Not long after, the messenger rushed back.
The heavy gate of the Imperial Palace was slowly opened from inside. With his eyes becoming deep, Long Tianyu flourished the whip to urge on his horse and entered the Imperial Palace on his galloping horse.
As the crisp sound of hooves echoed inside the Imperial Palace, the palace gate was closed tightly again in the dark.
At this moment, the Emperor was still handling government affairs in the imperial study.
Obviously, Long Tianyu was very familiar with the route. At the gate of the second palace, Long Tianyu dismounted from the horse with the peace treaty in his arms.
With this, their predicament would be resolved with ease.
As such, even someone as steady as Long Tianyu involuntarily felt excited.
However, as soon as he stepped into the scope of the imperial study, he, who had always been sensitive, became tensed in an instant.
There seemed to be something wrong!
Feeling his heart sank, Long Tianyu moved to a heightened state of alert.
The situation was still in flux before he presented the peace treaty to his father.
He walked steadily without making any sound like a cat that would not expose its intention before its prey appeared.
He stiffened all his muscles so that he could react to any unexpected situation at any time.
Finally, he reached the imperial study. As soon as he stepped onto the first step, he paused, as he saw several familiar figures standing outside the imperial study.
Suppressing his astonishment, he continued walking forward and said, “Greetings, Mother.”
In any case, Shangguan Dongzhu was the Empress.
Even in the darkness, the cold phoenix tiara on her head was shining with a graceful and gorgeous luster.
“Well, get up. What brought you into the Imperial Palace so late?” After glancing at Long Tianyu, she, who had a delicate and dignified appearance, said in an indifferent tone as usual, as if she did not care about him, who was the son of a concubine but almost took her son’s place as the Crown Prince.
However, she hid her disgust for him deeply in her eyes.
Hearing her question, Long Tianyu felt his heart skipped a beat. Since his father conferred the title of Imperial Noble Consort on his mother, the Empress had rarely met his father.
Apart from their disgust for each other, more importantly, both the Emperor and the Empress were keenly aware that the fate of the final loser between them was in the hands of the final winner.
If he and his father lost, the throne would fall into the hands of the Empress’s family.
Given the Empress’s character, she definitely couldn’t bear to be the Empress Dowager, who enjoyed the rest of her life in the Imperial Palace.
If he and his father won, he would ascend to the throne and take over the power, and the Long Family would be able to maintain its unshakable position as the royal family of Dajin.
That was the reason why his father chose him as the final beneficiary of this battle.
He had to get rid of the scheming Empress, even if not for the peace of Dajin but for his mother and Lin Mengya!
“I just come to report on completion of a task assigned by my father,” Long Tianyu answered with proper respect.
When the Empress heard this, there was a sparkle in her eyes. Just as she was about to inquire about, a eunuch’s announcement came from inside the imperial study, “Your Grace, Your Highness, His Majesty asks you in.”
The news brought by the eunuch caused ripples in Long Tianyu’s and the Empress’s eyes at the same time.
In particular, the Empress glanced at someone behind her out of the corner of her eye, involuntarily clenched her fists, and replied, “Okay.”
Even now, she could not go against the Emperor’s will, just as she had been slightly inferior to him in their battle before.
They entered the imperial study room almost at the same time. The Emperor looked tired after dealing with government affairs all day long, but his majestic air had a strong deterrent to everyone.
Watching his wife and son bow to him, the Emperor showed some doubts in his eyes.
He was not at all surprised at the visit of his son, who entered the Imperial Palace every day to report on various matters.
But the Empress… seemed to have not appeared in front of him for a long time.
After pondering for a moment, the Emperor asked the two of them to straighten up.
He fixed his sharp eyes on the Empress and found she seemed to have brought another person besides her trusted attendants.
The Emperor no longer had any tender feelings for his wife.
Back then, they married out of interest. Now he had been irritated by the Shangguan Family, which had put pressure on him over and over again, as well as the Empress and the Crown Prince, who had carried out their plots behind his back over the years.
It was even particularly difficult for him to treat her as a guest on the surface.
“Empress, what brought you here?” Frowning tightly, the Emperor asked with an impatient look.
“Your Majesty, I’m here to visit you and to bring you a gift,” the Empress answered.
