"Then let her go!"
Author's Note: I highly recommend my quirky time-travel story set in the modern era. Updates are back, and they're guaranteed to be great! →
Chapter Fifty-One: Framed
On August 23, with the consent of Princess Taoyao of Qitian Kingdom, Hansha Kingdom began to make preparations for the marriage alliance. The war situation in the country was immediately swept away by this festive atmosphere. However, the empress spent her days in tears and abandoned her dignity as the queen mother, causing several disturbances in Qiankun Palace. Murong Yi was very unhappy.
Seemingly sensing the emperor's annoyance, the inner palace was unusually quiet at this time, and even the most favored Consort Yu did not take the initiative to approach the emperor.
"Your Majesty, Consort Yu has sent word that Your Majesty should come over when you have time." In the Empress's palace, the old nanny looked at the Empress's tearful eyes with some pity. Her parents were unkind, her husband was unfaithful, and her daughter was unfilial. How could this frail woman bear all three misfortunes? "This servant believes that Consort Yu may have a solution."
The Empress finally turned to look at her. After all, everyone in the palace had seen Consort Yu's favor, and besides, she had recently become friends with her. A glimmer of hope ignited in her heart. "Give the order to bring all the best tonics in the palace. I am going to visit Consort Yu to check on her pregnancy. Also..." Even the corner of her eye held a mocking smile, "Help me change into my phoenix robe and formal attire."
If she couldn't redeem herself through friendship, then she would use the Empress's authority to exert pressure! That was her thought. However, when she saw the bright red blood flowing from between Consort Yu's legs, she still underestimated this woman's abilities.
She had known before that Jiang Suying was a dangerous person, but only today did she realize that she was actually a monster!
Of the three princes, one had died, another had committed a crime and never recovered, leaving only Murong Shi and Murong Yue. Murong Shi's foreign status was highly controversial, while Murong Yue, having entered the political arena later in life, was unpopular with some veteran officials. At this critical juncture, with the newborn bloodline teetering on the edge of danger, Murong Yi would likely not let anyone off the hook.
The Empress knelt before the Emperor, facing Murong Yi, whose face was filled with gloom. Her hair was disheveled and she could no longer control herself. "Your Majesty, I have been married to you for many years. How could I be so foolish as to go to Consort Yu's palace to do such a thing? Ah! Your Majesty, say something! Your Majesty, I am innocent!" Her daughter's insistence had been grieving her for days, but now she was already on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Murong Yi then raised her head and looked directly into the hall. The Empress was delighted and was about to speak when the imperial physician behind her spoke first.
"Your Majesty, forgive my incompetence, but the young imperial heir is ultimately..." Even the most experienced imperial physician couldn't help but shudder at the emperor's chilling aura when he reported the imperial heir's passing.
"How could that be!" The Empress was speechless and became agitated. "There might be some other reason. My tonics were all bestowed by the former Emperor. There couldn't be any problem with them!" She spoke recklessly.
"How dare you!" Murong Yi glared at the woman before him. Since ancient times, the dragon throne has been a symbol of authority. "So, all of this is my fault?" If she has said such a thing, there is no longer any affection between them.
"No, that's not what I meant." The Empress realized what she had done wrong, but it was too late.
“Your Majesty, there is indeed something fishy about this.” The old imperial physician’s words silenced the empress, made the emperor frown, and led to… Murong Shi being placed under house arrest and investigated.
At the end of August in the twenty-first year of the Qi Tian Dynasty, the first major controversy since the peace between the country and the world arose. The root and beginning of this controversy was a memorial from Doctor Le of Lechang. It detailed the reason why Consort Yu's fetus had slipped out of her womb. Because Consort Yu usually consumed a lot of tonics, with the help of a legendary healer, it was determined that this was caused by a drug called "Ripples," which was very harmful to the child in her womb!
"The physician from Lechang has been investigating diligently for many days," the emperor said, seemingly prepared for anything to happen. "But who put this ripple in Consort Yu's medicine, and what is their intention?"
