Gu Jiangli hadn't expected the emperor to rush in.

He was clearly terrified of fire, yet now he suddenly appeared in the flames.

Gu Jiangli got up and was about to run towards him, but just as she was about to take a step, a pair of hands firmly grabbed her ankles.

"Don't even think about leaving!"

Gu Jiangli frowned, almost forgetting about the Empress Dowager.

She entered the Empress Dowager's memory and woke up two minutes later. The Empress Dowager seemed to have been waiting for this moment. When she saw her open her eyes, she smashed a vase down hard.

Fortunately, she was quick-witted and dodged, but the Empress Dowager and she were still bound together by a strip of cloth, and she refused to let Gu Jiangli escape easily.

The vase smashed to pieces on the ground. Gu Jiangli casually picked up a piece and cut the strips of cloth binding her.

Seeing that she had broken free of her restraints, the Empress Dowager began to struggle with her.

Although the Empress Dowager was not very old, she was no match for Gu Jiangli and was quickly subdued by him.

It was at this moment that the emperor appeared.

"Are you alright?" The emperor's forehead was covered in beads of sweat, whether from fright or from the heat of the blazing fire, it was hard to tell.

Before Gu Jiangli could shake his head, the Empress Dowager on the ground had already quickly gotten up.

The cold, hard shards of the vase were already pressed against her neck.

The emperor was in a panic and immediately rushed forward several steps.

"Emperor! If you take another step forward, I will slit Gu Jiangli's throat right now and send her to meet the King of Hell immediately!"

"Mother!" The Emperor's eyes were deep, suppressing the anger rising in his throat, and he almost commanded, "Release her!"

"Release her? On what grounds? If it weren't for her, would my Xun'er be dead? Tan'er be dead? My brother be dead?! If it weren't for Gu Jiangli, the Emperor... how could you have become like this?!"

"Your Majesty, you have always listened to me the most. No matter what I say, you will never refute me. But think about it carefully. How much have you changed since Gu Jiangli became Consort Chen?"

"Look at how you've repeatedly defied my wishes and sent your closest loved ones to their deaths time and time again. If it weren't for Gu Jiangli's instigation, how could you have become like this?!"

"She's the one who caused the rift between us, mother and son! Shouldn't she die?"

The Empress Dowager seemed to have gone mad; even though she had been injured by Gu Jiangli, she seemed to feel no pain at all.

She was determined to kill Gu Jiangli and couldn't bear to see her and the emperor escape alive.

"Enough!" the emperor roared. Gu Jiangli had never seen the emperor so angry.

"Mother, there has never been any estrangement between mother and son. We have never been of one mind."

The Empress Dowager was slightly taken aback, then burst into laughter: "Yes, yes, I forgot, you and that Consort Yu were of one mind! But Consort Yu is dead! And today, Gu Jiangli will die just like Consort Yu! Everyone you care about will leave you."

"Your Majesty, this is the price you pay for not being of one mind with me. You have two choices: either stand here and watch, and die with us, or go out and watch until the fire is extinguished, and then collect our bodies."

After the Empress Dowager finished speaking, she raised her head and let out a wild and shrill laugh.

It seemed she was certain that Gu Jiangli couldn't escape her grasp.

Gu Jiangli scoffed, "The Empress Dowager's life was quite tragic. To be honest, I pity you."

The Empress Dowager's brows furrowed. Gu Jiangli's words had touched her deepest sore spot, and she tightened her grip. "What did you say!"

Gu Jiangli's eyes remained indifferent, her expression still fearless. She knew that the Empress Dowager hated hearing anyone pity her.

The Empress Dowager, originally of high birth, later became the winner of the palace intrigue. With her ruthless heart, she ascended to the throne of Empress Dowager. The voices of pity for her in the harem finally disappeared, and her proud soul no longer had to hear the voices of pity for her from the "lowly".

But today, Gu Jiangli suddenly felt sorry for her again.

Gu Jiangli replied with a cold laugh:

"Isn't that right? You came to the harem not because you loved the late emperor, but because the prime minister sent you to the late emperor's side to consolidate his own position. You think your brother loves you, but he only uses you as a tool to secure his own power."

"The late emperor gave all his love to Consort Yu. His affection for you was merely out of gratitude for the life you saved. He never shared even a fraction of his love with you."

"Your daughter, Chu Tan'er, enjoys the honor of being the eldest princess and the preferential treatment you give her as the Empress Dowager, yet her ambition is higher than the sky. In her heart, you, her mother, are merely a tool to be used against her imperial brother. Her use of you far outweighs her love for you."

"As for your son, he could have been the person who loved you the most in the world, but you pushed him away with your own hands. He would rather stay in Consort Yu's palace every day than be close to you. You cut off the love he gave you with your own hands."

"Your Majesty, in the whole world, there is no one more pathetic, more pitiful, or more laughable than you."

"Shut up! Shut up!" The Empress Dowager was furious and kept shaking Gu Jiangli's shoulders.

Gu Jiangli exchanged a glance with the emperor, and kept talking.

"You think you've won by killing the late emperor, killing Consort Yu, killing those princes and princesses, and then pinning all the blame on His Majesty?"

"It's utterly ridiculous! Everyone died with hatred for you! In the underworld, on their way to the Yellow Springs, and while drinking the Meng Po soup, they were all resenting and cursing you!"

"No one hates His Majesty! They all hate you!"

The Empress Dowager's eyes turned bloodshot upon hearing this, and she screamed, "Ahhh—I'll kill you!"

She raised her arm high, and the shards of the vase in her hand flew towards Gu Jiangli's vulnerable neck.

But the emperor, just a few steps away, had already seized the opportunity. He leaped forward and blocked the empress dowager's hand in mid-air with a large hand.

Immediately afterwards, he turned and kicked her, and the Empress Dowager cried out in pain as she fell next to the bed frame.

The violent fall left her momentarily dazed.

She slowly regained consciousness and struggled to her feet.

At that moment, the emperor appeared before her like a bolt of lightning.

She didn't notice the shards of the snow-white vase in the emperor's hand. She had just regained her footing when the tremendous impact sent her staggering back several steps, slamming her against the scorching wall. The shards of the vase were now deeply embedded in her abdomen.

The excruciating pain instantly broke out her in a cold sweat, and she stared in disbelief at the person pressed against her face.

"Emperor, you..."

The emperor's eyes were like a bottomless, icy pool, cold and devoid of emotion.

"Mother, Tan'er actually died in the same way, but what was stuck in her stomach back then was a dagger, not this useless shard of a vase."

"What...did you say?" The Empress Dowager was so shocked that she could not utter a complete sentence.

The emperor coldly pulled out the shard, casually tossed it on the ground, and said indifferently:

"Tan'er was personally killed by me. Just like you, she was filled with hatred and resentment towards me, and slowly, slowly, she slid to the ground."