The Side Character Wants to Lie Flat

Chapter 570: Chapter 573: Stain

Li Ji had originally thought it was the Emperor who had secretly sent people to contact Li Qi.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

Before leaving his fiefdom, Li Qi had already received a task from Prince Zheng.

Prince Zheng had told him to find a way to see the Emperor after arriving in Shangjing to assess His Majesty’s current condition. If possible, it would be best to also probe the Emperor’s views on reducing the power of the feudatories.

Li Qi did as his father instructed.

During his audience with the Emperor at the palace, he deliberately sent his confidant away.

The confidant secretly slipped some silver to one of the Emperor’s attendants to inquire about His Majesty’s recent situation.

They acted covertly, but the Emperor still noticed.

That very night, someone from the palace secretly appeared at the Prince Zheng Mansion for a clandestine meeting with Li Qi.

As Li Qi spoke to this point, he couldn’t help but cough. An unnatural flush crept over his face, and his reddened eyes were filled with hatred.

Li Ji had someone bring a cup of warm water and helped Li Qi drink it.

After drinking the water, Li Qi felt his throat ease slightly.

He took a breath and continued speaking.

"I knew my father’s plan. He wanted to sound out the Saint.

"If the Saint did not support the reduction of the feudatories, my father could form an alliance with him.

"With them coordinating an attack from both within and without, even the Regent Prince might not be able to withstand it.

"But if the Saint also supported reducing the feudatories, it would mean the matter was already set in stone.

"In that case, my father wouldn’t have to hold onto any false hope and could just burn his bridges."

Li Ji looked at him, his expression blank. "The Saint agreed to an alliance with you?"

Li Qi grinned, his voice growing even more hoarse and grating.

"Yes. The Saint said that reducing the feudatories was the Regent King’s idea alone, and that he did not support it."

Even though he had anticipated this, Li Ji still found it laughable.

The policy to reduce the feudatories was a course of action the Emperor had decided on long ago.

It was just that back then, the Emperor was still in the prime of his life, vigorous and ambitious, not paralyzed in bed and barely clinging to life as he was now.

In order to seize back power, the Emperor was now willing to make a deal with the devil, even going so far as to completely deny the grand ambitions he had once set.

Li Qi said, "As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

"The Saint and I reached a verbal agreement.

"As long as I could help him reclaim his authority, the matter of reducing the feudatories would be completely nullified."

Assassinating the other heirs of the Vassal Kings was the Saint’s first move.

As long as the princely heirs met with disaster in the capital, the Vassal Kings would be thrown into chaos.

Once they descended into chaos, the Regent King would be caught between enemies on all sides. At that point, the Emperor would have an opportunity to seize power.

The plan was feasible.

However, an unexpected variable emerged during its execution.

That variable was the Heir of Prince Yu.

To this day, Li Qi still couldn’t figure out why he had stumbled over the Heir of Prince Yu.

"I had clearly planned everything perfectly. I was just a hair’s breadth away from taking the Heir of Prince Yu’s life. Why did the Regent King show up at that exact moment?"

But Li Ji replied faintly, "It wasn’t a coincidence."

Li Qi’s eyes widened slightly.

"Don’t tell me you two had planned it all along?"

But he immediately dismissed that guess.

"My argument with the Heir of Prince Yu that night was spontaneous. You couldn’t possibly have known the future."

At the banquet that night, everyone had seen the Heir of Prince Yu give the Regent King a dirty look. The Heir stormed off in a huff, leaving the Regent King standing there and causing him a great deal of embarrassment.

Logically, the Regent King should have been angry.

Under those circumstances, the Regent King surely wouldn’t have been in the mood to care whether the Heir of Prince Yu lived or died.

Li Qi naturally thought so too.

He just didn’t know one thing—

The Regent King possessed the Mind Reading Technique.

When the Heir of Prince Yu had used the opportunity to throw a tantrum, the Regent King had already heard their inner thoughts. He knew they weren’t genuinely angry, but were deliberately putting on a show for Li Qi to lure the snake out of its hole.

Li Ji said slowly, "We just came up with it on the spur of the moment."

Li Qi still found it hard to believe.

"If it was just on the spur of the moment, how could you two have coordinated so perfectly?"

Hearing this, Li Ji felt a sense of satisfaction and a pleasant smile appeared on his face.

"What can I say? We’re just that in sync."

Li Qi was speechless. "..."

’What’s with this smug, show-off tone?’

’Regent King, there’s something wrong with you!’

...

Li Ji returned to the Regent Prince Mansion and told Manman about what had happened with Li Qi.

He also took out Li Qi’s written confession.

It was two full pages of paper, filled with words, with Li Qi’s signature mark at the end.

Hua Manman read the contents of the pages, her feelings incredibly complex.

Back then, the reason she had deliberately lured Li Qi into making a move against her was to draw out the snake and catch Li Qi, the true culprit.

By doing so, she could demonstrate her value to the Regent King.

As long as the Regent King took a liking to her, brought her under his wing, and took her in for his own use, she could use his power to escape the Yu Royal Mansion.

Now, Li Qi had been caught, the truth was out, and she had indeed been "taken a liking to" by the Regent King.

The outcome was exactly what she had anticipated.

But the process of getting there was the complete opposite of what she had imagined.

’Is this the legendary "different paths lead to the same destination"?’

Hua Manman put down the confession.

"What does the Prince intend to do next?"

Not that she wanted to pour cold water on the situation, but even with Li Qi’s testimony, there was no way to convict the Emperor.

After all, he was the Emperor!

Even if he was paralyzed and bedridden, he was still the ruler of the nation.

Li Ji smiled meaningfully.

"While I can’t convict him, I can let everyone in the world know about this. As for the Saint’s merits and faults, the people of the world can be the judge."

Hua Manman understood what he meant.

’The damned man is planning to publicize the Emperor’s crimes.’

’This is practically a public execution!’

Li Ji was a man of action.

He immediately sent men to post notices all over the city and beyond, clearly stating the Emperor’s crime of ordering the assassination.

He also ordered people to write the incident into storybooks for storytellers to narrate in various teahouses and taverns. Later, someone even adapted it into an opera that was formally staged in theaters.

And what do you know, these storybooks and operas were quite popular.

After all, the matter involved the current Emperor and was adapted from a true story.

In modern society, this was practically the equivalent of a news story about a certain country’s president hiring a hitman. Who wouldn’t want a piece of such juicy gossip?!

The affair became the biggest sensation in the capital.

Before long, even the Emperor, far away in the Shangjing Palace, heard about it.

He was so enraged that he coughed up blood on the spot.

A terrified Zuo Ji scrambled to call for an Imperial Physician.

The Emperor considered himself to have been a diligent ruler who loved his people since ascending the throne. He had built a good reputation among the common folk. Even if he couldn’t be remembered fondly for centuries, at the very least, the history books would one day evaluate him as an enlightened monarch.

But now, Li Ji had completely ruined his good name.

In the future, whenever the common people spoke of the Emperor, they would be reminded of him hiring an assassin.

This stain would stick to him forever, impossible to wash away.

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