Chapter 236 - The King Huis Failure (2/2)

Time was ticking away, but still nothing happened in the stands. There weren’t even any unusual sounds, not to mention an explosion.

The King Hui shot out his hands to grab the collar of the robe of his henchman standing beside him and demanded, “What’s going on? Why haven’t anybody lit the fuse?”

The henchman had been sweating buckets for some time. “This can’t be happening. I personally sent your order there. They definitely have lit the fuse.”

The reason why the explosives still hadn’t detonated was either they’d suddenly malfunctioned or…

n.o.body dared to give the second possible reason any more thought. The only feeling they had at this moment was dread mixed with anxiety, their legs trembling.

“You good-for-nothing! What are you standing here for?! Go and tell them again! Have them light the fuse immediately!” The King Hui’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

His henchman was terribly scared. Even if he were a fool, he would have realized that the arrangements they’d made in the stands had gone awry, but the King Hui’s face was even more frightening than what might be waiting for him in that place, so he had no alternative but to go there once again to send the instruction, staggering and almost falling over when leaving the King Hui.

Shan Congwen, who had quietly backed off quite a few paces, winked at the man beside him.

He was ready to retreat at any moment.

After quite a while, the one he’d sent to check out the lay of the land was still not back. This was the worse-case scenario.

Shan Congwen stopped hesitating and turned around with the intention to leave.

“Where are you going, King Ming’en?” Shan Congwen’s body went rigid at the sudden voice. He looked in the direction of the speaker only to find that numerous armed men were abruptly showing up one group after another in the woods. The one in command was unfamiliar to him but seemed to be a commander of the Palace Guards.

Naturally the King Hui had also heard this voice. He spun around to look at the countless men that were emerging from the woods, his teeth gritted. “It’s you.”

All these men were palace guards – half of the Palace Guards who were supposed to be on guard duty in the capital city!

“Your Highness, His Majesty requests your presence in the grandstand,” said the commander in an apathetic tone, looking at him with a face just as apathetic.

The King Hui, who felt as though his insides had turned to ice, stared fixedly at these palace guards, unable to understand why his plan had been exposed, and why these hurdles had arisen when there had been an unmistakable prophecy saying that he was to be the next emperor?!

He was toast. He was indeed toast.

“Your Highness, His Majesty requests your presence in the grandstand,” that man repeated.

The King Hui clenched his fists. His subordinates beside him looked at each other, panic was.h.i.+ng over their faces.

…

When the King Hui was marched to the grandstand, many people were still perplexed as to what it was about. Even the King Duan was bewildered for a few moments.

But at the sight of the emperor’s cold and angry countenance, everybody realized the severity of whatever it was that was going on, and none of them dared to utter a word.

A palace guard walked over and reported, “I’m honored to bow before you, Your Majesty. All explosives beneath the grandstand have been dug out.”

Explosives?! Buried right beneath this grandstand?!

Many of those that had come to understand what could’ve happened to them broke out in a cold sweat, their faces drained of colors. Meanwhile, they had got a shrewd idea of what was going on!

The King Duan incredulously eyed the King Hui. He had always believed that the King Hui was stupid, but it’d never crossed his mind that he would resort to adopting this kind of method!

“You! Exactly what have you done, Zhou Mingci?!”

The King Hui raised his head and flicked him a frosty glance, his eyes manifestly suggesting that he was despairing, indignant and unreconciled to the situation.

“What have I done? I’ve tried to get above all of you!”

“Outrageous!” thundered the emperor. “You vile sp.a.w.n. How dare you talk such nonsense when your death is imminent!”

The King Hui, upset by the emperor’s furious face, not resigned to his fate, sniffed, “Father, have you never thought about this? I’m also your son, and I clearly outs.h.i.+ne all of them. Why didn’t you make me the heir to the throne? The Crown Prince is an invalid, yet you’re still going to enthrone him? Aren’t worried that he might not be able to outlive you?!”

“Shut up. Shut up!” The emperor was almost reduced to vomiting blood with ire, repeatedly hitting the armrest of the chair so heavily that the armrest almost broke.

“Zhou Mingci, are you out of your mind?!” The King Duan looked at the King Hui in shock. “What makes you so confident that you are the best?”

Was he soft in the head?

This remark infuriated the King Hui even more than the emperor’s reprimand had, and his eyes reddened. “Zhou Mingyuan!”

At this time, the King Duan had cooled down, fully aware of what was going on. Though astounded by the King Hui’s madness, he soon felt a thrill of rapture. With the downfall of a rival, he was yet another step closer to the throne. As long as he figured out a way to have the sickly Crown Prince die of illness and then eliminate his fifth brother, he would be the only heir to the throne! And his father would have to crown him emperor even if he didn’t want to!

Thinking of this, the King Duan could barely keep from laughing, but he must refrain on this occasion, which was why his face twisted somewhat. Others mistakenly believed that he was angry, but in fact it was because he was exercising all his self-restraint to stifle his laugh.

“Guards! Flog this evil creature to death!” The emperor, who had almost spat blood from wrath, finally recovered himself.

Everybody was startled. Flog him to death?

After a while, the Crown Prince stood up. “Father, please turn from your anger. It’s true that my fourth brother made a mistake, but that doesn’t make him any less of your son, and nor does it make him any less of my brother. Please spare his life, father.”

The courtiers were also brought back to their senses, realizing they had to do something to allay the emperor’s anger, otherwise the King Hui might really be beaten to death.

At first the King Duan was stupefied, but eventually he also hastened to intercede for the King Hui, though he was actually only too anxious to see the King Hui dead.

Finally, the emperor’s fury slowly subsided. He was just about to speak when another palace guard came over to report.

“Your Majesty, we found fifty packs of explosives in total. They were densely planted beneath the grandstand. Had all these explosives detonated…”

The emperor’s countenance went purple with anger once again, and he stared at the King Hui, an extremely icy expression in his eyes. This traitorous son of his had actually planned to blow all of them to pieces!

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