I Married a Disabled Prince in Prison

Chapter 82

Yan Shuixin felt a sweet sensation swirling in her heart. She reached out and gently touched her belly, murmuring, "Baby, your daddy is so kind."

Xiao Yeheng's lips also curved up unconsciously with a smile.

Pregnant women easily get tired, and previously she had been pushing herself for the antidote.

Now that everything was finally fine, she drifted off to sleep in exhaustion.

Xiao Yeheng sat on the edge of the bed, his lone eye fixed unwaveringly on her beautiful sleeping form. For some reason, his heart almost melted because of her.

He couldn't help but extend his palm to touch her chest, feeling the softness. The warmth of her heartbeat reassured him.

Afraid of waking her up, he silently gestured to the servant bringing in the meal to be quiet.

Even when he had his meal, he tried his best not to make any noise.

Outside the door, Eunuch Lin stood waiting. Seeing that the bed curtains in the room were down, indicating that Princess Shuixin was still resting, he hesitated to speak.

Xiao Yeheng looked at him, and Eunuch Lin first bowed and then gestured towards the direction of the hall. The former nodded understandingly and went to the hall after finishing his meal.

"Third Brother!" Emperor Xiao Jing hugged Xiao Yeheng as soon as he entered the hall.

Xiao Yeheng walked steadily to a chair and sat down.

Emperor Xiao Jing glanced at his unsteady steps, feeling deeply guilty inside. "Third brother, it's my incompetence. Back then, you were mutilated by the Fourth Brother to protect me, and now you've lost another leg. It's all because I failed to protect you. I wish I could bear the suffering for you."

"You're too hard on yourself, brother." Xiao Yeheng's expression remained calm. "You're the emperor; how can your physical appearance be damaged?"

"It could have been you ascending the throne back then..."

Xiao Yeheng shook his head. "I've never had any desire for the imperial throne. If I were to ascend, I might have been an incompetent ruler. For example... if someone captured Yan Shuixin and forced me to abdicate, I would issue the decree without hesitation."

"..." Emperor Xiao Jing looked at his most beloved third brother unexpectedly. His serious expression indicated that he was not lying. "But you don't remember her."

"That's the scary part." Xiao Yeheng thought of Yan Shuixin's face in his memory. "Even without her in my memory, I'm willing to give everything for her. If I were to remember, it would only increase my obsession for her."

Emperor Xiao Jing fell silent once again. After a while, he commented, "Yan Shuixin is worthy of your dedication." This was the advantage of being a prince—being able to devote oneself to a woman. Unlike him, as the emperor, for the sake of the country, he couldn't allow a woman to occupy too much place in his heart, lest he be threatened by malicious individuals that would endanger the dynasty.

Xiao Yeheng stared at his brother. "So, Father's country cannot be damaged in my hands, and I don't want to bear the eternal guilt of destroying the nation. As for you, brother, you are fair and just, compassionate, yet not foolish. In the five and a half years since you ascended the throne, Fengxiang Kingdom has flourished even more than when our father was alive. This shows that you are the most suitable heir to the throne. Please, brother, don't mention whether I should've ascended the throne in the first place."

Xiao Jing sighed. "Alright, for now, I can only be a good emperor, so that your sacrifices back then were not in vain. By the way, what happened after you disappeared?"

Xiao Yeheng recounted everything. "In the prison, my leg was cut off, and I lost control of my bladder and bowels. I am aware that someone helped me detoxify, took care of me, saved their food to share with me, and came up with crutches and prosthetics for me. That person took me out of the prison alive after going through hardships, managed to sneak out of the city gate, and tested whether Tu Zhenguo was reliable... I know all of this, but I just can't remember the face of that person clearly. Although I forgot her, I know that person is Yan Shuixin."

The emperor listened to the two of them going through life and death in the prison, facing numerous difficulties and dangers, and his heart ached, shedding tears and feeling nervous to the point of breaking down. "I didn't expect Yan Shuixin to be so intelligent and resourceful. It seems like she has saved you multiple times. She also told me about what happened in the prison before, but she only spoke of how you took care of her a lot."

