Chapter 561 The Final Blow
Ma Wan almost subconsciously wanted to put it away, and explained: "This is what my mother...left for me..."
"This is something my mother had when she was young, and she has kept it with her all this time." There was a hint of sadness and regret in Li Lu's hoarse voice: "My mother was also a noble lady in the capital. Ever since she followed my father to Yizhou, she has been missing her family in the capital."
"It's a pity that my grandparents' relatives passed away one after another, and my mother was also bedridden, so I didn't have the chance to return to the capital to see her..."
Li Lu looked at the golden lock and said, "Since my mother has given this to you, if we have the chance in the future, you and I will take it back to the capital... It will also fulfill some of my mother's wishes."
Ma Wan nodded and said "OK", then raised her hand to wipe away her tears, hiding the strange look in her eyes.
In the next two days, Ma Wan was busy with the funeral of Princess Rong, and she was so worried that she could hardly sleep day or night.
Occasionally when she was alone, she would take out the safety lock and look at it carefully, repeatedly recalling the words Princess Rong said before her death, but she could never understand it.
The back of the lock is engraved with Princess Rong’s personal characters and date of birth, which shows that it is indeed a thing from childhood... But what exactly does the phrase "announce it to the public" mean?
Why was a boudoir safety lock "publicized"? Or, as the prince guessed, the princess wanted her to take this item back to the capital to fulfill her homesickness... Were those puzzling words just the confused words of a dying person?
But……
Ma Wan would always hear Princess Rong's words, urging her to leave.
Were those words just nonsense? On the third night, Ma Wan lay on the couch, still unable to close her eyes for a long time.
I don't know what time it was. After the lights were turned off in the dim room, a concerned voice suddenly sounded beside my pillow, asking, "Wan'er, haven't you gone to bed yet?"
Ma Wan, who was lost in thought, was startled for a moment, and after calming her heartbeat, she asked, "Is the prince also unable to fall asleep?"
"Yes, I was thinking about my mother's life... She had a very hard and lonely life." Li Lu's voice sounded especially clear and gentle in the dark night, like a calm lake covered with a faint layer of loneliness and sadness: "It is because my mother had too much sadness accumulated in her heart that she blamed me like that in her last moments."
"Your Highness is saying..." Ma Wan tried to ask, "Did mother blame you before she left?"
Li Lu seemed to nod his head slightly: "As a son, I have never been able to fulfill my filial duties to my mother. It is only natural that my mother blames me."
Ma Wan said with mixed emotions: "It is not easy for the prince to have been in the capital for so many years. There is no need to blame yourself for this..."
"Also, mother has always known about Yi Cong's matter." Li Lu's voice was very soft, but there was a hint of confusion: "So mother resented father...but I have never felt the pain in her heart."
When Ma Wan heard this, she subconsciously thought - she blamed her husband for having concubines and children outside, and blamed her son for not being by her side... Perhaps, this was the root cause of the puzzling words the princess said to her?
But as a woman, her intuition clearly told her that the look in Princess Rong's eyes was not only filled with pain, but also fear...
Ma Wan couldn't tell the difference for a moment.
"Wan'er, what did mother say before she passed away?"
Hearing this sad question, Ma Wan's eyes dodged in the night, and she tried her best to make her voice sound normal: "Mother was just talking in a murmur, and the maids were crying, so I couldn't hear clearly."
Li Lu seemed a little disappointed. After a moment, he said, "That's good. My mother has been suffering from illness for many years. This is a relief for her..."
He looked at the ceiling of the bed in the dim light and said in a low voice, "Wan'er, from now on, I will no longer have a mother."
"My mother passed away with depression... and Yi Cong's existence also made me realize that I had always overestimated my importance in my father's heart."
At this point, Li Lu's tone was filled with uneasiness and self-blame: "I hid it from my father and let you, Wan'er, reveal Duan Shiang's identity to my father-in-law, which led to Duan Shiang's death... Now it seems that this move was really rash. If my father finds out in the future, I'm afraid it will implicate you."
Li Lu looked quietly at the ceiling of the bed, his expression unchanged in the dim light.
He certainly knew that Duan Shiang's death was not caused by the letter sent to the Ma Mansion alone, but must have been written by Chang Suining...but his wife would not know this.
In his wife's view, it was he who hid the truth from his father and asked her to inform the Ma family and the court, which led to Duan Shiang's defeat in Luoyang.
In the eyes of his wife, he did all this for her and the Ma family, and to stop his father's ambitious journey.
