Just as expected.
His Majesty’s voice rang out heavily once more, and hope flared in Su Yiyao’s heart.
“The truth has been revealed. Su Luoluo and her three children have suffered unjust accusations, and all the children she bore are members of the Imperial Clan. I permit them to receive the provisions allotted to Imperial Princes and Princesses. Regardless of what Luoluo requires arranged, so long as it is reasonable, the Imperial Household Department is to cooperate.”
“Su Luoluo understands the greater good and has voluntarily withdrawn. Since Prince Rui and the Concubine-Born Daughter of the Su Clan are mutually devoted, let them marry. Open the palace gates and allow the two of them to leave the palace.”
When Virtuous Consort Chen heard His Majesty’s words, her vision went black, and she collapsed.
Su Yiyao instantly panicked. Struggling desperately, she tumbled off the bench and crawled toward His Majesty.
“No… That’s not how it’s supposed to be! Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you have to make me Princess Consort Rui and send me home in a carriage befitting a consort. You have to bestow rewards upon me too! I also gave birth to Prince Rui’s child. I’m a meritorious person as well!”
His Majesty nearly sneered.
He had seen shameless people before, but never anyone this shameless. Prince Rui truly must have been blind.
With a sweep of his long sleeves, His Majesty left with a cold expression and hurried strides, unwilling even to look at them again.
Eunuch Yunhai took a cloak and tied it around Su Luoluo, then stuffed a hand warmer into her hands. Supporting her, he led the various officials toward the palace entrance in a grand procession.
Virtuous Consort Chen, Prince Rui, and Su Yiyao were all disheveled and defeated. As they watched that group disappear into the light, their eyes filled with vicious resentment.
Half of Su Yiyao’s body was now covered in bloody wounds. Her hatred tore through her heart. That wretched woman had destroyed everything she was about to obtain, destroying her happiness and her glory and wealth.
A palace maid picked up the child from the floor. The tiny baby looked uncannily like that carriage driver.
Qiangwei, Su Yiyao’s personal maid, hurriedly took the child and covered her face with one hand. She truly could not bear looking at that face. The moment she did, she remembered the carriage driver’s satisfied expression as he moved atop Su Yiyao.
Su Yiyao had always found it difficult to conceive, so she had secretly been regulating her body.
That day—
A physician had given her a packet of medicine and told her to take it while attending to Prince Rui, saying that she would certainly become pregnant, but that she would have only that one opportunity.
Yet Prince Rui happened to be away, while Su Luoluo had spent the previous night with him. Su Yiyao had to get the timing right. As the day was about to pass, she had no choice but to select a tall, heavily built carriage driver. After making him drink a bowl of tea, she dragged him into the stable.
Afterward—
As she gently stroked the purple bruises on her body, Su Yiyao had smugly told Qiangwei:
“If you want to enjoy yourself, choosing the right person is important. The carriage driver was a little ugly, but he was tall, with a strong, sturdy waist…”
“Miss.”
Qiangwei picked up the child, and Su Yiyao immediately raised her hand and slapped her viciously across the face.
“Why did you bring this lowborn thing over here?”
The child was dark and ugly, with eyebrows that looked like two caterpillars whenever they were drawn together. She was absolutely disgusting.
Su Yiyao was furious. As she looked around the magnificent, glittering palace, jealousy made her eyes ache. When she saw Virtuous Consort Chen and Prince Rui watching her, she began to cry aggrievedly.
“Forget it. Take her back.”
This was not a good place to act. His Majesty’s eyes and ears were everywhere. They had to take the child back and deal with her there.
Inside the carriage—
Su Luoluo held Shi Wanyue’s hand tightly. When the two saw each other again, they both felt as though they had been separated by another lifetime, and neither could stop her tears.
“I’m sorry, Wanyue. I said I would protect you, but in the end, I made you sacrifice yourself for me.”
There were wounds on Wanyue’s wrists. She must have been beaten severely before she was brought out, yet she had still disregarded everything to come help her.
