The Ugly Empress by Yun Guo Shi Fei / 丑娘娘 by 云过是非

Chapter 42 - Lord Marquis, Don't You Want It?

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Inside Teng Country's Imperial Palace, people could hear the shouts from outside and realized that Teng Xin's encirclement had been broken. The guards opened the Palace Gate to welcome their savior.

An Imperial Guard ran all the way from outside to the main court hall. He fell on his knees and rejoiced, "Your Majesty, Minister Shang has returned! Minister Shang has defeated the rebel army and broken the encirclement!"

Teng Wang was happy at first. Who would not feel happy when they were freed from a crisis? But he immediately felt resentment, because after all this time, the common people and even his own Imperial Guards still held Teng Shang so high in their hearts.

Because he was always suspicious of everything, Teng Wang naturally thought Teng Shang was going to take this opportunity to gain power and eventually topple him off his throne. Moreover, Teng Shang came under Xue Junliang's decree. Teng Shang went to Xue Country and was not killed, instead was allowed to lead a quite powerful troop of soldiers. This showed that Teng Shang had commit treason and colluded with enemy country.

[T/N to Teng Wang : Yeah sure, because Teng Shang came himself to Xue, not because you sent him there basically wishing Xue Wang would kill him. Yeah.]

The more Teng Wang thought of it, the more he was afraid of Teng Shang. At this time, Teng Shang had already entered the main court hall; behind Teng Shang were two guards dragging Teng Xin by the rope binding him.

When they stopped in the middle of the court hall, Teng Xin didn't kneel on the ground and only laughed coldly.

Teng Wang yelled, "Brazen, you still dare to laugh!"

Teng Xin said, "Of course I dare. To be honest, if Teng Shang hadn't come today, you would not see me and still be alive."

Teng Wang shook in anger. He grabbed a report document on the table in front of him and throw it to Teng Xin's face, "Impudent! Such an unfilial son!"

Teng Xin's expression turned grim for a moment before he laughed loudly and said, "You even know that I'm your son..."

Before his sentence was finished, Teng Xin had gotten up, ripped the ropes binding him and grabbed one of the guards' sword. Teng Xin leaped forward straight to Teng Wang.

Teng Shang, who had been standing at the side saying nothing, was alert when Teng Xin first started to move. He immediately stepped forward and slapped the sword out of Teng Xin's hand. The guards quickly caught Teng Xin and held him down.

Scared by Teng Xin's sudden movement, Teng Wang crouched and hid under the table. Seeing Teng Xin had been subdued, he realized how poorly his action might be in people's eyes. He immediately stood up, but because he stood up too suddenly, he hit his head against the underside of the table; knocking off his crown and loosening the hairpin binding his hair.

Teng Wang made a mess out of his own appearance right in front of everyone. His face quickly turned from blushing red to green, and then from green to purple. He yelled to one of his attendant to bring him a sword; vowing to behead Teng Xin right there, right now.

The officials closest to Teng Wang held him back and plead not to do it. Since ancient times, no king was ever recorded killing his own offspring. Even if the Imperial Children rebelled against the king, the king could only send people to subdue the rebellion but never kill his children. If this time Teng Wang killed his own son, it would definitely cause an uproar among his people.

Teng Shang stayed silent while everyone else tried to persuade Teng Wang against beheading Teng Xin. It seemed like since meeting Xue Junliang, Teng Shang was even more aware how incompetent Teng Wang was. Was this man really the king of the country Teng Shang had been loyal to all these years?