TGPSAC 04

Chapter 04

Exposing the Second Prince’s True Identity

Book: The War God’s Consort Stops Pretending—She Is a Cultivation Master
Author: Lin Yilei

Seeing the Emperor caught in an impossible dilemma, Qin Ziguang found herself enjoying the spectacle.

The Emperor feared being exposed as a cuckold, yet he also feared that if she was simply making up lies, he would have to execute her to preserve the dignity of the throne.

If he did that, he would thoroughly offend her father, Prince Qin, and a conflict would surely follow.

Faced with such a difficult choice, what would the Emperor do?

Qin Ziguang was in an excellent mood as she waited for him to make his decision.

At the Empress’s signal, the officials aligned with the Left Chancellor knelt together and petitioned the Emperor to thoroughly investigate Xiahou Ying’s bloodline.

Xiahou Ying was on the verge of losing his mind.

As the son of the Emperor’s favored consort, he had always enjoyed his father’s affection. Although he was not born to the Empress, he had the backing of the common-born officials, giving him an excellent chance of inheriting the throne.

But today’s incident had thrown everything into chaos.

Now that his bloodline had been questioned, even the common-born officials led by the Right Chancellor could no longer openly defend him. Instead, they had no choice but to support the Empress and the noble families in urging the Emperor to investigate his parentage.

Even if it were ultimately proven that he belonged to the imperial bloodline, the mere fact that his lineage had once been questioned would continue to haunt him.

It would undoubtedly affect his chances of becoming Emperor.

Xiahou Ying glared viciously at Qin Ziguang.

What exactly had he done to offend her?

Why was she trying so hard to destroy him?

Could it be because of those one hundred thousand taels of silver?

He had merely embezzled some military funds.

Just one hundred thousand taels.

Yet she was determined to ruin him completely.

Without his identity as a prince, he would be nothing.

If he lost his status as a prince, all the crimes he had carefully hidden would inevitably come to light.

After much deliberation, the Emperor finally decided to summon the Imperial Physician.

A matter involving the imperial bloodline was simply too important.

He wanted the truth.

When Consort Lan heard that the Emperor had summoned an Imperial Physician, she became nervous.

But when she saw that it was Imperial Physician Zheng, the physician who normally treated her, she relaxed somewhat.

She glanced at the Emperor.

It seemed that His Majesty still valued the more than twenty years they had spent together. Otherwise, he would not have chosen Zheng.

Or perhaps…

The Emperor simply wished to protect his own dignity and prevent others from laughing at him for being cuckolded.

By making this decision, he had surely already resolved to kill Qin Ziguang.

Doing so would naturally offend Prince Qin.

But when the ruler commands a subject to die, the subject has no choice but to obey.

And if Prince Qin rebelled…

He could simply be executed as well.

Prince Qin had allowed his daughter to slander an imperial prince and an imperial consort.

That alone deserved death.

Consort Lan smiled smugly as she waited to watch Prince Qin and Qin Ziguang destroy themselves that very night.

The Emperor fixed his eyes on Imperial Physician Zheng.

“Imperial Physician Zheng, someone has claimed that the Second Prince is not my biological son. Is there a way to verify whether we are truly father and son?”

Imperial Physician Zheng immediately broke into a cold sweat.

Who could be so bold as to claim that the Emperor’s beloved Second Prince was not his biological son?

“Your Majesty, there is a rare flower called the Zhihuan Flower. It blooms in clusters. If the blood of close relatives is placed upon it, then when one flower blooms, all the flowers bloom.”

The Emperor nodded.

“Very well. Then we shall use this flower to determine whether the Second Prince and I truly share the same blood.”

Consort Lan immediately panicked.

What if the test really proved that Xiahou Ying was not the Emperor’s son?

No one knew the answer better than she did.

The test could not be allowed to proceed.

She discreetly signaled Imperial Physician Zheng with her eyes.

But Zheng acted as though he had seen nothing.

Consort Lan’s heart skipped a beat.

Wasn’t Zheng supposed to be one of her people?

Only then did she realize something.

Imperial Physician Zheng also served the Emperor.

Under ordinary circumstances, he might obey her.

But today, the Emperor wanted the truth.

Naturally, Zheng would place the Emperor first.

Imperial Physician Zheng had the Zhihuan Flower brought into the hall.

Everyone saw a small snow-white flower with several tightly clustered blossoms.

