However, Chen Yuan seemed to not care about it at all, with a playful smile on his face, and then he slowly got into the carriage with his crutches.

Youruo followed behind respectfully.

The carriage to welcome Chen Yuan was naturally arranged by the empress. Seeing this, Chen Yuan not only complained in his heart, but Ji Yaochi was really impatient.

"Lord Shen, please."

Chen Yuan entered the carriage and closed his eyes to rest.

Youruo was naturally not qualified to ride with Chen Yuan, so she could only ride a spirit horse to guard beside him.

The carriage drove and soon drove into Jiahe Palace.

At this time, the empress and Wei Qi had been waiting for a long time.

On the stone table in front of the empress, there were endless delicacies from mountains and seas, and all kinds of delicacies were dazzling.

"Your Majesty, your humble servant."

"My dear, please don't be polite!"

The empress greeted with a smile: "My dear, come, today I will be a peacemaker and host a banquet for the Prime Minister and Wei Yuzuo."

"My dear, please sit down."

Chen Yuan took a seat, and You Ruo stood quietly without saying a word.

The Thousand Illusionary Spiritual Eyes opened, and the souls of the masters and imperial guards hiding in the dark of Jiahe Palace were directly exposed to Chen Yuan's eyes.

Chen Yuan did not expose them, but just tidied himself up and took a seat.

"Your Majesty is thoughtful."

"Lord Wei looks good, I guess something happened to make Lord Wei happy?"

Wei Qi smiled with a fake smile.

"No, it's just that your Majesty invited me so kindly. As a minister, I feel flattered. I am deeply moved when I think that the Empress has specially held a banquet for the dispute between you and me."

"Your Majesty is so considerate of the officials and is willing to hold a banquet to ease the relationship between officials. Your Majesty, isn't she the wisest ruler in the Northern Qi Dynasty in the past hundred years?"

"Prime Minister, don't you think so?"

Chen Yuan nodded and smiled softly: "Of course, I am deeply honored that your Majesty has such a heart."

"Today is the fifteenth day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. I specially invite the two of you to the banquet to enjoy the moon. I hope you can have a great time!"

The three of them talked freely. If you don't know, you might think they are close friends for many years.

"In that case, please go in, my two ministers."

The Empress raised her hand and signaled the two to start the banquet.

Chen Yuan glanced at the table full of delicacies. Since the Empress wanted to attack him, it was very likely that these dishes were poisoned.

"What? Prime Minister is unwilling to show favor?"

The empress was a little angry when she saw Chen Yuan still hesitated to pick up his chopsticks.

"Your Majesty, please go first." Chen Yuan said indifferently, "How can a minister go before the king?"

There is nothing wrong with this reason, but the problem is that the empress did drug the dishes on the table, how could she eat them?

"I specially set up a banquet for the two of you, my dear ministers, just enjoy your meal and don't worry about me."

Wei Qi also said in a deep voice at this time: "Your Majesty asked the prime minister to eat, so the prime minister just picked up his chopsticks. Are you going to disobey the king's grace?"

Chen Yuan sneered, but still didn't move his chopsticks. He wanted to see what tricks Ji Yaochi had.

Seeing Chen Yuan didn't move, the empress's face really darkened.

"What? Prime Minister, do you think nothing of my efforts?"

"Your Majesty, as a monarch, you should be sympathetic to the people. Now Yanzhou is suffering from a severe drought, and the people are suffering. Famine is everywhere, and there is grief everywhere!"

"The people are suffering from famine, and all the people in the world are suffering from disasters!"

"Facing the severe drought in Yanzhou, what has your majesty done? Your Majesty did not open the national treasury to provide disaster relief, and did not set up institutions to comfort the people. You do not obey the will of heaven, and you do not follow the will of the people. As a result, the land of Yanzhou is still suffering from hunger and cold, and there are countless bones!"

"Thinking that the people of Yanzhou are still starving, but the imperial city is extravagant. Just a banquet for a humble minister is full of delicacies. If these are given to those refugees, I don’t know how many people can be saved. Don’t you think so, Your Majesty?"

At this time, the empress’s face was ashen. Chen Yuan’s every word was a pearl, all of which were accusing the empress of inaction on the severe drought in Yanzhou and implying that she did not know how to govern the country.

"Chen Yuan! You are so presumptuous!" Wei Qi shouted, "His Majesty is worried about the affairs of Yanzhou and has become ill. You know nothing about it, but you are talking nonsense here and blaspheming the emperor's power. What crime should you be punished for?!"

Chen Yuan slowly raised his head and looked at the sky.

"What crime should I be punished for? Haha, what crime have I committed? Am I not telling the truth?"

The empress gritted her teeth and spoke in a ferocious tone. She was too lazy to pretend with Chen Yuan.

Today, Chen Yuan must die!

"Okay, I will assume that what the prime minister said makes sense. The severe drought in Yanzhou has not been perfectly resolved until now. I am indeed to blame."

"But the prime minister secretly held a meeting and plotted to usurp the throne. This should be a crime, right?"

Chen Yuan still looked calm and indifferent.

"Why don't I remember holding any meeting?"

At this time, Chen Yuan had even completely stopped calling himself a minister and called himself me.

"Chen Yuan! Stop pretending to be ignorant. Chen Ren is my pawn. He told me the content of your Chen family's gathering. You Chen family blasphemed the imperial power and conspired to usurp the throne! According to the law, you should be executed!"

"Law?" Chen Yuan grinned, "What law? Who made the law?"

"Of course it is my Northern Qi law!" Wei Qi shouted angrily, "Why are you pretending to be ignorant? Of course it is the Northern Qi law made by the Liuli Empress since the founding of Northern Qi!"

"Since it is the law made by the Liuli Empress, let the Liuli Empress obey it. Why should I, Chen Yuan, obey this so-called law?"

"Chen Yuan! You are so presumptuous!" The empress said anxiously, "The Northern Qi law made by the Liuli Empress is a symbol of Northern Qi's justice. How can you talk nonsense here?!"

Chen Yuan stood up: "Justice? It's ridiculous."

"Laws are just tools made by your Ji royal family in Northern Qi to restrain the common people. With laws, Northern Qi has order, and with order, Northern Qi has stability. And stability is what you want to see."

"You hope to keep stability, so that no one can challenge your imperial power."

"If the bandits in Northern Qi violate your order, they will be greeted by the butcher knife called law, but if they are people from your Ji royal family, I guess the law is just a piece of paper, right?"

"Laws have never been justice, laws are just order!"

"And the real strong must be above rules and order! Guys bound by rules and order can never become real strong!"

"Your Majesty, you have lived in the deep palace for a long time, you don't know the people's will, you don't understand the people's feelings, and you don't win the people's hearts. I feel ashamed. All this is my fault."

"I didn't protect your majesty well, so your majesty was deceived by those traitors."

Chen Yuan turned his dangerous eyes to Wei Qi. It was self-evident who the traitors he was talking about were.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. You will not be influenced by these traitors in the future."

The empress was furious and pointed directly at Chen Yuan.

"Chen Yuan! What on earth do you want to do?! Do you want to rebel?"

Chen Yuan stood up, took off his disguise, and the gentle smile on his face disappeared completely.

In his eyes, there was endless indifference and cold murderous intent.

"Your Majesty misunderstood me. I am loyal to Northern Qi, as the sun and the moon can testify. How could I rebel? I just want to..."

"Qing-Jun-Ce-!"

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