Chapter 177 Fate and the safety of heaven and earth are unknown.
"What did you say?"
Yue Yining stared at Wei Ye in front of her, stunned: "...You mean, the former Crown Prince didn't die from a sudden illness, but was poisoned?"
After Wei Ye finished recounting this shocking news, he collapsed to the ground, covering his face with his hands. Only then did Yue Yining notice that his princely robes were completely wrinkled, and in just two days, his once well-maintained long hair had become a frizzy mess, and his entire being exuded dejection.
Yue Yining couldn't bear to see him sitting on the dirty floor covered in broken porcelain shards, so she reached out and pulled him up. Wei Ye offered no resistance, hunching over as if he had no bones, as she pressed him into a chair.
"Where did you get this information?" Yue Yining asked him, frowning. "Is the source reliable?"
Wei Ye seemed to have finally regained his senses. He raised his head, and his bloodshot eyes slowly moved to look at Yue Yining.
He said, "It was Luo Bao who told me."
Yue Yining was taken aback.
Luo Bao. The adopted son of Luo Hong, the current Grand Eunuch, and the most capable eunuch under the emperor's most favored advisor.
Although he was just a minor eunuch, he was a fairly respected palace attendant. Why would he risk doing such a thing?
“Two days ago, I went to the palace to see my father, and he came to me that day.” Wei Ye’s voice was deep and clear. “After I saw my father, I was about to leave the palace. When I passed by the Imperial Garden, Luo Bao seemed to have been waiting there. When he saw that no one was around, he suddenly knelt down in front of me.”
Wei Ye still remembers how shocked he was at the time. He instinctively wanted to leave, but Luo Bao looked at him with tears streaming down his face and full of remorse, making him unable to move an inch.
“He said he was guilty. I asked him what his crime was, and he kowtowed first before telling me that he knew the truth about the Crown Prince’s death, but he did not tell anyone because he dared not.”
“He said he had been tormented for a long time, but finally decided to hand over the evidence to me. Because he knew that I had mourned the Crown Prince for seven days and still often prayed for him. I was the most sincere person to him in this palace.” Wei Ye said slowly, “If there is anyone else in this world worthy of him entrusting this secret to me, it is only me.”
Luo Bao told Wei Ye something that even he didn't know.
He said that on the night before his death, Crown Prince Wei Changqiong had a fierce argument with the emperor in the imperial study.
The person on duty outside the Imperial Study that night was none other than Eunuch Wu Chuan.
There have been two chief eunuchs in the imperial court. One is Luo Hong, who is currently serving the emperor, and the other is Wu Chuan.
When Luo Bao came to deliver the goods, he heard the commotion from afar and knew what was going on, so he didn't go over and just turned around and left.
Little did anyone know that this very action would make him the only eunuch to survive that night.
After that night, all the eunuchs on duty in the Imperial Study were executed by the emperor, including the chief eunuch Wu Chuan.
Wu Chuan died under mysterious circumstances. Luo Bao, who had a mentor-student relationship with Wu Chuan, felt a sense of unease at Wu Chuan's passing and also sensed something strange. Taking advantage of his position at the Directorate of Ceremonial, he secretly sorted through Wu Chuan's old papers, intending to take them out of the palace to give to his family. However, he discovered a fragment of the "Records of the Imperial Kitchen".
One item is clearly recorded inside: On the night the Crown Prince died, the Emperor ordered someone to send a bowl of bird's nest soup to the Eastern Palace.
In addition, the back of the fragment also contains Wu Chuan's private notes, which were also at the emperor's request. The emperor ordered him to "handle this matter quickly and not let outsiders know about it."
Yue Yining was completely stunned.
"Could it be that...?"
“Yes.” As if confirming her inner suspicion, Wei Ye slowly spoke, “That night, the emperor sent a soup to the East Palace, and the person who sent the soup was Wu Chuan.”
Wu Chuan delivered the soup to the palace and then left. The next day, Crown Prince Wei Changqiong was found dead in the palace.
"No one knows exactly what happened at that time, but everyone in the palace knows exactly what happened afterward. The Emperor ordered the execution of his chief eunuch, Wu Chuan, and all the palace maids, eunuchs, and guards serving inside and outside the Crown Prince's palace were executed, under the pretense of being buried with the Crown Prince. Not a single person was left alive."
