The Emperor of the Three Realms
chapter 3
The Duke Palace became quite crowded with this development.
The Eastern Lu King had arrived directly with the entourage accompanying him. Although there were not many, only seven or eight people, they included other dukes as well as royal officials. The most shocking fact was that the king brought his sickly daughter, Eastern Zhiruo.
One had to give it to them, these dukes and officials were top actors. From the king to the duke, each one had a more tragic expression than before.
It was as if the Jiang Chen lying in the coffin was the son of their family.
Jiang Feng was expressionless as he replied to the greetings of the visitors stiffly. If acting is what they want, then acting will be what they accept.
However, when Eastern Zhiruo stepped in to light her dupe, the sickly girl said in a soft voice, “Sister Jiang Chen, forgive me, forgive me, you were dragged into this situation because Zhiruo is so useless. But don't worry, Zhiruo will personally apologize to you if there is another world after death. When we were there, you were free to hit me, yell at me, or do anything. Father held a Rite to pray for me, so your death was Zhiruo's fault. I hope that heaven can understand and only blame Zhiruo; not my father, nor my royal citizens.”
Although the little girl spoke in a stammering tone, even though she was short of breath to do so, she was sincere and quite serious. These words caused the nobles who acted to feel a little embarrassed for their actions.
Even the fat Xuan found it hard to hate him, and he hated Eastern nobles so much.
“I say Princess Zhiruo, that person is dead, there is no point in saying all this. If you really feel guilty, then marry my brother Chen while you're down there. He was not qualified to be your companion while still alive, but he is dead…! Hehe! Oh yeah, my brother Chen likes a nice ass. In terms of body, she..”
No one could shut the fat Xuan's mouth as soon as he started talking. His words really infuriated Eastern Lu. Fat bastard, did you curse my daughter to die as soon as possible?
Meanwhile, the dukes were trying their hardest to control their facial expressions. They were very afraid of being entertained by the clown who was the fat Xuan, and revealed a smile at an inopportune time.
Jiang Chen had been lying comfortably in the coffin when he heard the plump Xuan started to lose control of the situation. How can one continue to lie down when such a thing happens? He jumped into a sitting position and frowned, “Damn, can't you let me die peacefully?”
Except for his father, Jiang Chen's actions froze everyone for a few seconds.
Fatty Xuan was the person closest to him and was overjoyed, “Brother Jiang, are you pretending to be a corpse or pretending to be dead?”
“Pretend stupid. Pretending to be dead is exhausting, why don't you try it?”
Eastern Lu's face fell silent as he saw Jiang Chen suddenly sit down. A follower beside him immediately declared, “Jiang Chen, how dare you pretend to be dead! You have misled your king and committed treason! You and your family clan must be executed!”
A king never fails to lack this sycophant.
Jiang Chen was too lazy to notice him, and slowly pulled himself out of the coffin. He asked Eastern Lu with a calm gaze, “Your Majesty, Jiang Chen was lucky and did not die. I'd just like to ask, do you intend to whip me to death once more, or will you forgive the unintentional crimes your subject committed?”
Eastern Lu was the king of a nation but his strong heart skipped a beat as Jiang Chen turned his gaze towards him. The young man who came out of this coffin had a mysterious and inexplicable quality within him that even made Eastern Lu slightly wary.
Hmph! I am the king of a nation! Why do I appreciate your insolent question with an answer? You will be spared because you are very lucky to survive.
Eastern Lu actually desperately wanted to strangle Jiang Chen to death, but reason told him that he needed to behave according to a king.
If he were to take action against Jiang Chen now, his subordinates would think he was not acting the way a king should, not to mention the duke of Jiang Han would definitely rebel.
“Your Majesty, this cunning rat pretended to be dead in order not to be executed. This dangerous intention deserves the death penalty! This duke petitioned His Majesty to judge harshly and fairly.”
It was that licker again.
However, the duke of Jiang Han, Jiang Feng, did not come into play this time. He jumped up and cried, “What does this mean, Duke of Tianshiu? His Majesty has said he will not continue this matter any further, what do you want to achieve here by jumping up and down?”
It was not a harmonious picture between the 108 dukes of the Eastern Kingdom. The Duke of Tianshui and Jiang Feng, the duke of Jiang Han, were notoriously ruthless rivals.
Duke Tianshui laughed coldly, “Jiang Feng, don't you find it strange that your son has risen from the dead? I suspect you are also involved in misleading His Majesty. I made a request to His Majesty to thoroughly investigate Jiang's father and son. If I tell you the truth, then the entire Jiang family clan must be executed.”
Jiang Chen chuckled softly when he saw his father was about to explode in enormous anger, and turned his gaze to the interested gaze between Eastern Lu and Eastern Zhiruo.
He then casually spoke, “Your Majesty, it would be easy to execute the entire Jiang family clan, but it would not be easy to save His Majesty's life, would it?
Eastern Lu's expression froze, “What do you mean by that Jiang Chen?”
“Not much, it's just that when I was beaten to death in the temple earlier, I seemed to hear the voice of the god whispering beside my ear. It conveyed many words that seemed to have something to do with the princess' illness. I found the desire to come back to life when I thought about the princess' illness, so I tried hard to come back to life. If Your Majesty thinks I should die, please give the order to whip me to death again!”
