Chapter 48 And he, in this lifetime, will never again…
Lou Xueying is dead.
The new emperor's soul seemed to have gone with him. For an entire day, he stayed in the room, holding her body, neither eating nor drinking, just sitting quietly by the window.
As evening approached, the sound of arguing came from outside the courtyard.
He glanced up slightly and saw the Empress and Empress Dowager of this dynasty appear together at the palace gate. The Empress Dowager stood hesitantly, but the Empress could no longer bear it. She pushed aside the eunuch Cao who was blocking her way and rushed into the palace.
The vermilion gate, which seemed to him to be incredibly heavy, was easily pushed open by her.
With a loud bang, the door slammed shut. Yao Biyue stood there stunned, her mouth agape, tears welling up faster than words could be uttered.
"You lied to me!" Yao Biyue rushed up to him, grabbed his collar, and roared, "Didn't you tell me that Susu had already been buried alive with the dead? Then who is this? Who is this? Tell me!"
He stared at her coldly and said, "Get out."
Yao Biyue yanked off the blanket covering Lou Xueying, and when she saw her emaciated body, she was so shocked that she took two steps back and fell to the ground.
“Liang Ji! You shameless scoundrel!” Yao Biyue cried out in despair, “You kept it from me, from Su Su’s family, from all your civil and military officials, and you actually hid Su Su here! I thought… I thought…”
She assumed the new emperor rarely visited her palace and always slept alone because he didn't like her. This wasn't a big deal; she'd known all along he loved Susu, but he'd only married her out of necessity. She didn't like him either, but she couldn't disobey the emperor's decree, and since he hadn't mistreated her, she figured she could just make do. She'd simply fulfill her duties as a crown princess and empress.
But she never expected that in this area she had never set foot in before, which she thought was an abandoned and desolate palace, there would actually be such an exquisite and luxurious palace hidden there. It wasn't that he liked to sleep alone; he just happened to be staying here.
As the empress, she knew absolutely nothing about it.
"What exactly did you do to her!" Yao Biyue cried. "Why did she become like this? Why can't so many people here take care of her... Liang Ji, what right do you have... How is what you did any different from what the late emperor did? No, at least the late emperor would never have let her become this sick! The late emperor didn't hide her away from everyone! Did you torture her? Did she die because of you? Speak up!"
"Insolence!" The Empress Dowager strode in with a stern face and ordered people to drag Yao Biyue away. "The Empress is unwell; send her back to rest!"
The palace doors closed again.
The new emperor glanced at the Empress Dowager, then covered the corpse in his arms with blankets again and held it even tighter.
With a loud slap, the Empress Dowager delivered a blow to his face.
She stared at him in disbelief, her face contorted with shock and pain: "Ji'er, you've gone mad! How could you do such a thing!"
His eyes were red, and he turned his face away.
"A palace servant reported that you suddenly ran out like a madwoman halfway through the morning court session. The Empress and I searched everywhere for you but couldn't find you. Your men are all tight-lipped. We finally found you near the Cold Palace, but they... they said you had important business to attend to and would come out after you finished, and told us not to approach." The Empress Dowager gasped for breath. "I thought, you are now the Emperor, and as your mother, I can't embarrass you in person, so I took the Empress back. But it's been almost a day, and you still haven't appeared. This time, I can't ignore it. Ji'er, I even suspected you might be hiding a shameful woman in the Cold Palace, but I never dreamed that you were hiding her! She should have been dead long ago!"
"Who said she's dead? Who said that?" A fierce glint suddenly flashed in his eyes as he glared at his mother. "It was the Imperial Concubine who was buried alive with the late Emperor, not her! She is my Susu, my Crown Princess!"
"What do you mean, 'your' and 'his'! How dare you say such things to the civil and military officials! How dare you say them to the people of the world!" The Empress Dowager was furious. "Lou Shu is not dead yet, he is still sitting in the position of Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat! So many eyes saw you run out of the Ganyang Palace today, and tomorrow it will be the talk of the town. Tell me, what are you going to do? Your father did such a ridiculous thing and he's not ashamed of it, are you going to do it again?!"
The new emperor, panting heavily, cried out, "Guards! Guards!"
