Cui Hao took a sip of tea, moistening his lips which were dry from nervousness. Hesitating about how to begin, he heard Yao Youqing continue, "Although I don't know exactly what happened back then, I do know that my father... he was by no means a villain. Even if he was loyal to the court and the late emperor, he wouldn't have aided and abetted the evildoer in harming the Imperial Concubine. There must be some inside story. We'll discuss it another day..."
She wanted to ask Cui Hao to speak to Wei Hong on her behalf another day, but fearing that he might overhear something, she changed her words to: "If you have time another day, please help me investigate what exactly happened back then, so as to resolve the feud between my father and the prince."
"As for what I just asked... if it's inconvenient for you to talk about it, then don't bother. Just pretend I didn't ask. I won't say anything more in front of the Prince."
Cui Hao really didn't want to tell her these things, but now that she had guessed that they were related to the death of the Imperial Concubine, he was afraid that if he didn't tell her, she would overthink things when she got back. So he said, "Back then, I personally chased after the Prince to the capital. There's no need to investigate those matters anymore. I know everything. It's fine to tell the Princess."
Yao Youqing looked up, her drooping eyelashes fluttering, her heart leaping into her throat, her breath catching in her throat.
Cui Hao said, "The reason why the Prince has not told the Princess is because he was afraid that if you knew, you would side with Lord Yao and create a rift between you and him. But now... the Princess and the Prince have been together for so long, so you should know what kind of person the Prince is. You won't think that what we said is a lie to you, or that you will distance yourself from him because of it, right?"
Yao Youqing nodded, and for some reason suddenly felt like crying, her voice soft and tinged with sobs.
"No, I...I know Your Highness is a good person, a very good one!"
Cui Hao smiled and said, "That's good."
Then she began to recount the events of that year in detail…
"After Emperor Gaozong passed away, the late emperor, who was then the crown prince, ascended the throne. In his early years, the late emperor was very mild-mannered and treated the prince quite well before the prince went to his fiefdom. However, as the prince's power grew, the late emperor began to be wary of him."
The result of his fear was that, upon ascending the throne, he falsely claimed to have received Emperor Gaozong's last edict and ordered the then-consort Shu to be buried alive with him.
Emperor Gaozong was always kind and never supported the practice of burying living people with the dead, which the court officials found unbelievable.
However, the late emperor ordered people to testify that this was Emperor Gaozong's oral edict before his death. Even though everyone knew this was impossible, they could not find any evidence to refute it.
Moreover, having served as officials their entire lives, how could they not see that the new emperor wanted to force Prince Qin to return to the capital without an imperial edict, so that he could use this as an excuse to strip him of his title and military power? Therefore, they dared not stand in his way. Even a just person like Yao Yuzhi could only give up after his earnest persuasion failed.
"The prince knew it was a trap, but he had no choice but to go back for the sake of the empress. He immediately left Shangchuan with his men in secret. The late emperor said that the empress should be buried with him, but he deliberately delayed until the prince arrived."
"Her Majesty herself knew that this was the late Emperor's scheme to commit suicide before the Prince arrived in the capital. In this way, the Prince would know that she was dead and would not be in a hurry to enter the capital, thus giving the late Emperor a handle to use against him."
"But since the late emperor had already made this move, how could he allow her to die easily before he had achieved his goal? So he sent people to follow her closely, never leaving her side, not even giving her the chance to seek death."
Fortunately, Wei Hong was not a naive and ignorant youth. Although he had never harbored any disloyal intentions, he had already arranged a group of loyal subordinates in the palace to guard against the new emperor.
These people took the opportunity to drug the spies in Yijing Palace, and made Consort Shu change into the clothes of a palace maid and leave through Huayang Gate. One of the women who came from outside the palace and was similar in age and figure to Consort Shu changed into her clothes and set fire to Yijing Palace, burning the entire palace to the ground.
A raging fire broke out, and the palace servants were in a panic when they discovered it. They all thought that Consort Shu had hired someone to kill someone in order to prevent Prince Qin from entering the capital, and they hurriedly called for people to put out the fire.
