A sudden clap of thunder boomed outside the window, and a torrential downpour began.
In the sound of rain, Xie Zhaoran's last words were like a dull knife, slowly cutting open the old wounds in everyone's heart.
The crown prince abruptly overturned the table, his sword flashing coldly as he drew it: "Utter nonsense! I'll kill you, you vile woman!"
In a flash, Xie Zhaoran sidestepped and grabbed the prince's wrist with his other hand.
With a sharp crack, the prince screamed and fell to his knees, his forehead slamming heavily against the gold brick.
"What does this have to do with you!" the crown prince roared, his face contorted in rage. "What are you after?!"
"My name is Xie Zhaoran."
The name struck the hall like a thunderbolt.
The princess suddenly stood up, her hairpins jingling loudly.
“Zhaoran…” The eldest princess staggered down the steps, “You are actually Zhaoran?”
The eldest princess looked at Xie Zhaoran with a somewhat dazed expression and said, "I was the one who gave you this name."
Tears welled up in Xie Zhaoran's eyes: "The year I was born, the Xie family was wronged. After the injustice was cleared, my father said that justice was clear." She turned to the emperor on the dragon throne, "What I have come here today is nothing more than seeking justice."
The old ministers had different expressions. They all knew more or less about what happened to the Xie family back then. Everyone knew that the Xie family was innocent, but without exception, not one of them dared to speak out and say a word of justice.
"Absurd!" The Crown Prince suddenly sneered. "So what if you are a remnant of the Xie family? The Xie family case is three years old, and how many court officials have been implicated? Does Father Emperor intend to shake the foundations of the nation for a dead man?"
The emperor gripped the armrests of the dragon throne tightly, his knuckles turning white.
His gaze toward Xie Zhaoran was complex and unreadable. This girl, who once amazed the capital, could debate with the Grand Tutor at the age of six, and whose essay "Strategy for Pacifying the Border" was praised by the Imperial Advisor at the age of ten, now stood here with a youthful vigor.
“Your Majesty,” the eldest princess turned to look at the emperor, her gilded armor gleaming coldly in the candlelight, “investigate.”
The emperor's withered fingers caressed the armrest of the dragon throne, his gaze shifting back and forth between the crown prince's bloodstained forehead and the silk scroll in Xie Zhaoran's hand.
The rain outside the palace grew heavier, as if thousands of wronged souls were weeping under the eaves.
After a long while, the old emperor finally rose shakily, his bright yellow dragon robe sweeping across the steps.
He actually bowed deeply to Xie Zhaoran: "It is I... who have wronged the Xie family."
"The Crown Prince has colluded with foreign enemies; the evidence is irrefutable." The Emperor straightened up, looking as if he had aged ten years. "In the future, I will depose him from his position as Crown Prince and exonerate the Xie family. However..." He looked out at the torrential rain, "Now that the Northern Barbarians are stationed on the border, if the court becomes unstable at this time..."
The crown prince suddenly looked up, blood trickling from his forehead into his eyes: "Father!"
"Is Your Majesty worried about the morale of the army?" Xie Zhaoran suddenly laughed, his laughter colder than the icy rain outside the palace. "How ridiculous."
"The Xie family waited for this 'right time' until their entire family was covered in bones and the earth had turned cold."
"Zhaoran." The eldest princess turned to look at Xie Zhaoran, implying that she should be careful with her words.
The old emperor staggered half a step, tears welling up in his cloudy eyes.
He knew perfectly well that this was just an excuse.
The longer he sat on the dragon throne, the more he understood that some justice was less important than the well-being of the nation...
"Oh!"
Xie Zhaoran slowly released his grip on the Crown Prince, but as he stood up, he stepped on the Crown Prince's back.
With a few sharp "crack" sounds, the prince let out a pig-like scream.
The old emperor turned his face away, a hint of reluctance flashing in his cloudy eyes, but ultimately he did not speak up to stop it.
“Your Majesty need not be troubled.” Xie Zhaoran flicked the blood-stained bandage on his wrist and suddenly chuckled. “I had already anticipated Your Majesty’s favoritism towards the Crown Prince when I was demoted to Yanzhou two years ago after failing to uncover the truth about the silver case. So I didn’t have much hope that Your Majesty would clear the Xie family’s name.”
