The Gilded Cage - CH 97

The Gilded Cage Chapter 97

Down the Mountain – It’s General Jin…and the Emperor. (1)

In the Feishuang Palace, Xiao Kezhi came back at noon and asked Liu Kang to invite the imperial physician to check his pulse.

From last night until now, he had not felt any discomfort, but he couldn’t be careless and must summon the imperial physician to give him a checkup.

After an examination, the Imperial physician checked his pulse and said, “Your Majesty is in his prime, so it’s not a big problem to have come into contact with such incense. It’s just that although you are young, you must also pay attention to strengthening your foundation and cultivating your vitality. My minister, this time, you might as well drink a few bowls of soup and medicine to adjust your qi and blood.”

If it were the past, Xiao Kezhi would have refused this on the spot, but now that he was the Emperor, he understood that only by protecting himself could he stabilize his position and the kingdom.

“Understood. Liu Kang, bring the Imperial doctor’s prescription medicine.”

Liu Kang responded “Yes”, bowed, and brought the Imperial physician to the side hall.

After a while, Jin Jiang entered the hall, handed over a copy of the memorial and a dozen files, and “Your Majesty, this is the file that was copied this morning, and it was just sent from the Ministry of Punishment.”

“Understood, put it here and leave.”

When the door was closed, Xiao Kezhi picked it up, removed the seal on it, and read through it carefully.

In recent days, the Ministry of Punishment was still checking the old affairs of the generals who had been dismissed by his order. After listening to Chu Ning’s inside story last night, he even commanded his confidants to quietly transcribe a record of Chu Qianyu’s case, so that the doubts could be sorted out.

Among them, it was mentioned that the incident in those days seemed to have witnesses, but their evidence was a bit far-fetched. The most important thing was that some people pointed out that Chu Qianyu committed such a crime because he had already had an affair with Concubine Xue and wanted to help the Xue family support Wu Wanghuan.

The so-called physical evidence was that a belt of Chu Qianyu was found in the bedroom of Concubine Xue Gui.

As for the testimony, it was full of flaws. Xue Guifei and Chu Qianyu both refused to admit their guilt, and the two servants who were the first to identify them committed suicide by throwing themselves into a well soon after.

Xiao Kezhi frowned from time to time. Only his faint and weak eldest brother, the late emperor Xiao Lian, would believe in such a flighty case.

He had heard about this before, but because he was in Ganzhou, he couldn’t access the details of such major cases.

Chu Qianyu was the most outstanding noble at the time, and Concubine Xue Gui was the emperor’s favorite concubine. This case was presumed to be handed over to the Third Division, and even the case file was kept secret.

At the beginning, he only thought that the Xue family had the intention to murder the late emperor, but it was only when the matter was exposed that they wanted to shirk it on Chu Qianyu, but they didn’t expect that they would still be implicated in the end. As for the decision of the Third Division, it was probably because Empress Dowager Qi and Qi Mu took a fancy to Chu Qianyu’s position, so they threw him under the bus.

Unexpectedly, the real culprit was his eldest brother’s son, his nephew, Xiao Yu.

For some reason, after hearing this, he never doubted that what Chu Ning said was the truth.

First, he had already figured out his nephew’s temperament, and he knew that the other seemed to be a person who was filial and humble but was actually sinister and selfish. Second, he was willing to believe what she said.

Today, when he looked at the memorial and files in his hand, the instability of the case was clear, and he was more and more convinced that she did not lie to him.

In fact, even without her pleas, he would have reinvestigated this case after he finished establishing his rule, and Chu Qianyu would be cleared.

After all, if there were no words from Chu Qianyu back then, he would not be where he is today.

For Chu Qianyu, maybe it was just a moment of sympathy and a little effort of speaking some motivating words, but for him, it was like an empowerment that woke him up.

He always remembered this kindness.

However, now it seemed that he had to think about how to plan this matter.

After a while, Liu Kang came back with the soup and medicine and said, “Your Majesty, the medicine is ready.”

Xiao Kezhi hummed and locked away the files in his hand. Then, he picked up the medicine and drank it all at once.

Liu Kang quickly handed over a cup of hot tea, and after seeing that the other had taken two sips of tea, he said calmly, “Your Majesty, the rumors have spread about your womanizing… You romantically pursue a woman but don’t take her into the palace…”

He carefully glanced at Xiao Kezhi’s face, and seeing that there was no sign of anger, continued: “There is also gossip about Second Lady Zhao, who said that Your Majesty had an affair with her but refused to accept her into the palace and attracted her to visit the side hall at night…”

Since he became the chief supervisor of the Imperial court, he had tried to make everything safe and solve problems for the emperor. These were what a few small servants secretly told him just now. The Emperor’s holy name was damaged, so he naturally did not dare to hide it.

After Xiao Kezhi heard this, he didn’t have any special reaction and just communicated that he had heard this information.

This was to be expected. He was not his famous nephew, and he didn’t care about his own reputation. In the end, the most important factor of him being the emperor was his skill and power. If he could control them properly, no matter what others said, their words would not be able to shake his position.

“You’ve done a good job. You indeed need to keep an eye on the rumors outside. Just listen to this matter and don’t pay attention to it for the time being.”

It seemed to be right to say that he was wild by nature. After all, he was someone who was not even willing to let his niece-in-law go.

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