NFBE Chapter 191 Shen Yuchen Uses Palace Coup to Depose Empress
Chapter 191 Shen Yuchen Uses Palace Coup to Depose Empress
Shen Sangwan arrived at the palace a few quarters of an hour earlier than scheduled and wanted to go to Wen Yuening to curry favor. However, when she returned to Weiyang Palace, she was greeted by the Empress Dowager, who had been brought back by Shen Yuchen.
"Didn't we say we'd bring them back in a few days? Why are they already in the palace today?"
"My son, I send my regards to my mother."
The Empress Dowager sat on the high seat, with Shen Yuchen sitting below her, and Wen Yuening kneeling on the ground in the middle.
The atmosphere was quite strange. Shen Sangwan couldn't figure out what was going on, so she could only pay her respects to the Empress Dowager first.
"Awan, Prime Minister Wen has colluded with the enemy, handing over the defense of Qinzhou to the Northern Witches. Last night, the entire Wen clan was imprisoned. As a woman of the Wen clan, what do you think should be done with the Empress?"
The Empress Dowager lowered her eyes slightly, her voice was very penetrating, but Shen Sangwan could not tell whether she was happy or angry.
She glanced at Shen Yuchen, but he didn't give her any hints.
"No, I'm just leaving the palace for a short trip, what's going on here?"
"Ah Wan—?"
Seeing that Shen Sangwan hadn't responded for a while, the Empress Dowager called out to her again.
"Mother, I believe..."
"I believe that since the Empress is a woman of the Wen family, she should also be treated the same as other women of the Wen family..."
"Mother, this is inappropriate!"
The Empress Dowager had barely uttered two sentences when Shen Sangwan loudly rebuked and interrupted her.
"I'm sorry, my son."
Realizing she had gone too far, Shen Sangwan immediately softened her voice, "Mother, A-Ning has been secretly helping me all along, and during the palace coup, she was wholeheartedly protecting A-Chen. How can we implicate A-Ning in Prime Minister Wen's mistakes..."
As she spoke, Shen Sangwan herself lost confidence. After all, the rule here was collective punishment, and Shen Yucheng had only imprisoned the Wen family members without implicating their entire families, which was already a great act of mercy.
What's wrong with this little emperor? He's usually so protective of his older sister, why isn't he saying a word today?
Kneeling next to Wen Yuening, Shen Sangwan stole a glance at Shen Yuchen and also took a look at Wen Yuening's expression.
But it was as if they had agreed beforehand; they had straight faces and couldn't glean any useful information.
“What Awan said makes sense, but…”
The Empress Dowager paused for a moment, not continuing, leaving Shen Sangwan in a state of ambiguity.
"Mother, I am concerned for A-Ning. Please spare her."
"I'm going to die sooner or later anyway. I had planned to discuss it privately with the Empress Dowager at a suitable time, but this surprise attack leaves me with no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it."
As he bowed and kowtowed, the hall fell silent.
After a long while, seeing no response, Shen Sangwan stood up and looked at the Empress Dowager on the high seat.
At this moment, Shen Yuchen smiled and said, "Mother, you see, what I said is right. My elder sister is usually decisive and efficient in handling other matters, but when it comes to herself, if we don't add fuel to the fire, I don't know how long she will hesitate."
Somewhat stunned, Shen Sangwan belatedly realized that she had been tricked.
Then the Empress Dowager came down and helped Wen Yuening up, saying, "Yuening, you've been kneeling for so long today, please get up."
So... I'm an outsider?
Why isn't anyone helping me up?!
Heartbroken, Shen Sangwan pouted and got up, her face showing some displeasure. "When did Mother and Achen start learning bad habits? Now they're even teasing me. From now on, I will never want to talk to Mother again."
"Shen Yuchen had already taken out the imperial edict to depose the empress and another edict to reward her for her meritorious service in protecting the emperor. But when he heard Shen Sangwan's words, he paused in his hand as he handed them over."
