The thick night enveloped the lonely palace. The red-walled courtyard was like a giant beast with its bloody mouth opened wide in the dark night, making people afraid to approach. The empress
dowager cried hoarsely, her tears were mixed, and she hugged her most important relative in the world in a trance. Even though he had no body temperature, he was the last place where she could feel warmth.
"Juer... Juer..." The empress dowager murmured his name and patted his back, as if he was just a child who just fell asleep in her arms.
A light footstep approached from behind her.
"Grandmother." The person half squatted down, her dress dragging on the ground, and asked with concern, "Are you okay?" The empress
dowager raised her head in a trance and looked at the person in front of her.
"Roujia..." The empress dowager's eyes gradually became clear, and her voice was hoarse and unpleasant, "You came at the right time, go find the imperial physician, His Majesty is ill..."
Princess Roujia glanced at Liu Ju, a trace of grief flashed in her eyes, and she whispered: "Grandmother, father has passed away."
"Nonsense!" The empress dowager roared, "He won't be so cruel to abandon me! How could he...how could he die!"
Princess Roujia sighed, shook her head and sighed: "Yes, father shouldn't have died, the one who should have died was you..."
The empress dowager's pupils shrank when she heard this, and she glared at Roujia: "What do you mean, why are you here!"
"I've been waiting here for a long time..." Princess Roujia sighed. She didn't look at the empress dowager, but walked step by step to the honorable seat and sat down slowly.
The Queen Mother stared at Princess Roujia: "What are you waiting for? What did you do?"
Princess Roujia chuckled: "I did nothing. It was you who killed Concubine Yun and murdered Liu Yan. You did everything. Father also helped you destroy all the evidence. I just happened to know some news and thought of a way to reveal it to Liu Yan." The Queen Mother's face was stern, and she remembered something and said sternly: "On January 15, my spies suddenly got the whereabouts of Deputy General Yuan's daughter. I couldn't find the source of the news. Did you reveal it?"
Princess Roujia smiled and said: "Yes, you have been looking for three years, and I have been looking for three years. Unfortunately, your intelligence network is not as powerful as mine, so I found it first. But it's useless for me to find it, because she knows too little, so I thought of a way to tell you and Liu Yan the news at the same time. I believe you will not turn a blind eye and will definitely send someone to interfere. As long as you make a move again, you will definitely leave clues for Liu Yan to continue to investigate."
"You are just a powerless princess, where did you get your intelligence network..." The empress dowager had just finished speaking when she figured it out, "Jishan Tang! You use Jishan Tang to run your intelligence network!"
"The empress dowager is also smart. She thought of it so quickly." Princess Roujia nodded happily, "I didn't expect you to be so cruel and actually wanted to poison Liu Yan. I didn't expect Liu Yan to be so lucky and escape death. Do you think this is God's will?"
"No, it's impossible. Even if you have Jishan Tang as an intelligence network, you can't know what I did three years ago!" The empress dowager shook her head desperately, "Those people are all dead."
"But they told me before they died." A trace of hatred flashed across Princess Roujia's eyes, and she sneered, "You used me as a bargaining chip to win over Xue Xiaotang to kill people for you, but you didn't expect that Xue Xiaotang was so infatuated with me. Tell me your plan. Of course, he didn't say it so clearly, but I guessed it myself."
"You have always valued family background and have been using me as a tool to win over ministers. How could you easily let me marry Xue Xiaotang, a man from a humble background? Unless... Xue Xiaotang can bring you some benefit. I hinted at it several times, and Xue Xiaotang said that the Queen Mother agreed, and as long as I helped the Queen Mother do something, the Queen Mother would facilitate our marriage. Later, Liu Yan got into trouble, and Xue Xiaotang got into trouble. Couldn't I guess what the Queen Mother asked Xue Xiaotang to do?" Princess Roujia looked at the Queen Mother coldly, "Grandmother, you have such a cruel heart. You raised him yourself, and I am also your granddaughter. In your eyes, there is really no family affection at all." The Queen Mother
resentfully said. "That stupid and reckless man! Since you knew it was me, why didn't you tell Liu Yan directly?"
Princess Roujia said helplessly: "Because I have no evidence, even until now, I have no evidence. But it doesn't matter, I know it was Xue Xiaotang who did it, that's enough. Father left too many clues to help you destroy the evidence, and these clues all point to father. They actually thought that father was plotting to murder Liu Yan. I had no choice but to think of another way. I asked Mu Zhuohua to come to Xue Xiaotang's house. She is so observant that she will naturally find the token hidden in Xue Xiaotang's study. Oh, by the way, you don't know, that is the pass token in the Queen Mother's palace."
