Chapter 142: Innocent Child

"Medicine…"

"The life‑saving medicine…"

"Yan Er must not die…"

At this moment, Wang Jingyi no longer roars, nor does she feign deceitful scheming.

Her blood‑red eyes are veiled by hazy tears, all malice seemingly buried within the pain.

She is no longer Madam Xu, nor the Wang family's young lady.

At this moment, she is merely a mother.

A mother who hopes her child will live on.

Wang Jingyi drags her broken leg, crawling through a pool of blood; each inch she moves makes the shattered bone grind against flesh.

As she advances, a winding trail of blood is left on the ground.

"Yan Er, wait for mother," she gasps, looking toward the desk; the bottle of life‑saving medicine sits beside an unnamed spirit tablet.

The candlelight makes the nameless spirit tablet flicker, as if it were watching her coldly.

One step, two steps…

Her forehead slams heavily against the spirit tablet.

The once‑high‑haired noble lady now bows her head to the enemy's tablet like a crippled dog.

When her blood‑stained fingernail finally reaches the medicine bottle, a terrifying flash erupts in her clouded eyes.

"Yan Er! The medicine is here!"

"You won't die; I will protect you."

She cracks her cracked lips, revealing a smile uglier than crying, "I'll…"

Her trembling fingers frantically pull the cork, the broken nail scraping a harsh screech on the porcelain bottle.

The moment the cork pops, Wang Jingyi suddenly freezes.

She wildly flips the bottle's mouth, beating it furiously in her palm.

Empty!

The pristine porcelain bottle contains not even a speck of residue!

"Wretch! You deceived me!"

Her harrowing scream shakes the beams, dust cascading down, and she suddenly grabs the bottle, hurling it at her own temple.

Ah— Ah— Ah!

Shards of porcelain slice her wrinkled temple, blood smearing one eye.

She staggers back to her daughter's side, blood‑stained hand cradling Xu Luoyan's increasingly cold face: "Yan Er, don't be afraid; there must still be a way."

"Your father is Xu Chengyuan, your grandfather is of the Wang family…"

Wan Tang stands at the edge of the blood pool, her fingertips digging deep into her palm.

She watches Wang Jingyi tear her own hair like a mad demon, watches Xu Luoyan's pupils completely dilate, and suddenly feels something in her chest shatter into countless fragments.

"Does it hurt?" she asks softly, tears splashing onto the blue bricks, "I said I would repay you!"

Wang Jingyi suddenly falls silent.

She slowly lifts her head; in the remaining intact eye, Wan Tang's tear‑streaked smiling face is reflected.

"How hateful…"

Xu Luoyan's final sigh dissipates in the blood‑stained air.

On her drooping wrist still hangs the bracelet the Emperor bestowed after her first night of service.

Memories flash one after another, like lanterns seen from a galloping horse, replaying in her mind.

When she was young, she once wondered who the girl hiding in the corner was.

She also once forced a piece of osmanthus cake into Wan Tang's mouth.

But under her mother's repeated urging, she grew to loathe that person—the very one who made her mother weep at night.

Wan Tang once said she would give everything, only wishing to leave the palace and live a simple life.

With Wan Tang's help, she rose swiftly, becoming the Emperor's most favored Noble Consort.

If…

If she had not heeded her mother's counsel, had not promised Wan Tang to a eunuch, had not kept her.

Is it now that Wan Tang is merely a common townswoman?

And she, still the lofty Noble Consort?

A single tear slides from Xu Luoyan's eye corner.

No…

Mother said she never erred; the ones at fault were always others…

"Ah!"

Wang Jingyi's wail tears through the Cold Palace's dead silence.

She clutches her daughter's increasingly cold body tightly, blood‑stained fingers digging deep into Xu Luoyan's shoulder blade, as if this could retain the fading warmth.

Tears mixed with blood cascade onto Xu Luoyan's pale face, diluting the glaring crimson at the corner of her mouth.