Jiang Chen was an intelligent person; he knew what to say to arouse one's appetite. What he had just said was precisely attacking Eastern Lu's weak point.
As the ruler of a kingdom, Eastern Lu was a ruthless and paranoid man. Yet as a father, Eastern Zhiruo was the seed of his eyes.
He was tempted when he heard that a god was paying attention to his daughter's illness. What is the Rite for? Who else if not his daughter?
A disease that could not be cured by any potion or medicine, was in the hands of the gods.
“How dare someone lie to His Majesty?”
"All right! Jiang Chen, whatever request you make will be granted. All the wealth, splendor, and power in the Eastern Kingdom will be yours if you can cure Zhiruo.”
Now it was Jiang Feng's nervous turn. He was afraid that his son was thinking of playing around with the king ever since he was beaten. If this was the case, they would get into a lot of trouble later on.
“Chen'er, your knowledge of medicine is not strong. Many esteemed doctors at the royal hospital were puzzled by the princess' illness, yet you take it lightly?
“Calm dad. Even though your son does not have deep knowledge of medicine, I am sure there is no room for error because I have received divine guidance.”
Eastern Lu spoke hastily, “Yes, yes. Jiang Chen felt free to express your opinion. You will be forgiven even if you are wrong, but will be rewarded with endless rewards if you can help.”
Of honor? It was not important to Jiang Chen. It's not that he's really going to play this until the end. Bargaining titles, highlighting abilities, or filing various demands – that's the road to death.
Jiang Chen currently understood the idea that the situation was more important than the person. He knew that being as low as possible would now result in the greatest protection, while a dispute over honor would give rise to hostility from the Eastern royal family and secondly, jealousy from the other dukes.
Jiang Chen spoke while thinking about this, “Your humble subject is a villain and does not dare to ask for any honor. Your subject will be able to carry out his duties without fear of others only if His Majesty forgives my crimes.”
The Duke who was friendly with Jiang Feng sneered inwardly when he heard Jiang Chen's words. This kid is pretty talkative; he handles things more smoothly than his parents.
Forgive Jiang Chen for his crimes, this was something Eastern Lu could easily accomplish with just a single word.
“Alright, as we stand before our nobles today, we hereby forgive you for all your crimes. From this moment on, you are still the heir to the rank of a duke of Jiang Han, with all your titles and achievements unchanged. If anyone brings up the past again, they will face the Eastern royal family.”
Eastern Lu's words were quite generous; he not only forgave all of Jiang Chen's crimes, but also forbade anyone from bringing him up again. This was clearly a sign of generosity, as the Jiang family could now avoid worrying that this evil would reappear in the future.
Jiang Chen flashed a dazzling smile and delivered surprising words, “Actually, Your Majesty doesn't hurt.”
These words shocked everyone present.
Did Jiang Chen want to die? He dared to say that the princess was not sick after all that furore? Why would he be like this if he wasn't sick?
Eastern Lu had an overwhelming desire to step on Jiang Chen's face, but the reason a king told him to be calm, calm. He had to let this brat finish even though he was full of hot air.
“Kataku, what's with all your expressions? Do you really want the princess to be sick?”
Duke Tianshui can't hold it back anymore, “Chief Jiang, this is making fun of the king. You asked for death!”
Jiang Chen rubbed his nose consciously and said, “Your Majesty, I have said that I received divine guidance to explain the princess' illness. One might anger the gods if they kept jumping around and making a fuss here.”
Under other circumstances, Eastern Lu must have thought Jiang Chen was just nonsense about this entire matter.
However, he couldn't help but believe it at the moment. First, this matter had something to do with the life of his beloved daughter and secondly, the child was whipped to death, but it was actually not. Even he did not believe that this was not evidence of God's intervention. He was well aware of the efficiency of those in charge of carrying out the execution, how could it be possible to torture someone to death?
Eastern Lu had no choice but to believe in Jiang Chen because of those two points. He firmly ordered, “Duke Tianshui, you dismissed.”
“Your Majesty, this rat is spreading wild rumors.” Duke Tianshui hastily spoke.
"Dismissed!" The king was very angry.
The Duke of Tianshui retreated meekly towards the crowd. Despite wanting to take down the Jiang family, he did not have the courage to fight with his king.
“Your Majesty, the gods are very angry. He wouldn't speak until the dumb person who spoke suddenly slapped himself three times. But duke Tianshui is a mighty duke, wouldn't it be difficult for him to slap himself?”
“Not to mention considering the dignity and elegance of His Majesty, how could you possibly order a duke to slap himself? It seemed that this depended on whether the Duke of Tianshui was truly self-aware and loyal to the kingdom. If it was me, I wouldn't hesitate to slap myself 30 times instead of just three.”
The nobles who had come with Eastern Lu started whispering amongst themselves after Jiang Chen spoke. Some people thought Jiang Chen was making things up, while others thought there was a lot of truth in this situation.
Of course, it was not them who needed to slap themselves. They were all spectators and thus did not feel any pressure. They turned their gaze to the Duke of Tianshui amidst the crowd.
The people around the duke consciously emptied the area and consciously kept a certain distance from it, highlighting the location of the duke.
The Duke of Tianshui suddenly felt a cold wind gushing over him. He realized desperately at that moment that out of all his friends, not a single person was willing to defend him. It was as if the whole world was excommunicating him.
