Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 375: Disappearing at the Perfect Time

Chapter 375: Chapter 375: Disappearing at the Perfect Time

A little eunuch immediately presented a dozen golden melon seeds.

"These golden melon seeds were rewards given by Imperial Noble Consort Qin and Guard Zheng when they felt happy after their meetings, whereas normally the Imperial Noble Consort would reward us with silver pieces," Your Majesty can ask the palace servants of the Imperial Noble Consort’s palace."

The Emperor immediately noticed that these were specially made golden melon seeds from the Western Regions, their shapes completely unlike those usually seen in the palace.

In fact, this was not considered concrete evidence, but the sight of them made the Emperor feel extremely uneasy.

There were no letters, and the Emperor also understood that such private items would not be left behind; they would have certainly been burned immediately.

This did not prevent the Emperor from suspecting an improper relationship between the two, his heart ablaze with rage.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin and Guard Zheng, however, were at a total loss for words. No matter how the pair explained, the Emperor simply did not believe a single word.

In the end, the Emperor, with a somber face, simply asked Imperial Noble Consort Qin, "Tell me the truth, when did you two start your affair? The Young Prince isn’t really my offspring, is he?"

"Your Majesty! The Young Prince is indeed your biological son! I am truly wronged, and so is Guard Zheng. It’s all a conspiracy by Prince Ling; he just wants to kill me, and kill the Young Prince too, Your Majesty!"

The Emperor slapped her across the face.

"Still trying to argue! All the evidence points to the two of you being involved for a long time, making me wear this cuckold’s cap, showing no regard for me, you all deserve to die!"

Imperial Noble Consort Qin suddenly shouted, "Your Majesty, if you don’t believe me, you can do a blood test! The Young Prince is indeed your child; his blood will surely blend with yours! If it doesn’t blend, you can execute me for my crimes, and I shall accept my punishment!"

Upon hearing this, the Emperor frowned slightly, his heart wavering.

Jun Yuyan did not speak, merely waiting for the Emperor to make up his own mind.

Shortly after, the Emperor decided to perform a blood test with the Young Prince.

Murong Jiu was standing guard outside the hall, constantly ensuring the Emperor’s safety, and the Emperor directly summoned her to come and draw blood from the Young Prince and himself.

Murong Jiu glanced at Imperial Noble Consort Qin, who had a deep confidence in her eyes; clearly, she believed that the blood of the Emperor and the Young Prince would blend, since, technically, there was a blood relationship between the Young Prince and the Emperor, with The Fourth Prince merely in between them.

The blood between grandfather and grandson would naturally blend.

Yet inside, she laughed. First of all, even true fathers and sons might not have blending blood, and sometimes strangers could blend, indicating that the blood test was not reliable.

Secondly, no matter what methods Imperial Noble Consort Qin came up with, she and Prince Ling would have a countermove ready.

The Young Prince was innocent, but he was indeed not the Emperor’s biological son; he was but a pawn birthed by The Fourth Prince.

They could not ignore revealing the truth merely because the child was innocent.

The real truth might lack sufficient evidence, but the fact that the Young Prince was not the Emperor’s biological son was beyond doubt.

When Murong Jiu heard outside that Imperial Noble Consort Qin was calling for a blood test, she had already made up her mind.

She took a bit of salt from her medical box and hid it under her fingernail, then asked the eunuch to bring a small bowl. As she personally added clean water, she had already slipped the salt into it.

When they added the blood of the Emperor and Young Prince to the bowl, all eyes were fixed on it.

Only to see the two drops of blood disperse in the water, but they did not blend together.

The Emperor’s face was full of disappointment as he glared at Imperial Noble Consort Qin, "Do you have anything else to say!"

"No! This is absolutely impossible!" exclaimed Imperial Noble Consort Qin, in a state of utter disarray, shaking her head, "Your Majesty, the Young Prince is your son, it must be Princess Consort Ling who is deceiving us! Yes, that’s it! Test again! Don’t let Princess Consort Ling touch it! Let’s test again, Your Majesty!"

