Xie Xuanchen’s words towards Imperial Doctor Wu were still vividly ringing in their ears. If they chose to leave on their own accord, they would be able to leave in one piece; if they didn’t leave, they would retire as a corpse.
The ‘purification’ of the workers in Prince An’s Mansion caused a great commotion in the capital. All five Imperial Doctors were sent away and half of the servants in Prince An’s Mansion were also cleared out. Many of those people were individuals who had ties to the main palace in one way or another, so it was crystal clear who Xie Xuanchen was targeting.
He made no attempt to hide his malice towards the Emperor.
Combined with Xie Xuanchen’s sudden departure from the banquet, summoning a private doctor after returning to his residence, the Emperor’s facial expressions changing drastically after hearing what the eunuch said and the inexplicable mobilisation of the imperial guards in the palace…
All the signs were connected in a series and from behind the scenes, it was not difficult to guess what was going on.
It was hard to determine who would emerge victorious from the fight between the Emperor and Xie Xuanchen, but it was obvious that the two of them were openly against each other now.
Since Xie Xuanchen had already publicly kicked out the Emperor’s servants from his mansion, from then on, Prince An’s Mansion was nothing but an iron bucket(2). Xie Xuanchen finally wasn’t intending on hiding anymore— he practised martial arts openly and in high intensities every day whilst also actively communicating with the outside world.
(T/N: Refers to how a person or a situation has no flaws and is stable)
The situation changed suddenly just from a Mid-Autumn Festival and it was calm before the storm.
Everyone was now aware that Xie Xuanchen was starting to take medicine to recuperate his health and was especially wary of all things imported. It was obvious at a glance who he was wary of.
The Emperor was the one at the top who controlled the rise and fall of the honour and disgrace of the officials in the entire dynasty whereas Xie Xuanchen also had his military merit and reputation to rely on. After all, the foundation of the Ye Dynasty was laid down by the father-son duo Xie Yi and Xie Xuanchen. The Prince went through three dynasties and it was important to note that half of the country’s contributions and progression in the Ye Dynasty was from him. If his father was alive, his influence would far exceed that of an outsider like Xie Rui.
So the Emperor kept offering goods to Xie Xuanchen, letting him take whatever he wanted and pretending to be a good uncle, only hoping that his nephew would die quickly. Only when Xie Xuanchen died would the world truly belong to the Emperor.
All the calculations that were made by the Emperor were hidden in the dark as he never dared to besiege Xie Xuanchen openly. If the Emperor directly sent the imperial guards to encircle and suppress the palace, it wouldn’t be hard to handle the Prince, but the Emperor’s reputation and the credibility of his succession would be completely ruined.
Therefore, the Emperor, as the ruler of a country, was now challenged by a Prince and junior, but there was nothing he could do except to stand in a stalemate. The people in the court remained silent about this battle. After all, they couldn’t anger the Emperor, but they also couldn’t offend Xie Xuanchen.
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