Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

Chapter 286 Jade Fall 23 Should

"Take it off or not?!"

Chu Shikun's voice was like the cold ice of the Nine Netherworld. The tip of the whip was hanging in the air, dripping with a few tiny beads of blood, which were brought out from Chu Shiqi's damaged dragon robe and flesh.

"Don't take it off!"

Chu Shiqi's roar was filled with broken despair and desperate madness. Like a beast cornered, he suddenly jumped up from the cold floor with his last bit of blood and tattered robes, and rushed towards Chu Shikun without hesitation!

He waved his bloody arms, trying to grab the other person, and his nails even scratched Chu Shikun's cuffs!

However, this was just the trapped beast's last struggle. A cold light flashed in Chu Shikun's eyes. Without even using the whip, he simply raised his leg sideways and delivered a sharp side kick, accurately kicking Chu Shiqi in the ribs.

"Ah!" With a muffled groan, Chu Shiqi fell back to the ground again like a kite with a broken string. The severe pain made him curl up, his eyes went black, and even his breath smelled of blood.

Chu Shikun took a step forward, and his heavy combat boots stepped mercilessly on Chu Shiqi's shoulder blades. The enormous force pressed the boy, who was not even seventeen years old, to the ground, making him unable to move!

Then, Chu Shikun leaned over, and with his big hands, he roughly grabbed the front of Chu Shiqi's dragon robe, which had long been tattered by the whip, and suddenly lifted it up! The sound of the cloth tearing was piercing, revealing the equally scarred flesh underneath!

Chu Shikun's face was so close, his breath carrying icy murderous intent and utter contempt. Every word he spoke was like a poisoned ice cone, piercing Chu Shiqi's eardrums and heart. "Chu Shiqi, tell me! How dare you wear my father's dragon robe?! How dare you sit on the stolen throne so brazenly!"

Chu Shiqi was almost suffocated by the pressure, and his chest was in great pain, but Chu Shikun's question was like a thunderbolt that split his chaotic thoughts. He struggled to raise his head, and stared at Chu Shikun with bloodshot eyes. There was pain and madness in his eyes, but deeper, there was a kind of almost stubborn determination!

"Hehe..." He coughed up a trace of blood foam, and shouted hoarsely but confidently: "The throne should belong to me! It was tacitly approved by my father!"

Chu Shikun's grip on his collar suddenly tightened, almost strangling his throat: "When did the Emperor ever acquiesce to you, this evil creature?!"

"The imperial edict is proof! My name is real! It was written by my father himself!" Chu Shiqi gasped for breath, a last-minute light flashing in his eyes. "When I was fifteen, I left the palace to set up my own household... I begged my father to write my name on a poem that would encourage me to succeed... and he agreed! I watched him write my name with my own eyes: 'Chu Shiqi'!"

He panted heavily, each breath expressing his unwavering conviction: "The inscription is carried on a tribute brocade, only used for imperial edicts! It's covered with a thin layer of replaceable silk! Father is well-read and well-versed in legal regulations. How could he not see it?!"

"Father wrote my name on the material of the imperial edict... This is tacit consent! Tacit consent that the throne will be given to me in the future! But because you are here before me and I am still young... I can't rashly appoint the crown prince! It will be decided when I grow up! It's you! Chu Shihuan, Chu Shiyu, and you! Chu Shikun! You are blocking my way!"

Chu Shikun saw the almost insane obsession in his eyes, and his anger intensified, but at the same time, a huge sense of absurdity and sadness surged up. The strength in his hands did not loosen, but his voice was as cold as if it came from the underworld: "Since you are 'confident' that the emperor favors you, why are you so eager to poison him?! You said you would make up your mind when you grow up, but you have grown up!"

This question, like the sharpest knife, instantly pierced through Chu Shiqi's hard shell built of obsession.

The frenzied glint in his eyes suddenly froze, like a popped balloon, quickly dimming. His suppressed body trembled, not from pain, but from a deep-seated weakness. The bravado he had been maintaining collapsed, revealing a bewildered, even aggrieved youth beneath.

"I don't want to either!" Chu Shiqi's voice suddenly changed, with a strong nasal tone. Tears filled her eyes without warning, mixed with the blood on her face and slid down. "I stopped it... I have already reminded my father... The Imperial Hospital has checked it thoroughly... But..."

He choked with sobs, the repressed guilt finally overwhelmed him: "My grandfather and mother said that they couldn't wait any longer... They just acted on their own initiative... I don't know! I warned my father! My father is so smart! Why did they still succeed! I don't know why this happened..."

He collapsed and cried out, like a child who had done something wrong and was powerless to undo it: "But things have come to this... The throne is vacant... I have no choice but to sit on it! Wear the dragon robe that is rightfully mine!"