"But now that I think about it, did Father really kill them just to make them pay for his dead elder brother's death?" Wei Ye laughed a few times. "If so, why did Father also kill all the eunuchs who might have overheard their argument outside the Imperial Study that night? He didn't even spare his most trusted chief eunuch!"
Yue Yining remained silent, picking up the tattered pages of the Imperial Kitchen Records that Wei Ye had tossed aside and carefully examining their contents. After verifying their authenticity, even she couldn't help but frown, a serious expression creeping onto her face.
“Master Yue, there’s no need to look anymore.” Wei Ye seemed exhausted. He had said too much in one breath, and his voice, which had not been drinking water for two days, had become hoarse and unpleasant. “Although I, Wei Ye, am stupid and foolish, I am not so foolish as to believe everything that anyone says.”
“I have sent people to verify everything Luo Bao told me and the evidence he gave me. He may have been hiding something or had ulterior motives, but I don’t care anymore.”
Yue Yining moved her lips, "Third Prince, please don't jump to conclusions. Perhaps someone else is behind Luo Bao, and their purpose is to use the Crown Prince's death to sow discord between you and His Majesty..."
Yue Yining was unable to finish her sentence because Wei Ye raised his head and looked at her quietly.
He said, "Don't you understand?"
“What Luo Bao said may be partly true and partly false, but the evidence he gave me is all true.”
The words are in black and white on paper, the seal is clear, and there is no way to fake it.
The palace was silent, as if buried in dust.
Yue Yining put down the evidence in her hand, completely speechless.
A thunderous roar resounded in her heart, echoing for a long time and lingering in her ears.
Yue Yining knew all too well how much of an impact this truth would have on Wei Ye, who admired his elder brother and father. Even she, who was not directly involved, was deeply moved.
Her face showed worry, "Your Highness the Third Prince..."
Wei Ye stood up unsteadily, watching her force a smile, which looked worse than crying. "My elder brother died, and Father Emperor seemed so grief-stricken at the time... I completely believed him and never doubted him in the slightest."
That's true. Who would think that a father would kill his beloved son?
“I’ve thought about it. Maybe that soup wasn’t the poison that killed my elder brother. Maybe someone used Father Emperor to kill him and then frame him. I’ve thought about it, but I just can’t convince myself,” Wei Ye said, trembling. “…If my elder brother was poisoned by someone else, how could Father Emperor let the real culprit go unpunished?”
During the Jiahe era, a beautiful story circulated in Yanjing (Beijing). The current emperor doted on the son born to the late empress, and made him the crown prince at a young age, giving all his fatherly love and care to his son, a rare occurrence in the world.
The bond between the father and son in the imperial family is known to all.
If Wei Changqiong was indeed killed by someone else, Wei Tianxuan would be furious. He would turn the entire palace upside down and dig three feet into the ground to find the murderer who killed the crown prince and exterminate his entire family.
But he killed all the palace servants overnight, forbade the imperial physicians to examine the body, and announced to the public that the crown prince had died of a sudden illness.
Unless the emperor already knew the cause of the crown prince's death.
"Master Yue, I... I can't... I really can't face Father anymore..." Wei Ye cried, tears streaming down his red face. "How can I face him? If Father really killed my elder brother, what should I do...?"
He seemed to be in extreme grief, sorrow, and pain, crying as if his heart were being torn apart, completely disregarding the etiquette and dignity befitting a prince.
Who made him wish he were dead? He even wished he were dead. It would be better to be dead, because then he would be clean and wouldn't have to come to his senses to find his hands stained with the blood of his deceased loved ones.
He thought that everything he did was to comfort the souls of the dead, protect the land and people that his brother loved so dearly—but what if it was this very ruler of the people who killed his brother?
What should he do? If his revered father was the real culprit who murdered his elder brother, the Crown Prince, how could he find peace? How could he forgive himself? The rest of his life seemed to pass in an instant, his black hair turned to snow, and even in his prime, he felt like an old man.
For generations to come, people will lament the absurd drama of fathers and sons killing each other in this part of history, and he is now a character in that drama.
Right and wrong are reversed, and loyalty and righteousness cannot be reconciled.
This almost completely destroyed Wei Ye's ambition, spirit, and will over the past twenty years. He was only one step away from a mental breakdown. At this point, he was no longer human, but just a wandering soul in the human world.
“I can only hate him now…” His face was streaked with tears, yet he smiled sadly, tightly holding Yue Yining’s hand, and closing his bloodshot eyes. “My first half of life was given to me by my elder brother. Without his love and care, I would not be where I am today. I can never betray him.”
