Chapter 418: Chapter 416: Lu Ying, Are You Ever Going to Stop?
Lu Shiyan was startled: "Zhaozhao and Cui Ji are mutually willing? What do you mean?"
Lu Ying retrieved two broken pieces of a wooden hairpin from her sleeve and casually discarded them on the ground: "She’s been wearing this worthless trinket daily over the past few months."
The wooden hairpin’s simplicity was starkly out of place in the grand and austere Imperial Study.
Lu Shiyan glanced at it briefly and immediately understood: "Cui Ji gave it to her?"
Since childhood, Zhaozhao had loved only jewels and precious metals. She’d rather wear no ornaments than stoop to don something so cheap.
Yet she had worn this wooden hairpin on her head, and for months on end...
His hands silently clenched into fists, and Lu Shiyan gritted his teeth: "She cannot be with Cui Ji!"
Who does Cui Ji think he is?!
Merely a destitute scholar from a humble background!
He couldn’t even afford a golden hairpin but dared to give her a wooden one!
What else could he possibly offer Zhaozhao?!
When Lu Shiyan casually rewards Zhaozhao’s maids, it’s always with items of gold and jade!
Lu Ying also gazed at the broken wooden hairpin, her tone cold and dismissive: "Elder Brother probably doesn’t know this, but Cui Ji is Father’s illegitimate son left behind in Gan State. How do you think he obtained the Red Book Iron Certificate and the Imperial Decree of Marriage? They’re nothing more than Father’s compensation to him."
Lu Shiyan’s expression darkened further.
"So..." He gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly. "Cui Ji is our half-brother by the same father?"
They brothers shared a father and, it seemed, even similar taste.
One after another, they all fell for Zhaozhao...
Lu Ying gave no clear response: "In those three years at Gan State, the person who stayed by her side was Cui Ji. Does Elder Brother understand My intent?"
Lu Shiyan naturally understood.
Feelings forged through hardship often run far deeper than those shared in wealth and comfort.
What’s more, Cui Ji was someone Zhaozhao herself had elevated to the imperial court. They had schemed and planned countless matters together. To say that Cui Ji was her most trusted pawn wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
And now, the person playing the chess game had fallen for the pawn she controlled.
A blaze of fury churned within Lu Shiyan’s chest.
In Zhaozhao’s heart, Lu Ying had always come first, and he came second.
Now, Cui Ji was first, Lu Ying second, and he... third.
But why?
To lose to Lu Ying, he could accept.
But why should he lose to someone utterly insignificant who had appeared out of nowhere?!
The chaotic flames in his chest burned hotter, leaving him anguished and suffocating. He burned with the desire to turn back time and erase Cui Ji entirely from Shen Yinning’s life!
"So," Lu Shiyan fixed his gaze on Lu Ying, "what is your plan now?"
"Cui Ji has gone north, lobbying the neighboring states," Lu Ying toyed idly with the Moyu Ring on her finger. "Take a guess—if he were to die in a foreign country, what would Zhaozhao do?"
Lu Shiyan’s eyes grew darker: "You mean to say..."
If Cui Ji died, Zhaozhao would naturally regain her freedom.
No matter how much Zhaozhao liked Cui Ji now, given a few years, she would eventually forget him.
By then, both Lu Ying and Lu Shiyan would have one less formidable competitor.
Lu Shiyan studied Lu Ying’s impeccably refined face and suddenly sneered: "The world praises your uprightness and integrity, yet what you’re doing now is plotting the murder of a court official and slaughtering your own blood. If we’re talking about deception, Lu Ying, truly no one compares to you."
Lu Ying lifted her gaze, her cold eyes piercing him: "Isn’t what I’m doing exactly what Elder Brother also wishes to do? You and I are evenly matched. What do you have to mock?"
These words struck a nerve deep within Lu Shiyan.
After all, even if Lu Ying had no intentions to harm Cui Ji, Lu Shiyan had already planned to take action himself.