"Mother, from what my elder sister said, it seems she doesn't like the Empress very much. Perhaps we should just abandon this imperial edict to depose the Empress that has already been stamped."
The Empress Dowager nodded in agreement.
"I think what Ah Chen said is..."
“Now that the imperial edict has been drafted and stamped with the imperial seal, how can it be declared invalid?”
Shen Sang snatched the imperial edict before going out that night and tucked it into her bosom like a precious treasure, afraid that the other party would take it back.
When the others saw Shen Sangwan's appearance, they couldn't help but laugh.
There were only Shen Sangwan and three others in the hall, and she didn't care much, since Wen Yuening's identity issue had been resolved so easily.
I thought I would have to put in a lot more effort to get it done, but I never expected that the Empress Dowager and the young emperor had already discussed it in private.
"Your Majesty, I thank you for your kindness."
After receiving the imperial edict and confirming its accuracy, Shen Sangwan knelt down and kowtowed again, and Wen Yuening followed suit.
Apart from Madam Liang and her younger sister, Wen Yuexi, whom she couldn't bear to implicate, she felt no pity for the rest of the Wen family.
After telling Shen Yucheng about this, out of respect for Shen Sangwan, he chose to turn a blind eye and let her send someone to secretly get the person out while he was in prison, and then change his appearance so that he would no longer be a government slave.
Wen Yuening was grateful for Shen Yuchen's repeated leniency, and she knew that all of this was because of Shen Sangwan.
So after everyone left, Wen Yuening simply held Shen Sangwan and fell asleep.
The fact that they were so "kind" as to not cause any trouble for her made Shen Sangwan feel somewhat flattered.
Looking at the person in her arms, she didn't dare to believe it was real until late at night. Happiness came so suddenly that she was caught off guard, and she eventually fell asleep in a daze.
The following day, Shen Yuchen's decree to depose the empress was proclaimed to the world. He also acknowledged that Wen Yuening had rendered meritorious service in protecting him during the palace coup. Originally, his merits and demerits were to be balanced, but upon learning of Wen Yuening's superb medical skills, he bestowed upon her a courtyard as a clinic and specially granted her a golden signboard. The royal family would provide the medicines, and all the people of the capital could receive treatment at low prices.
Although the court had some objections to Shen Yuchen's move, they did not voice them during the morning court session.
An official wanted to take the opportunity to propose the re-establishment of an empress, but Shen Yuchen stopped him with the words, "The affairs of the previous dynasty are complicated."
Since Shuyi was not interested, Shuyun served him, but when she heard the summons from inside, Shuyun hesitated to go in.
I don't know when I had this brain fart, but I remembered how Prince Sheng's mansion had set a trap for Wen Yuening. Now that I see her sleeping openly with my prince, I'm afraid she'll cause me trouble.
It took him quite a while to finally push the door open and go in.
"Shuyun, are you feeling unwell?"
Shen Sangwan noticed that Shuyun's complexion wasn't very good and assumed that she had started her period. She thought she would let her rest and find someone else to come.
"I'm... I'm fine."
He carefully arranged his toiletries, then lowered his head, not daring to utter a word.
Wen Yuening never took those things to heart; she simply found it quite amusing to listen to Shuyun's inner thoughts.
Every now and then, they would pretend to scare the other party.
As Shuyun was leaving, she almost knocked over the copper basin. Seeing Shuyun slink away, Shen Sangwan was a little confused.
During breakfast, I couldn't help but ask, "Ah Ning, don't you think Shu Yun is acting strange today?"
Wen Yuening, who was drinking porridge, put down her spoon. "She's probably feeling a little guilty!"
Somewhat confused, Shen Sangwan pondered carefully, recalling the things that had connected the two of them before.
"Oh right, I just remembered, that day you sneaked into the Prince's mansion and it seems you were tied up by Shuyun. I've always been quite curious about how Shuyun managed to ambush you."
Wen Yuening's face stiffened upon hearing this.