Chapter 141 Exchange 3 If you are not ruthless, how can I be disloyal? ...
The two looked at each other for a moment, and he finally lowered his eyes, as if he was the first to admit defeat.
Then he took out a bottle of ointment from his sleeve pocket, walked closer to her, opened the bottle, and applied some ointment with his fingertips to her neck.
Just as his hand reached for her neck, she took a step back to avoid him.
She was a little unaccustomed to it and a little uncomfortable, but of course she felt more awkward as they went from intimacy to distance and then back to intimacy.
Xie Wuhen's expression was slightly cold: "I am only fulfilling my duty, why should Princess overthink it?"
Su He immediately denied it: "I didn't think much about it."
He said solemnly, "Since you don't think much of it, then let me apply the medicine to the princess."
After he finished speaking, he took a step forward and gently applied the ointment to the wound on her neck.
This time she didn't hide, letting him apply ointment on her and then bandaging the wound on her neck with a handkerchief.
She recognized the handkerchief because she had used it when she was in Chunhuayuan.
After bandaging the wound, he took a step back and said, "Okay, Princess, you can go to Tongtian Terrace now." His cold eyes did not reveal any emotion.
She bowed to him and said, "The situation has been decided, thanks to your planning, sir."
He still spoke in a serious tone: "I have said before, I am just doing my duty." After that, he turned around and walked in front to lead the way for her.
"Sir, please wait a moment." She suddenly called him.
He stopped and looked back: "Princess, what else do you want?"
Su He glanced at the corner behind him: "Mr. Fang..."
He interrupted her: "He and Bai Jinan are in cahoots and will be punished by the law."
She asked hurriedly, "Is your life in danger?"
He stared at her intently, as if trying to bore a hole through her: "Why, Princess, do you have such deep feelings for him?"
Su He choked and was suddenly speechless.
He called out in a bad mood, "Someone come here."
An officer came running up from behind: "Sir, what's the matter?"
He ordered: "Take Guard Fang in the corner with you." After saying that, he walked ahead.
Su He looked at his back, feeling mixed emotions.
At this time, all the guards who were plotting rebellion had been captured on the Tongtian Terrace.
The emperor immediately ordered that Zhou Ping, Zhou Cheng, Fang Yushan, and Wang Xing'er be imprisoned and executed on a later date. He also announced on the spot that the second prince Zhao Bo would be demoted to a commoner.
Zhao Bo cried heartbreakingly, crying out in pain: "I am your blood relative, your Majesty. Could you really be so cruel?"
The emperor approached him and looked at him calmly. "When it comes to cruelty, Bo'er is the one who surpasses his teacher. Back then, didn't you ask your mother to kill me? Now, I am showing the greatest mercy by sparing your life."
Zhao Bo suddenly stopped crying, hunched his shoulders and lowered his head.
When Su He arrived at Tongtian Terrace, those who should have been sent to prison had already been taken away, and most of the corpses on the ground had been dealt with. Only the blood on the ground was difficult to clean up, and the strong smell of blood was spreading everywhere.
The emperor looked at the bloodstains on the ground and sighed deeply into the void.
Su He walked up to him and called out "Father".
The emperor turned to look at her, his heart filled with emotion. "Born into the royal family, born at the pinnacle of power, one is inevitably faced with the strife between loved ones and even within the family. My recognition of you... for you... I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse?"
Su He looked toward the distant mountains and answered irrelevantly, "I believe that for Mother, the happiest time of her life was the time she spent in the Imperial Palace, right?"
When Duofu was mentioned, the emperor was stunned for a moment: "Really?"
Su He nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Otherwise...how could Mother have survived those difficult years?"
My mother was originally a carefree tea girl, and was even favored by the emperor, but she eventually became a slave in the harem.
She raised her alone, facing endless hardships alone. There must have been something in her heart that sustained her, right? It must have been those unforgettable memories, right?
The emperor was overwhelmed with emotion and after a moment, he choked up and asked, "Did your mother... ever mention me in front of you?"
Su He took a few steps to the emperor's side, getting closer to him. "When my mother mentioned my father, she would say 'a young master'. She said that young master told her that bones can be reshaped, and that young master taught her how to play chess."
The emperor's tears fell like beads from a broken string.
Su He reached out and took the emperor's arm: "Therefore, no matter where you are, as long as there are people you care about around you and things you care about in your heart, it is a blessing in life."
He added, "Even though the royal family is constantly fighting, Your Majesty, please don't forget that you still have your sons and ministers, as well as the well-behaved and sensible Fifth Prince. Your Majesty should relax."
The emperor nodded with tears in his eyes: "Okay, father will listen to you."
The father and daughter snuggled together tenderly for a while.
Zhao Fu approached and stammered, "Your Majesty, Concubine Shu is still in the palace. She said she wants to see Your Majesty."
The emperor slowed down and ordered Su He: "You go back to the palace first."
Then he pursed his lips cruelly and said, "I'll go meet her right away."
Concubine Shu was imprisoned in a side hall of the palace, and there were many guards guarding outside the hall.
When the emperor entered the palace, Concubine Shu was lying there, yelling, "I want to see Zhao Chengye. I have something to ask him. I want to see Zhao Chengye..."
The light in the hall was dim, reflecting the disheveled appearance of Concubine Shu and the madness on her face.
The emperor stood at the door, looking at her coldly and disdainfully: "I am here, just say whatever you want to say."
Concubine Shu struggled to get up from the ground and staggered towards the emperor.
The guards beside him warned sternly: "Retreat immediately and do not come forward again."
The emperor waved his hand to the guards: "It's okay, let her come forward."