Now that Lu Ying was prepared to do it, Lu Shiyan was happy to stay uninvolved.
If, in the end, Zhaozhao discovered that it was Lu Ying who had killed Cui Ji, Lu Shiyan might even benefit from the fallout.
He said no more, maneuvering his wheelchair to leave, but suddenly turned back to look at Lu Ying.
Their gazes met.
Lu Shiyan suddenly curled his lips into a smile: "There’s one thing I’ve never told you all these years."
After a deliberate pause, he spoke in a soft tone: "Back when the Shen Family hosted their birthday banquet, you saw me and Zhaozhao together in Shen Garden, didn’t you?"
Lu Ying didn’t understand why Lu Shiyan was bringing this up now.
This had been a thorn in his heart, evidence of Zhaozhao’s betrayal.
Even now, though he claimed to have let it go, to have forgiven her, the memory still cut him deeply each time it resurfaced.
"Actually..." Lu Shiyan’s smile turned bitter, tears reddening his eyes. "Actually, when you and I competed against each other back then, I secretly uncovered evidence of your illicit salt and iron trade. When Zhaozhao found out, she was afraid I’d threaten your position as Crown Prince, so she willingly threw herself at me, using the opportunity to steal and destroy those accounts. They say seeing is believing, but Lu Ying, what you saw back then was precisely what I wanted you to see. After you two got engaged, Zhaozhao never betrayed you—not even once."
He hesitated before adding: "Of course, don’t be too moved. Zhaozhao only preserved your position as Crown Prince because she wanted to be the Crown Princess Consort. She destroyed the evidence solely for herself, not for you."
The Imperial Study fell into a silence so profound a pin could be heard dropping.
Lu Shiyan spun his wheelchair and leisurely left the room.
He knew very well that his words wouldn’t ease the conflict between Zhaozhao and Lu Ying.
On the contrary, the truth would only deepen Lu Ying’s guilt and desperation to take Zhaozhao back from Cui Ji.
He wanted Cui Ji dead.
He wanted Lu Ying riddled with guilt.
In his mind, neither of them deserved Zhaozhao. Zhaozhao should retreat with him to Jiangnan and live in peace.
Lu Shiyan’s wheelchair disappeared beyond the Imperial Study doors.
Who knew how much time passed before Gui Quan entered to add more light, only to find Lu Ying unmoving behind the Dragon Desk.
Several lamps had burned out, casting faint shadows over his face. His long, dense eyelashes completely concealed his eyes.
"Your Majesty?" Gui Quan called softly in concern. "This tea’s gone cold; would you like me to bring you fresh tea?"
Lu Ying gave no response, merely raising a hand instinctively to cover his tea cup.
Perplexed but worried, Gui Quan called out again: "Your Majesty?"
Lu Ying rose to his feet.
He braced himself against the Dragon Desk, staggering as he walked out of the Imperial Study.
"Your Majesty!"
Gui Quan hurriedly grabbed his horsetail whisk and followed, yet the night was vast and empty. There was no sign of their emperor anywhere!
Furong Palace.
Shen Yinning, furious from her earlier encounter with Lu Ying, had washed her hands with fragrant soap paste ten times before she finally stopped.
She threw herself indignantly into a bed warmed with a hot water bottle, trying to sleep. Just as she drifted off, someone pressed close to her.
The intruder carried the chill of night and frost, their icy kisses falling densely on her neck and cheeks, their cold hands slipping into her warm undergarments.
Annoyed, Shen Yinning opened her eyes, her lashes still damp from earlier tears: "Lu Ying, won’t you ever stop?!"
She reached out to shove the man atop her.
But Lu Ying, tall and imposing, remained unmoved no matter how hard she pushed. Instead, he clung to her all the tighter.
"Get off me!"
Shen Yinning, exasperated, began to pound on him in frustration before finally biting down hard on his neck.
She bit with all her strength, the taste of blood spreading through her mouth.
Yet Lu Ying stayed buried in the crook of her neck, his voice hoarse and low: "I’m sorry."