"Forgive my ignorance, but these are all beyond my capabilities. However, I believe that one person can definitely find the culprit." Le Chang's eyes became confident.
"Who?" The ministers' faces lit up. Since the Fifth Prince was murdered and the Third Prince fell from power, they had already split into several factions. Now, no matter which direction the events took, they would at least satisfy the expectations of some of them.
"Gu Buju, hailed as the number one medicine master in the martial arts world!" Emperor Lechang said, his eyes wide with each word.
Meow~
Meow~
Murong Shi was unexpectedly ordered to leave court ahead of schedule by the emperor. Shen Mo, who had just overheard his words in the study, was shocked to realize what was about to happen. However, Rong Yue had not yet returned, and she was unsure if they could make their move so soon. Just as she was pondering this, a soft meow pulled her back to reality.
So cute! When Shen Mo saw the little creature in front of him, he was truly amazed at first sight. Except for its belly and ears, it was pure white, and its two innocent eyes were like crystals. Looking at it, they seemed to drip with tears. Having seen so much of the vicissitudes of the court, Shen Mo's eyebrows unconsciously curved up with its beauty.
"Someone, go and find out whose little thing this is?" As Shen Mo reached out to hug the little creature, he wondered what kind of owner it would have.
"No need." The gentle voice seemed to echo from a thousand miles away, yet it was truly behind him. This voice was unfamiliar yet not entirely unfamiliar... Shen Mo released the kitten and turned around.
His blue robe, though simple, carried an air of elegance. He always carried a paper fan with him, and with a slight smile, he looked at his childhood playmate, still the same scholar he had been years before. Shen Mo couldn't help but recall the time he had used a hand chop to make him scream in pain.
"Young Master Gu?" It was indeed Gu Buju, his youthful and handsome appearance unchanged. After her initial surprise, she looked at him with questioning eyes, asking what he meant by his earlier words.
“I call it Lingshan,” Gu Buju casually reached out to the kitten. The little guy was indeed happy and quickly jumped onto Gu Buju’s arm, licking his palm and occasionally glancing at the unfamiliar environment he was not yet used to.
"Young Master...is he back?" In her opinion, the only one who could enter the palace was Rong Yue, and she figured that Rong Yue should be back from the Northern Frontier by now.
“No, of course not,” Gu Buju’s smile vanished suddenly, his eyes flickering. “These things can’t wait until he comes back to do them.”
"Huh?" She only noticed something strange about him and didn't understand what he meant, but a vague sense of foreboding made her a little anxious.
Whoosh! Shen Mo glanced at the snowball in his hand, only to find that the little thing had dashed off in the blink of an eye, heading towards her and He Shi's bedroom...
"That person asked me to give you two words," Gu Buju whispered in Chen Mo's ear as he walked past her: "Cooperate."
Recalling his earlier speculation about He Shi being forced to retreat from court, Shen Mo's pupils dilated instantly. His body had lost all strength, and he gradually slid towards the scorching ground in the sweltering late August heat.
A cool sensation suddenly came from behind. Feeling the strength in his waist, the man who could still support him at this moment, the man who compromised just because he said "I want to pay off my debts," Shen Mo slowly closed his eyes, "I'm sorry."
I should have said it long ago, on our wedding night, that sinful night when the agreement was made.
"It's alright, just as expected." As soon as he finished speaking, Little Snowball ran out of the bedroom, leading a group of witnesses, including Gu Buju.
Just a few steps apart, seeing Gu Buju again brought a completely different feeling to her. She pitied him, that such a mark had to be stained his noble soul, and she also sympathized with him, clearly seeing the reluctance in his eyes.
"Does Your Highness know what this is?" Gu Buju took a Ganoderma lucidum he had found from the cat's mouth and handed it to the eunuch next to him. "Take it and boil it in boiling water."
"Please explain further." Everyone was surprised, as there was not a trace of tension in He Shi's words.
