#93: Falling Sick from Wine in Spring (Part 4)

Luo Wei’s heart leaped, and a cold sensation spread down her spine.

She suddenly understood the look in Ye Tingyan’s eyes just now. Even without saying anything, they both knew that after this incident, there was no way they could save Yu Suiyun’s life.

Although this was likely Yu Suiyun’s revenge after enduring for nine months, why would she make such a tragic move when Su Shiyu was still alive?

Luo Wei suddenly recalled what Ye Tingyan had just said: “Shortly after Shiyu was sent to Zhuque yesterday, someone secretly passed the news to the Noble Consort.”

She immediately understood the key to the situation. Her hands clenched into fists, and she said bitterly, “Chang Zhao!”

In the inner palace, only Chang Zhao knew about the relationship between Su Shiyu and Yu Suiyun. All he had to do was deceive Yu Suiyun when he delivered the message, telling her that Su Shiyu was dead. With nothing left to lose, she would choose a mutually destructive path.

As a result, she strangled Song Lan’s eldest son. Not only would she be unable to protect herself, but the inner court would also be thrown into chaos.

Her life was Chang Zhao’s revenge on Su Shiyu and on them.

Furthermore, no one knew what Song Lan would do in his rage. In any case, the beneficiary would be Chang Zhao, who was watching from the sidelines.

Luo Wei’s face was pale, and she was speechless for a long time. Ye Tingyan reached out and pulled her into his arms, sighing. “Today, when Chang Zhao and I were walking together, he told me that... half of the six-month deadline has passed. He won’t tell Song Lan about our affairs, but he is very displeased with what Su Shiyu did and can’t guarantee that he will be able to keep his promise.”

Luo Wei finally managed to calm herself down. “Is he trying to force us to leave the capital?”

Ye Tingyan said in a low voice, “Although he is not truly loyal to Song Lan, Shiyu has angered him. It would be too risky to stay in the city. The vanguard of the Jiangnan soldiers has already reached the outskirts of the capital. Chuyin, Xuechu, Cuozhi, and Lengcheng will be leaving the city today.”

“Suiyun and my brother are now in the hands of Song Lan and Chang Zhao. Now that Song Lan is immersed in the grief of losing his son, once he comes to his senses, he will definitely use these two people to force me to reveal myself,” Luo Wei said, her head bowed and her spirit lost. “We, we...”

She couldn’t speak. Even though her heart was in turmoil, she forced herself to calm down and quickly thought through the current situation. She found that she had almost no other way to break the situation.

What Su Shiyu did was a gamble. If he won, they would be able to eliminate Chang Zhao, a major hidden threat.

If he lost, he would have a terrible death. He had gone into this with a “burn the boats” mentality and hadn’t left himself any room to retreat.

The same was true for Yu Suiyun.

She was never the naive, spoiled, and barbaric person she appeared to be. It was impossible for her to be completely unaware of her family’s downfall. The reason she had endured was because she had realized that Song Lan cared so much about this child.

So she took great care of herself, gave birth to a healthy eldest son for Song Lan, and even designed a way to make him believe that the child was his.

At the peak of his joy as a new father, she personally strangled the child he had hoped for so much.

This was her most tragic revenge against him.

When Song Lan stumbled into the Pifang Pavilion, the smell of blood in the hall was almost gone.

The palace servants had cleaned the golden tiles on the floor so thoroughly that there wasn’t a single trace of blood. He could smell that cruel scent, but there were no bloodstains to be seen.

Yu Suiyun had been stripped of her Noble Consort’s clothes and was kneeling in the hall in plain white robes, with the child she had personally strangled in front of her.

He had seen him during the paternity test yesterday. He was a prince.

He had grown up with a lack of familial affection. His father was rarely seen, his mother had abandoned him, and the care he received from his brothers and sisters was something he had to beg for with all his might. In this world, this might have been the only existence whose flesh and blood were so intertwined with his from birth.

The congratulations from the ministers in the morning court were still ringing in his ears. Song Lan walked up to Yu Suiyun, his knees went weak, and he knelt down. He trembled as he reached out his hand. Before he could touch the small corpse, he heard Yu Suiyun laugh uncontrollably.

