Jiang Shuwan looked down at her footprints.
The snow was so light that it immediately left its footprints.
However, the snow was so heavy that it instantly covered her footprints.
"Pei Yanzhi, do you know?"
"I never imagined that one day I would encounter train choices..."
Jiang Shuwan's voice drifted softly through the air.
"A life for a life is a matter of course..."
"But..."
But.
As Pei Yanzhi said, with Ye Jingyu dead, the eldest son of the Ye family is crippled, and if Crown Princess Ye Jingyi dies, the Western Region will surely be in chaos.
Covering her face, Jiang Shuwan tried her best to keep her tears from falling.
She thought of Jiang Yao.
In this lifetime, she always felt that even if Jiang Yao were to die at the hands of someone, that person could only be her.
Jiang Yao, that coward, has never harmed anyone except her.
Why did Ye Jingyi kill her?
And Jiang Yao's child...
And those guards were just kids, only teenagers...
Their families know how devastated they must be.
"Where is Li Chengyun?"
"He's inside."
"I'll go and try to persuade him."
"..."
Pei Yanzhi remained silent for a while before saying, "Tell him that I'm only giving him one last chance."
*********
The palace gates were opened from the outside.
Jiang Shuwan stepped inside.
The scene was one of utter chaos. Corpses lay scattered on the ground, including armored guards and palace maids and eunuchs in their attire.
Their faces, whether filled with terror or pain, were frozen in the moment of death.
Blood splattered everywhere, staining the ornate floor tiles red, and in some places even pooled into small pools of blood, shimmering eerily in the dim light.
Everyone in the palace trembled, their faces ashen. The palace maids huddled in a corner, clinging tightly to each other, their eyes filled with tears of fear, their bodies shaking uncontrollably, as if disaster would strike them again at any moment.
The eunuchs were also pale, some of their legs were weak and they could barely stand. They leaned against the pillars, trembling, not daring to utter a sound.
Those ministers who were usually high and mighty had lost their usual dignity and were looking at the tragic scene around them in panic, not knowing what to do.
The entire palace was filled with an aura of death and fear, like a cursed ruin.
"Princess Jinzhu has arrived!"
As soon as Jiang Shuwan entered, the entire hall erupted in a small frenzy, and then Jiang Shuwan saw Li Yuyan.
Li Yuyan, dressed in the armor of a female general, stood firmly beside Li Chengyun.
For the past three days, she has only eaten the leftover soup and wine from the banquet to stave off hunger, and she has not uttered a single complaint.
The territory where her father, the Prince of Pingnan, resided was the former territory of the Prince of Zhennan. Her father was the old emperor's own brother.
As the beloved daughter and only child of the Prince of Pingnan, she had always been a hostage in the capital.
This is why she stood firmly by Li Chengyun's side.
"You're not here to negotiate surrender, are you?!"
Li Yuyan stared coldly at Jiang Shuwan, her eyes filled with wariness, and cracked the whip in her hand.
"Yu Yan, you may step back now."
Li Chengyun was dressed in black, half of his body was soaked in blood, which later dried and formed clumps.
His clothes were disheveled, and he looked far more disheveled than Pei Yanzhi.
They pulled Jiang Shuwan to a side hall, where the smell of blood was less strong, and they could see the Imperial Guards and plum blossoms outside by opening the window.
"Why didn't you bring a hand warmer? You've always been afraid of the cold."
"..."
Jiang Shuwan was surprised that he and Pei Yanzhi said the same thing when they saw her.
For a moment, it was difficult to even utter a word.
However, in that instant of change in expression, Li Chengyun knew what she was going to say.
Therefore, Li Chengyun acquiesced.
The space seemed frozen, with only the sound of snowflakes gently falling.
In the end, they sat there for most of the night without saying a word.
Li Yuyan couldn't stand it, so she brought over two steamed buns, one for each of them.
“We must eat sparingly. My father’s army hasn’t arrived yet, and this is all the food we have left in the palace.”
"However, we have plenty of reserve food."
Li Yuyan gave a strange laugh and looked at the trembling Crown Prince and Crown Princess.
The others also screamed in fright.
There were some who refused to surrender, but Li Chengyun chopped them down with a single blow, leaving their bodies lying haphazardly on the ground, frozen solid by the cold weather.
As expected of the Princess of Pingnan, Li Yuyan remained calm and composed in the face of this situation.
The old emperor's attempt to raise poisonous insects backfired, harming himself in the process. If Li Yuyan hadn't always been domineering and tyrannical in the palace, Li Chengyun wouldn't have had the chance to besiege the palace.
The army of the Prince of Pingnan is already on its way; if we wait for them to arrive, a great battle will ensue.
While biting into the cold, hard steamed bun, he analyzed the situation with Li Chengyun.
Li Chengyun's current forces consist of the main camp in the suburbs of the capital and his own personal guards, while Pei Yanzhi has the Imperial Guards and the city defense battalion. Li Chengyun's side is already at a disadvantage in terms of both forces.
As for the army of the Prince of Pingnan, they cannot come.
"Are you talking nonsense? Your father is already on his way and will arrive today," Li Yuyan said angrily.
They've calculated the timeframe beforehand, so of course they can't be wrong.
"They can't come. The people from the three generals' mansions are already waiting for them at the city gate."
"How could the three generals' mansions have known about such a well-thought-out plan?"
“Pei Yanzhi…” Jiang Shuwan only said three words.
Li Yuyan and Li Chengyun were both stunned, especially Li Chengyun. He was already extremely wary of Pei Yanzhi, who had anticipated his every move, so he was even more cautious this time when he was forced to abdicate.
It's impossible for the news to leak out.
"You're lying to us!" Li Yuyan didn't believe Jiang Shuwan's words either.
However, not long after, Song Huaizhang arrived with a carrier pigeon.
His face turned ashen. Just as Jiang Shuwan had said, the three generals' mansions had sent troops to wait for the Prince of Pingnan's army at the city gate.
The army of the Prince of Pingnan was traveling swiftly through the snowy night, and was no match for the three generals' mansions who were lying in wait.
"Father..." Li Yuyan cried anxiously.
“It’s not too late now.” Jiang Shuwan grabbed Li Chengyun’s hand.
"..."
Li Chengyun fell silent, looking at the swirling snow outside the window. He recalled that winter day, the scene where his mother, Consort Jing, along with his two twin sisters, were beaten to death in the Jing Palace.
And the shame of his body covered in tattoos of sin.
His family...
Everything about him...
More than a thousand lives were lost in their Zhennan Prince's Mansion...
"Wanwan, revenge is my only goal in life."
"If I give up, how will I live?"
Jiang Shuwan: "Then you'll live for me from now on."
"No one has come to save you for fifteen years, but I'm here to save you today."
"I will protect you, protect Song Huaizhang, protect Li Yuyan, protect the lives of everyone in the Prince of Pingnan. Trust me."
"From now on, you will live for me."
**********
"Your Highness, do you think the Fourth Prince will surrender?"
Outside the palace, Fei Hong rubbed his hands together, feeling cold.
“If the Fourth Prince does not surrender, and the Pingnan Prince’s army does not surrender either, then the entire capital will be in chaos.”
"..."
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