Ping Zhao Lu

Chapter 168: Working hard to make wedding clothes for others

Chu Yunyi smiled contemptuously and said softly, "Hasn't the attack reached the Xuan Zheng Hall yet?" His tone was relaxed and casual, as if everything happening before his eyes was just a little farce.

When Queen Mother Jiang heard this, a look of astonishment suddenly appeared on her face. She stared at Chu Yunyi with wide eyes in disbelief, and asked in a trembling voice, "You...what exactly do you want to do?"

Chu Yunyi smiled but said nothing.

He took a long stride and walked straight towards Xu Zhouye, who was not far away. Each step he took was steady and powerful, and he exuded an invisible pressure that made people dare not stop him easily.

Everyone present felt Chu Yunyi's powerful aura and involuntarily made way for him.

Xuan Qi, who had been protecting Xu Zhouye, saw Chu Yunyi approaching and waved the two swords in his hands without hesitation. He moved in front of Xu Zhouye like a whirlwind and protected him firmly behind him.

Seeing this, Chu Yunyi stopped moving forward.

He slowly turned around and cast his gaze towards Queen Mother Jiang who was standing behind him. He asked with a half-smile, "Mother, why are you doing this?"

Queen Mother Jiang frowned and looked at Chu Yunyi with confusion, obviously not understanding the deeper meaning of his words.

Chu Yunyi raised his hand and gently pressed down the weapon raised high by a soldier next to him.

At the same time, he raised his head, his eyes fixed on Fu Chuoren, who was not far away, and asked coldly, "You broke into the palace wearing armor and holding a spear, and threatened and bribed the Queen. Do you take His Majesty seriously?"

Seeing this, Queen Mother Jiang's heart trembled violently. Her pupils contracted slightly, and a trace of panic appeared in her eyes, but she quickly forced herself to be calm and shouted angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Fu Chuoren, standing by, was furious, his face flushing red. His eyes widened as he roared, "It's clear that the Empress and the Prince of Huai are secretly colluding and plotting to usurp the throne! The Empress Dowager and I are here on the Emperor's orders to apprehend these traitors!"

"Oh? Really?" Chu Yunyi's lips curled up with a hint of sarcasm. "But I just heard clearly that you, Mother, are forcing the Queen to hand over... the Imperial Seal."

Queen Mother Jiang couldn't find the right words to respond for a moment. Her heart was in turmoil, and uneasy emotions surged into her heart like a tide.

She was secretly upset, thinking that she had spent too much time and energy on Xu Jin after all.

Furthermore, she had clearly already sent people to contain the King of Yue, but why hadn't she been able to hold him off even for a moment? Given the current situation, if she were to engage head-on, she wondered if she could hold out until reinforcements arrived...

Chu Yunyi seemed to have read Queen Mother Jiang's innermost thoughts. He curled his lips and said calmly, "Mother, you are getting old after all."

As soon as he finished speaking, before Queen Mother Jiang could comprehend the implication of his words, Chu Yunyi raised his hand lightly and waved it casually. The group of soldiers who were originally on high alert and holding weapons put down their weapons without hesitation.

This sudden change left Empress Dowager Jiang and Fu Chuoren dumbfounded. They stared with wide eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

Only Madam Liu, who was standing next to Empress Dowager Jiang, had a smile on her face, and that smile seemed to be the satisfaction after her conspiracy succeeded.

After she bowed slightly, she walked slowly to stand behind Chu Yunyi and stood steadily.

When Queen Mother Jiang saw this scene, her heart sank suddenly and her body took a small step back uncontrollably.

At the same time, Xu Zhouye and his group were also somewhat surprised by what was happening before their eyes.

"You...you!" Empress Dowager Jiang was so angry that her whole body was shaking, her face flushed red, her chest heaving violently, and one finger tremblingly pointed at Matron Liu, the fingertip twitching slightly with anger.

She opened her eyes wide, filled with disbelief and grief, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "I've always treated you well!"

Chu Yunyi couldn't help but chuckle when he saw this.

Nanny Liu looked composed, standing with her head bowed, and said calmly, "Empress Dowager, you once said that human hearts are the most fickle." There seemed to be a hint of sarcasm in her words.

Hearing this, Queen Mother Jiang's heart sank into the bottomless abyss.

She seemed to have lost all her strength and her body was about to collapse. Fu Chuoren, who was beside her, saw that the situation was not good and hurriedly reached out to support her, but in the end he was a step too late.

With a "thump" sound, Queen Mother Jiang collapsed heavily on the cold ground.

Her face no longer held the dignity and dignity of the past, replaced by a deep sense of despair and bitterness. Her lips parted slightly, revealing a smile uglier than tears, as she muttered to herself, "I finally understand..."

"No wonder you are so impatient and try your best to persuade me to take action at this time... So... So you were waiting for me here!" Queen Mother Jiang's voice became more and more hoarse, as if every word she spoke would consume all her strength.

