Chapter 70: Madness
She was a person, not some object—
Late at night, at Jinlin Terrace.
Though separated from Changxin Palace by water with no bridge connecting them, every movement here was under the Crown Prince’s watchful eye.
Over the past year, the Cui family of Donglin had become increasingly ambitious, repeatedly attempting to persuade Li Jingqi to appoint Cui family members. He had placed a few in some insignificant departments while suppressing the rest.
The Eldest Princess wholeheartedly supported her husband’s family, unaware that Father Emperor and the Crown Prince were already united. One day, they would inevitably eradicate these external relatives.
The current Emperor was benevolent; for the stability of the common people, he would surely eliminate all forces threatening imperial authority when the Crown Prince ascended the throne.
Currently, both the Cui and Sima families were manageable. The only concern was the northwest—that formidable deity had arrived with overwhelming force, showing no regard for Central Plains customs, and needed to be dealt with promptly.
Li Jing’s weakness was this imperial sister who had been doted on since childhood. The scene from earlier in the day had already stirred killing intent within him.
After the palace curfew, any military officer entering would face the death penalty. If that person concealed his identity, he could rightly be shot to death as a trespasser.
From the hour of Hai, archers had been densely positioned around Jinlin Terrace.
Unaware that her residence had been surrounded like an iron barrel by her Imperial Brother, Li Youqing absentmindedly played chess and sipped tea with him.
“Imperial Brother, it’s late. Let’s continue tomorrow,” Li Youqing said, feigning nonchalance as she looked at Li Jing, her eyes red-rimmed like a sleepy kitten.
Li Jing casually dropped a black piece, his expression gentle though a cold glint hid in his eyes. “At tomorrow night’s victory banquet, if Xuan Rui publicly requests your hand in marriage, would you abandon A Cheng, with whom you grew up, and agree to this marriage?”
“Doesn’t Imperial Brother already know the answer?” Li Youqing lifted her head, her expression innocent, yet her words struck directly at his heart. “In my heart, Imperial Brother is greater than heaven. I will marry whomever Imperial Brother wishes me to marry.”
“Youqing!” Li Jing could no longer contain his anger. What did she mean by him wanting her to marry? When had he ever harbored such thoughts?
In his heart, was she not the most important person?
“Youqing, there’s something I must tell you again.” Last time, he had compromised, considering the greater good and allowing her to marry Jin Cheng. But these days, he had been suppressing himself incessantly.
Only now, with Xuan Rui’s grand return to seize her, did Li Jing realize how cowardly he had been.
Had he, in her eyes, become a man who would use her as a pawn to secure the empire, selfish and self-serving?
Seeing his expression shift, Li Youqing’s forced composure crumbled. Trembling, she pleaded, “Imperial Brother, don’t say it.”
Her face pale, she continued, “I am willing to marry him and persuade him to pledge allegiance to the court. If he ever shows signs of rebellion, I will die to prove my loyalty.”
Watching Li Jing’s eyes redden like an enraged lion, Li Youqing grew even more frantic. Tugging at his sleeve, she implored, “Brother, I do like Xuan Rui, but I would never betray you. Please, let me marry him!”
Li Jing felt as if a knife had been plunged into his heart.
Restraining himself from touching her, he shook off Li Youqing’s hand, his wide sleeve sweeping the chess pieces to the floor with a clatter like falling stars.
The palace maids and eunuchs knelt in terror, not daring to lift their heads or even breathe loudly.
“Get out, all of you, get out!” Li Jing gritted his teeth, his voice icy cold.
The room fell into silence, save for the rustling of fabric. Soon, only the two siblings remained in the inner chamber.
“Imperial Brother, it’s not what you think—” Li Youqing wanted to calm Li Jing’s emotions, though unsure where to begin, she only hoped to soothe his current agitation first. “Xuan Rui once saved my life. I’m grateful to him, and we’re familiar enough with each other. If marrying him can benefit the state and help Father Emperor and Imperial Brother, then I have no objections.”
“You’re familiar enough with each other—” Li Jing repeated her words slowly, his long-suppressed emotions teetering on the brink of eruption.
What did “familiar enough” mean—
Was it the way they pulled and tugged at each other without restraint in front of the Emperor today, or the way they rode together in the same carriage, coming and going through the capital?!
“Crown Prince Brother!” Li Youqing gasped, but before she could utter another word, she was silenced.
The elder brother who had always been gentle and kind, treating her as his own flesh and blood since childhood, now had one hand firmly gripping her jaw as he pressed closer, pinning her tightly against the table.
A gentleman is like the moon, untouchable and pure?
This was how lovesick maidens in the common folk privately described the Crown Prince, a phrase that had once reached Li Youqing’s ears.
At the time, she had wholeheartedly agreed, believing her Imperial Brother was the moon within the Forbidden City. She had even joked quietly with Zisu beside her: “A gentleman is like the moon—who could pluck it from the sky?”
She wondered which noble daughter would be chosen as the Crown Princess, becoming her sister-in-law.
The woman her Imperial Brother favored must be perfection itself.
How could it ever be someone like her—
Of unknown paternal lineage, cast adrift in the deserts, tainted and sullied.
The curtains in the inner chamber had fallen at some point unnoticed. The candle flames on the jeweled shelves crackled, their sound nearly blending with the tearing of her dress.
