’s face turn pale, he forcefully suppressed the uncomfortable feeling in his heart and continued, "No matter for what reason Father Emperor concealed the truth for that woman, your humble son will not let them mother and son get away! Oh, and probably by nightfall, there will be news from the palace—if your humble son’s guess is not wrong, it should be that the woman carelessly got her face scratched and disfigured by her pet cat! Haha, that woman and King Heng indeed share a deep mother-son bond; the son has just been disfigured, and the mother’s face is ruined in accompaniment. I wonder if this will be seen as a touching story or if it will be said that this mother and son have met their deserved fate!"

At this moment, the anger on Emperor Huian’s face had already faded, replaced by a mixture of complex emotions—powerlessness, sorrow, guilt... He was no longer the majestic emperor commanding from high above, but just an ordinary father who didn’t know how to deal with a child who had gone astray!

Seeing the cold and distant look on his son’s face, Emperor Huian’s heart ached. He very much wanted to explain his dilemma, but he swallowed the words he had been about to say and finally spoke feebly, "The debt has its debtor, and the grievance its culprit. Back then, your Third Imperial Brother was still in his mother’s womb and knew nothing. Moreover, the mothers of your Fourth Imperial Brother and the others had nothing to do with your mother’s death. You should not have dealt such a ruthless hand to them!"

At those words, Chu Heng scoffed, saying coldly, "Are you trying to say King Heng is innocent? Hah, that woman probably knew she was carrying a male child and therefore dared to harden her heart to poison my mother, hoping for a double homicide. Even if King Heng was truly innocent back then, what about his actions afterward? How can he be truly innocent?"

Pausing for a moment, Chu Heng continued, "Even if today didn’t involve your humble son’s machinations, do you think that, aside from King Heng, others would have really avoided this disaster? Father Emperor should be grateful for having Hanzhang, the Great General who is loyal to his duty, and the girl who rushed into the encirclement to save people. Otherwise, what you would have seen earlier would be nothing but the corpses of King An and the others!"

He wasn’t going to tell the man before him, the one who protected the real culprit, that even if King Heng hadn’t plotted against his cousin today, he would not have spared those who had repeatedly attempted to harm his cousin! In the past, it was his cousin who had protected him, fighting in wars at such a young age to accumulate military merits, just to stabilize his position as the Crown Prince and establish his prestige and power in the military. Now that he was close to death, the only thing he could do for his cousin was this!

Emperor Huian had no idea what was going through Chu Heng’s mind. He had already learned through Xiao Ruiyuan’s words that King Heng’s scheme had failed and backfired on him. If not handled well, this matter could become a complete scandal for the Imperial Family and turn them into the laughingstock of the entire land. For a moment, he truly didn’t know how to deal with it.