"It seems that she doesn't want to use saving me as a condition for you to reward her, nor does she need you to remember her favor."

"Now, she is a benefactor to everyone in the court and the country. I will never mistreat her."

Xiao Yeheng pointed out, "She has ruined King Jin's plans, and King Jin will surely regard her as a thorn in his side."

"Don't worry, Third Brother. I will definitely increase the manpower to protect Princess Shengping and ensure nothing happens to her." Emperor Xiao Jing's gaze fell on Xiao Yeheng's left leg, which was bound with a prosthetic. He was unable to bend properly and could only sit in a strange posture.

Someone as proud as Xiao Yeheng has become like this...

Xiao Jing felt almost crushed with guilt. "Yeheng, tell me, how should I compensate you? When our mother passed away, you were only two years old. Father has always been busy with state affairs; he rarely even took the time to see us. In truth, even I, at the age of eight, was confused for a long time. It was only by believing in the idea of taking care of you that I managed to endure the pain of losing our mother. Then, I saw that vile Liang Qingzhen whispering slander to Father, claiming to have raised you under her name. Despite my dissatisfaction with Liang Qingzhen, for many years, that hypocritical woman has treated you like her own son on the surface, to the point that even when I secretly had people watching her, they couldn't find any fault.

I even once believed that Liang Qingzhen truly treated you like her own child, so I relaxed my guard and withdrew the surveillance on her."

He spoke with anguish and self-reproach. "It's my fault. Otherwise, you wouldn't have lost your left leg." Tears flowed freely from the emperor's eyes.

Xiao Yeheng remained expressionless. "Brother, you don't need to blame yourself. Even I thought she was as good as my birth mother. For twenty-four years, it was all a facade."

Xiao Yeheng's heart was bleeding as he said, "That night over half a year ago, after having dinner with her, I lost consciousness and woke up in prison with a piece of my left leg missing. Besides her and King Jin, who would dare to harm me?"

"With you here, King Jin can't snatch my throne. Everything Liang Qingzhen did was just to help her biological son ascend to the throne." Xiao Jing vowed, "I will make sure King Jin meets a miserable end and that Liang Qingzhen accompanies him to the grave!"

Thinking about the fate prepared for the Empress Dowager, Xiao Jing asked Xiao Yeheng, "Do you still have feelings for your stepmother?"

"Back then, when Father was seriously ill, the fourth brother, Xiao Chengyu, defied the imperial edict and tried to seize the throne under Liang Qingzhen's orders." Xiao Yeheng chuckled lightly. "Do you think, brother, that losing my left eye, my scarred left cheek, and now part of my left leg are enough to repay Liang Qingzhen's kindness in raising me?"

"She's not worthy!" Xiao Jing roared, "Back then, I tried to stop Father from assigning you to Liang Qingzhen for upbringing. This woman is so scheming, and father was so stubborn and blinded by her. In the palace, there were so many maids and palace attendants. Even if you stayed in the Queen Mother's palace, with me taking care of you, who wouldn't be able to raise you? If that old woman Liang Qingzhen truly treated you as her own son, she wouldn't have the heart to harm you even a bit. She never truly cared for you. In my heart, she's not even worth your fingernail! If not for the fact that she raised you back then, I wouldn't have respected her as the Empress Dowager! She's just a concubine of the late emperor in my eyes."

Xiao Yeheng smiled faintly, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Brother, as the eldest son of the emperor, you've been remarkably talented since childhood. Back then, it was highly likely that you would become the heir in the future. And you've always cared about me. The consort, Liang Qingzhen, saw all of this. She decided to adopt me so that in the future, whether it was you, or me, which was unlikely, or her own son, the King Jin, ascending to the throne, she would still be honored as the Empress Dowager."

"That old woman was already planning this more than twenty years ago. She really paved the way for herself," Xiao Jing fumed. "It's despicable to the extreme!"

"Brother, it's time for her to step down from her position as the Empress Dowager."

"But there's no evidence proving that she harmed you..."

