When summer was over, the emperor and his entourage prepared to return to the palace.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the existence of the two fairies.
Murong Yan mentioned to the servants at her residence that she was going to Qingju Garden in the back mountain to say goodbye to two fairies, but Jinse asked, "What fairies?"
Chunxing, who was standing nearby, also said, "Qingju Garden has been uninhabited for a long time. How could there be any fairy? Perhaps Master is still half asleep from his afternoon nap?"
Murong Yan was alarmed and rushed to Qingju Garden to find out what was going on, only to find an old palace maid sweeping the empty courtyard.
Everything in Qingju Garden was neatly arranged, as if no one had ever lived there.
Murong Yan held the purse hanging around her neck, feeling the leaves that seemed to have a life of their own, and understood something in her heart.
Bowing to the empty garden, Murong Yan said, "Let's go back."
Two years passed after that, and Qingju Garden was abandoned by everyone.
Zhang Tian has made great contributions in suppressing bandits and quelling rebellions in the past two years, and has been promoted to the rank of third grade official and the title of Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.
He was a rising star in the emperor's court, and people seeking to propose marriage to him were practically wearing down the threshold of the prime minister's residence.
But the prime minister seemed to have reached some kind of agreement with him and did not arrange a marriage for him arbitrarily.
That autumn, the Hu people's army invaded the border, and the border troops of Daxing suffered repeated defeats.
The two factions in the court, advocating war and peace, argued fiercely, but in the end, the peace faction, led by the prime minister, won.
The Hu people agreed to Daxing's peace terms, but made an additional demand to marry a princess from Daxing.
Such a great "good thing" was passed around among the various factions in the harem, and in the end, the task of this marriage alliance fell to Murong Yan.
Upon receiving the news, Murong Yan knelt outside Consort Qi's palace for a day and a night.
Even after she knelt until she fainted, she still couldn't get the Imperial Concubine to come out and see her.
Murong Yan fell seriously ill and never recovered, yet no one came to visit her.
The place used to be bustling with activity, but now it's deserted.
An eunuch serving the emperor came and said, "His Majesty said that even if you, Seventh Princess, die, you must die in the camp of the Hu Khan."
At that time, Zhang Tian was in the south overseeing the suppression of the rebellion. Upon receiving the news, he rushed back to the capital, but it was already too late.
When the emperor saw him return, he was very pleased and appointed Zhang Tian as the envoy to escort the marriage procession to the border.
Just three days after the marriage procession left Hongcheng, a group of masked men attacked the convoy.
The carriage carrying Murong Yan was startled, and the horses pulled the carriage away.
Zhang Tian leaped onto the carriage, but did not control the horse, letting the carriage speed along.
Murong Yan, sitting in the car, saw this scene but remained silent.
The two of them silently let the horse run wild aimlessly.
After an unknown amount of time, the galloping horse slowed down, finally neighed, and collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
The carriage jolted and swayed, and Murong Yan's body was thrown out uncontrollably, only to be caught in Zhang Tian's arms.
The two jumped off the nearly overturned carriage and rolled into the grass.
Lying in the grass, both of their hearts were pounding. Zhang Tian whispered in her ear in a hoarse voice, "Your Highness, if you're willing, I'll take you away right now."
Murong Yan burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably in his arms.
When her face was buried in Zhang Tian's arms, she couldn't stop smiling.
She was so happy!
In this world, there is at least one person who did not let her down.
...
The two disguised themselves as a young couple and settled in a small village near You'an City.
Youan City is very close to Hongcheng. No one would have thought that these two would not run far away, but instead stay and live in a place so close to Hongcheng.
The emperor was furious that the princess sent for a political marriage had been lost. He ordered a secret search for the two starving lovers and arranged for a new princess to be sent for the marriage.
Two months later, when Zhang Tian went hunting in the mountains, he rescued a herb gatherer who was passing by, and kindly took him home.
The man stayed at home for more than ten days until his injuries were fully healed before leaving.
Murong Yan originally wanted to kill him, but after hesitating several times, she ultimately couldn't bring herself to do it.
Because she was pregnant.
This is her and Tien-Lang's first child.
However, a few days later, government troops came to arrest him and Murong Yan.
Among the people who came to arrest them, Murong Yan saw the herb gatherer.
Zhang Tian led her on a run, but they were shot in the heart by pursuers and were on the verge of death.
Murong Yan tearfully begged the pursuers to spare Zhang Tian and only take her back to apologize.
Upon seeing Zhang Tian's injuries, the pursuers concluded that he was surely dead and granted Murong Yan's request.
Murong Yan settled Zhang Tian in a nearby farmer's house, gave them all the silver she had, and begged them to help her find a doctor to treat Zhang Tian.
Before leaving, she took off the purse she always carried with her and placed it in Zhang Tian's arms.
The leaf Ye Chen gave her transformed into a wisp of life, merging into Zhang Tian's body, protecting his heart, and saving his life.
After returning to the palace, Murong Yan was confined to the Cold Palace to reflect on her mistakes.
