Chapter 2: She Can’t Die Yet
“Pei! A bastard like that doesn’t have the right to be this consort’s older sister and the child she gave birth to is also a bastard! Ye Junqing, go ahead! Kill this consort! If you kill this consort, the entire world will see the confession that Yao Moxin siged and at that time, everyone will know about your affair with Yao Moxin!”
“Everyone will know that Yao Moxin wasn’t fit to be empress! She had an affair and even had a bastard child with you! She deserved to die! She’s just a slut!” shouted Yao Suluan with a wide, almost deranged grin. However, hidden behind that wild laughter was bone-chilling cold.
“Yao Suluan!” Ye Junqing was so angry that his anger attacked his heart. He felt something hot and metallic flood his throat, then he abruptly coughed out a mouthful of blood.
“Prince!” Yin Xue hadn’t expected for Ye Junqing to be this enraged and immediately moved to seal his meridians so that he would fall unconscious. She glanced over coldly at Yao Suluan, then disappeared from Pure Flowers Palace with Ye Junqing.
“You sure didn’t hold back with the insults. Was it refreshing?” A clear voice that contained a cold tone appeared. Yao Mowan slowly walked out from the bedroom, her eyes flickering with dim light.
“How did you figure out that it was the hunchback? How did you find out!?” The instant Yao Suluan saw Yao Mowan, she clenched her fists and hit the ground hard. If it weren’t for Yao Mowan blackmailing her, why would she admit to Ye Junqing what she did and take the blame for everything?
“Wang Qinruo is very intelligent. That move to lure the snake out of its nest was effective. It was just a pity that she didn’t get the timing right and ended up getting Xiao Shunzi instead. Of course, this consort was the one that arranged for Xiao Shunzi to be there. This consort just wanted to scare Second Older Sister a little.” Yao Mowan walked gracefully over to stop in front of Yao Suluan. Her lips curved in a cold arc like that of the most fearsome demon in hell.
“This consort had been extremely careful. There was no way you could’ve detected anything!” Yao Suluan looked at Yao Mowan disbelievingly.
The moment the rumors started spreading, she had touched base with her secret contact to confirm where the rumors were coming from. Yao Suluan thought that she had done everything flawlessly, but unexpectedly, Yao Mowan had still been able to catch her tracks.
“How hard could it be to guess that it was that hunchback? You must stay in the palace, so if you want to be able to freely control the flow of the rumors, even if that person wasn’t someone of the palace, that person would definitely need to be able to enter and leave the palace freely. The palace maids and eunuchs in the palace have always had loose lips and you’ve offended An Bingshan before, so for safety’s sake, there was no way you would’ve used a palace maid or eunuch as your contact. Guards and concubines were even more unlikely, and aside from those people, there are only a few that can enter and exit the palace everyday.
“There was no way it was the government merchants that checked the accounts each month since businessmen are unreliable, so that leaves only Zhu Laosan who’s in charge of the imperial palace’s waste disposal, the one known as Hunchback Zhu,” said Yao Mowan coldly. She really had to thank Wang Qinruo for this because it really would’ve been difficult for her to ferret out Hunchback Zhu on her own. Now that she had this piece of information in her grasp, Yao Suluan was like a puppet in her hands. She could freely manipulate Yao Suluan now. The best proof of this was how Yao Suluan had admitted to everything in front of Ye Junqing just now.
“Yao Mowan… You demon! You…” Yao Suluan wanted to continue insulting Yao Mowan, but Yao Mowan grabbed her jaw and forced it up so that Yao Suluan had to meet her eyes.
“That’s right! This consort is a demon! A demon that exists for the purpose of getting revenge for Eldest Sister! Yao Suluan, listen up. It doesn’t matter how much you curse this consort in your heart, but make sure that this consort doesn’t hear it, otherwise this consort has the ability to make you live while wishing you were dead!” Yao Mowan’s ice-cold pupils were like glacial ice as she flung Yao Suluan’s chin away.
“Why?” Yao Suluan was thrown to the ground, but her glare continued to be fixed on Yao Mowan.
Upon hearing this, Yao Mowan glanced down at her coldly.
