Chapter 5

Yan Donghuang played with the whip in her hand, her tone always calm: “This Grand Princess has plenty of time tonight. The guests outside will gradually leave, and your mother might suspect something happened in the Eastern Mansion, but they can’t come in. They can only go to bed uneasily, and no news from the Eastern Mansion will get out.”

“Brother Jing, husband…” Shen Jun cried out in fear, “It hurts, it hurts…”

Sheng Jing’an suppressed the hatred in his heart and said coldly: “The Seven-Day Intestinal Poison has no antidote. Yan Donghuang, you drank the poisoned wine. You will surely die!”

“No, no!” Shen Yun retorted sharply, “Brother Jing, you’re lying! I have the antidote. As long as the Princess doesn’t kill me, I have the antidote!”

“Yan Donghuang, only if you die can the emperor be at ease. Only then can I become the head of the family, standing tall and independent instead of relying on your aura. Only then can Yun’er become my legitimate wife!” Sheng Jing’an straightened his back and looked at Yan Donghuang coldly, “Only if you die can the Sheng family be completely under my control. I can take as many concubines as I want without considering your status as a princess. I want to expand the Sheng family, make the Duke’s Mansion a century-old family, and let the Sheng family’s glory continue forever—”

“Brother Jing, what… what are you talking about?” Shen Yun looked at him in shock, her face pale, “I said I have the antidote, Brother Jing—”

“The emperor wants her dead!” Sheng Jing’an turned his head and shouted angrily, “Don’t you understand? The emperor wants her dead. The emperor never intended to give her the antidote!”

Shen Yun stared at her blankly.

The emperor wanted to take back Yan Donghuang’s military power and wanted her dead. She knew that, but saying it now would only make Yan Donghuang more murderous, wouldn’t it?

Why couldn’t he lie to coax Yan Donghuang?

Moreover, she originally wanted to use the antidote to control Yan Donghuang. She wanted to be above Yan Donghuang. She wanted to experience the feeling of stepping on the majestic Grand Princess. She didn’t want Yan Donghuang to die so quickly. As long as she had Yan Donghuang in her hands, her antidote would be useful.

Can you understand the feeling of gradually taming the most noble person in the world? Breaking her wings, removing her pride, making her weak and humble, and struggling to survive. Who can understand that feeling?

Shen Yun propped up her body and slowly turned to look at Yan Donghuang as if seeking a glimmer of hope: “Grand Princess, I have the antidote. As long as you spare me, I will immediately give you the antidote!”

Yan Donghuang had no particular reaction to her words.

Neither surprised nor doubted, she just looked at Sheng Jing’an: “After this Grand Princess dies, how does the emperor plan to deal with my Qingluan Army?”

Sheng Jing’an clenched his hands. The bloody pain all over his body made him understand that Yan Donghuang was not easy to deal with. If she really spent the whole night interrogating them, being stubborn would only make him suffer more.

“Tomorrow morning, the emperor will order the seven generals of the Qingluan Army to enter the Sheng family to congratulate the Grand Princess on her wedding. The Sheng family will prepare a banquet to entertain them.” Sheng Jing’an closed his eyes, “If any of them are willing to be loyal to the emperor and obey me, they can be spared.”

Yan Donghuang’s eyes were icy. So, the emperor wanted Sheng Jing’an, a useless person who had never been on the battlefield, to take over the Qingluan Army. The seven generals under her command, those who obeyed would stay to assist Sheng Jing’an, and those who didn’t would be killed?

Yan Donghuang could be sure that her seven generals would never submit to Sheng Jing’an, so as long as she died, those seven generals were also doomed.

The emperor wanted to ensure everything was foolproof, so he had to deal with the seven generals before she died.

Yan Donghuang was silent for a long time before speaking again: “How many people in the court know about the emperor’s plan?”

Sheng Jing’an said: “The matter is confidential. The emperor doesn’t want to disappoint the ministers, so apart from me and Shen Yun, only the empress dowager knows.”

Yan Donghuang sneered: “The empress dowager?”

The current empress dowager was the emperor’s biological mother, but in recent years, to win over Yan Donghuang, she had almost treated her as her own daughter. She once said: “Donghuang, you have no biological mother, and I have no daughter. From now on, we will depend on each other. I will treat you as my own daughter.”

The empress dowager was not the empress back then; she was just a concubine. She treated Yan Donghuang this way only to win over a princess with military power for her son, and the late emperor really loved this daughter.

Her father once said, “So what if you are a daughter? You can still go to the battlefield and kill the enemy.”

Her father bestowed her the title of Princess Qingluan. The empress dowager valued her position in her father’s heart and her military power, so she treated her like her own daughter. Her biological mother died early, and she had no full-blooded royal brothers, so she regarded the empress dowager as her mother and her son as her brother. She wholeheartedly supported him to become the emperor, only to be persecuted like this in the end?

Human hearts are indeed the most treacherous things in the world.

Yan Donghuang’s heart ached as if a sharp knife was gouging it out. She turned and walked towards the outer hall, her voice indifferent: “Watch here, don’t let them out.”

Chang Lan responded: “Yes.”

“Yan Donghuang!” Sheng Jing’an got up and was about to chase after her, “I am your husband. You marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog—”

Slap!

Chang Lan raised her hand and slapped him: “Ungrateful wolf, how dare you call the princess by her name!”

“Princess, Princess.” Shen Yun begged hysterically in fear, “I didn’t mean to harm you. It was the emperor’s decree. It was Brother Jing who made me do it, Princess…”

Chang Lan kicked them away one by one, swiftly closed the door, and locked it, leaving the scumbag couple to scream and shout in the room.

No one would come to save them, even if they shouted until their throats were hoarse.

Yan Donghuang returned to the bridal chamber and lay silently on the bed, her stunningly beautiful eyebrows and eyes covered with a layer of icy frost.

“Your Highness.” Chang Lan followed and frowned worriedly, “Is there really an antidote for the Seven-Day Poison? Is there anything wrong with your body?”

Yan Donghuang closed her eyes lightly: “There is no antidote for the Seven-Day Poison. At least Shen Yun doesn’t have it.”

Chang Lan’s face changed: “Your Highness, then…”

“Don’t worry.” Yan Donghuang’s voice was cold and resolute, “I know what I’m doing.”

“Yes.”

Yan Donghuang closed her eyes and leaned against the bed, scenes of battles over the years flashing through her mind. She thought of the days when she was high-spirited and galloping on the battlefield, of her loyal soldiers who followed her to the death, of the rewards for the triumphant return, of the emperor’s favor, of the peace and stability of the Yong Dynasty and its people.

Who in history has not died?

Yan Donghuang was never afraid of death. She had imagined her end on the battlefield more than once, thinking that for the stability of the country and the peace of the people, what did it matter if she died in battle?

But she never thought that she would not die under the enemy’s swords and arrows but would be betrayed by the emperor and her husband after the war ended. One was the brother she helped ascend to the throne, and the other was the man she was ready to spend her life with. And there was also the empress dowager, whom she had sincerely respected. They had stabbed her heart with a sharp knife when she was completely defenseless.