The Queen Mother looked at Princess Roujia coldly: "I have never given Xue Xiaotang the token in my palace, you deliberately framed me."
"How can it be considered a frame-up? You did those things. I have no evidence, so I had to make up some evidence." Princess Roujia looked at the embarrassed Queen Mother with satisfaction, "Didn't the Queen Mother think that one day she would fall into my hands?"
"Why did you do this? "The Queen Mother slowly stood up and staggered towards Princess Roujia, "For power, for status? You are already a princess!"
Princess Roujia gently raised her arm, and her sleeves slid down, revealing the teeth marks on her arm.
"Does the Queen Mother still remember this?"
The Queen Mother was startled: "This tooth mark...you were bitten when you were a child..."
Princess Roujia crossed her arm in front of her, gently stroked the small tooth mark, and fell into memories: "This tooth mark, I bit it myself..."
"What?" The Queen Mother was puzzled.
"You forgot everything, you killed too many people, so you forgot?" Princess Roujia's eyes suddenly burst out with strong hatred, burning like a raging fire. "Have you forgotten how my mother died! It was you who asked the palace maids and eunuchs to bring poisoned wine to the palace, and it was you who forced my mother to drink the poisoned wine! I was hiding in the closet, I watched her drink the poisoned wine with my own eyes, and she looked at me until she died! I didn't dare to make a sound, so I hid in the narrow, dark cabinet, biting my arm tightly, not daring to cry..."
"You just want your father to marry a noble lady, so that he can sit firmly on the throne of crown prince and emperor! In order to make way for the new princess, my mother has to die, right? Because she is just a lowly maid who can be crushed to death at will!" Princess Roujia grabbed the wine glass on the table and threw it hard, "She is just an ant in your eyes, but she is my mother! She drank the poisoned wine voluntarily because she knew where I was and she was afraid that I would be discovered. She wanted me to live!"
"Every day I survive, I think about how to seek revenge on you!" Princess Roujia panted, trembling and staring at the queen mother. After a long time, she chuckled, "I finally succeeded. My mother's spirit in heaven will be very pleased."
"I'm not dead yet! You haven't won either!" The Queen Mother walked towards Princess Roujia step by step, her face gloomy, "I will never regret what I have done and the people I have killed. Your mother was a mistake, and she can only die."
"You still don't understand." Princess Roujia looked at the Queen Mother coldly, "You don't understand what your father is thinking, why he is depressed and can't be cured. I found so many miracle doctors for him, and they told me that your father has a knot in his heart. You don't understand the pain in his heart. You just want him to be the emperor. You killed his most beloved woman, his most beloved brother, and even the majestic and loving mother in his mind."
The Queen Mother's footsteps paused, the expression on her face was on the verge of collapse, and the whole person was shaky.
"You killed Concubine Yun, forced the Emperor's grandfather to death, killed my mother, murdered Liu Yan, and directly forced my father to death. Why do you think everyone has wronged you?" Princess Roujia took a deep breath and said slowly, "If you hadn't killed Concubine Yun, the Emperor's grandfather wouldn't have died early. If you hadn't killed my mother and Liu Yan, my father wouldn't have been injured so badly. You use your self-righteous reasoning to manipulate other people's lives, and you still think that others owe you. What's your reason!"
Princess Roujia's questioning was like a heavy hammer that shattered the Queen Mother's last self-deception. She shook her body and roared in a shrill look: "No! I'm not wrong! You forced me to do it!"
The Queen Mother said as she rushed forward, trying to strangle Princess Roujia. Princess Roujia took a step back coldly, avoiding the Queen Mother's hands, and the next moment, a long sword pierced the Queen Mother's body.
The Queen Mother lowered her head and looked at the sword that pierced her lower abdomen in disbelief. She turned around with difficulty, but saw an unexpected face.
"Shen--Jinghong--" The Queen Mother took a step back and fell to the ground, "You...are not Chen'er's..."
Shen Jinghong is Liu Chen's person, why, why...
Princess Roujia slowly stepped aside and watched the Queen Mother's dying struggle with cold eyes.
Shen Jinghong walked to the side of Princess Roujia, looking at the woman in front of her gently: "Are you not scared?"
Princess Roujia shook her head gently: "You shouldn't kill her with a sword, it will leave marks."
Shen Jinghong said: "The sword didn't hurt the bones. Wait a minute, set fire to this palace, burn it more thoroughly, and you won't see any flesh wounds."
The Queen Mother felt that her life was slowly slipping away, and she shouted in a hoarse voice: "Shen Jinghong...you betrayed Chen'er..."
Princess Roujia smiled: "The Queen Mother is joking, Shen Jinghong, you have always been mine."