As she spoke, she covered her chest tightly with her hands, where she was experiencing severe pain that made it almost impossible for her to breathe.

"I have been scheming and planning all these years, but in the end, all I have done was to help others!" At the end, Queen Mother Jiang was sobbing.

Facing Queen Mother Jiang's accusations and tears, Chu Yunyi remained unfazed. He raised an eyebrow and said casually, "Your Majesty, you are wrong. Isn't there still General Fu?"

Fu Chuoren, who was named, looked worried.

He looked at Queen Mother Jiang, then at Chu Yunyi, and secretly groaned in his heart.

He also didn't expect that the people he had tried so hard to win over in the court were all the King of Yue's men.

I didn't expect that I ended up helping the wrong person.

Queen Mother Jiang glanced up at Fu Chuoren, her smile growing even sadder. She turned and glared fiercely at Chu Yunyi, "You're keeping me here just so I can... so I can deal with the Emperor. So I can focus all my energy on him! You're secretly cultivating your own power..."

"For so many years, you've been forbearing and plotting. You have spies everywhere, and everyone is your pawn! Even I have been calculated by you! What a meticulous plan, what a wolfish ambition..."

"Hahaha... now that everything has come to fruition, you're not pretending to be sick anymore, are you?" Queen Mother Jiang laughed self-deprecatingly. "I've always been thinking about you, always worried about your health, sending you so many supplements... and yet you repay me like this!"

Chu Yunyi lowered his head, his fingers slightly bent. After a moment's silence, he said in a deep voice, "Mother, I have to admit that you do care about me, but... it would be much better if this care wasn't mixed with something else."

Queen Mother Jiang was exhausted: "I never thought of taking your life!"

Chu Yunyi's eyelashes trembled slightly. "Yes, although you didn't intend to take my life directly, you wanted to use others to get rid of me." After a pause, he raised his eyes and looked directly into Queen Mother Jiang's resentful eyes. "Mother, it's not too late for you to calm down now. When I succeed, I will still respect you as Queen Mother. You will still be the most noble and prominent person in the Great Wei!"

Queen Mother Jiang sneered, "What I did was not just for the empty title of Queen Mother. I should not have been so soft-hearted. Seeing you two brothers were so pitiful, I took you into my family. Who would have thought that I would raise such an ungrateful person like you."

Chu Yunyi clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "After all, everything you did was just for my seventh brother!"

Queen Mother Jiang was startled, "Why did you mention Yu'er?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the nerves of everyone present instantly tensed.

Xu Zhouye was also curious about the pros and cons of this, and watched everything happening in front of him intently.

He was even sitting on a chair, eating melon seeds with Qinghe and the others, watching intently.

Queen Mother Jiang became increasingly nervous. She asked again, "What does all this have to do with Yu'er?"

Chu Yunyi stared at Queen Mother Jiang with deep eyes. "What I mean is that your so-called concern for us is nothing more than your longing for my seventh brother. How could you not think of my seventh brother when you saw us?"

This is true.

Queen Mother Jiang was speechless.

After all, they are all descendants of the late emperor, and these princes all have some similarities in their eyebrows.

Whenever she faced these princes who looked like her deceased children, her heart would involuntarily ripple. Even if she wanted to kill them, she would hesitate and be indecisive at the critical moment.

Seeing her like this, Chu Yunyi couldn't help but feel a little sad, and the truth that was on the tip of his tongue was hard to say.

He originally wanted to tell Queen Mother Jiang that Yu'er, whom she had been thinking about day and night, was killed by him!

It was he who set fire to Yuhua Palace.

But he didn't mean it.

At that time, he thought that other princes were inside...

He also regrets it.

It’s also very painful…

He never thought of doing such a cruel thing to his three-year-old brother.

What's more, he was the son born to Queen Mother Jiang.

He really didn't care...

Every time I woke up in the middle of the night, I dreamed that my seventh brother was trapped in a sea of ​​fire, and I burst into tears and was heartbroken.

He was also in great pain...

The more Chu Yunyi thought about it, the more heartbroken he felt, and his breathing became more rapid.

When Queen Mother Jiang saw him like this, she couldn't help but feel puzzled.

It seems that every time the King of Yue mentions Yu'er, his mood is not right.

Could it be that he knows something?

When Yu'er died in a sea of ​​fire, the palace maids who knew the truth all pointed out that it was done by a concubine's maid.

In a rage, she immediately executed the nanny, cried to the late emperor, and dealt with the concubine as well.

Now that I think about it, that concubine seemed to have been giving Chu Yunyi a lot of trouble. Furthermore, the Sixth Prince she gave birth to repeatedly ridiculed Chu Yunyi's background...

Thinking of this, Queen Mother Jiang's expression became more solemn. She raised her eyes and stared at Chu Yunyi closely, confusion and fear slowly revealing in her desperate eyes.

"You..." Queen Mother Jiang choked, "Did you...did you kill Yu'er?"