Why did Wu Jingguo have to become the Emperor of this empire to save his faction? It was because his faction was pressured by the other faction when the other faction said that they now had enough evidence regarding the murder of the previous Empress who was none other than Wu Jinhai's mother.
The other faction said that they were just waiting for the right time before they revealed the truth about the case, and that was why the East Faction was in a desperate position now. Once the truth was revealed, the East Faction might lose their position in the Imperial Court, and because of that, someone had to save them.
The responsibility to save the faction was now on Wu Jingguo's shoulders.
If Wu Jingguo could become the Emperor of the empire, the East faction would get more power to stand in this empire, and that was why Zhong Enlai and Zhu Ruolan insisted on forcing the young man up the ladder to eventually reach the throne.
"That's not the only way," Wu Jingguo replied to the statement that came from the Prime Minister. "Perhaps you have forgotten one truth, Prime Minister Zhong. Our faction has so many members, and not everyone in our faction was involved in the crime that ended up killing the previous Empress. Only a part of us was involved in that crime, and I believe Crown Prince Wu Jinhai will not blindly annihilate our faction. At most, he will only punish those who are directly involved."
"..." Zhong Enlai looked dumbfounded after hearing the young man's answer.
When Wu Jingguo had said that becoming an Emperor wasn't the only way to protect their faction, perhaps the Prime Minister had hoped the young man would offer another solution. Perhaps he had not expected that the young man would indirectly say that he and several other people in the faction would be punished for the crimes they had committed in the past.
"How dare you say such things to your grandfather, Wu Jingguo? Do you think your grandfather is a criminal when he only wanted to protect our faction all along? You think we were involved in the Empress's murder many years ago, and that's why you want us to be sent to prison, right?" Zhu Ruolan was the one responding to her son, and she once again looked angry.
"Are you sure you and Prime Minister Zhong only want to protect our faction, Mother? You two don't just want to achieve more power in this empire?" Calmly, Wu Jingguo asked the older woman.
The woman flinched after hearing her son's reply. "YOU DARE TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO YOUR MOTHER, WU JINGGUO?"
Zhu Ruolan even got up from her seat as she shouted at her son, and her thin finger even pointed at her son angrily. Wu Jingguo didn't look surprised by his mother's reaction. He knew how much his mother had changed in the last few years, and one of the changes was how she often failed to control her anger. She would often scream and get angry over the smallest of things, and that was why Wu Jingguo didn't look surprised by his mother's yells.
Meanwhile, Zhong Enlai helplessly shook his head before raising his hand and motioning for the woman to sit down again. "You must remain calm, Lan'er. Let me try to make your son understand our true intentions, so you can just calm down instead of draining your energy to scold him," said the old man.
Zhu Ruolan's patience really couldn't be compared to Zhong Enlai's. Even if the man who held the status of Prime Minister in Wu Li didn't look patient when he faced Emperor Wu Shun today, he looked quite patient when facing his niece at this time, and that was why he kept beckoning to his niece to stop yelling at the young man.
Luckily, Zhu Ruolan listened to her uncle well, and that was why she gave a loud snort before repositioning herself in her seat. She didn't even want to see her son anymore, and she quietly let her uncle talk to her son.
Once again, Zhong Enlai shook his head tiredly, and he even used his right hand to rub his white beard as he focused his aged eyes on the young man sitting in front of him. "We do aim for power in this empire, Guo'er. But the reason behind all that is that we can only protect our people if we have power in our hands. The powerless will only be intimidated by those powerful people, and that's why I don't want us to be at the bottom of the ladder. I want us to be the strong ones, and we can only stand proud if that can happen."
Wu Jingguo silently listened to the old man's words, but then he replied, "I can understand your good intentions, Prime Minister Zhong. But I think you need to do something first before you can become the strongest in this empire. Like what you said before, you were involved in the past crime that ended up killing the previous Empress, and that's why you have to take responsibility for it first before you can gain more power in this empire, Prime Minister Zhong."
"..." Even Zhong Enlai looked speechless after hearing the young man's reply.
In disbelief, Zhong Enlai looked at Wu Jingguo. In the past, Wu Jingguo was an obedient child who always listened to him, but everything seemed to change when he faced the young man in this tense atmosphere.
Zhong Enlai looked helpless, but then he let out a heavy sigh before managing to utter another question, "Did someone try to change your opinion of our faction, Guo'er? You used to be an obedient child and also reasonable before today, but you changed a lot lately. Was it Wu Jinhai who tried to change your mind? Lately, you've gotten closer to him, so maybe he's the one who influenced you to change your mind about our faction and our family, right?"