"This Ganoderma lucidum is called Lotus Ganoderma lucidum, a derivative of the Tian Shan Snow Lotus. When boiled in boiling water for more than five hours, it will secrete 'ripples,' and its effects on pregnant women are even better than those of safflower." Gu Buju was also very patient. "I just want to ask Your Highness, does this Ganoderma lucidum belong to Your Highness?"
He Shi glanced at Shen Mo, then pulled her into the bedroom amidst the murmurs of the crowd, leaving only one word: "Yes."
Later, Shen Mo confessed that although he didn't remember if this item was among the tonics given to Consort Yu, he had never denied ownership of it. The two were successfully imprisoned in the Nine Phoenix Palace, awaiting only Emperor Murong Yi's roar.
However, to everyone's surprise, it was not the emperor who roared first, but the empress!
Two days later, one evening, Murong Yue led his troops back to Tiandu. At the same time, a sharp scream came from the Empress's bedroom in the main palace. Murong Yue's defeat should not have been a cause for celebration, but with the Ninth Prince suddenly imprisoned for a serious suspected crime, his supporters had turned against him, and the event eventually devolved into a semi-welcome ceremony.
As for the sharp scream from the inner palace, apart from the servants in the Empress's palace, no one had time to immediately turn their attention to her, including the seemingly infinitely angry Emperor.
The following day, Murong Yi visited the Empress's palace. The only thing the Empress said to him was, "Consort Yu is a monster, a monster who killed her own child!" Murong Yi frowned deeply as she repeated this phrase until he had no choice but to leave. The day after that, the Empress was officially diagnosed with a stroke by the imperial physician, and her Phoenix Palace was transformed into a cold palace.
"Where is Consort Yu! Come out, come out here!" Princess Taoyao, who had been pampered since childhood, could not bear such repeated blows. Even if she was wrong, she refused to admit it and pushed all the responsibility onto Consort Yu.
"Princess, please wait. We are here to guard Consort Yu on His Majesty's orders. No one is allowed to enter and disturb her until she is fully recovered. We hope you will understand!" These guards, originally from the Emperor's side, were now sent to protect Consort Yu and were particularly resolute in front of Princess Taoyao.
"Wait for her?" Tao Yao's eyes gradually sharpened. "What do you mean? Would I harm her? Get out of my way, I want to demand an explanation from her!"
After several attempts, Tao Yao was still unable to break through the iron shield. "Why did my mother end up like this when she did nothing wrong?"
"Your daughter will be going to Hansha Kingdom tomorrow. Your daughter is unfilial." By the end, Tao Yao had already burst into tears. Facing the once mischievous and cheerful Princess Tao Yao, the two guards were, after all, old ministers of the palace. At this moment, they felt a little sorry for her. They exchanged a glance, lowered their heads with some guilt, and Tao Yao slipped through the gap between them like a shadow and rushed to Consort Yu's bedroom.
"Princess!" "Your subordinate has offended you, please forgive me!" They chased her to her bedroom, and the guards had no choice but to restrain Tao Yao with their hands, but they followed her blank gaze to the bed.
In an instant, all that remained in his pupils was the empty bed and the slowly spreading blood on the mattress...
Accompanied by Tao Yao's shrill cries, "I didn't do this, I really didn't do this!" the news that Consort Yu had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a bed covered in blood, spread throughout the entire palace.
Author's Note: Countdown continues!
Chapter Fifty-Two: Rong Yue's Rebellion
Regardless of the subsequent searches, it is said that Murong Yi even dispatched troops to search the countryside for the woman he loved most, but no news was found in a short period of time. Yu Fei thus became like a legend in the palace, appearing as stunningly beautiful as a fairy and vanishing as suddenly as a demon. Some say they searched for the dead fetus in her womb, others say someone harmed her.
Regardless of which version of events is used, Emperor Murong Yi did not appear calm. He stayed at home and missed court sessions, which drew criticism even from the old-fashioned supporters who insisted on legitimacy.