“My elder brother was murdered, and I cannot stand by and watch the person who killed him live on without any retribution. I have no choice but to hate my father.” Yue Yining had never seen Wei Ye show such a horrifying expression. He cried and laughed at the same time, muttering to himself, “If I still have a shred of conscience, I should seek justice for my elder brother.”
"Wei Ye!" Yue Yining suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
Those tightly closed eyes trembled for a moment, then suddenly opened and met her gaze.
Yue Yining was suddenly shocked by the news and was still shaken, her mind blank. But she knew she couldn't stand idly by and watch Wei Ye sink deeper into his inner demons, making a futile attempt. She had to keep him calm!
"...Listen to me first." Yue Yining forced herself to calm down and said urgently, "I understand how you feel, but the truth is still unclear, and there are still too many doubts in this matter. We can't act so rashly..."
“Is it arbitrary?” he said softly. “I think there is no other explanation.”
“Master Yue, I wish I could deceive myself,” Wei Ye said, looking at her. “But I can’t.”
"Third Prince, calm down!" Yue Yining stared intently at him. "What do you want to do? He is, after all, your father, the current emperor! If you assassinate him, you will not escape death!"
"Filial piety has always been paramount. Do you really want to be infamous for killing your father?" Seeing that he was moved, Yue Yining took a deep breath and forced out a few harsh words, "Even if you don't care about what happens after you die, have you thought about Her Highness the Princess?"
"She fought bravely against the enemy at the border and finally returned victorious, only to be greeted with the devastating news of her father and brother! Others will not know your motives; outsiders will only say you are a traitor. Because of you, Her Highness the Princess will also be criticized and slandered! Do you really think you have the right to act recklessly?!"
Yue Yining forcefully shook off Wei Ye's hand. He lowered his head and took a few steps back before regaining his balance.
After shouting those words, Yue Yining was also a little agitated. She was panting as she looked at Wei Ye, who was slowly regaining his composure.
“Master Yue, you’re right. I can’t just think of myself.” Wei Ye looked at her and said in a low voice, “I have no attachments in this world. If I lose this life, I’ll lose it. But if I’m going to die, at least I shouldn’t drag you down with me.”
Yue Yining's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition arose: "Third Prince, that's not what I meant..."
"Thank you. I've been living in a daze these past two days, but I've never thought things through more clearly than I do now." Wei Ye looked at her and actually laughed. "The only way to have the best of both worlds is for me to die."
Yue Yining's pupils constricted.
Before she could say anything, she saw Wei Ye grab a shard of broken porcelain from the ground. She immediately understood what he was planning to do and quickly rushed over to grab his hand!
Just then, a series of exclamations came from outside, growing louder as someone shouted. Then, the tightly closed palace doors were kicked open from the outside!
Wei Ye, who was still struggling, froze, and Yue Yining, who was pressing down on Wei Ye's arm, also froze.
They both looked at the uninvited guest at the palace gate.
The newcomer wore a brocade robe of gentian purple, a golden crown tied high, and his beautiful face was now filled with gloom.
Ren Yueyining never expected that she would meet the Fourth Prince Wei Jing here.
The guards outside the palace gates had already knelt down with a thud before the Fourth Prince even kicked the door open; all that could be seen was a sea of black, dark heads. Wei Jing lifted his leg, strode over the threshold, and walked straight towards the two men with a grim face.
Yue Yining didn't have time to dodge. She only felt her body lighten as Wei Jing grabbed her hand and threw her away.
She barely managed to regain her footing, and as she watched Wei Jing head towards Wei Ye, she was about to grab him when she saw Wei Jing's expression and stopped in her tracks.
"Didn't you want to commit suicide?" Wei Jing grabbed Wei Ye by the collar and shoved him to the ground, his eyes blazing with fury as he glared at him. "Die! Why aren't you doing it yet? What are you hesitating for?!"
With his neck being choked, Wei Ye managed to say in a strained voice, "You...you're pressing down on my...hand..."
Yue Yining stared blankly at the scene. When she saw the guards outside trying to rush in, she quickly stopped them, saying, "Wait! All of you, step back!"
"Luo Bao told you about those things, right? He told me too."
Just as Yue Yining closed the palace door again, she heard Wei Jing's words and was immediately stunned.
