Help! I just woke up and was stabbed by a big kid

She raised her head and stared at Qin Zhaohong's face in a daze.

The queen expected to get some news that would reassure her, but there was none. There was a hint of sadness in Qin Zhaohong's eyes, but his whole face looked cold and hard because of his seriousness.

The light of the sky shone through the half-open paper window behind her, and a piece of white silk was blown by the wind and fell into the house.

"Mother." Qin Zhaohong held her hand, "We are the only ones left in this world."

The queen held her tightly, but Qin Zhaohong did not feel any pain. She imprinted the queen's expression deeply in her mind, and she wanted to remember how she looked at the loss of the prince.

"My... Zhaoyue..." The queen could hardly utter a complete sentence. She fell into Qin Zhaohong's arms, and Qin Zhaohong's white skirt was soon stained with dark water marks by her tears.

Qin Zhaohong hugged his mother tightly and stroked her messy hair.

Only at this moment did she finally feel the scent of her mother. It was not the sandalwood in the temple, nor the bitter smell of medicine, but her true human scent, a scent she could only taste when a mother and her young child were hugging each other.

The only sound in the bedroom was the queen's crying.

Qin Zhaokong didn't know how long he had been holding her. Both of his arms were soaked with sweat from his burning body temperature. Plain curtains and silk quilts surrounded them layer by layer.

The queen finally stopped crying and slowly raised her head from Qin Zhaohong's arms.

In her hands were Qin Zhaoyue's belt, which had been clenched into a deformed shape, and the jade pendant, which had been warmed. Qin Zhaohong saw that the blood that had solidified on it had been melted by her tears and stood on the queen's clothes.

"Who killed him?" The queen murmured, her eyes seemed clear, yet crazy: "Who killed him?!"

Qin Zhaohong slowly helped her up and separated from her sweaty mother.

"We have some clues, but... there is not enough evidence." Qin Zhaohong said in a calm voice.

"Who is it?" The queen asked again, holding the belt and jade pendant.

"Mother." Qin Zhaohong said, "Now all the princes are either out of power, stupid, or have impure blood, or are too young. The only one who can compete with the crown prince is me..."

She stopped talking halfway through.

She wanted to see if the queen was still somewhat sober, or if she was overwhelmed by grief. A completely insane mother was out of control, and she would not use such a person to fight for power.

She also couldn't bear it if it wasn't safe.

The queen closed her eyes and said, "Qin Shu, is it really him?"

"There is no evidence." Qin Zhaohong said, "But if Qin Zhaoyue died unexpectedly, and my father died suddenly before deciding on a successor, then Qin Shu would most likely be favored by the ministers. He has been secretly planning for several years, so he must be more prepared than others."

The queen did not answer, but just stroked the object in her hand.

Qin Zhaohong also remained silent. She sat beside the bed, waiting for the queen's response.

The Queen asked, "Who is the current Crown Prince?"

Qin Zhaohong did not answer. The hall was silent for a while.

The queen's cheeks were swollen and she slowly raised her eyes.

"Zhao Kong." She spoke with a thick nasal tone, "My mother never asked you properly, what have you been doing outside these years?"

Qin Zhaohong smiled and said, "I will never forget my mother's care. Over the years, I have been away to take care of some affairs for the prince, and only recently returned to Luoyang."

"Zhaoyue didn't tell me." The queen said softly.

"This matter is top secret, so it's normal for him to keep it a secret." Qin Zhaohong said, "After all, no one would have thought that a humble princess like me would be involved in political affairs."

Qin Zhaohong stood up.

"I'm busy with work, so I have to leave now." She said again, "Mother, please take care of yourself. After all, we are the only ones left in the world now."

The queen said nothing and just turned her head.

Qin Zhaohong walked towards the palace door; the light blurred her back.

……

Just after noon, all the princes and dukes gathered outside the east gate of the imperial city, waiting to enter the city.

After three strict inspections, they were finally allowed to enter the palace and walk to the Purple Palace where the emperor lived and worked.

According to the rules, the emperor's body had to be kept here for a fixed period of time and after going through several tedious funeral ceremonies before it could be sent to the tomb in Mangshan.

Qin Baiting ascended the throne too late, and it has only been ten years.

However, he had built a mausoleum for himself in Mount Mang the year he ascended the throne, so his sudden death at this moment was not a big deal. All he had to do was to send the coffin into the tomb after the funeral ceremony.

The entire process had already been prepared when Qin Baiting was unconscious, so now the prince had a ready-made one.

Qin Zhaoyue was much more unfortunate than his father. Wen Qing was naturally not so kind as to give him a funeral of the same standard as a crown prince. He would probably just... bury him on the spot.

Qin Shu walked all the way into the Zichen Palace.

He had been to this place more than once, but he couldn't quite remember when he had the idea of ​​moving in.

At that time, the Queen Mother let him go and asked the eunuchs to take him out to play all day. Qin Shu knew her purpose very well, that is, she was afraid that he would threaten Qin Baiting's position in the future. But Qin Shu thought at that time, why should he be obedient?

But he also knew the principle of living under someone else's roof, so he always behaved very peacefully. But he couldn't count what he did secretly and how much he learned from Qin Baiting about being a king. Until his ambition grew infinitely, he finally examined his own abilities one day and felt that he could compete with Qin Baiting.

It's a little late. Qin Baiting thought that he was not too young after all.

However, the entire funeral process and the layout of the palace were well organized. The officials appointed by the court to preside over the funeral process were all talented people, and there were basically no mistakes.

If it weren't for the news brought by Gu Yue and Wen Qing, he probably wouldn't have believed that Qin Zhaoyue was really dead.

Even if they captured a fake prince temporarily, how could they do it so perfectly?

The princes and dukes arrived at the courtyard of the Purple Palace.

The emperor died in a hurry, so some procedures inevitably changed a little, but basically it was the same. At that time, the body was moved to the Purple Palace Hall, where it stayed for four days before being "embalmed" and placed in a coffin.

Now that the funeral has passed, the faint smell of decaying corpse in the Zichen Hall has completely dissipated, and it is replaced by the rich scent of sandalwood.

King Yin paid homage to the emperor's body and wept with the other princes. Then there was a very brief audience ceremony.

Qin Zhaoning and Qin Zhaole were naturally among them.

Qin Zhaole had been confined to the border for several months and had lost a lot of weight. He had been very close to Qin Zhaoning before because of the plea, and he had even come to the mansion to talk to him yesterday, but when they met in the Purple Palace today, they were both honest and did not say a word.

Qin Zhaoning was naturally extremely honest.