The Gilded Cage - Chapter 137

The first thing that happened was that Qi Mu suddenly submitted a letter of resignation. (1)

The Empress Dowager and Qi Mu have seen a lot, but they have never seen such a battle, being pointed by numerous cold, sharp knives. No one could be calm.

They held their breath for a moment in silence, before Empress Dowager Qi clutched the armrests on the side of the couch and asked in a cold voice, “You are so open, acting in a disorderly manner. Are you not afraid that you will not be able to plug the world’s mouth and sit on the throne!

“Can’t plug the mouths of the people?” Xiao Kezhi asked calmly, as if he had heard some unbelievable strange story. Sizing up the two, he added “Why should I bother with such a thought? The person who should be worried is you.”

He waved his hand at Jin Jiang, instructing him to present a stack of bound papers that he had prepared.

The two Qi family members looked at each other in disbelief. Qi Mu took it with a sober face and brought it to the Empress Dowager, flipping through it together, but the more they looked, the more frightened they felt, not knowing what to do.

In the stack of books in their hands, they clearly recorded the biographies of all the Qi family members who had joined the court and their family members’ various acts in the past seven or eight years, including the contents of the officials’ records, as well as the things they had desperately tried to erase from the case files, the shameful things, from the forced occupation of people’s land, the embezzlement of tax money, to the bullying of men and women, deceiving the emperor; almost nothing was left out.

“The first thing you need to do is to get the information you need.” The more Qi Mu looked at it, the more frightened he was, he acted as if the volume in his hand were as heavy as a thousand pounds.

The first part of the story was not even a big deal, they let the officials underneath handle it directly, who knew that the emperor would find out everything!

“These years, the Qi family stands too high.” Xiao Kezhi methodically said, “Forget to look down. There are so many poor officials who are unable to get promoted because of the Qi family and other big families. You always turned a blind eye to them and suppressed them.

Most of these cold officials had real talent, so although their official positions were not high, most of them were able to contact and collect more things than the Qi family could. These years, Xiao Kezhi secretly obtained these people’s support in order to grasp enough information, step by step to build up strength at the top.

Qi Mu stared at him wordlessly, but Empress Dowager Qi suddenly calmed down and whispered, “Emperor, do you really think that with these charges, you can bring down the Qi family? A great clan that has lasted for hundreds of years, to put it mildly, that has lasted longer than even the Great Liang Dynasty?”

“The Empress Dowager is too worried. I never thought of using these to crush anyone, otherwise, I wouldn’t have waited until today to take them out.” Xiao Kezhi placed his hands behind his back, raising his eyes to the vast sky outside the hall door, and leisurely said, “But, people’s words can be feared. The Qi family is related to the Emperor. How many big families are eyeing this spot? If I mention these old stories in court, what do you think they will do?”

Empress Dowager Qi smiled and was silent.

What would they do? They would seize the opportunity to try to pull the Qi family down from their present high position so that they could get a share of the pie.

In this way, although it would not uproot the great family that has lasted for hundreds of years, it would probably cause them to fall into ruin from then on.

“When did you start preparing for this?” Her original anger was crushed a little, turning into fine sand that slipped away hurriedly.

Assembling such an exhaustive volume was obviously not something that could be done overnight. She had been working hard in Changan for many years and thought she had everything firmly in her hands, but she did not expect that in Ganzhou, the northwestern part of the country that had long been ignored by her, an unassuming concubine son had been planning to seize power and usurp the throne!

“It’s been eight years.” Xiao Kezhi slowly turned around, and the bright sunlight shone behind him, setting his figure taller and taller, “It’s just that you were in Changan and have never noticed it.”

Somehow, Qi Mu suddenly remembered something and could not help but stare at it with wide eyes, asking, “When someone proposed to me that the King of Qin could first return to Changan to replace the Crown Prince, could it also be–”

“Not bad.” Xiao Kezhi revealed a smile, looking at Qi Mu’s heart getting colder and colder, “It was also arranged by me.”

Qi Mu fiercely stiffened, and then his body went soft, almost sliding down from the couch.

The matter has come to this point, it seems that they no longer have any certainty, their every move had long been in the other party’s calculations.

“It was I who underestimated you.” Empress Dowager Qi slowly closed her tired eyes, her hands gently folded, sighing feebly, “What do you want, just say it.”

“Don’t worry, Empress Dowager, I don’t like unnecessary fighting. The Qi family just needs to be more peaceful. I can always still use it.” He said, finally handing the long sword back to Jin Jiang, nodding his chin in Qi Shenxiang’s direction, “Don’t presume to treat me like the previous emperor at will.”

With these words, it was implied that he was no longer planning to marry Lady Qi.

Empress Dowager Qi and Qi Mu did not speak. Qi Shenxiang, who had been standing silently on the side, pinched the corner of her coat, but finally could not help herself and said softly, “This sixth young lady also does not want to marry His Majesty.”

This idea has been in her mind for a long time, but every time she wanted to say it, she was blocked by her aunt and father.

Today, when she saw how strong the Emperor was, and how he had beaten his aunt and father into submission, she knew that the marriage would not be possible.

A sigh of relief, at the same time, could not help but have a few reminisces on what she had lost.