Eunuch Cao hurriedly ran in with his head bowed: "Your Majesty."
"Let the Empress Dowager go back to rest and recuperate as well!"
The Empress Dowager couldn't believe her ears: "What did you say?"
"Since I ascended the throne, Mother Empress has worked very hard. Now it is time for her to rest." The new emperor closed his eyes. "If there is really nothing to do, there is a princess with the Empress. Mother Empress can enjoy playing with her grandchildren."
So the Empress Dowager was also asked to leave the palace.
The new emperor reached out and gently brushed a stray hair from the woman's temple, touching her cold forehead. As the sun set and twilight deepened, only the two of them remained in the palace once more.
...
He began to spend a fortune seeking immortality and enlightenment, storing her body in a crystal coffin in a deep cellar, surrounded by ice blocks that were changed daily.
He canceled the morning court sessions, only summoning people to the imperial study to discuss a few important matters. Lou Shu, unable to see him, led his entire family to kneel at the palace gate for a long time, and the next day, he dismissed the three of them from their official posts on the grounds of causing trouble.
The Taoist priest who came to perform the ritual told him that the Lou family's resentment was too strong, which would prevent the deceased from returning. So he found a fault in the Lou family and exiled the whole family directly. The Lou family had been in the capital for so many years and had produced so many high-ranking officials. It was impossible for them to be completely innocent. If you wanted to find fault, you could always find one.
Even so, Susu's body showed no sign of returning to life, and was even decaying day by day at a visible rate.
He finally realized his mistake, killed all those incompetent Taoist priests who only knew how to swindle money, and buried her in the ground.
Subsequently, he became completely unpredictable.
His harem consisted of no one but Yao Biyue, who in turn had only one daughter. When a bold official petitioned him to select a concubine, he ruthlessly demoted him.
Another deep winter arrived, and he sat before a mountain of memorials, his heart aching as he thought of her early death. Then, Yao Biyue sent someone to the Imperial Study with hot soup, and gazing at the bowl, he made an unprecedented trip to the Empress's palace.
He had always known she was his friend, but during the years he had kept a low profile, he didn't want to reveal his lingering feelings to the Crown Princess chosen by his father, so he never asked about their past. After he ascended the throne, Susu was by his side, so he no longer needed to seek out Yao Biyue.
But now, he suddenly wanted to find Yao Biyue and ask her about the little things about Susu that he didn't know.
Yao Biyue had long since regained her composure. The past conflicts and questioning seemed as if they had never happened. Whatever he asked, she would calmly recall it with him.
The more he listened, the more hurt and regretful he became. He was filled with unspeakable bitterness and could only drink one cup of wine after another.
Yao Biyue knelt beside him, offering wine with her eyes lowered.
He later became extremely drunk and rested in the Empress's palace.
When he woke up, he found himself lying next to her with his clothes disheveled. He was furious and immediately slapped her, demanding to know where she got the nerve and how she could be so shameless as to do such a despicable thing when she was Susu's best friend.
With red eyes, Yao Biyue said, "Your Majesty, I only wish to bear children for Your Majesty."
He sneered and turned to leave.
More than a month later, the Imperial Hospital reported that the Empress was pregnant.
He despised Yao Biyue's methods and her children. In his heart, the position of crown prince should have been reserved for his and Susu's children. But now Susu was gone, and his ministers were always arguing about his harem and offspring, which annoyed him greatly.
Very well, let Yao Biyue have another child. If it's a son, then he'll be made crown prince to silence the gossip. If it's another daughter, then it's her own fault for not being good enough.
In the end, Yao Biyue gave birth to a son.
He only glanced at his son the day after his birth; he was unremarkable and did not evoke any fatherly affection in him. However, under the Empress Dowager's gaze, he still named the child Crown Prince.
The Empress Dowager personally took the young prince away and raised him by her side. Yao Biyue had no complaints and continued to raise her daughter who was growing up.
The three of them lived peacefully together for some time after that.
One night, he had a dream. He dreamt that he and Susu were doing well and got married smoothly. They also had a daughter, who was beautiful and lovely, and would call him "Father Emperor," which he loved very much.
The dream abruptly ended, and he woke up feeling very lost.
