coobybook Chapter 189 The Ruthless and Disabled Crown Prince (93)
Chapter 189 The Ruthless and Disabled Crown Prince (93)
"When did she tell you?" Lu Liruan held the letter tightly, using all her strength to keep it from crumpling.
"She returned to the palace before that." Ji Shumin took the letter, glanced at it casually, and showed no interest in its contents.
"She tricked you into helping her return to the palace with the antidote, and tricked you into helping the Crown Prince gain the Emperor's trust. Now she wants you to help her establish the Crown Prince's authority?" Lu Liruan was so angry she almost laughed.
If Ji Shumin hadn't happened to find the antidote himself, would the Empress have used it to endlessly blackmail him?
“How dare she…” Lu Liruan squeezed out through gritted teeth, but then realized, why wouldn’t the Empress dare?
With Ji Shumin's life in her hands, she was naturally capable of anything.
If Ji Shumin hadn't been capable all these years, he would surely be completely suppressed by the Empress by now.
"Why are you even angrier than me?" Ji Shumin finished appreciating Lu Liruan's indignant expression on his behalf, then pulled her clenched fist and drew her to his side.
"How can you not be angry?" Lu Liruan retorted.
"Wouldn't I be so angry I'd die?" Ji Shumin pinched her cheek and patted her back to calm her down.
"What are we going to do now? Are we just going to let her continue like this?" Lu Liruan asked angrily.
"No, I'm going to tell my eldest brother..." Lu Liruan broke free from his hand and strode towards the door.
Ji Shumin didn't expect her to be so decisive. He reached out to grab her and managed to catch her, but Lu Liruan pulled him off her wheelchair with a sudden burst of strength.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and grabbed the armrest of the wheelchair with his other hand. It had been a long time since the Third Prince had been so disheveled.
"Hey! Why are you pulling me? Are you alright?" Lu Liruan quickly stopped and turned around to check Ji Shumin's arm, afraid of breaking his fragile body.
"Why did you tell him that?" Ji Shumin waved his hand, indicating that he was fine: "Wait and see him put on a monkey show in my room?"
Ji Shumin felt a pang of sympathy just thinking about that scene…
"Everything the Empress has done is actually paving the way for the eldest prince!" The Empress has made it so obvious now. She came back for no other reason than to secure a future for the child she loves and has protected since childhood!
Obviously, what is the best?
The best, of course, is that supreme position!
“Hmm,” Ji Shumin agreed.
"Why should I?" Lu Liruan couldn't quite explain it, but she felt a surge of grievance in her heart.
"Why should anyone bully you?" Lu Liruan asked from the bottom of her heart. Ji Shumin had clearly done nothing wrong...
“That’s how it is when you’re in the thick of it. Even if you don’t fight or struggle, others won’t let you go. They’ll just use you as a stepping stone, a ladder to cross walls, to trample you into the mud. It would be best if they could cut out your bones and blood to make a delicious feast to celebrate their victory.” Ji Shumin’s tone was cold, but his gaze toward Lu Liruan was gentle and tender.
“Li Ruan is different. Li Ruan wants to pull me out of the water, take me out of the fire... wants to sew me up... Of course you don’t understand why they do that.”
Lu Liruan sighed deeply. Born into the royal family, there is never a peaceful day. They enjoy the glory that everyone envies, but only they know the bloody and murderous intent that is like fighting beasts.
Lu Liruan looked at him sadly, feeling sorry for him.
"Don't be sad." Ji Shumin didn't actually feel that he was pitiful. He was already used to it and had become part of it. He would do what he told Lu Liruan, without hesitation, to push others into the abyss.
He told Lu Liruan those stories.
Lu Liruan touched his face and said earnestly, "I don't ask you to be purely good, I just want you to be safe."
"Okay, I'll get my revenge... No one will get the slightest advantage from me, because Li Ruan will be angry." Ji Shumin coaxed her patiently, as if she were a child.
Lu Liruan has never liked fighting, but she is not a pushover either.
Now, all that's left in Lu Liruan's heart is fighting spirit.
"When will he finally realize it?" Lu Liruan's sense of helplessness towards Ji Shuqin resurfaced.
"Why does Li Ruan care?" Ji Shumin felt that Lu Li Ruan cared about Ji Shuqin in a way that was different from usual.
"Because you care." Lu Liruan said without hesitation: "If it weren't for you, what relationship would I have with him?"
“Li Ruan always…” Ji Shumin smiled helplessly.
