Chapter 660 Ancestor, please forgive Xuan Ting for being unable to comply.
Xuan Ting stood at the back, his eyes fixed on the ancestor he had once revered. He felt that the ancestor had changed beyond recognition.
He remained silent for a long time. He glanced at the guard beside him. The Dead Servant, understanding his master's mind, kept the Empress Dowager at a distance.
Jiang Nuanzhi glanced down at Xiao Xuanting in front of her. Her face seemed cold and hard, but her small hands were sweating, indicating that the child was not at peace.
"You dare! You all dare!"
The Empress Dowager's face twisted with rage as she glared at Xuan Ting before her: "All these years of my sincere affection have been wasted on you! I've spoiled you for nothing. You truly are an ingrate! Just as cold-blooded as your father! Quickly, tell them to protect me! What are you waiting for!"
As soon as he said that, Jiang Nuanzhi felt Xuan Ting's palm tighten almost instantly, and his small body trembled.
Jiang Nuanzhi turned to look at him and saw his eyelashes trembling slightly as he lowered his head. He sighed inwardly and ultimately just squeezed Xuan Ting's hand. He didn't say anything.
There are some things Xuan Ting must face on his own. He is the future emperor, and the road ahead is long. This is probably only the first step for him.
Xuan Ting took a deep breath and felt the continuous warmth coming from his palm. He suddenly looked up at the Empress Dowager in front of him.
“Ancestor, please forgive Xuan Ting for being unable to comply.”
The Empress Dowager had already guessed the outcome, and her resentful eyes fell on Jiang Nuanzhi's face.
Jiang Nuanzhi was much calmer than she had imagined. She stood beside Xuan Ting, holding his hand firmly without taking a step back.
The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes, but before she could speak, the Emperor's voice rang out.
Why would the Empress Dowager make things difficult for a child?
The Emperor's voice seemed to carry a hint of weariness: "Someone, take the Empress Dowager to rest properly."
"How dare you! Who dares to touch me!" The Empress Dowager looked coldly at the Emperor above her, holding the signal flare she had just snatched from him in her hand: "Don't be so presumptuous, Emperor. Aren't you afraid that I will summon Li Rong back?"
The Empress Dowager's voice also carried a hint of madness as she stared at the signal flare in her hand: "If Xiao Yuanshan sees this signal flare being released, he'll probably go mad. I might still have a sliver of hope, but you and Xuan Ting will both die!"
"Royal Grandmother!"
The Emperor's pupils contracted: "I won't hurt you, so why are you doing this? Xiao Yuanshan won't let us go, including you. Grandmother, you haven't forgotten what you did to him, have you?"
The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes, and the next second, a smile appeared on her lips: "Your Majesty, don't forget, I am a woman of the Wei family. I have ways to make Xiao Yuanshan dare not touch me, and even more ways to make Li Rong dare not touch me! Do you understand?"
As he said this, the string of a signal flare was pulled, and the Emperor's pupils constricted sharply.
"Stop her!"
"stop!"
Amid the Emperor's roar, the Empress Dowager's lips curled up, but the next second, a soft "poof" was heard, and the signal flare in her hand did not bounce off as expected.
The guards who rushed towards the Empress Dowager were stunned and stood there, looking at each other, completely bewildered.
"Impossible! How could this be? You bastard! What are you?"
The Empress Dowager held the signal flare in her hand, swung it twice, and then angrily threw it at Jiang Nuanzhi.
However, she didn't have much strength, and even when she threw it over, it only made a couple of gurgling sounds about two meters in front of Jiang Nuanzhi's legs before falling silent.
Jiang Nuanzhi glanced down and said, "Your Majesty, I was just bluffing Xiao Yuanshan. It's actually just a bamboo tube for holding medicine."
If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's interference, she might have actually managed to intimidate Xiao Yuanshan. Even if she had, it would only have given her a slight advantage in negotiations. Unexpectedly, she ended up actually managing to deceive the Empress Dowager.
"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous! You dare to deceive me!"
The Empress Dowager was furious.
The Emperor rubbed his temples, seemingly relieved: "What are you waiting for? Why aren't you making your move?"
"Xuanlang! How dare you! Who dares to touch me!"
The Empress Dowager couldn't care less about Jiang Nuanzhi for the moment, and turned to look at the Emperor above: "Xuanlang, have you forgotten that it was I who saved your throne back then!"
Seeing that the approaching guards were intimidated, the Empress Dowager softened her tone slightly and looked at the emperor on the bed: "You lost your mother at a young age and ascended the throne at a young age. You and I, grandfather and grandson, were surrounded by wolves and jackals. Have you completely forgotten those days when we depended on each other for survival? Who was it that rescued you from countless imprisonments? Now, can you really be so heartless?"
As the Empress Dowager spoke, she had already walked to the Emperor's side. At this moment, perhaps due to poisoning, the Empress Dowager was covered in sweat, her makeup was ruined, and the carefully concealed wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were revealed. In a daze, one could even see the white hair at her temples, making her look more than ten years older in an instant.
The Emperor stared at the Empress Dowager's face, momentarily lost in thought, before a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth: "Of course I remember everything, and I won't forget it even when I'm fed up with it."
"Grandmother, don't worry, your grandson won't do anything to you. Just be at peace."
The Empress Dowager looked at the Emperor before her, realizing how different he had become from the child he once was. She could barely make out his face. In a daze, she moved closer, looking down at him, and after a long while, sighed softly, "Xuanlang, in truth, of all the royal family, you are the one who most resembles me. Even more so than your father."
The Empress Dowager sat on the Emperor's bed in a daze, her eyes filled with pity: "I'm already this old, what's the point of fighting over these things? Sometimes I think, how wonderful it would be if we could go back to the days when we depended on each other for survival. I remember, you were such a tiny little thing back then, you couldn't even climb onto the dragon throne, I had to carry you. How did we, grandmother and granddaughter, become like this now?"
As he spoke, a sudden flash of cold light appeared.
A ruthless glint flashed in the Empress Dowager's originally kind eyes, and with a flick of her sleeve, a hairpin pierced straight toward the Emperor's throat.
Just a second before the hairpin was about to pierce her throat, the Empress Dowager's hand was grasped by the Emperor.
The sorrow in the Emperor's eyes vanished in an instant, and he didn't know where the strength came from. He grasped the Empress Dowager's wrist and swiftly plunged the hairpin that had been meant to pierce his own body into her throat.
All of this happened so suddenly that even the surrounding guards were caught off guard.
When they looked over again, they saw the Empress Dowager clutching her throat, opening her mouth, and a mouthful of blood gushed from the corner of her lips; she was dying.
Her last gaze fell upon the emperor before her, as if she wanted to say something, but only a few gurgling sounds escaped her throat. Blood and foam rose from her mouth again.
Surprisingly, the hatred in her eyes when she looked at the Emperor had vanished, replaced by a hint of approval. It was as if she were saying, "He truly is the emperor I have carefully nurtured for so many years."
(End of this chapter)
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