Shen Jinghong chuckled: "Yes, I have been yours since ten years ago."
“Do you think that I built the Jishan Hall and planned it for more than ten years just to seek revenge on you?” Princess Roujia smiled faintly and looked at the place on the high platform. “When I was three years old, you killed my mother and taught me a lesson. Only the supreme power can guarantee that you will not be crushed to death at will. You have sat in the highest position of a woman, becoming the empress dowager, and I am a princess. My supreme position is the empress.” The empress
dowager’s breath was extremely weak. She pleaded silently: “Let go... Chen’er..."
Princess Roujia curled her lips, and suddenly her nose was sour: "It’s so touching... That year, my mother said the same thing when she drank the poisoned wine..."
- Let Jiaojiao go...
She actually didn’t remember what her mother looked like, but she remembered that voice and those eyes - nostalgic, reluctant, and cherishing...
Princess Roujia walked forward slowly. She looked at the empress dowager’s eyes that had not closed until her death, and leaned over to pull out the sword from the empress dowager.
She looked down at this old and withered face from a high position. She was her nightmare. Countless times in her dreams, either the Queen Mother killed her or she killed the Queen
Mother. Until today, she woke up from her dream and saw her die in front of her. What surged in her heart was not pleasure, but tiredness and melancholy. She got revenge. Would her mother be happy if she knew about it...
But her father actually chose to drink the poisoned wine...
Princess Roujia's hand trembled slightly as she gripped the hilt of the sword.
"Princess, I'm here." Shen Jinghong walked behind her and took the sword from her hand.
The man lowered his head to look at her pale face. He couldn't restrain the pity in his heart. He gently held her thin shoulders and let her lean on him.
This time, she didn't refuse.
Every time he saw her, he could only restrain the impulse in his heart and dared not reveal any emotion in his eyes, for fear that people would discover his relationship with Princess Roujia. However, she was distant and polite in front of others, but even more indifferent and ruthless behind others. He had studied hard for ten years and just wanted to be with her, but she pushed him to Liu Chen's side...
Only at this moment, she was exhausted, closed her eyes and showed her weakness, and whispered: "Shen Jinghong, I'm so tired."
He held the sword in one hand and circled her thin body with the other hand, holding her in his arms, and whispered: "Princess, I will accompany you on this road."
A carriage rushed in the deep night, passing through the streets and alleys, and rushed to the back street of Zhuque.
Mu Zhuohua lowered her eyes and looked at Liu Yan's face worriedly. Thinking back to the scene she had just seen, she was still frightened.
She had never seen Liu Yan show such a dazed and fragile expression. His dark eyes looked out of focus ahead, and his steps walked towards her with a weak step, letting her say his name, but she couldn't respond at all.
Mu Zhuohua grabbed Liu Yan's pulse and was startled. She immediately knew that Liu Yan must have encountered a great change in the palace, lost his mind, and was about to go astray. She pulled out the golden needle from her belt and was about to pierce Liu Yan's sleep point when she felt a heat in her neck and a heaviness in her shoulders. Liu Yan vomited a mouthful of blood from his heart, which sprayed on Mu Zhuohua's neck. Then he leaned forward and pressed on Mu Zhuohua.
Mu Zhuohua hurriedly raised her hand to hug Liu Yan, and the golden needle in her right hand landed on his head quickly and accurately.
Zhijian and Zhimo drove over in a hurry and lifted Liu Yan onto the carriage.
After getting on the carriage, Mu Zhuohua immediately took off Liu Yan's shirt and sealed the acupoints around his body to curb the raging true energy, but Liu Yan's heart meridian was already damaged, and blood was overflowing from the corners of his lips. His face was pale, without a trace of blood, which made the blood on his lips even more dazzling.
Mu Zhuohua gently wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, and then felt the carriage stop.
Zhijian opened the door, carried Liu Yan out of the carriage, and sent him to the small courtyard on the back street of Zhuque. Mu Zhuohua handed the prescription he had just written to Zhimo: "Go get the medicine now, boil it according to the prescription, and bring it to me."
Zhimo took it carefully, turned around and ran to the nearest pharmacy.
Mu Zhuohua rushed to the room and continued to give acupuncture treatment to Liu Yan. Not long after, Zhimo got the medicine back and boiled it in the yard. Zhijian put the other half of the herbs into an iron bucket and boiled it, then poured it into the medicine pool and waited for it to cool down so that Liu Yan could bathe in it.
Liu Yan's brows were tightly knitted together, and his body couldn't stop trembling slightly in his coma. The medicinal properties of Xuechen Dan and Yuanluo Hua collided in his body, making him feel like he was falling into an ice cave and then burning in flames.
Zhijian leaned over to take a look and asked anxiously, "Can you do it?"
