slave like jade

Chapter 176 The Empress Dies
The crown prince got married, and the entire East Palace was full of joy, and the Changle Palace where Yu Ruyan was located was even more luxuriously and festively decorated. The exquisite wedding dresses sent by the Siyi Bureau and the Sizhen Bureau, as well as boxes of dazzling jewelry hairpins, It filled half the room, and the prince even rewarded almost all the rare treasures in the world into the Changle Palace like flowing water.

The entire East Palace was busy and noisy, and it was extremely lively, but no matter how lively it was in front of her ears, Yu Ruyan was always focused on embroidering the clothes in her hands.

In order to finish the clothes before Han Rui, Yu Ruyan was in a hurry. For her who is not very proficient in female reds, she would inevitably make mistakes. Even when she offered to help her, she refused and insisted on making the first shirt for Mu Lingzhi herself.

Rushing day and night, the clothes in the clothes were finally ready to be finished. Yu Ruyan embroidered the last stitch. The moment she bit off the thread, a gleam of light finally lit up her dry well-like eyes, and her face that had been silent for so long also burst into tears. There was a trace of sourness and joy on his face.

She carefully wrapped the finished clothes, handed them to Chunhua and Qiuyue, and said solemnly: "After I get married tomorrow, I will ask His Royal Highness to let you leave the palace and return to the other garden. At that time, I hope you will definitely help me." Hand it over to His Highness, just say, just say this is my last wish, please cherish it..."

Although the two servant girls had not been with Yu Ruyan for a short time, they liked this good-natured master very much, so seeing Yu Ruyan like this now, their eyes turned red again.

But until now, Yu Ruyan's fate could not be changed, and she would eventually be separated from His Highness the Third Highness and marry His Highness the Crown Prince.Chunhua and the two felt uncomfortable, but they couldn't express it at this time, which made Yu Ruyan even more sad. The two felt sore, and finally forced a smile on their faces and said, "Master, we will naturally send the clothes to His Highness for you. After finishing the clothes, we have to go back to the palace to serve the master, the master must not drive us away!"

Yu Ruyan felt sour, seeing the two of them suddenly thought of Brother An in her heart, sour, her eyes turned red.

"No, I have a lot of people serving in the palace, and I will live a good life, but His Highness, was seriously injured, and the copper coins are not around, and there is no one who is close to him to take care of him. I am very satisfied with the two of you, and I believe you will take care of him." I will take good care of Your Highness..."

Hearing what she said, the maidservants of the two couldn't refuse her anymore, because they both listened to Aunt Qin's words to take care of her. Since she was their master, how could they not listen to what she said!
Yu Ruyan also told the two of Mu Lingzhi's hobbies and interests in detail, letting them remember.

In fact, she has said these words to the two maids every day since a few days ago, from Mu Lingzhi's food, accommodation, transportation, to many habits in life, she has said it carefully, without missing a single bit.

Finally, she urged again: "You all have to remember what I said one by one."

Chunhua and Qiuyue were about to come down, but the closed temple door was suddenly opened in the next second.

When the door opened, the cold winter wind swept into the palace with a biting chill, and along with the cold wind came in, Empress Xie with a gloomy face.

But in her hand, she came in with a bowl of food in her own hand, and all the palace people around her stayed outside the hall. Only Aunt Qin accompanied her into the hall, and as she entered, the heavy hall door slammed behind her. It closed with a snap.

The muffled sound of closing the door made the three master and servant startled, and when she saw what the queen was holding, Yu Ruyan knew in her heart——

The queen came to Changle Palace at this time, she must have her own life!
Although she knew that her death was approaching, she was not afraid in her heart, but felt a kind of relief.

But when she thought of Mu Lingzhi in the sky prison, she had decided in her heart that she couldn't die, at least until Mu Lingzhi was released from the sky prison, she couldn't die no matter what.

Although her leg injury is still not healed, Yu Ruyan still knelt down next to the edge of the bed and respectfully greeted Empress Xie.

All the festive and luxurious things in the palace made the Queen's eyes red. How much she had longed for her two outstanding sons to marry wives and have children as soon as possible. Especially after Xiaodao became the crown prince, in order to consolidate his position as the crown prince, Queen Xie was even more urgent. I hope that he will marry the princess as soon as possible, so that Changle Palace can have a real mistress.

