Chapter 1109: You Failed the Task This Time
Mu Xue was dragging a corpse, and with so many people surrounding her, escaping was nearly impossible. In the end, she was arrested by the imperial guards.
Mu Nichang’s hand was still tightly grabbing onto Mu Xue. The corpse was already turning cold, but her grip hadn’t loosened in the slightest.
The guards spent a long time trying to peel off her hand, but still couldn’t.
In the ancient era, people tended to be superstitious. They all said that the emperor’s departed spirit was haunting Mu Xue for vengeance, that was why her hand continued to keep a death grip on the crown prince.
In the end, it took a great deal of effort to finally separate the two. Mu Nichang’s hand was already fixed in the shape, her fingers could no longer be closed nor straightened. Her state looked very tragic.
Meanwhile, there were several bruised prints on Mu Xue’s wrist left by Mu Nichang’s grip. How much hatred must Mu Nichang have had for her dying grip to have such strength?
Mu Xue was thrown into the imperial prison and Mu Qing took out the inheritance decree. After having the emperor buried, she ascended to the throne as quickly as possible.
However, Mu Qing’s position on the throne wasn’t stable. The ministers refused to accept Mu Qing’s right to govern, especially since her status was very low. She was a child of the cold palace and her father was a consort that had been thrown into the cold palace.
Mu Qing followed the list of names that Ning Shu had given her before and first captured a large group of the ministers to punish as an example to the others.
To prevent any mishaps, Mu Qing wanted to directly bestow a death punishment to Mu Xue who was currently in the imperial prison. She didn’t dare to be careless around someone that the old witch had used her own life to beat. Mu Qing felt that the old witch knew that she didn’t have long to live, so she decided to frame Mu Xue with her own death.
That was why Mu Xue had to die.
Furthermore, rumors were now spreading that she wasn’t the deceased emperor’s daughter. This sort of rumor was very bad for her since she had just ascended to the throne.
Especially since this rumor was very fleshed out. It said that she was the illicit child of an affair between her father and a court lady.
She didn’t have the bloodline of the emperor. That meant that Mu Xue had the right to succeed to the throne.
Mu Qing knew that since she had already gone this far, there was no longer any paths of retreat. It was all because of the old witch. The witch must be really happy right now, this was probably exactly the outcome that she had wanted.
To strengthen her status, and to make sure that the ministers stopped thinking about Mu Xue, this heir apparent, Mu Qing publicly heard Mu Xue’s case. She had Mu Xue’s crimes of killing her sister and her mother written in large characters and spread throughout the entire nation. She wanted the ministers and the public to see if someone like this could become emperor.
How could someone this heartless possibly have the right to become emperor?
Mu Xue simply looked at Mu Qing coldly. She said with a scoff, “You’re simply a lowly imposer. If I’m not worthy of being emperor, could it be that you’re worthy? You’re nothing but the child of a lowly court lady. How can you possibly be mentioned on equal terms with me?”
Mu Qing also had her doubts about whether or not she was actually that old witch’s child, but she didn’t let anything show on her face and said mildly, “We are the decreased emperor’s child. How could the great matters of a nation be trifled with? How could Imperial Mother possibly make such a rash decision? Imperial Mother had passed the inheritance to us, so we must be the Mu family’s child. On the contrary, you had actually committed such a deranged act due to fear that Imperial Mother would dispose of your status.”
In the end, Mu Xue was beheaded. It wasn’t that Mu Xue didn’t want to make one last struggle, but that she really didn’t have as many resources in her hand as Mu Qing. Mu Nichang had given Mu Qing all of her military seals.
To force the regime to change hands required power, and other than the position of heir apparent, she had no other advantage. The victor became king and the loser became the bandit. Even if Mu Qing didn’t have Mu Nichang’s bloodline, the person sitting on the throne was Mu Qing.
After Mu Xue died, Mu Qing held a large funeral for her. Her behavior was that of a just emperor that complied with the standards.
When Mu Xue died, Liu Changqing also committed suicide in Phoenix Perch Palace, so Mu Qing had no choice but to hold another large funeral. She had prepared three consecutive funerals in a single month.
…
When Zhang Jiasen got back to the system space, the system said in its cold mechanical voice, “You failed the task this time.”
Zhang Jiasen rubbed his forehead, then said mildly, “I’m not really used to using a woman’s body. I’m suspicious of Mu Nichang’s identity.”
“She’s a tasktaker,” said the system coldly.
Zhang Jiasen pressed his lips together, then asked, “Can you find out who it is?”
“All the assistant systems are independent and cannot investigate another task-taker’s information.” The system’s voice was cold and mechanical.
Zhang Jiasen couldn’t shake off the feeling that this tasktaker was a bit familiar. Every single move of hers was familiar. If his guess wasn’t wrong, it was probably ‘Miao Miaomiao’.
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