This cry of utter weakness and shirking of responsibility once again fueled Chu Shikun's anger, which had been slightly suppressed! His hand, which was grabbing Chu Shiqi's collar, was shaking violently due to extreme anger, his knuckles were pinched white, and he almost crushed the tattered dragon robe and the flesh underneath!

"Sit on it?! 'Only sit on it!'" Chu Shikun's voice lowered, yet it was even more chilling than his previous roar: "Xian Guifei! Prime Minister Zhou! These two are the main culprits who plotted to poison my father! Are you just going to turn a blind eye?! How can you sit on the throne with their help and feel at ease?! You sit on it, and then what?! You still indulge them in their high positions and live a life of luxury!"

His face approached Chu Shiqi's tearful face, his eyes burning with a fire of destruction: "You wear this dragon robe, enjoy the power gained by killing your father and usurping the throne, and to your father's murderer - what did you do?! Tell me!"

Chu Shiqi was completely crushed by the hatred and questioning that threatened to consume him. His eyes were vacant, filled with helplessness and bewilderment, like a lost child. His lips trembled, and he finally let out a broken, weak whine, as if all his strength had been exhausted. "They... are my mother... my grandfather... They did this for my own good... What can I do? What can I... do... to them?"

Although the boy's voice was low, Chu Shikun seemed to be awakened by something! Looking at the pair of confused and desperate eyes under him, some past events buried deep in his heart suddenly emerged...

...

Still wearing his elaborate gilded armor, the man strode quickly into the palace second only to the emperor's residence! The empress's chambers!

The graceful queen was teasing the fish in the pond with a few pieces of fish food. When she heard a sound coming from afar, she raised her eyes and glanced over.

Seeing the uninvited figure, instead of being angry, she was filled with joy, tears welling up in her eyes! She dropped the fish feed in her hand and hurried forward to greet him: "Kun'er! You are back! Every day since you left for the war, your mother has been worried about you and couldn't sleep or eat..."

The man approached with a slight pause in his expression, but then he shouted angrily, "My second brother told me long ago that he wouldn't fight with me! Why did Mother secretly kill me?!"

The Queen's joy at the reunion was somewhat dampened, but it was hard for her to be angry with her own child. She simply said with some disdain, "What you said, won't change?"

The man was even more furious, "But my second brother clearly has no such intentions! He indulged himself in pleasure as soon as he left the palace, which shows me that he has no ambitions! How could the Queen Mother be so despicable as to resort to such a dirty scheme!"

"Dirty?"

Even though her son spoke rudely, the queen didn't take it seriously. She smiled calmly and said, "Winners are kings and losers are bandits. How can it be despicable? I just had someone put a bamboo green snake on his bed. He's lucky, but unfortunately he's a coward. This frightened him... hehe..."

"Mother!" the man angrily interrupted his mother's laughter.

Seeing her son's displeasure, the Queen stopped smiling and sarcastically. She turned around and picked up a few fish pellets from the plate held by the kneeling palace maid. She said quietly, "I only released the Bamboo Leaf Green. Since he is already inhumane, he will not have any offspring, and therefore has no right to compete with you. And why did he take the wrong medicine and become demented..."

The man was stunned for a moment, and it took him a long while to understand the underlying meaning of his mother's words. He subconsciously wanted to refute her, but his mind was aware of the extremely cruel possibility behind her words... In the end, he only parted his lips slightly and remained speechless...

The Queen held a fish in her hand and shook it on the surface of the water. The fish in the pond opened their mouths wide and scrambled to follow her hand. "As long as the throne of the Crown Prince remains vacant, we cannot prevent others from having improper ambitions. If Chu Shiqiong doesn't fight for it, others will surely come to fight for it."

Even though he had been through the baptism of the north wind, his face, not yet twenty, was still young and handsome. But now, a bitter look appeared on his face. He whispered, "But since we know that my second brother won't fight, why should we let that poisonous snake go..."

After swaying for a long time, the hand finally dropped a small piece of fish food, but how could the fish in the pond share it? Instead, because of this piece of fish food, the fish fluttered around the hand even more actively!

The queen's graceful face twisted slightly, and she spoke in a suppressed voice, "I'm not plotting Chu Shiqiong's life or death! I want him to know that even if he doesn't establish a crown prince, no one else can compete for it! He can protect him in the palace, but can he still keep a clean record outside the palace?!"

With a "plop" sound, the fisherman suddenly picked up the plate full of fish feed and threw it into the pond along with the porcelain plate!

Anger rang out from between the Queen's teeth: "Every one who is released will be deposed! I don't believe that he will not establish you until all those bastards below are dead!"

"Mother! I don't need you to do this!"

The man frowned, his voice low but full of undeniable righteousness: "You should also know the case of the previous prince. His mother promoted him to the position of crown prince and managed everything for him, but she ended up raising him into an incompetent useless person!"

