Chapter 149: Embracing Fragrance, Playing with Jade
Two days ago, the Crown Prince returned to the palace injured, like a ruffled leopard cat, making Zhang Huaicheng guard him all night. By dawn, he still had a high fever and was cursing, terrifying everyone in the Eastern Palace.
How, in the blink of an eye, did he become… foolish?
Lai Fu’s hair stood on end, his heart aching for him being poisoned and injured, yet he was also cautious, unsure how to persuade him…
“What are you pondering?” Li Zhao suddenly spoke, startling Eunuch Lai Fu.
“Your Highness…”
“Deaf?”
“……”
Lai Fu dared not make a sound.
After all, those who were poisoned not only experienced inexplicable arousal but were also prone to anger.
Fortunately, in just a moment, the Crown Prince returned to his usual self.
“Come, let’s go to Prince Duan’s Mansion for a stroll…”
Lai Fu’s face was full of surprise. “Your Highness, it’s not even dark yet…”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing. He quickly forced a smile and lightly slapped himself.
Li Zhao’s black boots trod over the gold bricks, his robe corners trailing with ease.
“I will enter through the main gate today.”
Lai Fu grinned.
Li Zhao realized what his words had revealed. His eyebrows twitched slightly, and he raised his foot to kick Lai Fu’s backside.
“You talk too much!”
Lai Fu rubbed his backside and jumped up, his smile so wide it showed all his teeth.
“The main gate is good, it’s very good to go through the main gate!”
–
As Xue Sui’s carriage entered the Prince’s Mansion, she heard that the Crown Prince had arrived and was in the study, talking with the Prince.
Her expression was calm, as if this were a common occurrence.
Xue Yuechen, however, was so surprised her mouth hung open.
“Could the sun have risen in the west? The Crown Prince actually came to visit?”
Xue Sui said softly, “Princess Consort, you’ve had a long day. Go back and rest early…”
Xue Yuechen glanced at her with a smile. “Sixth Sister won the archery competition and brought glory to Prince Duan’s Mansion. Sister should go find the Prince and praise her well, to ask for a reward for her sister…”
Xue Sui blushed slightly and smiled without speaking.
The two walked hand in hand towards the backyard.
Hearing a servant greet them, they looked up and saw two people approaching.
One was Li Huan, the other Li Zhao. Both appeared relaxed and happy, conversing cordially. Their few attendants followed far behind, keeping a considerable distance.
Xue Yuechen curtsied gracefully.
“Greetings to the Crown Prince, greetings to the Prince.”
Seeing this, Xue Sui also bowed.
Li Zhao’s expression was cold, and he dismissively granted them permission to rise, his distant demeanor conveying only four words to Xue Sui: strangers.
Li Huan reached out to help Xue Yuechen up, but he smiled as he looked at Xue Sui, gently reminding her.
“Ping An, you should learn to change how you address me from now on…”
Xue Sui narrowed her eyes. “Sister, Husband?”
The two words lingered on her tongue, feeling very awkward.
However, before Xue Yuechen’s smile had faded, Li Huan chuckled, released her hand, and slightly turned his body, his gaze focused intently on Xue Sui.
“Don’t be as reserved as your elder sister. Be more casual in private and call me husband.”
This one sentence was like cold water poured into a hot oil pan.
Xue Sui, thick-skinned and bold, understood his intention and smiled calmly, as if she hadn’t heard. Xue Yuechen, however, clutched her handkerchief as if her chest had been burned, appearing flustered.
Li Zhao suddenly let out a cold laugh.
“I won’t disturb Imperial Brother’s dalliance. I shall take my leave!”
With that, he turned and left.
His tall shadow, cast by the afterglow of the sunset, was like a sword quenched in ice, cleaving directly through the setting sun, receding further and further—
Xue Sui lowered her gaze, looking at the wild grass struggling to grow from a crack in the stone, and suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck.
–
Two days later was the day Xiao Zheng Yuan was to be executed.
Before dawn, a large crowd of citizens had gathered around the execution ground, vying for a good spot to clearly witness the most exciting moment of the beheading.
They say the Capital City is prosperous, that a plaque falling could hit nine officials. But someone as powerful and influential as Xiao Zheng Yuan was still worlds apart from ordinary citizens. Moreover, the Xiao family was a prestigious clan, with immense power and extreme wealth in the Imperial Court…
It was imaginable how exciting this execution would be.
In the prison not far from the execution ground, Xiao Zheng Yuan sat dejectedly against the wall, his head bowed, his face haggard, awaiting the last meal of his life.
