Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Discard the Father and Keep the Child Although the voice was very soft, it was perfectly lucid, not the vague muttering of someone lost in a dream. Shaoyin turned around in shock and saw her Aunt lying on the bed, eyes open and fixed steadily upon her. Unlike before, her Aunt’s gaze was clear and her expression composed, without the slightest trace of the foolish confusion that had clouded her mind. It was as though the Aunt of old had returned—the dignified, noble Empress of Daqi, whose bearing embodied the virtue of a mother to the realm. “...Aunt... Aunt...” Both startled and overjoyed, Shaoyin hurried forward and carefully studied her Aunt’s expression. She wondered why her Aunt had suddenly seemed to recover her senses, yet at the same time was so happy that she did not know what to say. “...Aunt, you recognize me, don’t you...? I’m Shaoyin... I’ve come back...” Shaoyin’s voice involuntarily caught in her throat. She did not know whether to rejoice that her Aunt finally recognized her, or to feel even more heartbroken. If her once proud and haughty Aunt had truly regained her senses, then she would have to face her difficult circumstances with full awareness—and the long imprisonment from which only death could free her. Was regaining consciousness truly a good thing for her Aunt? As Shaoyin’s heart churned with conflicting emotions, uncertain whether to rejoice or weep, her Aunt had already seized her hand and gently drawn her into her arms. Within the tightly closed bed curtains, her Aunt spoke softly beside her ear, her voice clear and calm. “Aunt knows it’s you. Aunt isn’t insane. I’ve only been pretending for Xiao Heng all this time.” After secretly observing for so long, Xue Jingrong had determined that whenever Ayin came to visit her, there were only the two of them inside and outside the palace hall. There were no ears or eyes belonging to Xiao Heng monitoring or listening near the main hall of Chongqing Palace. Only then had Xue Jingrong dared to stop pretending in front of her niece. At the same time, she could no longer keep deceiving her niece. Today, when Xue Jingrong heard her niece speak of how Xiao Heng had repeatedly saved and protected her, she had initially been delighted by Xiao Heng’s feelings for her. But that happiness had not lasted long before her niece went on to say that she had resolved to reject Xiao Heng completely and would never accept his affection in this lifetime. How could she do such a thing?! All hope of turning the tables for herself and the Xue family rested on Xiao Heng’s feelings for Ayin. That was the only bargaining chip they possessed. How could they simply throw it away?! Thus, Xue Jingrong could no longer wait patiently for the right moment. She had to explain all her plans to her niece today. Otherwise, if her niece truly left Chongqing Palace and resolutely rejected Xiao Heng, causing him to give up on her completely, then neither Xue Jingrong nor the Xue family would ever have another chance to turn defeat into victory. “Ayin, listen to your Aunt.” When her niece, filled with shock and suspicion, was about to ask her countless questions, Xue Jingrong stopped her and quickly spoke everything she needed to say in a soft voice. “Do you still not know why your Aunt was deposed for ‘lacking virtue’ back then?” “Let your Aunt tell you. I was framed by Xiao Heng. He was ungrateful and destroyed the bridge after crossing the river. Afraid that once he became Emperor he would be controlled by the Xue family, he struck first and schemed to slander me before the late emperor, accusing me of harming the imperial consorts and princes.” “After I was deposed and imprisoned here in Chongqing Palace, and the Xue family was implicated and driven from the center of the court over the years—it was all Xiao Heng’s doing!” Shaoyin was still reeling from the shock of learning that her Aunt had been pretending to be insane when she heard her Aunt say such a thing. Such... utterly horrifying words. When her Aunt had been deposed, Shaoyin had also been unable to understand why Xiao Heng would stand by and watch. She had thought that he was simply too cold-hearted toward his adoptive mother and toward the Xue family. She had never imagined that Xiao Heng was the mastermind behind it all—the one who had harmed her Aunt and the Xue family?! Xiao Heng was not merely cold by nature. He was also an unscrupulous, sinister, and utterly heartless ingrate?! Or... or was everything her Aunt was saying now nothing more than the ravings of a madwoman...? Perhaps her Aunt only appeared lucid, while in truth she was still deranged, spouting delusions from some imagined world... As Shaoyin’s thoughts descended into utter chaos and she could make sense of nothing, her Aunt suddenly gripped her tightly by both shoulders. Her Aunt gazed at her with a deep, fervent look. Somewhere within those eyes, it seemed a fire of vengeance was burning. “Ayin, only you can avenge us. Only you can save your Aunt and the Xue family. Only you can do it!” Her Aunt held both her hands tightly. Her voice remained calm, but her expression betrayed an uncontrollable fervor. “Xiao Heng’s feelings for you are our greatest bargaining chip! Pretend to submit to him. Find a way to obtain the position of Empress, then give birth to a prince and have him installed as the Crown Prince of Daqi.” “When that time comes, we can discard the father and keep the child, and poison Xiao Heng to death. You will preside over the government from behind the curtain with the dignity of the Empress Dowager. Everything that belongs to you, to me, and to the Xue family will return to our hands—and Xiao Heng will receive the punishment he deserves!” Seeing that her niece’s expression had stiffened and that she had yet to respond, Xue Jingrong raised a hand and stroked her niece’s cheek, speaking gently. “You don’t like Xiao Heng anymore, do you?” “It doesn’t matter. If you don’t want to bear Xiao Heng’s child, then after becoming Empress, you can secretly have one with Xiao Yu—or with some other man. As long as you make Xiao Heng believe the child is his, that will be enough.” Xue Jingrong continued, “Aunt knows this will require you to make a sacrifice for a time, but to accomplish something great, one