A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

[Interlude] (21): Part 2

Hu Qiliang knelt before her Emperor father and didn't dare raise her head. She worried she would burst into tears and plead to her father for leniency in front of all these ministers, and that was a blow her dignity could not afford.

"Emperor Father," her Seventh Brother said confidently. "You have heard yourself what Third Sister tried to do to Liu'er, and all the schemes she and Second Brother tried to play. From bribery to forgery: is this the conduct of the Imperial Family? It is not!"

"Your Majesty," the right minister's daughter, Jiang Liuming, said demurely, "this humble subject hopes Your Majesty can remain impartial when punishing evil-doers in the land, and not be swayed too far by ties of affection. Hu Qiliang has gone too far this time, and this humble subject fears what more she will try if she is not made to face the consequences of her actions."

Hu Qiliang bit her lip. Impartiality? What a joke! To claim that His Majesty was ever muddle-headed when dealing with members of his own lineage. Wasn't the First Prince already long banished to the Southern border? Hadn't Fifth Sister long been sold into a loveless marriage with the old and disabled Li family patriarch?

Last she heard, Second Brother and Second Imperial Consort were being sent to the Cold Palace indefinitely!

The only one His Majesty treated with affection was that damn Seventh Brother and his mother!

When Emperor Father finally deigned to speak, there was only a thin veneer of warmth in his voice. "Both Lady Liuming and Seventh Prince have made valid points." Then even that illusion was lost. "Third Princess, what do you have to say in your defense?"

What did Hu Qiliang dare to say? It was clear that His Majesty already chose a side to believe, and it wasn't like Hu Qiliang didn't try to redirect Imperial funding to Second Brother's war front. She indeed spread slanderous rumors about Jiang Liuming and tried to frame Seventh Brother so that he would lose favor. All the proof entrusted to those she thought she could trust were in front of her Emperor father, so what did he expect her to deny?

Did he want her to justify herself? Give her reasoning? Explain that she had always been trying to chase the shadow of her great Emperor father, only to realize that all of his light was already shining on a girl that wasn't even his own blood, just because she could recite a few verses very well? Explain that she wanted to help Second Brother suppress Seventh Brother, because Second Brother was the only one in the Imperial Palace who comforted her when her grandmother died from a terrible and sudden cough and her ger mother tore up the Imperial Palace to search for her grandmother's murderer?

Explain that she only moved according to her feelings?

Wouldn't she be laughed out of the Imperial Palace?

At the thought of her mother, however, Hu Qiliang began to feel paradoxically calm. He must hate that his daughter was so stupid, throwing herself into a deep pit in this manner. Zheng Zhilin was a ger who had been tempered on the battlefield, who had scoffed when looking at the petty tricks people played when trying to gain favor. Shortly after her ger mother entered the harem, he simply closed his door on the messy nature of harem politics altogether.

Zheng Zhilin would never have placed himself in a position like this.

"Zhen requests it of you, and you will not speak?"

Hu Qiliang bent down until her head touched the cold tile. "This one does not deny any wrongdoings. But beseeching the Emperor, the Third Imperial Consort has never been aware of this one's disgraceful actions. Begging the Emperor to not punish the Third Imperial Consort."