Even without Shang Yang's words, Zhao Hua had already started doing so. Jiang Deshun had served by Xiao Jingheng's side since his childhood and had watched him grow up.
It was difficult to make him join her faction.
However, due to his incurable leg condition and old age, he would retire soon.
At that time, Xiao Yinzi, as his disciple, would most likely replace him as the eunuch and become the new favorite of the emperor.
Zhao Hua had always known that if she wanted to achieve high status, she had to change her background.
Coincidentally, she had amnesia and was pregnant. As long as she remained depressed because of being the "daughter of a guilty official," Xiao Jingheng, considering the future heir, would solve her problems and let her focus on her pregnancy.
In fact, it didn't matter who said it, Zhao Hua only wanted the successful outcome of changing her family background.
But in the end, she chose to let Xiao Yinzi bear the blame.
On that day, Xiao Yinzi accidentally revealed the truth, which angered Xiao Jingheng, and he wanted to execute him.
It was Zhao Hua who sent Xiao Fuzi to save Xiao Yinzi's life.
Whether Xiao Yinzi would remember this act of kindness, Zhao Hua couldn't say for sure.
But she believed that after this incident, Xiao Yinzi would understand the saying "accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger" even more.
When he became the eunuch, he would be in the spotlight but also in great danger.
He was a clever person and would naturally seek an escape route for himself.
If Zhao Hua extended an olive branch to him at that time, he would probably not refuse.
*
Shang Yang had kept the secrets of the previous dynasty buried deep in her heart for a long time.
After all, she had to rely on Xiao Jingheng to climb up in the past, so she naturally wouldn't reveal such things.
Now that she had confessed everything at once, she felt a sense of relief.
She lazily leaned against the warm seat and laughed recklessly.
After a while, when the laughter subsided, she saw Shang Yang suddenly get up and tightly hold Zhao Hua's hand, saying:
"Song Zhao, I have always been accurate in judging people and matters. I believe that your future path will be bright and brilliant."
After saying this, she quickly withdrew her hand and bitterly touched her blood-stained cheek.
"Looking like this, I'm going to see my child. I'm afraid it will frighten him. Empress Dowager, could you reward me with a basin of clean water so that I can freshen up before leaving?"
Zhao Hua didn't say much, just glanced back at Xiao Fuzi with a meaningful look.
Xiao Fuzi immediately understood and hurriedly bowed and left.
When he returned, he presented Shang Yang with a basin of water infused with rose essence, a shiny horn comb, two boxes of rouge and powder, a bottle of hair oil for combing, and a dagger with a sharp blade inlaid with a lake-blue gem.
Shang Yang looked at the items in front of her and understood Zhao Hua's intention.
Smiling, she said to Zhao Hua, "Thank you, Empress Dowager."
Zhao Hua remained silent for a moment, nodded in response, and then left with Xiao Fuzi.
After stepping out, Zhao Hua stood at the entrance of Zhaochun Palace, casting a glance at the golden plaque above it. Then she quietly gazed at the misty sky, feeling quite nostalgic.
"There are no clouds for thousands of miles tonight. Tomorrow should be a wonderfully sunny day," she remarked.
Following her gaze, Xiao Fuzi looked in the same direction and agreed, "After so many days of rain, the sky has been gloomy. Now that the clouds are parting, it's time for the sun to shine."
As the night breeze blew, it rustled Zhao Hua's wide phoenix robe and billowing sleeves.
Assisting Zhao Hua as she climbed into the carriage, Xiao Fuzi couldn't help but reflect, "The Empress Dowager is truly kind-hearted. Despite Consort Hui's scheming against her in the past, the Empress Dowager still allowed her to retain some dignity in the end."
His words, accompanied by the rustling sound of the wind, reached Zhao Hua's ears.
She smiled faintly and replied, "Who in this palace can truly outwit another? We have all fallen into the same intricate web spun by the same person, becoming trapped like hunted animals. Helpless, we can only fight and struggle day after day until death."
Nodding, Xiao Fuzi responded, "Although Consort Hui was malicious, she was also a clever person. Now that she cannot escape her deadly punishment, it can be seen as retribution. But with the thoughts the Empress Dowager left her, she won't have to suffer too much in the end."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hua suddenly raised her gaze, her eyes fluctuating as she looked at Xiao Fuzi. She lightly smiled and asked, "If you believe she is intelligent, how much of that well-intentioned lie I just told her do you think she will believe?"
"Well..." Xiao Fuzi was momentarily speechless. Sensing Zhao Hua's reluctance to continue the conversation, he simply let down the carriage curtains and casually instructed, "It's late at night, and the children are still waiting for me in the palace. Let's go."
The dense darkness of night engulfed the Queen's procession, erasing the last flicker of a dim candle in Shang Yang's inner chamber.
In this pitch-black world where one couldn't see their own hand, Shang Yang stared at her reflection in the mirror. Gradually adjusting to the darkness, she finally saw her own beautifully adorned face after dressing up.
She took a silk handkerchief and carefully tied it around her neck, concealing the obvious signs of aging.
Looking at herself this way, it seemed as if time had not left any marks of its hurried passing.
She remained the same bright and pure young girl she had been when she left her homeland, when she left Jiang Muye's side.
At this moment, Shang Yang had already cut her right wrist and dipped it into the basin that had been used for washing, staining the clear water a vibrant coral color as blood trickled out.
She opened her tightly clenched left hand and looked at the broken red coral ring, smiling peacefully.
"Yelang, I have come to find you," she murmured.
She understood Xiao Jingheng so well that she knew he would never let Jiang Muye go.
What Zhao Hua had said to her was merely a well-intentioned deception.
However, she had been clear-headed her entire life.
Now, at the end, she wanted to be completely confused, to be a fool for once.
Her field of vision gradually became hazy.
Shang Yang felt her eyelids grow heavy.
But just before she closed her eyes, she suddenly saw a dazzling light.
Someone was approaching against the light, getting closer and closer to her.
This time, she clearly saw the appearance of her young lover.
After enduring countless hardships, he remained handsome and unchanged,
Still exuding a charming and energetic demeanor.
He extended his hand towards Shang Yang from a distance, wearing a radiant smile, and spoke to her in a tender tone:
"Yang'er, I will take you home."
In the third day of the fourth month of the ninth year of Qiyuan, Consort Wei Linlan passed away due to illness at the age of twenty in Zhaochun Palace.
