Three people

When Cui Shenzhi saw Cui Lingxian return to the Qianqing Palace looking utterly defeated, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Ling Xian," Cui Shenzhi said cautiously, "why don't you go out with Feng Ping for a walk? See the beautiful scenery, and come back after a while?"

Cui Shenzhi wanted Cui Lingxian to avoid the turbulent events in the capital, but these words, when they reached the bewildered Cui Lingxian's ears, gave her a sense of clarity.

She knelt down with a thud, and said with a hint of determination, "Shenzhi, your affairs, your family's affairs, the late Empress's affairs, and Ping An's affairs, my mother and father are all to blame. They are my parents who have taken great care of me, and I have enjoyed their care, so naturally I should also bear their sins."

"Ling Xian, this is related to you..."

"Let me finish!" Cui Lingxian interrupted Cui Shenzhi: "My mother drugged my father, which is why he lost the possibility of having a biological prince. This caused the deaths of the late empress and your family, as well as you and Ping An. So, I have the blood of your family on my hands, the life of the late empress, the tears of Ping An, and your suffering. It is not too much for me to bear it."

Cui Lingxian raised her head, her wet eyes filled with apology and guilt: "You don't need to worry. I didn't mean to say something like 'I'll take the blame with my life' to put you and Ping An in a difficult position. What I want to say is that I want to give up everything I have as 'Cui Lingxian'."

“I don’t want wealth, glory, status, bloodline, or name. I will keep nothing of what my mother has worked so hard to earn for me. I only ask that you send her to a nunnery outside the palace to spend the rest of her life. After all, she is just the fuse. She is not the one who truly decides the course of events.”

“As for Father Emperor…” Cui Lingxian paused, as if she didn’t know how to start, and after a long while she continued, “Father Emperor is the undisputed culprit. Logically speaking, I cannot and should not speak for him, but as his daughter, having received his favor for many years, I cannot help but plead for him.”

Cui Lingxian bent down, her forehead pressed against the ground, and choked out, "Shenzhi, I know this request is a bit unreasonable, but I beg you, I beg you to spare his life for the sake of our years of friendship. I don't ask you to take care of him in a luxurious bed, I only ask that I know he is still alive when I am outside the palace."

Cui Shenzhi quickly stepped forward and reached out to try to pull Cui Lingxian up from the ground.

"Ling Xian, please don't do this."

Cui Lingxian pushed away Cui Shenzhi's hand.

"Shenzhi, I know that what I'm doing is selfish and unfair to you, but I really can't ignore them, even if they are in the wrong first. I really can't do it. Please."

After all, they had been true friends for over a decade, and their bond was stronger than blood. Seeing Cui Lingxian's pained expression naturally made Cui Shenzhi feel bad, but he also couldn't let go of the bloody past. He could only purse his lips and struggle with his feelings.

The once inseparable siblings stood and knelt, as if separated by mountains and seas, never to meet again. Clearly, neither of them had done anything wrong, yet they went their separate ways.

After a long stalemate, Choi Shin-ji finally chose to back down.

He sighed and said, "Ling Xian, I can agree to your request, but I haven't experienced Ping An's suffering, so I can't agree to it on her behalf. I need to ask her first."

After saying that, Cui Shenzhi told Siwei to go and fetch Ping An.

*****

When Ping An heard that Cui Shenzhi was looking for her, she curled her lip in disdain.

Cui Shenzhi said he would restore her identity and give her and Fu Yunjin justice, but what happened? More than ten days have passed, and where is her identity? Where is her justice? Not a trace of it. On the contrary, Emperor Cui Shenzhi and Princess Cui Lingxian are becoming more and more prominent.

Tsk.

Despite her dislike, Ping An still changed her clothes and went to the Qianqing Palace with Si Wei. After all, circumstances were beyond her control. Right now, she was still the uncared-up Ping An, and everything afterward depended on Cui Shenzhi. Naturally, she couldn't disobey Cui Shenzhi's orders and displease him.

*****

Upon arriving at the gate of Qianqing Palace, Ping An raised a naive smile that Cui Shenzhi liked best and walked in, then stood there bewildered by the scene before her.

— Cui Shenzhi had always been very protective of Cui Lingxian, feeling distressed even at the slightest scratch, let alone making Cui Lingxian kneel before him.

"What are you doing...?"

Cui Lingxian didn't speak, but lowered her head in shame, completely unlike her previous confident demeanor in front of Cui Shenzhi.

Because she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Ping An is her half-sister, but she was wronged by Shen Meiwu and Cui Sugong and suffered in the cold palace for more than ten years. She was always hungry and cold, and she didn't even get the treatment of an ordinary palace servant, let alone the treatment of a princess. Under such circumstances, she, the beneficiary, shamelessly asked Ping An, the person who suffered the most, to let go of Shen Meiwu and Cui Sugong. She really had no face to say such a thing.

Seeing this, Cui Shenzhi sighed again and whispered an explanation in Ping An's ear.

After listening, Ping An had an expression on her face that said something but she didn't know what to say.

She didn't think Cui Lingxian's demands were excessive. After all, people are naturally biased, and it's normal for Cui Lingxian to favor her biological parents, Cui Sugong and Shen Meiwu. Not to mention that Cui Sugong and Shen Meiwu have doted on Cui Lingxian for over a decade. So it's only natural for Cui Lingxian to ignore her and Cui Shenzhi's pain. What's wrong with that?

