Chapter 66: Dogs Biting Dogs

Chapter 66: Dog Eat Dog

"Xie Chengan will not pass the throne to Xie Yuxuan."

Cheng Yi's tone was resolute, but his eyes grew more and more distant as he thought of his previous life.

In his previous life, it had taken Cheng Yi nearly ten years to root out the two cancers that were the Third Prince and the Second Prince. At that time, Xie Yulin had a fighting chance at the throne thanks to Cheng Yi's backing, but not many people actually favored him—the mere fact that he was a gē'er (a male consort) was enough to make the whole world oppose him.

So after the Third Prince and Second Prince died, everyone assumed the Emperor would pass the throne to the Fifth Prince.

But who could have guessed that the bastard Xie Chengan truly favored would be someone with no background, no competitiveness, and no presence at all—a total nonentity.

Yes, the heir Xie Chengan truly favored was the Eleventh Prince, Xie Yujin, who was only eight years old at the time.

It wasn't that Xie Yujin possessed any extraordinary talent; it was simply that he had every advantage going for him.

Xie Chengan was an extremely paranoid man. He trusted no one, and he valued the throne above all else—the older he grew, the more he clung to his supreme imperial power.

But whether it was the Second Prince, the Third Prince, or the Fifth Prince, didn't they all harbor wolfish ambitions?

Moreover, behind each of them stood powerful, deeply entrenched forces.

Empress's relatives meddling in state affairs, overstepping their bounds, and even eventually usurping the throne outright—such things had always been what emperors feared most.

Unfortunately for him, Xie Chengan, already paranoid by nature, had personally experienced exactly that.

Back then, the two most important forces that helped Xie Chengan ascend the throne smoothly were, first, the family of his original consort—the Duke of An's faction—and second, his mother's family, his maternal relatives' faction.

However, shortly after he first took the throne, these two forces rose rapidly and within the blink of an eye spiraled out of control.

Not to mention the Duke of An's lineage, his maternal family had nearly reached the point of dominating the court. Later, his own maternal uncle even schemed to make him a puppet emperor.

After the puppet plan failed, they even planned to kill him and install a younger one.

What filled Xie Chengan with cold fury was that his beloved mother—the Empress Dowager at the time—sided with her family against her own son without a moment's hesitation.

For the sake of her family, the Empress Dowager did not shrink from poisoning her own son.

That was when Xie Chengan came to hate these people deeply. Thus, he outwardly valued figures like Empress Wang but was extremely wary of them inwardly.

It was for this reason that the Eleventh Prince's father—a guileless gē'er with no background whatsoever—became the one Xie Chengan held dear.

Moreover, the Eleventh Prince was young and innocent. Unlike those ambitious, scheming brothers of his, he was well-behaved and sensible. And Xie Chengan believed he could easily live another ten or twenty years—by then, the boy would have just come of age, while the Third and Fifth Princes would have exhausted themselves fighting, and the forces behind them would inevitably be dragged down as well.

Whether they were destroyed in the struggle or weakened, as long as he fanned the flames a little, they would surely come to no good end.

What goes around comes around—by then, the Wang family would likely have become a second Duke of An's mansion.

Xie Chengan had it all figured out. To cover his selfishness and hypocritical scheming, he even found himself a lofty-sounding excuse—claiming he truly loved the Eleventh Prince's father, and thus the throne naturally had to go to the child borne by the one he genuinely cherished.

It was also for this reason that the Eleventh Prince's father had always been an unremarkable presence in the harem, with a middling rank. Xie Chengan had never openly doted on him, nor did he pay any attention to the Eleventh Prince.

In reality, it was all for their protection—he believed he was privately taking good care of father and son.

It was only after Cheng Yi won over Li Mingde that he learned from him that Xie Chengan actually had someone he truly cherished, and had protected them so well for so many years.

At the time, he found it both ironic and contradictory—he couldn't imagine such a selfish, hypocritical man having any so-called true love.

As it turned out, even his most trusted and closest attendant, Eunuch Li, had been deceived by him.