Compared with the heartless Emperor, the Empress might not have any affection for him.
After years of life in the Imperial Palace, she had been dead to all feelings. Maybe she had dreamed of a joyful married life at the beginning.
However, the Emperor’s indifference had completely turned her, who had been a maiden into the current Empress.
The Empress slightly raised the corners of her mouth to show a perfect smile.
However, her smile meant nothing other than conspiracies.
“Really? What is it? You may leave it here, and I’ll have a look,” the Emperor said.
He, who did not care about her gift, turned his attention back to the reports in front of him without glancing at her.
A cold look flashed across the Empress’s eyes.
But she waved her hand calmly, and a person immediately came out from the attendants behind her and fell on his knees in front of the Emperor.
Long Tianyu took a look at the person, only to find it was a frail man.
Even a simple movement like kneeling on the ground could exhaust him.
After panting for a while, the man finally spoke in a trembling voice, “Your Majesty, I, Shangguan Qingyu, the Second Assistant Inspector, expose Shangguan Lang’s embezzling the military funds, Shangguan Yu, Shangguan Jing and the others’ murdering a pillar of the imperial court and conspiring to rebel. I have written down their grave crimes in the report. Your Majesty, please make a decision as soon as possible!”
In that instant, both the Emperor and Long Tianyu were stunned.
Shangguan Qingyu was Shangguan Dongzhu’s only biological brother, who had recuperated in another place over the years because of his poor health.
He was appointed as the Second Assistant Inspector, which was a sinecure, when the Emperor conferred the title of the Empress on his sister, Shangguan Dongzhu.
Even Long Tianyu did not expect Shangguan Qingyu, who was said to be the weakest member of the Shangguan Family, to do this.
“Is this true?” After pondering for a moment, the Emperor asked slowly with unpredictable emotions in his eyes.
The Empress stayed cold and indifferent even when her brother accused their family members.
Those people Shangguan Qingyu mentioned just now were all her brothers born of concubines.
In this case, the Shangguan Family probably would be doomed.
For the first time, Long Tianyu looked squarely at this man, who seemed to be dying in the next moment.
Although he bowed his head respectfully, even Long Tianyu was a little frightened at the sight of the cruel look on his side face.
Even his smile could be chilling.
Perhaps in the entire Shangguan Family, he was the only one who could be Long Tianyu’s formidable enemy.
“Great! I’ve treated the Shangguan Family well, but I didn’t expect them to do these. Empress, Shangguan Qingyu, Dajin is lucky to have you cooperating to find out the truth and sacrificing ties of blood to righteousness. I’ll deal with it myself. You may leave now,” the Emperor said.
In fact, he had a clear understanding of all these things.
But to his surprise, the Empress and Shangguan Qingyu decisively gave up more than half of the power of the Shangguan Family.
Therefore, he needed to think calmly about what exactly they were up to.
Hearing the Emperor’s words, Shangguan Qingyu did not stand up. Instead, he heavily kowtowed once again before speaking solemnly, “Your Majesty, I’m too ashamed to face you. You’ve been very kind to our Shangguan Family. But they committed such monstrous crimes. I’m also guilty. So please let me end my life!”
After saying that, he crashed into the doorpost of the imperial study.
Of course, it would be impossible for him to succeed in committing suicide.
Long Tianyu saw clearly that he crashed into the place where the Empress’s trusted attendants were standing.
Before he could rush there, he was stopped by them in a bustle.
Nevertheless, before the others could react, he, who was weak, rolled his eyes and directly fainted.
At that instant, the imperial study was in chaos.
Despite his displeasure, the Emperor had to pretend to be concerned about Shangguan Qingyu in front of others.
He said “cool down” several times, and then asked the Empress to take her brother away and comforted her for a while. After that, it finally became quiet.
Long Tianyu stood aside and watched the farce in silence.
However, he tensed up.
This time, the Empress and Shangguan Qingyu put him in a difficult situation.
Even without the peace treaty, the Shangguan Family was kicked out of the competition for power for the time being.
However, both he and his father were well aware that only the Empress’s cooperation with Shangguan Qingyu could turn the Shangguan Family into a sharp sword in the Empress’s hands.
Although the sword now turned into a dagger, it was much sharper than before.
This time, things probably wouldn’t go well.