Yes, he couldn't say he didn't care.
Long ago, Ji Shumin's last lingering feelings for the Empress vanished, but his feelings for Ji Shuqin remained unbroken.
This is probably because Ji Shuqin is a person who is truly without any guile towards him.
"I'd like to see what he wants and what he wants to do now." A cold glint flashed across Ji Shumin's face.
With the supreme position of the world right in front of him, seemingly within his grasp, and with the Empress's full support, what would he think of such a perfect combination of timing, location, and popular support?
Ji Shumin did not believe anyone's sweet words, nor did he even believe what the other person did in his daily life.
Instead, you need to truly put the other person in that situation, when they are really facing a choice, and then see whether they are truly virtuous and aloof in word and deed, or whether they are hypocritical and fickle in their thoughts.
Ji Shumin was not the only one who had a good plan.
The Empress's mind is no longer on the infighting within the harem.
Back then, she couldn't bear being suppressed and schemed against. She fought to the death with the women in the harem, but in the end, right and wrong depended entirely on the emperor's word.
Her self-righteousness and dignity were utterly worthless; she was completely defeated!
Even though she did make enemies back then, it wasn't just that she was intolerant of others. She suffered countless schemes and almost fell into traps, but no one cared about these things. She had to swallow them all and digest them for so many years. Now, she finally has the opportunity to plan again.
What's the point of fighting with a woman?
The Empress did this merely to establish her authority and mislead the Emperor, making him believe that he was still the same as before, and thus failing to perceive her true intentions.
Seeing Consort Rong's haggard appearance, the Empress felt not much joy or pride, but rather a tinged malice and a sense of mutual sympathy.
Was I like that back then?
Consort Rong, who was not yet a Noble Consort at the time, was overjoyed, thinking she had won.
"Your Majesty... I wasn't the one who made an enemy of you back then! Even if I did something, it's still related to...!" The name of that woman from back then now seems to have become a taboo in the palace.
Consort Rong looked quite alarmed.
The Seventh Prince has been repeatedly reprimanded by the Emperor, and the mother and son are not allowed to see each other. Upon hearing that the Seventh Prince is seriously ill, Consort Rong is heartbroken.
Over the years, she has long since stopped caring which emperor favors; she has devoted all her attention to her son, who is her only support in the second half of her life!
"When my child was seriously ill back then, why didn't you show the slightest sympathy?" The Empress stood, looking down at Consort Rong kneeling on the ground.
Consort Rong was confined to the palace and longed to see the Emperor, but she couldn't get out. She wanted to send a palace servant to plead with the Emperor, but the palace gates were closed, and not even a ghost could get out. Just when Consort Rong was extremely anxious, the Emperor didn't come, but the Empress did.
"I know nothing! The only thing I did was take the opportunity to get close to the Emperor. I don't know anything about what happened to the First Prince back then!" Consort Rong was extremely embarrassed.
The moment the Empress returned to the palace, she felt a sense of unease and fear that something bad was about to happen.
It came so quickly, and it wasn't just aimed at him, but also at his son. It struck her so precisely where it hurt!
This forced her to go from being a high-ranking, domineering imperial concubine who had been in the palace for so many years to becoming the woman who had entered the palace not long ago, powerless and without influence, who only won the emperor's favor through her beauty.
After so many years of smooth sailing, Consort Rong was almost certain of her status in the palace. Little did she expect that this dream she had cherished for so many years would be shattered in an instant.
She simply couldn't believe she had fallen to such a state.
It was as if she was on cloud nine yesterday, and fell to earth the next day. Falling to earth wasn't enough; she was now in the abyss.
She couldn't even rely on her maternal family. The prosperity of her maternal family depended entirely on her, their daughter who had entered the palace.
Now that she has lost power, her maternal family has to be even more cautious and can't help her at all...
The Emperor has been exceptionally harsh lately, and they dare not even plead for mercy, fearing that the prestige they have built up over the years will be stripped away by the Emperor in a fit of anger.
There was absolutely no way out, no way out at all.
This luxurious palace, once regarded by Consort Rong as a symbol of her status, now feels more like a prison that confines her.
"So you don't know? So what if you're of noble status? You must be thinking you'd never end up like this, right? Why don't you use your brain... Back then, even as Empress, I couldn't do anything to you!" The Empress's expression was calm, but her words were full of resentment.
