Perhaps the events of his dream were too unsettling, for upon waking, he was panting heavily, cold sweat dampening his raven-black hair, and his deep, unfathomable pupils were slightly unfocused.
Strangely, this gave the usually spirited, sharp-edged young man a fragile beauty.
“Ah Xu…” he murmured softly, his hands clenching unconsciously, his short nails digging deep into his palms, a cruel determination directed at himself.
Xie Jingchen clearly remembered that after killing those who had harmed Ying Xu, he had gone alone to the Weiyang Palace, her former residence, without taking anyone with him or informing anyone, and committed suicide.
He didn’t know why he was still alive, nor who had saved him.
But the only thing he knew was that he now wanted to kill the meddlesome person who had forcibly brought him back.
For Xie Jingchen, the person who forcibly snatched his life from the jaws of death was merely a stumbling block preventing him from seeing Ying Xu.
From the day he received news of Ying Xu’s death, he had lost all attachment to this world.
—Without Ying Xu, what meaning did his life hold?
And if it weren’t for this tactless person saving him, perhaps he would have already seen A-Xu…
These thoughts flashed through his mind, and a dark, silent gloom settled over the young man’s dark eyes. Beneath the unfathomable stillness lay a chilling coldness that could send shivers down one’s spine, making his calm, handsome face appear even more terrifying.
However, this expression only lasted a moment, vanishing in an instant.
The next moment, as if struck by a sudden thought, his expression softened, his eyes tender, and he murmured softly, “Ah Xu, don’t be afraid, I’m coming to be with you…”
Just as Xie Jingchen murmured this, Pei Xingzhou, his physician, entered carrying hot water and overheard his words.
Startled, he nearly dropped the copper basin.
Pei Xingzhou’s mouth gaped open in disbelief. “My little prince, are you really delirious from the fever?”
Looking at Xie Jingchen, who had just regained consciousness, his tone became cautious, using a respectful form of address. “Your Highness, the King of Mobei, you actually… cursed the current Empress to death?”
This was an unimaginable spectacle in the eyes of Pei Xingzhou, a physician who had risked his life alongside Xie Jingchen for years.
Among those who had served Xie Jingchen since his days in Jinling City and later followed him to the Northwest, everyone knew that their Mobei King was deeply in love with the current Empress of Jinling City. He loved her so much that he was willing to give up the throne and come to this desolate Northwest to guard the border.
These old confidants of Xie Jingchen all firmly believed one thing—that as long as they could win a smile from Ying Xu, they would gladly do anything, even have Xie Jingchen commit suicide.
Therefore, when Pei Xingzhou suddenly heard Xie Jingchen say that it was as if Ying Xu was already dead and that he wanted to go and be with her, he was truly shocked. He felt that his former strong contender for the throne might have suffered a stroke from a high fever, and that his subconscious refusal to believe that Ying Xu had married the current emperor had caused a mental disorder, leading to the delusion that Ying Xu was no longer alive.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible his idea seemed. After all, Xie Jingchen’s feelings for Ying Xu were obvious to everyone. However, it was a pity that his love was unrequited.
Ying Xu, that ancestor of hers, simply looked down on him. All those years of childhood friendship were nothing more than treating Xie Jingchen as her most obedient follower, who would follow her every command.
Thinking back to their youthful days, Pei Xingzhou couldn’t help but feel sorry for Xie Jingchen. But a perfectly healthy person shouldn’t continue to be so confused.
So, feeling that he was both a subject and a friend to this person who was about to become a “fool,” he pondered for a moment, trying to awaken Xie Jingchen, who had painstakingly created this confused dream for himself.
However, just as he was about to speak, he suddenly found the figure on the bed, just waking up from illness, staring intently at him, like a wolf eyeing its prey, sending chills down his spine.
Under such unsettling gazes, he heard the other’s chilling voice ask, “Did you save me?”
Although Xie Jingchen asked who saved him, the look in his eyes was far from what he meant. His gaze wasn’t that of someone looking at a savior, but rather like that of someone looking at a deadly enemy. It was the kind of look that suggested he was ready to fight to the death.
Pei Xingzhou felt uneasy, thinking he should perhaps come back later; Xie Jingchen seemed rather abnormal right now. Quite frightening.
Just as he was about to make a run for it, Xie Jingchen’s next question stopped him in his tracks. Having just recovered from an illness, the young man’s voice still carried a hoarseness, as if he had just woken from a coma. His voice trembled slightly as he asked, “What…did you just say?”
Remembering the two sentences spoken by his subordinate, who was also a friend, Xie Jingchen’s hands trembled involuntarily.
Ah Xu…
Hearing this, Pei Xingzhou, who had just been planning to run away, couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
He placed the copper basin on the shelf beside him, dipped a clean white handkerchief in, then pulled it out, wrung it out a couple of times, and then walked to the bedside, handing the handkerchief to Xie Jingchen. He sat down in a corner of the bed and said somewhat irritably, “I said, Your Majesty, Miss Ying—your A-Xu is still alive.”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen reflexively replied, “She’s not mine.”
