Chapter 141: Just a Full House

Su Qingrong's last hope was completely shattered. She looked at the emperor with gentle features and a mild expression sitting on the dragon throne, and a chill ran through her whole body.

She looked at him in horror, her whole body trembling. She collapsed and shouted, "Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"

"Nothing, just confiscate the entire Su family." Xiao Chenglan said calmly.

Su Qingrong's entire body suddenly collapsed to the ground. "The Su family supported Your Majesty's ascension to the throne. How can Your Majesty just abandon the throne and let the birds die?"

Xiao Chenglan sneered, "The people are in dire straits, and the land is filled with grief. Your Su family is in cahoots with each other, as greedy as tigers and as devouring as wolves, wishing they could covet every grain of rice in the world. The Fen River is flooding, the national treasury is unable to make ends meet, and your Su family's millions of silver are just a spider's web. What qualifications do you have to speak up for the Su family?"

Su Qingrong was stunned for a moment, shaking her head desperately: "No... Even if that's the case, what does it have to do with me! I'm just a young lady raised by the Su family, and I never participate in court affairs. After entering the palace, I will be your majesty's concubine. How can your majesty use me!"

"You're dazzling on the golden pagoda, yet beneath it lie a mass of white bones. And you say it has nothing to do with you? How dare you say it has nothing to do with you?"

Faced with one question after another, Su Qingrong became more and more collapsed, tears falling like strings. She looked at Xiao Chenglan with tearful eyes, her voice choked with sobs.

"I was born in the Su family since I was a child. I have no choice!"

Xiao Chenglan looked at her indifferently, "You don't have a choice? You have parents and elders who love you, siblings who care for you, and a vast fortune. You're a daughter of heaven, blessed with something others can only envy. You've lived a carefree and carefree life for seventeen years, enjoying every advantage. You don't have a choice, but does Concubine Yu have a choice in her life?"

Concubine Yu, Su Qingrong was stunned for a second.

Yes, Jiang Yingli was canonized as Concubine Yu.

It was Jiang Yingli again, always Jiang Yingli, and the only one he felt sorry for was Jiang Yingli.

Su Qingrong looked at Xiao Chenglan in despair: "If it weren't for Jiang Yingli, would His Majesty have even the slightest bit of pity for me?"

Xiao Chenglan chuckled, his eyes filled with coldness: "Why do you always have to compare yourself to Jiang Yingli? You are not worthy of being compared to her, not even her flowers."

Su Qingrong was hurt by these cold words.

She remembered.

So this is what Your Majesty meant when he asked the question that day.

It turns out that love and not love are so obvious, she has always been fantasizing one-sidedly.

Su Qingrong crawled forward on her knees, clutching a corner of Xiao Chenglan's clothes, tears streaming down her face. "Why... Your Majesty, why? My love for Your Majesty is no less than Jiang Yingli's. How could Your Majesty treat me like this? How could you use me, my friendship, to make me lose so miserably?"

Xiao Chenglan lowered his head, his narrow, dark eyes devoid of any warmth. "You love me? No, you don't love me. You would fall in love with any decent-looking man who sat on this throne."

"Su Qingrong, you may not remember. The first time I saw you was not during the selection, but at your Su family's mansion. That birthday banquet was grand. Under the eaves were young men and women dressed in splendid clothes. I was tied to the target, my face scratched by an arrow, and many people were laughing. I remember that there were my third brother, fourth brother, sixth brother... and of course, you."

Su Qingrong was so shocked that she couldn't speak.

When did it happen...

She reminisced about it, and when she thought of the old days, her expression suddenly turned to disbelief.

The one tied there for everyone's amusement was the Ninth Prince.

The words "Ninth Prince" rang in her ears several times, but she paid no attention. At that time, the Crown Prince was the Third Prince, and she had always wanted to be the Crown Princess since she was a child, so naturally she didn't pay attention to others.

It turned out to be His Majesty, why did it have to be His Majesty...

His Majesty has always remembered this incident, so from the beginning to the end, he has only felt disgust towards her?

Su Qingrong shook her head helplessly: "That was just a childhood thing... Your Majesty, can't you let it go after all these years?"

"I'm relieved. I'm relieved right now. My third brother was burned to death, my fourth brother was pierced by thousands of arrows, and my sixth brother fed a whole pond of fish. So, what about you? How do you plan to make me feel relieved?"

Xiao Chenglan's tone was very soft and slow, but every word he spoke sounded like a ghost demanding his life.

Su Qingrong let go of his clothes and stepped back in fear.

It seemed as if she was getting to know the emperor in front of her for the first time today.

He is not calm, gentle or cool at all. He is vindictive and a madman.

"Madman...you are a complete lunatic!"

"If I wasn't crazy, how could I be alive now!" Xiao Chenglan suddenly stood up, his eyes narrowed with murderous intent, and he approached Su Qingrong step by step.

"You destroyed Concubine Yu's flowers. I will choose a good feng shui spot to bury you in and grow the most beautiful flowers for her."

Su Qingrong looked at Xiao Chenglan who was approaching her step by step. Her face had turned pale as paper with fear. She dragged her body backward helplessly.

"No, you can't kill me! You are the emperor, how can you kill your own concubines with your own hands? God, you will be punished! If you dare to do it, all the karma will befall Jiang Ying... cough cough cough"

Before Su Qingrong could finish her words, Xiao Chenglan grabbed her neck.

He took off the golden dragon crown on his head and threw it to the ground with an unprecedented violent sound.

"I am not the emperor at this moment. I am only Jiang Yingli's husband. From the moment you expressed your dissatisfaction with Jiang Yingli, you should have died! I have allowed you to live until now, which is already a mercy on my part. If I don't kill you with my own hands, I will never be able to eliminate the hatred in my heart."

Su Qingrong pried Xiao Chenglan's hands apart with all her might. When she was half conscious, a voice came from outside the hall.

"Your Majesty—Empress Yu is here."

Xiao Chenglan came back to his senses as if waking from a dream. He looked at Su Qingrong who was struggling to death in his arms and immediately let her go.

Su Qingrong fell to the ground and started coughing violently.

Xiao Chenglan didn't expect Jiang Yingli to come. He looked at Su Qingrong, who had a circle of red marks on her neck, and there was a bit of panic in the depths of his eyes.

Before he could do anything to cover up his atrocities, Jiang Yingli had already entered the hall.

Jiang Yingli was shocked when she saw the scene inside the hall.

Xiao Chenglan had his black hair loose, and at his feet was the dying Su Qingrong.

He walked past Su Qingrong and came towards her, his steps a little hurried. He held her wrist tightly, so tightly that it hurt her a little, but his voice was very gentle:

"It's so late. Why did you come here in the snow? I will be back soon."

Jiang Yingli was a little dazed. Although she felt pain, she didn't struggle. "I heard that the ministers in Changqing Palace were arguing a lot today. Seeing that Your Majesty hadn't returned home so late, I thought Your Majesty had a severe headache."

After saying that, she turned her head to look at Su Qingrong.

"What happened to her? Your Majesty, were you planning to kill her with your own hands just now?"

Xiao Chenglan paused and said, "I didn't. I just questioned her for a few words."

Jiang Yingli ignored his quibbling and looked at him seriously:

"Your Majesty, you can't do this. If your Majesty is angry, you can just use a cup of poisoned wine and a piece of white silk to settle the matter. How can you dirty your own hands?"

Xiao Chenglan was stunned for a moment, and finally loosened his grip on Jiang Yingli's hand.

"I understand."