Chapter 26: The Bold Wuhuan, Even the Tyrant Is Amazed

She wiped away her tears and bowed deeply to Feng Changye.

“Your Majesty, you mustn’t worry that this matter will damage your reputation. It is this concubine who has been unfaithful, consorting with the Jin Prince—this debased beast unworthy of being human. This has nothing to do with Your Majesty! The world will only curse me and the Jin Prince as worse than pigs and dogs. Your Majesty’s honor will remain unsullied!”

The Empress Dowager had already gripped the edge of the stone table in fury at Wuhuan’s earlier words.

Now, hearing this, she could no longer contain herself. Her hand trembled as she pointed at Wuhuan. “Wretched woman! Hold your tongue! Who gave you the courage to slander Jin’er like that?”

Tearfully, Wuhuan cast her a sidelong glance but ignored her, continuing in a choked voice to address Feng Changye.

“In the end, when this concubine and the Jin Prince are ruined and disgraced, if Your Majesty feels that we have brought shame upon the royal house, then please, without mercy or sentiment, strip us from the imperial clan. Grind our bones to dust, scatter us to the winds—then the reputation of the royal family will be spotless once more!”

When she finished, everyone except the near-fainting Empress Dowager stared at her in disbelief.

Especially those gathered below the rockery.

They had all heard—when His Majesty called out to the Jin Prince earlier, when the Jin Prince knelt and pleaded his innocence, when the Empress Dowager scolded the Empress for infidelity. But all had pretended deafness. Such things were not to be heard.

Never had they expected that once the Empress was brought up to the pavilion, she would brazenly go head-to-head with the Empress Dowager!

Good heavens—was the Empress tired of living?

They understood she felt wronged. For a noble Empress to be suddenly denounced as unfaithful by the Empress Dowager without cause—anyone would feel wronged!

But no matter how wronged, she shouldn’t clash so directly with the Empress Dowager!

To the point of disregarding her own reputation, openly branding herself “unfaithful” and “worse than a pig or dog”? Did she not fear the rumors spreading, her name forever tainted?

Madam Chen, the Grand Academician’s wife, sighed.

The Empress was still too young. She had won a moment’s satisfaction, but in the future, this would surely bring endless trouble.

But Grand Academician Chen gazed at the pavilion with thoughtful eyes—

Had the Empress been reckless?

He thought not.

If her “lover” were anyone else, then yes—her antics today would certainly bring her death, perhaps a poisoned cup by nightfall.

But her “lover” was the Jin Prince!

The very brother the Emperor had always guarded against, the very darling the Empress Dowager held in the hollow of her hand.

Now the Empress cunningly bound the Jin Prince’s name together with her own. If she died, his reputation would be ruined as well. The Emperor might even seize the chance to brand the Jin Prince with “moral corruption” and cast him out of the capital, even erase his name from the royal registry…

By raising such a commotion, the Emperor would surely shield her!

And as for the Empress Dowager? The old woman loved her son too much. If striking the Empress also hurt him, she would hold back. She wanted to swat the mouse, but feared shattering the precious vase.

In the end, the Empress Dowager would likely swallow her anger for now, returning to the palace to find another pretext to kill the Empress.

And as long as the Empress was shrewd enough to join hands with the Emperor once back in the palace, then with his protection, the Empress Dowager would be powerless to harm her.

What Grand Academician Chen thought was precisely what lay in Feng Changye’s heart.

He turned his gaze toward this woman from a thousand years in the future, the corners of his lips curving in the faintest smile.

What a brazen woman!

Were women of the future all so fierce, so unyielding?

In Great Ning, women followed the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, cherished their chastity and reputation. None would ever dare make such a scandal.

Who would dare quarrel with their mother-in-law like this?

Who would dare toss away their purity and honor, blithely suggest being paraded through the streets as an adulteress?

Those so-called refined ladies would never even dream of such madness!

But still…

When she turned her sharp tongue on him, she drove him to rage. But when she turned it on others—watching her lash out was sheer delight!

He could imagine how badly his mother must be choking on her own fury now!

And he could even picture the Jin Prince kneeling below, pale with terror, wanting to strangle her where she stood.

If the Jin Prince was unhappy, then Feng Changye was delighted.

And as for his mother…

When she was a good mother to him, he would allow no disrespect toward her. But when she thought only of protecting the Jin Prince and disregarded his feelings, he had no qualms letting her taste some indignity.

He could even lend a hand to those who vexed her.

So he cast a cold glance at the Empress Dowager, who was clutching her chest and swaying, nearly fainting from Wuhuan’s words.

Then he turned his expression to ice and looked at Ji Yunzhang standing at the side.

“Tie up the Empress and the Jin Prince at once. Parade them through the streets of the capital three times!”

“You will personally escort them, proclaiming Our decree to the world—”

“We hereby depose Zhu Wuhuan, the unfaithful Empress! We hereby strip the Jin Prince, Feng Changjin, of his title! Zhu Wuhuan will be executed by a thousand cuts in three days! Feng Changjin’s name will be erased from the royal registry and he shall be exiled to Lingnan, never to return to the capital!”

At these words, the Empress Dowager, who had been pretending to swoon, suddenly stood straight in shock.

No!

It was enough to dispose of the wretched Empress—

But how could her beloved Jin’er be punished too?

Her face filled with anger as she glared at Feng Changye.

“Emperor, what is the meaning of this? Jin’er is your blood brother!”

She lifted her trembling hand and pointed at Wuhuan. “Do you truly mean to believe this woman’s nonsense, and cast your own brother out of the royal house, exiling him to Lingnan?”

Pointed at like this, Zhu Wuhuan looked utterly calm.

She turned her eyes on the Empress Dowager. “You’ve been calling me a wretched woman all along—then in your eyes, doesn’t that make the Jin Prince, who is entangled with me, a wretched man too?”

Feng Changye nearly burst out laughing—he barely kept his teeth clenched to hold it in!

“Silence!”

The Empress Dowager trembled with rage, longing to rush over and strangle this foul-mouthed woman!

What sort of noblewoman ever had such a sharp tongue, such disregard for her elders?

She turned her fury on Feng Changye.

“Emperor, speak! Will you let this wretch drag your brother down with her? Plainly, it was she who seduced him—your brother was ensnared by her schemes!”

Her nails bit into her palm as she glared at him. “Listen well! We will never allow you to believe this woman’s vile lies and punish Jin’er with her. Jin’er is innocent!”