Chapter 620: The Grand Finale (5): Chu Lan lost_1
Chapter 620: Chapter 620: The Grand Finale (5): Chu Lan lost_1
So from the very beginning, Chu Yi was never a sickly person and instead was always an exceptional master.
Wei Ruo and King Ruo knew each other a long time ago.
He lost, and lost thoroughly.
Wei Jinyi looked at Chu Lan and said, “My scheme was not for the throne nor for you, that’s why you couldn’t see through it.”
“Does it make any difference?” Chu Lan asked.
Wei Jinyi replied, “You shouldn’t have laid your hands on our father. Since you killed him, we are forever at odds.”
Chu Lan said in a low voice, “No, I should have acted earlier, even when I had the Qi Family as my competitor. At least then, he hadn’t schemed for you yet.”
“Whether it be Han Jin or Tan Rufeng and the edict of succession in your favor, all of this was a path paved by him for you. Without these, I might not have lost to you today. Even if I had to lose, it wouldn’t have been like this.”
“In his treatment towards you, he showed deep love and long-term planning. He suppressed me and my mother for your sake. To you, he was a good father. To me, he was not.”
Chu Lan’s face remained expressionless as he said all this, he was very calm.
Then Chu Lan turned his head to look at Wei Ruo. There was a sadness in his eyes that Wei Ruo couldn’t understand. He asked her in a low voice, “Can you tell me now, why you despise me so much?”
Wei Ruo looked at Chu Lan at this moment. He looked both pained and liberated as if he truly just wanted an answer.
“Perhaps we had a feud in our past lives and that’s why I instinctively hate you in this life,” Wei Ruo replied.
Her seemingly perfunctory answer was in fact, the truth.
Chu Lan gave a slight laugh as if accepting her answer, “Then I guess I have settled the old score now.”
And before Wei Ruo could speak again, Chu Lan thrust the dagger in his hand into his own chest.
This shocked everyone.
Wei Ruo looked at Chu Lan in disbelief.
In his dying moment, Chu Lan looked at Wei Ruo, “Maybe… I didn’t really love you, but rather, the time I spent in that place. It was peaceful and warm, without conflict or power struggle. People around me only had goodwill…”
After he finished speaking, Chu Lan closed his eyes.
Han Jin immediately stepped forward to check.
He then shook his head at Wei Jinyi.
Chu Lan had… chosen to end his own life…
Wei Ruo watched as Chu Lan lay on the ground, his blood staining his white mourning clothes red…
All Wei Ruo felt in this moment was a piercing discomfort, rather than satisfaction.
Suddenly, Wei Ruo felt as if a nameless weight in his heart had vanished.
What faded away along with it was his fear and disgust towards Chu Lan.
Was this… the lingering consciousness of the original host in this body?
Did the original host finally let go with the death of Chu Lan?
###
When all was said and done, Wei Ruo returned to the harem.
Inside Kun Ning Palace, the Imperial Army had gathered. They were here to eradicate the remnants of Chu Lan’s faction.
Several maids and eunuchs of Imperial Concubine Hui had been apprehended; the royal women in the palace were scared out of their wits.
Seeing Wei Ruo’s arrival, everyone showed looks of fear and awe.
Just in a short time, events had changed drastically, power had changed hands, and people’s views on Wei Ruo had taken a complete reversal.
Everyone knelt down together, prostrating themselves on the ground.
Wei Ruo, with flat emotions, stood face to face with the Imperial Concubine Hui again. There was no arrogance of a victor, nor was there any challenge or mockery.
Imperial Concubine Hui was still sitting on the seat of honor reserved for concubines, her body was trembling.
Seeing Wei Ruo walk in, she murmured, “My son and I didn’t lose to King Rui or you, but to him. He even arranged everything appropriately till the last moment for the son of the woman he loved the most!”
Looking at Imperial Concubine Hui, Wei Ruo said, “You resent the Emperor.”
She raised her head abruptly, “Why shouldn’t I? I didn’t poison Empress Xu, he knew it in his heart, but still sent me to the Cold Palace to suppress my son. He even planned to name King Qin as his heir! King Qin, a man of mediocre abilities, married for so many years without heirs, rumored to have a hidden illness! He did all this just to protect his most beloved son! Or I should say, the only person he recognized to be his son!”
Wei Jinyi confessed everything to the Daxing Emperor three years before leaving the capital, so the Emperor knew very early that Imperial Concubine Hui did not poison Empress Xu. Still, he never released her from the Cold Palace, because her falling out of favor was also his means to suppress King Jing.
This move of his was the hardest for Imperial Concubine Hui to accept. She would rather believe that the Emperor had been deceived into confining her in the Cold Palace!n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
While laughing and crying at the same time, Imperial Concubine Hui said, “It’s ridiculous! My son and I kept him company for twenty years, and King Rui only showed up for how long? Just because you are the child of the woman he loves the most, he only recognized himself as King Rui’s father and didn’t care about anyone else. How could we not feel cold-hearted?”
“These years, Imperial Concubine Qi and King Yu have been against my son and me, but I have never hated Imperial Concubine Qi because she, like me, is a pitiful person. What we have fought for in the end are nothing more than illusions. Those things we wanted, whether his favor or the position of crown prince, if he decided not to give them, he wouldn’t.”
Imperial Concubine Hui accused him one after another.
In her expressions and words, was filled the resentment towards the Daxing Emperor, it is the hatred of unrequited love.
Wei Ruo said nothing as she watched Imperial Concubine Hui.
Imperial Concubine Hui continued to speak as if no one else was around, “In the past, he only used the women in the harem as tools to balance the court. Later when he had Empress Xu, he regarded her as his heart’s favorite and didn’t look at any other women in the harem. I thought Imperial Concubine Qi couldn’t see through it and didn’t understand that he never truly cared for any concubine. Favoring or ignoring were all tactics of an emperor. It wasn’t until after Empress Xu’s death that I realized I was the one who couldn’t see through him, and he could actually love someone to such an extent!” Imperial Concubine Hui said.
After saying this, Imperial Concubine Hui suddenly reached out to grab Wei Ruo’s sleeve. The guards next to her immediately stepped forward, but Wei Ruo waved them off.
Wei Ruo intended to let Imperial Concubine Hui finish.
Imperial Concubine Hui pleaded with Wei Ruo, “Queen Rui, I beg you, spare my son. It was me who forced him, making him do everything. Please, spare his life for the sake of the feelings you had. He treated you very well. Earlier when I wanted to punish you, he had you taken away. He was devoted to you, always mindful of you. He never forgot everything that occurred between you.”
Imperial Concubine Hui’s shocking words were the first time the gathered women kneeling nearby had heard of a conflict between Wei Ruo and King Jing, hinting that their dispute ran much deeper.
Wei Ruo remained calm, “By saying this, you plan to tarnish my reputation and ruin the relationship between me and King Rui, right? At the very end, knowing that you could not change anything, you wanted to make sure I won’t be at peace either, correct?”
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