cannot avoid paying some price. It won’t take long. Given Xiao Heng’s feelings for you now, if you strike while the iron is hot, becoming Empress will not be difficult. As long as you are willing, you can save your Aunt and avenge your Aunt and the Xue family.” Her niece still did not speak or move, as though the words she had heard today had left her soul shaken from her body. Xue Jingrong sighed softly in her heart before finally saying, “Don’t you want to avenge your father?” It was as though a sharp needle of ice had suddenly pierced her body. Her niece shuddered violently, her gaze flickering as her lips moved. “...Aunt... what did you say?” Xue Jingrong sighed. “If your father had still been alive five years ago, still the Great General of the court, how could I have suffered such a complete defeat? How could Xiao Heng have harmed me until I was powerless to fight back and could only await death?” “Before dealing with me and the Xue family, the first thing Xiao Heng did was eliminate your father—the greatest obstacle in the path of his ambition.” It was as though icy water had poured over her head. Every bone and drop of blood in Shaoyin’s body seemed to freeze inch by inch. She could not help shivering, and even her voice trembled with chill. “...Father... Father didn’t... die from a sudden illness...?” When Shaoyin was fifteen, her father had suddenly collapsed one day and lost consciousness. The physician diagnosed him with a “stroke.” After lingering in a confused state for little more than ten days, he grew gravely ill and hurriedly departed this world. During those ten-odd days, the Xue family had sought out every renowned physician in the capital. Her Aunt had also sent many imperial physicians from the palace. Every doctor had said that her father had suffered a “stroke.” How could he have been killed by Xiao Heng...? As Shaoyin stood in shock and confusion, unable to speak, she heard her Aunt sigh. “Do you remember where your father collapsed that day? Do you know who the last person he saw before losing consciousness was?” That day... That day, her father had accompanied the Son of Heaven on a hunt at the Qiuyuan Hunting Grounds. But the people participating in the hunt had not been limited to the Son of Heaven. There had also been... Xiao Heng, who was Crown Prince at the time, as well as several other princes... Shaoyin did not know the exact circumstances. All she had known at fifteen was that her father had suddenly collapsed while accompanying the emperor at the Qiuyuan Hunting Grounds. That day, while she had been sitting restlessly on a swing at home, she had suddenly seen the steward rushing over to report that the Great General had suffered an accident. She had hurried after the steward and seen her anxious Older Brother, as well as her father being carried into the residence, unconscious and unresponsive. She had desperately called out to him that day, as though her cries had managed to summon a shred of consciousness back to him. For an instant, her father had seemed to wake and had murmured her name. “Ayin.” But it had been only that one utterance. From then until his death, her father had remained confused and unconscious, unaware of the world around him. For years afterward, Shaoyin had believed that her father had suddenly fallen ill while accompanying the emperor at the Qiuyuan Hunting Grounds, and that he had died of the illness soon afterward. But now, at this very moment, her Aunt was telling her that everything had not happened as she had thought. “That day, the last person your father saw before he collapsed was Xiao Heng.” “This matter was witnessed with absolute certainty at the hunting grounds by an informant I had planted among the guards.” “Judging from his symptoms, your father did indeed suffer a ‘stroke.’ But there are actually many ways to make a person suffer one.” “If someone is secretly drugged first, creating a hidden weakness in the body, and then deliberately provoked at a certain moment, causing his qi and blood to surge, it may trigger the symptoms of a ‘stroke.’ In this way, a person can be ruined and killed without leaving the slightest trace.” “This was personally told to me in private by an imperial physician who was loyal to me at the time.” “That physician went to the Xue residence back then and examined your father. Your father had indeed suffered a sudden surge of qi and blood, which triggered the stroke, causing him to collapse unconscious and leaving his body numb.” “At the time, I had already begun to suspect Xiao Heng. I simply had no direct evidence, and... I was still unwilling to imagine that my adopted son could be such a person.” “The Xue family was bound to Xiao Heng too deeply, and you had loved Xiao Heng so much since childhood. I did not want to imagine matters that way, and in the end, I ignored that thread of suspicion.” “But the facts proved that I was wrong. I should have recognized Xiao Heng’s true nature when your father suffered his accident. I should have begun making plans then. If I had, I would not have been left powerless to fight back and suffered such a crushing defeat later. Nor would you have been implicated and forced to go alone to Shuobei to save your Aunt and the Xue family.” “My poor Ayin...” Her Aunt sighed as she drew her lovingly into her arms, gently stroking the hair at her temples. “Fortunately, Heaven took pity on you and allowed you to marry a good husband, allowing you to live well in Shuobei for those five years. Otherwise, your Aunt would have been heartbroken to death.” “Although your bond with Muyan Helan was brief, perhaps that was Heaven’s will.” “Heaven did not want you to remain in Shuobei for your entire life. It sent you back to Daqi so that you could settle the old affairs here and personally avenge your father.” “Ayin, listen to your Aunt. This is our only chance for revenge.” “Do not hesitate, and do not delay any longer. A man’s heart can change. While Xiao Heng still has feelings for you, while his feelings are still deep enough that he is willing to save you personally, seize the opportunity. Obtain the position of Empress and the prince we need.” “Otherwise, your Aunt will die unjustly in Chongqing Palace for the rest of her life, and your father will be unable to rest in peace beneath the Nine Springs.”