mesbooks Chapter 282 So young, yet so domineering
Chapter 282 So young, yet so domineering
Consort Shu paused for a moment, then continued walking forward without any hesitation, letting her figure be engulfed by the flames.
The beams in the palace pressed down, and Consort Shu fell completely silent.
"No! No!" Jun Yiqing cried out, "Mother! Your son has come to save you! Mother! Come out! Look at your son! Don't abandon your son! Mother..."
He was about to rush into the fire when he said that.
"Stop him." The Emperor waved his hand.
A group of guards stepped forward and seized Jun Yiqing.
"Let me go!" Jun Yiqing stumbled and knelt before the Emperor. "Father, please save Mother! I beg you, Father!"
The emperor looked down at him, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
"She wanted to die herself, and I am granting her wish."
Jun Yiqing was still crying and shouting, "My mother was perfectly fine, why would she try to kill herself? There must be some misunderstanding!"
“It’s Miss Zhai!” Qiu Jin said through gritted teeth.
“Zhai Rongyu?” Jun Yiqing turned his head in a daze and looked at Qiu Jin.
Qiu Jin nodded, knelt down and kowtowed to the Emperor, her tone filled with resentment, "Your Majesty, it was Miss Zhai who put a talisman on Her Majesty, which is why Her Majesty has become insane, speaks recklessly, and even did something as foolish as trying to kill herself!"
"Your Majesty, please investigate and do justice for the Empress!" Chunlan cried out as well.
Jun Yiqing clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot. "Zhai Rongyu...it was she who harmed Mother!"
Why would she do that?!
The emperor looked at him with some disappointment.
“Yongning is not that kind of person.”
"I have already found out that Yongning's talisman was only meant to allow your mother to see the wronged spirits. If she is upright and has nothing to hide, how could she have been so frightened that she lost her mind?"
"Qing'er, do you know how many evil deeds your mother has committed?"
Jun Yiqing pursed her lips and remained silent.
He knew more or less about what his mother had done.
But deep within the palace, there is nothing but deceit and intrigue!
If Mother Consort isn't ruthless, she will be killed by others.
She was just protecting herself, what did she do wrong? If anyone is to blame, it's those people who were blind and blocked Mother's path!
Jun Yiqing's eyes were filled with a mixture of hatred and anger.
He turned his head and, restrained by the guards, looked towards Xianning Palace, where a raging fire burned away his childhood memories and also burned away Consort Shu's face.
He saw thick smoke rising and the flames being extinguished.
Tears gradually welled up in her eyes.
His mother has abandoned him...
"Your Majesty, the fire has been extinguished. Only one body was found in Xianning Palace..." The eunuch glanced at Jun Yiqing and reported with a forced smile, "...a charred corpse."
"Your Majesty..." Qiu Jin's eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Chunlan also cried uncontrollably.
The guard released Jun Yiqing's arm, and he fell to the ground, his eyes bloodshot as he stared in the direction of Xianning Palace.
"Mother...may you have a safe journey..."
Qing'er will definitely avenge you!
Jun Yiqing lowered her eyes, her reddened eyes filled with indelible hatred.
Zhai Rongyu... If it weren't for her meddling, my mother wouldn't have gotten into trouble!
It was her talisman that killed her mother!
The emperor closed his eyes and looked up at the clear blue sky.
A flock of birds flew away, chirping, leaving a long white trail in the air.
"The person is gone, and we can never go back to the way things were."
Jun Yiqing's eyes were filled with gloom.
This person...
The emperor was referring to Jun Yinghuai's mother, not his own mother at all!
His mother wasted her life on such a person... He felt it was all too unfair to her!
"Go and dig up the entire Xianning Palace," the Emperor ordered in a deep voice.
The guards quickly brought the news.
"Your Majesty, many infant skeletons have been unearthed in Xianning Palace!"
The emperor was heartbroken.
"Sure enough."
"I never imagined that my indulgence and pampering would harm so many children."
He composed himself, and his tone gradually turned cold.
"For a concubine to commit suicide is a grave crime."
"By imperial decree, Lady Wen has committed a moral failing and harbored resentment towards the Emperor's grace. Her act of suicide is a heinous crime. Therefore, she is stripped of her title of Consort Shu, all her honors are revoked, and she is forbidden from being buried in the Imperial Mausoleum as punishment."
"The Wen family has failed in educating their daughters properly. The head of the Wen family is stripped of his position as Left Vice Minister, and the entire family is exiled to the frontier, never to return."
"As for you..."
The Emperor raised his eyes to look at Jun Yiqing kneeling before him, and finally sighed.
He truly loved this child.
Now that he is pleading for his mother, he can be considered a filial son, and the emperor feels somewhat reluctant to do so.
"The Sixth Prince's confiscation of the Duke of Wei's mansion has offset his merits and demerits, so he should remain in the capital for the time being."
Jun Yiqing lowered her head, biting her lip tightly, suppressing the overwhelming emotions in her eyes, and finally knelt down, thanking him in a trembling voice.
"Thank you, Father, for your grace."
Zhai Rongyu sat in the imperial study, listening to the reports from the palace eunuchs, and sighed with emotion.
Jun Ce looked up at her.
"It's bad luck for someone who's about to get married to sigh."
Zhai Rongyu immediately put on a smiling face.
"I didn't sigh, I was just lamenting that the women in the palace, vying for favor and love, wasted their lives on one man. It's truly pitiful and lamentable."
"However, I am not a kind person either."
"That Consort Shu committed many evils, and now that she has died, it can be said that she reaped what she sowed."
She lay on the table, tilting her head to look at Jun Ce.
"If I die, will Ah Xu also find many women in the future?"
Jun Ce's face suddenly darkened. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, a storm brewing in his eyes.
"Don't say anything about dying again."
Zhai Rongyu cried out in pain, "Okay, okay, let go first, you're hurting me!"
Jun Ce pursed his lips, eased his pressure, and gently massaged her wrist.
"I'm so angry with you that I've lost my mind."
"Does it still hurt?"
Zhai Rongyu angrily turned her head to the side, "You still haven't answered me."
Jun Ce sighed.
"I won't find anyone else to replace you."
"Even if that person looks exactly like me, you still wouldn't be tempted?" Zhai Rongyu asked curiously.
Jun Ce chuckled to himself.
"If the soul is not right, the person will naturally be wrong as well."
He had known all along that she was a soul from another world.
It's just a shell, nothing more.
If it's just a resemblance, how could it be her?
He gazed intently at Zhai Rongyu, "If it's Rong'er, she can be plain-looking or even have missing limbs."
"If it weren't for Rong'er, even a celestial being wouldn't love her."
Zhai Rongyu was amused by him.
"How can Ah Xu make sweet nothings sound like murder when he says them?"
[They've even included severed limbs and dismembered bodies...]
Jun Ce flicked her forehead.
"You're allowed to spout nonsense, but I'm not allowed to speak recklessly?"
"So young, yet so domineering."
"Why don't you become the regent?"
The palace servants serving nearby stared wide-eyed, their heads bowed so low they almost saw through the floor.
Good heavens! The Regent is... indulging his wife to excess!
They really can say anything.
Zhai Rongyu scoffed, "What kind of regent is this? I'm not going to be one. You're always so busy, you hardly get any sleep."
"I think I'll just stay here and relax."
"You can enjoy this good fortune of being the Regent yourself."