Death
In early October, Wei Qiao arrived in the capital, was appointed regent, and was rewarded with 10,000 taels of gold.
Upon learning of Wei Qiao's victorious return, Ming Chuqing sent Shixin back to Kuti Temple. Ever since their brief encounter on the street, Ming Chuqing had used the pretext of donating money to charity to get closer to Shixin. At first, Shixin tried to persuade Ming Chuqing to relinquish her desires and anger using Buddhist principles, but after she drugged him with an aphrodisiac and they became intimate, he reluctantly accepted her advances.
Ming Chuqing frequently visited Kuti Temple, and Shixin often came to Prince Zhao's residence under the guise of preaching Buddhism to meet with her secretly. Just half a month before Wei Qiao returned, Ming Chuqing was diagnosed with pregnancy.
"Chu Qing, elope with me," Shi Xin said earnestly, looking into her eyes. Before meeting Chu Qing, Shi Xin thought Buddhism was everything, but after she came into his life, he realized that she was everything in his life. She was the Buddha in his heart.
Ming Chuqing touched the ordination scar on Shixin's head and chuckled, "I am the Princess Consort of Zhao, I will not go with you. You should obediently return to Kuti Temple and wait for me to come find you."
"Your Highness, the Prince is coming back soon. What will happen to the baby in your belly?" Cuiju asked worriedly.
While the prince was away at the border, things could be managed to stay amicably, since everyone in the palace was now under the princess's control. But now that the prince is about to return, and he discovers the princess is pregnant, he will not tolerate it any longer. The princess will surely suffer the prince's wrath and reprimands, and might even be killed by him.
Ming Chuqing touched her lower abdomen and smiled, "What's there to be afraid of? Back then, the Prince refused to give me a child, so now I'll give birth to this child myself. I just need to borrow the Prince's name."
Ming Chuqing had already prepared a colorless and odorless potion of forgetfulness. Just one drop would render the most glorious Prince Zhao of the Great Zhou Dynasty mute and unable to walk, turning him into a useless person with only life. In that case, the Prince Zhao's mansion would still belong to her, Ming Chuqing. The child in her womb would then be a true heir.
Ming Chuqing's plan was brilliant, but after Wei Qiao returned to his residence, he refused to see her, and all the staff in and around Ming'an Hall were replaced by Wei Qiao's confidants.
Within two days, Wei Qiao regained control of the household affairs. Ming Chuqing became a powerless princess. Apart from Yunhe Hall, no one obeyed her orders anymore.
Enraged, Ming Chuqing stormed into Ming'an Hall to confront Wei Qiao, demanding, "Your Highness, why is this happening? What have I done wrong to deserve this humiliation? I've guarded this Prince Zhao's residence for you for five years, and this is how you treat me?"
She thought that she had managed the Prince Zhao's mansion like an iron barrel all these years, and that no servant would dare to betray her. But she didn't know why Wei Qiao wanted to take back her power to manage the household as soon as he returned.
Wei Qiao slowly handed a prescription to Ming Chuqing and smiled, "I remember that the princess's maternal grandmother was a female doctor. I'm sure the princess is familiar with what illness this prescription treats."
Ming Chuqing took the prescription and glanced at it, then choked on her own breath. This was the prescription for the pregnancy-stabilizing medicine she had taken before; how did it end up in Wei Qiao's hands?
Seeing Ming Chuqing's shocked expression, Wei Qiao sighed.
He never imagined things would escalate to this point.
Ming Chuqing clutched the prescription tightly, looking at Wei Qiao with resentment, and asked, "What does Your Highness want to do?"
Wei Qiao looked at her calmly, "Chu Qing, what I want has never changed. I hope we can get a divorce. I can pretend I don't know about this. You can go back to being the eldest daughter of the Ming family, or you can marry the person you like who looks like Wei Kang."
Wei Qiao knew he was in the wrong in his relationship with Ming Chuqing, but he had tried his best to make amends over the years. Now, his heart belonged only to Xichun, and he could no longer maintain this relationship with Ming Chuqing. He had to divorce her. He wanted to marry Xichun properly and make her his Princess Zhao.
"You knew all along?" Ming Chuqing looked at him in despair. She thought she had covered her tracks perfectly, but she never expected that he had seen right through her, as if she were a fool. However, she was unwilling to accept this. If she left Wei Qiao, she would never be the Princess Consort of Zhao again, and from then on, she, Ming Chuqing, would become the laughingstock of the entire capital.
"What if I just don't want to divorce you?" Ming Chuqing asked him, her eyes wide.
Wei Qiao looked at her coldly, "Then I will have no choice but to divorce you according to the seven grounds for divorce. You wouldn't want your affair with a monk to become the talk of the entire capital, would you?"