For this reason, she put all her heart and soul into choosing a candidate for the crown prince for him, and brought the granddaughter of the Hou family of Jing'an into the palace, so that she could have a chance to have a spark with the prince, and thus become the prince's concubine as she wished. Concubine Zheng, entering the East Palace...

But now, looking at the Changle Palace in front of her, she can't wait to burn down this festive and luxurious palace, as well as the people living in it.

Suppressing the raging anger in her heart, Empress Xie sat down at the table, looked at Yu Ruyan who was kneeling on the ground, frowned at her with disgust, and said coldly: "As the saying goes, a good woman does not serve her second husband. As another woman, even if she committed suicide, she would not follow her elder brother and marry her younger brother again. However, I never thought that you, the majestic princess of a country, can't even do the most basic etiquette and shame. You are so shameless, no wonder Even if the son of a lowly maidservant has the status of a princess, he still follows your mother who was born as a lowly maidservant, so lowly..."

The queen's words were sharp and piercing, with endless hatred, not only humiliating her, but also humiliating her mother and concubine who was far away in Daqi.

Yu Ruyan knelt there, bit her lips tightly and remained silent, allowing Empress Xie to insult her.

"You were originally a military prostitute who rolled out of the military prostitute camp. Marrying Ling Zhi is already wronging him. I didn't expect you to be a princess in such a broken body. You are shameless!"

The more empress Xie scolded, the more angry she became, she stood up and gave the bowl of bright soup in front of Yu Ruyan, and said coldly: "Because you saved the prince, I just let you You left Lingzhi, leaving you a cheap life, but now, you are even trying to harm the crown prince, so don't blame me for being ruthless."

"This bowl of crane crest red is a wedding gift from this Palace. If you are interested, you can drink it obediently. In this way, I can protect your whole body and your final reputation. If you don't obey, this Palace will give it to you." I don't mind cutting you into a human pig, making your life worse than death!"

Empress Xie's cold and unfeeling words changed the faces of the people present. Aunt Qin and Chunhua Qiuyue felt cold all over their bodies, their hairs stood on their heads, and they were also very anxious.

Aunt Qin, who was by the queen's side, had a sad expression on her face. She had promised Mu Lingzhi to help him take care of Yu Ruyan, but now, the queen is determined to take her life. How can she, a servant, stop her? of?

However, it is impossible for Chunhua and Qiuyue to go out of the palace to ask the prince for help, because the gate of the palace was tightly closed after the queen came in, how could they get out?
Hearing this, Yu Ruyan had a calm expression on her face, she had expected this result when Empress Xie came in, and she knew in her heart that if Empress Xie could enter Changle Palace, Xiaodao must not be in the East Palace at this moment!
The bowl in front of her contained brightly colored soup, which was obviously a heart-piercing and deadly poison, but at this moment under the bright light, it had the most alluring luster, approaching her with the breath of death.

Looking at the red-topped crane in front of her, a chill spread from her footsteps to her whole body, Yu Ruyan was trembling all over, and couldn't help but speak anymore——

"Mother, I'm not afraid of death, but I can't die now, otherwise, Ling Zhi's life will be lost!"

Hearing this, both Empress Xie and Aunt Qin were shocked. Empress Xie's narrow and sharp phoenix eyes darkened, her brows furrowed, she looked at her suspiciously, and said coldly: "What do you mean?"

As soon as the conversation started, Yu Ruyan's emotions that had been suppressed in her heart for too long also collapsed.Her eyes were red, and when she thought of what she saw in the sky prison that day, she couldn't help trembling all over, choked up and said: "His Royal Highness listened to the slander and believed that the person who planned to assassinate him three years ago was the Third Highness, so she felt sorry for him." His Highness became resentful, and even imprisoned His Highness in the prison..."

As soon as this remark came out, the Queen trembled all over her body, looked at her dumbfounded, and said in shock: "How is it possible, Ling Zhi won't harm Chen Zhi... Isn't he doing disaster relief in the south? How could he be imprisoned by the prince?" In prison? Tell me, what happened?"

Until now, Yu Ruyan didn't hide anything anymore, so she told the queen about Chen Yanfei, everything she saw in the dungeon, and the prince threatening her marriage with Mu Lingzhi's life.

When she finished speaking, the queen was already weak and unable to stand on her feet. With Aunt Qin's support, she sat down weakly on a chair beside her, and asked Yu Ruyan in a trembling voice: "You...you Is everything you said true?"

