Chapter 34 Retribution
They had known each other for many years, but the prince had never seen her so furious. Even though he was of noble status, he felt an inexplicable fear in his heart and could not say the rest of the words.
"When Shi Jingning was dying, he ignored his killer and wrote the word 'Madam' on my palm. He wanted to name my mother's murderer. But in the end, he only wrote a horizontal stroke and gave up, writing 'brother and sister-in-law' instead. Only after I promised to take care of them did he feel relieved. Finally, he wrote the word 'rabbit' on my palm and, with his last bit of strength, spat out the word 'well fence' to me.
"The character for rabbit doesn't start with a horizontal stroke. That's not what he intended. But why would he change his mind mid-sentence? Even if he died, he wouldn't reveal the true culprit. That's because the murderer is inside Jianfu Temple, staring right at him! If he dares to reveal the other person's identity, his brother and sister-in-law will surely die. No one can resist such a powerful force. Not me, not the Changhua Palace, not even anyone else."
The prince's face was gloomy and terrifying, he pursed his lips and said nothing.
"Because of the horizontal line Shi Jingning drew on my hand, I've pondered over and over who that person could be. Among my potential husband candidates, those whose names begin with a horizontal line include Nan Yu, Su Yunzhong, Yu Guangling, Meng Lanxi, and Xue Xiyang. They've either died or are still alive, but there's still no clue, so I've never been able to figure out who that person could be. It wasn't until Meng Lanxi, before he died, reminded me that the last thing Shi Jingning said to me wasn't 'well fence,' but the 'Lan' in Meng Lanxi's name. Then I suddenly realized I'd been looking in the wrong direction all along."
"Well curb..." the prince repeated subconsciously, obviously he still remembered that moment.
"That's not a well curb, but the characters 'Jian' and 'Lan'. Perhaps Your Highness doesn't know, but there was a case in my backyard. Yu Guangling died a violent death, and the other victim left the real murderer's surname, 'Jian', before dying. However, the murderer, Jian Anting, altered this information with two strokes, turning Jian Anting's 'Jian' into Meng Lanxi's 'Lan'. So, after Shi Jingning wrote the rabbit, he tried his best to pronounce the characters 'Jian' and 'Lan', trying to tell me that he didn't want to write the rabbit. Those were probably the other two characters that the rabbit could cover - starting with a horizontal stroke and ending with the character 'Zi', two characters that were right beside him but he didn't dare to say out loud. Your Highness, what do you think they were?"
They all knew the answer that was about to come out.
The prince gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
Qian Deng's gaze was filled with despair and anger. "Your Highness, I don't know how Shi Jingning discovered your suspicions. To you, he was just an insignificant ant, easily obliterated. You don't know how he lost his father at a young age, shouldering the family burden as the eldest brother, and how hard it was to support his grandmother and four younger siblings. You don't know how hard he's worked to rise to prominence in the Guanglu Temple and hold a position as the Minister of Cuisine, a position that seems so insignificant to you. You don't know how many white rabbits he carved for me behind my back, for requests I've almost forgotten... But to conceal your own crimes, all his hard work was turned to ashes, and his family's hard-earned peace and happiness was shattered in an instant!"
Listening to her angry accusations, looking at her red eyes and trembling body, the prince finally stopped denying it and said slowly: "I will compensate his family. When I return to Chang'an, I will send someone to settle his family. This matter is indeed my fault-"
Qian Deng stared at him intently, thinking he had finally admitted his crime, only to hear him change the subject. "But Lingling, I ordered his execution because he was stirring up trouble in your backyard, conspiring with Madam Dingxiang to murder others and fanning the flames of rumors about you. Knowing you had a childhood relationship with him, I worried you wouldn't be able to get over it if you did it yourself, so I helped you deal with it. Who knew he would refuse to repent? Instead, he insinuated and framed me, trying to sow discord between us. His crimes are truly heinous!"
Seeing that he still refused to admit his guilt even after all this, Qian Deng felt even more grief-stricken and angry, his voice uncontrollable: "Your Highness, it's you who refuses to repent! Haven't you noticed that since the deaths of Princess Gao and Princess Changyi, you've become increasingly irritable and have completely lost your true nature!"
As she shouted harshly, the sunlight shining through the hole suddenly distorted.
The wisps of smoke surrounding them gathered and dispersed strangely. The prince felt that the dark cave became more and more eerie and strange, and there was a weird white mist in front of his eyes.
He felt suffocated and couldn't help but cover his chest, curl up his body and gasp for breath, feeling that he couldn't breathe.
He saw Qiandeng leaning over him, the dazzling white light behind her. Her face seemed to emit a faint glow, and her eyes held hatred, disgust, and perhaps even a hint of pity.