"Father defeated me personally, so he will certainly take this as a lesson! If I don't have talent, I won't be able to stay as the Crown Prince! On the contrary, as long as Father knows that I am good enough, he will recognize me sooner or later!"

"Good enough?" The Queen turned abruptly, her graceful mask shattered. Years of suppressed resentment and unwillingness burned in her eyes. Her voice pierced the tranquility of the palace sharply, "Kun'er! You're already good enough! Wen, which teacher in the palace hasn't said that you are a brilliant writer? Wu, your victory over the northern barbarians during this expedition to Mobei is not considered an excellent achievement!"

"If the court and the harem hadn't repeatedly tested him, and he still refused to appoint a crown prince, why would my mother have gone to such lengths to take action against that useless person? This isn't a matter of life and death for one useless person, it's a warning to others! I want him to know that if he doesn't appoint a crown prince, let alone wait for a better one than you, the lives of his children will be in jeopardy!"

"Mother!" Chu Shikun interrupted her again, but then paused with a complicated expression. He had just learned that his father was still not satisfied with his triumphant return... An inexplicable bitterness crept into his heart, but he quickly suppressed it, saying in a low and firm voice, "I must be lacking something. If I can make up for it, my father will make me the heir."

"You lack nothing!" The Queen became even more furious, her voice rising, filled with deep injustice and grievance for her son. "You are the eldest legitimate son! And I am the original wife, welcomed into the Imperial Palace in a grand sedan chair carried by eight men! His ascension to this throne was in no small part due to the contributions of your uncle Zhang, who went there before you! The throne of Crown Prince should be yours, both morally and logically!"

She took a sudden step forward, her well-maintained, armored hands trembling slightly. She wanted to touch her son's youthful yet resolute face, but stopped mid-move, ultimately only tightly grasping the edge of his cold arm armor. Her voice suddenly became choked with sobs, filled with a mother's most primitive heartache:

"Kun'er... do you know how your mother endured the bittersweet days in this deep palace while you were away in battle?!"

"How cold is the wind and snow in Mobei? How sharp are the swords and arrows? How cruel are those barbarians who eat raw meat and drink blood? Just thinking about it makes my heart ache!"

The Queen's eyes were filled with deep emotion, reflecting on her own flesh and blood. There was no arrogance, calculation, or resentment in her gaze; it was simply the pure sorrow of a mother looking at her child. "You've done well enough! Who in the whole court, civil or military, could say you're not good enough? Making you the Crown Prince is what everyone wants!"

"He's the only one who's so greedy! He still wants to wait for something better! But who is better than you? Chu Shiyu? Chu Shihuan? Chu Shijin?"

The Queen's eyes were filled with jealousy again! "Are you still counting on Chu Shiqi from Jinren Palace?! What good can a lowly girl from a lowly family who forgot the favor of her support and betrayed your uncle raise?!"

"Why would he leave the throne, which belongs to you, hanging there so lightly, allowing others to covet it?! And let you pursue it with all your might?!"

Chu Shikun's heart was lightly touched by his mother's heartfelt accusation. He felt the strength and slight tremor of his mother's fingertips on his arm armor. He lowered his eyes, pursed his lips, and his jawline tensed.

He didn't refute it, nor could he refute it. His mother saw clearly the price he paid for that position. Deep down, he understood his mother's anger and paranoia...but he didn't want to admit his dissatisfaction with his father, so he could only silently agree.

But as the biological mother, how could the queen not understand her own child? She felt more and more distressed for her child, and hated the person who made her son suffer more and more!

She leaned closer, her voice low and soothing, yet also testing, "Kun'er... ultimately, the purpose of becoming Crown Prince is to inherit the throne. If he continues to be so stubborn, instead of fighting to the death with those juniors..."

She paused deliberately, observing her son's reaction. Seeing that he didn't immediately object, she continued in a lower, more ambiguous, yet veiled tone, "Why not follow his old ways...directly, stealing the truth!"

The four words "stealing the sky and changing the day" were like a poisoned dagger, making Chu Shikun feel cold all over!

Then he was furious! He knew where his father came from, but this was definitely not the path he would follow!

"Shut up! How dare you have such outrageous thoughts?!"

Chu Shikun suddenly shook off the Queen's hand, as if being burned by a branding iron. A terrifying aura instantly erupted from his entire body! His chest heaved violently, his immense disappointment and overwhelming anger instantly drowning out the bond between mother and son! He stared intently at his mother, who had always been full of tenderness for him, his voice hoarse with extreme anger: "That's my father! Your husband! My father!"

"If you dare to move! Don't blame me for breaking off the relationship between you and me! I will kill my own relatives for the sake of justice!"