The protagonist of this crossover film and television series is disrupting the plot again.

Chapter 546 Joy of Life 102

Snapped!

Li Chengze slammed his chopsticks on the table, his face as cold as ice: "What a piece of trash!"

It was lunchtime, and the food had just been set on the table. Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu were inside as usual.

Seeing their prince suddenly become angry, the two were somewhat confused and quickly stepped forward to ask, "Your Highness, what has happened?"

Li Chengze frowned as he glanced at the food on the table and said in an icy voice, "Yan Xiaoyi led so many people to surround the Censorate, yet Fei Jie still managed to escape and come to my residence to cause trouble."

"Fei Jie?" Xie Bi'an reacted quickly, instantly realizing the seriousness of the situation. He looked at the food on the table in shock: "Your Highness, are you saying that Fei Jie has infiltrated our residence and poisoned the food you are eating?"

Fan Wujiu's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he blurted out in disbelief, "How dare Fei Jie be so bold as to poison you?"

Suddenly, the atmosphere inside the room became tense.

Fei Jie, as the foremost expert in poisons in his time, was undoubtedly skilled.

Generally speaking, once a martial artist reaches the ninth rank, they become immune to all poisons. However, Fei Jie was able to develop a deadly poison that even a ninth-rank expert would find difficult to resist, which shows just how skilled he was.

However, no matter how skilled he was in using poison, he was eventually discovered by Li Chengze.

Li Chengze wanted to use Emperor Qing to eliminate the Censorate, and naturally he expected that Chen Pingping would not surrender easily and would definitely have a backup plan.

Unexpectedly, Chen Pingping was so decisive. No sooner had he been summoned to the palace by Emperor Qing than Fei Jie had already infiltrated the Prince's residence and poisoned him.

Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu exchanged a glance, then bowed and said, "Your Highness, your subordinates will immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the entire mansion to find Fei Jie's whereabouts."

After saying that, the two turned to leave, but Li Chengze raised his hand to stop them.

Li Chengze turned his gaze towards the palace, his brows furrowing slightly, a hint of confusion appearing on his face.

He thought he heard two explosions just now.

But how could there be an explosion in the palace?

Even if Emperor Qing wanted to test gunpowder, he should have found a safe and secluded place; he couldn't have rashly conducted the experiment in the palace.

Thinking that Chen Pingping was still in the palace, an unbelievable thought suddenly flashed through Li Chengze's mind: Could it be that Chen Pingping brought gunpowder into the palace and tried to blow up Emperor Qing?

The thought of this possibility seemed unbelievable to Li Chengze, but upon closer examination, it wasn't entirely impossible.

However, given the danger of gunpowder, especially with Emperor Qing already knowing about it, how did Chen Pingping manage to smuggle it in?

Ever since he learned that Emperor Qing was a Grandmaster, Li Chengze no longer dared to use his mental power to spy on the palace, for fear of causing unnecessary trouble. As a result, he had no idea what was happening in the palace.

However, Li Chengze quickly calmed down and began to analyze the situation.

"Emperor Qing has been concealing his true cultivation level. If the explosion just now was indeed caused by Chen Pingping, even if Emperor Qing is unharmed, to ensure the smooth progress of the Great Eastern Mountain Plan, he will definitely choose to continue hiding his Grandmaster identity and spread the news of his serious injury at the opportune moment to lull Si Gu Jian and Ku He into a false sense of security."

'Unexpectedly, Chen Pingping has unwittingly helped Emperor Qing.'

Everyone knows that Grandmasters possess extraordinary martial arts skills and are omnipotent; one man can be worth an entire nation. How could they be easily injured?

"Emperor Qing used Hong Sixiang as a shield before, but now that Hong Sixiang is dead, he's worried about how to continue concealing his cultivation level. His current 'serious injury' conveniently clears him of suspicion."

'But if that's really the case, then I can't just be completely unaffected.'

He has already pinned all his previous actions on Chen Pingping, and now is the crucial moment to solidify the evidence against him and completely clear himself of suspicion.

Only by getting involved in this turmoil can one appear more authentic and believable.

Thinking of this, Li Chengze narrowed his eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, picked up his chopsticks again, ignored Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu's advice, turned each dish over, and then symbolically ate two bites.

Fei Jie's purpose in this trip was to poison Li Chengze, so the poison he used was naturally extraordinary and extremely potent.

In the blink of an eye, the deadly poison in the food quickly invaded Li Chengze's body and spread along his blood vessels.

puff--

A mouthful of blood gushed from Li Chengze's mouth, and his face turned deathly pale.

