jdhmnovel Chapter 286 Wen's Ashes Scattered in the Wind
Chapter 286 Wen's Ashes Scattered in the Wind
"Yongning was perfectly fine, how could she have been struck by the Dream of Broken Silk? What exactly were those people from the Imperial Wardrobe doing?!"
The emperor sat on the dragon throne and slammed the pearl tassel in his hand heavily onto the table.
The eunuch sent by the emperor then reported the whole story to the emperor in detail.
The more the emperor listened, the darker his face became.
"The dream of red silk is broken..." He turned to look at Eunuch Li, "Why does the name of this poison sound so familiar to me?"
Eunuch Li hurriedly replied.
"Your Majesty, during your recent search of Xianning Palace, you also found this poison in Wen's private stash..."
The emperor's expression changed.
Unexpectedly, it was Qing'er who did this.
No wonder Huai Xu went to the Wen family ancestral graves; it turns out he went there to vent his anger on behalf of his betrothed.
"How is Yongning?" he asked Eunuch Li.
Eunuch Li exclaimed, "Your Majesty, you didn't see her, the county princess is barely clinging to life! She was such a lively person, and now she's so sick... It breaks my heart to see her like this."
As Eunuch Li spoke, his tone grew increasingly sorrowful, as if Zhai Rongyu were on the verge of death.
“Even we servants dare not breathe loudly, for fear of blowing away the county princess.”
"It's that serious..." The Emperor's face showed pity.
Lady Wen, filled with resentment, committed suicide; she had brought this upon herself and could not escape punishment. Qing'er, however, blamed Yongning for the mistake.
Yongning was his savior, and now he had to bear the consequences for him. As the emperor, he felt truly guilty.
The more he thought about it, the more ashamed and remorseful he felt.
He simply vented all his anger on Jun Yiqing.
"My good son is truly filial!"
"If I don't punish him, he will become even more lawless and reckless! He doesn't respect me or his uncle, Huai Xu, at all!"
"Grind the ink for me!"
Eunuch Li immediately stepped forward, picked up the ink stick, and carefully ground the ink.
The Emperor wrote an imperial edict, affixed his seal, and instructed Eunuch Li: "Take this and go to the Wen family's ancestral tomb."
"That unfilial son! I don't want to see him for even a second longer!"
The Wen family ancestral graves.
Jun Yiqing stopped the funeral procession and ordered the grave to be dug up.
Chunlan, dressed in white mourning clothes, stood to the side holding Wen's ashes, waiting.
Jun Yiqing glanced at her, his expression somewhat gloomy, "What about Zhai Rongyu? Is she dead?"
"Your Highness, Qiu Jin has not yet left the palace, and this servant does not know how she is doing."
Jun Yiqing sneered, "The Broken Red Silk is a deadly poison. I refuse to believe that no matter how capable Zhai Rongyu is, she can detoxify herself within an hour."
"She must be dead."
A surge of joy welled up in his heart. He reached out and took the ashes from Chunlan's arms, lowered his eyes and whispered, "Mother, your son has avenged you."
"You can rest in peace now."
"Rest in peace? Ha, she doesn't deserve it!" A deep, cold male voice suddenly appeared. Jun Yiqing turned around and saw Jun Ce walking over. His black robes were impeccable, exuding a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay.
As we got closer, even the air pressure around us seemed to drop a bit.
"Uncle Wang." Jun Yiqing's heart sank, and he unconsciously tightened his arms, hugging the urn containing the ashes tightly.
Jun Ce stopped in front of him, a faint mockery on his lips, "I can't accept being called 'Uncle' by you."
Jun Yiqing pretended not to understand and turned her head away to avoid his gaze.
"What does Uncle Wang mean by this?"
Jun Ce did not reply, his cold gaze falling on the urn of ashes in his arms.
He raised his hand and channeled his spiritual power, causing the urn to fly into the air.
"Mother concubine!"
Jun Yiqing hurriedly reached out to grab it, but before he could touch it, he was struck by a bolt of lightning that pierced his entire body.
He screamed in agony as his right arm went limp and fell to his side.
"What does Uncle Wang want to do?!"
Jun Yiqing pressed his left hand against his arm, looking up with a pained expression. "If you want to vent your anger, come at me! Spare my mother!"
"The reaction was so big?"
Jun Ce scoffed coldly, turned his head to look at him, and his gaze suddenly sharpened. "Then you should also understand my feelings and know what it feels like to have your loved one imprisoned."
"You shouldn't have tried to scheme against Rong'er."
"Uncle Wang already knows?" Jun Yiqing stopped pretending to be ignorant.
It seems Qiu Jin will not be able to leave the palace.
His eyes blazed with hatred, and he decided to throw caution to the wind and do whatever he wanted.
"Since Uncle Wang already knows that I did it, he should understand that it's all Zhai Rongyu's fault! I already let her off easy by using the Dream of Broken Silk on her!" he said through gritted teeth, oblivious to his own mortality.
"My mother was burned alive; what immense suffering she must have endured!"
Jun Yiqing lowered her eyes, her expression filled with grief, which quickly turned into a fierce look. "That Zhai Rongyu shouldn't have died so quickly!"
"Now I regret not letting her experience the agony of being consumed by flames!"
He couldn't find such a poison; otherwise, why would he have let her go so easily?
It was already a great kindness that she died from the poison within an hour!
Jun Ce's expression changed drastically, and a chill ran through his body.
"She deserves to die?"
He parted his thin lips slightly and slowly repeated those words.
His deep voice was icy cold. Jun Ce raised his eyes, his gaze filled with icy indifference. "You should be glad that Rong'er is unharmed. Otherwise, today, I would kill you too!"
"She's not dead?" Jun Yiqing was stunned.
"She's still alive..."
He muttered to himself, a sudden, bone-deep hatred gripping him, his expression becoming somewhat frantic.
"She harmed my mother so badly, so why wasn't she the one who died?!"
“Blinded by filial piety, you’re hopeless.” Jun Ce glanced at him and said coldly, “I have no interest in what kind of person you are. But you’d better remember that I have no tolerance for any imperfections.”
"You dare to touch my people? You'd better think twice about the consequences!"
He rotated his palm, unleashing a burst of spiritual energy, and the urn shattered with a bang.
Wen's ashes scattered in the wind.
"Mother!!!" Jun Yiqing ignored the pain and cried as she tried to grab with her left hand, but she couldn't grab anything.
He knelt on the ground, frantically searching through the grass, but all he found was dust. He dug until his fingers were raw and bleeding, but he didn't notice at all.
"Mother...Mother...it's because your son is incompetent..."
He turned around abruptly, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at Jun Ce, filled with anger and resentment. "I am also Uncle Wang's family! Why did Uncle Wang treat me like this!"
“Relatives?” Jun Ce looked at him as if he were a joke. “I’m not stupid. I can tell what relatives are.”
Jun Yiqing's body trembled violently, and he squeezed out a threat from his throat.
"Uncle Wang, have you considered the consequences of your demonstration today?"
"Consequences?" Jun Ce lowered his narrow eyes, looking at Jun Yiqing on the ground with cold indifference, as if looking at an insignificant ant. "Do you think I'm afraid?"
Jun Yiqing's expression was somewhat ferocious.
"Uncle Wang has always been arrogant and disdainful of everything."
"But Uncle, don't forget, two tigers cannot share one mountain!" he said, his lips trembling. "Uncle, by going over the Emperor's head to deal with me, didn't you think about how you would die?"