Princess Taoyao eventually left, crying all night in front of the Phoenix Palace. But in the end, she didn't have the courage to say goodbye to the Empress in person. Facing her mother who had taken such good care of her for more than ten years, she felt guilty for her lack of filial piety. And the familiar palace where she had lived for more than ten years was becoming more and more unfamiliar to her, so unfamiliar that she just wanted to run away.
Lately, the night sky has been as quiet as the prelude to an eruption of hell, or like the air before a summer storm, tense and suffocating. The lion in the palace has fallen asleep, leaving only two dragons. One is imprisoned in the palace, calm as a lake, while the other, no one can tell what he is thinking or what he is about to do...
"Stop blowing!" The dangerous dragon had its back to her, and Shen Mo finally couldn't bear to stop their old love song. "I will keep my promise to the end, so you... you don't have to do this." She turned her head away, because looking at him for too long now reminded her of the heartbreaking man in the Nine Phoenix Palace.
"So this is how you see me after all," Rong Yue said without turning around, gazing at the sliver of moonlight still lingering in the night sky. "I didn't use the flute to urge you to help me seize this world." He was startled by the bluntness of his words and couldn't help but laugh at himself, realizing that even he himself felt so despicable.
...Shen Mo was speechless. She should have realized long ago that once they came to this palace, they could never go back. Neither their feelings nor their master-servant relationship could return to what they were before.
"I just have some regrets. You said if I were to give up the world for a beauty like He Shi did, would you resolutely refuse to even look at him?" Suddenly, a breath so close she could hear it came from beside her ear. The long-absent scent returned, and Shen Mo was so frightened she dared not move. Spoiled by He Shi's gentleness, accustomed to his warmth, this almost melting passion was suffocating her; she couldn't breathe!
"Young Master!" Shen Mo suddenly broke free from him. "I am already a married woman! A married woman!"
Murong Yue stared into her eyes with a pain in his eyes, his fists clenching tighter and tighter. Once wasn't enough; she wanted to remind him twice, and if given the chance, she would remind him countless times afterward.
"I mind, I mind!" The calm, hoarse voice shocked both of them. It seemed that in Rong Yue's world, their relationship was still the same—the one where he would try to stop Shen Mo the moment he said he minded. "Ah Mo, I love you, if you're willing to come back..."
"No! What you love is your empire."
"But you can't deny that I love you!"
"You only love a reliable and warm woman. Even if time could turn back a thousand times, you would still abandon this woman. Young master, you should already know this!" This was the first time Shen Mo had yelled at Rong Yue. She was afraid, as evidenced by the cold sweat on her face as she faced the now domineering Murong Yue.
"You never used to be like this..."
“Young Master,” Shen Mo interrupted him, calming down, not wanting to know what he had to say, “I’m here to deliver one last message to you. Xiao Yin knows about your actions tomorrow night, and he might take the opportunity to disrupt your plans. Please consider this carefully.” With that, he prepared to leave.
"Now that you know about my plans for tomorrow night, why bother going back to the Nine Phoenix Palace?" Rong Yue thought that knowing his plans for tomorrow night would at least make her consider her own life. Even if she didn't, he still... He glanced reluctantly at her abdomen. "Don't think he won't notice anything about the letters and documents you gave me a few days ago about his collusion with Crown Prince Xiao Yin of Qixuan Kingdom."
"Yes, he knows everything. He let me help you seize the throne, gave up the power that should have been his, and even agreed to wait to die with me. I can't just abandon him like this!"
This stark contrast between He Shi and himself truly surprised Murong Yue. After a moment, watching Shen Mo disappear from his sight, Murong Yue whispered, "Regardless of whether Xiao Yin comes to cause trouble or not, I am determined to conquer this world."
He didn't know if she could hear him, but these might be the last words they spoke. Thinking of this, a part of Rong Yue's heart suddenly collapsed, filled with a clear pain that constantly reminded him of his sins. This might be... the most piercing thorn on the road to the throne.
