Chapter 112

At the same time, Yu Siguan brought over a palace maid. Upon seeing the Southern Emperor, the woman immediately knelt down and hurriedly kowtowed, begging for forgiveness: "Your Majesty, this servant is guilty. It was this servant who... failed to properly set up the stove, causing this disaster. This servant deserves to die!"

Although the southern capital wasn't as cold as the Qin region, it was still quite chilly at night. The imperial palace would send some charcoal to each concubine's palace for them to keep warm at night.

But it's daytime now. Even if it's a bit chilly inside, we can just go to the pavilion outside and bask in the sun. Why would we need to use charcoal for heating? That's blatant nonsense.

"Nonsense! I advise you to confess honestly, who is behind you?"

The palace maid maintained her original statement, "It was truly my carelessness. Consort Zhen and the princess said they wanted to take a nap and asked me to light the stove. I never expected that the stove would collapse."

With such poor acting skills, even Si Yanmo didn't believe her. She was genuinely curious about what Zhou Junsong had done to make someone work so hard for her.

The Southern Emperor clearly still suspected her, looking at her with an unfriendly expression: "Mo Wubu has good methods."

After saying this, he ordered the guards to take the palace maid away for a thorough interrogation.

As for Si Yanmo...

"The desert shaman prays for good fortune."

He will kill this woman sooner or later.

After he left with his men, Si Yanmo looked at the Fengyang Palace, now a charred ruin, feeling both bewildered and angry.

She went to find Zhou Junsong without hesitation, but Consort Shu told her that he was waiting for her at Hechun Tower.

That's really bold!

If Zhong Zihe knew that he had killed Tan Muhe, he would skin him alive!

Just as she expected, when Si Yanmo returned to Hechun Tower, she heard Zhong Zihe's angry, trembling voice: "I'm going to kill you!"

She looked up and saw that on the stage originally used for musicians to perform, Zhou Junsong stood calmly on the left, while Zhong Zihe, holding a sword, looked like he wanted to pounce on someone and stab them a thousand times over on the right.

Of course, the reason it didn't happen was because Zhou Yanqing was in the way.

"Have you all had enough?" Si Yanmo walked up the stairs, her voice interrupting the tense standoff between the three men.

The three of them turned to look at her simultaneously: one indifferent, one sorrowful, and the other bewildered.

“Amo…” Zhou Yanqing wanted to step forward, but she didn’t know what identity she should use now.

Si Yanmo only glanced at him; now was not the time for them to talk about feelings.

She walked straight up to Zhou Junsong, slapped him across the face, and said angrily, "Do you know what you've ruined?"

Zhou Junsong laughed, pressing his tongue against the cheek where she had slapped him, "I thought you would be happy, but you don't seem to like her very much."

Zhou Yanqing, who was standing to the side, realized something and stepped forward to ask the two of them, "What are you talking about?"

Si Yanmo glared angrily at the man in front of her, "It would have been fine!"

Zhou Junsong raised an eyebrow: "You've said it well. Do you mean to hand over your husband to someone else? Or do you mean to tell Father about that prophecy?"

"How did you know?" No wonder he intervened; he was worried she would reveal his secret.

"Just guessing." Zhou Junsong said unhurriedly, finding himself a seat. "Isn't this a good thing? It kills two birds with one stone. You can still be your Princess Qin, while I have things to do. You'd better fulfill our agreement."

"What are you all talking about?" Zhou Yanqing hated the feeling that everyone was keeping things from her.

Last night, he and Zhong Zihe drank all night. When he woke up in the morning, he wanted to go find Si Yanmo.

Whether she blames herself or hates herself, she should at least beat him up; anything is better than abandoning him like that.

But things seem to be different from what he imagined.

Si Yanmo turned around and explained to him, "Zhou Changning is dead."

"What?"

To everyone's surprise, Zhong Zihe was the most agitated. He raised his sword again and pressed it against Zhou Junsong's neck, asking, "How many more people are you going to harm?"

Zhou Junsong gave a self-deprecating laugh, "Do you think I'm such a terrible person?"

"Otherwise what?" The response she received was not from the angry Zhong Zihe, but from Si Yanmo's cold gaze.

He looked over and said, "If I were really that kind of person, he wouldn't even have a chance to finish what he was saying."

Zhou Junsong stood up and stared intently into Si Yanmo's eyes. There was anger and ruthlessness in them, but no deception.

"My father ordered me to kill him. I dragged the archers away and made him finish speaking, clearing the name of the Tan family. What more do you want from me? Did you just save him? Weren't you standing there protecting yourself too?"

He was right; Si Yanmo indeed had no right to complain about him. They were both afraid of the man in that high position and had to hide their true intentions.

Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger; this is not the first time Si Yanmo has experienced this.

But now, she doesn't want to be that coward anymore.

Ning Qingzi, Tan Muhe, the old lady who came to him for fortune telling... how many more people will die at the hands of these bastards who use divine pronouncements to achieve their own goals?