Sure enough, his soft-hearted wife quickly said, "Your Highness did this for the greater good, and it also indirectly helped Grandfather... How can you say that Your Highness is a burden? I know better than anyone how much hardship Your Highness has endured."
Li Lu slowly turned sideways, hugged Ma Wan, and rested his head on her neck.
Ma Wan only heard his hoarse and slow voice: "Wan'er, you are all I have now... The love between you and me is the only bond I have left in this world."
Ma Wan was trembling slightly, and her eyelashes were shaking as well.
His breath and his words seemed to be broken, like a broken piece of jade, as if only when held in her hands would it not turn into dust and dissipate.
How could such a person be the one that the princess calls heartless?
How could the heartless be so broken? Ma Wan was confused, her heart ached, and her eyes became blurred in the mixed emotions.
"Prince..." She hugged Li Lu back, her voice trembling, "I don't want to see you take risks, nor do I want anything to happen to my grandfather and his family... Can Duan Shiang's death really stop everything?"
Li Lu did not answer her, but just gently stroked the loose hair behind her head with his palm.
Ma Wan immediately had the answer in her mind: No.
Even though Duan Shiang's move was useless, he still couldn't stop Prince Rong.
The current situation is so huge, and what she and the prince can do is so small...
Her thoughts had also changed compared to a few years ago. What she saw and heard now reminded her of the corruption of the current court... Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder, was Prince Rong definitely wrong? Did the court and the emperor really have no responsibility for the current situation?
But she knew very well how important her grandfather regarded the relationship between the ruler and his subjects...
Ma Wan admitted that she did not understand the overall situation and could not make arbitrary judgments about right and wrong. She was just a selfish person. The people of the world had nothing to do with her. She only cared about her family and the people she loved around her.
Everything she did from the beginning to the end was just to seek a compromise in the current situation, but it was too difficult.
The people around her understood what she wanted very well, and promised her at this moment: "Wan'er, I promise you, no matter what happens in the future, I will do my best to protect the Ma family... You have to believe me."
Tears rolled down Ma Wan's eyes.
In this difficult and crisis-ridden situation, how could she not be moved by having such a husband who understood what she wanted and protected her? She hugged Li Lu tightly, trying to feel more warmth from him, but the sad and frightened voice of Princess Rong suddenly appeared in her mind: [I once thought that I was lucky enough to marry a good husband who was kind and gentle and lived in harmony with the world...]
Ma Wan closed her eyes, trying to keep herself clear-headed, but she was too tired. The thoughts in her mind floated away like dust, and she soon fell asleep.
When she woke up the next day, Li Lu was gone. The maid told her, "The prince saw that Madam was tired, so he did not let the servants wake Madam up. The prince also said that Madam did not need to worry about the subsequent funeral arrangements of the princess, so Madam should rest for a few days."
Ma Wan nodded absentmindedly.
Soon, Lan Ying came in with warm water and helped Ma Wan wash up.
After Ma Wan finished her breakfast, Lan Ying asked her to take another half-day nap, and Ma Wan nodded absentmindedly.
Lan Ying helped Ma Wan lie down on the couch, but she did not leave in a hurry. Instead, she knelt beside the couch and suddenly said, "Girl, let's go!"
Her voice was very low, but it startled Ma Wan: "Lan Ying..."
"Girl, the Rong prince's wife is gone, and the Rong prince has a big illegitimate child... I don't know how chaotic the Rong prince's mansion will be in the future. I'm afraid we can't handle it at all."
Lan Ying looked serious and lowered her voice, "I have thought about it over and over again. Prince Rong and the Saint will definitely fight to the death... If the girl stays here, it will also be a hindrance to the family."
She has learned her lesson now, and knows that the girl cannot bear to hear the bad words of Prince Rong, so she tries to persuade her from the perspective of the safety of the Ma family.
Sure enough, Ma Wan sat up and looked at her: "... disturbing the family?"
She didn't burden her grandfather in any way. She was even delivering messages to him, wasn't she?
"I know that your heart is most inclined towards your home." Lan Ying said seriously, "But as long as the girl stays here safely for one day, it means that the Rong Palace and the Ma family are still connected... At this juncture, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Saint not to have a grudge against the Prime Minister!"
Lan Ying was just saying this casually, but as she was talking, she suddenly felt... this might be the reason why that vixen prince still kept her girl by his side!
As long as the girl is here, there will be an unbreakable bond between the Rong Palace and the Ma family...
In such a sensitive situation, the girl doesn't even need to do anything. As long as she stays here safely, it will be enough to become a thorn in the saint's heart.
