standoff
Nothing happened in the palace or the general's mansion all night, but Jiang Yi knew in her heart that this was just the calm before the storm.
The next morning, someone from the palace came to summon He Lin to the palace.
In the Taiji Hall, a woman knelt tremblingly in the center of the hall, her body bent over, her forehead almost touching the ground. It was unclear who she was.
Emperor Liang only summoned He Lin, but almost everyone from the General's Mansion, except for He Wei and Su Tong, was present. Su Tong had been explicitly forbidden by the Empress Dowager from stepping into the palace, so Jiang Yi and He Yu accompanied him today.
Qi Shuangyun entered the palace early and brought the woman to Emperor Liang.
The news of the assassination attempt on He Lin last night eventually reached Emperor Liang's ears. Upon hearing it, he was furious and determined to find the mastermind behind it and tear him to pieces.
"Heng'er, I heard that you were attacked near the East Palace last night. Were you injured?"
He Lin pursed his lips and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am well."
Emperor Liang knew that he still harbored resentment towards him, so he didn't say anything more. At this moment, finding the murderer who had deliberately tried to kill him was the most important thing.
"This morning, the Imperial Advisor came to report that the group that tried to assassinate you all had black eagles tattooed on their chests, and there is evidence pointing to the Imperial Concubine sending them. I have already ordered Li Shengquan to search the palace. Rest assured, I will definitely give you justice."
He Lin remained silent, while He Yu asked, "May I ask Your Majesty, who is this person? Why is he kneeling in this hall?"
Emperor Liang sat on the dragon throne and turned the jade thumb ring on his thumb a few times. He said, "You'll have to ask your mother. She brought this person to me early this morning and insisted on waiting for Heng'er to arrive before she would tell me."
Qi Shuangyun glanced at the woman sideways and said disdainfully, "His Majesty is asking you a question, why don't you raise your head?"
The woman trembled as she raised her head, her eyes fixed on the floor, not daring to look at anyone.
When Emperor Liang saw her face, he couldn't help but frown, and the hand that was turning the ring on his thumb immediately stopped. The woman's features looked very familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
"she is……"
Qi Shuangyun respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, this woman was once Consort Su's personal maid, Liaolan."
Upon hearing this, everyone present widened their eyes.
He Lin's sharp, hawk-like gaze fell directly on her, and even Emperor Liang suddenly stood up and looked at the palace maid kneeling on the ground.
Qi Shuangyun turned her head and asked, "He Lin, do you still recognize her now? Before you were five years old, she took care of you in Chang Le Palace."
When the palace maid Liao Lan heard Qi Shuangyun say this, she raised her head in confusion. The moment her gaze met He Lin's, she couldn't help but take a few steps forward and whisper, "Aunt Liao Lan."
When the woman finally saw He Lin's face clearly, she shuddered violently and collapsed to the ground, her eyes wide with terror, as if she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide open, as if her eyeballs would fall out of their sockets at any moment.
Only He Lin knew why this woman reacted this way.
The curve of his lips widened, until he finally smiled almost cruelly, though to Liao Lan it was utterly eerie.
"Three, Your Highness!"
"After so many years, I never imagined that Aunt Liaolan would still be alive. I thought that fire back then would have burned Chang Le Palace to the ground..."
Jiang Yi was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized the overwhelming hatred hidden in his words.
What exactly happened back then?!
Liao Lan hurriedly scrambled to her feet and knelt at He Lin's feet, trembling uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face...
"Your Highness! I'm so sorry! It's all Liaolan's fault! I was confused for a moment, I'm so sorry to Consort Su..."
Qi Shuangyun said, "Back then, His Majesty went out of the palace to offer sacrifices, but unexpectedly, the Third Prince disappeared. A fire broke out in Chang Le Palace, and Consort Su perished in the flames while trying to save the Third Prince. His Majesty was furious and, in a fit of rage, had all the palace servants of Chang Le Palace executed to accompany Consort Su and the Third Prince in their deaths. Liao Lan, how come you were able to escape this calamity?! Quickly confess the truth!"
"Yes, it was Her Highness the Imperial Concubine who instructed me to do this!"
Emperor Liang was shocked. He strode down the steps, his brows furrowed deeply: "What did you say?!"
Qi Shuangyun stepped forward to stop him, fearing that Emperor Liang might harm his own health.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger and listen to what this lowly servant has to say!"
"If you dare to utter even a single lie, I will make you wish you were dead!"
Liao Lan lowered her head even further and forced out a "Yes" from her throat.
Back then, Consort Gui was jealous of Consort Su's favor with the Emperor. During Emperor Liang and Empress's trip out of the palace for a sacrificial ceremony, she secretly plotted all of this, even going so far as to bribe the palace maids and eunuchs around Consort Su. However, to everyone's surprise, none of them accepted the bribes. In the end, she had no choice but to kidnap the relatives of Consort Su's personal maid, Liao Lan, and threaten her to lure the Third Prince out of Chang Le Palace.
Finally, when Consort Su discovered her child was missing and the palace was in chaos, someone set fire to Chang Le Palace, leaving a clue that the Third Prince was still in his bedchamber. When Consort Su and several palace maids entered the palace to search, the firefighters secretly locked the doors, trapping Consort Su alive in the flames. Meanwhile, the Third Prince was kidnapped by the Consort's men, and his fate was unknown.
Liao Lan knew she had caused a great disaster and was too scared to return to the palace. She knew that the Consort was very likely to kill her to silence her, so she took advantage of the chaos to knock out a young eunuch, put on his clothes, and quietly followed the procession of the chamber pots that were about to be transported out of the palace. That was how she managed to escape from the palace.