Then he thought of the fact that he did have a daughter, but he rarely saw her and had never even heard her call him "Father." His heart softened for once.
What did the innocent child do wrong? Why should an innocent child be involved in an adult's matter?
With this in mind, he decided to go to the Queen's palace to see the little princess.
Eunuch Cao was dozing off when he heard him get up, and he quickly followed. After learning his purpose, Eunuch Cao reminded him, "Your Majesty, the little princess must be asleep by now. Why don't you check on her tomorrow?"
He seemed to be driven by some unknown obsession, and simply said, "Sleeping is fine, I'll leave after I've finished reading."
He arrived at the Empress's Palace, only to find that the night patrol team that should have been outside the palace was nowhere to be seen. The entire palace gate was unusually empty, with only a maid standing guard at the entrance.
Even in the deep of night, a faint light still shone in the Queen's palace.
He narrowed his eyes, gestured for Eunuch Cao behind him to stop, and then walked alone to the Empress's palace gate.
The maid was in a daze when she suddenly saw him floating over like a ghost. Her face turned deathly pale, and without thinking, she knelt down with a thud.
Yao Biyue's voice came from inside the house: "Tao'er, what's wrong?"
He bent down and pinched the maid's chin hard, signaling her to answer quickly.
The maid said tremblingly, "This servant... tripped and fell."
"Be careful," Yao Biyue said, and then fell silent.
He released the maid, who didn't even dare to cry out, and ran away as fast as she could.
He walked to the window under the eaves with his hands behind his back, took out the jade hairpin from his hair, and slowly pierced the thick window paper.
In the dim candlelight, he saw Yao Biyue sitting on the edge of the bed, with a man dressed as a guard kneeling on the ground beside her, his head bowed as he massaged her calves.
Yao Biyue said softly, "It's almost the end of the month, and the Empress Dowager will send Pu'er over again so I can see her for one night. Last month you were on daytime duty and missed Pu'er, so remember to switch shifts with someone this month and switch to nighttime duty so you can see Pu'er."
The guard said, "Swapping duties with someone for no reason might arouse suspicion. As long as I know that His Highness the Crown Prince is doing well by the Empress Dowager's side, I am already satisfied."
Yao Biyue: "Children grow up so fast. Even I, who only see him once a month, sometimes feel like he's a stranger. You are, after all, his father. You haven't seen him for several months. Don't you want to see him for yourself?"
The guard bowed his head and said, "This humble servant dares not. For this humble servant, the safety of Her Highness and His Highness is of utmost importance."
Okay, okay, okay. I see.
A cold smile appeared on the new emperor's lips.
He strode back to the door, kicked the latch open, and the magnificent palace gate swung open with a loud bang, instantly turning the faces of the adulterous couple inside pale.
"You vile woman—" his eyes widened in fury, "I will kill you—"
He grabbed a celadon porcelain bottle from the table and smashed it heavily at her.
Yao Biyue was completely stunned, losing all reaction, sitting stiffly on the bed, staring blankly as the dark figure attacked her.
With a loud crash, the porcelain bottle shattered.
Her guards collapsed in front of her, their faces covered in blood.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" The guard, still alive, clung tightly to his leg, pleading, "It was I who forced the Empress! I deserve to die, but the Empress is innocent! I beg Your Majesty to show mercy—"
He kicked the guard aside.
These are nobodies; it's not his place to take action.
"Yao Biyue, you vile woman, how dare you betray me! You've confused the royal bloodline!" He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the bed.
Yao Biyue struggled in vain, unable to utter a single word.
He was blinded by rage.
It was one thing for Su Su to betray him, after all, it was his father, the Emperor, who forced her to do so, so it couldn't all be blamed on her. But Yao Biyue, what right did Yao Biyue have! She was the Empress, her food, clothing, and daily necessities were never skimped on, and when Su Su died, she pointed her finger at him and cursed him so fiercely, yet he didn't punish her, and she betrayed him too!
He was actually tricked by such a woman, who made a bastard prince! It's utterly ridiculous!
Enraged, he raised the jade hairpin in his hand, ready to pierce her throat—
However, in an instant, he heard a soft thud, felt a chill, looked down, and saw a blade piercing his chest, dark liquid gradually spreading across his black robe.
