It’s Alright, I Have Company

At the royal cemetery.

Empress Chen watched as the situation slowly turned around, from being in her favor to being detrimental to her, from having the upper hand to being surrounded. Her expression was completely frozen.

She had prepared for this day for so long, she had planned this over such a long time. Shouldn’t she have been in control of everything? Wasn’t everything supposed to end well today?

The emperor should have looked utterly shocked and shaking all over, caught completely off guard. The crown prince should have been worried and scared, so he should have fallen to his knees and begged her for mercy. Zhao Zhi should have been killed and his troops should have pleaded with her to lead them…

Why did all of that suddenly change?

The emperor and the crown prince’s robes were a little crumpled and dirty, but their expression and footsteps were steady. The emperor walked so steadily, he didn’t look like he was very sick. The crown prince even drew his sword and proved to be valiant in battle. Zhao Zhi, of course, was able to fight so many men all by himself. The number of men in black didn’t even faze him!

The royal guards swooped in like an ocean, working effectively and efficiently with Zhao Zhi commanding them and Wen Yuansi helping on the ground. More and more men in black were taken down and after a while… Zhao Zhi’s side was taking control of the situation again!

But that wasn’t how it was earlier…

Zhao Zhi was overpowered by her earlier…

Empress Chen pursed her lips as she watched this happen.

All of this changed after Wen Yuansi caught hold of Zhou Tongxing and exchanged that conversation with her.

Zhou Tongxing had not admitted to betraying her or the country, but she had admitted to treason and staging a coup.

Could this have been…a trap all along?

Zhao Zhi and his team had guessed who she was and what she was doing, but they didn’t have any evidence to prove it so they couldn’t do anything about her. But today, they had prepared for something like this to happen. If she didn’t do anything, then everyone would continue living in peace like before. But if she decided to rebel, then they would force her to admit the truth and bring her down!

What a team of sly foxes!

Empress Chen lowered her gaze as she started thinking through the consequences carefully.

If she won this battle, nothing really mattered. But if she lost…how was she going to get through this crisis?

While she remained silent, Zhao Zhi grew braver in his fight. As though he had the help of a deity, the royal guards were able to overcome the assassins. The men in black were either killed or taken captive, so the whole place finally quietened down again.

The emperor held onto the crown prince’s hand as he stood at the foot of the platform. His expression was icy and his stare was murderous. “My empress, do you have anything to say for yourself!”

“Your Majesty, spare me!”

Empress Chen fell to her knees with a loud thud, then held her robes as she took a few steps forward on her knees, tears pouring down her face. “I’ve been wrongly accused! All of this wasn’t done by me! I’m just a foolish, stupid woman, so how could I have done such a thing?”

As she spoke, she trembled and did her best to act like a foolish, stupid woman. She wanted to portray herself as someone timid and capable of very little. A woman who couldn’t achieve any of this even if she possessed the ambition and the desire for power.

The whole place was silent.

Now that the crisis had passed, the officials could come out of hiding and straighten out their robes. All of them folded their hands politely as they automatically formed two rows and stood by the side with grim looks on their faces.

Unlike the way they behaved earlier, they now stood in silence and kept their eyes to themselves. Nobody dared to express their opinion.

Deep inside, many of them did agree with what Empress Chen just said. Most married women would be ignorant and timid, so how could they be capable of staging a coup? All that communication and the training of rebel soldiers was already something that a woman stuck in the palace all day would be completely incapable of executing.

But at the same time, they had also just witnessed Empress Chen turn on them moments ago, and they were still reeling from the shock and terror they felt. They had now learned to be quiet and careful, to observe first before acting.

The emperor stared down at her. “But earlier on, you admitted that all of this was done by you.”

“That’s not true, that’s not the case! I was forced into it!” Empress Chen shook her head as tears poured down her face. “It was my father! He’s the one behind everything! I didn’t know anything before this and was only told this morning. I was told that if I cooperate, then he would allow Your Majesty and the crown prince to live. But if I didn’t cooperate…both of you would be killed!”

“I had no choice but to take the rap for it. I was too foolish and forgot that the emperor of this nation is someone chosen by the heavens, so there was no way you would be harmed. Such pathetic tricks wouldn’t work at all. Thankfully, you’re alright… As long as both of you are alright, it’s fine that I’ve been foolish and made a mistake. I will accept any punishment. Please punish me severely!”

Empress Chen bowed low, her face nearly touching the ground.

