Chapter 232 Imperial Edict
As Shen Qingci spoke, he slowly and deliberately pulled out a bright yellow imperial edict from his sleeve.
She looked at Old Madam Huo with a smile, her clear phoenix eyes filled with a wicked amusement: "Old Madam, do you know what this is?"
Old Madam Huo's eyes widened, the bright color making her heart tremble!
Shen Qingci's voice, like a ghostly whisper, slowly rang in her ear: "This is an imperial edict."
"An imperial edict ordering the execution of Huo Yunzhan."
"I, the princess, will now personally go to the imperial prison to issue the decree to him."
"Ten days from now, I, the princess, will personally send him to the execution platform."
"You!" The old lady Huo's face instantly drained of all color!
She could no longer contain herself. Pointing at Shen Qingci's nose, her veins bulging with anger, she hysterically muttered, "Back when Yun Zhan faked his death and you wanted to kill yourself, I shouldn't have saved you! I should have let you die!"
Seeing this, Eunuch Zhu quickly gave her a wink!
Old Madam Huo clenched her teeth tightly, ultimately swallowing back the even more vicious words that followed, and stopped speaking.
Looking at her angry but speechless expression, Shen Qingci couldn't help but chuckle, "What's the rush, Madam?"
"Did you not personally present the evidence that sentenced Huo Yunzhan to death?"
"Back then, for Huo Yunzhan's sake, you didn't hesitate to burn Huo Yunting's dying blood letter, covering up the crime of killing your brother. Now, to protect the Huo family, you're willing to personally push your only son to the guillotine."
"I truly admire your profound understanding and righteousness."
“Oh, right,” she said, her eyes full of sarcasm, “I’ve forgotten that you have several ‘sons’. Although they are not your biological children, they are still of the Huo family bloodline. I suppose one more won’t make a difference.”
She slowly put away the imperial edict, smiled, and returned to behind Chu Jichen, pushing his wheelchair to leave.
Madam Huo was furious, and Eunuch Zhu quickly stepped forward to appease her, saying, "Madam, please calm down! The palace is still full of the Regent's spies! You mustn't let anything slip through your fingers!"
As she watched Shen Qingci's smug back, Old Madam Huo could only grip her cane tightly, swallowing all her humiliation and hatred.
Shen Qingci pushed Chu Jichen out of the square and got into the carriage.
Thinking of the fascinating expressions on Old Madam Huo's face just now, she couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Chu Jichen looked at her with a smile, his voice full of doting affection: "Are you happy?"
“Happy.” Shen Qingci nodded, but a chilling glint flashed in her eyes. “But this isn’t the happiest time yet.”
“When Huo Yunzhan is actually pushed onto the execution platform, and Old Madam Huo still thinks he's just a substitute,” a cruel smile curled at the corner of her lips, “that will be when I’m happiest.”
Chu Jichen felt that Shen Qingci looked incredibly lively and adorable at that moment.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, then lowered his head and gently kissed her eyes, which were filled with calculation and smugness.
The two of them went to the imperial prison together.
Shen Qingci personally read the imperial edict to Huo Yunzhan, who had already been tortured beyond recognition.
Upon hearing this, Huo Yunzhan's eyes widened instantly, his face filled with disbelief!
"No, impossible!" He struggled to his feet, acting like a madman. "You've forged an imperial edict!"
"His Majesty won't kill me! He absolutely won't!"
Shen Qingci laughed, a laugh filled with endless pity and mockery.
"Why would I, the princess, need to forge an imperial edict?"
"Do you know," her voice, like a ghostly whisper, slowly crept into his ears, "who was it that personally presented all the evidence against you in the golden palace today?"
"You are your good mother."
Shen Qingci recounted how Old Madam Huo brought back the old Marquis's several illegitimate sons who had been living away from home, and how she told all the servants in the household that she would keep them by her side and personally raise them.
And how could she have promised the collateral relatives of the Huo family that she would never let Huo Yunzhan's crimes implicate the rest of the Huo family?
Finally, she recounted how she personally ascended the throne and presented him with all the evidence that could have put him to death.
"...Your mother is now a great contributor to the Huo family." Shen Qingci's eyes were filled with mockery and disdain. "She is willing to risk everything to protect the Huo family."
Huo Yunzhan frowned deeply, but still shook his head again and again, his voice filled with struggle and disbelief: "Impossible! My mother... my mother wouldn't do that!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci smiled.
"Your Majesty, the decree has been issued." Her voice was cold and cruel. "Instruct Madam Huo to choose one of your young 'brothers' to inherit the title of Marquis of Yongning."
“Your mother,” she looked at him, her eyes filled with endless mockery, “chosen to sacrifice you in order to preserve the wealth and honor of the Yongning Marquis’s mansion and to keep the title of Yongning Marquis.”
“However, that’s normal.” Her voice was light and airy, but every word was like a knife. “After all, you are ruthless. For your own wealth, you were able to choose to kill your own twin brother, fake your death, impersonate Huo Yunting to return to the mansion, and then silently share a bed with your sister-in-law in the name of your brother.”
“These incidents, one by one,” a bloodthirsty smile curled at the corner of her lips, “your mother must have seen them all, right?”
"The reason she helped you cover it up before was simply because you were her only son, and she was also concerned about the reputation of the Yongning Marquis's mansion."
“But now, you’ve made such a mess of things,” her voice suddenly turned sharp, filled with a deadly pressure, “Do you think she’ll let the entire Yongning Marquis’s mansion be destroyed in your hands?”
After hearing Shen Qingci's words, Huo Yunzhan fell completely silent.
He just... still looked like he couldn't accept it.
After a long while, he suddenly broke down, clutching his head and sobbing.
"I was wrong..." His voice was hoarse, filled with endless regret, "I was really... wrong..."
"If... if I hadn't done those things to the Shen family back then, would things have turned out this way?"
He raised his head, his eyes, which had long since lost all their light, filled with pleading: "Aci... I really regret it. Please... please let me go, okay?"
Shen Qingci found his tearful appearance utterly ridiculous.
She lightly tossed the bright yellow imperial edict in her hand in front of him.
"You will be beheaded in ten days."
Her voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth.
"You can say these words of regret to my father and brothers, and to the hundreds of innocent souls who died unjustly in my Shen family after you die...
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