Wan Tang watches the scene quietly, her fingertip brushing the nameless spirit tablet.

The exhilaration of avenging the great hatred and the bone‑gnawing pain churn in her chest, making even her breath reek of blood.

She slowly turns, embroidered shoes stepping over the blood‑stained ground.

"Wretch! I will make you pay with your life!"

Behind her, a sudden sound of fabric tearing erupts.

Wang Jingyi lunged like a death‑seeking evil spirit, her broken leg dragging a snarling bloodstain across the blue bricks.

A sharp shard of porcelain, somehow appearing in her hand, flashed with cold light straight toward Wan Tang's throat!

Wan Tang's hand rested on the dagger at her waist.

The long‑held restraint was waiting for this very moment.

She intended to slit this woman's throat herself, letting her blood serve as a sacrifice for the mother's lonely soul.

Bang!

The hall doors were violently kicked open.

Su Yanci's dark‑hued robe billowed with Fēng xuě as it was drawn in, and at the instant the porcelain shard was about to cut Wan Tang's skin, he seized Wang Jingyi's wrist.

"Crack!" rang sharply, and Wang Jingyi shrieked as she released the weapon.

"Take her down." Su Yanci shielded Wan Tang behind him, his voice as cold as quenched ice.

Su Yanci's gaze swept back and forth between Wan Tang and Wang Jingyi.

He suddenly reached out, his fingertip brushing the blood‑stained cuff of Wan Tang's sleeve, his voice pressed down to a whisper: "The Mother's hand should not be stained with such filthy blood."

Outside the hall, urgent night‑watch drums sounded, the midnight gongs striking so sharply that hair stood on one's head.

Su Yanci suddenly raised his tone: "Send Li Pin Mother back to the palace to rest."

He deliberately emphasized the last two words, his finger pinching Wan Tang's wrist as a warning, "While the matter is still fresh, it hasn't yet been reported out of the palace."

Li Ping'er'er'er and Xiao Shunzi stumbled into the hall, each on one side supporting Wan Tang's trembling body.

Li Ping'er'er'er's lips were almost against Wan Tang's ear, her voice pressed low: "Master, we must leave quickly."

Wan Tang's gaze fixed rigidly on Xu Luoyan's swollen abdomen.

The imperial physicians gathered around the bed, shaking their heads and sighing; the candlelight cast their shadows on the wall like a flock of bald eagles circling a corpse.

"The fetal heartbeat is gone." Xie Taiyi lifted the blood‑stained bedding, "It's a hemorrhage caused by conflicting medicines, a poisoning!"

Li Pin suddenly collapsed to the ground, her jeweled hairpin flying far away.

She stared blankly at the bed, "It's gone, all gone…"

She had thought she could have a child.

Wang Jingyi was held up by two guards, a strange "hoho" sound coming from her throat.

【Ah! Come to think of it, it should be Xu Luoyan's child, destined to become the next Emperor.】

【Has the protagonist's aura just vanished?】

【What can be done? This is ancient times. Full‑term births often encounter complications, let alone she was already premature.】

【If only it were modern times, we could perform an immediate cesarean; perhaps the child could survive.】

【Wan Tang should leave quickly; Xu Chengyuan's side has already received word, they're already in the palace. If they see this scene, they'll likely kill Wan Tang on the spot.】

"Step aside!" Wan Tang flung off Li Ping'er'er'er and Xiao Shunzi's hands, rushing toward the inner chamber.

She seized Xie Taiyi's wrist with such force that the old physician winced in pain: "Dare you cut open the abdomen to extract the child?"

Xie Taiyi's face turned deathly pale, retreating repeatedly: "Mother! This… this violates human ethics."

"Human ethics?" Wan Tang sneered, her gaze blazing as it swept over Xu Luoyan's rigid body, "Since the mother is already dead, why not save the infant's life?"

