Huo Qing regretted not having crushed the marshal’s residence. He had wanted to take things slowly since Hu er was now by his side. If he did anything too rashly, people might target Hu er, so he decided to slowly take away Marshal Xiao’s military power. However, now these officials wanted to force him to kill Hu er.
He itched to just have all of these ministers executed.
Opportunity truly didn’t wait. Now he was the one on the chopping board. He couldn’t even protect the woman he loved.
Huo Qing squeezed the little fox’s cold hand as he swept his gaze over these solemn ministers. He said coldly, “We’ve already said that this woman isn’t some golden fox. Xiao Anzi, you knave! You actually dared to try to frame us!”
“Your Majesty, why do you obstinately insist in continuing these mistakes?” The imperial tutor straightened his back and said firmly, “If Your Majesty doesn’t kill this calamity-causing demon, this old subject will led all the ministers here to kowtow until we die! This old subject just doesn’t want Your Majesty to do anything that harms the foundation our ancestors established.”
“Your Majesty, please kill the calamity-causing demon!” The ministers continued kowtowing again.
Huo Qing staggered from anger. Were they threatening him with their deaths? Huo Qing didn’t care about the lives of these ministers at all, but he couldn’t afford to be labeled muddleheaded and unreasonable.
“Huo Qing, I’m really scared.” The little fox saw that these people were all petitioning for her death and was so scared that she was trembling. She felt very wronged. She was just a woman. How did her search for happiness hinder these people in any way for them to want to kill her?
Huo Qing squeezed the little fox’s hand and said comfortingly, “As long as we’re here, no one will dare to do anything to you.”
“Your Majesty, this demon can’t be left alive. She really is a fox spirit! Your Majesty, this subject has proof.” Marshal Xiao kneeled and cupped his fist towards Huo Qing before waving towards the deputy general. Following that, guards forced Daoist priests to walk in.
“Tell the truth. Is the woman by His Majesty’s side a fox spirit?” said Marshal Xiao sternly.
The Daoist knelt on the ground and rain immediately soaked their clothing. They cut a sorry figure and looked very haggard in this rain. The Daoist priests shared a glance, then one of them said, “The woman by His Majesty’s side did transform from a fox. Back then, His Majesty looked for us to have us transform the golden fox into a human.”
“Absurd, this is absurd!” shouted Huo Qing. “How could an animal possibly become a human? Then go transform one right now!”
Huo Qing felt very uneasy. These people had clearly come prepared. He had been too careless. He should’ve killed the old man Xiao earlier. Then he wouldn’t have been able to collude with the civil and military officials to force him to abdicate.
“Animals aren’t normally able to transform into humans, but this poor Daoist offered a millennium mermaid pearl. The golden fox had transformed into a human by swallowing that,” said an old Daoist priest.
Didn’t they say that there only existed one mermaid pearl in the world? How did another one show up?