Consort Gui mistakenly believed that Liao Lan had perished in the fire, which is why she didn't continue to send people to hunt her down. But no one knew that when she first left the palace, she encountered Qi Junxu, a child of only a few years old, yet with such a strong aura that he ordered his men to capture her. For all these years, Qi Junxu had been hiding her in the Zhen'an Prince's Mansion, until last night when she was taken out and handed over to Qi Shuangyun...
After Liao Lan finished speaking, Emperor Liang's face turned frighteningly gloomy. He nodded repeatedly, slowly turned around, and walked up the steps one by one.
Qi Shuangyun reached out to help him up, but Emperor Liang dodged her hand.
He walked to the dragon throne with his back to the crowd, patted the golden armrest with his right hand, and sighed softly, "Good, very good. I never thought that the person I have favored for so many years would be unworthy of being a human being."
Liao Lan crawled forward two steps on her knees, crying, "Your Majesty, spare my life! I overheard the Consort talking to a strange man, saying they wanted to train the Third Prince into an 'obedient' puppet. I heard the Consort call that man an old ghost! Later, at the Zhen'an Prince's residence, I also begged the Second Prince to go and look for the Prince, but there was no news..."
Upon hearing the name "Old Ghost," Emperor Liang closed his eyes and then opened them again. How dare she collude with people in the court!
Shangguan Qingyao!
Emperor Liang turned around and flicked his sleeves: "Guards!"
A guard with a sword immediately ran in through the entrance of the main hall.
"Summon Xi Chen!"
Qi Shuangyun quickly stopped her: "Wait! Your Majesty, there's no need to announce it, Xi Chen is right here."
Jiang Yi was shocked. When did Qi Shuangyun find out about He Lin's identity?!
Emperor Liang followed her gaze, but his eyes were fixed on his son.
"Heng'er?"
Qi Shuangyun nodded.
"Heng'er, you..."
According to the rules passed down by the founding emperor, the head of Yuling Pavilion must wear a golden mask when paying homage, so apart from their own people, very few people have ever seen the true face of each head of the pavilion.
Emperor Liang never cared about these things; he only cared whether Yu Lingge had done good things for him, so he never cared whether Xi Chen was a human or a ghost behind the mask.
Unexpectedly, his son arrived in his life so soon...
Qi Shuangyun questioned, "He Lin, it's come to this point, are you still going to hide your identity from His Majesty?"
After a long silence, He Lin chuckled softly, his dark eyes fixed on the person high above him, and said, word by word, "It is me. Qi Junheng is me, Xi Chen is me, and He Lin is also me."
His gaze was like a torch, piercing straight into the thorn buried deep in Emperor Liang's heart, tearing open the old scars one by one. His blood began to flow backward, and a strong sense of suffocation surged into his throat, making him dizzy and his vision go black. Guilt weighed heavily on the shoulders of this great Liang emperor, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. He couldn't help but bend over slightly.
Seeing this, Qi Shuangyun lifted her skirt and was about to step forward: "Your Majesty!"
Emperor Liang raised his hand to stop her.
He saw with his own eyes that He Lin was looking at him with a smile in his eyes, as if he were very close to him and within reach, yet also very far away, and he could not touch him at all no matter what.
Emperor Liang knew that He Lin hated him and would never forgive him in this lifetime. This was his revenge, punishment for not protecting him and his mother...
Seeing this, Jiang Yi felt uneasy. She knew that He Lin had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He wanted revenge, revenge on everyone who had hurt him. But seeing his own father like this, could he really be happy?
No, he was actually more heartbroken than anyone else.
As a child, he was forcibly fed the Heart-Eating Worm by the old ghost but survived. He was chained around the neck with a heavy chain and begged for food like a dog. He was locked in a room and killed each other with a group of people of similar age... In those dark and gloomy days, who could save him? Only himself, and always only himself.
Emperor Liang slowly sat down on the dragon throne, as if he had lost all his strength.
Just then, Li Shengquan returned.
"Your Majesty! This servant found a letter of communication in Zhongcui Palace. Also, the Imperial Concubine and the Second Prince have arrived."
Emperor Liang suppressed his anger and calmly said, "Let her in."
"yes."
After Li Shengquan presented the letter, he personally ran out of the main hall and brought the person in.
When the Imperial Concubine saw Liao Lan kneeling on the ground, a hint of astonishment flashed deep in her eyes. When she turned to see He Lin, she couldn't help but scoff, a mocking smile curling at the corner of her lips. There was no remorse or regret on her face, only disdain and contempt.
Aside from glancing at those two people, she paid no attention to anyone else from the moment she stepped into the hall, including the one on the dragon throne. She walked gracefully to the center of the hall, lifted her skirt slightly, knelt down neatly, and then fell silent without uttering a word.
After Emperor Liang finished reading the letter in his hand, he looked up at her and asked, "Consort, do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Shangguan Qingyao remained expressionless and said, "Your Majesty, I have nothing to say. Since I dared to do it in the first place, I had long expected this day to come."
Qi Junxu, who was standing nearby, said anxiously, "Mother!"
"Very well, let me ask you this: was it you who caused the fire at Chang Le Palace back then?"
"yes."
"Was Consort Su harmed because of you?"
"yes."
"Heng'er was also part of a deal you made with Old Ghost?!"
"yes."
"Have you colluded with anyone in the imperial court?"
"have."
"Your Highness! Very good!"
Emperor Liang casually tossed the letter to the ground, his expression instantly changing.
Qi Junxu hurriedly knelt down: "Father, please calm down! Mother must have her reasons for doing this! Please, Father, consider that Mother has served you for many years and give her another chance to explain!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a burst of hearty laughter erupted in the hall; it was Shangguan Qingyao.
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