Meanwhile, Consort Shu, dressed as a palace maid, approached Huayang Gate. It seemed that just a few more steps would allow her to leave this place, escape this palace, and escape this imperial city.
But everything just happened so coincidentally... Yao Yuzhi was on duty in the palace that night.
Yao Yuzhi was sleeping lightly in the duty room and didn't sleep soundly. She woke up in the middle of the night and felt stuffy in the room, so she got up and went out for a walk. As soon as she went out, she saw a fire in the distance.
He was terrified and hurried toward the fire. To make things easier, he took a shortcut, which happened to be the same road that Consort Shu had taken to lead to Huayang Gate.
When Yao Yuzhi saw three palace servants walking towards her, she instinctively went over to ask them where the flood had occurred and what the current situation was. However, after taking two steps, she realized something was wrong.
These three people were two eunuchs and a palace maid. Why were they walking together in the middle of the night, and why were they heading towards the palace gate instead of towards the water?
He paused, his gaze falling on the palace maid's face. He recognized her at a glance as Emperor Gaozong's concubine and the birth mother of Prince Qin!
At the same time, the two eunuchs walking beside Consort Shu suddenly looked up, their eyes flashing with murderous intent. They leaned forward and took a few quick steps to cover Yao Yuzhi's mouth and break his neck.
"stop."
As the eunuch rushed out, Consort Shu spoke.
The two men paused, hesitated, but did not make any further moves. Instead, they retreated to her side.
Yao Yuzhi felt a chill run down her spine, staggered back two steps, and pointed at her with a trembling hand.
"You...you want to run away?"
Consort Shu did not answer him immediately, but said to the people around her, "You all go and wait for me at the corner. I want to have a few words with Lord Yao alone."
"Your Majesty, you mustn't!"
The two spoke in unison.
"It's alright," Consort Shu said gently. "Lord Yao is an upright man and would not lay a hand on a woman like me. Besides, that corner isn't far from here. If something really happens, you can come over later, right? If you all gather here, people will see you and recognize you at a glance."
Just like before.
"Kill him, escape immediately, and you won't have to worry about being seen."
One of them whispered.
Consort Shu shook her head: "We must not be disrespectful to Lord Yao. Lord Yao is an important minister of our Great Liang. How can we just kill him like that? Besides, if he dies here for no reason, do you think the fire at Yijing Palace can still be covered up?"
"But……"
"go."
Consort Shu interrupted them, preventing them from speaking again.
The two men exchanged a glance, nodded, and silently retreated behind the corner, but kept a close watch on the area. They would rush over immediately if Yao Yuzhi made any unusual move.
After they left, Consort Shu looked at Yao Yuzhi again and asked softly, "Lord Yao, may I leave?"
Yao Yuzhi's face remained pale, and after her lips moved several times, she stiffly uttered two words: "No."
Consort Shu seemed to have anticipated his answer. Her expression remained calm, showing no sign of disappointment, but she still tried to persuade him.
"You followed the late emperor for decades and should know his character well. He would never issue an edict to have living people buried alive with him, whether it be me or anyone else."
"Moreover, I stayed by the side of the late emperor on the day he passed away, and only left before you entered the palace. If he had really told me to go and accompany him, I would have followed without anyone else having to say anything. But he never said such a thing."
Yao Yuzhi remained silent for a long time, standing motionless.
He knew, of course, that this couldn't be the late emperor's dying wish, but...
“You are the birth mother of the King of Qin. If you leave, the King of Qin will be without any control. He has been holding onto his military power for years and disregarding the court. If he takes you away as well, won’t he become even more unscrupulous in the future?”
Consort Shu nodded: "I understand your concerns, sir, but think about it carefully. In all these years since my son went to Shangchuan, has he ever done anything that would be detrimental to the court? You say he is hoarding troops and acting arrogantly, but it is precisely because of his repeated defeats of the Jin that the Jin people dare not invade, isn't it?"
"You say he treats the court as nothing, but that's only because you want him to hand over his military power, which he hasn't done."
