good season

Emperor Yongjia watched all this with cold eyes. Only then did he speak: "Father, although the third son is vicious, he is still your grandson. You can demote him to a commoner or expel him from his clan, but his royal blood is an indisputable fact."

The retired emperor now found even looking at him disgusting. Hearing him say this, he snorted coldly: "Wei Shi, the witness is right here. Kneel down and confess your crimes!"

Consort Li was stunned for a moment before realizing that Wei was her.

She couldn't remember how many years it had been since anyone had called her that.

At this moment, her mind was completely blank.

What happened? What exactly happened?

Who exactly is this old man who looks so much like Xu Lang?

"Wei, speak!" the retired emperor shouted sternly.

Consort Li's legs went weak and her body slumped downwards. The old nanny tried to help her up, but she was dragged down to her knees.

"Your Majesty, I don't understand what you're saying." Consort Li's voice was weak and wavering, like a kite with a broken string struggling in a gale.

"Don't understand? Then I'll tell you. This man's surname is Xu, and his given name is Xu Lin. The other two are his sons."

Xu Lin has a twin brother named Xu Kun!
"Who is Wei Shi, Xu Kun? You should still remember him, right? Would you like me to tell you in detail?"

Consort Li's face was as pale as paper. It's all over, all over!
But she couldn't admit it, otherwise she would die without a burial place!

"Your Majesty is joking. I do not know this Xu Lin, let alone Xu Kun."

The retired emperor sneered and said to Xu Lin, "I'll give you a chance to introduce your elder brother. If you do well, I'll grant you a proper burial."

Although Xu Lin was a reckless person, he knew he was in trouble. Before he was brought here, the old man surnamed Zhen called over a cook and they ate hot pot in front of the father and his two sons. The cook sliced ​​the food and cooked it in the broth as he sliced ​​it.

The old man added that if the Emperor Emeritus wasn't satisfied with just slicing them up and putting them in a hot pot, he might even chop them up and make them into meatballs.
He was so scared that he peed himself on the spot.

So now the retired emperor says he wants to leave him a complete corpse, which means no hot pot or meatballs.

Xu Lin immediately perked up. Either way, he was going to die. Who wouldn't want to die more comfortably than be sliced ​​up and chopped into mincemeat?
"I am Xu Lin, and my elder brother Xu Kun are twin brothers. We have looked exactly alike since we were little."

The only difference was that his elder brother was better at studying than him. Although he failed to pass the imperial examination, he still gained the favor of the officials and was hired as a secretary in their household.

But my brother is a womanizer; he flaunts his love wherever he goes, and he only targets respectable women.

He had affairs with many women and caused a lot of trouble for our Xu family. Because of this, he changed employers two or three times. Later, he followed Magistrate Wei, but then got involved with Miss Wei.

The elder brother already had a wife and children, so Miss Wei could not become a concubine.

When Madam Wei learned of this, she expelled her brother from the mansion.

But just then, the name of Miss Wei had already been submitted, and she would soon be selected for the imperial concubine selection.

My brother was a sentimental man. After breaking up with Miss Wei, he was heartbroken for a while, but then he found a new love.

We all thought that my brother and Miss Wei would be strangers from now on, and would never cross paths again.

It's a pity that fate played such a cruel trick; no one could have predicted what would happen next.

Lord Wei was the head of a county, and his elder brother, intimidated by his power, had no choice but to take his wife and children to seek refuge with his wife's family.

As mentioned earlier, my brother is a womanizer. After he went to live with his wife's family, he started an affair with his sister-in-law. He and his sister-in-law knelt in front of their sister-in-law and begged her to grant them their wish.

In a fit of anger, the man's sister-in-law agreed to divorce him.

Although the eldest brother was in the wrong, my nephew is a member of the Xu family. Even though they are divorced, my nephew can only stay in the Xu family.

No one expected that the sister-in-law would discover she was pregnant only after the divorce.

It's already difficult for a woman to return to her parents' home after a long marriage, let alone when she's pregnant.

As her belly grew bigger and bigger, her family's attitude towards her worsened.

Just then, a nobleman from the capital came to find the eldest sister-in-law and offered to take her and her mother to the capital.

In exchange, that benefactor helped her get her son back from our Xu family.

The eldest sister-in-law gave birth to a son, but before she could breastfeed him, the child was taken away by a nobleman, who personally took the child away.

Not long after, my sister-in-law, along with her eldest son and her family members, died in accidents one after another.