Their children were long gone during their arduous escape.
When Tien-Lang died, he didn't even know they had a child together.
Murong Yan felt utterly heartbroken.
She felt as if she had returned to the days when her mother left her.
She was too naive and foolish, deluding herself into thinking she could return to a normal life.
Zhang Tian is dead, and her child is gone. She has no more attachments in this world, only hatred remains.
Because of Zhang Tian and her disappearance, Consort Qi has been criticized a lot.
She hated Murong Yan for eloping on her own initiative and didn't want her to have a good time at all.
They made her suffer hunger and cold in the cold palace, endure the humiliation of those who fawned over the powerful and bullied the weak, and even assigned people to watch over her to prevent her from committing suicide.
Murong Yan could only laugh at this; how could she commit suicide?
She wanted to escape this cage forever and let them go, but they wouldn't let her go!
Since we're determined to drag her back to this deep palace, then let's all rot together!
Two months later, the emperor suddenly had a persistent nosebleed during the morning court session.
After diagnosis, the imperial physicians discovered that His Majesty's condition was caused by long-term use of potent and harmful medicines, which had depleted his health.
The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation.
Everyone in the harem felt insecure.
First, the emperor's sorcery puppet was discovered in Consort Xian's residence, and Consort Xian and the prime minister's faction were all imprisoned. Then, it was discovered that Consort Qi's palace was secretly storing forbidden drugs!
Seeing that she was about to be punished and executed by the emperor, Consort Qi decided to go all out and had her brother secretly mobilize troops into the palace to launch a palace coup.
Once she gained power, she wiped out all the other concubines, princes, and princesses in the palace who opposed her, and forced the ailing emperor to write an edict to pass the throne to the eleventh prince.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Imperial Concubine was preoccupied, Murong Yan strangled the eunuch sent by the Imperial Concubine to monitor her, changed his clothes, disguised herself as the Imperial Concubine's subordinate, and sneaked into the Emperor's palace.
She tearfully pledged her loyalty, which earned her a blood-written letter from the emperor and the tiger tally he had been hiding. In the middle of the night, she secretly slipped out of the palace through a secret passage to go to the camp outside the city to ask for reinforcements.
After entering the military tent, Murong Yan took out the tiger tally, but was suspected by the commander of the Imperial Guards.
Murong Yan pretended to offer herself to him in exchange for his help in returning to the palace to save her father. In reality, she took advantage of his groping her to pull out a hairpin and stab him in the neck.
After she killed this man to establish her authority, she took command of 80,000 imperial guards by virtue of the tiger tally.
Then, he led his troops into the palace overnight to quell the rebellion.
He ordered that anyone who obstructed the order should be killed without mercy, regardless of who they were.
Consort Qi's brother led his personal guards to hastily engage in battle, but was defeated and killed.
Seeing that things had failed, Consort Qi and the eleventh prince set themselves on fire in the palace.
The emperor's health was already failing, and he was further tormented by the palace coup. He also had to watch as his son, daughter, and concubines were killed one by one by the imperial concubine in front of him.
He has already suffered too much.
But the thought of having no successor to rule the country, and the emperor lying on his sickbed, made it impossible for him to swallow this anger!
Murong Yan dismissed her attendants and appeared alone in the emperor's bedchamber.
She was dressed in a bright yellow robe with gold thread and wore a gold crown, which was extremely presumptuous.
Murong Yan smiled brightly and charmingly, "Father, how does it feel to have nothing and be abandoned by everyone?"
The emperor stared at her with wide eyes, recalling the source of the potent drugs that could not be traced in the harem no matter how hard he investigated.
"Yes! You! You bastard! I should have had you killed back then!"
The emperor's eyes widened in fury!
"You think you didn't kill anyone?"
Murong Yan sneered.
“When my mother was pregnant with me and was wronged, you disregarded our relationship and banished her to the cold palace. If my mother hadn’t gone through so much trouble to give birth to me, I would not exist in this world.”
“My daughter and I were eating chaff and wild vegetables in the cold palace, suffering from the cold and freezing, and our lives were hanging by a thread several times, while you were taking in concubines and mistresses one after another, living a carefree and happy life.”
"I was thirteen years old when my mother died."
“From that moment on, I told myself that I must live and then take revenge.”
"I will make all those who bullied us pay a terrible price!"
"Consort Yu, Noble Lady Qin, Consort Miao, Lady Han, Consort Chu... none of them will escape."
"No, that's impossible. Those people all wanted to harm the Imperial Concubine..."
"Consort Qi?" Murong Yan smiled mockingly. "She's nothing but a beautiful fool. If it weren't for my advice, how could she have survived until now?"
"I schemed for her for many years, raising her from a lowly concubine to the rank of Imperial Concubine, but in the end, she still betrayed me."
"The Consort Xian promised not to compete with her for the Empress's position, and in return, she agreed to let me go to marry in place of the Third Princess."
"This fool doesn't even consider that without me, even if she ascends to the position of empress, how long can she hold it?"
