Chapter 147: He Will Not Endure It Anymore

Nan Xueyin did not know what had happened on Song Jianing's side.

But the situation on her own side was not optimistic.

Originally, she had held the upper hand; even the Emperor's personal guards could not defeat an Assassin like her who feared neither death nor injury.

That was until one of the guards pulled a powder pouch from his robes and flung it violently.

Nan Xueyin hurriedly covered her mouth and nose, yet she still inhaled some of the dust.

She did not know what it was at first, until her chest began to ache with a stifling pain, as if thousands of insects were gnawing at her flesh and bone; she lost all strength in her body, could not even hold her sword hilt steady, and suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Gu Poison.

This was the sign of the Gu Poison acting up.

That dust was something that accelerated the onset of the Gu Poison.

Did today's events have something to do with Xiao Mingyu?

How did Xiao Mingyu convince the Emperor to come and capture her?

Or was it... related to Xiao Qingling?

Nan Xueyin could not figure out what exactly had happened.

The guards approached, surrounding Nan Xueyin.

Before she completely lost consciousness from the pain, Nan Xueyin thought, fortunately she had not hesitated just now and said those words, "I miss you very much," and Xiao Youlan had heard them too.

The Emperor's bedchamber.

Xiao Youlan stood tall and upright within the hall.

The gauze curtains around the large bed were all let down, obscuring the scene on the bed and making it look hazy and indistinct.

He could only see the Imperial Physician kneeling before the bed, and the hand the Emperor had extended for the Imperial Physician to take his pulse.

He felt it was strange in his heart.

What was even stranger was that he was the only one in the hall.

Xiao Mingyu had not yet set off to return to Lianzhou today, and Xiao Qingling was also still in Fengdu; why, when the Emperor was critically ill, did the two of them not come?

He therefore glanced at Jin Fu, "Why haven't Fourth Brother and the others come to visit Father?"

Jin Fu sighed: "His Majesty's sacred body is unwell; naturally, we keep it hidden as much as possible and dare not reveal it to the outside, only allowing you, Your Highness the Crown Prince, to know. Otherwise, I fear it would cause chaos."

This sounded quite reasonable.

Xiao Youlan therefore waited patiently for a while longer.

However, the pulse of the Yongzheng Emperor was being taken for far too long.

So long that Xiao Youlan suspected whether this was a waste of time, or rather, a stalling tactic.

"Imperial Physician Zhang, how is Father's condition? Why has the pulse-taking lasted so long?" Xiao Youlan asked bluntly.

Imperial Physician Zhang withdrew his hand and first said respectfully to him: "In reply to Your Highness the Crown Prince, His Majesty's sacred body is not something one dares to draw conclusions about lightly; one can only be careful, careful, and even more careful."

"Is that so."

Xiao Youlan stepped toward the bed.

Jin Fu tried to block him, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, you must not!"

Xiao Youlan looked down at him from above, his expression cold, "For Inner Official Jin to block me from seeing Father so insistently, could it be that you have done something in secret and fear that I will discover it and punish you?"

This was a grave accusation, and Jin Fu was so frightened he knelt down directly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, please investigate clearly, this servant..."

Xiao Youlan, however, paid him no further mind, bypassed him, and continued toward the large bed.

Imperial Physician Zhang stood up, "Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

"What, are you blocking me too, Imperial Physician Zhang?" Xiao Youlan frowned, his voice carrying obvious anger.

"Yan Xing! Something has happened!"

Outside the hall doors, a hurried female voice suddenly rang out.

Xiao Youlan recognized it at once; it was Shu Yu's fiancée, Song Jianing.

Shu Yu caught Song Jianing and asked her with concern: "What is it? What happened?"

Song Jianing's voice was trembling: "A group of people broke into the Eastern Palace to take Miss Nan away! Quickly tell His Highness the Crown Prince to go back and save her!"

"What?!"

Shu Yu was startled.

Because Song Jianing's voice was loud enough, Xiao Youlan inside the hall heard every word clearly.

In an instant, he understood why Father was ill, and why he alone had been summoned.

Without a second thought, he turned and walked outside.