“Luoluo, you’ve changed. I’m so surprised—and I admire you so much.”
In truth, she and Su Luoluo had both been gentle and mild-mannered girls. They had always thought that if they did well enough, the other party would surely notice and treat them well. But…
“Is your mother doing any better?”
Wanyue’s mother had been gravely ill, while her Father had taken a beautiful concubine and doted on her extravagantly. Wanyue’s life had been sheer torment.
Wanyue’s long lashes trembled. As she lowered her eyes, a tear quickly fell.
“Mother has already passed away.”
Su Luoluo pulled Shi Wanyue tightly into her arms. The two remained silent for a long time. Shi Wanyue had not cried like this in years, yet she lay against Su Luoluo’s knees and sobbed for a long while.
“Wanyue, I’ll find time to treat your legs. But for now, you have to live well. Don’t place any expectations on those people anymore. They aren’t worth it. The right path is to make yourself strong.”
“All right.”
Shi Wanyue had witnessed Su Luoluo’s methods in the palace, so she believed in Luoluo. She had believed in her all these years.
Perhaps—
She should change as well. No longer be so docile, no longer be so obedient, no longer passively endure everything that happened to her…
“Eunuch Xiaosheng, please have the carriage take the road toward Chang’an Street.”
Su Luoluo suddenly remembered. When her soul had drifted about after her death, she had overheard Prince Rui and his adviser discussing a vicious scheme.
At a crossroads near the arched bridge on Chang’an Street, where relatively few people passed, he had arranged for a stunningly beautiful woman to wait.
About half an hour later—
Someone would ride past on a tall horse. The woman would seize the opportunity to meet the horse head-on with practiced skill. The young man would be unable to rein in his horse in time, and the woman would suffer minor injuries. She would pretend to be gravely wounded and unable to get up, then act pitiful and coax the young man into taking her away with him.
That young man was her Second Brother, Su Yunluo.
He was a man as elegant as a gentle breeze and bright moon, handsome and tall, with a warm and considerate temperament.
The woman would appear gravely injured, her tears falling as she looked utterly pitiful. With the people around them pointing and whispering, and Su Yunluo’s naturally kind heart, it was only logical that he would arrange for her to stay at an estate, where four maids would care for her attentively.
The woman pretended to be delicate and frail, remaining ill for several days. She even caught a chill and would occasionally have her maids ask Su Yunluo to come see her. Su Yunluo was busy with official duties, and under the woman’s hints and tears, he had no choice but to bring her back to the Su Residence so that she would be easier to care for.
The woman played her part perfectly. She was considerate and observant of proper etiquette, and before long, she had won everyone’s affection.
On a snowy night—
She drugged Su Yunluo, then pinched bruises onto her own body, disarranged the bedclothes, and cut her finger, dripping a few drops of blood onto the bed. She made it look as though the two of them had slept together. Afterward, she shed tears and looked pitiful, telling Su Yunluo that he need not take responsibility—everything had been of her own free will.
How could Su Yunluo have understood such schemes? He was immediately consumed by guilt and became so restless that he could neither sit nor stand at ease.
Under her clever guidance, he first gave her all the money and valuables in his possession. Then, when Tianli and Shenyue went to war, the woman pretended to be righteous and urged him to return to the border. She told him that the matter between them could be discussed later.
Su Yunluo was naturally moved.
However—
They had no idea that a truly enormous conspiracy was waiting for them… and that it would also mark the beginning of the catastrophe that would destroy Madam Su and her branch of the family…
Later, after Prince Rui returned to the capital having earned military merit, the Su brothers fell in battle. The people cursed them, and the enormous accusation that they had been greedy for glory and acted rashly, causing the deaths of sixty thousand soldiers, was pinned upon them. Madam Su and Su Yingxue became the objects of the entire Shenyue Kingdom’s condemnation.
Later, Madam Su and the others were even pelted with rotten eggs whenever they went out onto the streets.
And then—
The subsequent turn of events was so bizarre that it was utterly outrageous!