She turned her head and saw that Wei Jing was still pressing Wei Ye to the ground. Both of their long hair were scattered among the broken porcelain shards. Their similar faces were very close together. Wei Jing was looking at Wei Ye with eyes she had never seen before, a mixture of ruthlessness and hatred that made her heart pound.
"He's just a man who's been dead for ages. Do you think he'll even see you acting like this, risking your life for him? Your revenge is nothing but wishful thinking. Wei Changqiong just took pity on you once, and you've held onto that for so many years, now you're so eager to serve him, even daring to kill the Emperor?" Wei Jing smiled strangely. "Are you his dog?"
"Wei Jing!" Wei Ye's expression changed instantly, and he roared, "Who gave you permission to address your elder brother by his given name!"
"I'll say it! Wei Changqiong is dead! Dead!" Wei Jing's expression changed as well. He grabbed Wei Changqiong's neck with one hand, his anger blatant as he looked at Wei Changqiong's pained expression. "Who do you think you are, daring to yell at me like that?!"
Wei Ye struggled to break free of Wei Jing's grip, kicked him in the chest, and got up, panting.
He stared at Wei Jing, who was sitting on the ground, still clutching the spot where he had been kicked, and said, "I don't know why you broke into my residence. I thank you for telling me about Luo Bao's indecisiveness, but I'm also fed up with your offenses against me and the former crown prince. Please get out!"
After shouting, Wei Ye covered his neck, which was red from being strangled, and his voice became low and hoarse again, "I know you've always hated me, but I've never thought of competing with you for anything."
"The poison you almost accidentally ingested wasn't given to me by someone else. You've sent assassins to kill me so many times already, can't we call it even? Can you please stop targeting me? I've already withdrawn from the struggle for the throne and won't fight you for it anymore..."
Wei Jing abruptly interrupted him, roaring, "Did I give permission?!"
Yue Yining was completely stunned by the volume of the two people's voices, and they seemed to have forgotten that she was still there.
Wei Jing laughed, his eyes bloodshot. "Have you ever done anything you wanted to do since you were a child? No! You choose your friends based on his wishes, you write in his handwriting based on his wishes, and you even decide whether to fight for the throne based on his wishes! Now you're even willing to give your life to him so easily! What I said is absolutely true, you are a bastard's offspring, utterly despicable!"
Wei Ye retorted angrily, "What right do you have to say that to me? Have you ever even tried to understand me? My elder brother is the only person in this palace who has ever been kind to me. I gave him my life willingly, as a way of repaying his kindness!"
"Kindness my ass!" Wei Jing yelled at him excitedly, "He's the only one who's ever been good to you? Haven't I ever been good to you?!"
Wei Ye clenched his fists: "What kind of kindness do you mean by 'being good to me'? Yes, I have wronged you, but haven't you repaid me a thousandfold? Now you still have the nerve to say you're good to me? You just treat me like a useful slave! How could someone like you know how to be good to someone?!"
The two of them exchanged insults until they were exhausted and fell silent, panting heavily. The palace, which had just been on the verge of having its roof ripped off, suddenly became eerily quiet.
Wei Jing suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"...You're right, I only treated you as a slave." Even as he said this, his eyes turned bloodshot, and his voice trembled for a moment. "A person like you only deserves to be my slave."
......
The Third Prince's residence was in complete chaos, but Xie Yunying was completely unaware.
The system has been gone for two days, and it should have returned by now. She's starting to miss it.
Xie Yunying was taking a nap on the bed when she suddenly heard music playing in her mind, followed by a familiar electronic voice.
"Host!"
"System!" Xie Yunying exclaimed in surprise, "You're finally back! You..."
Xie Yunying was interrupted by the system before she could finish speaking.
The system's voice was louder than usual, and although it was just an electronic voice, Xie Yunying detected a hint of urgent anxiety in it:
"Host! Listen to me! I've completed my upgrade, but I've discovered... a buzzing sound... Now... spacetime... must... be on alert... buzzing... stop... quickly... buzzing... violating... is not allowed... Host! Host! Can you hear me—"
A long passage was interrupted by a sudden buzzing sound, and Xie Yunying could barely hear it. She was stunned for a moment, and in that instant, she didn't have time to respond to the system. The white light in her mind suddenly dimmed again.
"System? System?" Xie Yunying called out several times in a row, but the system did not respond, as if it had returned to a powered-off state.