The emperor narrowed his eyes. “You said your father was behind all of this?”

“I would not dare to lie to you,” Empress Chen looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot. “You know that I’m merely a woman who lives in the back of the palace, and being in charge of the harem is already my greatest achievement in life. A coup would require the cooperation of rebel soldiers and other court officials. I’m not a high ranking official in the court, so I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing, and I wouldn’t be capable of it either.”

The emperor said, “Your father has been ill for a long time and bedridden. I hear the doctor already told your family to start preparing for his funeral.”

Empress Chen responded, “The doctor did say so and I thought it was true too, but according to the servant from my home who spoke to me this morning, my father is ill because he has eaten a mysterious drug that makes his body weak and frail so as to fool everyone around him. But he just needs to take the antidote at the right time and he would recover completely.”

Everyone couldn’t help but gasp in unison upon hearing these words.

It seemed like…everything she said made perfect sense.

Empress Chen’s father, Chen Pingkang, was a very senior official who had worked for both the previous emperor as well as the current one. He used to wield tremendous power all on his own, but as he grew older, he fell ill and he had to retire from his position. But while he was no longer working for the emperor, he had left a huge legacy behind. Many of the current emperor’s officials had been his students, and they were grateful for how he had taught them and led them to where they were now.

While a woman stuck in her own house probably couldn’t come up with schemes and get others in power to cooperate with her, a senior official with great influence could.

The emperor did not say anything.

The crown prince summoned someone from the Chens’ household and asked, “Where’s your Old Master?”

If everything was planned by Chen Pingkang, then he was definitely somewhere in this crowd.

But the servant looked confused. “Your Highness, my Old Master…has been ill for a very long time. He probably didn’t want to suffer any longer, but also didn’t want his family to worry, so this morning, his personal attendants discovered…he has left.”

When the servant said “he has left”, the servant didn’t mean that the old man had died. The servant meant that the old man had walked out of the house to wait to die.

Some elderly chose to do that, but most of them came from very poor families. It was rare for someone of Chen Pingkang’s status to do such a thing.

And so, the servant was equally puzzled.

Empress Chen dabbed her tears with a handkerchief. “Father has left, he has taken the antidote and left! Your Majesty, hurry up and send men after him! I’ll convince him to admit his guilt and stop him from going further down this evil path!”

Without evidence or knowing where Chen Pingkang was, it seemed like they had no choice but to believe everything that Empress Chen had just said.

The crown prince looked deep in thought.

Zhao Zhi’s brows were tightly furrowed.

Wen Yuansi was standing behind the crowd, when he suddenly turned to look behind him.

He could hear the sound of horses galloping lightly and swiftly.

The sound of horses neighing and the crowd moving aside in shock could be heard as one black horse and one white horse arrived.

The white horse was at the back, ridden by a man with a folding fan in hand. His brows were furrowed, as though he was unhappy with how disobedient the horse in front was. The black horse in front just continued galloping as it liked with great confidence and excitement. It ignored the horse and rider at the back as it finally made a beautiful turn and stopped right in front of the people. It raised its head high and used its big and bright eyes to look at the pretty lady on its back, as if it was waiting for her to say it was the most handsome horse in the world.

The pretty lady ran her hand through its mane, making it raise its head even higher as it stared at the people around it in disdain. What are you looking at? Never seen such a handsome horse before? The pretty girl on my back is mine, not yours! Humph!

It was Qi Yan and Song Caitang.

Qi Yan was riding on his own white horse, while Song Caitang had arrived on Zhao Zhi’s Blackie.

“You’re just in time.” Wen Yuansi walked toward them. He looked clearly excited and relieved to see that Song Caitang was perfectly fine, but this was not the time to express any of his personal emotions. He quickly summarized what had just happened…

As Song Caitang listened to him, she followed him through the crowd and happened to hear Empress Chen’s little summary speech.

“…my father had committed such a heinous crime, and while I didn’t know anything about it, I will not shirk any responsibility. I humbly resign from the position of empress, and hope that His Majesty will graciously approve of this and select a new virtuous empress!”

She sounded so proper, so noble.

“Her Majesty really knows how to put up a good show. It’s one plot twist after another. It’s simply amazing.”

The crowd parted to allow Song Caitang to pass through. “Unfortunately, rebelling against the emperor and murdering family members is not just a crime but an immoral act. It deserves nothing less than being skinned alive and tossed into the ocean!”