"Your Highness, stop trying to hide it. At this point, haven't you noticed something's wrong? Have you forgotten the little red fish I found in the princess's study?"
Little Red Fish...
In his vague memories, little things that he had forgotten gradually emerged. The witchcraft thing that was ordered to be burned in front of the palace was now spit out from her mouth again, with a meaning that made him tremble.
"Hasn't that been destroyed?"
"Your Highness, have you forgotten that Princess Gaoguo instructed Princess Changyi in her letter to place red fish eggs in Her Highness's drinking water. The eggs would then hatch and gradually secrete toxins that would affect her mood, eventually leading to her madness and loss of control?"
The prince listened blankly, and suddenly woke up as if from a dream. He raised his hand to his mouth like a madman, as if he wanted to pinch the foreign object out of his throat and spit it out.
However, there was nothing in his mouth, and only his desperate gasps and retching sounds echoed in the cave.
"It's useless, Your Highness. It's been so long since you killed Princess Changyi. I'm afraid the little red fish has already hatched and entered your brain, and you can no longer control yourself."
His face turned pale, his eyes full of disbelief, and he murmured, "Impossible, how dare she...how dare she?"
"Originally, I thought it was impossible," Qian Deng said slowly. "After all, Princess Changyi had originally aspired to become the Crown Princess. After I exposed her, she immediately died in the wilderness at the hands of bandits. Even if she wanted to harm Your Highness, she wouldn't have found the right opportunity to do so."
"That bitch..." The Crown Prince's breathing was heavy, his usual gentle and dignified demeanor completely gone in his panic. "My father, remembering the loyalty her mother showed him when she ascended to the throne, wanted to spare her life. She also wanted to spare him. When my mother found out, she sent me to intercept her... and send her to her death."
"Really? Did Her Majesty the Empress really order you to kill someone?" Qian Deng looked at his pale, pained expression, her voice slightly cold. "But I suddenly remembered that before Princess Changyi died, someone heard her say, 'It was you! The murderer at Jianfu Temple was also...' So, Your Highness, it was you who killed Shi Jingning at Jianfu Temple, and it was also you who killed Princess Changyi. Princess Changyi discovered that you murdered Shi Jingning at Jianfu Temple, and therefore, she also knew the secret that Shi Jingning knew. And you couldn't allow this crime to be revealed. After weighing the pros and cons, you chose the latter of the Empress' orders and personally sent your childhood sweetheart, the future Crown Princess, on her way."
The prince did not answer, but only grabbed his throat, subconsciously tightening it.
"Then, she discovered your murderous intentions. I don't know how she found the opportunity to make you swallow the fish eggs, but Your Highness, your temperament has changed now. I think she must have succeeded."
"She...she cried and said that we had been together for more than ten years, and that after she left Beijing, the mountains and rivers would be far apart, and we would never be husband and wife in this life. She hoped that I could kiss her..."
Qian Deng felt a slight chill down his spine as he listened to his hoarse and desperate words.
Xiao Fuyu begged like this in despair, naturally hoping to arouse his feelings for her and hope that he would let her go.
However, after he kissed her, she was still mercilessly ordered to be beheaded and died tragically in the carriage.
"Did she really, really poison me at that moment...?"
As if to verify his guess, the murals around them gradually distorted, revealing a gloomy atmosphere amidst the suffocating fragrance.
Qian Deng suddenly looked behind the Crown Prince. Her eyes widened as she called out, "Mother? Your Highness, look! My mother is here to see you!"
The prince gasped heavily and subconsciously turned his head to look behind him.
In the flickering light and darkness, the flying musicians turned into evil spirits, and the scenes of retribution depicted on the dome suddenly collapsed, turning into a pool of blood.
The dripping blood formed a twisted figure, vaguely that of Lady Qi. With only her last breath left, she looked around and at him with her dying eyes. Her black eyes, filled with death, eventually turned into a skull, decaying into mud.
She raised her hand, but this time she pointed not at Lingling's candidate husbands, but at him.
He saw the skeleton grinning at him, its cold teeth opening and closing as it uttered a few vague words: "Your Highness, you're almost like me..."
He finally couldn't bear it any longer, covering his ears and screaming uncontrollably: "I don't want to kill you! But who told you to betray me and the Tang Dynasty! How could you leave me in my most difficult moment! I absolutely cannot... I can't tolerate this even if I die!"
After these words came out, even in such a situation, he was horrified and realized that he had finally confessed the sin that should have been buried in his heart forever.
Qian Deng stared at him with an extremely sharp gaze, as cold as a knife and as blazing with hatred as fire: "Your Highness, you are finally willing to admit it. You are the murderer of my mother!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com