Yu Ruyan said with a gloomy face: "Every sentence I say is true, I dare not lie to your mother!"

After receiving her affirmative answer, Empress Xie looked very sad. She never thought that her two sons would go to the place where they killed each other. She was deeply saddened and said to Aunt Qin in a trembling voice: "Hurry up, send someone to the prison to see Look, no, you go in person, go to the prison to see where Ling Zhi is? If everything is as she said, I will try my best to save him. I don't believe it, the prince can really let him go My brothers don't even recognize me as the queen mother!"

After Aunt Qin heard that Mu Lingzhi was imprisoned in the prison, she was also very anxious, so after receiving the queen's order, she immediately turned her head and went out of the palace to the prison.

As soon as Aunt Qin left, Empress Xie sat in a daze. She hadn't fully recovered from the shock, and she didn't dare to say any more. The room fell into a terrible silence...

After a long time, Empress Xie finally came back to her senses, her eyes flashed brightly, and she looked straight at Yu Ruyan, the captivating gaze made her heart skip a beat!
Empress Xie stood up with the back of the chair, came to Yu Ruyan again, stared at her with fierce phoenix eyes, gritted her teeth and said: "Actually, the prince has never been such an impulsive and extreme person, and he is not stupid either. You won't easily believe that the assassination was done by Ling Zhi after listening to a lowly servant girl's instigation. In the final analysis, everything is because of you!"

"If it wasn't for you, the crown prince wouldn't lose his mind. After all, this silly boy just feels guilty and wants to find a suitable reason for himself to marry you. He thinks that as long as his brother is unrighteous to him first, He can also stay with you regardless of his brother's relationship, so as to reduce the guilt in his heart..."

There is no doubt that what the queen said made sense, and Yu Ruyan also understood this truth, so she didn't say anything to refute, but just knelt quietly, waiting for the queen to execute her.

"So, no matter what the reason is, for the sake of my two sons and Daliang's century-old foundation, not only can you not marry the prince, you can't even survive in this world!"

Empress Xie thought very clearly, everything was because of Yu Ruyan, the two sons both fell in love with her, and because of her they turned against each other and brothers killed each other, this woman must not be allowed to stay!
Hearing Empress Xie's words, Yu Ruyan smiled miserably, her eyes filled with utter desperation——

Now that things are going on, she can't move forward or retreat, she neither wants to marry Xiaodao, nor does she have a chance with Mu Lingzhi...

Because after the disturbance in the East Palace, everyone knew that she was already the Prince's man, and there was no possibility of her relationship with Mu Ling...

Thinking of this, she kowtowed to Empress Xie in despair, and said with a sob: "Your Majesty, the Third Highness has handed over to you, I hope you will rescue him from prison, and I..."

Staring blankly at Hedinghong in front of her, she smiled miserably, and said slowly: "As long as Your Highness is fine, I can leave without worry..."

As soon as the words fell, in the next second, she had resolutely picked up the red crest in front of her, closed her eyes and poured it into her mouth without any hesitation...

Chunhua and Qiuyue watched her drink the poison, they couldn't help but threw themselves on Yu Ruyan and cried bitterly.

And the queen at the side, watching Yu Ruyan drink the Hedinghong resolutely, was stunned for a moment, she thought she would struggle to escape and beg for mercy, but unexpectedly, she actually drank the deadly potion resolutely. poison……

……

Aunt Qin got the queen's order and rushed to the sky prison, took out the queen's badge and forced the jailer to open the prison door, and she finally found out that the person inside was not the real Third Highness Mu Lingzhi.

Seeing that the matter was exposed, the officials in the prison did not dare to hide it, and reported to Aunt Qin everything the prince had done quietly.

After hearing all the truth, Aunt Qin's face paled in an instant, and she sighed inwardly, she was about to rush back to tell the queen and Yu Ruyan, but found that the palace was full of Habayashi soldiers, she couldn't help feeling suspicious, and quietly After inquiring, I found out that the real Third Prince was already on his way back to the capital and was about to enter the city, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had just received the news, so he went out of the palace to stop him.

Thinking that the two brothers would definitely kill each other when they met, and seeing the prince's situation as a battle of life and death with Mu Lingyi, Aunt Qin's heart jumped into her throat, and she hurriedly turned back and ran towards the East Palace——

She thought, now, the only way to stop the rivalry between the brothers is to rely on the Queen and Yu Ruyan.

