Throne Usurper

On the day Xia Ying marries Gu Li, the court is repeating a rumour that Gu Li is a witch who has bewitched the emperor and corrupted the government. The Empress Dowager Wu Zhaoyi believes it. She drugs the wine the couple drink at the wedding, and when neither of them can move she orders Gu Li killed in front of him. This is the ninth year of Tianwu. The empire had fallen into civil war under eight rebel kings, and Xia Ying and Wu Zhaoyi had put the rebellion down together and founded a new dynasty. The new court is unsteady, and Wu Zhaoyi wants Xia Ying to take Wu Yun, daughter of the chancellor Wu Jiusi, as his empress. He refuses, gives up the throne, and enters Lingyin Temple as a monk under the name Kongjian. A year passes and he will not come back to government. Wu Zhaoyi, on Wu Jiusi's advice, names the Prince of Langya, Xia Tianyu, as the new heir. The prince comes to the capital, hears that the Empress Dowager is devout, and goes to Lingyin Temple to pay his respects. There he loses his temper at a young novice over something trivial and beats him. Xia Ying steps in to stop it.