Chapter 131 The Emperor and Empress's First Argument
Su Luoxue shuddered at the coldness in his eyes, but still forced herself to remain calm and explained, "Ache, I just feel sorry for that child... He sat there alone, not even daring to touch his chopsticks, and it pained me to see him like that. I didn't mean anything by it..."
"Feeling sorry for him?" Yuwen Che interrupted her, his voice filled with suppressed anger. "Xue'er, why do you have to be so good to Yuwen Hao?"
Su Luoxue felt a little wronged by his accusatory tone: "He's still a child, what's wrong with me being nice to him? Why do you have to keep bringing this up?"
"What's wrong?" Yuwen Che suddenly took a step closer, his suppressed anger finally breaking through the dam of reason. He roared, "Su Luoxue! What does his existence mean to me? It's a disgrace! It's the disgrace that I was schemed against by the Empress Dowager, that I was plotted against by a lowly palace maid! It's evidence that I've wronged you! Do you understand?!"
Su Luoxue was stunned by his sudden outburst. Since they met, he had never yelled at her in such a harsh tone. She looked at him with aggrieved expression and couldn't help but raise her voice, "Yuwen Che! You call him a disgrace? But your blood flows in his veins! You brought him into this world! You gave him life, but how have you treated him? He's your own son! Your own flesh and blood!"
"He's only seven years old. What did he do wrong? Did he want to come into this world?"
"Your own flesh and blood?" Yuwen Che's eyes were bloodshot, as if he had been completely enraged by these words. "Su Luoxue, you are my Empress! You are the mother of Cheng'an and Ning'er! You only need to take care of them, and you only need to have the three of us, father and son, in your eyes and heart! What do you care about the lives of others?!"
"Even if I kill him, it has nothing to do with you..."
Seeing his handsome face contort into a terrifying grimace, Su Luoxue felt a chill run down her spine. She instinctively took a few steps back, as if seeing him for the first time. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. "A-Che...you've changed...you're not my A-Che anymore..."
She shook her head, tears streaming down her face, each word like the sharpest dagger piercing the man who loved her with all his heart: "You are no longer A-Che."
"But Emperor Yuwen Che of the Great Zhou Dynasty... is the one who murdered his father, killed his brothers, slaughtered his younger brothers, imprisoned his birth mother until her death, and slaughtered his first wife, Shen Shi, and her entire family, exterminating her nine generations!"
"Su Luoxue!" Yuwen Che's pupils constricted, staring at her in disbelief. These were things no one dared to mention. And she was actually saying them, all to protect the child he considered a disgrace!
"Say that again?!"
Seeing the surging violence in his eyes, Su Luoxue felt as if her heart was being torn apart, yet she stubbornly raised her tear-streaked face and roared at him, "I said... you're no longer my A-Che! Before, you showed some pity for Hao'er, even if it was just a facade, but now... you've changed! You've changed! You're a tyrant who doesn't care about his own family! You're an unfilial son, an unkind father, and an unfaithful husband..."
"Smack—!"
The crisp sound of a slap echoed in the silent bedchamber, particularly jarring.
Su Luoxue's face was turned to one side by the slap, and clear finger marks quickly appeared on her fair cheek. She froze, and in disbelief, slowly raised her hand to touch her burning, stinging cheek. When she looked at Yuwen Che, her eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
"...You hit me?" Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, trembling with brokenness. "Yuwen Che...you hit me..."
Yuwen Che looked at his slightly numb hands, then at the red marks on her face, a flicker of panic and regret flashing in his eyes. He instinctively wanted to step forward: "Xue'er..."
"Fine..." Su Luoxue suddenly slapped away his outstretched hand, tears streaming down her face. Her voice rose sharply, filled with a desolate, heartbroken tone, "You hit me... Fine! Dethrone me! Dethrone me! Anyway, being Empress is meaningless! Let's just get rid of me!"
After she finished speaking, she didn't look at him again, turned around and staggered out of the hall.
"Xue'er!" Yuwen Che hurriedly chased after her, hugging her tightly from behind, his arms gripping her tightly, his voice filled with unprecedented panic and regret, "I'm sorry... Xue'er, I'm sorry! I was wrong! I shouldn't have hit you... Don't go! Don't go!"
Su Luoxue struggled violently in his arms, tears streaming down her face, but she couldn't break free from his hold. She could only weakly pound his arm, all her grievances and sorrow erupting at that moment: "Let me go! Yuwen Che, let me go! You're not my A-Che anymore...you're not anymore..."
