“A nasty old man?”
Xiao Yang looked at the father and son before her. Prince Jing’s neck was wrapped in bandages, and Xiao Lv’s head was swathed in gauze. The two of them looked both pitiful and furious, their eyes fixed on her, sharing the same expression of grievance and anger.
Xiao Lv, however, was fine. Though he’d had a bit of a scare, everything was resolved now. He stood with his arms crossed, looking perfectly at ease. It was less anger and more like he was enjoying the show.
Prince Jing wore an expression of painful betrayal. “In Your Majesty’s heart, is this subject already a nasty old man?”
Xiao Yang cleared her throat. “That was just to lower the enemy’s guard, to save you! Desperate times call for desperate measures. Let’s not get hung up on the details.”
Prince Jing retorted, “This subject is just a nasty old man. How would I dare get hung up on the details with Your Majesty?”
Xiao Yang was speechless. She had said so much; why was he so fixated on those words, “nasty old man”?
Xiao Lv’s eyes held a clarity that saw through everything. ‘Because everything else was a lie, but the hurt from being called a “nasty old man” was real! Who told the Emperor to always praise his dad as the most handsome man in the world whenever she was sweet-talking him? Calling him a nasty old man now? Of course his poor little heart is wounded.’
Xiao Yang sighed. “Uncle, I did all this to save your life. Just tell me, did I rescue you or not?”
The process wasn’t what’s important; the result was.
Prince Jing rose and bowed respectfully. “This subject thanks Your Majesty for saving my life.”
Prince Jing was very angry. The kind of angry that couldn’t be placated.
Xiao Yang looked at Xiao Lv, who just spread his hands. “Your Majesty, don’t look at me. I’ve never been able to interfere in matters between you and Dad.”
‘When they were on good terms, he, the actual son, felt like he was adopted. Now that they’ve had a falling out, she expects him to help them make up? Not a chance.’
Xiao Hong glanced left and right, but ultimately said nothing, choosing to play it safe for his own sake.
The Empress Dowager’s mausoleum wasn’t large. The guards searched it, and Prince Jing went in himself afterward to ensure no assassins or important clues were missed. Then, they headed back to the Capital City.
Even though her own mother was buried inside, Xiao Yang had no desire to go in and see the Empress Dowager again.
She left guards to watch over the damaged mausoleum, planning to arrange for its repair later.
They had galloped here at top speed, but on the way back, Xiao Yang rode in a carriage.
Beside her sat Mu Yunlian and Xiao Ziling, while a soundly sleeping Xu Xingchen lay in her lap.
Xu Xingchen was truly exhausted. He hadn’t slept in days and had finally fallen into a deep slumber. The sky could fall, and he probably wouldn’t wake up.
Mu Yunlian and Xiao Ziling’s gazes were fixed on Xu Xingchen. No matter how they looked at him, he was an eyesore. But they only stared and said nothing. After all, Xu Xingchen’s identity as the future Imperial Consort had been proclaimed to the world.
The carriage jolted. Mu Yunlian subtly moved a little closer and took Xiao Yang’s hand.
Xiao Yang gave him a cool glance but didn’t stop his little maneuver.
They had just reached the city gates when a guard rushed to report that something had happened at the Heavenly Prison.
Someone had attempted a prison break, using explosives to blast a huge hole in the wall. They had nearly let all the inmates out.
Fortunately, the Regent King arrived with his men in time to bring the situation under control.
Xiao Yang was certain Chen Han and his group were involved, but she couldn’t immediately figure out why they would attack the Heavenly Prison.
It was only after hearing the full report that she learned they were trying to rescue Liu Shixu and the others.
‘Liu Shixu and his lot are still locked up in the Heavenly Prison?’
This was the downside of having too many enemies—you couldn’t even remember all the ones you’d thrown into some forgotten corner.
Chen Han had kidnapped Prince Jing and was on the run, trying to force him to draw blueprints and formulas for various weapons. Meanwhile, Liu Zhongwen had been lying low in the Capital City, waiting for a chance to rescue Liu Shixu and his group.
Their plan was to release all the prisoners in the Heavenly Prison, then take Liu Shixu’s group into a secret tunnel. With the Emperor out of the city and the prison in chaos, they would make a quick escape.
But they hadn’t expected the Regent King to be prepared for them. He arrived with his men at the first opportunity, causing their plan to fail at the final step.
In the end, their luck just wasn’t good enough.
Liu Zhongwen was reunited with his children, as he had wished. Yes, children.
Liu Yumian was dead, but her body had been left in the cell for over a year, where it had rotted away to a skeleton.
And Liu Shixu… had gone mad.
This noble young master, once famed for his peerless talent and ethereal, otherworldly grace, had lost his mind after watching Liu Yumian’s body decompose into a pile of bones right before his eyes.
He couldn’t recognize people or speak. He just drew, frantically.
With no brush, he used a wooden stick. He used his hands. He had worn away a foot-thick layer of the Heavenly Prison’s cast walls.
Chen Qian, who was imprisoned with him, seemed slightly better off, but he too was on the verge of madness.
Forget anyone else; even Liu Zhongwen, his own father, almost didn’t recognize him when he went inside.
Xiao Yang assigned the task of hunting down the remaining forces of the two families to the brothers, Xiao Lv and Xiao Hong.
With their own father having been kidnapped and their own lives nearly lost, no one was more motivated than them at this moment.
Watching their men get captured one by one, Chen Han and Liu Zhongwen knew it was over for them. But the two remained unrepentant. Liu Zhongwen, especially, after seeing the tragic state of his children, was filled with bitter resentment. He desperately cursed Xiao Yang and spat that he had already sent out the blueprints for the cannons and firearms. He claimed he would have them published to the world so everyone would know the secret. Then, rebel armies would rise, everyone would have firearms, and she would no longer be able to rule this land from her high throne.
On that particular subject, Prince Jing had something to say.
He was terrified of death and had been forced to draw the blueprints under threat, but… he wasn’t stupid.
The designs were all in his head. Everyone could see the exterior, so he couldn’t just draw that randomly. But the secret internal mechanisms? No one else knew those. Couldn’t he just draw them however he pleased?
The blueprints they took all looked legitimate, but not a single one was functional.
So, he had not betrayed Your Majesty. Not one bit! But the Emperor had called him a nasty old man!!!
Xiao Yang: “…”
‘Is he ever going to let this go?’
Liu Zhongwen’s curses were too vicious. Xu Xingchen, who had woken up, had someone cut out his tongue.
It finally got quiet.
Xiao Lv and Xiao Hong led their men and worked for half a month, destroying over a dozen hideouts and capturing more than seven hundred people.
Their goal hadn’t been the Emperor. They had only wanted to capture Prince Jing and the people from the Heavenly Prison, then go into hiding to continue building their forces.
To ensure everything went smoothly, they had also planted explosives in many places throughout the Capital City.
They were just waiting to ignite them after their retreat to create chaos.
To make it more devastating, they chose places where ordinary commoners gathered.
The explosives they dug up weren’t the most powerful, but there was a large quantity. If detonated, they could have instantly flattened everything within a hundred-meter radius.
One does not kill in the springtime, but Xiao Yang broke this custom. She had them all killed. She also sent men to the place of exile for the Chen and Liu Families. All the males were to be executed; the rest were sent to the bitter, cold lands, giving them no chance to ever rise again.
She could not continue to be lenient with these people. Otherwise, they would think they could afford the price of provoking her.