Chapter 224: I Don't Want to Hear, No Explanation

This moment has still arrived; no matter how much the Emperor trusts Wan Tang, once imperial authority is involved, he inevitably becomes angry.

Wan Tang wouldn't really have feelings for the Dog Emperor, would she?

Wait, I just remembered something—do you find it strange that many times Wan Tang seems to deliberately avoid us, not letting us see what she's doing?

You're overthinking! We support Wan Tang; what else does she need to hide from us?

Wan Tang heard the barrage and couldn't help but raise the corner of her mouth indifferently.

Shei thought this scene falling into the Emperor's eyes was even more ironic.

Chu Yunzheng's fingers gripping her chin suddenly tightened, the force so great it nearly crushed her bones.

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he stared fixedly at the untimely, even tearful smile on her face:

"You... still dare to smile?!"

Wan Tang winced, instantly snapping out of her thoughts, silently cursing herself for zoning out.

But instead of restraining herself, she let the smile broaden, even laughing tears, mixing with the sorrow on her face, appearing unusually eerie.

She faced the emperor's raging gaze, her voice tinged with sobbing.

Yet a hint of indescribable sarcasm slipped in: "Emperor... do you really... think that's how it is?"

She paused, tears flowing more fiercely, her tone filled with bitterness and a desperate, reckless hopelessness: "Then, I... can I still explain now?"

"Explain?" Chu Yunzheng snapped his hand away, as if he had touched something filthy, his voice icy and bone‑cold, "What else do you have to explain?!"

"I already know everything! I now don't want to hear a single word from you!"

Wan Tang was shoved, stumbling, tears silently sliding down; she forced out a grimace uglier than crying, her eyes filled with an impenetrable, thick disappointment.

She murmured, "Yes... you don't want to hear..."

Xiao Mingshu watched with satisfaction, sneering as she interjected, "The evidence is conclusive, ironclad as a mountain."

"Virtuous Consort, do you still intend to use those flowery words to deceive the holy heart?"

Wan Tang lifted her tear‑filled eyes, staring straight at Chu Yunzheng.

Her tone suddenly carried an uncontainable resentment and defiant edge: "Emperor, if you are willing to listen, I naturally have words to say, grievances to air!"

"But Emperor, you said with golden words, 'I don't want to hear'..."

"If I speak again, wouldn't that be... disobeying the decree?"

Xiao Mingshu seemed to hear a joke, snorting, "Good to know."

"Then I will shut your mouth!"

Chu Yunzheng was utterly enraged by her resentful, defiant words, his chest heaving violently, pointing at her nose and shouting:

"Wan Tang! I think I've always spoiled you! That's why you're so ignorant of the world!"

His voice thundered, echoing through the hall: "Show me clearly."

"The place where you kneel now is Jingren Palace; before you stands I!"

"If I hadn't given you this chance, would you think you still have the right to kneel here and speak to me?! You should have..."

His angry words abruptly halted; he suddenly released his grip, as if utterly disgusted, shoving Wan Tang away forcefully.

Wan Tang, caught off guard, was thrust by his massive force, falling to sit on the ground, her hair bun completely disheveled, looking a wreck.

Xiao Mingshu, seeing this, immediately stepped forward, soothing gently: "Your Majesty, calm your anger; being angry at such a snake‑and‑scorpion‑hearted person is not worth it."

"Your dragon body is important; I'll handle this here."

Chu Yunzheng closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and, weary and disgusted, waved his hand, clearly unwilling to deal with anything further.

Xiao Mingshu, having received tacit approval, instantly wore a smug and cruel smile.

She turned, shouting at the guards, "What are you still standing around for? Lift her up for me!"

Two guards immediately rushed forward, roughly pulling Wan Tang from the ground and firmly securing her arms.

Xiao Mingshu paced to her, lifting Wan Tang's chin with a finger clad in long armor, her voice icy: "It seems, unless you taste a real hardship, you won't confess honestly."

"Hold on!"

At the moment the guards prepared to execute, Wan Tang suddenly lifted her head.

Even while restrained, her gaze shot straight at Chu Yunzheng, who had been turned away, her voice clear and bearing a final hint of stubbornness:

"Emperor! As a consort, according to ancestral law, without solid proof, how can you resort to private punishment and humiliation?!"

Chu Yunzheng's figure paused slightly, yet he did not turn.

Xiao Mingshu, as if she had been waiting for that line, sneered and clapped her hands.

Immediately, eunuchs entered carrying several trayfuls of fish in succession.

"You want evidence? I, this palace, will give you evidence!"

Xiao Mingshu pointed at the trays, her voice sharp, "We retrieved a large amount of unregulated fresh melons and fruits from your Cold Palace!"

"And these mysterious, precious medicinal herbs!"

"Even the palace‑strictly forbidden Yun Jin Su brocade!"

"Wan Tang, you disgraced consort, where did you get these resources?!"

"If not for covert dealings and colluding with external officials, how could you explain it?!"

She grew more agitated, pointing toward the inner hall: "Moreover, Hui Guifei and the Princess just came out of your place and collapsed from poisoning."

"Time, witness testimony, and material evidence are all present! What else do you have to say?!"