However, before Aunt Qin rushed back to the East Palace from the prison, suddenly, a dull bell rang throughout the Daliang Palace.

"Bang-bang-bang-"

The endless bell struck 27 times, resounding throughout the palace and even the entire Eastern Capital.

Aunt Qin counted loudly, and the more she counted, at the end, her whole body was icy cold——

27 death knells, this is a national funeral!
Aunt Qin's first reaction was that King Liang had passed away, so she couldn't help but staggered towards the Yugan Palace, but before she could reach the Yugan Palace, she heard the empress's Yaohua Palace crying loudly Shouts, everyone weeping—

The empress is dead!
Aunt Qin couldn't believe her ears, she was stunned on the spot, thinking she was dreaming.It wasn't until the eunuch who summoned the interrogation came crying and told her personally that Aunt Qin realized that everything was true.

Before she could cry bitterly, the eunuch's next words were like a thunderbolt blasting on her head, causing blood to flow from her whole body in an instant, and she was so shocked that she couldn't cry anymore——

The eunuch told her that Yu Ruyan, the quasi-princess and fifth princess of Daqi, killed the queen!
……

There were great changes in the palace, but the two brothers who faced each other at the gate of the Eastern Capital did not know that their queen mother had been killed...

At that time, Mu Ling, who was wearing a black cloak, held the icy long sword on Xiaodao's neck!

In terms of martial arts, no one in the world can match Mu Lingzhi who is invincible. Therefore, even though he ordered the city gates to be closed tightly with a small knife, and an additional [-] elite soldiers were sent to guard the city, Mu Lingzhi flew over the walls with a long sword alone. But in a short time, the elite soldiers who were approaching the city had no time to set up their bows and arrows. He flew to the city wall and put the cold sword in his hand on the neck of the small knife.

He is proficient in the art of war, how could he not know how to capture the thief first and capture the king first!

What's more, as long as he doesn't give in, who in this world can do nothing to win Mu Lingzhi!
The moment the long sword rested on Xiaodao's neck, Xiaodao's whole body shook. He looked at Mu Lingzhi who was chilling in front of him in disbelief, and was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

The cold wind blew past, and under the night, Mu Lingzhi's deep eyes shone with a frightening cold light. The murderous aura all over his body made the soldiers who surrounded him trying to save the prince fearful, and they couldn't help but stop three steps away. , dare not take a step forward!
Mu Lingzhi didn't pay attention to the soldiers around him at all, and stared at the panic-stricken knife with sharp eyes, with disappointment, heartache and resentment flashing across his expression——

He went to the disaster-stricken area in the south to rescue Yue Yu. When the news of King Liang's illness came from the Eastern Capital, he had successfully rescued Yue Yu from his cell on the grounds of insufficient evidence, so he had to hand over the rest of the matter of exterminating the bandits. With his subordinates, Yue Yu took the initiative to help him take over the matter of collecting the criminal evidence of Muxiang and the eldest prince.

After arranging everything in the disaster area, he immediately prepared to return to Beijing, because he had already thought that once the emperor fell, even though Xiaodao was the crown prince in charge of the country, he was afraid that he was not in the Eastern Capital, and Xiaodao would not be able to deal with the imminent attack if he was alone. Muxiang and the First Prince.

However, before he left, he had already received a secret order from Xiaodao. As the prince and supervisor of the country, he strictly ordered him to continue to deal with the victims of the disaster in the south, and emphasized that he was not allowed to return to Beijing until the disaster area in the south was dealt with in one day.

At that time, he was very puzzled when he received such a decree, but he suddenly thought that perhaps Xiaodao hoped that he could find evidence of corruption and murder by Mu Xiang and the eldest prince. ...

But within a few days, he sent a hidden guard beside Yu Ruyan to protect her safety, who escaped from the Eastern Capital with many scars and told him that Xiao Dao actually forcibly brought Yu Ruyan into the Eastern Palace, and he did it mercilessly. Killed several hidden guards under him, and those who escaped were also chased and killed by the people sent by Xiaodao, and finally left half of their lives to pass the news of Dongdu to him.

After hearing the news from the dark guard, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, especially when he learned that Xiao Dao had brought Yu Ruyan into the East Palace, he felt terrified. He already expected what Xiao Dao would do, so he was very anxious Immediately set off for Beijing.

