Quick Transmigration Cannon Fodder's Record of Counterattacks

Chapter 3613: The Most Favoured Woman in the Inner Palace (32)

Ao Tianze stared at the censor, whose spittle flew in every direction as he cursed, and marched toward him with sword in hand. The other officials wanted to intervene, but with the precedent of the first victim fresh in their minds, they hesitated. Humans were made of flesh and blood, after all. A blade was painful, and it was invariably fatal.

Terror flashed across the Censor’s face, yet he chose to embrace his martyrdom. The officials kneeling on the ground exchanged glances and decided they had to stop the emperor. If he was allowed to kill them one by one, there was no telling when their own turns would come.

‘If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.’

The crowd swarmed Ao Tianze to hold him back. Ao Tianze roared, “Get out of this emperor’s way!”

Ning Shu could no longer allow Ao Tianze to continue this rampage, so she directly triggered the burst of spiritual energy inside his head.

Ao Tianze’s face turned a violent crimson and his expression went blank before he collapsed, with blood leaking from all seven of his orifices.

The crowd was paralyzed with terror. If anything happened to the emperor, they would be branded as traitors and rebels. They had never intended to actually fight him. Surely such a thing had never occurred in all of history—an emperor and his officials scuffling until the ruler dropped dead.

The officials who had been surrounding Ao Tianze immediately scattered like startled birds. They dropped to their knees, desperate to show that they hadn’t actually touched him.

“The emperor! A physician, fetch a physician!” The chief eunuch scrambled away on all fours to find help.

As Ao Tianze lay on the ground, no one dared to approach him. Everyone was terrified of being charged with regicide, a crime that meant the execution of one’s entire extended family.

General Wu was completely dazed. In truth, everyone present was in a state of total shock.

The concubines saw that Ao Tianze’s eyes were wide open, as if he had died with a lingering grievance. They didn’t know whether they should laugh or cry.

The imperial physician ran over with his medicine chest, panting for breath. Seeing Ao Tianze’s horrifying state, he carefully checked the pulse, the breathing, and the heart. Finally, he confirmed that Ao Tianze had passed away.

As soon as the physician announced the emperor’s death, the concubines began to weep. It was hard to say if they were crying because they had narrowly escaped death or because they were now destined to be young widows.

The funeral bells began to toll throughout the imperial city. When Fu Min heard the sound, her expression turned vacant. Feeling overwhelmed by grief, she covered her face and wept. She didn’t even dare to go see the body.

Because of the strange circumstances of his death, the members of the imperial clan asked if the emperor had been poisoned. The physician conducted an examination and concluded that there was no external poison. If one considered the elixirs to be toxic, then that was the only ‘poisoning’ involved.

The attendants who served the emperor reported that he had been taking the pills several times a day. He took them whenever he felt unwell, eating them more often than he ate regular meals.

It seemed his body had been hollowed out by the elixirs. Ultimately, his constitution had collapsed like a falling tower or a crumbling mountain.

As for the matter of slaughtering the concubines and officials, it was dropped entirely upon Ao Tianze’s death.

Ning Shu was slightly concerned that Ao Tianze might have left some word accusing the women of the inner palace of infidelity. If he had, the entire court would have turned against them.

Soon, the imperial capital was draped in white. Everyone donned mourning clothes. As Ao Tianze’s legally wedded wife, Ning Shu had to wear coarse hempen robes and lead the concubines in kneeling before the coffin.

The princes of the clan and the high-ranking officials all attended the funeral. Although Ao Tianze’s death was sudden, a coffin was ready. Ever since an emperor ascended the throne, work would begin on his coffin and his mausoleum. Such grand tombs were never built in a single day. If they waited until a ruler died to start digging, the body would be rotting long before the work was finished.

Ao Tianze had only one male heir, who was not yet a year old. The child was too young to perform the mourning rites, so Ning Shu had to do it. The child’s birth mother, Consort Xuan, assisted her.

Several younger members of the imperial clan were also chosen to help see Ao Tianze off.

Consort Xuan stayed close to Ning Shu’s side. She felt a sense of profound loss at Ao Tianze’s death. In fact, most of the concubines felt the same way, as if they had lost their pillar of support. When he was alive, they had fought desperately and exhausted every scheme just to please him. Now that he was gone, they no longer had anyone to please, yet their lives remained just as lonely. They simply had no idea what to do with themselves anymore.

A country couldn’t go a single day without a ruler. Now that Ao Tianze was dead, the matter of a new sovereign was placed on the agenda. Naturally, his only son was the legitimate heir.

However, the boy was still an infant in swaddling clothes. How could such a child manage a nation? He would likely have to be held by the dowager empress even during morning court sessions.

This raised the fear that ‘the hen would crow’—that the dowager empress would usurp power and rule.

Furthermore, the members of the imperial clan had previously received Ao Tianze’s secret decree stating that Ao Yong was never to inherit the throne. Therefore, the clan had to find someone else to succeed him.

The officials, of course, wanted the child to inherit the throne. The relationship between a monarch and his officials was like the wind. If one was weak, the other was strong. A child-emperor would be weak, which meant the officials would have the upper hand. Besides, he was the legitimate heir by blood.

Ning Shu, who was wearing her mourning white, listened to their arguments without saying a word. She acted the part of a simple woman with no opinions of her own, letting them say whatever they wished.

For Ning Shu, all danger had vanished with Ao Tianze’s death. If the child could inherit the throne, that was for the best. Even if he didn’t, any new Emperor would likely leave the boy alone for a while since he was so small. Regardless of the outcome, her title as the dowager empress was guaranteed.

Ning Shu knelt before the coffin and glanced around. Fu Min was not there. At the beginning of the funeral, she had managed to kneel for a while, but she had since fallen ill. It was said she currently couldn’t even get out of bed. She simply couldn’t accept the reality of Ao Tianze’s death.

Prince Li refused to agree to the young child’s ascension. His reason was the secret decree Ao Tianze had issued, which barred Ao Yong from the throne. Prince Li had his own selfish motives as well, as his eldest son was the most promising candidate in the clan to take the crown. If his nephew died without an heir, his son could be adopted into Ao Tianze’s line to succeed him.

His son was sixteen years old, possessed excellent qualities, and was more than capable of taking on the responsibility of the throne.

The officials demanded to see the secret decree. However, when Prince Li went to retrieve the document, he discovered it was missing.

Prince Li’s heart began to hammer against his ribs and his head spun. Where was the decree? Where had it gone?

A chill ran through his body. He thought of the civil and military officials and the imperial family members waiting for him to produce the document. If he couldn’t show the decree, would he be accused of forging an imperial command? Good heavens!

Prince Li felt as if his world were collapsing.

Ultimately, Prince Li tried to claim it had been a verbal command. But a verbal command…

The crowd simply assumed he was making excuses to prevent the infant from inheriting the throne. The clan members pulled him aside and demanded to know the truth. Where was the decree?

Prince Li felt a bitter taste in his mouth. It was lost. It was gone.

The others were speechless. Was he playing some kind of joke on them?

After Ao Tianze was buried, the new emperor was officially decided. It was indeed the infant Ao Yong. A young master meant a weak state, which provided the perfect opportunity for the great clans to flourish.

Ning Shu felt neither joy nor sorrow. She simply had to hold the child and go to the morning court sessions every single day. No matter if it was raining, snowing, or a freezing winter day, she wouldn’t even be able to sleep in.

If Ao Yong hadn’t become the emperor, he likely would have grown up happily under the care of all the concubines in the inner palace.