Xie Yunying panicked a little. She thought something had happened to the system space. Without thinking too much, she dialed the emergency call as instructed by the system.
"Beep... Hello, there is currently no duty system in the lobby. Please call again later."
"Hello, there is currently no duty system in the lobby. Please call again later."
"Hello, there is currently no staff on duty in the lobby. Please try again later..."
Xie Yunying abruptly hung up the phone.
What exactly happened? Why did the system suddenly disappear again? What was it trying to say to her?
Xie Yunying's unease grew stronger. She realized with alarm that her connection with the system had always remained at the level of consciousness. Once the system was gone, she wouldn't even have a second way to actively seek it out; she could only wait.
Once she leaves the system, she's just an ordinary person. Aside from some common modern knowledge and understanding of the plot, she knows nothing and can do nothing.
A sense of helplessness washed over her. Xie Yunying clutched the bedding beneath her hands. The warm brocade reminded her of something, and she quickly flipped over the pillow.
Sure enough, there lay a copy of "Yining" that had been systematized into a physical book; it was still there.
Xie Yunying tucked it into her bosom, and her restless heart finally found some peace.
The pages of the book were squeezed together by her arm, leaving several gaps.
Xie Yunying saw the words between the cracks and suddenly froze.
She quickly followed the crack and opened the book, only to find a fresh page of ink filling the blank page.
The second side story has appeared.
Xie Yunying was taken aback when she saw the first line of text.
She also knew the protagonist of this side story.
The current emperor's fourth son, Wei Jing.
"My name is Wei Jing. My mother once said that the meaning of my name is 'the brilliance of jade,' which means to possess virtue and talent, and to have inner brilliance."
"I believed it without a doubt when I was a child, but as I grew up, I realized that she made it up to fool me."
"My name was probably chosen by her on a whim. It's just because my younger sister is named Yihua."
"Yihua, Yihua. When my mother named my younger sister, she never thought of her being 'brilliant inside and out,' but wished that she could have all the splendor in the world."
"It's just a name. Dongxi needs to consult auspicious and inauspicious omens when naming a child, because a good name can bring a perfect life. Like Yihua, I don't believe in the God of Heaven, but I believe in this nonsense, simply because my life and Yihua's life started very differently from the moment we met through our names."
"Yihua and I are both my mother's children. However, my father prefers Yihua, and my mother also prefers Yihua."
"What worries me even more is that, after examining myself, I found that, compared to Yihua, I also prefer it."
"It's just because Yihua is smarter, prettier, and works harder than me. She practiced calligraphy for a year or two and already had the elegant and graceful style of Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, while my calligraphy was still terrible until I was ten years old. She studied and practiced martial arts from dawn till dusk, never knowing what hardship was, while my greatest pleasure was to drag the little eunuch to fight crickets with me."
"My mother was very biased. Between the two of us, she always treated Yihua better. The time that I can't get over the most was when Yihua and I were arguing. She pushed me to the ground and I cried loudly. My mother ran over and hugged the trembling Yihua first."
"I should hate Yihua. If I didn't have a younger sister, I would have all of my mother's love, instead of only receiving the little bit of love that my mother gave me through her fingers."
"But I can't hate her."
"When I was young, I had my first epiphany about life. I realized that what my ancestors said was right: there's no need to worry about hard work; everyone has their own destiny. Some people are just so lucky that the person whose good fortune is taken away can't even bring themselves to hate them."
"Later, I met the person with the best life in this palace."
"The Crown Prince, Wei Changqiong."
"Everyone says he received almost all of his father's love, and I think that's absolutely true."
"My father doted on me a lot, but I knew it was just doting, not love. At first, I only vaguely knew the difference between the two, but I didn't understand the difference. Later, when I understood, and looked at how my mother treated Yihua and me, I understood why my mother, who clearly loved me very much, always made me feel lonely."
"It's because neither my father nor my mother had any expectations of me."
"People only pour their hearts and souls into something when they have something to look forward to. My father poured his heart and soul into the Crown Prince, and my mother poured her heart and soul into Yihua. I have nothing. As the son of the Noble Consort and the eldest grandson of the Gu family, I have mountains of gold and silver in my private treasury. But unfortunately, the most valuable thing in the world is not gold and silver, but sincerity."
"I've realized that all I want is a sincere heart."
"Later, I entered Chonghua Palace and studied with my brothers. I became the one with the worst academic performance and was always scolded by the teacher. However, I felt that this period was much better than before."