She laughed so hard, leaning back and forth, as she enjoyed Song Lan’s bloodshot eyes.

From the day she entered the palace, she had always looked like a naive young girl. Song Lan had seen too many aristocratic women like her and could see right through them. He was happy to spoil her, and even when she was confined, he never paid her any mind because she didn’t cause a fuss.

But now, looking into her eyes, Song Lan suddenly shivered.

Because he realized that there was no fear in her eyes, only a triumphant mockery that came from having avenged a great wrong.

She had gone into premature labor due to shock and had been in labor for half a day. After giving birth, she had watched him summon the imperial physician to perform a paternity test on the child. She hadn’t closed her eyes for a whole day and was extremely pale and weak.

And yet, she was still able to evade the guards and palace servants and, right under the Empress Dowager’s nose, painstakingly and cruelly strangled her own flesh and blood.

If she didn’t hate him to the extreme, how could she have found the strength to do that?

Song Lan grabbed her shoulder with one hand, wanting to crush her neck and shoulders. But the words that came to his lips were swallowed back. He suppressed all his rage and said with a gentle tone, “Suiyun...”

Yu Suiyun looked up and saw Song Lan’s disheveled and teary eyes. She smiled sweetly, biting her lips, and said to him, “Your Majesty, you’ve come.”

Song Lan repeatedly rubbed her familiar face. His hand moved down and gripped her pulsating neck.

He now wanted to cut this woman into a thousand pieces, but his face was filled with a look of heartbreak. “...I have doted on you for three years. I never favored anyone else over you even when the Empress was here. I was so looking forward to our child. Why did you do this to him? Suiyun, didn’t you have even a sliver of sincerity for me?”

He blinked, and tears fell, dripping onto Yu Suiyun’s hand, feeling slightly hot. “You still have feelings for him in your heart, don’t you? Since you love him so much, why did you marry me back then? Your father had so much influence. Why did you have to wrong yourself?”

Yu Suiyun was a little out of breath, but she still wrapped her arms around his neck and said word by word, “At a time like this, why... do you still have to put on an act for me... Your Majesty?”

Song Lan let go of her hands, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look at the dead baby on the floor. “He is also your child! Your child! Isn’t a mother the person who loves her child the most in the world? How could you bear to do this to him?”

“Just thinking that your blood flows through his veins makes me sick!” Yu Suiyun grabbed his hand and looked away. “Rather than have him grow into a monster like you and die a horrible death, I’d rather he died now.”

She struggled to turn her face around. “You should take a good look at him and remember forever that this is your child. You are the one who killed him. You will kill everyone you hold dear. This is your retribution!”

Song Lan let go of her hands as if he had been frightened. He stumbled back a few steps and muttered, “I was so good to you... I...”

“Good?” Yu Suiyun saw that he was still pretending. She covered her neck and laughed. “Was it good to kill my father and my brother and wipe out my entire clan? Or was it good to confine me in the palace and humiliate and toy with me? I’m telling you, even if you hadn’t killed Su Shiyu, I had already made up my mind!”

“Why do you think I was willing to endure and give birth to your child? A miscarriage was not enough. I wanted you to see him, hear his cries, and fantasize about what he would look like when he grew up, and then discover that you were left with nothing but the blood of your own family! You’re the one who killed him! You’re the one who killed him!”

She pulled a hairpin from the top of her head and lunged at Song Lan. Song Lan was caught off guard and was almost stabbed in the eye by her hairpin.

The palace servants had already stripped Yu Suiyun of her clothes, so there were no sharp objects left. The sandalwood hairpin on her head couldn’t even tear a piece of paper, but the eye was so fragile. How could it withstand such an injury?

Song Lan was humiliated and enraged. He finally tore off his usual innocent facade as a gentleman and drew the sword from his waist with a “clang.” Who would have thought that Yu Suiyun wouldn’t hesitate at all? The moment the sharp blade was drawn, she walked straight into it, allowing the sword to pierce her chest.

She had intentionally angered him and forced him to draw his sword!