Large tears streamed down Ming Chuqing's face, turning her perfect makeup into a muddy mess. Seeing that she was about to collapse, Cuiju quickly stepped forward to support her.
Wei Qiao remained unmoved by her appearance and turned his back to look at the painting "Autumn Day Ascent to a Heights" hanging on the wall.
Ming Chuqing watched Wei Qiao's retreating figure, feeling a deep sorrow in her heart. In the end, she was a step too late. She should have poisoned him by putting drugs in his food when he returned to the manor.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ming Chuqing just stared intently at Wei Qiao, wanting to tear every inch of his flesh and bone out with her eyes. She hated Wei Qiao, hated that he had made her the enviable Princess Zhao, only to drag her down with him. She hated that he, like Wei Kang, refused to love her, loving only that vulgar and despicable Jiang Xichun. She hated him!
Wei Qiao turned his head and saw a pair of eyes filled with resentment. He looked directly into those eyes and said, "I'll give you a day to think it over."
"Please, Your Highness." A-Gui reached out his hand, intending to invite Ming Chuqing to leave.
Ming Chuqing walked forward slowly, but then reached into her sleeve and pulled out the dagger that Shi Xin had given her. She suddenly stabbed at Wei Qiao, who was unable to dodge in time and was stabbed in the arm.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" A-Gui hurriedly stepped forward to check Wei Qiao's injuries.
Wei Qiao clutched his injured shoulder, looked at Ming Chuqing who was fiercely holding a dagger, and instructed A Gui, "Don't hurt her. Take her with me to the Ming residence."
The Ming family assumed Wei Qiao's visit was just a friendly family gathering and warmly welcomed him. Wei Qiao explained his purpose and presented a letter of divorce to the Ming family patriarch.
"From this day forward, I will have no further dealings with Ming Chuqing. I will have her dowry returned to her residence tomorrow. I shall take my leave now."
Wei Qiao's cold words were like a thunderclap in the Ming family. The people in the Ming family looked at each other and waited for a long time before they realized what he meant.
Within a day, the news of King Zhao and Queen Zhao's divorce spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital.
Various speculations arose. The Ming family patriarch, unable to bear the thought that his most prized granddaughter had ruined the family's upright reputation, fell seriously ill. After giving Ming Chuqing an abortion pill, her father made her kneel in the ancestral hall to reflect on her actions. Less than two days later, Ming Chuqing hanged herself with her own belt in the ancestral hall where the Ming family's ancestors were enshrined.
Wei Qiao swiftly and decisively resolved the matters at Prince Zhao's residence. He then prepared to combine Ming'an Hall and Yunhe Hall for renovations to welcome Xichun's return.
"If Your Highness is doing this for your concubine, why not renovate Chaoxia Courtyard instead of building Ming'an Hall?" Zhao Yu asked Wei Qiao.
Wei Qiao smiled, "I never want to be separated from Xichun again. From now on, she and the child will live with me in this Ming'an Hall."
Xi Chun, far away in Yanzhou, received a letter from Wei Qiao through her personal guards: "Madam Jiang, this is a personal letter from the Prince to you."
Xi Chun didn't want to open it, but the uneven texture inside aroused her curiosity, so she finally opened the letter before going to sleep. The contents of the envelope clattered to the ground, and when Xi Chun picked it up, she saw it was the bracelet she had thrown onto the shore years ago.
“My beloved Xichun, this bracelet has never left your body for a moment. My feelings for you are genuine. I have already divorced Ming Chuqing and am waiting for you to come to Yanzhou to marry me.”
Xi Chun told herself that her fate with Wei Qiao was over, but seeing the bracelet and the news of Wei Qiao and Ming Chuqing's divorce, she couldn't help but feel a little secretly pleased. However, thinking about everything that had happened before, she still couldn't let go. She put the letter and bracelet in a hidden compartment in the wardrobe, hoping that she wouldn't think about them again if she didn't see them.
Wei Qiao would write letters to Xi Chun every few days, and Xi Chun would read them and put them into that box.
In his fifteenth letter, Wei Qiao told her that he would come to Yanzhou to find her after attending the emperor's birthday banquet next month.
"Mother, when is Uncle Wei coming back? He said he would come back to find me soon," Jiang Jiao asked Xi Chun as she slept with her.
"Does Tuantuan like him a lot?" Xichun asked her daughter.
Jiang Jiao looked at Xi Chun and said excitedly, "Yes, I wish Uncle Wei was my father. My ideal father is just like Uncle Wei."
Looking at the longing in her daughter's eyes, Xichun's tightly closed heart softened slightly. If Wei Qiao really kept his promise this time, she might as well give him another chance.
