mesbooks Chapter 500 Joy of Life 56
Chapter 500 Joy of Life 56
If he were to learn the truth about Ye Qingmei's death, wouldn't he turn the finger at me?
At this thought, a chilling glint flashed in Emperor Qing's eyes.
He knew how much Chen Pingping admired Ye Qingmei, but he never expected that even so many years after Ye Qingmei's death, Chen Pingping would still go to any lengths to help her son.
Emperor Qing sat on the soft couch, his hands resting firmly on his knees, lost in deep thought.
An invisible chill descended silently, enveloping the entire palace and spreading like a tide, shrouding the entire palace in a cold and gloomy atmosphere. This chill seemed poised to break through the sky and spread even further.
The clouds on the horizon began to tremble and shrink after being touched by the chill, and their color became increasingly dark.
Dark clouds gathered, piling up in layers, and the air began to feel humid and heavy.
As the first raindrop fell, a torrential downpour began.
Listening to the sound of rain outside the window, Emperor Qing had already made up his mind, his eyes revealing endless coldness and determination.
……
Lin Ruofu received the urgent message from the Kyoto government office immediately, and he jumped up from his seat, his face full of astonishment.
The Control Yuan actually went and broke into the prison.
Lin Ruofu's mind was racing, and all sorts of thoughts surged in like a tide.
At this moment, the officials who heard the news gathered around him. Although they had different thoughts, they all had the same shock on their faces.
Lin Ruofu's heart sank: things had really gotten out of hand!
Unlike other departments in the court, the Censorate belonged only to Emperor Qing, its power was outside the Six Ministries, it was not bound by Qing Law, and it acted only according to imperial edicts.
This status endowed it with unparalleled power and freedom.
However, the prison break incident has undoubtedly pushed Chen Pingping to the forefront of the conflict with Emperor Qing.
The Control Yuan, once a loyal and powerful "beast," now seems to have broken free of its restraints and betrayed its master.
If such a force gets out of control, the chain reaction and ultimate consequences it may trigger are something no one dares to easily imagine.
At that time, the power structure of Daqing will undergo tremendous changes, and the situation will be turbulent and unpredictable.
With things having developed to this point, Lin Ruofu no longer worries about the Fan family's affairs.
Since Fan Sizhe is doomed to die and Fan Jian will also face severe punishment, even if Emperor Qing does not punish Fan Xian, who is on a mission to Northern Qi, he will still be wary of him.
Therefore, what he should do now is to find ways to prepare for the possible turmoil in the government and the public.
Lin Ruofu let out a heavy sigh and, accompanied by several important officials, braved the rain to seek an audience with Emperor Qing.
With such a major incident, he, as the prime minister, naturally had to seek instructions from Emperor Qing.
The rain intensified, and Lin Ruofu and his group hurried through the rain, their clothes getting soaked.
Upon arriving at Emperor Qing's Xingqing Palace, the group carefully tidied their clothes and tried their best to maintain a solemn demeanor before entering the hall to request an audience.
In the end, he received a single word from Emperor Qing—"Cha".
Lin Ruofu's spirits lifted.
If Emperor Qing wanted to forcibly protect Chen Pingping, even if these people were unwilling, they would have no choice but to agree due to Emperor Qing's imperial power and methods.
However, now that Emperor Qing has given them the word "investigation," it is clear that he does not intend to protect Chen Pingping.
This means they can investigate and handle the matter freely without having to worry about other people's opinions.
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At the Second Prince's residence, Li Chengze stretched out a hand from the window and caught the rain falling from the sky.
The moment the rain touched my skin, a chill crept into my body through my fingers, only to vanish just as quickly.
"He is indeed a Grandmaster. Grandmasters can indeed draw upon the power of heaven and earth. The power of heaven and earth in this world can indeed be used."
Li Chengze slowly grinned, as if a long-held expectation in his heart was being fulfilled.
Ignoring Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu's exclamations, he strode to the center of the courtyard, letting the raindrops pound on his face and shoulders, gradually soaking his clothes, but he seemed completely unconcerned.
Emperor Qing is truly a Grandmaster!
At that moment, Li Chengze was extremely excited.
The martial artists of this world cannot communicate with heaven and earth and draw upon their power for their own use like the people of the previous world.
Instead, one needs to absorb the "qi" in the surrounding air and transform it into true qi through the meridians in the body.