Only her younger sister, who is my brother's sister-in-law, survived a few more days because she didn't live with them.

The villain's elder brother married his sister-in-law. On their wedding night, the elder brother abandoned his bride and eloped with his new lover.

In a fit of rage, the sister-in-law poisoned her new lover and then hanged herself. The new lover's family was not to be trifled with; they beat the woman's brother half to death and threw him out of the city.

That night was particularly cold. The boy's elder brother was injured and dared not return to the city, so he hid in a dilapidated temple for warmth. During the night, the temple caught fire, and the boy's brother was burned to death.

As Xu Lin finished speaking, he wiped the corner of his eye with his sleeve.

Back then, he genuinely believed that Xu Kun died in an accident. It wasn't until he was imprisoned by that fat old man surnamed Zhen that he gradually realized that Xu Kun's death might have been caused by someone else; otherwise, how could it have been such a coincidence?

He continued, “Not long after my brother died, someone came to me. It was a steward who said that his master’s surname was Wei, that he was rich and powerful, and that a relative of the Wei family had a past relationship with my brother. Considering that I was an old friend and brother, he wanted to give me a share of wealth and honor.”

The young man, not being well-educated, believed him and brought his two sons with him to the capital.

The steward settled the man and his two sons in the estate and even made the man the steward.

This stay lasted for many years.

Over the years, I gradually learned that this estate was part of the dowry of Madam Wei of the Baoqing Marquis's mansion. To be honest, my father and I have lived a very comfortable life in the estate all these years. We eat and live well. Although we are in charge, we don't have to do anything. There are other managers in the estate. My father and I just need to take care of ourselves and do whatever we want.

There was one downside: they wouldn't let us go out; we had to stay in the village. Later, I finally understood that Old Madam Wei didn't want to support me and my son, but rather she was worried that outsiders would see our faces.

I had been wondering why I was afraid of being seen until just now, when I saw His Majesty and the Third Prince, and then it all became clear.

"Your Majesty, you look exactly like me when I was young—no, I mean, like my elder brother—they're like two peas in a pod. If you don't believe me, just look at my two sons. The three of you standing together, you'd be brothers!"

"Insolence! Stop talking nonsense! Guards, drag this madman out and beat him to death with clubs!"

Emperor Yongjia was already furious. When Xu Lin mentioned Magistrate Wei and Miss Wei, he had a bad feeling, but he couldn't stop him, otherwise he would be guilty.

Now, he could no longer hold back. Xu Lin's words became increasingly offensive, almost to the point of stating that the current emperor was Xu Kun's son.

Emperor Yongjia was furious, but no one came in. Only his two eunuchs, trembling with fear, tried to pull Xu Lin away, but before their hands could even touch Xu Lin's clothes, they were kicked far away by the Broken Stone brothers.

What a joke! If these three people are handed over to them and they get beaten to death, do you think Old Master Zhen would let them off?
They've eaten a lot of good food from Old Master Zhen. Don't think that just because they're princes they won't go hungry. It's common for these two brothers to go hungry. Old Master Zhen said that as long as they do a good job today, all the restaurants in the capital can charge him!
Listen to that spirit! Let's see if you're convinced or not!
The kick from the Broken Stone Brothers completely shattered the little face left on Emperor Yongjia and Consort Li's shoulders.

Emperor Yongjia glared fiercely at Prince Lu: "Imperial Uncle, this is the good grandson you raised, utterly rebellious!"

Prince Lu looked aggrieved: "You're wrong. What did my grandson do wrong?"
As descendants of the founding emperor, how could they possibly bow and scrape before the illegitimate son of an ordinary family?

Great Ancestor, you are watching from heaven! Your descendants have been bullied!

"Waaaaah~"

Emperor Yongjia's head buzzed. An illegitimate child! An illegitimate child!
That old scoundrel, Prince Lu, actually dared to call him an illegitimate child!

Before he could even get angry, Prince Fu said, "Yes, Your Majesty, these two children are your grand-nephews. You can't just stand by and watch them be bullied by an illegitimate child, can you? Wouldn't that be going against the natural order?"

The Emperor Emeritus snorted and said to Consort Li, "Wei, you have committed adultery, switched the imperial bloodline, and confused the royal lineage. Do you plead guilty?"

Consort Li was not a clever person to begin with, and she was even less capable of dealing with situations. At this moment, she was already panicking: "What Xu Lin, Xu Kun? I don't know them, I don't know them. I have never done anything to switch children, I have never done it!"