"Youlan."

From the bed, the Yongzheng Emperor's voice, commanding even without anger, suddenly rang out.

This was not a voice that someone critically ill could possibly emit!

Xiao Youlan was even more convinced that this was a ruse; he did not stop for a single step and continued walking out.

"Stop him!"

The Yongzheng Emperor tore open the gauze curtains and shouted angrily.

The guards outside the door moved instantly, blocking Xiao Youlan firmly inside the hall.

Xiao Youlan still wanted to force his way through.

The Yongzheng Emperor sneered: "It seems I was truly right to order that woman killed! For her sake, I fear you would even cast aside your grandmother and me, your father!"

Xiao Youlan looked back in shock, "Father, you want to kill her?"

The Yongzheng Emperor sat on the edge of the bed, his face full of rage, and did not hide it, "Yes. If she does not die, you might not even be able to sit on the throne in the future!"

Xiao Youlan looked at his appearance, "So, Father's recent illness was fake, and Father having Inner Official Jin go to the Eastern Palace to say he had thought it over and would allow her to become a Side Consort was also fake, just to make this son lower his guard. As for today, Father went so far as to feign critical illness to summon this son, all to kill her while I was away."

Not a single word was wrong.

Emperor Yongzheng looked at him deeply, "You are so intelligent; there are many things you can figure out and understand. But how can you not understand that this Nan Xueyin could never possibly marry you? She is an Assassin!"

Xiao Youlan was taken aback.

He had clearly hidden Nan Xueyin's identity very well; even his Imperial Father should not have been able to uncover it.

How could his Imperial Father know that she was an Assassin?

Emperor Yongzheng reminded him coldly, "Get a grip! Nan Xueyin does not like you; she is merely a tool sent by outsiders to seduce and use you!"

Xiao Youlan suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Imperial Father says she is a tool sent by outsiders to seduce and use your son, but those palace maids Imperial Father sent to the Eastern Palace back then—were they not also tools sent by Imperial Father?"

"I did that for your own good! Who told you to be at your age without even a single woman?"

"Does that mean I must be like Xiao Mingyu, favoring a different woman every day, for Imperial Father to be satisfied?" Xiao Youlan was also angry.

"I did it for your own good!" Emperor Yongzheng raised his voice.

"Is it truly for my own good, or are you imposing your own ideas upon me, forcing me to become the person Imperial Father wants me to be? Imperial Father, this is what you did to the Empress before. You kept saying it was for the Empress's own good, letting her be Empress and giving her power over the inner palace, but have you ever asked her what she actually wanted? She wanted a life of devotion with one person, but you could not give it to her, and you could have let her leave. But you did not do that. You kept her confined and eventually drove her to her death. All these years, Imperial Father, you have treated me the same way. You never ask what I want, never ask what I like; you only tell me what I should do, and if I do not do it, you punish me. You threaten to strip me of my position as Crown Prince and make me lose everything. But, do I truly even want to be Crown Prince?"

Emperor Yongzheng widened his eyes, looking at Xiao Youlan in disbelief.

This son was the one he favored most among all his sons and daughters.

The smartest, the most talented, and the most sensible.

Emperor Yongzheng was single-mindedly determined to groom him into a great emperor whose name would be remembered for generations.

He had never imagined that Xiao Youlan would suddenly say such things.

Xiao Youlan himself also found it inconceivable.

In truth, these words had been bottled up in his heart for a long time, but he had never spoken a single word of them, because to speak them would be equivalent to him and his father tearing off their masks.

Xiao Youlan was accustomed to forbearance and accustomed to not showing his emotions on his face.

Until today, when he left the Eastern Palace, he heard Nan Xueyin loudly tell him: "I miss you very much!"

And so, he did not want to endure it anymore.

After saying it, it was as if a long-standing illness had suddenly been cured, and his entire being felt refreshed and invigorated.

Xiao Youlan gazed at Emperor Yongzheng and said, "Imperial Father, I can stop being Crown Prince, or even stop being a prince. If you truly kill Nan Xueyin, then you and I will not even be able to remain father and son."