Before the third watch, the front of the Shu Southern Royal Manor was stained crimson. Bu Shulin's robes were soaked through, and she immediately wanted to strip them off and discard them. A cloak was draped over her shoulders as Cui Jinbai said with a stern face, "You are not allowed to undress in public!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Cui Shitou, don't push your luck!" Bu Shulin protested indignantly.
This man thought he had her tied down and was increasingly controlling her. Sooner or later, when she could no longer tolerate it and refused to endure any longer, she would...
She would run away from home with their son!
Cui Jinbai was accustomed to her fierce posturing. He took out a bamboo tube from his robe, chose a high spot, and buried it in a pit. Just as he lit a firestarter and was about to bend down, Bu Shulin snatched it from him, flashing him a triumphant smirk before she personally ignited it.
A brilliant firework bloomed in the night sky, bearing the distinctive emblem of the Northwest Army. It was seen by those waiting in the next city, who immediately lit the fireworks they had prepared long ago.
The same fireworks traveled from Shu all the way to the outskirts of the capital. When the final firework burst, its dazzling light seemed to illuminate the Hall of Diligent Governance, lending the fierce fighting inside a slightly less bloody aura.
With the Shu Southern Royal Manor successfully secured, Shen Xihe turned to look at the Empress Dowager, who was also under protection and had witnessed the firework, her face dark and cold.
Shen Xihe's luminous eyes remained calm and unruffled, devoid of triumph or joy. "Empress Dowager, have you recently felt more fatigued than usual?"
Though the two were in protected areas of opposing factions, with fierce combatants clashing between them and the crisp sounds of clashing blades filling the air, they were not far apart. The Empress Dowager could hear Shen Xihe's words clearly.
"You..." The Empress Dowager scrutinized Shen Xihe suspiciously. She didn't believe it.
She also had experts skilled in poisons by her side. How could Shen Xihe have poisoned her? Her daily meals were all prepared in the palace's private kitchen.
"Not only does the Empress Dowager feel increasingly fatigued, but her throat is dry, and every morning she suffers from persistent coughing, likely mistaken for a common cold," Shen Xihe stated calmly. "This has been going on for three months now."
The Empress Dowager's expression finally shifted.
She hadn't even alerted the Imperial Hospital. Just as Shen Xihe had Zhenzhu and Sui Axi by her side, she too had people well-versed in medicine. Shen Xihe absolutely could not have seen her pulse records, yet every word Shen Xihe spoke was accurate.
Either Shen Xihe had bribed someone close to her, or Shen Xihe had poisoned her long ago!
"The first time I met the Empress Dowager, the Tibetan incense on your person was particularly pleasant," Shen Xihe said, a faint smile curling her lips, though it carried a profound meaning.
Shen Xihe had crafted two harmful incenses: one caused gradual decline, used on the Youning Emperor; the other mimicked symptoms of a persistent cold that would not heal, eventually leading to coughing up blood and death, used on the Empress Dowager.
These incenses were not poisons; they left no toxins in the body, making them nearly undetectable even by the most skilled Sacred Healer.
After Xiao Huayong's departure, once Shen Xihe confirmed the Empress Dowager's involvement, she did not hesitate. From then on, the Tibetan incense the Empress Dowager used was specially crafted by her. As for the person who replaced the incense, under the Empress Dowager's intense glare, Shen Xihe parted her vermilion lips and uttered, "The Fifteenth Prince."
The Empress Dowager's pupils contracted sharply.
That seemingly innocent little child who only knew how to throw tantrums in front of her—the one she had painstakingly brought to her side as a stepping stone for the throne, whom she had never guarded against and viewed as a disposable pawn.
"Cough, cough, cough..."A surge of metallic sweetness rose from her constricted chest, and the Empress Dowager vomited a mouthful of blood as soon as she opened her mouth.
"Empress Dowager!"
The Empress Dowager was vomiting blood, and those beside her were greatly alarmed. For a moment, her followers were distracted, allowing Moyu and Tianyuan to swiftly seize the opportunity and gain the upper hand.
The originally evenly matched situation took a sharp turn for the worse. Seeing this, the Empress Dowager retreated and sat down on a chair behind her, clutching her chest while still lifting her chin arrogantly, glaring at Shen Xihe: "Do you think you can defeat me?"
Shen Xihe's gaze swept over the bed, her tone still calm: "It is still too early to speak of victory or defeat."
His Majesty has yet to make a move.
However, the Empress Dowager did not grasp Shen Xihe's meaning: "With such a favorable situation, you remain humble and unassuming. To have contended with you once, I have no regrets even in defeat."
Though she said this, the Empress Dowager did not seem to believe she would actually lose.
Watching the Empress Dowager's followers putting up a desperate resistance, Shen Xihe estimated that capturing her within half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea would not be easy. Suddenly, she spoke: "Empress Dowager, there has always been a doubt in my heart. Under the heavens, only you, Empress Dowager, can resolve it."
After catching her breath a few times, the Empress Dowager calmed her emotions, and the congestion in her chest eased. She knew she could not dwell in resentment, or she would vomit blood again. She looked at Shen Xihe with some wariness: "What do you wish to ask?"
"How did Beichen's father die?"
When Shen Xihe asked this question, everyone, including Liu Sanzhi, turned to look at the Empress Dowager, except those still locked in combat.
The Empress Dowager had not expected Shen Xihe to ask this. She was stunned for a moment, her eyes blinking rapidly several times: "What do you think?"
"You told Beichen that His Majesty killed his elder brother for the throne. I never doubted this before."
When did she begin to doubt? It was when Shen Xihe started to admire the Youning Emperor, especially after learning that, despite knowing his life was nearing its end, he had never wrongly ordered the execution of any imperial physician.
He was truly a rational emperor, never using his power to vent his emotions on innocent people.
Throughout history, how many wise rulers in their youth, unwilling to face old age, grew suspicious of their wives, children, and capable ministers?
Take, for example, the Han Dynasty's Emperor Wu of Han, with his monumental achievements.
But the Youning Emperor did not. Being able to achieve this, the Youning Emperor was, by all accounts, a benevolent and righteous ruler.
It was from this that Shen Xihe dared to speculate that the Youning Emperor was not without suspicions about Xiao Huayong, nor was he completely ignorant. Rather, he was capable of self-deception, unwilling to truly confront the conclusion he had already drawn in his heart.
He did not want to kill Xiao Huayong.
Could such a Youning Emperor truly be someone who would kill his own elder brother for the throne?
Shen Xihe found it hard to believe. The Youning Emperor might not be as deeply sentimental as Qian Wang, but he was a man of sentiment. In contrast, the Empress Dowager...
Meeting Shen Xihe's eyes, which seemed questioning but were actually accusatory, the Empress Dowager did not refute: "As you suspect."
So it was true!
"You cast a spell on His Majesty."
What a madwoman she was! For the sake of power, she cast a spell on her young son, making him personally kill his elder brother!
The Youning Emperor carried this guilt for a lifetime!
He did have aspirations for power and yearned for the throne, but he was not so ruthless and heartless as to extinguish his humanity and kill the brother who had protected and raised him like a father.
"What? Do you think I am cruel?" The Empress Dowager sneered. "They do not only carry my blood! They also carry the blood of that person I wish I could grind to dust!"Her entire clan was annihilated by the man who once shared her pillow. A noble lady from a prestigious family, once revered as the mother of the nation, was demoted to the northwest and forced to perform the lowliest of tasks!
No one could match her hatred for the bloodline of the Xiao imperial family!
Power—only when held firmly in one’s own hands—could be wielded as one pleased.
Neither husband nor son could be relied upon!
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