I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 227 Father, if you want to blame someone, blame your mother
"Your Highness, I really don't dare to convey this..."

After hearing Liu Ju's words, the palace maid became more confused. She had no idea why Liu Ju was so persistent and what he was so confident about.

Couldn’t Liu Ju hear it?
This time she came to inform him of the decision on behalf of Wei Zifu, not to discuss it with him.

As for what Liu Ju was thinking, it was not important at all, and she did not need to convey any information to him. As long as she was informed, she would have completed her mission...

"Forget it, I'll go to the Pepper Room myself."

Liu Ju also realized that this palace maid could not be relied upon. After a brief hesitation, he finally decided to face Wei Zifu's whisk in person.

Now Yi Shuo has fallen into Wei Zifu's hands. Even if the palace maid relayed his words truthfully, it might not necessarily make Wei Zifu change her mind.

After all, as a time traveler, Liu Ju could understand the meaning of anatomy.

But it was not so easy for Wei Zifu, a native of the Han Dynasty, to understand.

This matter was tantamount to overturning certain thoughts and cognitions that had been deeply rooted in her bones since she was born, and drastic measures had to be taken.

Don't wait until Wei Zifu has forced the matter into being according to her own ideas, and the death row prisoner who replaced Yi Shuo has been publicly executed. If that happens, there will really be no Yi Shuo in the world anymore.

If he were to forcibly overturn this matter and allow Yi Shuo to "resurrect", it would not be as simple as just slapping Wei Zifu in the face.

Instead, it directly put Wei Zifu in a situation of favoritism and perverting the law...

The price to pay for this would be too high, and it was something Liu Ju did not want to see.

No matter what, Wei Zifu was his mother, who invested almost all her energy and love in him. How could he ruin Wei Zifu's reputation as a virtuous queen?

……

An hour later.

Jiaofang Hall.

"Mother, has Yishuo ever explained to you her purpose in stealing and dissecting these corpses?"

"Say it, how about it?"

Wei Zifu lowered her eyes, not even looking at Liu Ju, and spoke in a completely indifferent tone.

She was still angry with Liu Ju.

This rebellious son is so infuriating. It's bad enough that he disobeyed his father before, but now he even ignores his mother, the Queen Mother, and openly defies the Emperor's order. Can he still be kept?
I also blame myself for getting older and not having a strong stomach...

Your Majesty's bow has been hanging on the door of the Pepper Palace for half a year, and her pregnancy is still not improving. If she can give birth to another prince, will this rebellious son dare to be as rampant as he is now?
"I wonder what the Queen Mother thinks after hearing this?"

Liu Ju didn't care about Wei Zifu's attitude towards him and asked again.

"Although Yishuo did something foolish, it is understandable. That is why I did not hand her over to Jingzhao Yin."

Wei Zifu rarely called herself "I" in front of Liu Ju, but this time she put on airs and said coldly,
"But you, even before you got married, have already become as strong as a rock. You even dared to defy my order. You are truly a rare good son in the world. I am very pleased and am thinking about how to reward you."

"..."

Seeing that Wei Zifu had also transformed into an old Yin-Yang master, Liu Ju decisively did not respond and continued,
"Mother, I think what Yishuo did was not foolish. Dissection is the inevitable trend of the development of medical skills."

"Medicine is aimed at the human body. As a doctor, only by having a sufficient understanding of the human body structure through dissection can you accurately determine the lesion and prescribe the right medicine. If necessary, you may even need to perform surgery to remove the lesion. Only in this way can you save more patients and benefit the people."

"I am protecting Yishuo in the hope of taking this opportunity to promote this path and advance the development of medical skills."

"Moreover, the corpses used by Yishuo for dissection were all unclaimed death row prisoners. These prisoners had harmed the Han people during their lifetime, and using them for dissection after death to promote the advancement of medical skills can be considered a form of atonement."

"Mother is a virtuous queen who cares about the people. I'm sure you can understand my intentions, right?"

After hearing this, Wei Zifu still had that indifferent attitude and said calmly:

"I don't understand."

"I only know that the Book of Filial Piety says: 'Your body and hair are given by your parents.' If you destroy your own body, you are unfilial. If you destroy the corpse of another, you are against human ethics."

"Not only do I not understand this, but millions of Han subjects also cannot understand it."

"You can understand and promote this doctrine because you, as a son, dare to openly disobey my will. You are a traitor and an unfilial son!"

"As the queen, I can't even take care of my own son. How can I dare to call myself the mother of the country?"

Well, these two sentences brought us back to the issue of disobeying the imperial order.

This shows how deep Wei Zifu's resentment about this matter is. It seems that this matter will never be so easy to let go.

Liu Ju was depressed and wanted to say something, but he heard Wei Zifu continue:

"Besides, you keep saying that what Yi Shuo did is the general trend."

"That's just your opinion. How can you be sure? Do you have any concrete evidence?"

"I thought that not only would dissection fail to promote the development of medical skills, but it would also lead to the collapse of the rituals and music of the Han Dynasty and the loss of human ethics. Over time, it would definitely undermine the country's destiny."

"If you want me to gamble your reputation and future, and the reputation and status that the Wei family has worked so hard to gain, just for what you think, I can't do it. You don't have to say anything more. There is no room for negotiation on this matter!"