"Because I made my first good friend in my life."
"He is the Third Prince, Wei Ye."
"He is very different from me. He comes from a humble background; his mother was just a lowly palace maid. But I don't care. As long as he is my friend and only has eyes for me, that's enough."
"When I climbed trees on the mountain, he would be my footstool; when I went into the bushes to raid bird nests, he would stand outside to keep watch for me; when I was punished by the teacher to copy books, he would defend me and get his hands slapped with him, advising me to study hard in the future, and then he would copy the books with me, his own scribbles just as bad as mine. During the days when I was studying in Chonghua Palace, he always sat next to me."
"All I wanted was a sincere heart, and he almost gave it to me."
"If I hadn't happened to find out why he and I became friends."
"He said that I was very unreasonable to him, always making him do outrageous things with me, which implicated him, even though he clearly didn't want to do them at all."
He said that the reason we've been good friends for so long is because he's always put up with me and tolerated me, but now he doesn't want to put up with it anymore.
"He said that when I first entered Chonghua Palace, I was always all alone, and Crown Prince Wei Changqiong felt sorry for me. He thought that my third and fourth brothers were about the same age and could keep each other company, so he advised him to take care of me and play with me more, since it is only natural for an older brother to be tolerant of his younger brother."
"He said that His Highness the Crown Prince is the person he respects most in his life, and he will obey Wei Changqiong's every word, which is why he took the initiative to befriend me. Otherwise, he would have kept his distance from me."
"He trampled my sincerity on the ground, so he can't blame me for trampling on him."
"Perhaps I bullied him too much, because Crown Prince Wei Changqiong brought Wei Ye to find me and scolded me with a frown."
"In a moment of impulse, I spat at him, which earned me a slap from my father and three months of confinement."
"This is the first time I've ever hated someone with a good life so much."
"Wei Ye is a bloody hole in my heart, and Wei Changqiong is the thorn stuck in that hole."
"I was prepared for this bloody hole to fester and stink in my heart, but then the Crown Prince suddenly sent me bad news."
"That crown prince, whom I hated to the core and who had the luckiest life in the world, is actually dead."
"I was stunned when I heard the palace maid's message. That was the second time I had an epiphany about this bullshit life: whether one is lucky or unlucky is all up to the whim of the God of Heaven, and we are nothing more than his playthings."
"Even my wise and mighty father was just one of his pitiful playthings."
"I heard that the emperor's hair turned white overnight while he was carrying the coffin of the deceased crown prince, and Wei Ye cried for seven days in the Eastern Palace, his heart breaking."
"Even though Wei Changqiong is dead, she is still loved by everyone and remembered by everyone. She is truly occupying a position without doing her job, and she truly makes me hate her to the bone."
"Every day the Crown Prince was alive, I never thought the throne would fall into my hands, let alone that the person competing with me would be Wei Ye."
"And I lost."
"My father favors me more than Wei Ye, the Xie and Wang families support me, I have the Gu family behind me, and Yi Hua helps me. All the powerful families in the court are my supporters, while he only has Yue Yining, but I still lost."
"I heard that the old man had drafted the imperial edict. The sound of eunuchs' carriages passed by my residence without stopping and then slowly disappeared into the distance."
"When I heard that Wei Ye had become the crown prince, I was so angry that I laughed, but I also felt a strange sense of relief."
"Perhaps I'm just tired of fighting, fed up with using hatred as my motivation, and even more fed up with being used as a puppet by powerful families."
"It's possible. I know very well that if Wei Ye, that soft-hearted guy, became emperor, it wouldn't be bad. At least he's more studious and diligent than me, and a bit more kind and compassionate. Even if he holds power, he won't kill innocent people indiscriminately. He'll spare my life."
"But I never imagined he would go crazy during his coronation ceremony."
"Who could have imagined this?"
"Everyone else was guessing why he went crazy, but I almost instantly thought of that person who had been dead for a long time."
"Wei Ye may seem kind and easy to talk to, but he is actually the most stubborn among us princes. Once he sets his mind on someone, it's for life. He has been committed to Wei Changqiong since he was six years old, so much so that no matter how good others are to him afterward, they will never receive his gratitude. He may seem affectionate, but he is actually the most heartless."
"Chancellor Xie Zhi and Vice Chancellor Wang Zhichang came to see me specifically, rambling on and on, openly and secretly urging me to take this opportunity to rebel. I command elite troops and am the most suitable candidate for emperor besides Wei Ye. Now that Wei Ye has made a grave mistake and public opinion is boiling, it is the best time for me to seize the throne."