And perhaps, after keeping up the act for so long, even Xie Chengan himself had come to believe it.

Why he truly favored the Eleventh Prince—only the darkest, most hypocritical corner of his heart knew.

"But Xiaoyi," Cheng Lang said with some concern, "that bastard emperor was seriously rattled that day. He hasn't held court for five days straight, and word from the palace says he's on his last legs. Right now the Fifth Prince is in the strongest position, and the Eleventh Prince is only eight years old. No matter how he deploys his plans, the Eleventh Prince can't possibly contend with the Fifth Prince."

"There's no reason for Xie Chengan not to pass the throne to the Fifth Prince."

Some things didn't need to be said aloud, but Cheng Yi understood his meaning.

In his previous life, these events had occurred several years later, when the Eleventh Prince had already grown in strength under Xie Chengan's protection. But now, Xie Chengan was already in such a state—what made him so confident he could support the Eleventh Prince at a time like this?

Even setting that aside, even if he had made his preparations, would the Fifth Prince be willing to accept it?

The Fifth Prince's power was at its peak now, with the Wang family's support. Staging a rebellion and forcing the emperor's hand would be a decision he could make at the drop of a hat.

Unless Xie Chengan had gone mad, there was no way he would make such an absurd and idiotic decision.

So it wasn't a matter of whether Xie Chengan wanted to pass the throne—it was that he had no choice but to do so.

Not just Cheng Lang—no one could figure out what trump card the bastard emperor still had to pass the throne to the Eleventh Prince under such circumstances.

"His trump card, huh..."

Cheng Yi seemed to think of something amusing and couldn't help but laugh aloud.

This could only be called fate—heaven itself was coming to claim the miserable lives of that father and son.

Because the very thing Xie Chengan was relying on was precisely what gave the Fifth Prince his confidence.

These past few days, news of the Emperor's grave illness had been spreading everywhere, but in reality, Xie Chengan was fit as a fiddle, more spirited than ever.

It was because not long ago, a favored consort had by a stroke of luck obtained a pill that could turn back the clock, called the Rejuvenation Pill.

After taking it, Xie Chengan was not only invigorated but also found relief from many of the hidden ailments that had plagued his body for years.

Thrilled beyond measure, Xie Chengan immediately sent out all his shadow guards to find the master who had refined the Rejuvenation Pill.

Now that person was being kept comfortably in the palace by Xie Chengan, researching the Rejuvenation Pill for him every day.

But he didn't know that all of this was merely a setup designed for him.

The Fifth Prince, knowing full well that the news of Xie Chengan's grave illness was false, wasn't worried in the slightest—because the so-called hermit master was none other than someone Empress Wang had specially prepared for Xie Chengan.

That favored consort was also one of Empress Wang's people.

The Rejuvenation Pill was no divine medicine at all—it was doctored poison.

So the Fifth Prince was in no hurry at all.

Xie Chengan would die soon enough. Even if he didn't pass the throne to the Fifth Prince, it made no difference—he wouldn't have to wait long.

The ridiculous part was that Xie Chengan was still living in a pipe dream.

With this divine pill, he could live another twenty or thirty years without issue. As long as he lived, the Fifth Prince couldn't make any waves.

Thus, both sides were full of confidence.

Only Cheng Yi, who'd been watching from the sidelines, understood everything.

That night, Mo Zheng knocked on Cheng Yi's door again.

He'd been ordered to look into the truth behind the deaths of Shen Yunhe's original husband and eldest son, and the Duke of An's case, but so much time had gone by that a lot of things were hard to dig up. Luckily, the Marquis had rebuilt the Qianji Pavilion by then.

With the Pavilion's help, they finally broke through on both cases, and now the truth was out.

Mo Zheng could finally turn in his report.

After reading the results, Cheng Yi's face darkened, a mess of emotions churning inside him.

In the end, he had Yingying call for Shen Yichen.

Shen Yichen came in confused, and the second he walked through the door and saw Cheng Yi waiting, his steps unconsciously sped up.

"Husband," he said, hurrying over in a few quick steps, "what did you need me for?"

