Chapter 196 We Start Over
He slowly turned around, but his gaze seemed to be directed at someone else:
"Your eyebrows and eyes are just like your mother, Consort Jia, when she was young. Your stubbornness is like mine."
"I have few children, and you are my only son. You began your studies at the age of three, memorized poems at five, and hunted at seven. When you first drew that small bow, your eyes were exactly the same as mine back then."
"Inside and outside this palace, countless eyes and countless hearts have been observed by me for decades. I can distinguish between what is true and what is false, between blood ties and those harboring evil intentions."
The emperor took two steps forward and patted Xiao Yongjing on the shoulder:
"Xiao Yongjing, listen to me carefully."
"You are the son of me and Consort Jia, the rightful legitimate prince of the Great Jin Dynasty, and the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, appointed by my own hand in vermilion ink."
"This has always been true, is true, and will never change!"
He raised his hand and gestured towards the heavy jade seal on the dragon table:
"Those petty villains, attempting to shake the foundations of the nation with rumors and confuse the public, are despicable. You need not pay them any attention, nor need you doubt yourself. Your roots, your position, are right here, and no one can take them away!"
Xiao Yongjing remained silent for a moment, then bowed deeply again:
"Your subject...will remember your teachings, Father. I will certainly live up to your trust and the expectations placed upon me for the nation!"
The emperor nodded slightly, his face remaining expressionless.
"Go. Do what you must do. Remember, no matter what happens, you are first and foremost my son, and only then the Crown Prince of Da Jin."
"Yes! Your subject takes his leave!"
Xiao Yongjing turned around and strode out of the imperial study.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
As they stepped outside, Mo Yu anxiously surrounded them, but Xiao Yongjing's eyes were sharp, and he no longer had any worries.
"Nothing's wrong. Pass on my orders: we'll make our move tomorrow at 5 PM!"
...
The next day at dusk, night began to fall.
In the dark cell of the Earl's mansion, the smoke from incense swirled eerily under the moonlight.
Under the influence of the drugs, Shen Yiqiu was in a daze, half-awake and half-asleep, when she suddenly felt a cold hand gently stroking her face.
She woke up with a start, opened her eyes abruptly, and by the dim moonlight from the window, saw Fu Langxing standing in front of her bed, leaning over, his hand still outstretched.
Shen Yiqiu's heart stopped, and she instinctively shrank back. The chains made a grating scraping sound, filled with fear and anger.
"Fu Langxing? What are you doing here!"
Fu Langxing did not back down; instead, he moved even closer, his face beaming with joy.
"Yiqiu, it's tonight! That true dragon from the South City Villa will appear. The world in the capital is about to change, completely change!"
A fervent lust for power flashed in his eyes as he stared intently at Shen Yiqiu:
"I have already begged the ancestor, and considering the loyalty of my Fu family, he said that once this is done, you can change your name and hide in my mansion."
"Although I can't give you a formal title, I can at least guarantee you a comfortable life and a peaceful old age. This is your last chance. Yiqiu... don't be so stubborn!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yiqiu showed no emotion whatsoever, and spoke with disdain:
"Fu Langxing, you are utterly despicable and shameless!"
Fu Langxing suddenly stood up, his emotions running high:
"I'm despicable? Shen Yiqiu, we've been betrothed since childhood!"
"It's your Shen family, it's you! You've fallen for someone else, clinging to that fake crown prince Xiao Yongjing. It's clear you're a snob who looks down on me, Fu Langxing."
"What's the situation now? The Crown Prince is about to fall from power, and you, the nominal Crown Princess, are just the daughter of a disgraced official."
"At that time, in this vast world, who will dare to take you in? Who will protect you? Only me! Only I, Fu Langxing, will not hold grudges and will be willing to take you in and protect you!"
Chen Yiqiu scoffed coldly:
"You're the one who broke the agreement! You were the one who secretly slept with Song Sangyu and got her pregnant. Now that she's had a miscarriage for you, you're telling me all this?"
"Fu Langxing, if you're still a man, you should take responsibility for her to the end. As for you and me, from the moment you touched her, our childhood friendship was over, and there's absolutely no possibility of us ever getting together again!"
Provoked by her words, Fu Langxing blurted out something reckless, shamelessly saying:
“Take responsibility? She’s just a plaything. If you care, once she’s recovered, I’ll have her serve you tea as an apology and keep her in the manor as your concubine.”
"You take the lead role, and she takes the lead. Do whatever you want with her to vent your anger, and I will not interfere, because from beginning to end, the person I love most is you, Shen Yiqiu!"
Shen Yiqiu looked at him as if he were a complete stranger, her eyes filled with pity:
"The old man was an upright man all his life, how could he have given birth to a grandson like you? If he knew what kind of person you were, he would never rest in peace. The Fu family is truly cursed for having you!"
"Shut up! Don't mention him!"
Fu Langxing suddenly flew into a rage:
“That old man, he never cared about me! He only values those brutes who can wield knives and guns.”
"I, Fu Langxing, am a master of both poetry and painting, overflowing with talent, yet in his eyes I am worthless. He has never even given me a second glance, never!!"
At this point, a perverse gleam of pleasure appeared on his face:
"But it doesn't matter anymore, haha... That old man has had a stroke and is bedridden, unable to speak. This entire Earl's mansion has long been mine; I can do whatever I want with it."
Looking at his distorted face, Shen Yiqiu felt utterly disgusted and gritted her teeth, cursing:
"You bastard! You're a complete beast!"
"I'm a bastard? Then I'll show you what a bastard I am!"
Fu Langxing completely lost control, his mind clouded by desire. He lunged at Shen Yiqiu on the bed with brute force, trying to defile her.
"Get out of my way!"
Although Shen Yiqiu had lost all her internal strength and was chained up, she still retained the instincts she had developed from years of battlefield combat.
The moment he pressed down, he seized the opportunity, tilted his head to the side, and with all his might, bit down on Fu Langxing's ear as he leaned in.
ah! ! !
Fu Langxing was in so much pain that his vision went black. He instinctively pushed her away, covered his bleeding ear, staggered back a few steps, and pointed at Shen Yiqiu, both in pain and anger.
"You bitch!"
He raised his hand and slapped Shen Yiqiu across the face in a fit of anger. Her cheek was turned to one side, red marks appeared on her pale skin, and blood trickled down her broken lips.
She spat out the bloody foam from her mouth and slowly turned her head back.
"You dare to defy me? Shen Yiqiu, don't you understand your own predicament? You're nothing but a fish on a chopping board, at my mercy!"
"Today, I'm going to show you clearly what it truly means to be the butcher's block!"
He acted like a madman and tried to force himself on me.
Just then, a faint rustling sound of tiles rubbing together in the southwest corner caught Shen Yiqiu's attention.
She realized that the strip of cloth she had handed out earlier had been discovered and had been effective, so she had to buy time.
Thinking of this, Shen Yiqiu suddenly abandoned her confrontational stance and softened her tone:
“Fu Langxing…you keep saying you love me, that we’ve been close since childhood…do you still remember the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival when I was seven?”
Fu Langxing, who was about to pounce again, was taken aback by her question and stopped instinctively.
"The crowd was so dense that I almost got lost. You held my hand tightly and led me through the throng to find my grandmother..."
"You told me back then, 'Don't be afraid, Yiqiu, I will always protect you.'"
Fu Langxing's expression softened, and he said, "Why are we still talking about this now? We're not children anymore."
Shen Yiqiu: "What I want to say is that we can start over."
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