The city wall was very high.

Xie Shi’an looked up at Yun Chu. The strong wind blew her robes, and her face couldn’t be seen clearly.

He suddenly smiled: “I wonder how the Empress Dowager will deal with me?”

“You instigated a regional prince to rebel, committing such a grave crime. Naturally, beheading.” Yun Chu’s voice was extremely cold. “There’s no need to pick an auspicious time either. Right now will do. Someone, summon the executioner!”

Soon, an executioner appeared below the city tower. They pressed Xie Shi’an to an open area, holding a large beheading blade and standing behind him.

Sunlight shone on the large blade, refracting a cold light.

“The Empress Dowager is truly heartless.” Xie Shi’an held his head up. “I once called the Empress Dowager ‘mother’ for four years. Once a mother, forever a mother. Has the Empress Dowager never truly regarded me as her son?”

Yun Chu’s lips curved in mockery: “If the situation were reversed today and this dowager had lost, would you spare this dowager?”

“I would.” Xie Shi’an said without hesitation. “Everything I’ve done has been to restore the Xie family. Once the Xie family is restored, I would invite you back to the Xie family to be my mother again.”

Yun Chu shook her head.

To survive, Xie Shi’an could say any nonsense.

She had spared him time and time again, given him chance after chance, yet he still walked along the same path as in the previous life.

This time, it should end.

She raised her hand and made a gesture.

The people below passed along her command, transmitting it to the city gate. A civil official threw down a token and loudly proclaimed: “Execute!”

The executioner drank a mouthful of strong liquor, sprayed it on the blade’s edge, raised it, and slashed downward.

Xie Shi’an raised his head in despair.

He saw that the woman on the city wall wasn’t looking at him but gazing at the sky.

Her face was full of indifference, not placing his life in her eyes at all…

The four years of mother-son relationship was like a joke.

The large blade fell, and intense pain arrived.

In an instant, Xie Shi’an’s head was separated from his body, hot blood splashing.

His head rolled to the ground. His remaining eye was wide open.

A beautiful picture scroll appeared before his eyes.

He seemed to see another version of himself.

The excellent him from childhood, after acknowledging Yun Chu as his mother, received all of the Yun family’s resources and smoothly entered the Imperial Academy.

He performed outstandingly at the Imperial Academy, earning praise from all the instructors, who even brought him to meet the emperor. The emperor bestowed many things upon him.

He smoothly participated in the imperial examinations, becoming a xiucai, then a juren, then passing to become a gongshi, and finally becoming the zhuangyuan personally selected by the emperor—a zhuangyuan who achieved the triple crown, momentarily enjoying unlimited glory.

It was Yun Chu who personally hosted his zhuangyuan banquet, inviting all the important figures in the capital to drink.

After the zhuangyuan banquet, he entered the Hanlin Academy. Because of the Yun family, he entered directly as a sixth-rank Hanlin editor, highly valued by the emperor. In less than a year, he was promoted to a fifth-rank official, then rose steadily. In the final scroll, he entered the cabinet and became a first-rank Grand Secretariat scholar—the current chief minister.

The other him in the scroll lived such a brilliant and glorious life.

Yet he was separated from his head, dying with eyes wide open…

Yun Chu looked down below the city tower and spoke indifferently: “Notify Yuan Shi to come collect Xie Shi’an’s body.”

Tingshuang nodded and went to handle it.

Yuan Shi was just outside the suburbs and hadn’t gone far. After the great battle ended, she tried to come collect Concubine Tao’s body, but the scene was too tragic. She simply couldn’t find where Concubine Tao’s body was… At this time, Tingshuang came looking for her and said indifferently: “Madam of the Xie family, Xie Shi’an has died. Please go collect his body.”

Yuan Shi’s lips trembled violently.

From the moment she learned that Xie Shi’an had become Prince Chengguo’s advisor, she knew this day would come sooner or later.

Although it was expected, she still couldn’t help crying out loud.

