Chapter 615
Seeing Bai Qingyan’s serene smile, Xiao Rongyan’s heart couldn’t help but flutter. If it were possible… Xiao Rongyan wanted to keep Bai Qingyan smiling and protect her from all worries.
But Xiao Rongyan knew well that the woman he admired was no ordinary girl. Her ambitions were far greater than mere romantic entanglements. Unlike him… who seemed to be caught up in affairs of the heart.
When Xiao Rongyan escorted Bai Qingyan to the gates of the Court of Judicial Review, Quan Yu and Lu Jin were already waiting at the entrance.
Seeing Bai Qingyan’s arrival, Quan Yu hurried down the steps to greet her. Lu Jin quickly followed behind Quan Yu, bowing respectfully in front of Bai Qingyan.
“Mr. Xiao, you can stop here,” Bai Qingyan said with a smile to Xiao Rongyan.
Although Xiao Rongyan privately wished to stay with Bai Qingyan a bit longer, he knew that if Bai Qingyan were to interrogate Fu Ruoxi, it could be a long time before she left the prison. He had no choice but to take his leave for now.
Lu Jin promptly had the prison guard take Bai Qingyan’s horse away, then asked her, “Princess of Zhen, are you going to interrogate Fu Ruoxi alone?” ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Seeing Xiao Rongyan leave on horseback, Bai Qingyan walked up the high steps of the Court of Judicial Review’s prison with Lu Jin and Quan Yu, saying, “In a while, Minister Lu can wait in the adjacent cell. There’s no need to accompany me to see Fu Ruoxi.”
Bai Qingyan said this to avoid suspicion.
By meeting Fu Ruoxi alone without Lu Jin, people might speculate that Bai Qingyan, who had already pledged allegiance to the Crown Prince, would threaten and entice Fu Ruoxi to frame the Empress.
Lu Jin nodded in agreement, following closely behind Bai Qingyan with a respectful attitude.
Fu Ruoxi had witnessed her mother’s suicide in front of her last night. At this moment, she was disheartened, her eyes red as she leaned against the damp and moldy walls of the Court of Judicial Review’s prison, staring at the narrow window letting in a sliver of light. Her tears had long dried up.
Hearing the clanking of the lock and chains, Fu Ruoxi’s blood-stained fingers twitched, but she continued to stare outside, at the floating dust in the incoming light, like a statue.
Seeing the once high-spirited Fu Ruoxi now in such a state, Bai Qingyan did not mind the filth of the prison. She kneeled on a slightly cleaner patch of straw opposite Fu Ruoxi as if to have a heart-to-heart conversation.
She began, “The news of Madam Fu’s suicide in front of you in the Court of Judicial Review’s prison yesterday has spread throughout Dadu. Today, as I went to pay condolences before Madam Fu’s spirit, before even entering the house… I heard the wife of the main Fu family room berating Lady Fu with all kinds of harsh, bitter words in front of General Fu’s two sons.”
Upon hearing this, Fu Ruoxi’s fingers clenched tightly. She recalled how her mother had once expressed guilt over not visiting during the Bai family’s grand funeral. Then she thought of how Bai Qing had spared her life by severing an arm at Anping Camp… it was to help protect the Fu family.
Fu Ruoxi then used her one arm to prop herself up, kneeling toward Bai Qingyan and bowing her head, “Princess of Zhen… for sparing my life at Anping Camp and saving the entire Fu family, I thank you!”
“General Fu, there’s no need to thank me. Perhaps I was too meddlesome this time… yet still couldn’t save the entire Fu family. Instead, it led to Madam Fu’s tragic death and added to Lady Fu’s humiliation,” Bai Qingyan’s deep and tranquil eyes met Fu Ruoxi’s, “Bai Qingyan regrets it.”
Mentioning Madam Fu made Fu Ruoxi burst into tears again.
“I have one question: in the letter the Empress sent to Anping Camp to coerce General Fu, did she mention… that His Majesty’s life was nearing its end and requested General Fu’s assistance to support King Xin’s ascension?” Bai Qingyan did not beat around the bush, asking the question she most wanted answered.
Fu Ruoxi’s hand clenched tightly on her knee, her lips pressed together in silence.
“Did Madam Fu’s sacrifice not wake you up? Are you still trying to protect the Empress?” Bai Qingyan spoke harshly, “You were forced by the Empress through Madam Fu, had no choice but to swing your blade at the Crown Prince. One could say… you did it out of filial piety! Both the Crown Prince and I respect you as a dutiful son!”
“But today, you are looked down upon!” Bai Qingyan’s gaze was fixed on Fu Ruoxi, her voice steady, “Madam Fu sacrificed her life to secure peace for the whole family, yet you, out of sentiment, refuse to speak the truth about the cause and effect of this matter, putting the entire Fu family in danger! To Madam Fu, who risked her life for the family’s future, you are unfilial!”
“Because of sentiment… your wife and children are blamed and accused, potentially having to join you in the Netherworld. What did they do to deserve this? Your children’s lives are just beginning! You are disloyal to your wife and children!”
“Also because of sentiment, you concealed from His Majesty the Empress’ plot to use you for a coup to support King Xin’s ascension. This is disloyalty!”
“As the Empress is His Majesty’s consort and you are also a husband and father, to have feelings for His Majesty’s wife is both disgraceful and rebellious! Fu Ruoxi… such disloyal, unfilial, unrighteous, and disgraceful behavior… sparing your life then, I deeply regret. It would’ve been cleaner to have cut off your head back then to let the Fu family go in peace today.”
Fu Ruoxi clutched her clothes tightly, looking up and weeping bitterly.
Bai Qingyan’s voice, though calm and steady, had the power of shattering words, peeling away the last sliver of dignity Fu Ruoxi had. Fu Ruoxi could barely hold on.
“Do you know why, when the Empress wanted King Xin on the throne, she used you… and not her own brother?” Bai Qingyan felt her previous words were not harsh enough to destroy Fu Ruoxi’s feelings for the Empress and sneered, “Because if you led a coup and failed… it would have nothing to do with the Zhong family. The punishment of family extermination would fall on the Fu family… this is the Empress’s ’sentiment’ for you.”
Fu Ruoxi’s throat tightened. The words “impossible” churned in her throat, but she couldn’t say them aloud, her eyes wide with fury.
“Do you know… why the Empress was in such a hurry to push the deposed King Xin to the throne?” Bai Qingyan raised a hand, pointing behind Fu Ruoxi to the wall, then to her ears, before saying, “The Empress is pregnant with an heir. In less than ten months… there is a chance she will give birth to a Prince. Wouldn’t a son with a clean background be a better choice for the throne than King Xin? Once the heir is born, if the Crown Prince falters, there will be plenty of court officials to support the heir’s rise to the Eastern Palace. Why is the Empress so impatient? Because the Empress… is falsely pregnant and cannot bear a child.”
Fu Ruoxi’s eyes were bloodshot, tightly clenching her fists.
“Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that the child isn’t His Majesty’s and, as you were threatened by the Empress, consider it yours, at least there would genuinely be a child. Once the child is born a male… with His Majesty aged and the Crown Prince in trouble, the heir would naturally rise to the Eastern Palace, and the Empress could rule from behind the curtain. Isn’t that good enough? If the Empress could coerce you into rebellion, don’t you think she is capable of pushing her son onto the throne and then living a peaceful life afterward?”