However, before he could rush back to the capital, he saw the imperial edict issued by Xiaodao on the way, and he couldn't wait to announce to the world that he wanted to marry Yu Ruyan as the crown prince!

The moment he saw the imperial edict, he was completely mad. He never thought that his own younger brother, the crown prince whom he single-handedly supported, would betray him and do such a heartless and disregarding thing...

Thinking of this, the veins in Mu Lingzhi's hand gripping the long sword bulged. He was shaking with hatred, and his teeth were about to bleed——

If it wasn't because he was his own younger brother, if someone else treated Yu Ruyan like this, he would have already cut him to pieces.

Xiaodao's expression was startled and shocked, but he gradually calmed down. His dark eyes were also cold. He looked at Mu Lingzhi who was gritting his teeth coldly, and smiled coldly indifferently. Said: "Brother Huang, if you want to be a king or lose a bandit, if you want to kill or cut it, you can do it!"

Seeing his description like this, Mu Lingzhi became more and more chilled, and he also calmed down, with a cold and indifferent expression, and said word by word: "I will not kill you, as long as you let go of Yan Yan, I will not pursue everything before, you continue Be your crown prince, and I will immediately take Yanyan away from Daliang, conceal my name, and will no longer be the third prince of Daliang, nor your elder brother."

Hearing this, Xiaodao's whole body shook. He stared blankly at Mu Lingzhi's tenacious description under the moonlight, knowing that he would do what he said, and felt flustered and surprised for no reason.

In the next second, he blurted out: "No, the real prince should be brother, and the world should belong to you, brother. I don't want to be a prince. I just want to live with my sister. Brother emperor, I beg you You, you are more suitable to be the emperor of Daliang than I am, I am willing to return the crown prince to you, as long as you let me be with my sister..."

"Damn!"

With a loud shout, Mu Lingzhi interrupted his words angrily, and the anger that had finally calmed down was ignited by his words again. He stared at the knife fiercely, and said in a hateful voice: "Yanyan is already my woman, and the world is full of shame. No one can think of her again, you—even more so!"

"But the imperial edict has been issued, and my sister also agreed to marry me. Now, she is happily waiting to be married in my East Palace. It's not like the emperor brother can't do it!"

Xiao Dao sneered back at him, but his confidence and courage were gone...

He has always had a deep inferiority complex in front of this heroic and outstanding brother. Although his father, queen and queen have always loved him more, he knows that in the eyes of the world, he is far inferior to his brother. It was only with Mu Lingzhi's help that he got the crown prince.

These have silently taken root in his heart. He always thinks that one day, he can be more outstanding than his brother, and can cope with everything without relying on him, and no longer live under his halo.

Therefore, while admiring Mu Lingzhi, a trace of jealousy also quietly took root in his heart...

However, what makes Xiaodao jealous of Mu Lingzhi the most is Yu Ruyan's deep love for him. Every time he sees her obsession and affection for him, Xiaodao feels like a knife cuts his heart, both sad and unwilling... …

So, in his subconscious, he desperately wanted Yu Ruyan...

Hearing his words, Mu Lingzhi laughed angrily, but in the next second, he put away the long sword in his hand with a swipe, and said coldly: "I'm going to the East Palace to pick up Yanyan, this farce ends here Finish!"

After all, I don't want to be entangled with the knife anymore, I jumped off the high city wall, turned on the horse, and headed towards the palace quickly...

In fact, just now he almost couldn't control the knife opponent, but he remembered what Yue Yu said to him before returning to Beijing, he finally gritted his teeth and endured it.

Yue Yu said that during the Hanrui Festival ten years ago, Liang Wang brothers turned against each other and killed each other. He didn't want such a tragedy to happen again ten years later!

Yue Yu's words touched his heart, similarly, he did not want a similar tragedy to happen ten years later, so he tried his best to restrain the anger in his heart, and only wanted to take Yu Ruyan away.

Seeing that he was about to break into the palace, Xiaodao's expression changed drastically, he dared to let him go to the East Palace to meet Yu Ruyan, so he chased after him without even thinking.

However, when the two brothers rushed to the palace one after the other, they heard the continuous sound of the death bell ringing in the Daliang Palace, and the official of the Ministry of Rites stood on the high wall of Beidingmen with a crying voice. Crying to the officials and officials who heard the death knell coming——

"The empress is dead!"

(End of this chapter)