Lan Ying couldn't help but said, "Let's take a step back...if Prince Rong really goes to the capital someday, they can still borrow the girl to negotiate terms with the Ma family!"
"Girl, there is more, think about it..." Lan Ying grabbed Ma Wan's hand: "Since Prince Rong has other sons, there will inevitably be competition in the future. The prince will naturally need someone to support him. By then, even if our prime minister is no longer the prime minister, his prestige will still be there, and he has so many students... If I were the prince, I would also do everything I can to coax you to live a good life!"
This time, Ma Wan strangely did not interrupt or refute Lan Ying's words. She just listened in a daze, her face growing paler and paler.
Seeing this, Lan Ying slowed down her voice and said with red eyes: "If the prince really loves me, I have no reason to hinder you from helping him... But I am worried that he has been calculating from the beginning. If one day I am no longer useful, will he continue to treat me well? If you and the Ma family refuse to obey him, will he treat the Ma family well?"
These words, which Ma Wan had never listened to, cleverly overlapped with the last words of Princess Rong before her death. And because they involved the Ma family, Ma Wan couldn't help but feel shaken.
"Girl, I've thought about it again and again..." Tears began to well up in Lan Ying's eyes. "When the situation was unclear before, the Saint wanted to use you to monitor Prince Rong's Mansion. You were a chess piece in the Saint's eyes. But now that the situation is clear, you are no longer useful. Instead, you will become a barrier between the Saint and the Ma family..."
"They all just want to take advantage of me..." Lan Ying cried, "My dear, now we can only save ourselves."
As Ma Wan's emotions fluctuated, her head buzzed violently.
Seeing that her girl had a strange expression on her face, Lan Ying hurriedly supported her and let her lean against the head of the bed. She then poured a cup of warm tea and brought it to Ma Wan's mouth.
Ma Wan was about to drink it, but suddenly turned her head away and began to dry heave uncontrollably.
This was not the first time she had retched recently.
Lan Ying suddenly thought of her daughter's poor appetite recently, and her expression changed: "The daughter's period has been delayed for some time..."
Ma Wan, who had finally stopped retching, clutched the quilt tightly, her expression fluctuating.
Lan Ying subconsciously wanted to ask a doctor to come. She stood up and took two steps, but then stopped and looked back at Ma Wan: "Girl..."
If the girl is really pregnant and the prince and the people in Prince Rong’s mansion find out...it will be extremely difficult for her to leave!
This is not just a child, this is clearly the closest blood connection between the Ma family and Prince Rong's Mansion.
Lan Ying looked at her girl's belly and was so angry that she almost cried - who made her come at this time? Will she know how to walk when she is reborn?
"Don't go yet..." Ma Wan said in a low voice: "Don't let anyone know."
In the past two years, like the prince, she has been hoping to have a child, but has never been able to fulfill her wish.
At this moment, she raised her hand and stroked the possible baby in her belly, but her worry far outweighed her joy.
Before, she should have told the prince the good news immediately, but now...
Ma Wan decided to keep it secret for the time being.
She raised her eyes and looked at Lan Ying: "Lan Ying, let me think about it carefully."
One thing after another came to her, and now her mind was in a mess.
As for the matter of leaving, she was more sober than Lan Ying. She knew that this was not something that could be decided impulsively. Once out of the Prince Rong's Mansion, it was Yizhou City, and even out of Yizhou City, it was still Jiannan Road... They were all under the strict control of the Prince Rong's Mansion.
A great struggle was imminent, and under such circumstances, she was afraid that she would be unable to move forward.
With tears in her eyes, Ma Wan looked at everything in the room that was furnished to her liking.
Now, all her speculations about the prince had no real evidence, so she had to think about it carefully...
Lan Ying rushed to the bedside and hugged Ma Wan in tears - the girl finally tried to face the cruel truth that might exist... In any case, this is a good thing.
"Don't be afraid, young lady. I will definitely accompany you and protect you to the death..."
Ma Wan gently hugged the maid who grew up with her, and looked at the closed window with her red eyes.
The sky outside the window is clear and cloudless.
At the same moment, in the Ganlu Palace in the imperial capital, the Crown Prince and important officials including Ma Xingzhou were waiting there.
The emperor made an important decision - to take the initiative to send troops to Shannan West Road to fight against the rebellious officials and clear up the chaos in the west in one fell swoop.
This is an extremely important decision, and it is also the last blow that the court can make with all its strength.
The emperor chose to use this as a weapon, pointing it directly at Prince Rong Li Yin, in order to cut off the source of his troubles and take the initiative to destroy his foundation.
4200 words, good night in advance~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
