Chapter 909 Past Life 17
The two swords fell into the hands of the two men, while he kept the other one himself.
"One, two, three, four..."
A scream followed by a screech, as the knife tip sliced through the three people's bodies like cutting flesh.
"Yun Yichen, you devil, you'll die a horrible death!"
Gu Yingxue had just suffered a miscarriage, and her body was too weak to withstand such torture.
Not long after, Gu Yingxue, overwhelmed by the double pain, finally succumbed to her injuries and breathed her last.
Lu Youming and the Empress witnessed this firsthand, which only deepened the pain of their wounds.
However, Yun Yichen felt that this was still not enough to vent his anger on the two of them, so he insisted on having a basin of salt water brought over.
As the saying goes, rubbing salt into a wound is the best policy. Yun Yichen splashed a ladle of salt water on the wound, and sure enough, the two of them grimaced in pain. The Empress couldn't bear it and fainted.
However, after a short while, another ladle of salt water was poured in, and the Empress woke up again from the pain.
Such cruelty made Lu Youming's scalp tingle, and he finally couldn't help but roar at Yun Yichen, "What exactly do you want to do? If you want to kill or torture me, just do it quickly, stop torturing my mother like this."
When Yun Yichen heard him say that, it was as if he had heard a joke.
He actually asked him to give her a quick death, but wasn't he also tormenting Shushu and her child?
How dare this beast who wouldn't even spare a child give him a quick death?
Yun Yichen stood up from the stool, picked up the whip next to him, and lashed it at Lu Youming. Because he used his internal force, he managed to make Lu Youming shudder.
"Son, son!"
The Empress was so frightened by his appearance that her own pain lessened, and she kept looking at Lu Youming, wishing she could take his pain for him.
"Mother, I'm alright!"
Lu Youming endured the pain to comfort him, but as soon as he finished speaking, another lash struck him.
Seeing that Lu Youming had almost lost half his life from the two lashes, Yun Yichen stopped and signaled his men to continue.
Despite being pampered and privileged individuals, it was only a quarter of an hour before Zhong Lin's count had just exceeded one hundred, and both of them succumbed to their injuries and died.
"Master, he's not breathing!"
Zhong Lin looked at Yun Yichen.
Yun Yichen's expression didn't change much; he simply glanced at the group and said indifferently, "Feed them to the dogs!"
If Lu Youming dares to drag Gu Shuyan and Rui'er to feed the wolves, he dares to chop them all up and feed them to the dogs.
After finishing speaking, Yun Yichen walked out without looking back, leaving Zhong Lin to instruct people to carry out their tasks.
The world changed overnight on Monday. Before many people could even react to what had happened, they heard that their emperor had died.
However, more than whether the emperor lived or died, ordinary people were more concerned about whether their future lives would be affected.
Half a month later, Yun Yichen stabilized the situation in the Great Zhou Dynasty using ruthless methods.
At first, many people in the court came out to criticize him, saying that he was a prodigal son with ambitions and a traitor who murdered the emperor.
However, these words were of no consequence to Yun Yichen, who was used to hearing them. On the contrary, Yun Yichen even praised the group of old ministers who opposed him.
After all, in times like these, those who still dare to stand up to the enemy are truly loyal and principled.
On New Year's Eve, every household is brightly lit.
Unlike other emperors who would host a banquet for all their officials as soon as they seized the throne, Yun Yichen chose to spend the New Year alone in the former residence of the Marquis.
"Master, the food is ready. Shall we serve it now?"
When Zhong Lin came in, he saw Yun Yichen staring blankly at the courtyard and couldn't help but ask.
Yun Yichen nodded. "Let them eat here!"
He was standing in the courtyard where Gu Shuyan had lived after returning to the Marquis's mansion. The Gu family doted on Gu Shuyan, so nothing in the courtyard had been touched.
Later, the Hou family mansion was raided, and some items were taken away, but it remained largely as it was.
Zhong Lin knew that Gu Shuyan was an indelible pain in Yun Yichen's heart, so he did not refute her, but instead had a table set up in the courtyard.
"You all go down and eat too!"
Once the food was served, Zhong Lin dismissed the servants who had prepared it.
Looking at the table full of food, Yun Yichen sat down around the campfire.
"It's New Year's Eve today, why don't you sit down and keep me company?"
Zhong Lin had sat at the same table with Yun Yichen before, so he didn't stand on ceremony when he was told to do so and sat down directly.
As Yun Yichen poured two glasses of wine, one of them was handed to Zhong Lin. "You've followed me through thick and thin all these years. Now I've finally achieved my goal. Let's toast our fallen brothers with this glass!"
After Yun Yichen finished speaking, he took the lead and poured the wine on the ground.
"This glass is for you!"
Yun Yichen poured a second glass of wine and downed it in one gulp for Zhong Lin.
Zhong Lin wanted to say that he dared not accept this cup, but since he had already drunk it, he could only raise his head and drink it all in one gulp.
Yun Yichen wasn't particular about his food; after a few drinks, he also ate quite a bit of rice and other dishes.
"Zhong Lin, to be honest, I don't want to be the emperor."
As Yun Yichen spoke, he poured himself another glass, and after drinking it down in one gulp, tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
“I watched her get married with my own eyes, and my heart was filled with immense sorrow. But I had no choice; I dared not take the risk, I dared not gamble with the business we had built up over the past decade.”
“I thought that illegitimate son would treat her well, but I was wrong! I was wrong not only once, but several times. In the end, I failed to protect the Gu family, failed to protect my brothers, and failed to protect them, mother and child.”
Yun Yichen was as fragile as a child. Zhong Lin had never seen him like this before. He seemed to blame himself for everything.
"Master, it was all their fault, don't blame yourself."
Zhong Lin, a rough old man, was hardly good at comforting people. Hearing Yun Yichen say such a thing, he could only manage to utter this one sentence at most.
Yun Yichen looked up at him, said nothing, and picked up his wine glass.
When Yun Yichen woke up the next day, he had a terrible headache.
Zhong Lin had prepared a hangover soup early on. After serving the soup to Yun Yichen, Zhong Lin hesitated and didn't know how to start the conversation.
Yun Yichen didn't have time to look at him at the moment, and just drank the hangover soup in one gulp.
"Nothing much happening today, right?"
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone is busy celebrating and visiting relatives and friends, so no one would go looking for trouble.
Yun Yichen was just asking a routine question, but who knew someone would be so bored.
"The Ministry of War reports that soldiers on the frontier have revolted."
The Ministry of War received the news early this morning, and to avoid being held accountable, the Minister of War immediately reported the news.
Yun Yichen was not too surprised by this. They bypassed the border defenses and attacked the capital. Those who were dissatisfied, loyal to the emperor, or wanted a share of the spoils in various places would naturally take the opportunity to attack him.
"Is it the original Ji family army?"
The frontier was originally guarded by General Ji, but he was forced to retire early because he was implicated by the Gu family. As for the descendants of the Ji family, none of them stayed in the army.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