"I hate you so much I could grind my teeth. Do you know what I was thinking when I was holding the First Prince? I cursed you in my heart, I cursed all your children to be sickly and die young. If anything happens to my child, may you all be buried with him!"
Consort Rong trembled.
A string of Buddhist prayer beads was visible on the empress's drooping wrist.
"I have cultivated my mind and body before the Buddha for so many years. It's all been in vain. I recite scriptures with my mouth, but my heart is filled with resentment that I wish people would go to hell." The Empress looked at the calluses on her fingers from writing.
"I have copied the scriptures thousands of times and can recite every single sentence by heart, but what use is it? Buddha cannot save me, so I must save myself. That is why I have returned."
Consort Rong looked at the Empress's cold and expressionless face, and a chill ran through her heart: "Your Majesty! I beg you! If you resent me, let me bear it alone! My son knows nothing, and the First Prince is perfectly fine! Please have mercy..."
At this moment, Consort Rong vaguely realized that the Emperor was not only indifferent to the Seventh Prince, but to all of his princes.
If she cannot beg the Empress to spare her today, perhaps her child will truly lose his life...
The Empress's current state of madness filled Consort Rong with fear, as she had no idea what the Empress might do or what she was capable of.
"I don't want to commit any unnecessary killings, because I also want to pray for my child's well-being and accumulate merit. Don't think about asking the Emperor for help, and don't think about telling outsiders what I told you today." The Empress lowered her head.
"The way the Emperor treated me back then will be how he treats you today. All he cares about is his throne. To him, these princes are no longer his father and sons, but rather a pack of hawks and hounds eyeing him covetously. He is terrified, so why would he come to save you?"
Consort Rong knew that what the Empress said was true.
Now the Emperor only has the eldest prince by his side, and Consort Rong doesn't know what method the Empress used.
Seeing through her thoughts, the Empress said coldly, "Don't try anything funny. I'm not in a good mood these days."
"What do you want?" Consort Rong's voice was hoarse.
"If you want to live, it's simple: just be a carefree prince and live a quiet life," the empress replied.
Consort Rong's expression stiffened for a moment, then she nodded: "Lie'er won't fight for it!"
"What's the use of your words? What I need is a guarantee."
Consort Rong stared intently at the Empress, a sense of despair rising in her heart. She understood what the Empress meant.
"Your Majesty... how does Your Majesty require Lie'er to prove it?"
The Queen suddenly smiled. Her smile was still slightly compassionate and gentle, but her words and actions were quite the opposite.
"My child can no longer walk."
Consort Rong's eyes widened: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please understand! The matter of the Third Prince has absolutely nothing to do with me and Lie'er!"
Consort Rong was indeed not lying. Whether Ji Shumin's fall from his horse was an accident or not, no one can say for sure.
But because the result was something they all wanted to see, no one investigated it further.
Consort Rong panicked, thinking the Empress was going to pin the blame on her.
"Oh, why should I care? Just like back then, none of you cared what I did." The Empress glanced at Consort Rong casually.
Consort Rong was in despair.
"The Empress Dowager will not allow it..." Consort Rong murmured.
Although the Dowager Consort never really got involved in palace affairs, and even when Consort Rong shared palace responsibilities with her and deliberately tried to seize power, the Dowager Consort never got angry.
The Empress Dowager was kind and fair to every junior.
"The Imperial Concubine Dowager?" The Empress knew she had run out of tricks, so she resorted to bringing up the Imperial Concubine Dowager.
"The Dowager Consort never helped me back then, so why would she help you?"
The Empress did not harbor much resentment towards the Dowager Consort. Back then, the Dowager Consort had not interfered in her affairs, nor had she intervened.
When the Empress Dowager was at the height of her conflict with the Emperor, she once personally led the imperial physicians to the Crown Prince's gravely ill. The Emperor respected her and had no choice but to compromise.
If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's actions that day, the eldest prince might already be dead.
But the Dowager Consort did not help the Empress in the slightest; in this palace, she only cared about herself and her family.
The Empress disliked Lu Liruan and was even less willing to see her influence Ji Shumin, but on one occasion when she was paying her respects to the Dowager Consort...
"I see that Min'er and Ruan Ruan have a deep affection for each other, which is truly rare," she added.
The Empress knew that the Dowager Consort was telling her not to touch the prince's wife from the Lu family, otherwise it would be an offense to her.
The Empress remained silent, abandoning her intention to separate Lu Liruan from Ji Shumin. The Dowager Consort never mentioned it to her again, as if her words that day had no profound meaning.