Even if everyone in this world despised her, even if everyone accused her, the son she had carried for ten months and given birth to surely couldn’t stand on the opposing side and accuse her like those others. Everything she had done was to enable her son to stand higher.
But Zhou Weiqi didn’t want to see her. The smile that habitually graced his face had completely vanished. From the moment young Madam Fan had spoken those words, his entire being seemed no longer his own. That dizzy, floating sensation made him feel utterly groundless.
He had always been curious about why his mother was so determined to utterly destroy his aunt and cousins, yet persistently believed that his uncle wouldn’t care. In the past, he had occasionally had such absurd thoughts, but he had always suppressed them all.
How could it be possible? His mother came from a distinguished family and had excellent upbringing. In the past dozen years, her conduct had been beyond reproach. Even when his aunt had been so cold toward her, she still sent things and supplements to the Marquis of Jinxiang’s residence every day, treating Han Zhi and Han Yueheng like her own children. Even Han Zhi and Han Yueheng had come to regard his mother as their birth mother.
Yet thinking carefully about what Elder Madam Fan had done, it indeed made no sense. This past year, what she had done to young Madam Fan and Han Yueheng had become increasingly excessive. He had indeed felt that Han Zhi was in the way and wanted to resolve the matter once and for all, but he also knew to exercise caution, to do the deed seamlessly and conceal it from young Madam Fan and Han Zhengqing.
But Elder Madam Fan had not done so. She had been utterly brazen and completely unrestrained.
Now that he thought about it, his aunt had been right. Because Han Zhengqing and his mother had been childhood sweethearts, because their relationship was so deep, that was why his mother dared to be so certain, feeling it didn’t matter even if she killed his son.
He felt a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet, bit by bit. He felt both shame and resentment—his father was the Crown Prince, the future Emperor, the master of countless subjects throughout the Great Zhou. He too was imperial nobility, a dragon’s son and phoenix’s grandson. Yet his mother had actually betrayed his father! Unforgivable—it was simply unforgivable!
Qian Ying knocked on the door from outside—tonight wasn’t supposed to be his night watch, but seeing that the Prince of Dongping’s emotions were unstable and that the situation in the Eastern Palace had suddenly changed, he felt rather uneasy and therefore hadn’t left.
But no matter how he tried to persuade him, there wasn’t a sound from inside. He grew somewhat worried and hesitated over whether he should call for an inner attendant to go in and check.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry for long. Elder Madam Fan arrived. She frowned at the tightly closed vermillion gate, her slightly pale lips pressed tightly together, and called out Zhou Weiqi’s name from outside.
Qian Ying felt somewhat awkward. Having helped out at the Marquis of Jinxiang’s residence these past days, he vaguely knew about Elder Madam Fan capturing a nanny and executing her on the spot, but he hadn’t known that this actually involved the Crown Prince and the Prince of Dongping. Now young Madam Fan had burned herself to death in a fire and was done with it all, but the Crown Prince and the Prince of Dongping had even less ability to act as if nothing had happened.
An embarrassing silence permeated everywhere. After quite a while, the door suddenly creaked open. The Prince of Dongping, his eyes completely red, his voice hoarse, expressionlessly and coldly looked at Elder Madam Fan, then turned and went back inside of his own accord.
Elder Madam Fan immediately followed him in, personally closing the door behind her, following her son step by step to the table. She sighed and asked him gently, “Are you blaming me?”
The Prince of Dongping’s eyes were nearly splitting with rage, containing a hint of tears. His eyeballs seemed about to pop out of their sockets. He let out a cold laugh and asked her in return, “Can I not blame you? Should I not blame you?!”
She had told him long ago not to focus solely on relentlessly pursuing Han Zhi and young Madam Fan, not to drive a dog into a dead-end alley, and especially not to destroy her own fortifications. But Elder Madam Fan had refused to listen. Not only had she refused to listen, she had become increasingly excessive, not only striking ruthlessly without leaving anyone alive, but also killing or sending away young Madam Fan’s children in one fell swoop, leaving young Madam Fan without even a last shred of hope, forcing her to shake out all the affairs of the past.
He looked at his own mother with choked emotion, his throat feeling as if it were stuffed with a heavy, soggy wad of cotton, so heavy that even breathing felt difficult. He couldn’t help but cry out, “How am I supposed to conduct myself before Father from now on?! How can I have the face to be this Prince anymore?!”
He had never used such a tone when speaking to her before. Elder Madam Fan felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. She stared at him blankly for a long while, then raised her hand, wanting to touch his face—this was a gesture she rarely made anymore. In the past, when her son had been obedient and filial, she had been too lazy to make such affected gestures to show intimacy.
But Zhou Weiqi forcefully brushed her hand away, his face showing obvious revulsion. “Don’t touch me! You make me feel sick right now!”
He plopped down into a chair, his head splitting with pain, completely at a loss about what had happened these past two days. His entire person seemed to have lost the ability to think.
Elder Madam Fan was pushed until she staggered. After steadying herself, she stared fixedly at him, seeming somewhat incredulous. “Just because of that woman’s few words, this is how you treat your mother?! Even you treat me this way—who else will believe me? How can you not believe me?”
Zhou Weiqi found it laughable, and naturally, he actually did laugh aloud. “Believe you?! How can I believe you? That flower hairpin isn’t yours? Or did you really compose ‘High Mountains and Flowing Waters’? Didn’t you kill Nanny Zhang?” He looked at Elder Madam Fan coldly, his eyes containing a disdain and contempt he himself was unaware of. “How can you expect people to believe you?! Aunt burned down the entire Marquis of Jinxiang’s residence in a fire! How much must she have hated you to be willing to use her life to prove that everything she said was true?!”
Elder Madam Fan stood in the middle of the hall, her face alternating between pale and flushed. Her nails dug into her palms until they drew blood, yet she felt no pain. Her exquisite features twisted for an instant. “So what?!”
Zhou Weiqi’s hands were tightly clenched into fists on the table. He raised his head and looked at her coldly.
“So what?!” Elder Madam Fan lifted her head and raised her chin, glancing at Zhou Weiqi dismissively, raising her voice. “Never mind that this lowborn woman is mixing truth with lies trying to frame me—even if everything she said were true, you should still stand on my side! Don’t forget, I am your birth mother. We rise and fall together! If I’m finished, will you as a Prince have any glory on your face?!”
This was precisely Zhou Weiqi’s greatest vexation. Right now, young Madam Fan had run before the Crown Prince to present evidence that Elder Madam Fan had been involved with Han Zhengqing in her youth, which was why Han Zhengqing had been so devoted to the Eastern Palace all these years, working tirelessly before and behind for the Crown Prince.
No man could tolerate this point. The Crown Prince’s health had never been good to begin with. Being angered like this had practically taken half his life. He was still lying in bed unconscious.
Zhou Weiqi simply dared not imagine how the Crown Prince would rage like thunder after he woke up.
Second update! Many thanks to “I Love Zhao Yincheng” for the peace talisman. Today I’m feeling a bit unwell—dizzy and lightheaded, even walking feels floaty.