"You, my son, can be unfilial, but I cannot ignore your life or death. What sin have I committed?"

"Heaven, why do you treat me like this..."

While speaking, Wei Zifu took out a square handkerchief, pinched a corner of it and gently wiped the tears that had appeared at the corners of her eyes, showing her heartbreak.

"Mother..."

When Liu Ju was speechless, he really wanted to tell Wei Zifu that he was a time traveler, so he knew that this was the trend of the times.

But he also knew that the word "time travel" would be even more difficult for a Han native like Wei Zifu to understand, and it might even bring other troubles. "In this case, could you please not hand over the fake Yishuo to Jingzhao Yin for the time being, or order Jingzhao Yin to deal with the matter publicly as soon as possible? Give me some more time, and I will do my best to prove my idea to you."

Seeing that there was really no chance of winning against Wei Zifu, Liu Ju had to take another step back.

"We can't wait any longer. This matter is of a serious nature and has spread quickly in Chang'an City, causing quite a bit of public opinion."

Wei Zifu immediately said,
"Now many people know that Yi Shuo is from Bowang Garden, and they also know that she has your protection. If you allow this matter to continue, it will only be more disadvantageous to you!"

"Mother!"

Liu Ju still wanted to persuade him.

Wei Zifu had already turned her back, and her tone was unusually strong:
"I have made up my mind. There is no room for negotiation. If there is nothing else, you can leave!"

……

"Mother, you forced me to do this..."

After taking one last look back at the gate of the Pepper House with a bow hanging on it, Liu Ju resolutely walked towards the direction of the Greenhouse Palace.
"Father, I'm sorry. If you want to blame someone this time, just blame my mother..."

He originally wanted to delay it a little longer, waiting for a suitable opportunity to resolve the matter in one fell swoop.

But now Wei Zifu didn't give him any time at all.

He could only pin his hopes on Liu Che, and try to activate the "time-travel blessing" loophole from Liu Che, artificially creating an opportunity for himself in advance.

After all, this matter is not big, but it is not small either.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, those who shelter criminals will be punished together with their relatives. In addition, as Wei Zifu said, the nature of this matter is "extremely bad", which will have a significant impact on his reputation and even affect his position as crown prince.

Then it seems that I should be able to take advantage of the loophole and make things develop in a direction that is beneficial to me.

"His Royal Highness?"

When the Qimen warriors at the entrance of the Greenhouse Hall saw Liu Ju, they immediately saluted and greeted him.
"Why is your Highness here? Has he been summoned by His Majesty?"

"No, the Queen summoned me to the palace today, so I came to pay my respects to His Majesty."

Liu Ju said with a smile.

"In that case, Your Highness, please wait here for a moment. I will go in and inform you."

"Good work."

Not long after, Su Wen ran out of the greenhouse hall in small steps, and other attendants and warriors from the Qimen sect also followed him out.

"Liu Che has this experience. Whenever he summons Liu Ju, he will dismiss his attendants in advance to prevent any future troubles."

Liu Ju secretly complained in his heart, "As expected of Emperor Wu of Han, his consciousness is incomparable to that of ordinary people."

Just as I was thinking about it.

Su Wen had already come close and bowed:

"Your Highness, His Majesty has summoned you in..."

"Thank you."

Liu Ju returned the salute, raised his arms to accept inspection, and then strode into the door of the Greenhouse Hall.

In the hall, Liu Che was burning incense and reading a book.

The incense is the Baoding incense presented by the Nanyue Kingdom, and it has a hint of ginger.

The book was "The Book of Filial Piety", one of the Thirteen Confucian classics. Liu Che held the book high, with the words "The Book of Filial Piety" on the title page facing the direction of the entrance. It seemed a bit pretentious no matter how you looked at it.

"I have met my father."

Liu Ju turned a blind eye to this and only bowed and saluted when he came closer.

"When Wei Zifu summoned you, you actually remembered to pay your respects to me. Was it because of your mother's advice, or have you made progress on your own?"

Liu Che still stared at the "Book of Filial Piety" intently, and raised the bamboo slips a little higher intentionally or unintentionally, and asked in a sarcasm.

Liu Ju did not answer, but just spoke to himself:

"Father, I don't want to be the crown prince anymore. Please depose me."

"Ok?"

Liu Che put down the "Book of Filial Piety" instantly, and stared at Liu Ju with his pupils shrinking.
"Rebellious son! What do you think you are as a prince? You do what you want to do and don't do what you don't want to do. Do you want to go to heaven?!"

"I don't want to, but I know that father really wants to..."

Liu Ju said weakly,

"Father, please calm down. I don't want to be the crown prince, and I have my reasons."

"Father, you should have heard about Yishuo's incident. It was actually Yishuo who was ordered by your son to destroy and humiliate the corpse."

"Although this is against human ethics and is unacceptable to the world, I believe that this action has its own meaning and will never compromise or give up. I must carry it out to the end."

"But considering your father's knowledge, I'm sure he won't support me."

"Although I am the crown prince, I cannot do whatever I want. I cannot even protect the people who work for me. What is the point of being the crown prince? Please depose me as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)