Although Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu already knew that he had deliberately taken poison, they were still flustered. Xie Bi'an quickly stepped forward to support the swaying Li Chengze.

Fan Wujiu shouted, "Quickly, fetch the imperial physician! His Highness has been poisoned!"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

As soon as the news of Li Chengze's poisoning spread, the Second Prince's residence was thrown into chaos.

Amidst the chaos, Li Chengze, despite his weakened state due to poisoning, said, "You two, just stay in this position... don't give yourself away."

This play has only just begun; every detail must be flawless in order to gain people's trust.

Inside the palace, the sudden death of the Third Prince followed by news of an attack on Emperor Qing struck like thunderbolts, plunging the entire palace into chaos.

Upon hearing the news, several high-ranking officials rushed to the palace to inquire about Emperor Qing's current condition.

Although it may sound ruthless, a country cannot be without a ruler for a day. If Emperor Qing really cannot hold on, they must take advantage of his last breath to determine the next emperor.

Only when the imperial physician announced that although Emperor Qing was seriously injured, his life was not in danger, did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

At the same time, the eldest prince rushed to Xingqing Palace upon hearing the news.

Because of Ning Cairen, the First Prince treats Chen Pingping differently.

When he heard that it was Chen Pingping who assassinated Emperor Qing, his first reaction was to shake his head in disbelief: "Dean Chen has always been loyal to His Majesty, how could he possibly assassinate His Majesty?"

Gong Dian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurriedly explained, "Your Highness, Chen Pingping's assassination attempt on His Majesty is now supported by witnesses and evidence, and it is definitely not a frame-up by the Imperial Guards."

At this point, some time had passed since Emperor Qing was attacked. The Imperial Guards had discovered the suspicious details about the wheelchair and confirmed that the armrests were the tools Chen Pingping used to assassinate Emperor Qing.

Many people clamored to tear Chen Pingping to pieces to avenge Emperor Qing.

At this moment, the white-haired Empress Dowager and the Empress, who was depressed all day because the Crown Prince had gone to Nanzhao, also rushed over, their faces showing undisguised anxiety.

Knowing that Emperor Qing's life was not in danger, the two breathed a sigh of relief. Then, the Empress Dowager noticed that only the eldest prince was present, so she asked why Li Chengze was not there.

Gong Dian just wiped away the cold sweat, which then broke out again: "The Second Prince has been poisoned and is in critical condition. The imperial physicians are currently doing their best to save him. The culprit has not yet been caught, but it looks like the work of Fei Jie from the Censorate."

The Empress Dowager was stunned upon hearing this, somewhat disbelieving her ears, and asked again. After receiving a confirmed reply from the palace official, she swayed violently, almost losing her balance.

Seeing this, the Empress quickly stepped forward to support the Empress Dowager, while her mind raced, thinking: she must immediately send a letter to the Crown Prince, urging him to return to the capital as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation.

Now that the Third Prince is dead and Li Chengze is on the verge of death, only the First Prince, born of a foreign race, remains, and he is not a threat at all.

If something were to happen to His Majesty, the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne would be a matter of course.

Thinking of this, the Empress couldn't help but feel secretly pleased.

They thought the mother and son were in dire straits, but unexpectedly, the situation took a dramatic turn for the better.

Although she deeply loved Emperor Qing, the harm he caused her was even greater.

If Emperor Qing were to pass away, she might grieve for a few days, but the thought of the good days to come filled the Empress with joy.

Those around her were extremely busy, trying to soothe the Empress Dowager's breathing and finding the imperial physician to administer acupuncture.

However, the Empress Dowager was old and frail, and eventually could not hold on any longer and fainted.

Several senior officials acted decisively to suppress this series of bad news; otherwise, the entire capital might have descended into chaos.

Emperor Qing was, after all, a Grandmaster. Even though Chen Pingping was only inches away from him when he fired the shot, an ordinary person would have been killed on the spot.

However, Emperor Qing, with his strong physique and abundant internal energy, managed to withstand this attack.

Even afterwards, he remained sober, but quickly realized that this was an excellent opportunity to conceal his cultivation level.

He then suppressed his urge to kill Chen Pingping on the spot, leaving only a wisp of true energy to protect his heart meridian, and allowed the injury to spread before collapsing.

At this moment, Emperor Qing hated Chen Pingping to the core. To prevent him from committing suicide, he knocked him unconscious with a piece of wood before he fell down.

When he woke up again, it was already late at night.