"I neither objected nor agreed, I only said that I felt the time was not right. More than that, no matter how unscrupulous I am, I would never stoop to taking advantage of someone in distress."
"In the twenty-fifth year of the Jiahe era, the snow covered the capital, and it was bitterly cold. I heard that Wei Ye did not see anyone, not even his most trusted Grand Preceptor, who trudged through the snow every day to seek an audience, but he refused to see him."
"But he left the palace incognito and came looking for me."
"He told me that he knew the truth about the prince's death."
"Wei Changqiong did not die suddenly from illness; he was poisoned by his own father."
"The one who killed him was none other than his father, who proclaimed to the world that he loved him the most."
"I'm not surprised at all, but I don't understand what the point is for Wei Ye to tell me all this. I don't care at all whether he hates that old man who has long since passed away, nor do I care at all about his admiration and heartache for Wei Changqiong."
He said, "I'm sorry, Wei Jing, I was wrong."
"For the first time in more than ten years, he apologized to me, not for the time he trampled on my sincerity, but for Wei Changqiong."
He said he could never be emperor again.
"He can readily give up everything that is within his grasp, but he has never been able to do so the only thing he has done wrong to the female imperial advisor who has been with him all this time."
I said, "You did wrong her, but what does that have to do with me?"
He said, "I'll give you the throne, I only ask that you spare her life."
"He really did sign the abdication edict, handing over the throne to me."
"I tore that edict to shreds."
He looked at me with a shocked expression, perhaps thinking I was going crazy, but I remained perfectly calm. I looked at him and said, "And then? Are you going to find a white silk ribbon and hang yourself?"
He smiled bitterly and said, "I have no choice. I want to live too."
"I looked into his eyes and understood what he hadn't finished saying. He had no reason to live anymore; living was torture for him. Some people die of old age, while others die simply because they've lost all hope."
I said okay.
"I didn't try to stop him. Any attempt to stop him would be a mocking, detached laugh at someone with a death wish, an arrogant display of overestimation of his own abilities. He was my first friend and my last. I still hate him, hate that he never chose me, but I can do one last thing for him. I'm startled to realize that there's still a remnant of kindness in my heart, or rather, those are the tears I've been saving for him. I despise sacrifice and compromise, I crave immediate gratification and selfishness, but I always return to my roots at certain moments, just like when I faced Yi Hua, and now it's Wei Ye's turn."
"This is my third epiphany about life. I understand that I have always been just me, and whether it is fate or not is fate."
"When Yihua learned that I was planning a rebellion, she looked at me with eyes that said she had never known me before, and scolded me, asking if I was crazy, saying that this was a capital offense!"
"She said she looked completely bewildered when she died. She was so young, she didn't know the weight of that word, she didn't know that some people's lives were worse than death, and that some people chose to live even in the face of death. I laughed out loud, and my vision went blurry."
"I said, it would be much better to die than to live like this."
"Yihua is different from Wei Ye. I have never harbored any resentment towards Yihua. If I could, I would hope that she never understands what I'm saying."
"I burned down the palace and willingly became a traitor."
"I stood on the palace wall, holding the second abdication edict written by Wei Ye before his death, watching the golden rain of arrows fall into the thick smoke, and the riches of the world perish in the sea of fire. The snow stopped, and the sky was filled with orange-red clouds."
"I imprisoned Yue Yining and arranged for my men to feign torture to extract a confession from her, but in reality, I only inflicted minor injuries to make her look more pitiful and bleed more. Because I knew that the powerful families in the court were all waiting for Yue Yining to confess. As long as she did, not only the ministers who were eyeing her covetously, but even the historians could breathe a sigh of relief when they wrote their secrets."
"But even when I drove her to the point of unconsciousness, she never admitted her guilt."
"That's true. She was innocent."
"Finally, I arranged a new identity for Yue Yining, a group of trustworthy followers, and a cup of non-poisonous wine."
"I know that Yihua replaced my guards to deliver poisoned wine to Yue Yining. I was a little surprised. It turns out that my sister values this female Grand Preceptor so much, even though they are at odds in court. Then I thought of Wei Ye, who has reunited with Wei Changqiong, and my ill-fated relationship with him, and suddenly I understood Yihua."