"And you, Father, you want me to die in the tent of the Hu Khan, and I'm not surprised at all, because that's exactly the kind of thing only you could say!"
"You! You... cough cough cough..." The emperor coughed for a while and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Murong Yan looked expressionlessly at the frail old man in front of her and continued in a cold voice, "Father doesn't know yet, does he? It was I who secretly instigated Consort Qi's coup attempt."
The emperor froze, a look of heartache appearing on his face:
"You wretch! You bastard! How could you do this! They...they are all your brothers and sisters!"
"Oh……"
Murong Yan chuckled softly.
"Yes, my good brothers would splash me with cold water on snowy days, throw ice balls at me, and then watch me shiver and get bruised all over, which they would enjoy."
"And my dear sister would kick the things I cherished to the ground, and when I bent down to pick them up, she would trample my things and my hands."
"As for my dear sister... she pushed me into the pond because I attracted a little attention at the family banquet, and even stopped the servants from rescuing me."
"They are truly good brothers and sisters. Having them as my brothers and sisters in this life is truly my blessing..."
Murong Yan's smile became increasingly radiant and captivating, but the emperor watched with trepidation.
"What...what exactly do you want?"
Murong Yan said, "Father, do you think you've managed to hide the child you had with that woman among the common people flawlessly?"
In an instant, a look of horror appeared on the emperor's face.
"No, no, Yan'er, it's my fault, it's all my fault. I'm the one who has wronged you and your mother, but Jin'er is innocent! He was born outside the palace, he knows nothing... He's your brother! He has never bullied you! He has never wronged you! Please let him go! Please let him go!"
“My good father, you have really gone to great lengths to pave the way for my good brother.”
Murong Yan sat down in the chair opposite him and said leisurely, "Poor Consort Xian, she probably never knew until her death that the person who used witchcraft to frame her was not Consort Qi, but the man who had been her bedmate for more than twenty years."
"First, weaken the powerful Consort Xian and Prime Minister's faction in the court, then shift the blame to Consort Gui. This will eliminate two major threats and two of the most competitive princes at once. Your precious son, born into the common people, can then be smoothly welcomed into the Eastern Palace to become the Crown Prince of Daxing."
"Father, you've really got a clever plan! It's just a pity that man proposes, God disposes. Even a cornered dog will jump over the wall, let alone the Imperial Concubine, who was forcibly brought into the harem by you back then."
"I remember that her fiancé was transferred by the emperor to the south to suppress bandits, but he died of illness on the way due to the change in environment."
Murong Yan paused, "Father, do you think Consort Qi knew that you ordered her fiancé to be killed?"
"Cough cough, you told her... cough cough cough..."
The emperor felt a chill run through his body. The woman before him, so beautiful and incomparable, was not human; she was like a demon that had crawled out of hell, its blood-red maw gaping open as it demanded repayment of a debt from him.
"Of course I'll tell her. Not only that, I'll also let her know that all the way you treat her so well, all that unusual pampering, is just because she looks eight-tenths like that woman!"
Murong Yan smiled calmly: "Otherwise, how could that indecisive and foolish woman have the heart to kill you?"
At that moment, the emperor understood everything, but he also understood that if Murong Yan dared to speak so frankly, then he was not far from death.
"You won, you got everything."
The emperor looked at her bright yellow dress and said wearily, "I can write an edict of succession and make you the crown princess, as long as you are willing to let Jin'er go."
With all the royal family members dead and him on his deathbed, Murong Yan, the person he least wanted to choose, was his only option.
Moreover, Murong Yan proved with her cunning that she had the ability to have the last laugh.
It's better for the country to fall into her hands than into the hands of those distant, unrelated relatives.
Murong Yan looked at him coldly, "Father, if you had even a tenth of the affection you had for my mother that you had for that woman, you wouldn't be suffering this retribution today."
Seeing the pained expression on the emperor's face, Murong Yan sneered, "Whether you write the edict or not, what does it matter to me? Anyway, I don't care about this throne."
The emperor was somewhat taken aback. "Then what exactly do you want?"
"Yes, what do I want?"
Murong Yan paused for a moment, then suddenly came to her senses and looked at the emperor, "Everything I once had has been destroyed by you, and now, even my enemies are dead..."
"I don't want anything."
"Who cares who sits on this throne and this empire?"
"Cough cough cough..."
The emperor was no longer able to speak; he reached out his hand to Murong Yan as if pleading.
However, Murong Yan did not move an inch from beginning to end.
She watched as he coughed violently for a long time, then spat out a mouthful of blood, and his arm slid down limply.
Murong Yan looked at the unseeing look on his face, slowly closed her eyes, and tears silently streamed down her face.
Everything is finally over, it should have ended a long time ago.
She only hoped there would be no afterlife, because she never wanted to come back to this disgusting world again.
Murong Yan walked out of the emperor's palace like a walking corpse.
Outside the palace, a large group of officials were already kneeling.
A moment later, the eunuch who entered from behind her cried out in a shrill voice, "His Majesty has passed away!"
In an instant, deafening cries rang out outside the hall.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com