"Let it be known directly that she was the one who cut off my leg. King Jin is now at odds with us. Who dares to demand evidence?" Xiao Yeheng narrowed his one remaining eye slightly. "And there's King Jin, who's suspected of rebellion and poisoning."

Emperor Xiao Jing found this reasoning quite sound and exclaimed, "Issue an edict! Depose the Empress Dowager Liang Qingzhen from her title, strip her of her rank, and demote her to a commoner, then imprison her in the dungeon. King Jin is suspected of masterminding the poisoning of the emperor, King An, and several ministers. Arrest him and bring him to justice!"

"Yes!" Eunuch Lin De promptly led a large group of imperial guards to spread the edict.

Xiao Yeheng pondered deeply, "That old woman, Liang Qingzhen, wouldn't even dare pretend to be affectionate at King An's mansion, fearing that you, brother, would send someone to capture her. Right now, she's probably allied with King Jin, gathering troops and preparing for rebellion."

"The chancellor and a group of your trusted ministers who were poisoned have all recovered." Xiao Jing's eyes filled with determination. "The power of Fengxiang Kingdom is divided among us, between me and King Jin. With two-thirds of it on my side, even if Xiao Shen rebels, he won't stand a chance."

"Has the imperial edict been issued to remove General Tu from his post?"

Xiao Jing nodded knowingly. "You are well aware of the situation. Over a month ago, I dispatched people to strip Tu Zhenguo of his position as Grand General due to his corruption and bribery. Unexpectedly..."

"He refused to step down and plotted treason," Xiao Yeheng continued his unfinished words.

Xiao Jing nodded. "I must take his head. Also, as soon as Yan Shuixin entered King An's mansion, I learned about your situation in prison. I sent troops to Duanji City to investigate the three hundred corpses buried behind the prison. This morning, a carrier pigeon brought a message saying that Yang De, the county magistrate of Duanji City, has bribed the local garrison and is amassing troops."

"Report!" At this moment, a soldier rushed in and knelt down. "Greetings, Your Majesty, King An. We've captured several spies who poisoned the ministers, and they're willing to testify that King Jin is the mastermind behind it. Seeing that everyone had recovered from the poisoning, King Jin sensed trouble and led forty thousand troops to camp in Lixian County, forty miles away from the capital. Even the Empress Dowager went along."

Emperor Xiao Jing slammed the table in anger. "Unacceptable!"

"Report!" Another soldier arrived. "The rebel Tu Zhenguo has led ten thousand troops from Tuzhou, sweeping through the area and joining forces with King Jin."

"Tuzhou is over a thousand miles from the capital. When did this happen?"

"Your Majesty, it happened after you were poisoned. These ten thousand troops disguised themselves, bribed officials, and with the news of you, Your Highness, and several ministers being poisoned spreading throughout the country, many people began to support King Jin, allowing the rebel troops to sneak into Lixian County outside the capital."

"Damn it!" Xiao Yeheng cursed softly. "Now King Jin has stationed fifty thousand troops in Lixian County. We must immediately deploy troops outside the capital and prepare for battle at any time."

Xiao Jing, feeling the urgency, asked, "Third Brother, who do you think should lead the troops?"

Xiao Yeheng couldn't make a recommendation. "I've been away from the capital for over half a year. With the Empress Dowager and King Jin causing trouble, loyalty may not be as certain anymore. Things have changed. It's up to you, brother."

"Immediately order General Zhang Rui, Deputy General Meng Jun, and Yuan Sheng to deploy one hundred thousand soldiers outside the capital," the Emperor decreed promptly.

The messenger took the orders and the decree to carry them out.

Xiao Yeheng's expression turned solemn. "Deploying two hundred thousand troops from the capital to crush King Jin's forces isn't difficult. The key issue is that King Jin's father-in-law, Yang De, has occupied the border town of Duanji City. If we push King Jin too far, Yang De might open the border gates and let in enemy forces from outside."

"I don't want rivers of blood. If the enemy doesn't move, we won't move either. We'll have to think long-term..."