During this time, the eldest prince, the royal family members led by Prince Jing, and several important officials in the court waited outside the palace. Upon hearing that Emperor Qing had awakened, they hurriedly went inside to pay their respects.

Emperor Qing forced himself to inquire about the current situation. After learning that Li Chengze was poisoned and still in danger, he became even more certain that Fei Jie was behind Li Chengze's previous serious illnesses.

He immediately ordered the raid on the Control Yuan on the grounds that Chen Pingping was plotting treason, and detained all officials of the Control Yuan, high and low, with the order that anyone who resisted be killed without exception.

Upon receiving this imperial edict, Yan Ruohai was struck dumb, as if by lightning.

Chen Pingping did not tell the Control Yuan about his secret gunpowder manufacturing for two reasons: firstly, to prevent the information from being leaked, and secondly, to avoid implicating the entire Control Yuan if the incident were to occur.

He even instructed Yan Ruohai that if anything happened to him, Yan Ruohai must immediately distance himself from the Supervisory Council, as this was the only way to protect the Supervisory Council to the greatest extent possible.

Therefore, after Chen Pingping was taken away, Yan Ruohai immediately summoned the other heads of the Supervisory Council and forced everyone not to act rashly, attempting to prove the loyalty of the Supervisory Council to Emperor Qing in this way.

However, they ultimately underestimated Emperor Qing's anger at anyone daring to manufacture gunpowder in secret.

If Chen Pingping's only goal was to assassinate Emperor Qing, Emperor Qing might have accepted Yan Ruohai's surrender in order to keep the Censorate as a valuable tool.

However, when it comes to gunpowder, Emperor Qing has zero tolerance for the Censorate.

Even though, apart from Chen Pingping and Shadow, the rest of the Overwatch Council were unaware of the existence of gunpowder.

But what if?

Emperor Qing was unwilling to take this risk.

He could not tolerate even the slightest potential threat to imperial power.

Therefore, adhering to the principle of "better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free," Emperor Qing decisively took swift and decisive measures to completely suppress the Censorate, imprisoning all the officials within the institute and subjecting them to rigorous interrogation.

In particular, Shadow and Fei Jie, as key figures, received special attention from Emperor Qing.

After all these actions, Chen Pingping's assassination attempt on Emperor Qing could no longer be kept secret.

However, Emperor Qing clearly did not intend to conceal this matter. In order to further cover up the news about gunpowder, he ordered the Dali Temple to lead officials from various departments of the court to discuss Chen Pingping's crimes, thus bringing the matter into the open.

The news shocked the entire nation.

From princes and nobles to commoners, no one could believe that the loyal Chen Pingping would commit treason, not only assassinating Emperor Qing but also targeting two princes, leading to the death of the third prince.

But the facts are undeniable.

Amidst the shock, everyone couldn't help but start gossiping among themselves.

Dean Chen has always been His Majesty's confidant, and now he is plotting rebellion without cause; there must be a hidden story behind it.

Chen Pingping's decision to only target Li Chengze and Li Chengping, leaving Li Chengru alone, has sparked much speculation among the public.

Could it be that, without anyone knowing, Dean Chen has already sided with the First Prince? Was this assassination attempt to clear obstacles for the First Prince?

With that thought in mind, everyone's eyes turned to the eldest prince, Li Chengru.

Li Chengru: ...

Fan Xian's true identity has not yet been revealed, and Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping met alone that day, so no one knows what they talked about.

Lacking information, Li Chengru could only analyze based on what he already knew.

Could it be that... after all these years, Dean Chen still harbors deep resentment towards his mother and secretly hates His Majesty for stealing his love, which is why he attempted to assassinate His Majesty, eliminate the second and third sons, and then support himself to ascend to the throne?

When Li Chengru shared his guess with Ning Cairen, she thought it was utter nonsense.

However, even knowing that Chen Pingping had committed a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family, and that pleading for him might implicate her, she still could not stand idly by.

Even if we can't save his life in the end, we should at least try to give him a dignified death and prevent him from suffering more torment in his lifetime.

With this in mind, Consort Ning, who had not seen the emperor for more than ten years, dressed herself and went to Xingqing Palace to see Emperor Qing. Li Chengru also went with Consort Ning.

He naturally understood the criticisms leveled against him by the court officials, and knew that the wisest choice at the moment was to distance himself from Chen Pingping to show his stance, but he still went.

Little did he know that his trip would just confirm Chen Pingping's earlier advice to Emperor Qing to "reconcile father and son."

After being severely reprimanded by Emperor Qing, the mother and son were sent back.