Concubine Shu had already walked up to the emperor, gritting her teeth and saying, "I just want to ask you in person, Zhao Chengye, is your heart black or red? You only have three sons, and you demoted two of them to commoners. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
The emperor replied coldly, "I don't need to worry about how I deal with the Zhao family's descendants."
Concubine Shu was so angry that she trembled and burst into tears: "I have been in the palace for twenty years, and it was also twenty years that I was deceived and betrayed by you. I dare to ask, in these twenty years, have you ever been sincere to me for a moment?"
The emperor replied, "Now that things have come to this, what's the point of asking these questions?"
Concubine Shu shouted, "That's what I wanted to ask. I want you to answer it in person."
The emperor stared at her expressionlessly: "If you were sincere, how could you have imprisoned me in the cold palace?"
Concubine Shu cried and replied: "If I didn't really mean it, I could kill you right away. Why would I have to imprison you in the cold palace?"
The emperor did not want to argue with her any further: "You have committed treason, killing the empress and imprisoning me. Your crime is unforgivable." Then he called out, "Come here."
Zhao Fu came forward with a tray, "Your Majesty, it's ready."
There was a glass of wine and a piece of white wine on the tray.
The emperor said in a deep voice: "Bai Ling and poisoned wine, you choose one." After that, he turned and left without looking back. His resolute back made it seem as if she and he had never met before.
Concubine Shu shrank back and cried bitterly, then her body softened and she collapsed to the ground again.
After two cups of tea, Zhao Fu bowed and reported: "Your Majesty, the Concubine Shu has passed away."
The emperor looked at the vast sky outside the palace and was silent for a long while. After a moment, he ordered in a deep voice: "Go to the dark prison. I have to kill another person."
Zhao Fu lowered his head and replied "yes", then hurried to prepare the car.
In the dark cell, Bai Jinan was wearing prison clothes and sitting against the wall.
The cell was damp, and the straw mat beneath him was stained with mud.
Seeing the emperor appear, he chuckled: "You are finally here."
The emperor looked at him through the prison door, the dim light, and the long years.
Exactly the same face, even the same hair color.
The emperor said, "You are old."
Bai Jinan replied: "Aren't you old?"
The emperor asked, "That year it was Concubine Shu who helped you escape, right?"
Bai Jinan replied, "Since you already know it, why ask again?"
The emperor said, "I have been searching for you for many years, but I never thought you would be secretly having an affair with Concubine Shu."
Bai Jinan replied: "The world is so big, there are many things you have never thought of."
The emperor said, "There is something I can't figure out."
Bai Jinan replied: "If you have something to say, feel free to speak up."
The emperor said, "When I first met you on the street, you were being beaten to death by your creditors. I kindly saved your life and allowed you to enter the palace as my study companion, which led to your entire Bai family prospering. Why did you repay my kindness with hatred by reshaping yourself in my image and usurping my throne?"
Bai Jinan gritted his teeth and said, "You sound really high-sounding when you say that."
The emperor asked in return: "Am I wrong?"
Bai Jin'an's face was tense as he stumbled to his feet from the straw mat. He walked to the prison gate and met the emperor's gaze. "A so-called companion is nothing more than a servant, even less so than a servant. Do you know where I was during those countless nights when you slept peacefully?"
The emperor frowned: "Where are you?"
Bai Jinan gritted his teeth. "I'm in your mother's Kunning Palace. If you make a mistake reciting a lesson or writing a word incorrectly in front of the teacher, I'll be caned by your mother. Your mother says I'm a slave of ill-gotten origin, my life worthless, as lowly as an ant. She also says that if I want to live by your side, the noble prince, I must be prepared to die at any time. I refuse to accept this. Did my parents give birth to me just to be trampled upon by people like you?"
"Just because of this, you want to usurp the throne?"
"Isn't this enough?"
The two of them scowled at each other again.
After a moment, Bai Jinan continued, "Also, that year, my only son, Bai Wuxiang, died at the hands of a relative by marriage. It was clearly the victim's arrogance that killed innocent people. Yet, because of my son's humble background, you not only protected the murderer but also accused him of 'rebellion against his superiors,' leaving him with a stigma that he will never rest in peace. Zhao Chengye, oh Zhao Chengye, if you weren't heartless, how could I be disloyal?"
The emperor exhaled a breath of foul air. "Back then, Bai Wuxiang relied on the Bai family's relationship with the royal family to commit many evil deeds and murder several people. Why didn't you tell me about this?"
Bai Jinan cried out in pain: "How can this be the same?"
The emperor asked sharply, "What's the difference?"
The two faced each other again in silence.
After a moment, the emperor spoke slowly, "You should know that today is the day you die."
Bai Jinan smiled, a hint of pride emanating from that smile: "Just remember this: in the near future, you will definitely regret killing me."
The emperor remained unmoved and ordered Zhao Fu: "Go ahead."
His tone was tired, as if this meeting had exhausted his strength. Then he turned and walked out of the prison.
In the cell behind him, Bai Jinan was held down by two jailers and forced to drink a cup of poisoned wine.
Before Bai Jinan died, he smiled and murmured to himself, "Zhao Chengye, you will regret it..."
Su He returned to Huayang Palace smoothly.
After Concubine Shu fell, Su He immediately found out the spies she had planted in Huayang Palace, and the palace became much quieter.
Su He asked, "Has the emperor returned to the palace yet?"
Chunlan replied: "I just heard from a maid that the emperor has already returned to the palace."
She breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Have you found out where Bai Jinan is being held?"
Bai Jinan was bound to be imprisoned, and now she had enough time to force him to reveal the formula of the antidote.
Chunlan replied, "I heard she's dead, just like Concubine Shu, she was given poisoned wine."
Su He paused after hearing this and fell down into the rose chair in the hall...
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