He explained,

“Place Your Majesty’s blood on the main blossom, and the Second Prince’s blood on one of the smaller blossoms. If the flower blooms, then they are close blood relatives. If it does not…”

Consort Lan interrupted,

“Is this method reliable? I’ve never heard of it before. Imperial Physician Zheng, surely you aren’t making this up?”

He replied,

“This method is actually more reliable than the traditional blood-mixing test. The old method can be manipulated, but the Zhihuan Flower cannot.”

Seeing that there was no way to stop the examination, Consort Lan quickly said,

“Your Majesty, there are several blossoms on the Zhihuan Flower. Since we’re testing anyway, why not have all the princes place their blood on it?”

She wanted every prince tested together, hoping to find even the slightest chance of escaping disaster.

The other princes immediately shot dissatisfied looks at Consort Lan.

Truthfully, they too were uneasy.

Who knew what such a test might reveal?

The Emperor nodded.

“My beloved consort makes a good suggestion.

“All of my sons present today shall participate in the test.”

Since he had decided to investigate, he would uncover everything at once.

He would no longer allow himself to be deceived by his consorts.

The blood test began.

Consort Lan’s expression grew increasingly strange.

Xiahou Ying glanced at his mother.

A son understood his mother better than anyone.

Judging by her expression…

He already suspected the truth about his own birth.

He had even begun thinking about how to save his life if the test proved he was not of the imperial bloodline.

He glared hatefully at Qin Ziguang.

If he managed to survive today’s disaster…

He swore he would kill this woman.

Qin Ziguang met his murderous gaze without the slightest fear.

She held her head high and calmly waited for the result.

The Emperor and all the princes placed drops of blood onto the Zhihuan Flower.

There were seven blossoms in total.

One belonged to the Emperor.

Five belonged to the princes.

One blossom remained unused.

Qin Ziguang immediately stepped forward and placed her own blood on the last blossom.

Everyone stared at her.

She explained,

“After all, I am my father Prince Qin’s daughter. I have no blood relation to His Majesty.

“The blossom with my blood should not bloom.

“Only blossoms connected to His Majesty by blood should bloom.

“I simply want to see whether this flower is truly as miraculous as everyone says.”

She also feared that the old Emperor might secretly cooperate with Imperial Physician Zheng to tamper with the results for the sake of preserving his dignity.

If Xiahou Ying escaped punishment, the Emperor could then accuse her of spreading false accusations and execute both her and her father within the palace.

Such a thing was entirely within the Emperor’s character.

He had been looking for an opportunity to eliminate them for a long time.

But now that she had joined the test herself, no matter how capable Imperial Physician Zheng was, there was no way he could falsify the results.

Everyone stared intently at the Zhihuan Flower.

The outcome was unmistakable.

Only the blossoms containing the blood of Qin Ziguang and Xiahou Ying failed to bloom.

Every blossom belonging to the Emperor and the other princes blossomed beautifully.

The conclusion was obvious.

Xiahou Ying was not the Emperor’s biological son.

Consort Lan still refused to give up.

“Your Majesty, this flower is unreliable! It cannot be used as evidence! You can’t condemn me based on some flower that came from who knows where!

“We have shared more than twenty years together.

“You are the only man I have ever had!”

The Emperor was already beyond furious.

“Guards!

“Take this shameless woman away and throw her into the Cold Palace!”

“Father!”

Xiahou Ying dropped to his knees.

Out of habit, he still called him Father as he pleaded for mercy on behalf of his mother.

The Emperor glared at him with blazing fury.

“I am not your father!

“You are no prince.

“From this day forward, you are stripped of your status as an imperial prince and reduced to the rank of a commoner.”

At that moment, Qin Ziguang delivered the final blow.

“Your Majesty, I possess evidence that Xiahou Ying embezzled military provisions and salaries from the frontier army under my father’s command.

“These crimes are enough to sentence him to death.

“Oh, I misspoke.

“He isn’t even surnamed Xiahou.

“As for what his real surname is, I have no idea.

“But the one hundred thousand taels he embezzled are enough to have him executed ten times over.”

According to the laws of Dongxia, embezzling ten thousand taels was already punishable by death.

Of course, that law only applied to officials below the second rank.

A prince, on the other hand, could embezzle one hundred thousand taels and receive little more than a reprimand and some damage to his reputation before eventually recovering.

That was precisely why Qin Ziguang had first stripped Xiahou Ying of the status that protected his life as an imperial prince before exposing his crimes.