The Emperor shouted furiously, "You poisonous woman, still trying to argue your way out of this, I don’t believe a word you say!"

Earlier, when Murong Jiu cut the Emperor’s finger, she cut a bit too deep. Even though it had been immediately bandaged, the Emperor could still feel the stabbing pain and was unwilling to try again.

To try again would be to let Imperial Noble Consort Qin lead him by the nose.

But the Emperor, upon consideration, suddenly pointed at Zheng Min and ordered, "Cut his hand, and see if his blood can merge with the Young Prince’s!"

"That cannot be! Absolutely not! Yes! Have them undergo a blood test! Do not allow Princess Consort Ling and Prince Ling to come near!"

Imperial Noble Consort Qin screamed loudly.

Hearing this, the Emperor looked at Murong Jiu and Jun Yuyan, then pointed to his trusted eunuch, instructing him to carry out the task.

Murong Jiu’s heart tensed slightly, her fingers subconsciously clenching.

She told herself there was no need to be nervous. It was highly probable that some people’s blood could blend together; perhaps Zheng Min and the Young Prince’s blood could indeed merge.

Thud!

The Young Prince’s blood dropped into the bowl.

When cutting Zheng Min’s finger, the eunuch grew nervous, and with too much force, a string of blood beads fell.

Murong Jiu held her breath, eyes fixated intently on the scene.

The next moment, the blood of the two swiftly merged together.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"No! This is wrong! Your Majesty, this is fake! They are forging evidence! The blood of the Young Prince and Guard Zheng cannot possibly merge! It is absolutely impossible!"

Imperial Noble Consort Qin shouted hysterically, her murderous gaze locked onto Jun Yuyan and Murong Jiu, as if she wished to have them hacked to pieces.

Murong Jiu remained silent, for she knew that the Emperor was about to deal with the two of them any moment.

The Emperor was inherently suspicious and only trusted what he saw himself.

Since the assassination attempt at the Traveling Palace, the Emperor had ceased to trust Imperial Noble Consort Qin; the abundance of "evidence" was merely to facilitate a better disposal of her.

As expected, the Emperor ordered someone to gag both Imperial Noble Consort Qin and Zheng Min, proceeding to issue his command.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin was charged with adultery and plotting to murder His Majesty, demoted to a commoner and given Dianthus cranesbilli.

Zheng Min was beaten to death in front of all the guards, serving as a warning to the others; his clan was implicated as well, all punished as Sinful Slaves and exiled to Ningguta.

The Zheng family, painstakingly courted by The Fourth Prince, just like that, crumbled to pieces.

As for the Young Prince, after all, he was an innocent. The Emperor was repulsed by him, wishing he could strangle him, but ultimately did not kill him. Instead, he threw him out of the palace gates, leaving him to his own fate.

The Young Prince was picked up by an old beggar; the Emperor couldn’t care less.

However, Jun Yuyan told Murong Jiu that it was The Fourth Prince’s men who had taken the Young Prince away.

"It doesn’t matter if they took him; he is but a child, and furthermore, father has already removed him from the clan. To The Fourth Prince, he has no utility,"

Murong Jiu stated.

Jun Yuyan nodded, "Indeed, no matter what The Fourth Prince may be able to teach him in the future, for now, he is still just an infant in swaddling, at the age where he needs milk. The sins of adults should not be visited upon him."

As he spoke, the conversation turned to the death of Na Keqin.

After the Dianthus cranesbilli was ingested, Na Keqin died amidst her struggles.

In fact, if her brother, Na Kesi, had not disappeared and Jun Yuyan had not spread the news of his death, the Emperor might not have moved to kill her directly, considering the power of the Western Regions.

But with the death of Na Kesi, the Western Regions weakened, becoming scattered like loose sand, and the Emperor naturally had no concerns.

It seemed, the disappearance of the Western Region Prince had come at just the right