The prison cell exuded a stench of decay.
The wound on his shoulder, inflicted by the Grand Princess, had been bandaged the day after his imprisonment, but the wound worsened later, and no one inquired about it. Now, the bloodstains on his prison robe had long since dried into a dark purplish hue…
At first, he had harbored hope, waiting for the Xiao family to rescue him…
Later, he discovered that not a single person had come to visit him, not even his mother—perhaps because of this, the jailer no longer treated him with courtesy. Not only did he skimp on his meals, but he also often spoke harshly to him, and if anything displeased him, he would resort to blows.
He finally understood that the Xiao family had completely abandoned him.
“Xiao Zheng Yuan…”
The jailer’s gruff voice came from outside.
Xiao Zheng Yuan did not look up, nor did he respond.
Clang!
The prison door opened.
Xiao Zheng Yuan jolted violently.
Normally, they didn’t need to unlock the door to deliver food. The cell had a small opening through which the food bowl could be pushed. It was simple and crude, comparable to pig slop.
He looked over in surprise and met a pair of concerned eyes.
The person was none other than Ping Le.
She was wrapped in a blue cloth headscarf, dressed like an ordinary maidservant, carrying a common food box in her hand as she entered.
“Hurry up, you only have fifteen minutes.”
The jailer urged, and then locked the prison door.
Xiao Zheng Yuan watched Ping Le walk in, his eyes filled with a desire to live. “Ping, Ping Le? Are you here to save me?”
Ping Le did not answer.
She slowly squatted down, took out the wine and dishes from the food box one by one, and laid them out on the already rotten straw…
“Third Brother…”
Xiao Zheng Yuan was her cousin, but Ping Le had called him this since she was young, as if they were siblings born from the same womb.
“Eat something…”
“So, you’ve come to see me off?” Xiao Zheng Yuan understood, coldly staring at her obviously disguised appearance, and sneered.
Ping Le was angry and distressed. “This time the Xiao family truly stumbled in the gutter, caught completely off guard, and had to sacrifice a pawn to save the king…”
“So I’m a pawn… a damned pawn!”
Ping Le’s body tensed with anger, completely unaware of Xiao Zheng Yuan’s expression. She vented her rage as if choking back sobs.
“Since childhood, I’ve heard my maternal uncle say that the sons of the Xiao family are all as upright as pine and cypress, and if they are to fall, they will fall in a blaze of glory. How did you fall into the mud…”
“How did I fall into the mud?”
After listening to her words, Xiao Zheng Yuan was burning with rage.
“Ping Le, Princess Ping Le, those are questions I should be asking you. What was the reason I ended up in this state?”
Ping Le couldn’t help but be stunned.
Third Brother had always been very caring towards her, never speaking to her in such a sarcastic tone. At this moment, his brows were furrowed, his eyes blazing, and he looked very frightening.
“Third Brother… I know you’ve always been the best to me… I still remember when I was ten, you said you would build a golden house for me…”
She stammered, tears falling like rain.
But she only heard Xiao Zheng Yuan’s hoarse reprimand.
“Take away your hypocritical act. If it weren’t for climbing to a high position in the Imperial Family, do you think so many people would rack their brains to please you?”
“Third Brother?” Ping Le was shocked. “Are you blaming me?”
“If not you, then who?” Xiao Zheng Yuan’s expression was ferocious and terrifying.
“If I don’t blame you, who else can I blame?”
Ping Le was terrified, her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the ground.
“How can you blame me?”
Xiao Zheng Yuan roared almost madly, “If it weren’t for your ambition and insatiable greed, how would I have ended up like this?”
“If it weren’t for your narrow-mindedness and jealousy, your insistence on putting Wen Jia and her daughter to death, how would the Eastern Palace have targeted us, bringing this disaster upon us, and forcing the Xiao family to sacrifice me as a scapegoat?”
Xiao Zheng Yuan’s expression of despair and anger was branded into Ping Le’s pupils like a brand.
She was also very agitated. “Third Brother, don’t worry, I will avenge you. I swear, I will make those people pay with their blood!”
“Heh… hehe… heh heh heh heh…”
Xiao Zheng Yuan let out a series of shrill laughter.
“I am the Xiao family’s scapegoat, and even more so, your scapegoat. Ping Le, remember this: I am dying because of you, not Wen Jia, nor Li Zhao, but YOU! YOU killed me!”
