C432 Its not like this (1/2)
”Your majesty, please forgive me. This old official deserves to die. This old subject really deserves to die!” Xiao Zhenhai suddenly bent his knees and heavily kneeled on the ground. Tears flowed from his eyes as he looked extremely regretful.
When the third son of the Xiao family saw this, he immediately knelt with Xiao Zhenhai. The four of them knelt in front of Emperor Zhou.
”Your majesty, this was this old subject's idea. All of this was this old subject's idea. This old subject deserves to die a thousand times for his crimes. Your majesty, please bestow a punishment upon this old subject!”
Just when everyone thought that the Duke of Xiao would argue for the sake of the Xiao family's innocence, he knelt down in front of the Emperor with his three sons and admitted his guilt.
”Your majesty, this fake palace maid was actually arranged by this old subject. The purpose of doing so is only to save Fourth Prince.”
Ever since the emperor bestowed the marriage upon her, her daughter, Xiao Rou, had regarded the Fourth Prince as her future reliance. Ever since the Fourth Prince's incident, she had bathed her face in tears all day long.
This old official has been out fighting for so many years, but I haven't been able to take good care of my daughter. In her prime age, she has already lost half of her leg. The old official could not bear to see her in prison, unable to think of food and tea for the Fourth Prince. As she became thinner and thinner, he decided to take the risk. ”This old official was muddle-headed and had fallen in love with his daughter, yet this old official lied to the emperor because of that. This old official was truly unworthy of being a subject. Now that it's too late to speak of it again, this old official is truly ashamed!” As he spoke, he took a deep breath and wiped away some tears. He looked like a worried father.
”Your majesty, no, it wasn't my father's idea. It was all this general's idea. Xiao He is willing to shoulder all of it. Please punish him.” Seeing this, Xiao He immediately brought out his treasured sword with both hands and admitted his guilt.
After hearing those words, the tense expression on Zhou Chengdi's face slowly relaxed. However, he did not relax at all.
”Your Majesty, the Xiao family has betrayed the trust of the Emperor. The Xiao family is guilty of heinous crimes.” ”Rou Er is our only daughter, seeing her suffer, we wanted to give her some compensation. As we thought about how His Highness had already bestowed upon Rou'er and His Highness, the Fourth Prince didn't mind that Rou'er's legs were injured, and that if anything happens to His Highness, Rou'er will only be a widow for the rest of her life. If we were to grow old and die in the future, we would have to leave Rou'er to live.”
Seeing that each member of the Xiao family was about to plead guilty, the corner of Feng Yunzheng's lips curled up into a mocking smile. A smile similar to his appeared on Liu Ruyue's face — —
Xiao Zhenhai was worthy of being called an old fox. He knew that he would not be able to escape punishment today. Thus, he tried to figure out what Zhou Cheng Di was thinking.
This way, the emperor's anger couldn't help but lessen. Then, he cleverly attributed the reason for doing so to the love of his daughter, Lu Xi, the daughter of the prince of An Ping. At this time, no matter how angry the emperor was, he calmed down almost half of his anger.
”Hmph …” Lian Yan Qing chuckled as he cursed in his heart. This Scorpion really knew how to act.
”Your Majesty, this old subject knows that his crimes cannot be pardoned. This old subject requests that Your Majesty remove my position as the Duke of the Kingdom, and then remove my second son, Xiao He's, position as the Marquis to show his punishment. This old subject would then like to make an example to the other officials.”
After saying that, Xiao Zhenhai solemnly and sorrowfully took off the crown on his head that symbolized the title of a noble and placed it on the ground. Xiao He then took off the crown on his head that symbolized the Marquis, placing it beside Xiao Zhenhai's crown.
The crowd was stunned. The Crown Prince had asked for the decree to lower himself to the nobility? It had to be known that the division between the prince and duke had been made during the battle. If the title of prince was taken away, then the Xiao family wouldn't be as powerful as the Lian family.