In early September of the twenty-first year of the Qi Tian Dynasty, after three consecutive days of no court sessions and the emperor's dejected and secluded state, officials had already begun to speculate, with differing opinions circulating. Even the common people outside the palace could sense a faint but impending conflict.
The emperor suddenly summoned all his ministers for an evening court session? As the eunuchs relayed the imperial decree to the various residences, some people began to stir with unease. However, the most composed were the loyal ministers, led by the current Right Chancellor, who had served as regents for decades. They were stubborn yet devoted, determined to fulfill the promises made to the previous emperor.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!" After everyone finished their salutations, they all observed the Emperor's expression. He seemed to have aged a lot in just a few days, but the reassuring calm he usually had was still there. The old ministers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then, the matter to be discussed next was rather awkward.
It was still about Lechang, and it was still about the Ninth Prince He Shi. But this time it was fatal. As the eunuch walked towards him step by step to pass the memorial in his hand to Murong Yi, countless people began to speculate in their hearts: What kind of hatred did Lechang have with Murong Shi? Why did he cause trouble for him time and time again? And now he was even more... clearly trying to kill the Ninth Prince of Qitian Kingdom.
Because his report contained letters and evidence of Murong Shi's collusion with Xiao Yin, the crown prince of Qixuan Kingdom!
Murong Yi buried her head in the memorials for a long time before raising her head. Her usual confidence vanished instantly. She glanced at the prince twice, and finally fixed her gaze on the emperor's only son, Murong Yue.
"Yue'er, what do you think?" As if it were a typical farmhouse mealtime, Murong Yi unexpectedly displayed a tender side in front of the officials. Many people couldn't help but rub their eyes. If they weren't mistaken, the emperor's eyes were filled with tears at this moment, whether of joy or pain, they didn't know. They just looked at Murong Yue inexplicably, as if he could give a perfect answer.
"Your Majesty believes that the evidence is conclusive. Moreover, this matter concerns the safety of the country and its people, and is a matter of great importance to the nation. I hope Your Majesty will not tolerate such evil."
The officials immediately gasped in dismay. This was Murong Yue's first direct statement to his younger brother, so sharp, direct, and ruthless that it left no room for negotiation.
"From what I just saw, Your Highness the Fourth Prince has not yet read the memorial. How can you make such a hasty judgment? After all, the other party is the Ninth Prince of my Qitian Kingdom, and Your Highness's relative!" The conservative began to speak, his tone towards Murong Yue carrying a sense of disappointment and frustration, as if he had misjudged him in the past.
"Yes, could it be... could it be that Your Highness has seen this memorial before the Emperor?" The previous words hadn't caused a commotion, but this one still broke the peaceful stalemate! Murong Yue smiled coldly; this was exactly what he had been waiting for.
"Oh?" Murong Yue's gaze was fixed on the old minister who had spoken earlier, causing him to take a step back in fright. His next words were addressed to the others present, "Who else among you knows me and read this memorial before the Emperor?"
"This...this..." Centered around Murong Yue, the ministers scattered in all directions, but a few remained behind. After a moment of hesitation, they shouted loudly, "Your Highness, we will obey your command!"
"They've rebelled!" "They've rebelled!" The die-hards were stunned for a long time before they realized what had happened. As more and more people knelt before Murong Yue, all they could do was try their best to get closer to the emperor, despite the obstruction of the rebellious guards, and recount the facts that were happening over and over again, with sobs and anger.
But the current emperor, Murong Yi, was doing the most foolish thing in the world. Crimson blood continuously stained his yellow robes, forming a shocking color. Even Long Lin, the leader of his usually most arrogant and proud Dark Army, was nowhere to be seen, his blood flowing...flowing... before the unmoved Murong Yue.
This throne was never clean to begin with; it remains to be seen whether Murong Yue will be able to cleanse it.