"In this respect, even she, who has always excelled in everything, is not much better than me. We are both used to deceiving ourselves."
But fate once again defied my expectations.
"The plan to fake his death and leave the palace has failed. Yue Yining drank the poisoned wine and is really dead."
"I immediately arrested the servant who had prepared the poisoned wine. After several rounds of interrogation, he finally confessed to being the mastermind behind it all."
"It turns out that Xie Zhi and Wang Zhichang knew all along that I was putting on an act. After these old foxes supported my ascension to the throne, they began to plant their spies in the palace, watching everything I did, including my soft-heartedness."
"They have been waiting patiently until now, just to use me to deal with the last loyal subject of the previous dynasty and kill the unparalleled and cunning Grand Tutor."
"Then, they can legitimately sideline me and become the true emperor of Dongxi."
"In the imperial court, I stood on the high platform looking down at Xie Zhi and Wang Zhichang, but from the way they looked at me, I realized that I was actually being trampled under their feet."
"I suddenly realized that the ending of the story was already predetermined. From the moment I was ignorant and incompetent since childhood, from the moment I chose the Xie and Wang families, these two wolves, as my advisors, and from the moment I neglected state affairs after ascending the throne, I had no way back and could not have a good end."
"The only thing I can do is send my sister Yihua away from the treacherous capital of Yanjing."
"With the last thread of attachment gone, I began to resist as much as I could, not letting their schemes succeed so easily. But I am not the talented and virtuous Crown Prince Wei Changqiong, nor my father, who is astonishing in both skill and courage. I cannot balance the court where aristocratic families and commoners are locked in a fierce struggle, nor can I eradicate the deeply entrenched powerful clans."
"I was abandoned by everyone and suffered a complete defeat. I was imprisoned in the palace by Xie Zhi and Wang Zhichang. The dragon throne became an iron cage, and I was a prisoner wearing a yellow robe."
"I drowned my sorrows in alcohol, gradually lost my spirit, and spent my days seeking pleasure, escaping reality, and indulging in the numbness of pleasure, becoming a tyrant as they wished."
"Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, war has raged everywhere, and I have finally met my retribution and end."
"When I heard that the rebel army had captured the capital, I sat on the dragon throne, looked up at the sky, and saw palace maids screaming and fleeing all around me. But I smiled with relief."
"Life is like a grand dream, and I have finally been able to wake up."
"If there are any regrets in this life, I can't be bothered to care. I have sat on the dragon throne, been a beast, been a hero, and also a traitor. In the future, I will be infamous for ten thousand years, becoming a despised monarch whose spine is ripped apart in history books. My life has been magnificent and full of ups and downs, how worthwhile it has been."
"However, in the next life, there are countless possibilities, but please don't let me be born into a wealthy family again. I've tasted the sweetness of wealth, but it's nothing special. What's wrong with living life once? Why be an emperor or general? Life is short, and it's just a pointless torment."
"I only wish that in the next life, I could spend my days fighting cocks and running dogs, oblivious to the safety of heaven and earth."
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Author's Note: Let's start by stacking armor:
First, this is a distorted portrayal of brotherhood, so please refrain from shipping BL characters in this article. Second, writing about MSG isn't to whitewash him; it's just that after careful consideration, I felt that explaining these truths from his perspective would be the easiest, most suitable, and shortest way to understand them. Feel free to criticize him if you dislike him.
Then, actually, not long after Yu Yu transmigrated, she avenged Ning Ning, hahaha [shy]. And just like that, by a twist of fate, she killed all the real enemies. [thumbs up]
I've written a brief explanation, but it may contain spoilers (I'm not sure how much), so please scroll down with caution if you're concerned.
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Then Ningning actually knew everything. She knew about Wei Ye's exchange with MSG, knew she had a chance to fake her death and leave, and knew that the Xie and Wang families had switched the poisoned wine.
She willingly faced death, for a simple reason: she didn't have long to live. In her past life, she had used at least seven tortoise shells to change her fate. Even if MSG let her go, she wouldn't live more than two years. Her death would be more useful, so she drank the poisoned wine and calmly accepted her fate. (This shouldn't be considered a spoiler, right? I feel like I could say I didn't know!)
What she actually did in history won't be revealed until around chapter four or five, in the final chapters. (This is a very important chapter!! I recommend reading it even if you don't follow the plot! [crying emoji] I think it's the ultimate showcase of the female lead's brilliance.)
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