Facing this series of "ironclad evidence," Wan Tang did not panic; instead she smiled faintly, her laughter filled with endless sarcasm.

"Empress, don't you think... your words are laughable?"

She lifted her gaze, eyes like ice blades sweeping Xiao Mingshu, "Minghui is my biological daughter, flesh that fell from me; I may harm the world, but I would never harm her!"

"This is the firmest principle!"

"Silver‑tongued as a reed!" Xiao Mingshu, stung by the sarcasm in her eyes, was incensed and embarrassed, sharply interrupting, "Even at death's door you still dare to argue!"

"Punish me! Let's see how long she can keep talking back!"

Wan Tang no longer watches the overbearing Empress; her gaze, like a nail, is fixed firmly on Chu Yunzheng's upright yet cold silhouette.

Silence deadened the hall.

She is gambling.

She gambles on whether, deep in this man's heart, there still lingers a trace of the slightest doubt about that minuscule possibility.

Whether he still harbors, toward her, the "criminal woman," a faint judgment that surpasses the emperor's rationality.

She no longer argues, but with those tear‑filled yet unusually clear eyes, silently stares at him.

She exerts pressure with silence, and with this almost desperate stare, questions his heart.

Chu Yunzheng does not turn, yet can clearly feel that gaze—hot, stubborn, bearing a desperate, all‑or‑nothing sorrow.

He can picture her now—disheveled, yet stubborn.

Reason tells him the chain of evidence seems perfect, and the Empress's accusation is logical.

But in a corner of his heart, a faint voice questions: would a mother truly poison the daughter she cherishes as her own life?

Could this be… too unreasonable?

This silent standoff, more than a hoarse, desperate wail, unsettles him even more.

He weighs and struggles; the emperor's dignity and anger make him reluctant to turn back easily.

But that gaze is like a thorn, making him unable to sit or stand calmly.

Xiao Mingshu watches all this, Chu Yunzheng's silence and Wan Tang's "affectionate" stare.

In her eyes, it's no different from flirting with glances—a huge provocation against her authority as the principal consort!

The jealousy and fury in her heart instantly incinerate her reason.

"Are you all deaf?!" Xiao Mingshu shrieks sharply, her voice twisted by extreme anger, "Did you not hear my words?!"

"Act on my command! Immediately! Right now!"

"Enough!"

Chu Yunzheng suddenly snatches the tea cup at hand and hurls it to the ground.

The crisp shattering sound, like a thunderclap, instantly drowns all the clamor.

Ceramic shards scatter, tea splashes everywhere, displaying the emperor's raging fury and extreme impatience.

He suddenly turns, his gaze like an icy blade, first casting a fierce glance at Wan Tang, then fixing his stare on Xu Yanchuan, his voice trembling slightly from suppressed rage:

"Each of you… what exactly are you up to?!"

He steps closer to Xu Yanchuan, each word squeezing out as if from between his teeth:

"Xu Yanchuan! Tell me! Why is it you?!"

"I remember clearly: the commander of the Imperial Guard bears great responsibilities; guarding the Imperial City is your primary duty."

"Yet you repeatedly, 'coincidentally,' appear near the Cold Palace."

"Now this massive case involving the murder of the Noble Consort and the Princess, and you 'coincidentally' arrive first!"

Chu Yunzheng's chest heaves violently, his eyes filled with bottomless suspicion and the anger of being deceived:

"Give me an explanation!"

"Why does the task of overseeing this remote Cold Palace fall onto you, the Imperial Guard commander?!"

"Did you volunteer yourself, or… is someone behind the scenes arranging this for you?!"

Xu Yanchuan, facing the emperor's fury, does not flinch; instead he straightens his back, his gaze candidly returning to Chu Yunzheng.

However, when his peripheral glance passes Wan Tang, that deliberate aloofness and disgust remain evident, as if an extra look would be filthy.

"Your Majesty!" his voice steady, bearing undeniable frankness, "I am not here to interfere with the holy decree, nor to exonerate anyone!"

"I step forward only because I have seen with my own eyes; some matters must be spoken!"

He turns sideways, gesturing with a hint of contempt toward Wan Tang, his tone cold and hard:

"Your Majesty asks why I would involve myself in that Cold Palace affair?"

"I dare not deceive!"

"Because during inspections I repeatedly witnessed the conditions inside, which truly… disgrace the royal dignity!"

"I may dislike certain people, but I've never seen anyone reduced to such a state."

"As the Imperial Guard commander, maintaining palace order is my duty; how could I stand by?"

He then turns to Chu Yunzheng, his words becoming direct, even somewhat confrontational:

"Your Majesty has decreed that she must 'live,' yet the Empress explicitly forbids sending food or any provisions."

"Doesn't this force Your Majesty to bear the stigma of mistreating a consort?"

"I am caught in the middle, torn on both sides!"

"In the end, truly there was no… I could only devise this… compromise."

"Give her some seeds and fertilizer, let her plant something in the courtyard herself; whether she lives or dies is up to her own fate! Is that also wrong?"

Chu Yunzheng's gaze suddenly changes.

His hand suddenly clenches the rail, staring at Wan Tang.

In a cold voice he says, "Extend your hand…"