Chapter 375 Old Grudges
"I have a few words to say to Prince Guangling." Concubine Shu struggled and refused to leave, threatening the imperial guards, "Your Majesty only banished me to the cold palace, not let me die. If anything happens to me, you will not be able to report to His Majesty."
The imperial guards were horrified when they recalled how Concubine Shu had sought death in order to keep the virtuous prince in the capital.
They looked at each other and ultimately did not take her away by force.
Concubine Shu signaled the guards to stand further away.
The imperial guards were also afraid of hearing something they shouldn't have heard, which would bring about their own death. After making sure that Concubine Shu could not escape, they retreated a distance.
Zhao Yi was summoned into the palace, and had no intention of having any interaction with Concubine Shu, so he walked towards the imperial study.
When Zhao Yi was about to pass by, Concubine Shu hurriedly said, "Don't you want to know how your biological mother died?"
Hearing this, Zhao Yi stopped and looked at Concubine Shu calmly.
Concubine Shu stared at Zhao Yi without blinking, and saw that his eyes were like a lake of melted ice and snow, calm and undisturbed.
It was as if he just heard her voice and looked at her subconsciously, not caring too much about the cause of Princess Yizhen's death.
Concubine Shu didn't believe that Zhao Yi was really so calm.
If Zhao Yi really didn't care about Princess Yizhen, why would he come to Northern Qi in person to take Princess Yizhen's remains back to Great Zhou?
At this point, she had no other choice, so she planned to use the cause of Princess Yizhen's death to stimulate Zhao Yi to kill her.
Because she knew very well that even if she hanged herself in the cold palace, it would not change the situation of her son returning to his fiefdom.
It might even backfire and make the Northern Qi Emperor hate her son even more.
If it was Zhao Yi who did it, the situation would be completely different.
"I think you should want to know about your mother's life in Northern Qi. Then I will be a good person today and tell you some of her stories, so that she won't die in vain."
Concubine Shu raised her hand and pointed in a direction: "When she was alive, she lived in Anrui Palace and planted a catalpa tree in the yard with her own hands. I heard that the catalpa tree symbolizes hometown."
"Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, she would sit under the tree for a whole day and tie a red cloth on the tree to pray for blessings."
"If you go to Anrui Temple now, you might still see that tree. It should still have a cloth tied to it."
Concubine Shu stared at Zhao Yiqing's elegant face, not even an eyebrow twitching. She clenched her fingers and continued, "Each piece of cloth holds within it a memory of her longing for home. Sadly—she was captured by my men, locked in a cage with wild beasts, and mauled to death. Hahahaha, how pitiful! She died without her loved ones being able to take her back to her longed-for homeland."
Zhao Yi clenched his hands into fists in his sleeves and tried his best to control his emotions so as not to strangle Concubine Shu to death.
"If she had lived just one more month, she would have waited for the envoys from the Great Zhou to come and take her back to her country. But unfortunately, she has a lowly life, with little blessings. She was born to be a slave and servant, and she could never enjoy wealth and glory."
Concubine Shu looked at Zhao Yi's tense face and smiled triumphantly, "Ah, I remember now. She was pounced on by a wild beast, staring desperately towards Anrui Palace, still calling out your name."
Zhao Yi had long seen through Concubine Shu's thoughts and was not easily provoked by her: "You have done many evil things, and now you have received the retribution you deserve."
Concubine Shu was stunned. Zhao Yi shouldn't have reacted like this. He should have excitedly killed her to avenge Yizhen.
"You killed my mother simply because you were jealous that she gave birth to the prince first, which posed a threat to your position."
"After you gave birth to the virtuous king, you have been favored by His Majesty. His Majesty promoted the Lin family, and since then the Lin family has been at its peak and has enjoyed unwavering favor from the emperor."
"For so many years, the virtuous prince has been highly valued by His Majesty and is one of his favorite sons. Unfortunately—"
Zhao Yi changed the subject, "Your greed is insatiable, and you chose to provoke the Imperial Tutor, who was loyal to His Majesty, and thus forged a grudge against him. To overthrow the Imperial Tutor, you even created a plague, which ultimately killed your eldest brother."
Concubine Shu's face changed.
"Instead of restraining yourself, you became even more aggressive, wanting to avenge your eldest brother and causing the tragic annihilation of the Lin family."
Zhao Yi looked at the bewildered Concubine Shu and said word by word, "Even at this point, you still can't see the situation clearly. You came before His Majesty to seek justice for the Lin family, and ultimately caused the virtuous prince to lose His Majesty's favor."
At this point, Zhao Yi raised the corner of his lips and said, "My Lady Shufei, the power of the virtuous prince originally surpassed that of the Qi prince, and he stood out among the other princes. If you had behaved yourself, he would not have lost everything to save you."
These words were like a sharp knife piercing Shufei's heart, forcing her to face reality.
She always believed that it was Zhao Yi who killed her eldest brother and Jiang Jianzheng who wiped out the entire Lin family.
But Zhao Yi said that it was she who killed her elder brother, it was she who caused the Lin family to be wiped out, and it was she who caused her son to be confined to his fiefdom and lose all power and favor.
She is the culprit.
"No, it wasn't me. It was you who killed my eldest brother. It was Jiang Su who destroyed my Lin family."
Concubine Shu vigorously retorted, "If Jiang Su hadn't said Heng'er would rebel in the future, how could His Majesty treat us like this?"
But the more he argued, the more a voice in his heart said: "If you hadn't arrested Jiang Jianzheng's son, how could Jiang Jianzheng say that your son would rebel in the future?"
[It was you. You were the one who killed your eldest brother, wiped out the Lin family, and caused your son to miss out on the throne.]
If she had not thought of winning over the Imperial Master, she would not have had a grudge against him, and she would not have created a plague to get rid of him, and her brother would not have died at the hands of Zhao Yi.
If she had not taken the radical approach of capturing Jiang Su's son in order to save the Lin family, thus angering Jiang Su, the Lin family would not have been wiped out.
If she had not been blinded by hatred, had seen the situation clearly, and had not come to His Majesty to seek justice for the Lin family, she would not have been stripped of her position as a concubine and sentenced to death.
Her son would not be demoted to a fiefdom for pleading for her.
It was her, it was her...it was all her fault.
Countless voices said this in her ears, and Concubine Shu hugged her head in pain, as if as long as she blocked out these voices, she would not be defeated.
But no matter how she covered her ears, these sounds still came from all directions, torturing her mind over and over again, pushing her to the brink of collapse.
"It's not me... It's not my fault..."
As long as she doesn't admit it, she won't feel pain, let alone regret.
"You've toiled for over twenty years, eliminating those who posed a threat to you, all to secure the position of the virtuous king. Now, at the final hurdle, you've made things easier for someone else."
Zhao Yi slowly walked up to Concubine Shu and put the final nail in the coffin. "You said His Majesty summoned me to the palace at this critical moment. Why?"
Concubine Shu could not accept the fact that she was making wedding dresses for someone else, and she could not accept that this person was Zhao Yi.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible—" Concubine Shu refused to believe that the Northern Qi Emperor summoned Zhao Yi to the palace to transfer all the power and influence held by the virtuous prince to Zhao Yi. She said emotionally, "His Majesty hates you and your son and wishes you would disappear. How could he possibly support you?"
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