The entire hall was deathly silent.
Wen Zhiyun placed her fingertips on the eldest prince's wrist, feeling the pulse go from weak to disappear, then stood up and shook her head.
"Is there really no hope? If it's a poison, there should be an antidote. Where is the antidote?" the Imperial Guard commander asked.
“Castor is highly toxic; we should inject it directly into the body.” Wen Zhiyun carefully retreated to a safe area. “His Highness has already left.”
The man who had just been vomiting blood lay on the gold bricks, his eyes lightly closed, a faint smile playing on his lips.
It's clear he's truly free.
The commander of the Imperial Guard closed his eyes, filled with regret and self-reproach.
Grand Secretary Sun sighed and turned away. Zhu Changyu clenched his fist and breathed heavily, while Changyan's eyes reddened slightly.
The phrase "the victor is king, the loser is villain" doesn't quite capture the essence of imperial power; a life-or-death struggle is a more accurate description.
Even if the eldest prince doesn't die in the Fengtian Hall, the next person to ascend the throne will not allow him to live comfortably in the prosperous county city.
Or rather, as long as the Ju family exists and Consort Ju's ambition remains, this scene will inevitably repeat itself sooner or later.
Is it worth it?
This question was raised again with a sigh, but it was Ju Lianruo from the Ju family who asked it herself.
She sat listlessly before her son's corpse, her former high spirits replaced by a dazed expression, and a few strands of white hair faintly showing through her jet-black hair, a testament to the cruelty of time.
She used to be so confident, thinking that her son was useless but she could raise her grandson. Now that the world was under her control, she was the biggest winner.
Until that useless child, who was always beaten and scolded, lay coldly on the ground, a piece of her heart suddenly felt hollowed out, letting in a draft.
No one will ever again call her "Mother Consort" in a coquettish manner, no one will be so weak that she feels both love and hate for them, and no one will ever rack her brains to help them.
She's old; how much longer can she live?
Everything she did was for her child, and now that she has no child, what is she fighting for?
"It's not worth it." She answered her own question, struggling to get up from the ground, only to fall down again.
"Your Highness." A palace maid came over, sobbing, and tried to help her up.
Ju Lianruo waved her hand, "Don't help me, help my child and take him away."
She tried her best to maintain the upright and dignified posture she had when she arrived, but she couldn't hide the emptiness and indifference in her heart.
I don’t know if it was just my imagination, but with each step she took, her head of black hair turned two-thirds whiter, and finally turned bluish-gray.
The commander of the Imperial Guards felt a pang of pity and stepped forward, saying, "Your Majesty, you still have grandchildren, and one of the Crown Prince's concubines is already pregnant."
“I’ve lost my son, what do I need a grandson for?” Ju Lianruo said coldly.
The bonds between people need to be connected, and the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is the parent in the middle.
There was never any emotional connection between us, and now that the bond has been broken, why should we care?
The commander of the Imperial Guards remained silent and could only summon two guards to carry the eldest prince away with dignity.
When they reached the Fengtian Hall Square, Ju Lianruo suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times in the direction of the Ju family.
"Father, elder brother, Aruo is sorry for you."
“She used to be willing to marry him even as a concubine, dragging the entire Ju family into trouble, but she wasn’t even a proper maternal family member, which brought her countless taunts and caused her father and brothers to lose face.”
"Aruo was filled with resentment and vowed to make sure her son ascended the throne and that no one would ever mock the Ju family again."
"But now... Aruo regrets it."
"No love stronger than gold, no love deeper than the sea, in the end it can never compare to imperial power, nor can it withstand suspicion."
“If it happened again, Aruo would rather be a commoner’s wife, or marry a beggar at the gate, than enter the imperial city and the harem again.”
“A-Ruo has failed Hong’er, failed her father and brothers, and failed the Ju family even more.”
Despite the various opinions of the people around her, she didn't care. She stood up straight and murmured in the only voice she could hear, "In the next life, Aruo will repay you all."
After leaving, Consort Ju returned to her Chengqian Palace. She washed up, applied light makeup, and changed into her favorite dress, swaying gently on the roof beam.
The wind blew into the main hall, lifting her hem as if she were reading a book, reminiscing about her strong and stubborn life.
The life of a favored concubine has come to an end.
But the story inside the Fengtian Hall is not over yet.
The appearance of the commander of the Imperial Guards turned the situation from unfavorable to favorable for the Crown Prince.
This means that the entire Imperial Guard of the capital city may have arrived and surrounded the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Especially after the commander of the Imperial Guards bowed to the banquet, the expressions of everyone behind the Second Prince changed drastically.
"Greetings, Your Highness." The man with a cold and stern expression said apologetically, "I am late, and I hope Your Highness will not be offended. There are thousands of Imperial Guards outside Fengtian Hall, ready to capture the traitor at any time."
Yu Ce plotted against the two princes every day, making his identity as a traitor virtually certain.
Zhu Changhong had his mother to help him, but Zhu Changyu could only wait to die with his helpers.
Li Qiang, the squad leader behind him, was trembling with fear, hesitating whether to admit his mistake as soon as possible and try to get leniency.
As expected, those who can be won over are essentially opportunists.
Zhu Changyu gave a cold laugh and kicked Li Qiang away.
While a few dozen imperial guards could act arrogantly in the Fengtian Hall, they were simply no match for the rest of the imperial city.
Li Qiang has lost his usefulness.
"Your Highness!" The commander of the Imperial Guards said solemnly, waving his hand to lead the guards to draw their weapons. "The entire Fengtian Palace is now surrounded. Please do not make any rash moves."
Li Qiang was completely dazed and belatedly realized that he had become a pawn, his face filled with disbelief.
"Surrounded, and then what?" Zhu Changyu remained cold and gloomy. "Are you going to imprison me, or just cut off my head?"
"Even my eldest brother has the love of his father and mother, and even in death, people shed tears for him. But I, as an illegitimate child, deserve to endure a dark and damp life, deserve to be despised by the entire royal family, and deserve to be exiled to a remote and impoverished place to be an unknown prince."
"My life has been arranged so well." He seemed to be laughing, but also seemed to be crying. "Empress Ju said she would spare my life, and my father also believed that I should not exist, but no one asked me whether I wanted to exist."
"And nobody asked me...whether I was willing to live like a rat, barely scraping by."
They may appear to be vying for imperial power, but in reality, it stems from resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat.
Consort Ju was unwilling to accept that her childhood sweetheart, with whom she shared an unbreakable bond, could only remain a concubine in the end.
Zhu Changyu was unwilling to accept his predetermined fate and live a life of obscurity.
They wanted to fight, to seize, to stand in that supreme position, to be worthy of the hardships of the first half of their lives.
But imperial power has never been related to personal state of mind. It depends on the vision of the ruler, the ability of the competitors, and whether the person can lead the dynasty to strength and leave a strong mark on the long river of history.
"Your Highness, your mind has gone astray. A fulfilling life isn't only possible by sitting in that position, nor is seizing the throne the only way to live." The commander of the Imperial Guards rarely offered such a word of advice.
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