However, the power of Grandmasters is too great. Every abnormal fluctuation of their internal energy can passively draw upon the power of heaven and earth, resonating with it.
Just like this sudden rain, it is a strange phenomenon in the world caused by Emperor Qing's fluctuating emotions and surging true energy.
In the past, Emperor Qing would transfer his own true energy to Hong Sixiang to create the illusion that he was not skilled in martial arts.
But now that Hong Sixiang is dead, Emperor Qing, who has lost his "true energy vessel", loses control of his mind after realizing Chen Pingping's betrayal and involuntarily draws on the power of heaven and earth.
Li Chengze was unaware that Emperor Qing was a Grandmaster, which is why he targeted Ye Zhong. His aim was to lure Ye Liuyun into the capital and then find a way to use the power of a Grandmaster to break through the shackles of the surrounding 'qi' and explore the secrets of drawing upon the power of heaven and earth.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Qing acted decisively, not only killing Yan Shendu directly but also bestowing great favors upon the Ye family, successfully intercepting Ye Liuyun.
At that time, Li Chengze thought his hopes were about to be dashed, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better.
It turns out that Emperor Qing was that Grandmaster.
Chen Pingping's actions were so effective that he successfully triggered Emperor Qing's unusual behavior, allowing him to so easily access the mysterious and unpredictable power of heaven and earth. (To put it another way: when Emperor Qing was angry, he automatically connected to Wi-Fi, and Li Chengze conveniently stole the internet connection.)
"Your Highness, it's raining so hard now, you should come inside quickly to avoid catching a cold."
Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu, holding umbrellas, hurriedly chased after him and anxiously tried to persuade Li Chengze.
Li Chengze pushed the two aside, looked up at the thick clouds, and his eyes gleamed with undisguised excitement.
The continuous rain suddenly stopped, and the dark clouds above grew even thicker, as if they were brewing some unknown power.
click-
Accompanied by booming thunder, the rain poured down as if the Milky Way had burst its banks.
Swish swish swish—
The intensity of the rain was unprecedented.
However, Li Chengze, standing in the torrential rain, felt as if he were being bathed in sweet rain, with the 'qi' surging between heaven and earth rushing wildly into his body.
This time, however, it did not dissipate as easily as before. Instead, it violently circulated and coursed through his meridians, rapidly strengthening his frail body in an almost cruel way.
As this force continued to impact, the meridians in the body seemed to be reaching their limit; they swelled, twisted, and almost burst open.
Li Chengze's face was filled with pain, his features distorted by extreme agony, but he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, letting the force rage within him...
Deep within the palace, Emperor Qing, who had calmed down, gazed at the increasingly torrential rain outside the window. A strange feeling welled up in his heart, as if something important was quietly slipping out of his control.
This feeling made him uncomfortable, and an indescribable unease rose in his heart.
However, after pondering for a moment, Emperor Qing was still unable to pinpoint the source of this unease. In the end, he could only attribute it to his concern about the potential turmoil that might result from his thorough investigation of the Censorate.
He shook his head self-deprecatingly, turned his head to look at the raging rain outside the window, chuckled disdainfully, and flicked his sleeve.
In an instant, the wind stopped, the rain ceased, and the sun shone through the clouds.
The sun shone down on the earth again, leaving only a patch of rainwater as proof of the heavy rain that had just passed.
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Emperor Qing's decree to thoroughly investigate the Censorate quickly spread throughout the court and the country.
Today, the Censorate has long deviated from its original purpose and has become a tool for Emperor Qing to eliminate dissidents, check the court, and maintain his rule.
One of the places where officials were monitored was so powerful that it instilled fear in all the officials of the court, making them tremble with dread.
Officials have long suffered under the control of the Censorate.
He had been impeached many times in the past, but in the end, all of them were dropped because of Emperor Qing's protection.
Now that Chen Pingping has brought about his own demise, and Emperor Qing has declared a thorough investigation, the court and the public are in an uproar, with everyone praising, "Your Majesty is wise!"
All parties tacitly reached a consensus to temporarily cease hostilities, form a united front, and regard eliminating the Control Yuan as their top priority.
The Control Yuan is now surrounded by enemies.
Chen Pingping sighed, suppressing his anxiety, and asked the shadow behind him, "Where is Wang Qinian?"
The shadow was dressed in black from head to toe, with even its face covered by a mask, revealing only a pair of cold, stern eyes.