"But Shangchuan was originally his fiefdom, and the troops there were built by him on the orders of the late emperor. Even the late emperor never said anything about it. Yet you are wary of him because he holds military power, and you think he has ulterior motives. Is that fair to him?"
Yao Yuzhi pursed her lips and frowned.
"As a prince, he should be law-abiding. How many princes in history have rebelled after taking command of troops? The late emperor spoiled Prince Qin too much, which is why he became so lawless and wouldn't listen to a word of advice."
Even when Emperor Gaozong was alive, Yao Yuzhi said the same thing to him. He dared to say it in front of the emperor, so he naturally dared to say it in front of Consort Shu as well.
Consort Shu shook her head helplessly and chuckled, "Alright, let's put all that aside and just talk about my life and death."
"Lord Yao, you know that His Majesty is forging the late Emperor's edict, yet you still want to help him?"
"I...I didn't want to help him, I just..."
Yao Yuzhi didn't know how to explain it; her mouth was dry on the cold winter night, as if the fire in the harem had spread here.
Consort Shu's voice continued: "The reason the lord wants me to stay here is simply to restrain my son and prevent him from opposing the court."
"But His Majesty is now using me to lure my son here, forcing him to oppose the court. Even so, will you still help him?"
"I'm not trying to help him!"
Yao Yuzhi spoke again, her tone becoming more forceful, yet she felt increasingly powerless.
He knew perfectly well that His Majesty's actions were inappropriate, but... as a subject, how could he just stand by and watch Consort Shu leave from here?
Consort Shu sighed softly and looked into the distance.
The noise from the direction of Yijing Palace grew increasingly louder, and the noise was no longer concentrated but became more and more dispersed, as if the entire palace was becoming noisy.
She knew that someone had noticed something was wrong with the fire and had started searching for her in various places. She figured that someone would find her here soon.
She looked away and then looked at Yao Yuzhi again.
"My lord, I can assure you that even if I leave the capital, my son will not do anything detrimental to the court. Please, my lord, allow me to leave."
Yao Yuzhi remained silent for a long time before finally shaking her head.
"no."
Even if Consort Shu made promises to him, what difference would it make? The Prince of Qin has a large army at his disposal. If he insists on sending troops to attack the court in the future, can Consort Shu, a mere woman, stop him?
Besides, women always side with their children; even if she makes a promise now, it doesn't mean she won't go back on her word in the future.
The last glimmer of light in Consort Shu's eyes faded, and she nodded.
"I have put you in a difficult position, sir."
Yao Yuzhi lowered her eyes and remained silent, her hands clenching her sleeves tightly at her sides.
Consort Shu glanced at the corner and said, "I can go back with you, but I hope you can grant me one request."
"……you say."
"The two servants who came with me are truly innocent. They have only served me faithfully for many years."
"If anyone asks, please tell them that I walked here by myself, and there was no one else with me, okay?"
Yao Yuzhi thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, as long as you come back with me, I'll pretend I didn't see anything just now."
The distant noise grew closer, and footsteps gradually approached.
The eunuch hiding behind the corner frowned, preparing to rush out and take Consort Shu away quickly, when he saw him following Yao Yuzhi in this direction.
The woman, in her thirties, was beautiful. She looked up and smiled at them, saying, "Don't come out," before suddenly slamming her head against the corner of the wall.
A flower of blood exploded on the wall, its vivid color illuminated by the distant firelight, stinging the eyes.
Chapter 102 Blind Loyalty
Yao Youqing burst into tears, as if she had witnessed the fire that illuminated the night sky and the blinding red on the palace walls.
Her eyes were red and swollen, and she was overcome with grief, sobbing uncontrollably as she learned the truth about what happened back then.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, my father... he really isn't..."
She wanted to explain, but knew that no matter how she explained, it would be useless.
The dead cannot be brought back to life; no matter how much she says, she cannot change the original outcome.
Consort Shu was only one step away from the palace gates, and the hope of survival was right in front of her. But because she met her father, she could no longer escape and never saw her child again.
The prince rushed there anxiously, but still failed to rescue his mother. Just as he was about to reach the capital, he learned of her death. How much hatred must he have felt?