The Gilded Cage

Plead Guilty – In His Life, He Really Failed Completely. (1)

Xiao Yu’s erratic footsteps suddenly stopped.

The glaring sunlight shone on his face, which made him shrink back. After the dizziness passed, he opened his eyes again and looked in the direction of the majestic Taiji Palace.

That was the place where he grew up, from the Tai Chi Palace to the East Palace, every brick and tile in it was very familiar.

Up to now, he has become a prisoner, but the person who was high above him, waiting to see him, was his former wife.

He couldn’t tell what he was feeling in his heart, but he felt that the changes in person were unpredictable. After a period of trance, a trace of distorted resentment flashed across his face like a dead tree.

In the end, if they were still not reconciled, there were still things he hadn’t figured out, it was time to ask carefully.

“Let’s go.” He tried his best to stand upright, straightened his rough prison clothes, pursed his lips, and walked towards the Taiji Palace.

…

In the Ganlu Palace, Chu Ning sat in front of the dowry in the inner room, staring at herself in the bronze mirror with a calm face in a daze.

Cuihe dug out the pieces of newly made hairpin and ring jewelry and spread them on the table one by one, “Your Highness, let’s see. Which one do you want to wear?”

These were all made according to the empress’s specifications, inlaid with gold and jade, exquisite and dazzling.

Chu Ning came back to her senses, looked at the gold and jade jewels, and couldn’t help laughing, “What are you doing with these? You don’t need to be so troublesome.”

Cuihe bit her lip, she was a bit stubborn, “Your Highness is now an empress, as it should be…”

Chu Ning knew that she was upset and wanted to show her most luxurious side when facing Xiao Yu.

“Just wear this one.” She didn’t push it all, and picked out a simple golden ping and inserted it into her hair, “We live well, but we won’t rely on these to send that message.”

Cui He saw that her lively face was much less restrained and suppressed than when she was in the East Palace in the past. She slowly calmed down, nodded, and said, “Your Highness is right. This servant is thinking too much.”

After a while, the servant outside said, “Your Highness, he has arrived.”

Chu Ning paused, holding the teacup, slowly raised her head, looked at herself in the glass, then got up and sat down on the couch outside, and said, “Let him in.”

With a creak, the heavy palace door was pushed open, and a thin and frail figure appeared outside the door. The sunlight came in, casting a thick shadow on the ground.

“Shouldn’t you hurry up and salute when you meet Her Majesty the Empress?” Seeing Xiao Yu standing expressionlessly at the gate of the palace, the imperial servants waiting on both sides couldn’t help scolding.

“Hmph, Empress.” Xiao Yu’s expression was a little distorted. He didn’t even look at the servant, but just stared straight at Chu Ning, who was sitting on the main seat, and walked down the steps step by step, without any intention of saluting at all.

“I promised you the position of an empress, but you never cared about it. I thought you didn’t care about your external reputation, and that’s all there was to it.”

Facing the sudden change in status, the edges and corners that had been smoothed over the past half month suddenly became clear again. Even if he had been reduced to a prisoner, he didn’t want to show the slightest timidity when facing the woman who had surrendered to him in the past.

Chu Ning didn’t get angry because of his words, on the contrary, the more he spoke harshly, the calmer she felt.

“I really don’t care about being your empress.” She smiled at him and said lightly what was in her heart.

“You!” Xiao Yu froze, staring at her eyes gradually filled with anger, and he couldn’t help asking the words that had been suppressed in his heart for many days, “You and him! When did you say that I didn’t treat you well? Can a person like him treat you well?”

Chu Ning knew what he was going to ask. She had thought about it many times before, what would happen when he found out the truth one day, and now, she was going to see it.

“The night you left Changan and went to Huazhou, I came to Ganlu Hall.”

Xiao Yu was taken aback, completely unaware that the two of them had secretly communicated with each other at that time and suddenly felt a block in his heart. A burst of uncontrollable anger welled up, and even his eyes turned red.

“You sh*t, you have no sense of shame! No wonder you can work hand in hand with him! I only hate that I thought you were different from that Second Lady Zhao, but you turned out to be the same breed!”

He was so angry that his chest heaved and he was panting heavily, and his legs, which had little strength, also shook, almost unable to support his body.

He originally thought that she was forced to leave the East Palace by him later, so she became resentful and entered the Taiji Palace. Who knew that these two people had already committed such a scandalous thing under his nose so early on?

After hearing his accusation, Chu Ning still felt somewhat embarrassed and ashamed.

According to her upbringing, a woman should not do anything to betray her husband, especially having an affair with others. It would be looked down upon by the world. On this point, no matter what, she was wrong.

But this was not her intention.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked up at him, and said, “It’s indeed my fault, and I won’t deny it. But, if I had a choice, I would choose to leave you without hesitation.”

Don’t say that he was the crown prince, even an ordinary man, as a wife to him, she has no right to choose to leave. The so-called “peaceful divorce” means that the man voluntarily let go.

When she said this, it meant that she had intended to separate from him a long time ago.

“You have lied to me for so long, and now, are you still unwilling to tell the truth?”

Xiao Yu stared at her suddenly, “What are you… talking about?”

She didn’t speak, but took out the prepared envelope and handed it to him.

The letter that Fang Bo wrote before he went completely crazy.

Xiao Yu took it with bated breath, took out the letter under her calm eyes, and quickly browsed through it, the more frightened he became.

“As expected, you knew.”

He suddenly laughed and felt that most of his grievances and anger had subsided, and the secret he had kept for three years was revealed, which even made him feel inexplicably relieved.