She just thought Cui Lingxian was stupid, and Cui Shenzhi was stupid too.

Cui Shenzhi clearly values ​​his sibling-like relationship with Cui Lingxian, which has lasted for over a decade. Why would Cui Lingxian be so foolish as to step forward? She should have feigned a dilemma and appeared to be in great pain, and then have Lu Fengping prepare some medicine to make her look heartbroken. Without a single living relative, Cui Shenzhi would naturally back down step by step. Not only would he spare Cui Sugong and Shen Meiwu's lives, but he might even change their names and send them out of the palace to become royal relatives who cannot be investigated further.

Cui Shenzhi is the same; why not just agree to whatever Cui Lingxian says? After all, Cui Lingxian has already said she's leaving the palace. How long Cui Sugong lives and how he lives after she leaves is entirely up to Cui Shenzhi, isn't it? As for Shen Meiwu, Ping An puts herself in her shoes. All of Shen Meiwu's schemes for Cui Lingxian have come to nothing. She'll spend the rest of her life with only a simple life of Buddhist scriptures and coarse food—it's probably worse than death for her. Isn't that good enough? What's there to be conflicted about?

Cui Shenzhi and Cui Lingxian had no idea what Ping An was thinking and assumed she was unhappy.

Ping An was unwilling, so Cui Shenzhi naturally wouldn't force her.

"Ling Xian, since Ping An won't agree, then..."

“Who said I wouldn’t agree?” Ping An turned his head, a cryptic smile on his face. “I agree, but I have one condition. I don’t want Shen Meiwu to leave quietly like this. I want her crimes to be publicized to the world. I want everyone to know that she harmed me and my mother before I can leave.”

Cui Lingxian was deeply moved upon hearing this.

Cui Shenzhi was already investigating what happened back then and planned to make it known to the world. Ping An knew all this. In other words, Ping An not only swallowed the grievances of more than ten years and agreed to her unreasonable request, but also worried that she would feel bad, so she made this request, which was not really a request, pretending to make things difficult.

Cui Lingxian stood up shakily, hugged Ping An, and choked out, "Ping An, I'm sorry... thank you..."

Choi Shin-ji also reached out and touched the hair on Ping An's head, his eyes filled with tenderness and heartache.

Only Ping An felt completely baffled.

Cui Lingxian cried for no apparent reason, and Cui Shenzhi felt inexplicably distressed. She was just reminding these two people not to forget her background. What were they thinking?

But it doesn't matter, it's not a bad thing.

*****

Cui Shenzhi still had Yanzhi, who was by Shen Meiwu's side, arrested and taken to the Shenxing Division for interrogation.

Rouge had always been highly regarded by Shen Meiwu, and had never suffered such torment. She had been in the Shenxing Division for less than a day and hadn't even been subjected to many tortures before she confessed everything.

Aside from the bloody turmoil Shen Meiwu had caused in the harem over the years, Yan Zhi also revealed everything about Shen Meiwu giving Cui Sugong a sterilizing drug, Cui Sugong giving Fu Yunjin a blood-activating soup to make her die from postpartum hemorrhage, and Cui Sugong having his secret guards bring Cui Shenzhi from outside the palace and then wiping out Cui Shenzhi's entire family to eliminate any future trouble.

Choi Shin-ji concealed the details about his background but revealed everything else.

Upon learning of these events, the court was in an uproar, and the public was outraged.

Half of it was a rebuke of Consort Shen Meiwu for ruining the country, an attempt to shift all the blame onto Shen Meiwu, after all, Cui Sugong was once the emperor, now the retired emperor.

The other half of the text criticizes Choi Suk-gong for being ruthless, since the victim was Choi Shin-ji's 'birth mother,' and Choi Shin-ji's attitude on the throne clearly indicates that she wants to hold Choi Suk-gong accountable.

Then the court fell into endless arguments, which lasted for almost a month before a conclusion was finally reached.

Cui Sugong, as the emperor, murdered his first wife without cause because of his personal desires. He was punished by being imprisoned in Yangxing Palace for life and was not allowed to leave. Shen Meiwu harmed the concubines, framed the late empress, and poisoned the emperor in an attempt to cut off the royal bloodline. She was deposed as a commoner and then given death.

That's how it appears on the surface.

In fact, Choi Shin-ji kept his promise to those royal relatives. Choi Suk-gong was not allowed to leave the Yangxing Hall, but those royal relatives were free to enter and leave the Yangxing Hall to cause trouble for Choi Suk-gong. Whether it was beating or insulting, as long as they did not do anything that endangered Choi Suk-gong's life, Choi Shin-ji would not care.

So Choi Suk-gong lived as Choi Ling-seon had hoped, but every day was a living hell, yet he was unwilling to actually die, and could only live a painful, lingering existence.

After Shen Meiwu confessed her crimes in front of all the civil and military officials, Cui Shenzhi secretly sent her to a royal nunnery outside the palace, where she lived in seclusion under heavy guard, spending the rest of her life with only a Buddhist lamp and a Buddhist temple.

As for Cui Lingxian, she quietly 'died of illness' after some time had passed and no one paid much attention to her. There was no longer a princess Cui Lingxian in this world, only a commoner named Shen Lingxian.