The retired emperor sneered: "Xu Linke didn't mention a word about you switching the child. Are you admitting it?"

Consort Li shook her head frantically: "No, no, it's not true, it really isn't!"

The Emperor Emeritus's voice was icy: "Back then, you and Consort Meng got pregnant around the same time. You wanted to compete for the Emperor's favor, but you were worried that you wouldn't be able to have a son in one go. So you conspired with your cousin, who was still the wife of the Marquis of Baoqing, to find several women who were pregnant at the same time as you. Among them, Xu Kun's wife, Zou, was someone you specifically requested."

You want the son of your lover to become a prince and sit on the dragon throne in the future. To this end, you have the Wei clan imprison my eldest daughter in a nunnery for forty years!

Over the years, that bastard has enjoyed wealth and honor, and has usurped my throne and my country, while my eldest daughter has had her head shaved and is working in the fields!
"Wei, you are so vicious, so cruel! I wish I could tear you to pieces!"

Consort Li felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave!
He knows everything!
How did he know?
Didn't my sister say she handled it very well?
So many people died, and everyone even remotely connected to this matter was killed, so why did word still leak out?

The eldest princess, right, the eldest princess, that old geezer said "eldest princess" twice.

In a flash, Consort Li thought of someone.

Princess Jiabao, the daughter that the retired emperor found from who-knows-where, is the eldest princess!

But how is it possible?

Consort Li muttered to herself, "Impossible, impossible. That child was clearly sent to the charity. I even sent someone to check and saw that someone had taken the child away."

The Emperor Emeritus sneered: "Your good sister killed so many people to cover up her crimes, even your lover Xu Kun was killed, but she spared Xu Lin. She raised Xu Lin and his son for so many years. Is she kind-hearted?"

She worried that Xu Lin alone couldn't threaten you, so she also took my daughter into her grasp.

Consort Li was stunned. She had long guessed that her elder sister had something on her. She had thought it might be the midwife, a eunuch, or a palace maid, but she never expected it to be Xu Lin and his son. She never expected that her daughter was also in her elder sister's hands.

But soon, her focus shifted.

"What did you say? Xu Lang was killed by my sister? Didn't he die in an accident?"

The moment Xu Lang uttered that word, it was tantamount to admitting all his crimes.

Emperor Yongjia was filled with hatred. He thought that she was only protecting the Baoqing Marquis's Mansion and Zhu Yu because she was devoted to her own family!

Only then did he realize that it wasn't that Consort Li was biased towards her family, but rather that Old Madam Wei had found something to hold against her, so she dared not disobey.

From childhood to adulthood, he knew that his biological mother was stupid, and he had despised her countless times, but he never thought that he was not her biological son!

The third prince was already dumbfounded.

One moment he was panicking because his plot to murder the Emperor Emeritus had been exposed, the next moment he realized that he was not the Emperor Emeritus's grandson. No, he was not a member of the royal family at all; he was just the grandson of a lecherous man.

These days, the Third Prince has endured a lot. His affair with Fan Qiuyun was exposed, Consort Qiao was confined to her quarters, and Feng Jiahe hanged herself. But he did not fall because he still had hope.

His hope was to kill the retired emperor and frame Zhao Guanyue. As long as he could do a good job of the task his father had given him, he could turn the tide.

He held onto hope and persevered until now.

But now he was told that even if he succeeded, he would never get that chair, because he was not a true descendant of the dragon and phoenix.

He's just a fake!

He was a prince, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, born and raised in wealth, and possessed the pride of a prince.

But now it's all ruined—his dignity, his pride, everything he had is destroyed!
And all of this is because of Consort Li!

At that very moment, the string that had been taut for so many days finally snapped!
The Third Prince was devastated!

He suddenly rushed to Consort Li and shoved her to the ground, saying, "Why did you do this? You've already entered the palace and gained the Emperor's favor. If you had just behaved yourself, you could have lived a life of luxury until old age. Why did you do this? You've harmed Father Emperor, and you've harmed me, and you've harmed me too!"

The Broken Stone Brothers couldn't understand, so they kindly reminded him: "Hey, you there, don't get it wrong. You're not of royal blood at all. Even if she didn't do this, you wouldn't be a prince. Your grandfather is that lecherous Xu."

The Third Prince's mind was in a whirl, he couldn't hear anything else. He only hated that he wasn't strong enough; he wanted to kill Consort Li, to kill her! (End of Chapter)