She walked to the center of the hall, the moonlight shining through the window lattice, illuminating half of her face ashen: "You must weigh the pros and cons, and consider the bigger picture. But the wronged souls of the Xie family cannot wait for these calculations."
A thunderclap boomed outside the hall, illuminating the surging hatred in her eyes: "Since this crime of 'treason' cannot be washed away..." She suddenly drew her sword, the tip slicing through the gold bricks with a piercing sound, "Then I will make it a reality!"
"You...!" The Minister of Justice had just stood up when a sword was pointed at his throat.
“I am different from my father and brothers. I don’t have so many ideas about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. I only know how to repay kindness with kindness and blood with blood. If the crown prince doesn’t die today, the gates of Youzhou will open tomorrow. Without the protection of Youzhou, the Northern Di will be able to enter the capital as if it were an empty land.”
She turned to look at the pale-faced crown prince and said, "At the same time, the troops I left in Yanzhou will also break through the gates of the capital. Under their iron hooves, there will be no distinction between high and low, noble and lowly."
Yanzhou? Youzhou?
Why would these two places obey Xie Zhaoran's orders?
Xie Zhaoran naturally noticed the confusion in everyone's eyes and said, "Two years ago, I controlled the Yellow River and helped displaced people," she suddenly chuckled, "did you really think I was just building dikes?"
"Does Your Majesty know who the current commander of Youzhou is?" Xie Zhaoran's voice suddenly softened. "It is Pei Xuan."
A cold smile curved her lips. "Pei Xuan has always only listened to me."
A bolt of lightning struck outside the hall, illuminating the sharp glint in her eyes.
The people inside the hall had very different expressions, each with their own distinct personality.
"You want to kill me?" She threw the sword in her hand onto the gold brick, making a crisp clanging sound. "That's a good way to solve the problem."
“But if I do not leave the palace before midnight—” she looked around at the court officials in their crimson robes, “when the sun rises tomorrow, every blue brick on Zhuque Avenue will be soaked in blood.”
The Minister of War abruptly stood up: "You dare threaten the imperial court?!"
"A threat?" Xie Zhaoran suddenly raised his voice. "Three years ago, when the Crown Prince took military funds to Youzhou and wiped out the entire Xie family, why didn't anyone call that a threat?!"
In the deathly silence of the hall, only the Crown Prince's heavy breathing sounded particularly jarring.
The old emperor slammed his hand on the imperial desk: "Xie Zhaoran! Do you know that this is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family!"
"The Xie family has long since been wiped out." She suddenly burst into laughter, her laughter filled with madness. "Your Majesty, your imperial edict to exterminate the entire family back then actually helped me a great deal!"
The entire court felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave—the Xie family, which had once protected the country and brought peace, had now become a deadly force.
Everyone knew that this was to force the emperor to make a decision.
But everyone also understands that imperial power cannot tolerate the slightest provocation.
Even if Xie Zhaoran clears the Xie family's name by doing this today, she will not have a good ending in the future.
"His Majesty……"
The ministers all looked at the old emperor, seemingly waiting for him to make a decision.
No one knows whether Xie Zhaoran's words are true or false, but the fact remains that the Northern Barbarians have invaded and that the Great Yong General is a key figure.
"His Majesty!"
Xie Zhaoran knelt on one knee, offering a way out, and said, "As long as the Crown Prince is executed, I will immediately lead troops to aid Youzhou."
When she looked up, her eyes were bloodshot. "I will not return to the court until the Northern Barbarians are driven back."
The torrential rain pounded against the glazed tiles, like thousands of wronged souls wandering on the rooftops.
The old emperor, his back hunched, looked at the dying crown prince on the ground, then gazed at the dark night outside the palace—there lay the iron cavalry of the Northern Barbarians, gunpowder ready to explode at any moment, and even more so… the wronged souls of tens of thousands of Xie family soldiers.
He sighed, looking as if he had aged ten years.
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