Yet these people, standing in high positions, disregard the lives of ordinary people, treating them like ants, like food to frantically suck their blood.

She hated them, hated this world that claimed to be blessed by the gods, but whose leaders exploited the gods to oppress the people.

She didn't want to argue with the man in front of her anymore; arguing was pointless, as they were both willing to do anything to get what they wanted.

They simply have different paths and cannot work together; she could not do what Zhou Junsong did.

But Zhong Zihe was different; he didn't have that vast world of theirs in his heart. All he knew was that he should have "tricked" Tan Muhe into going home for the Lantern Festival this year.

Now everyone is telling him that his lover is gone, and he doesn't even have the right to be angry.

He, who had always been proud and believed that life should be enjoyed to the fullest, lost all his strength for the first time. The long sword in his hand fell to the ground, and he slumped down, powerless.

“You are all important people, you won’t care whether we live or die.”

Hearing him say this, Si Yanmo felt a pang of pain in her heart.

She wanted Tan Muhe to live more than anyone else.

Even though she kept saying that it was crazy for Zhong Zihe to be with a man, she knew that this was the first time in a long time that he had truly fallen for someone.

Unfortunately, it was destined to be a tragedy.

She knelt down and took Zhong Zihe's hand, "Brother..."

Perhaps she shouldn't have brought Tan Muhe along; perhaps she should have secretly released him.

For the first time, Zhong Zihe's eyes lost their light as he looked at her, like a walking corpse. "Little Mo'er, tell your brother, what should I do?"

His eyes were red-rimmed, but he couldn't shed a tear. He kept talking to himself, "I should have known that day. How could he not care? He said he wanted to go out, wanted to go home, wanted to see the old places, and didn't want me to come with him. I thought he really just missed home. I even wanted to buy him some snacks, wanted to take him home, wanted to tell him that I would be his family from now on..."

"Why did he lie to me?" A knife seemed to be stabbing into Zhong Zihe's heart, making it hard for him to breathe. "Didn't we agree that I would come home with you once I learned it? What do you mean by knowing I couldn't learn it? I'm not that stupid. Xiao Mo'er, you know that, right?"

He kept saying this, one sentence after another, until finally tears fell down his face.

Si Yanmo patted his back tenderly, "Yes, I know..."

The group was at a loss, unable to determine who was right or wrong, or what to do next.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhong Zihe stopped sobbing, and his eyes showed a newfound determination as he looked at Si Yanmo. "Little Mo'er, I want to study."

Si Yanmo kept telling him he should enter officialdom, so he should go.

Since these people can change a person's life or death with a flick of their fingers, he should become like them.

Si Yanmo showed no surprise as before, but simply nodded and said, "I believe you."

She believed he would succeed and do what he wanted to do.

Similarly, she should believe in herself once more.

Si Yanmo stood up and looked at Zhou Junsong, "You'd better make sure they're settled in!"

Zhou Junsong paused for a moment, coughed twice, and laughed, "Since Auntie knows that the slap just now was simply meant to hit me?"

"You guessed right." With that, she turned and left.

Zhou Yanqing hurriedly followed. So much had happened in the past two days. He thought he had kept it a secret, but now it seemed that everyone knew about him, while he knew nothing about them.

He grabbed Si Yanmo's hand. "Amo! Tell me what happened? Why did you want to divorce me yesterday and agree to let me be with Zhou Changning?"

Si Yanmo shook off her hand, unusually throwing a tantrum, "Didn't you want to marry her?"

"I didn't! He forced me!" Zhou Yanqing roared, but her voice was filled with grievance. "I wanted to protect you and your family."

"Then why didn't you tell me? Did you expect me to share a husband with someone else?" Si Yanmo was also full of grievances, her eyes reddening.

She didn't hate Zhou Yanqing for marrying someone else; what she hated was that he actually thought he would agree to share him with someone else.

Si Yanmo would never share her lover with anyone! Not even for a moment! Not even as a delaying tactic!

She tried her best to control herself and not let her tears fall, but the complex emotions of love in her heart compelled her to shed tears.

So this is what it feels like to love someone: willing to let go, even willing to die for them, but you're afraid—afraid that the feelings they give you can be shared with someone else.

The girl's tears fell like beads from a broken string.

Zhou Yanqing immediately lost all her temper, only feeling heartache. Helplessly, she raised her hand to wipe away her tears, "Don't cry, Amo, I was wrong, you can beat me up."

Si Yanmo didn't hold back, raising her fist and punching him in the chest repeatedly, making a "thump" sound.

It hurt a lot, but Zhou Yanqing didn't seem to care much.

If this could appease her anger, she would be willing to beat him to death.

"Amo, I'm sorry, I... I didn't think that much at the time. I just wanted to keep him calm. I thought we could think of a solution when we got back to Qin."

He gently coaxed the person in his arms, his voice trembling with emotion, "I know you might be angry, but I thought you would at least hit me or scold me. Why did you agree so easily?"