Xi Chun pretended to be indifferent, but in reality she was counting down the days. However, when the day Wei Qiao mentioned came, he did not appear again, and there were no more letters.
After waiting another three days, Xichun burned all the letters in the box. She shouldn't have had any more hope for Wei Qiao.
Xi Chun was determined to forget Wei Qiao, but a few days later, Miao Wendao, who came to deliver cakes to Jiang Jiao, brought her news about Wei Qiao.
"King Zhao was assassinated at the emperor's birthday banquet."
"What did you say?" Xi Chun couldn't believe her ears. How could Wei Qiao be dead?
Seeing that Xichun was about to fall, Miao Wendao quickly stepped forward to support her. "This is what I heard from a former colleague who returned to his hometown today. The news should be true."
Miao Wendao only learned that Wei Qiao was the one who took Xi Chun away years ago when Wei Qiao came to Yanzhou, and that Xi Chun was the concubine of Prince Zhao who drowned in the river. He hated the harm Wei Qiao had caused Xi Chun, but he could also see that there was an unbreakable bond between Xi Chun and Wei Qiao. So, upon learning this, he came to tell Xi Chun as soon as possible.
Xi Chun did not tell Jiang Jiao about Wei Qiao's death; she simply placed Wei Qiao's memorial tablet on the family's ancestral altar.
Seeing that cold memorial tablet, she simply couldn't connect it with Wei Qiao. He had fought against the enemy in the Northwest for five years, yet he died at a palace banquet. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't accept it. But she had no choice but to believe it, because a few days later, Jiang Jiao told her that the story of King Zhao's assassination was being told in the teahouse next to the City God Temple.
On the day of the Great Cold, a heavy snow fell on Yanzhou City. The snowflakes fell from day to night, until the whole world was covered in white. Everyone in the courtyard was asleep, except for Xichun, who stood at the door wrapped in a cloak, watching the tireless snowflakes fall.
Only after Wei Qiao's death did she realize one thing: she had never forgotten him. Her feelings for him had long been ingrained in her very being; he had become a part of her life. Even when she wasn't consciously aware of it, she had never truly forgotten him. But now, it was all too late.
As the night watchman's clapper sounded, Xichun wiped away her tears and turned to go back inside. Just as she extinguished the candle, she heard several knocks on the door from outside the courtyard.
Thump—thump—thump—
The sound was not very clear in the wind and snow. Xichun was afraid that one of the neighbors had encountered an emergency and wanted to ask for help. She dressed and lit a candlestick with a tinderbox. Then, carrying the candlestick, she stepped through the snow that was up to her ankles and went to the door to open it.
Before Xichun could even utter a word as she opened the courtyard gate to ask what was going to happen, tears welled up in her eyes again at the sight of the person before her.
In the wind and snow, Wei Qiao, dressed in a dark fox fur cloak, stood at the door leading a horse. His hair and eyebrows were covered in white snow, and his dark eyes were fixed on Xi Chun, as if looking at the only treasure in the world.
Xi Chun didn't know if this moment was real or just a dream. She stepped across the threshold and walked up to him, standing on tiptoe and reaching out to trace his eyebrows and eyes. His thick, dark eyebrows were cold and hard, and a snowflake on his eyebrow melted in her hand. The icy touch reminded her that she was not dreaming.
"Xichun, I'm late."
Wei Qiao said to her apologetically. He was about to reach out and hug her when his body suddenly gave way and he fell to the ground.
"Wei Qiao!"
Xi Chun woke up Chu Wei, helped Wei Qiao into her room, and then braved the wind and snow to wake Yue Mei at Xingchun Hall. Upon hearing that Wei Qiao was not dead, Miao Wendao and Yue Mei came to Tangli Lane together.
“He still has residual poison in his body and has caught a cold. His body looks okay on the surface, but it is riddled with holes inside. If he doesn’t receive proper treatment, he probably only has a few years left to live,” Yue Mei said.
Upon hearing this, Xi Chun looked at Wei Qiao on the bed, then turned to Yue Mei and took her hand. "Anything is fine as long as it can save him. Sister Yue, you must save him."
Seeing Xichun's worried expression, Yue Mei nodded to her, "I will do my best."
Wei Qiao didn't wake up until the afternoon of the next day. Opening his eyes, he saw Xi Chun sleeping beside his bed, her hair clinging to her forehead, her nose slightly red—she was incredibly adorable. Wei Qiao remembered when he brought her back to the manor from the palace; she had taken care of him in the same way then. At that time, he didn't know that Xi Chun was the love of his life, but now he understood.
Just as Wei Qiao's hand touched Xi Chun's face, a sweet, soft voice came from the doorway, "Uncle Wei, you're awake!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
