Chapter 330: The Emperor’s Choice

The old emperor suddenly laughed. He said, “The defenses of the palace are truly too loose. Do you remember your sudden visit two nights ago?”

Only then did the First Elder slowly raise his head. “Since Your Majesty already has an answer in your heart, why ask me?”

“Because I don’t understand. Why would you do this?” The old emperor lowered his eyes and smiled. “I thought that at the very least, you would not harm me.”

“If nothing unexpected happened, were you planning to make Shang Qinghua the crown prince? Although you have now named the second prince, there is always the possibility of change.”

“Yes… after all, that second child is too ruthless. I am not unaware of what happened with the corpse poison this time,” the old emperor said, his tone carrying a trace of regret.

At that moment, the First Elder’s expression became even more unpleasant.

“But Shang Qinghua… he is not your son!”

“I know,” the old emperor said calmly. “I also do not know where that child came from. But when Huang Yi brought him to me, I felt that whether he was my son or not was not important. What matters is whether he can become a wise ruler.”

“You are going to hand the entire country over to a child whose origins are unknown?”

The First Elder’s expression looked extremely painful.

The old emperor smiled. “Big brother, is this the reason you refused to let me go?”

“Yes!”

“But have you ever thought about it? Compared to whether a member of the royal family has pure blood, what matters more is the well-being of the people,” the old emperor said with a sigh.

It was not hard to hear the regret in his voice.

“Have you really made your decision?” What surprised Yue Mingxuan was that Shang Qinghua did not object this time.

After all, who would not want to pass the throne to their own biological son and let their bloodline continue?

But his own sons had all disappointed him.

The only capable daughter had almost been married off to Beirong as part of a political marriage.

He had no other choice left.

When Yue Mingxuan heard about Shang Qinghua’s background just now, he clearly felt Shang Qinghua’s body stiffen for a moment.

Just as he was about to comfort him, he heard these words.

In this era, for someone to have such thoughts, the emperor of Xieshang Kingdom was truly a reasonable man.

It was just a pity that his life would not last much longer.

The First Elder did not speak.

Perhaps he was still thinking about the emperor’s words.

But the old emperor’s eyes showed a firm resolve. “Pass down my decree. After my death, the throne will be given to Shang Qinghua.”

Shang Qinghua said nothing. He simply stood there in silence. There was nothing he could say. Yet at this moment, his heart was strangely stirred.

How could his father be so certain that he could become a good emperor? He could only give a bitter smile.

Yue Mingxuan, however, was quite surprised.

This old emperor was not foolish.

He understood things clearly.

Although Shang Qinghua had once schemed against his own brother, compared to him, Shang Zefeng’s actions were far worse.

A qualified emperor should never treat his people’s lives lightly under any circumstances. Clearly, Shang Zefeng had failed in this regard.

He had thrown the people of Huohua City into suffering, which was a grave mistake.

Therefore, the old emperor would never allow him to take the throne.

He also knew that Shang Yuchen lacked intelligence.

If he became emperor, Xieshang Kingdom would surely fall into ruin.

So in the end, he chose Shang Qinghua.

He believed that Shang Qinghua was capable of taking on this responsibility.

After hearing all this, Shang Qinghua used his lightness skill to leave while taking Yue Mingxuan with him.

He had originally planned to find a way to bring Shang Zefeng down, but he had not expected that the old emperor would act even faster and directly remove the crown prince.

And he had done so without giving any reason.

Shang Qinghua understood Shang Zefeng very well, so he gave orders to strengthen security in the coming days. Then he said to Yue Mingxuan, “You have worked hard these days. Th matters in the Silver Needle Sect have also been quite busy.”

Yue Mingxuan shook his head.

If it were only a matter of being busy, he would not have found it troublesome. But what the First Elder had done this time had gone too far.

Even someone as soft-hearted as him was now thinking about what kind of punishment should be used to severely deal with the First Elder.

From the way the old emperor had spoken, it seemed that the First Elder had once been very close to him.

Yue Mingxuan could not help but ask, “Why did the First Elder and your father address each other as brothers?”

“In the past, when my father was young, he traveled around. Once, he was accidentally poisoned and was on the brink of death. At that time, it was the First Elder who saved him. From then on, my father treated the First Elder as an honored guest. However, the First Elder was from the Silver Needle Sect and did not care for such things, so my father chose another way.”

“Becoming swore brotherhood with him?”

“Exactly.” Shang Qinghua nodded. “But this is a secret known by very few people.”

Yue Mingxuan nodded.

No wonder Shang Qinghua had looked that way earlier.

It would have been one thing if the First Elder supported Shang Zefeng, but he had actually done something like this to the emperor.

They had once been sworn brothers, yet it had ended like this.

Yue Mingxuan felt a chill in his heart.

Being betrayed by someone closest to you, someone you trust the most, was something ordinary people could hardly imagine.

Just thinking about the possibility that Gongsun Xing might have been the one to poison the emperor had already been hard for him to accept.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep