jdhmnovel Chapter 182 "The Imperial Concubine Killed the Empress!"
Chapter 182 "The Imperial Concubine Killed the Empress!"
"You take her words as gospel and let her be your master. Now she's stabbing a knife into your heart, wanting your life. Don't you hate her at all?"
"The Princess has never been betrayed, so why mock me?" Mo Yu looked up at her. This woman did indeed resemble the deceased Xie Wanqing—their appearance was similar, and so was their tone of voice. So repulsive, yet she felt a strange sense of kinship with her. It was as if they had shared similar experiences.
“How could there not be?” Song Yaozhu rested her elbows on her knees, as if the two were old friends who had not seen each other for many years, sitting together and chatting.
Mo Yu slumped inside the iron cage, while the other woman sat in a round-backed chair opposite her, a small charcoal stove beside her brewing tea. The aroma of tea filled the air, but the dungeon remained chilly.
Caiyin arranged the dried goods on a tray and reminded her, "Your Highness, the dungeon is cool and shady. Please don't stay too long. I'll wait for you outside."
She led her people out, leaving a guard standing far away at the door in case anything happened to Song Yaozhu.
Mo Yu raised her dull eyes to look at Song Yaozhu, clearly not believing what she said.
Even if she thought she resembled Xie Wanqing, she wouldn't believe she was Xie Wanqing. Their ages and backgrounds didn't match. Xie Wanqing died when she was only a seven-year-old girl. Moreover, she watched Xie Wanqing die right before her eyes, and it was Xie Wanqing and Gao Ping who started the fire together.
No one knew better than her how Xie Wanqing died.
"What are the princess's experiences compared to mine?" she scoffed.
Song Yaozhu smiled, poured herself a cup of tea, and took a sip.
Do you still remember Granny Qiu?
Upon hearing the name, Mo Yu was momentarily dazed, then immediately thought of the middle-aged woman who always had a smile on her face.
She always had a smile on her face, and she never complained, whether she was eating coarse food or delicacies.
“I remember her. Because she was a good person, I made sure she died without any pain.”
Song Yaozhu gripped the teacup tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force, and the muscles on her face twitching almost imperceptibly.
Is this your 'repayment'?
“Your Highness, we are on different sides. I have done what I could. Since ancient times, the victor is king, the loser is villain—isn't that always been the case?” After saying this, Mo Yu suddenly realized something unusual, “When did you learn the truth about Empress Jingxian's death?”
Song Yaozhu looked at her indifferently and said slowly, "I've always known."
Because this is her personal experience!
A betrayal by a close friend resulted in the deaths of everyone around her, including herself. Perhaps Heaven couldn't bear to see so many lives wasted, which is why she was given a second chance at life!
Shocked, Mo Yu pressed her back against the iron bars of the cage, trying to create as much distance as possible between herself and Song Yaozhu.
"How did you know?!" Almost everyone who knew the truth back then is dead!
Besides her, only Gao Ping, Yuwen Wuji, Li Wei, and the emperor's bodyguard Chu Wei knew the cause of Xie Wanqing's death!
"Impossible, impossible, how could you possibly know!" After experiencing repeated shocks recently, she shouted and then fainted from exhaustion.
When she woke up, she found herself in a Buddhist hall. The ever-burning lamp in the hall flickered on and off, hurting her eyes.
Mo Yu walked to the lampstands, looked at the words on them, and suddenly read aloud: "Rong Qing died in the fire at Fengwu Palace in the third year of Qiming; Rong Bai died in the fire at Fengwu Palace in the third year of Qiming; Qi Feng died in the third year of Qiming..."
These consistent times of death were like prying open the lid of memory, bringing back the great fire of eleven years ago to her eyes along with these candlelight.
Everyone inside Fengwu Palace was killed by Chu Wei's assassins. Their bodies were thrown into the room like sacks, and then wine was poured on them. The last one thrown in was Xie Wanqing; she was poisoned and stabbed multiple times, and was no longer recognizable as a human. A fire destroyed all traces.
Bathed in the firelight, Gao Ping's crazed and triumphant smile was visible; she believed that with Xie Wanqing dead, she could become empress.
Yuwen Wuji was initially elated, but as the fire raged higher and higher, the smile on his lips slowly faded, and then tears streamed down his face. His beloved woman, the woman he had cherished since childhood, was buried by his own hands in this sea of fire.
Mo Yu retreated step by step. In a daze, she saw the corpses in the sea of fire begin to writhe, then stand up one by one and struggle to run out.
Xie Wanqing was the first to rush out!
"Ah—!" she screamed and ran towards the door, but it was firmly shut. "Let me out! Let me out!"
She pounded on the door desperately, fear gripping her mind and leaving her with only the will to survive.
Song Yaozhu stood behind her and said, "Want to leave? If you testify that Gao Ping killed Empress Jingxian, I will let you out."
"I'll testify! I'll testify! I'll do anything to get me out of here!" Mo Yu lost her mind and kept begging for mercy.
The moment she agreed, the palace doors swung open, and she rushed straight out, without any direction. She seemed to hear nothing, only wanting to leave this place, to go to a place with people, to go to a place with people to testify against Gao Ping!
Today is the fifteenth, and Huangjue Temple is crowded with worshippers. The worshippers here are all wives of officials from the capital, all hoping that their sons will achieve good results in the imperial examinations.
Therefore, when a woman, looking disheveled and with bandages wrapped around her head, rushed into the front yard like a madwoman, all the women were startled.
"The Imperial Concubine killed the Empress! The Imperial Concubine killed the Empress!" she screamed.
The ladies present retreated in terror, fearing she would pounce on them.
The men didn't dare to approach her rashly. What if she was faking it and they touched her and she started blaming them?
The crowd was making a commotion when suddenly someone shouted, "Isn't she Aunt Mo Yu, the one who serves the Imperial Noble Consort?! What happened to her!"
This caused an uproar among the crowd.
"What did she just say? The Imperial Concubine killed the Empress? Was it Empress Jingxian?!"
"My God! There were rumors that the Empress's death was mysterious, but I never imagined it was the Imperial Noble Consort who did it!"
"If it was done by the Imperial Noble Consort, then it makes sense. Why are there no servants left alive in Fengwu Palace?"
Mo Yu looked at the people around her. Their faces showed fear, as well as surprise and excitement after hearing the shocking gossip.
"It was Consort Gui, it was Gao Ping! She was jealous that the Empress had no children but still had the Emperor's favor. She wanted to seize the Emperor's favor, so she killed the Empress! She even slashed the Empress's face with a knife and poisoned her, watching her struggle in pain! She also asked a Taoist priest to plant a curse on the Empress's corpse, so that she would never be reincarnated!"