He never imagined that one wrong step would lose the entire game.

In the end, he was defeated by his own schemes.

He suddenly looked toward Su Ziluo, as if grasping his last lifeline. With a face full of ferocity, he laughed and revealed a savage look in his eyes. “That I would come to this step today—it’s all because of your father!”

Su Ziluo’s eyes tightened slightly. “What do you mean?”

“When your father died in battle years ago, it was because I had arranged a secret army among them. They received my orders—once the great army was defeated, they were to immediately kill your father! Those four arrows… were shot on my command! A defeated army becomes bandits—they deserved to die!”

Ah!

“It was to guard against your Su family that I embarked on this path of no return.”

His voice was low and resonant, echoing throughout the entire Imperial Study.

Su Ziluo’s expression changed dramatically. The truth struck him like five thunderclaps. The mass of congealed breath in his chest suddenly surged out of his mouth, transforming into blood that sprayed forth.

“Pfft—”

Blood splattered across the ground.

Staining his robes red.

“Ziluo.” Li Shiyan rushed over and crouched by his wheelchair, extremely worried.

Su Ziluo pressed his chest. His entire body weakened and tilted to one side. His eyes turned instantly red, filled with bloody tears. The sudden truth had given him an enormous shock. Combined with his already sickly body, at this moment his vital energy was completely severed, with only a thin breath sustaining him.

The power accumulated from hatred had allowed him, chronically ill for years, to sustain himself with a single breath until today, but it all turned to nothing in this instant!

Like a deflated ball.

He had resented the Wen family for years and nearly lost his life in Dalin seeking revenge against Ji Li.

He had even left Ji Yunshu because he could not let go of the hatred in his heart, losing the person he loved most in this lifetime.

In the end, he had sought revenge against the wrong person, hated the wrong person.

The one who truly killed his father was actually the Son of Heaven beneath the dragon robes!

He laughed miserably. Blood continuously flowed from his mouth. His voice trembled lightly. “Who would have thought that your Su family rose because of Xiao He… and fell because of Xiao He.”

The laughter echoed, like the pain of having one’s heart gouged out!

Li Shiyan gripped his hand. “Ziluo?”

“Pfft—”

He spat out another mouthful of blood.

Prince Qujiang laughed with satisfaction. “Su Ziluo, ah Su Ziluo, even if I lose, I have you to be buried with me.”

Su Ziluo’s eyes were bloodshot, hatred flooding his heart. Enduring the pain coursing through his entire body, he used his last breath to activate the mechanism on his wheelchair. An iron cord flew out from the wooden sheath of the handle, shooting straight toward Prince Qujiang. In an instant, it wrapped around his waist. Then, with the force of the cord retracting, Prince Qujiang’s entire body flew straight toward him.

In that very instant, Su Ziluo picked up the exquisite dagger and stabbed it toward Prince Qujiang’s heart!

Everyone was stunned.

Especially Li Shiyan—he was close enough to witness this bloody scene.

Prince Qujiang’s eyes widened. Blood flowed from his mouth and teeth, dripping onto Su Ziluo’s shoulder.

“You…”

Su Ziluo pulled the dagger out with the motion.

Prince Qujiang cried out in pain. His hands instinctively clutched Su Ziluo’s sleeves tightly. His entire body gradually slid down, his knees hitting the ground, kneeling before the wheelchair.

“This is what you owed my father!” Su Ziluo’s face was gradually covered in blood, making his entire appearance extremely terrifying.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Prince Qujiang’s entire body convulsed. He choked several times. Finally, unable to draw another breath, he collapsed.

In the end, his eyes remained open.

Blood flowed across the ground.

A shocking sight.

Su Ziluo spat out another mouthful of blood. The dagger in his hand fell to the ground. His entire face was deathly pale.

Li Shiyan was terrified.

Wen Che recovered from the scene before him and rushed to Su Ziluo’s side, bowing down and calling, “Someone, go find the Imperial Physician, go find the Imperial Physician!”

Su Ziluo stopped them. “It’s useless! I know I can no longer hold on. All these years, I’ve merely been living on by clinging to a breath of resentment.”

His voice was weak, his eyes slightly drooping.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll go find Uncle. He has a way to save you.”

“There’s no time. I simply… can’t hold on until then.”

“There’s time, there’s time!”

“Now that my great revenge is fulfilled, I have no regrets. What is there to fear in death?” He gripped Wen Che’s hand and smiled. “Wen Che, actually, I never told you—I have never regretted having you as a friend.”

“Ziluo…”

“From now on, the court depends on you.” These were his last words to Wen Che.

Tears streamed down Wen Che’s face. He tightly gripped Su Ziluo’s hand, trying to keep his life from the King of Hell.

Li Shiyan sobbed beside them, never having felt such heartbreak. “Ziluo, you said you would teach me military strategy and give me a fan. You cannot go back on your word!”

“Shiyan.” He called out weakly and powerlessly, gasping several breaths. “From now on, you must listen well to the Marquis. Don’t cause trouble anymore. When the day comes that you are enfeoffed as a marquis, if I know from beneath the springs, I will be happy for you too.”

“I’ll listen to you, I’ll listen to everything you say. I just won’t allow you to die!”

Su Ziluo leaned against the wheelchair. His breathing became increasingly difficult, his consciousness more and more blurred. He mustered the last trace of strength he had remaining and said tremblingly, “Tell Shu’er for me that if there is another life… if there is another life…”

His voice gradually weakened.

The instant he closed his eyes, he seemed to see a plum blossom grove.

The spring day was perfect, the cool breeze gentle. Pink and white petals scattered in the wind, incomparably beautiful.

And he himself stood beneath the plum blossom tree.

“Ji Pei.”

A familiar voice came from not far away. He saw that woman whose face overflowed with happiness running toward him…

Petals brushed across her delicate, rosy cheeks, kissing her beautiful eyes, swirling around her like a warm breeze.

So beautiful.

It was the most beautiful scene he had ever witnessed.

He would never forget it for his entire life.

He broke into a smile, pulled her tightly into his embrace, then reached out to break off a plum branch and inserted it into her hair.

“Shu’er, if there is another life, I will never break my word.”

He would never forget the image of that small person running toward him when the plum blossoms bloomed…

The scene dissipated bit by bit, plunging into endless darkness.

Li Shiyan watched as his palm gradually opened. He himself was stupefied.

“Ziluo!”

A tearing voice broke from his throat, grief-stricken to the extreme.

…

No one knew what happened in the Imperial Study that night. They only knew that Prince Qujiang had suddenly caught a chill and passed away.

The entire Yanjing City was draped in white mourning cloth!

Prince Qin’s Fourth Prince, following the posthumous edict, smoothly ascended the throne. Empress Qiu Qu’er also got her wish and became the Empress Dowager.

On the day of the enthronement, Grand Tutor Yi was imprisoned in the heavenly jail for poisoning someone at the Saixian Tower. His vast family wealth was entirely confiscated into the national treasury.

From then on, the Wen family dominated the court.

The Court of Judicial Review, in thoroughly investigating Liu Yunyan’s poisoning case, actually followed the trail and discovered the suspicious circumstances of her previous poisoning. According to her maid, because she did not want to participate in the courtesan selection, she had poisoned herself when she was at the bamboo house outside the city, making her face break out in red rashes so she wouldn’t have to participate. What was the reason?

The person was already dead, so there was no way to pursue it further.

As for the Su family, on the very day the new Emperor ascended the throne, they closed their residence gates. It was said that the spirited General Su had grown weary of all the disturbances and, from then on, became a free cloud and wild crane, pursuing the martial world.