Song Lan watched the blood-stained sword come out of Yu Suiyun’s back. He was used to seeing blood, but at this moment, he felt a disgust he couldn’t describe. He wanted to raise his hand and push Yu Suiyun away, but Yu Suiyun held onto his neck tightly. She leaned close to his ear as if to give him a kiss.

“One thing... Your Majesty... you didn’t... get right. Who said... that the person who loves their child the most in this world... is the mother?”

Only then did Song Lan realize that although she was in plain white robes and barefoot, she was wearing heavy makeup. The sweet scent of makeup lingered at his nostrils, mixed with the metallic smell of fresh blood.

What a beautiful corpse.

Yu Suiyun continued to speak intermittently. “At that time... in the hall... there was only me and the Empress Dowager... The Empress Dowager wasn’t mad at all at that moment... You guess... why she just... smiled... and watched me strangle your child... without even trying to stop me?”

Song Lan suddenly came to his senses. “What did you say?”

Yu Suiyun smiled silently. “You are suspicious of everyone... so... there will never be a single person... who is sincere to you, not even your mother...”

The pain had reached its peak, and her expression was twisted. The hand that was grabbing his robe was trembling non-stop. “Just continue to be a... lonely man without even a word to name your child. After you die... you will also be... a lonely ghost. I’m waiting for you, I’m waiting for you...”

“What do you mean? You said the Empress Dowager—”

Her breathing gradually weakened, and her fingers slowly let go one by one. Song Lan gripped her shoulders and roared, but she didn’t respond. “Tell me, tell me, what did the Empress Dowager do? If you tell me, I’ll give Su Shiyu a quick death...”

Perhaps hearing the news that Su Shiyu was still alive, Yu Suiyun’s eyes widened slightly. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn’t say anything. With her last bit of strength, she pulled the corners of her lips into a faint smile.

“Tell me!”

Song Lan pulled the long sword from her chest, only to realize that she had completely stopped breathing.

“...Why, why do all of you treat me this way?”

Liu Xi, who was guarding the door of the hall, heard the sound of a sharp object hitting the floor inside. Then, the young Emperor kicked the door open and walked out like a ghost.

He was wearing a dark robe with a hidden dragon pattern. The front of his robe was soaked in blood, but the color of the blood couldn’t be seen. Instead, the dragon patterns embroidered on the dark fabric seemed to have been nourished by the blood and became lifelike.

Perhaps because of the struggle just now, Song Lan’s hair was a little messy, and the left side of his face, which Yu Suiyun had been close to, was covered in dirty blood. Even though his face was still a little childish, he looked like a demon from hell.

The palace servants in the distance knelt down together, not even daring to look up. Liu Xi was bold enough to step forward and support Song Lan’s arm. “Your Majesty, please take care of yourself!”

Song Lan was supported by him and walked for a while before he came to his senses. “Old Liu...”

Liu Xi responded, “Your Majesty.”

Song Lan turned his head to look at him, seemingly lost in thought. His eyes flickered. “I remember you used to follow my Imperial Brother and Imperial Sister.”

Over the years, Song Lan had been very strict in his control over the inner court eunuchs, fearing a eunuch coup. Liu Xi was not the only person close to him, but he had been with Song Lan the longest. At a time like this, he was the only one who dared to come and serve him.

Although Liu Xi did not know what kind of grudge he had with the Empress, he knew something was going on. Hearing this question, he could only avoid the main point and say, “Yes, it was because the nobles saw that Your Majesty had no one to take care of you, so they sent this humble servant to serve you personally... Your Majesty, be careful of the steps.”

“Oh, that’s almost ten years now.”

Song Lan was talking to himself. Liu Xi didn’t know where he was going and didn’t dare to speak, so he just followed him step by step.

There were imperial guards kneeling by the side of the path, their heads bowed deeply. Song Lan stood still and, as he passed them, suddenly said, “Take him away.”

He was pointing at Liu Xi. Before Liu Xi could even turn around, he was grabbed by the arm by the imperial guards who had immediately gotten up. He was stunned for a moment and cried out in disbelief, “Your Majesty!”

Song Lan turned his head, continued walking along the bumpy stone path in the garden, and ignored his cries. “Kill him.”