Without waiting for a reply, she snatched the silver sword from the desk; its cold light made her brows and eyes look like frost.

Su Yanci suddenly stepped across, blocking the way: "Mother, this is improper."

"Even if it's unavoidable, it still must not be you."

"Then who should do it?" Wan Tang's blade pointed at the physicians filling the room, "You?"

The room was deathly silent. The old physicians bowed their heads, none daring to meet her gaze.

"Very well." Wan Tang let out a grim laugh, turned and lifted Xu Luoyan's robe collar.

The swollen abdomen still retained warmth; her silver blade hovered above the skin, her wrist steadied terrifyingly: "All physicians, prepare to save the Prince."

The instant the blade tip pierced the skin, a chaotic clatter of footsteps erupted outside the hall.

Su Yanci's gaze hardened, and he drew his side sword with his other hand: "Close the doors!"

His sword point aimed across the hall doors, his voice decisive: "To protect Mother's safety!"

The heavy palace doors had just shut when the Empress Dowager's phoenix carriage bells rang crisply.

Xu Chengyuan's hoarse roar pierced the door panel: "What audacity! To block the Empress Dowager's phoenix carriage?!"

"All of you, get out of my sight!"

Li Ping'er'er'er and Xiao Shunzi hurriedly knelt at the front, pleading repeatedly: "We are rescuing the Prince inside; we truly cannot enter."

"Is it rescue or harm?"

"How could Yan'er be fine and then suddenly go premature?"

The treasured sword in Xu Chengyuan's hand flickered with cold light.

His eyes were filled with killing intent.

The Empress Dowager's face was taut, her eyes bearing a very complex expression.

Xu Chengyuan stared at Li Ping'er'er'er and Xiao Shunzi, his sword already three inches out of its scabbard.

"How dare you!" The Empress Dowager thumped her Nine‑Phoenix Staff heavily, "I shall see who dares to touch my imperial grandson!"

As the standoff continued, Chu Yunzheng's ceremonial guard quietly appeared.

The Emperor stood with his hands behind his back, his face revealing neither joy nor anger: "Mother, you arrived late at night; what is the purpose?"

Xu Chengyuan suddenly knelt on one knee, his armor clanking heavily: "Emperor! This old minister asks for nothing else but a glimpse of my wife and daughter!"

When he lifted his head, blood‑shot veins clouded his eyes: "One hundred thousand troops at the Northern Border are waiting for this old minister's explanation!"

"After all, even if they are at fault, the Emperor does not seek their lives, does he?"

Inside the hall, Wan Tang's wrist was as steady as a rock, and outside a sudden "Bang!" crash of a door striking echoed.

Chu Yunzheng suddenly chuckles lightly: "Xu Aiqing, is this an attempt to force the palace?"

He rubs the dragon‑pattern jade pendant at his waist with his fingertips, "Or perhaps… the Northern Border's military authority has already surpassed my jade seal?"

"Old Minister does not dare!" Xu Chengyuan's pendant sword clanged as it fell to the ground, "It's merely an urgent situation."

In Xu Chengyuan's eyes burned arrogance: "Fighting amid the flames of war, a life of cavalry, yet in the end unable to protect even one's wife and children."

"If that's the case, what face do I have left to let my brothers sell their lives, to battle on the battlefield?"

Xu Chengyuan's words were overbearing.

But he didn't realize that each word spoken made the Emperor and Empress Dowager's complexion grow colder again.

"Those outside are waiting, the imperial physician has already entered, they have no way to deal with the matter; what can Xu Qing do?"

"Lord! Help!"

Wang Jingyi suddenly bursts open the hall door, half her face smeared with fresh blood, "They killed Yan'er!"

"To avenge my daughter!"

At the instant the Gongmen swung open, everyone witnessed an unforgettable scene.

Wan Tang raised the knife in her hand high, slashing violently across Xu Luoyan's abdomen.

Fresh blood gushed like a spring, splashing onto her pallid face…