Even he didn't notice how his steps got lighter the second he saw Cheng Yi, or how his pretty eyes suddenly lit up like crazy.

As he got close to Cheng Yi, he instinctively hooked his arm through his.

The two were already inseparable, and after being apart for half a year, they were now in that honeymoon phase all over again. Shen Yichen's intimate moves toward Cheng Yi came naturally now, the shy, awkward stiffness of the past quietly gone.

Cheng Yi just as naturally pulled him in by the waist.

If Mo Zheng hadn't been there, he might've gone even further.

Looking down at his tearful eyes, Cheng Yi knew his young husband would be hurt and furious once he learned the truth, but he still spoke up:

"I promised you once that I'd help find out the truth about your dad and brother's deaths. Now, I've got answers."

Shen Yichen stood there, frozen.

Cheng Yi could clearly feel the body in his arms go stiff in an instant, and see the shock and tension in his eyes.

Cheng Yi took his cold little hands and held them tight in his own, then went on:

"Don't be scared. Whatever the truth is, you're not alone anymore—no matter what, I've got you."

Shen Yichen pursed his lips.

Cheng Yi could always easily calm every emotion inside him.

"Are you ready?"

"Mm," Shen Yichen nodded, "I'm ready."

The truth was right in front of him now—all the hardships he'd gone through since he was a kid, all the guesses with no proof, everything was about to have an answer. He was nervous, but not scared, because now he had Cheng Yi beside him.

Back then, Shen Yunhe going from a poor scholar to topping the imperial exam had inspired countless people. After acing the exam, he became one of the hottest young talents in the capital.

But as a broke top scholar with no connections, whether he'd have a bright future or just a flash in the pan was up in the air—how far he could go depended on the choices he made.

So even though he was famous publicly, in front of real power, a mere top scholar was just a speck of dust, totally insignificant.

But no one expected him to catch the eye of the Duke of An's youngest son and shoot straight to the top.

From then on, his career took off without a hitch. Even when the Duke of An was later executed for treason and his whole family was wiped out, it didn't affect him one bit.

He became a legend, a role model for poor scholars to work hard and rise up.

But in reality, Shen Yunhe was a total piece of trash.

He wasn't just from a poor family—his family was flat broke.

As a kid, to scrape together his school fees, the whole clan pooled their money to support him for a few years. But for poor folks, studying was a money pit, and in the end, his family gave up on him.

Everyone figured Shen Yunhe had dropped out of studying, but out of nowhere, he turned around and became the child groom of a rich local family—the Jia household.

At the time, Shen Yunhe was only around ten.

That rich man Jia not only paid for his schooling, giving him brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, covering all his food, clothes, and living costs, but also set up housing for his whole family.

A few years went by like this, and Shen Yunhe slowly started to stand out, becoming a well-known scholar in the area, with his teachers pinning high hopes on him.

To get into a better academy, he moved to Xunzhou City.

In just one year, he made a name for himself there.

Not only that, he became the headmaster's prized student at the local academy, and on top of that, the Yan family—the biggest merchants in Xunzhou—took a real shine to him. Before long, he was engaged to the Yan family's young son.

The telling part was that the rich Jia family, who'd supported him for years, lost everything overnight—ruined, their home destroyed, and soon they vanished without a trace.

No one ever found out again that Shen Yunhe had been a child groom to a rich man named Jia for several years.

Shen Yunhe transformed overnight into the prospective son-in-law of Xunzhou's wealthy merchant, the Yan family.

In the following years, all of Shen Yunhe's expenses were covered by the Yan family. They provided him with the finest brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and his clothing, food, and daily necessities were nothing short of luxurious. Even his parents and relatives were elevated to the status of wealthy masters.

Shen Yunhe not only never suffered the hardships typical of poor scholars, but even the local rich young gentlemen could hardly match his comfortable circumstances.

Yet when Shen Yunhe went to the capital for the imperial examination, he reinvented himself once more as a humble scholar from meager origins.

The irony was staggering.

Even more ironic was that the moment he ranked first in the exam, the Yan family's young son he was betrothed to vanished into thin air as well.