Upon hearing this, a muffled voice came from beneath the mask, sounding low and suppressed: "At the Dali Temple."
He paused briefly, then added, "Should I go there?"
The meaning behind Shadow's words was quite clear: he was asking Chen Pingping if he needed to go to Dali Temple to kill Wang Qinian.
Wang Qinian was the last survivor of the prison break in Kyoto. Once he died, the matter would be irretrievable, and no one could implicate the Censorate.
Chen Pingping rested her hand on the armrest of her wheelchair, looked at the still dripping eaves, and slowly shook her head: "They deliberately imprisoned Wang Qinian in Dali Temple, their purpose being to lure us to rescue him, so as to solidify the charge of the Censorate of treason by breaking into prison. Therefore, we cannot go."
The shadow stood behind him, and upon hearing this, it fell silent.
"Hehe!" Chen Pingping suddenly laughed, a look of doubt appearing in her eyes: "Shadow, where exactly did we go wrong? How did Li Yunrui know we were going to break into the prison? And why did he send Yan Xiaoyi to ambush us beforehand?"
After his meticulous planning, he had already eliminated all those in the Control Yuan who harbored disloyal intentions.
The remaining organizers were all his confidants.
It can be said that the current Control Yuan is entirely Chen Pingping's private property.
The reason they still obeyed Emperor Qing was merely to temporarily endure humiliation.
He needed Emperor Qing's trust and support to maximize the power of the Censorate, thoroughly investigate Ye Qingmei's death, and nurture her son, Fan Xian.
Chen Pingping was very confident that the people from the Overwatch Council would never betray him, and he was even more certain that his plan had no flaws whatsoever.
However, things went wrong.
Those who went to rescue Fan Sizhe were ambushed by Yan Xiaoyi, and in the end, only one person was left alive—Wang Qinian.
Everyone else committed suicide, but Wang Qinian, out of a fear of death, survived and became living evidence for others to attack the Supervisory Council.
hateful!
How hateful!
Why is he still alive?
If Wang Qinian and the others had all died, how could I have ended up in such a passive situation?
The shadow remained silent.
Because he understood that although it was just him and Chen Pingping here, the question wasn't directed at him, but rather at Chen Pingping's thought process.
As expected, Chen Pingping wasn't surprised when the shadow didn't respond. He remained lost in his thoughts, muttering to himself, "There's absolutely no way anyone in the Overwatch Council would leak information. But this operation was so secretive that no one except a few people carrying out the mission knew anything about it. Where exactly did the problem lie?"
"There seems to be an invisible force in the capital, stirring up trouble in the shadows and silently driving the development of everything."
“Fan Xian is right. There must be more to this than Lin Ruofu’s doing. Otherwise, given Li Yunrui’s power in the court, even if Yan Xiaoyi is her man, this matter would not have gone so smoothly. At the very least, Prefect Tian Jingmu of the capital would never have allowed Yan Xiaoyi to lead people to the prefectural prison to set up an ambush.”
Shadow suddenly interjected, "You hesitated for a moment just now."
Chen Pingping fell into a brief silence. Shadow was the person he trusted most, and Shadow knew almost everything about him.
Faced with Shadow's question, he still voiced his suspicions: "I suspect that... the Second Prince is involved in this."
“Yan Xiaoyi only showed up to stop Wang Qinian and the others when they had rescued Fan Sizhe. It is clear that he had already reached an understanding with Tian Jingmu, the Prefect of Kyoto, so he was able to time it perfectly. Li Yunrui could not do this. Apart from Lin Ruofu, only the Second Prince could do this.”
"Why don't you suspect the Crown Prince?" Shadow seemed quite interested in this and asked again.
“Because His Majesty will not allow the Prefect of Kyoto to be a person of the Crown Prince.” Chen Pingping turned his wheelchair and said in a deep voice, “This time, under the instruction of Lin Ruofu and with the tacit approval of the Second Prince, Tian Jingmu allowed Yan Xiaoyi to set up an ambush around the prison and stop the group of people who were trying to break into the prison, instead of reporting to His Majesty immediately.”
All of this was based on Chen Pingping's feelings and his years of understanding of Emperor Qing, making logical deductions.
However, he preferred to believe that Lin Ruofu was behind it all rather than that Li Chengze was manipulating everything in secret.
The Censorate oversees the entire country, and everyone in the capital is under its supervision.
As the head of the Censorate, Chen Pingping knew everyone in the court inside and out, especially the princes.