Yuwen Che held her tightly in his arms, letting her fists rain down on him. His chin pressed firmly against the top of her head as he repeated, his voice hoarse, "I'm sorry... I was a bastard... Xue'er, don't leave me... you can't leave me..."
Outside the palace, Fuling, Li Dehai, and others who rushed over upon hearing the commotion knelt on the ground. Listening to the emperor and empress arguing inside and the empress's suppressed sobs, they all turned pale and dared not utter a sound.
"Let me go! Yuwen Che, let me go!" Su Luoxue struggled desperately.
Yuwen Che's arms were like iron hoops, holding her tightly in his embrace. His voice was hoarse with panic: "Don't go! Xue'er, I was wrong..."
“You’re not my A-Che anymore…” she choked back tears as she hit him, all her grievances and sadness sounding especially clear in the quiet night.
Just then, a faint, startled sob came from the inner palace, which quickly turned into a terrified wail.
"Mother Empress—Father Emperor—"
"Waaah—Mother Queen—"
It's Cheng'an and Tingxue! They were awakened by the commotion outside!
The children's cries were like a bucket of cold water, instantly waking the two people who were immersed in intense emotions.
Su Luoxue suddenly snapped out of her daze and forcefully shoved Yuwen Che away. Yuwen Che staggered a step from her push and subconsciously wanted to step forward, but when he saw her quickly raise her hand to wipe away her tears and then quickly pull out a few strands of hair from her temples to cleverly cover her swollen cheek, he froze on the spot.
She even managed a forced smile, her voice still choked with emotion, but she softened her tone as she hurried toward the inner palace: "Cheng'an, Ning'er, what's wrong? Your mother is here, don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
She practically ran into the inner sanctum and hugged the two terrified children tightly.
Yuwen Tingxue's face was flushed from crying, and she was breathless, clutching her mother's clothes tightly: "Mother... sob... I'm scared..."
Yuwen Cheng'an also sobbed, his little face full of fear. He looked at his father, who followed in with a gloomy expression, and then at his mother, who was trying to smile. He asked softly, "Mother...did you and Father...have a fight?"
Su Luoxue's heart ached as if it were being pricked by needles. She kissed the two children's tear-stained faces and said in a voice so gentle it could melt water, "No, Father and Mother did not quarrel. It's... Mother had a nightmare and was frightened. Father is comforting her."
Yuwen Che's Adam's apple bobbed as he tried his best to suppress his turbulent emotions. He stepped forward and tried to soften his voice: "Yes, Mother was having a nightmare. Don't be afraid, Father is here."
He reached out, intending to pat the children's heads as usual, but Tingxue instinctively shrank into Su Luoxue's arms, her big, wet eyes looking at him timidly.
Yuwen Che's hand froze in mid-air, his heart feeling as if it had been struck hard by something.
Cheng'an glanced at his mother's swollen eyes and her deliberately concealed cheeks, then at his father's unpleasant expression. He pouted and said nothing more, instead snuggling even closer into Su Luoxue's arms.
Su Luoxue gently patted the backs of the two children, humming a soft lullaby, and soothingly said, "It's alright, it's alright, Mother is here, go to sleep..."
Under her comforting words, Cheng'an and Tingxue, who had been frightened, gradually stopped crying and sobbed back to sleep, but their little hands still clung tightly to her sleeves, refusing to let go.
Only after confirming that the children's breathing had become steady and long did Su Luoxue carefully try to pull her sleeves out of their hands.
Yuwen Che, who had been standing silently to the side, said in a low voice, "Let me do it."
With extremely gentle movements, he slowly pried open the children's tightly clenched little hands and carefully tucked the blankets around them.
After doing all this, he turned around and looked at Su Luoxue standing by the bed: "Xue'er..."
Su Luoxue seemed not to hear him, turned around and walked straight out of the hall without looking back at him.
"Xue'er!" Yuwen Che panicked and immediately followed.
Su Luoxue walked to the outer hall, but did not stop. Instead, she went directly to the warm pavilion in the side hall, where she occasionally took a short rest.
"Xue'er, where are you going?" Yuwen Che blocked her way, his eyes filled with panic and pleading. "Come back to my bedchamber with me to rest..."
Su Luoxue finally looked up at him. Those eyes, which were always full of tenderness and love, were now filled with heavy weariness and estrangement. The finger marks on her cheeks were still faintly visible under the palace lanterns.
"Your Majesty, I wish to be alone tonight."
A single "Your Majesty" and a single "Your Majesty" instantly created an invisible chasm between the two.
Su Luoxue walked right past him into the warm pavilion and gently closed the door behind her.
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