“Little sister, you just said—who did you think I wanted you to marry?” Li Jing pressed down on her, leaning close, his eyes locking onto hers as he enunciated each word.
For so many years, he had meticulously sheltered her under his wing, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, unwilling to touch even a hair on her head—yet every night, she haunted his dreams.
How could she suddenly become so familiar with some barbarian from the northwest?
He cursed the cruelty of fate—
Two years ago, he had been one step away from success, from bringing her to his side with a new identity, waiting only for his ascension to the throne to rightfully make her his Empress.
How could he let the little girl he had nurtured so carefully become merely a concubine, or follow him without name or status?
“Isn’t it better for you to stay with me?” He was completely unhinged by her words, compounded by Grand Tutor Jin’s explicit proposal in court that very day to marry her off to Xuan Rui.
Li Jing, nearly deranged, held her down relentlessly, his scorching breath washing over her neck as his right hand tugged lightly at the front of her robe—
Li Youqing’s jaw remained in his grip, rendering her speechless. She stubbornly widened her eyes, large tears pooling but refusing to fall.
She refused to believe this was something the brother she had always trusted could do to her.
Once, she had thought that even if the sky fell, her Imperial Brother would never harm her.
But what had he done to her in recent years?
The rumors that she was not the biological daughter of Father Emperor were spread behind the scenes by her dear Imperial Brother. Even the earlier plan to sell her off to Zhenbei Wang was orchestrated by the Crown Prince himself, with the intention of faking her death through a bait-and-switch scheme, only to keep her like a caged canary in the prison he had built.
She was a human being, not some object—
Why did everyone insist on forcing her, manipulating her fate?
She was willing to sacrifice for the imperial family, willing to be a pawn for Father Emperor and the Crown Prince—was that not enough?!
Staring at the Crown Prince’s frenzied, distorted face, a strange and terrifying thought suddenly rose in her mind.
If she were Father Emperor’s biological daughter, would he still—
Madness, this was sheer madness!
Li Jing had already torn open her collar, lowering his head to kiss her. The familiar fragrance at his nostrils drove him further into insanity.
The girl he had nurtured and protected all these years—how could she grow close to another man? How could she marry someone else, bear another man’s child?
Just as Li Youqing was sinking into despair, fierce sounds of fighting erupted outside the hall. A Crown Prince guard rushed in to report: “Your Highness, Commander Xuan has led his troops in and surrounded the Forbidden City. We can barely hold them off.”
In the moment Li Jing loosened his grip, Li Youqing, clutching her torn garments, swiftly retreated to a corner.
Li Jing glanced in her direction, hesitated only briefly, then picked up his sword and strode away.
Li Youqing did not want Xuan Rui to see her in such a state. She quickly found a new set of robes to change into. Gazing at the chaotic scene on the floor, her eyes gradually turned cold.
To think that the brother she had always trusted would commit such a beastly act against her.
Heh… Her very birth had been a joke. Having lived in ignorance all these years, it was time to wake up.
Father Emperor was not her father, her brother was not her brother, and her mother had never shown her much kindness.
In this palace that devoured people without spitting out the bones, everyone served their own interests—no one cared about her feelings.
She was tired of living in constant fear, treading on thin ice—
Only now did she understand the true reason why, upon her return to the capital, Father Emperor had forbidden her from entering the palace and instead sent her to Fahua Temple for a year of spiritual cultivation.
It was not only to separate her from the Crown Prince, but also because she was the daughter of a rebel prince and entangled with the renowned General Xuan Rui of the northwest. She was to chant sutras in the temple to cleanse herself of sin.
But what crime had she actually committed?!
What she had once feared most was Xuan Rui’s rebellion. Yet if he had not defied all conventions tonight, leading his troops to besiege the Forbidden City, she would have been violated by the Crown Prince on that very table, reduced to a captive plaything from then on.
Li Youqing had never been one for kindness. What happened today—she would never forgive the Crown Prince.
The sounds of fighting outside gradually subsided, replaced by the firm, urgent footsteps of someone approaching.
During the day, he had said he would come for her that night—she never imagined it would be like this.
Li Youqing stood up, trying her best to appear composed and less disheveled. But the moment she saw him, she could no longer hold back her tears.
It was as though the year they had spent apart only took tangible form in this moment—as though their meeting during the day had never truly happened, and only now were they truly reunited.
Looking at the man’s livid face and the overwhelming aura of bloodshed surrounding him, she frowned, then without hesitation rushed toward him, throwing herself squarely into his embrace.
Xuan Rui’s fists were clenched so tightly they nearly drew blood, but he eventually relaxed them, gently patting her back before scooping her up horizontally and turning to walk away.
“You… how did you know—” Li Youqing dared not look up into his eyes, only feeling the rise and fall of his chest, solid as a fortress wall, as if he were utterly furious.
Then it dawned on her—it wasn’t just Jinlin Terrace; the entire imperial palace likely had his spies planted throughout.
But he was far away in the northwest, and back then his influence was far from strong enough. How could he have managed it?
Clearly, there must have been someone within the palace capable of orchestrating all this, collaborating with him—
“Shu Fei Niangniang sent someone to deliver the message to me,” Xuan Rui said.
[Author’s Note]
Here I am…