Chapter 19: Wuhuan Secretly Praises the Tyrant’s Looks! The Tyrant Is Over the Moon Inside

The Empress Dowager stared blankly at her younger son’s back. When she came to her senses, a surge of dread rose in her heart!

She suddenly turned to look at her elder son sitting opposite her.

“Emperor, your brother—how…”

Clutching her handkerchief, she blinked with difficulty. “He may not be an accomplice of the Zhu family. Emperor, calm yourself—don’t act rashly. Let’s first watch and see, all right?”

Feng Changye did not want his mother to realize that he had known about this all along, nor did he want her to realize he had deliberately brought her out today to watch her younger son commit treason.

Otherwise, faced with the younger son’s defiance and the elder son’s maneuvering, how heartbroken would the old lady be?

So Feng Changye put on a superb performance, feigning shock at his brother’s appearance!

With a dark face and a chilling gaze fixed on the figure in the Zhu family’s garden, he appeared utterly disappointed, utterly heartsick.

Then he drew back his gaze and looked at his mother, drawing a deep breath as he clasped her trembling hand.

“Very well. I will listen to Mother. I won’t act impulsively—we’ll watch first. Perhaps Changjin…”

His Adam’s apple bobbed twice, and he could not finish the sentence.

The Empress Dowager had half suspected that the Emperor already knew Jin’er would come here, and that he had purposely brought her to watch Jin’er collude with the General’s Estate…

But seeing the Emperor’s expression—so disappointed, so shocked—she finally felt a little relieved.

It seemed the Emperor, too, had not known that Jin’er would come.

He was as shocked as she was, as pained and chilled.

Mother and son turned back in silence to watch the Zhu family’s rear garden.

Feng Changye stared coldly at Feng Changjin, who was bent over among the flowers, carefully selecting the prettiest blossoms to pick. Violence flashed in his eyes.

Tch!

Picking peonies to give to Zhu Wuhuan?

This younger brother truly didn’t put his elder brother in his eyes at all!

Damn him!

Just as his anger spiked, he suddenly heard Zhu Wuhuan’s inner voice.

He snapped his gaze to the end of the covered corridor—

So this is Prince Jin, Feng Changjin? The “white moonlight” in Empress Zhu’s eyes? Tsk, tsk, Empress Zhu’s taste is really average; her eye isn’t very good!

Leaning against a pillar, Zhu Wuhuan gazed from afar at Prince Jin bending to pick flowers. Curling her lips, she groused to the system:

If it were up to me, I’d definitely choose Feng Changye. In looks and bearing, this Prince Jin can’t compare to him in any respect. And you know what, system? Though Feng Changye is a tyrant with questionable character, that face is truly easy on the eyes!

“…” Up in the pavilion, Feng Changye’s violent mood was soothed in an instant by Zhu Wuhuan’s thoughts.

He glanced at the flower-picking prince, and a strange sense of superiority rose in his heart!

The corners of his thin lips quirked up. Hah!

At least the woman has some discernment!

She isn’t as blind as the previous Empress Zhu!

But in the next second, his lifted lips snapped flat!

Because he heard what followed between Zhu Wuhuan and the system—

He heard the system say, Especially his skull—looks even better, doesn’t it?

And he heard Zhu Wuhuan laughing wildly in her heart: You get me, system! If someone’s good-looking, their bone structure’s good too. Feng Changye’s skull is really a sight to behold!

“…” A vein throbbed at Feng Changye’s temple!

That damned woman!

Keep bringing up his skull again and again—one day, he would take her skull and make a wine cup out of it!

… In the corridor.

After a few idle jibes with the system, Zhu Wuhuan straightened and walked along the corridor toward the garden.

Prince Jin had arrived at the General’s Estate half a quarter-hour ago; she didn’t know how he had slipped through layer upon layer of guards. In any case, once inside, he had gone straight to the rear garden and sent a servant to invite her to meet him.

She had deliberately dawdled before coming.

It was so she could rub her eyes red in her room, faking the look of one driven to tears by despair at her whole family facing execution.

The moment she stepped out of the corridor onto the bluestone path, Feng Changjin noticed her.

Holding a few peony blossoms in his hand, he strode quickly toward her.

“Wuhuan—”

With a gentle smile, he came to stand before her. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, his heart clenched so hard that the flowers slipped from his grasp to the ground!

“Don’t be sad. Don’t be afraid. I’m here—I’m here!”

He spoke, aching for her, and reached out to embrace her, to offer comfort.

Zhu Wuhuan sidestepped, avoiding his outstretched arms.

She groused to the system:

Damn, how fake! He knows the Zhu family is about to be executed to the last. Anyone with a functioning brain wouldn’t be in the mood to pick flowers and present them to the Empress!

I’m guessing he picked flowers to stir up the sweet memories between Empress Zhu and him, to rekindle her love. Then, when he saw her despair, he could drop the flowers and put on a show of “you matter most to me—nothing is more important than you,” feigning concern and heartache!

A simple girl like Empress Zhu, who’s never been flirted with, was just led by this kind of “unintentional” display of care and affection into a whirlwind of feelings—ugh!

…

In the pavilion, seeing Prince Jin try to put his arms around Zhu Wuhuan, Feng Changye crushed the teacup in his hand!

Though there was no love between him and Zhu Wuhuan, she was still the wife he had wed with proper rites!

That bastard of a prince! Damn him!

But hearing Zhu Wuhuan’s scathing thoughts about the prince, his anger was—strangely—soothed for a moment.

His gaze fell upon Zhu Wuhuan’s face.

Hmph, the woman had some sense after all; she could see through the prince’s true nature!

Unlike the previous Empress Zhu!

So foolish!

Opposite him, the Empress Dowager’s face was as dark as a sky before a storm.

She glared at her younger son, hating iron for not becoming steel.

“Changjin and Zhu Wuhuan—an illicit affair!”

Through gritted teeth, she spat, “It must be Zhu Wuhuan who seduced him. Otherwise, how could Changjin—a child so gentle and well-mannered—do something that betrays his elder brother!”

She slammed the table in fury. “That shameless woman!”

“…” Feng Changye silently turned and glanced at the Empress Dowager.

So she truly had no idea what kind of creature her younger son was?

When something went wrong, it had to be someone else’s fault—never her son’s?

Forget it. He was born of her body, and Zhu Wuhuan was an outsider.

Let’s keep watching, he thought. Soon enough, she would see for herself who was the real scoundrel doing the seducing.

… In the garden.

Failing to hug Zhu Wuhuan, Prince Jin froze.

His arms hung there, still in an embracing pose, as he stared at her with a face full of sorrow and despair.

“Wuhuan, you—” “Your Highness.”

With acting as skillful as his own, Zhu Wuhuan adopted a sorrowful expression. She bent to pick up the fallen peonies and choked out:

“Wuhuan today is like these flowers you picked—soon to wither. I, too, am soon to lose my head… A flower about to fade—how could I have any mood left to speak of moonlight and romance with you?”