Mu Zhuohua pursed his lips and didn't answer, his eyes focused on Liu Yan.
Zhimo pulled Zhijian out and whispered, "Don't disturb the prince from getting treated."
Zhijian said angrily, "It's a pity that Doctor Wan is not in Dingjing now..."
Zhimo looked solemn, "It's useless to say these now. Since Mu Zhuohua dared to treat the prince, he should be somewhat confident."
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard a noise from afar. Zhijian was stunned for a moment, flew to the roof and looked from afar, and was immediately shocked.
"The palace is on fire!"
Zhimo's eyes widened suddenly, flew to Zhijian's side and landed, his eyes fixed on the direction of the palace.
"The fire is too big..." Zhimo frowned, "What happened?"
"The prince is unconscious now, and we have no way of knowing..." Zhijian was uneasy, always feeling uneasy, "Zhimo, you stay here, I'll go and find out." Zhimo
nodded, and saw Zhijian running towards the direction of the palace.
Mu Zhuohua pulled out all the gold needles from Liu Yan's body, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Yan's internal Qi finally stabilized, but his body was already very weak. After this severe injury, it was probably difficult to recover in a short time, and he could only recuperate slowly.
Mu Zhuohua picked up the medicine bowl beside the bed. The medicine inside was just the right temperature to drink. She scooped a spoonful and wanted to pour it into Liu Yan's mouth, but the other party's lips were tightly closed and he didn't swallow at all.
Mu Zhuohua frowned in confusion, and finally mustered up the courage to hold a mouthful of the medicine in her mouth and leaned over to pass it into Liu Yan's mouth.
Liu Yan's lips were pale and soft, but Mu Zhuohua didn't have those beautiful thoughts in her heart at this time. The medicine was extremely bitter, and she felt that her tongue was almost numb. The dark brown medicine flowed down the corners of Liu Yan's lips and fell on the collar of his neck. Mu Zhuohua took out a clean handkerchief to help him wipe the medicine. The white handkerchief soon became dark brown. She gently pressed his soft lips and looked at Liu Yan's pale face absent-mindedly, with an inexplicable pain in her heart.
In fact, she didn't need to save him...
They were in a mutually beneficial relationship, so why risk her life for him?
But she didn't seem to think so much at the time. When she knew that Liu Yan was in danger, she immediately thought of going to the temporary palace to find Emperor Zhaoming and ask for help. Fortunately, she had a pass token from the Queen Mother's palace. With this token, she could leave the city unimpeded and enter the temporary palace
to meet the emperor. She was gambling on the brotherhood between Liu Yan and Emperor Zhaoming. At this time, she had guessed 80% of the truth. The mastermind behind the scenes was the Queen Mother, and it was the Queen Mother who wanted to kill Liu Yan. Emperor Zhaoming had to protect Liu Yan on the one hand and his mother on the other. He was a benevolent monarch, but he also killed so many guilty and innocent people just to protect Queen Mother Zhou. And she, Mu Zhuohua, a small official, knew the most shameful scandal of the Chen royal family. Would Emperor Zhaoming let her go?
She occasionally thought of this question for a moment, but the desire to save Liu Yan firmly prevailed. She couldn't bear to see him die at the hands of the Queen Mother. As for the future, let's talk about it later.
Zhijian suddenly broke in and interrupted Mu Zhuohua's thoughts. Mu Zhuohua turned around and saw Zhijian's panicked face and said, "Oh no, the palace is on fire. Your Majesty and the Queen Mother are trapped in the fire. The news has been spread to the palace, and the princes will be back soon."
Mu Zhuohua's eyelids jumped: "Did His Majesty get into trouble... This matter must not be discovered to be related to the prince. Zhimo, you carry the prince to the medicine pool, soak for two quarters of an hour, and then get up. Zhijian, you secretly mobilize the prince's personal guards and take defensive measures."
Zhijian said: "The prince has purple guards in the city, not more than 300 people There are many, but each of them is a master. I asked them to stay in the palace to protect the prince. The 200,000 defenders of Juliang Pass all obey the prince's orders. I will go to dispatch them with the prince's military token. "
Mu Zhuohua nodded and said, "You must gather 50,000 elite troops and station them outside the city. Don't act rashly for the time being."
Zhijian set out immediately after hearing Mu Zhuohua's instructions. Zhimo put Liu Yan into the medicine pool and looked at him. Turning around, he saw a bloody red on Mu Zhuohua's shoulder and his face was tired, so he said, "You should go and have a rest too."
Mu Zhuohua thought that there would be a tough battle after dawn, so he didn't refuse.
"I'll go back and rest for a while. If the prince has any situation, call me immediately."
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