She walked crying to below the city tower and saw Xie Shi’an’s unclosed eyes. She rushed over and closed Xie Shi’an’s eyes for him: “An’er, rest in peace. In your next life, don’t be so clever. Be an ordinary person like Kang’er—just plain and ordinary will be fine…”

She struggled to arrange Xie Shi’an’s body in one place.

On her back, she carried the sleeping Xie Shikang.

In her arms, she held Xie Shi’an’s body.

In her hand, a bundle wrapped Xie Shi’an’s head.

She struggled to straighten her body, swaying and nearly falling to the ground.

Tingshuang stood beside her and said indifferently: “The Xie family clan members at the old residence in Jizhou have already returned all of the Xie family’s farmland. From now on, Madam Xie should live well in Jizhou with Xie Shikang. Don’t come to the capital anymore.”

Yuan Shi shed tears: “Please thank Chu’er for me… thank the Empress Dowager.”

If not for the Empress Dowager’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering, how could the Xie family clan members possibly return the farmland to her, an old woman? Without the Empress Dowager’s protection, she couldn’t preserve those fields either…

The chaos ended.

The capital’s main gate finally opened.

Everything returned to tranquility.

The court began awarding merits.

Yun Chu promoted Fan Ming again, making him deputy commander of the Imperial Guards.

Other ministers who deserved rewards all received them.

The eight study companions around the young emperor also all received some things.

At the same time, Yun Chu didn’t forget Concubine Jiang’s merit. She had the court issue an edict ennobling Concubine Jiang as a ninth-rank lady, along with various gold, silver, and jewels.

As for Prince Chengguo, Yun Chu first stripped him of his noble title, confiscated all the assets from his fief, demoted him to commoner status, then bestowed a cup of poisoned wine, giving him an intact corpse and preserving the imperial family’s dignity…

The aftermath kept them busy for about three or four days.

After finishing, Yun Chu turned her attention to the battlefield with the Dongling Kingdom.

After the new emperor of Dongling Kingdom ascended the throne, he joined forces with a neighboring small country to deal with Great Jin’s soldiers, placing Great Jin in a dilemma with the battlefield at a stalemate.

Just as she was contemplating battle tactics, suddenly a battle report came from the front lines.

“Reporting to His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, when the hundred thousand soldiers of the Dayuan Kingdom joined with the Dongling Kingdom, they suddenly turned their weapons around and caught the Dongling Kingdom completely off guard! The Dongling Kingdom thus lost six cities!” The reporting guard said loudly. “Now the territory of Dongling Kingdom is divided into three parts. Dongling Kingdom occupies one third, our Great Jin occupies one third, and the Dayuan Kingdom occupies the remaining territory. The Dayuan Kingdom has sent envoys to unite with our Great Jin to swallow up the Dongling Kingdom. General Weiwu cannot decide and specially requests the court’s decision!”

Yun Chu truly hadn’t expected such a reversal on the battlefield.

She narrowed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then said slowly: “The Dayuan Kingdom can betray the Dongling Kingdom as an ally and can also betray our Great Jin. However, in a three-way standoff, allies are indeed needed to quickly end the battlefield warfare. Cooperation is currently the best strategy, but we cannot place all our hopes on cooperation…”

People in the court offered various suggestions and advice.

Although there was still internal strife, they were all unified when it came to external matters.

After determining the battle strategy, they had the reporting guard quickly transmit the message to the front lines.

After finishing all matters, Yun Chu returned to Kangning Palace exhausted.

Chu Changsheng was painting. Yun Chu chatted with her daughter for a while, then went to the adjacent side room to check on Jue’er.

Walking in, she discovered the wet nurse had fallen asleep sprawled on the bed, and the child lying on the bed was also sleeping.

She approached the bed softly and gently, touched the child’s head, then suddenly froze.

She yanked open the blanket, her pupils contracting sharply.

This child was not Jue’er!