Then he added, “I belong to her.”
After those two sentences, he finally realized what the person in front of him meant.
A bold yet absurd idea suddenly popped into his head. He felt a mix of anticipation and trepidation as he asked him another question, “…What night is it tonight?”
“No way, are you really delirious from the fever?” Hearing this, Pei Xingzhou couldn’t help but touch his forehead, confirming that the high fever had indeed subsided and his temperature was now normal before replying, “It’s the fourth year since your elder brother ascended the throne.” After saying that he thought for a moment, realizing that Xie Jingchen might not be very sensitive to the time in his current state of mind, so he added a time he could definitely distinguish, “It’s also the first year that Miss Ying married and entered the Empress’s palace.”
Although this was incredibly cruel to him, adding another blow to his already scarred heart, there was nothing he could do. Why did he have to fall for the most delicate, noble, and proud girl in all of Jinling City?
Pei Xingzhou couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, bracing himself for the scene of Xie Jingchen becoming distraught and heartbroken over Ying Xu’s matter, resembling a large dog abandoned by its owner.
However, to his surprise, the very next moment after he finished speaking, he saw Xie Jingchen on the bed, his eyes shining brightly like stars, uttering the words they had all longed to hear from him for four years—
“Give the order to raise an army and march back to Jinling City.”
His eyes flashed with an inexplicable stubbornness, carrying an almost morbid ruthlessness, filled with a chilling, sinister aura.
His hoarse voice slowly uttered the last sentence. He spoke each word clearly, “I will seize the throne, I will kill the emperor.”
Kill the emperor who bullied Ying Xu.
Jinling City.
The Imperial Palace. Weiyang Palace.
Since the day Ying Xu slapped the emperor, the emperor had never visited Weiyang Palace again, not even sending someone to inquire after him.
The palace servants working in Weiyang Palace were filled with anxiety, all fearing that their master would lose the emperor’s favor, and that they, as slaves, would all fall from grace.
—The Empress’s actions this time were truly outrageous!
However, the person in question, whom everyone suspected might be losing the emperor’s favor, seemed completely unconcerned. His daily extravagance remained as lavish as ever, and he still chose only the best, rarest, and most luxurious items for himself.
Anyone who dared to present her with anything slightly inferior would be banished to the laundry department to wash the clothes of the lowest-ranking palace maids and eunuchs.
But it was precisely because Ying Xu seemed so indifferent to the matter, as if slapping the emperor was just a common occurrence and he didn’t care at all, that the palace servants in Weiyang Palace were filled with fear, afraid their good days were coming to an end.
Perhaps they wanted to persuade their master not to confront His Majesty directly, but to soften his stance.
In their eyes, His Majesty doted on the Empress so much; if she could just take the initiative to apologize to His Majesty and give him a way out after that slap incident, wouldn’t regaining his favor be a piece of cake?
But these were just thoughts; in reality, no one dared to advise Ying Xu. After all, the memory of the little palace maid who had tried to comfort her out of kindness but was instead banished to the laundry department and became a slave among slaves was too vivid to forget, filling them with dread.
In Weiyang Palace, no palace servant dared to challenge Ying Xu’s temper.
The Empress was far from being a good-tempered person; on the contrary, she was adept at finding ways to torment people—a fact known to everyone in the palace.
Thus, amidst the complex emotions of everyone fearing the Empress’s complete loss of favor, time flew by.
On this day, the palace servants of Weiyang Palace, who feared that losing their mistress’s favor would lead to them being looked down upon, finally saw a turning point. Someone was finally willing, or more accurately, able to persuade their spoiled and arrogant Empress—
“This way, Eunuch.”
As the former Grand Eunuch Xiang, who had served the late Emperor, was led into the main hall of Weiyang Palace, upon seeing the elegant young woman in palace attire sipping tribute tea, he exclaimed, “Oh my, our little darling, what exactly are you and His Majesty up to?”
Instantly, all the palace servants in Weiyang Palace perked up their ears.
Upon seeing the visitor, Ying Xu slightly raised her eyelids. Eunuch Xiang was a favored close attendant of the late emperor, and tracing back a few years, he was a powerful figure in Jinling City.
Such a person was naturally an “elder” who had watched Ying Xu grow up and indulged her unruly temper.
Therefore, Ying Xu didn’t treat him with her usual domineering arrogance, but rather with much more approachability, replying, “Who’s arguing with him?”
Ying Xu put down her tea set, stood up, and with a slightly lazy tone containing a lingering pride, retorted to the old man who had treated her so well in her childhood, “Xie Liu has gone mad himself and wants to use me as a tool for venting his anger. Should I suffer this humiliation?”
“Others may suffer such injustice, but Ying Xu cannot.”