Song Caitang had hurried on horseback all the way here, so her makeup, hair or clothing was neither elegant nor even tidy, but her silhouette was beautiful, her brows were perfect, her complexion glowed and her eyes shone so brightly, as though it contained all the light of the world. She arrived with such confidence, no one could ignore her presence.

Zhao Zhi was even more captivated. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and they were filled with such longing and heartache…

But regardless, they had taken a gamble and won. He had quelled the rebellion today and his girl had made it here without a single injury!

Song Caitang walked to the middle area, then bowed to the emperor and the crown prince. When her gaze scanned past Zhao Zhi, she gave him a quick wink.

Zhao Zhi felt his heart skip a beat.

He wished he could just throw everything aside, pretend that none of this was happening, get onto Blackie with his girl and just ride away to a place where there was nobody else but them!

But clearly, his girl did not think the same way.

Song Caitang only glanced at Zhao Zhi quickly before turning to Empress Chen. “Your Majesty, I believe you would know best why your father has gone missing.”

She spoke very deliberately, with a strange little smile on her face, as though she was hinting at something. Empress Chen felt her heart drop, but she did her best to remain calm on the outside. “My father… After planning something so big and executing it today, he must have taken the antidote and hidden himself to make further arrangements.”

Song Caitang said, “Hidden himself? Where? Are you referring to the place you’ve prepared for him to die, so that you can make sure nobody can ever find him and check if what you’ve said is true?”

Empress Chen’s expression changed dramatically. “What do you mean by that!”

“Nothing really. Just that…I found your father’s body.” Song Caitang looked at Qi Yan.

Qi Yan waved his hand and his subordinates carried Chen Pingkang’s body to the front.

His face was ashen and he was no longer breathing, so he was very clearly dead. But unlike what Empress Chen said about how he would recover completely after taking the antidote, his body looked just like what it did when he was ill. His cheeks were sunken and his entire frame was extremely skinny and frail, so he had obviously been very ill before this. If not for the frightening bruise along his neck, nobody would suspect that he had been murdered.

Empress Chen gasped and fell to the ground. “Father! Father! What happened to you! What’s going on! Did someone harm you, then try to frame me for it?!”

Qi Yan couldn’t stand it. He glared at Empress Chen and barked, “Still trying to deny it? Gosh, you’re really thick-skinned!”

But Empress Chen got even angrier than him. “Are you accusing me of murdering my own father?!”

She wasn’t going to admit it.

Song Caitang nodded and Qi Yan fished out a title deed. “This is the title deed of the residence where Chen Pingkang died, and it’s registered under Nanny Sun’s name. And you know who Nanny Sun reports to – you can’t deny it anymore, can you?”

This point could still be argued, since that wasn’t really enough evidence. But more importantly, it was whether anyone would still believe what she said.

Empress Chen was a clever woman and knew that it was better not to say anything right now. If she didn’t argue, she could pretend to be aggrieved and think of a way out later… So, she decided not to speak anymore and just glared hatefully at Song Caitang.

She had underestimated this woman!

But Song Caitang didn’t care about what Empress Chen was thinking about. She looked back at the empress and smiled faintly. “Over the past 20 years, you’ve lived a lot more glamorously than most others. Aren’t you very proud of yourself?”

The topic took a turn and the atmosphere instantly relaxed. It didn’t feel so tense anymore.

Zhao Zhi motioned at a servant to bring a chair over so that the emperor could sit down. The crown prince gave him a grateful look, then stood behind the emperor and did not go anywhere.

Empress Chen just narrowed her eyes at Zhao Zhi as she spat angrily, “What a close knit mother and son! You’ve really fooled me!”

To her, there was only one reason why Song Caitang was here right now. Consort Ping had betrayed her and did not kill Song Caitang as previously agreed.

As for why Consort Ping would betray her, the answer was equally simple. It was because of Zhao Zhi, of course. This mother and son must have been making plans in secret and was merely acting in front of her! And sadly, she had believed it!

Zhao Zhi didn’t even raise an eyebrow. He ignored her completely.

Empress Chen was even angrier, until she remembered something and grew smug again. “Then again, it doesn’t matter. Even if I have to die, I’ll have company! Your aunt didn’t kill Song Caitang, so she won’t get the antidote to the poison in her body, so she’s coming with me!”

She was just short of saying that she fed Consort Ping poison.

Zhao Zhi’s gaze suddenly turned nasty.