He looked incredulously at the guard who was struggling to stand up beside him. The guard should have had a uniformly issued sword at his waist, but at this moment the scabbard was empty.
He retracted the blade, staggered, and collapsed to the ground. All his strength seemed to have been released like water from a burst dam, flowing away at an astonishing speed.
Yao Biyue collapsed to the side, completely terrified.
His eyes widened in anger, a sharp hiss escaping his throat: "Guards—"
He watched as the guard, his head covered in blood, handed the blood-stained hilt of his sword to Yao Biyue, instructing her, "Your Majesty, remember, you were only late in protecting the Emperor..."
After saying that, he took her hand and made her plunge the knife into her heart.
Adulterers! Adulterers! What are you pretending to be so affectionate on your deathbed!
Do they really think the royal family is stupid? Such a clumsy forgery—can they really turn her from a villain for all time into a virtuous empress protecting the emperor? I will—I will—execute your entire clan!
"Your Majesty!" Hearing the commotion inside, Eunuch Cao could no longer wait. He rushed in and saw this scene, and immediately fainted.
Useless thing! Go and summon the imperial physician...the Empress Dowager...
He thought he was speaking, but in reality, he didn't make a sound at all.
He heard Yao Biyue's sudden scream and saw the armored guards swarming around him. He moved his lips, but finally closed his eyes unwillingly and lost consciousness completely.
-
Rebirth, rebirth.
What beautiful words, and yet what painful words.
The prince gazed at the broken strings of the zither before him and slowly took a breath.
He's now the crown prince again.
Everything he had worked so hard to gain vanished in an instant, and even Susu was unwilling to rekindle their relationship.
Fortunately, Susu doesn't want that old man either.
It turns out he really misunderstood her. She didn't actually like the old man that much. She also harbored resentment towards him. Otherwise, why would she rather marry a military general who had nothing to do with her than avoid the old man with whom she had already made contact?
The zither before him was clearly meant to be a gift from the old man, but in this life it ended up in Yao Biyue's hands. If he hadn't been reborn tonight, he probably would have used it as a gift to present the zither to the old man who loved zithers so much.
Fortunately, he was reborn, and fortunately, he also remembered what the instrument originally looked like.
The body of the instrument is still made of century-old paulownia wood, and it is still inlaid with a few turquoise gemstones. The only difference is that there are some winding patterns on the surface of the instrument.
At first glance, it is indeed beautiful.
But the prince only needed to think for a moment to figure out why it had changed its appearance.
On the day Marquis Wu'an was transferred out of the capital, his mother received an imperial decree instructing her to summon Marquis Wu'an's wife to the palace for a talk.
At the time, he had not yet been reborn and did not take the matter to heart, but now he could tell with his own eyes that the old scoundrel who had not given up his wicked intentions must have taken the opportunity to see Susu again.
But I fear he will return empty-handed, unable to even give away this zither.
That's ridiculous. He wants to use the same methods for two lifetimes? Foolish and arrogant.
The prince reached out and carefully ran his hand along the patterns on the surface of the zither, finally finding a faint, indistinct mark.
It seems the instrument has been opened and tampered with. They've probably written some treasonous words or hidden some treasonous things inside. Once he presents the instrument to the old man, the old man will immediately have a handle to use against him and punish him.
They are father and son. He was personally taught by the old man, which means that the old man understands him, and he understands the old man.
The Crown Prince found this tactic utterly ridiculous. The old man, unable to get Susu, was thinking of killing him first. What good would killing him do? Susu already didn't want him anymore; would she expect him to be grateful to the old man for it?
Susu is not a vengeful person; she is easily moved to pity. The more radical the old man does, the further he pushes her away.
And he will never make that mistake again in his life.
Even if it was that wicked woman Yao Biyue, he could let bygones be bygones for her sins in her past life, just because she was on good terms with Susu.
Susu likes gentle and refined gentlemen. Although he is now repulsive and no longer the same as before, he can continue to act this way as long as she likes it.
As long as she likes it.
As for Marquis Wu'an, Li Pan, he was just someone she desperately sought help from.
There's nothing to worry about.
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