Ping Le’s tears streamed down her face as she cried, “It wasn’t me, Third Brother, it’s just that fate plays tricks on people…”
“Nonsense!” The iron chains on Xiao Zheng Yuan shook violently. He struggled with all his might, trying to lunge at Ping Le.
Ping Le screamed in fear and retreated repeatedly in terror.
“It was you, you vicious woman, you brought me to this state and ignored me, you have a viper’s heart, may you die a terrible death…”
Xiao Zheng Yuan used all his strength, extending his hands to choke her neck.
Ping Le desperately dodged backward…
Finally, Xiao Zheng Yuan, his strength failing, collapsed in front of her.
Ping Le stumbled to her feet and frantically beat on the prison door.
The jailer slowly walked over.
“It’s not time yet…”
Ping Le shouted while banging on the door frame.
“Open the door quickly, open the door quickly!”
The jailer, not recognizing her as Princess Ping Le, grumbled in dissatisfaction, “I already said, there’s no point visiting death row inmates. They have too much fierce aura, it just brings bad luck for no reason…”
Stepping out of the prison, Ping Le held her breath and, without looking back, rushed out of the dark corridor towards the main gate. Hong Xing quickly caught up, calling out to her loudly. Ping Le seemed to wake up from a dream at this moment, collapsing into Hong Xing’s arms, and then burst into tears, her cries filled with grief.
Behind her, Xiao Zheng Yuan’s hysterical roars could be heard.
“I hate you all…”
“I won’t let you go even as a ghost…”
“You and Aunt… Vicious woman, vicious woman!”
“You are the ones who deserve to die…”
Ping Le sobbed uncontrollably.
She couldn’t articulate the sorrow in her heart.
She felt as if she had lost something very important, yet could not get it back.
Xiao Zheng Yuan in the prison was no longer the Third Brother who had doted on her in her memory; he had transformed into a ferocious demon, clawing and baring his teeth to demand repayment.
She lowered her head and looked at her hands.
These hands had been stained with countless lives, yet she had never felt guilty.
In her eyes, those people were lowly, insignificant, like ants.
When a person steps on an ant, do they grieve for the ant? No. Even if waterfalls piled up with white bones beneath them, she would only consider it as a pastime, as entertainment.
When she was young and bullied Xue Liu relentlessly, she had never considered her to be like herself, and thus felt no guilt or pity.
Only today…
Third Brother’s most venomous words had struck her soft spot.
What she thought was genuine affection was not genuine at all.
Just like the day Lu You’an left her, cold and resolute. Why would the people she cherished look down on her, despise her? When they looked at her, it was as if they were looking at a foul-smelling bug…
–
Noon.
The sun hung high in the sky.
Xiao Zheng Yuan knelt at the execution ground, the heavy shackles around his neck and wrists, chafing his pampered skin, drawing out trickles of blood…
Ping Le, mixed in with the noisy crowd, watched as the executioner’s blade light illuminated Xiao Zheng Yuan’s face, obscured by his disheveled hair.
“Time is up—”
“Execute!”
The supervising officials were Xue Qingzhi and Xie Yanzhan.
Without even exchanging a glance, the two issued the execution order.
The executioner spat out a mouthful of strong liquor, raised his arm high, and the blade, reflecting the sun, was blindingly bright…
Ping Le squinted her eyes.
Watching the blade fall, droplets of blood splattered out…
As if splashing onto her heart, slowly spreading into a thick, bloody hatred…
“Third Brother, may you rest in peace.”
She murmured silently in her heart, “Your revenge, I will carry out.”
A gust of clear wind blew, accompanied by the overwhelming cheers of the surrounding citizens, rustling the fluttering banners on the execution ground, as if celebrating this slaughter.
On a magnificent corner tower to the east, Xue Sui stood quietly by the platform, with Yaoguang, arms crossed, sighing softly beside her.
“It’s finally over.”
“The real show is just beginning.” Xue Sui tilted her chin slightly, stroked the feathers of Spirit Feather, spoke a few words with her head lowered, and slowly released her hand, letting the carrier pigeon fly away…
Yaoguang asked, “Thirteen, are you happy?”
Xue Sui watched the white shadow flit over the eaves, flying into the distance.
Slowly, a faint smile appeared on her face.
“Happy. But not enough—”
Li Zhao: Xue Ping An, do you know what flies don’t bite?
Xue Sui: Dogs?
Li Zhao: Why?
Xue Sui: Because love doesn’t tolerate lickspittles, and things can be understood through everything…