“Why won’t you let Ye Junqing find out about this truth? Why won’t you tell him that the person who cornered Yao Moxin and caused her death was His Majesty!? It was His Majesty that forced Yao Moxin to sign the confession and also His Majesty that smashed that child to death! Yao Mowan, what exactly are you trying to do?” Yao Suluan looked towards Yao Mowan with a cold laugh as shrewd light flickered in her eyes.
“All you need to know is that from now on, if this consort tells you to head east, you can’t head west. If this consort has you crawl, you’re not allowed to get up. There’s no need for Second Older Sister to waste effort worrying about anything else.” Yao Mowan glanced at Yao Suluan with disdain but just as she was about to leave, Yao Suluan started laughing madly.
“Hahaha… Yao Mowan, do you think this consort wouldn’t be able to read your intentions? You’re worried that Ye Junqing will try to get revenge on Ye Hongyi after finding out about the truth! You’re protecting Ye Junqing! You say that you only hate this consort, but you actually hate Ye Hongyi even more! Everything you’re doing is to pave the path for Ye Junqing. There will be a day in which you’ll have Ye Junqing take Ye Hongyi’s throne!
“Haha… It’s just a shame this consort realized too late, otherwise there was no way this consort would’ve lost so badly!” Yao Suluan hammered at the ground as tears filled her eyes. She understood that this time, she was truly defeated, but she still couldn’t accept it!
“If Second Older Sister is obedient and follows instructions properly, this consort might leave Second Older Sister alive so that Second Older Sister can personally witness as everything said just now becomes reality.” Yao Mowan’s dark gaze swept over Yao Suluan, then she left indifferently.
Ye Hongyi had already locked himself inside the imperial study for two entire days. At this moment, Qing Long was pushing open the doors to enter.
“How is it? Is there any news of Wang Qinruo?” Ye Hongyi abruptly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. His heart was filled with unease.
“Replying Your Majesty, this subordinate is incompetent. We’ve searched through the entire city, but we haven’t been able to find any traces of Consort Shu.” Qing Long kneeled on one knee as he said this with an ashamed expression.
“How are you guys unable to find a simple woman!? What do we even keep you guys for!? During the most crucial times, you guys are all useless! Continue searching! We don’t care what methods you use, but if she’s alive we want to see her, if she’s dead we want to see her corpse!” shouted Ye Hongyi as he indignantly got to his feet. Qing Long didn’t dare to show any negligence and immediately withdrew from the imperial study.
Once Qing Long left, due to lack of strength, Ye Hongyi collapsed back onto the dragon chair heavily. This won’t do, he couldn’t sit and wait for death like this! If those events were exposed, the biggest threat would be Ye Junqing. Although Wang Qinruo was repulsive, she did say one thing that was very correct, which was that problems had to be gotten rid of from the root. He couldn’t allow Ye Junqing to continue living in this world! But how was he supposed to get rid of Ye Junqing? He needed to think, he needed to think about it carefully…
In the east wing of Guan Osprey Palace, Ye Junqing had been unconscious for an unknown amount of time. However, the instant he opened his eyes, there was only one thought on his mind, which was that he had to kill Yao Suluan!
“Ugh…” Just as Ye Junqing was trying to get up, he found that his entire body felt weak. He didn’t even have the strength to prop his body up with his hand.
“Don’t waste your energy. You’re under the effect of tendons softening powder so you won’t be able to get up for the time being.” Yao Mowan calmly walked over to Ye Junqing as she said this.
“Tendons softening powder? Was it you? Why?” Ye Junqing looked towards Yao Mowan angrily as he continued to try and get up.
“Yao Suluan can’t die.” Yao Mowan got straight to the point and said this sternly.
“Do you know what she’s done? She killed Moxin’s child and forced Moxin to commit suicide! She can’t die? She deserves to be killed with the death of a thousand cuts!” shouted Ye Junqing, his eyes filled with cold murderous intention.
“She possesses the confession that Eldest Sister had signed. If she dies, that confession will be shown to the entire world and the empress that the citizens of great Chu respects the most will instantly become a slut that the whole world condemns. Is this the outcome that Prince wishes to see?” Yao Mowan frowned as she walked towards the bed.
“She was forced to sign that by Yao Suluan!” refuted Ye Junqing.
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