She Holds the World After Being Reborn
Chapter 266 - 265

Chapter 266: 265

Xiao Hongshen was no longer the radiant figure he had once been; now disheveled and deranged, he muttered incessantly, his lips moving silently with words unknown.

Xie Qun drew closer to listen but could only make out "...kill, kill, kill..."

"Your Excellency Xie, your assistance in bringing him here is sufficient. I must trouble you to detain this man at Dali Temple and await His Majesty’s decision," Yan Wanqing said slowly.

Xie Qun squinted his eyes as he watched her receding figure.

The Capital City was about to be turned upside down.

From this moment on.

After Yan Wanqing entered the palace, before she had even seen the Empress’s Chief Eunuch, she was stopped by a Palace Maid with a gentle and beautiful appearance.

"Princess Anping, please stay your steps."

The Palace Maid blocked Yan Wanqing’s path, causing her to slightly furrow her brows.

Such a lack of manners.

How does one even survive in the palace behaving like this?

"Which palace are you from? I am currently on my way to present a matter of urgency to His Majesty. Please move aside quickly and do not delay important affairs."

However, the Palace Maid didn’t budge an inch, her gaze fixed intently on Yan Wanqing: "Before the Commandery Princess goes to see His Majesty, it would be good to meet with this person first."

"Who?" There were not many in the Capital City who dared to obstruct her like this.

"The Empress Dowager," said the Palace Maid with considerable arrogance in her tone.

On her way back to the palace, Yan Wanqing had been reading the reports from the Hidden Guards, which detailed all the events that had occurred in the Capital City during this period.

She also had a general understanding of the grievances between the Empress and the Empress Dowager.

What she had not anticipated, however, was that the Empress Dowager would dare to openly invite her to her palace at such a time.

"That would be most inappropriate. Let us wait until after I have seen His Majesty," Yan Wanqing was not foolish. She was already a partisan of the Empress; the Empress Dowager must be up to no good in seeking her out.

She had only just returned to the capital in triumph. To be summoned by her now would be nothing more than a ploy to leverage her status and embarrass her in front of the Emperor and Empress, purely for the sake of annoyance.

The Palace Maid wanted to say more.

But Yan Wanqing had already pushed her aside impatiently.

The Emperor’s health was declining day by day; he had been sick in bed for quite some time, and Yan Wanqing stood outside the hall, awaiting her audience.

Shortly after, an eunuch came out to say she could enter.

Even through the thick curtains, the scent of medicine was discernible.

"...Is it Wanqing who has returned? Cough cough!" A frail voice came from behind the curtains.

The eunuch hurriedly lifted the curtain, and Yan Wanqing stepped inside.

The Emperor’s face had aged more than a decade; he now resembled a man in the twilight years of life, his face etched with lines.

Those eyes, once brimming with ambition, now contained only cowardice and decay.

He looked at Yan Wanqing and beckoned her.

"Come here, to me."

Yan Wanqing lowered her head as she approached the Emperor: "Anping pays respect to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor, long live, long live."

The Emperor coughed heavily twice, mocking himself: "Long live?"

He knew the state of his body and that he did not have much longer to live.

Ever since he took that Elixir in a show of bravado, he had been beyond medical help.

The Imperial Physicians in the palace all thought he had contracted some terrible disease, but he alone knew that he had lost a gamble.

"You conducted yourself very well in this battle." The Emperor did not mention Xiao Hongshen, the seventh Prince, at all; all that was left was affirmation for Yan Wanqing.

Yan Wanqing knelt on one knee, her head lowered, eyes demure: "Thank you for Your Majesty’s praise."

"What reward would you ask for?"

Yan Wanqing pondered for a moment: "May I ask for anything, Your Majesty?"

"Of course, you have won a great victory, annihilated Noble Capital, and expanded the territories of Dawei. Whatever reward you desire, just name it," the Emperor proclaimed generously.

"I seek nothing else but for Your Majesty to bestow upon the Yan Family the words ’Loyalty and Righteousness’." As soon as these words were spoken, the Emperor’s already recovering complexion instantly stiffened.

The surrounding eunuchs and Palace Maids dared not even breathe loudly.

The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.

Yan Wanqing paid no attention to anything, she just knelt on the ground motionless, silent, clearly intending to allow the situation to escalate as it did.

The Emperor was left with no way to gracefully back down and could only keep coughing repeatedly.

At this time, the voice of a eunuch came from outside.

"Greetings to the Empress!"

Upon hearing this, the Emperor visibly relaxed.

Thankfully, the Empress had arrived.

Zhang Lanyi, adorned in a fiery red robe of the Empress, walked up to the Emperor with the support of a palace maid: "This subject pays respect to Your Majesty."

"My love, please rise quickly."

The Emperor hurriedly pulled Zhang Lanyi to sit beside him.

Zhang Lanyi looked at Yan Wanqing kneeling on the ground, puzzled, and spoke, "What is this? If Your Majesty has urgent matters, this subject can come back later."

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing." The Emperor shook his head, "Wanqing, rise quickly."

However, Yan Wanqing did not move, "Your Majesty said that Wanqing could ask for any reward."

She knew that asking the Emperor for the character "Loyalty and Righteousness" would be more painful for him than taking his life.

It was like forcing him to admit before the whole world that he had made a mistake, that he owed the Yan Family an apology.

The Emperor, proud all his life, definitely did not want to do this.

"Wanqing, let Us think about this matter properly; after all, it’s not a trivial issue," the Emperor coughed lightly, still needing to maintain face. He couldn’t lose his temper with a subordinate who had just won a battle - maintaining composure was a basic quality of an Emperor.

Zhang Lanyi glanced at Yan Wanqing, their eyes met, exchanging thoughts, before she smiled and spoke up.

"What could be the matter? It’s just granting a character. Since Your Majesty feels somewhat better today, write it and grant it to her; think of it as a child asking for a piece of candy."

These words only made the Emperor feel more uncomfortable inside.

Zhang Lanyi usually had sharp insight, so why was she being so thoughtless today?

"I really don’t have the strength to lift a brush today," said the Emperor, clearly agitated.

Seeing the Emperor acting obstinately, anger welled up in Yan Wanqing, though she couldn’t express it openly since things hadn’t gone that far yet.

So she said, "If that is so, then Anping can only wait until Your Majesty is feeling better before coming to ask for the character again."

Seeing her give in, the Emperor hummed in acknowledgment.

Yan Wanqing withdrew from the grand hall.

As she was leaving, she caught sight of the palace maid who had blocked her before, sneaking peeks at her from behind a tree.

She couldn’t help but prod her little canine tooth with her tongue.

Then, a wanton smile spread across her face.

The Empress Dowager’s brother is the current Prime Minister, but it had been many years since the Prime Minister of Dawei had returned to the Capital City.

This was a very strange matter in any country.

Either the Emperor was having the Prime Minister do something very important, or perhaps the Prime Minister had been dead for quite some time.

Keeping the Empress Dowager in the palace served merely as a tool to stabilize the courtiers.

Based on her understanding of the Emperor, she was more inclined to the latter possibility.

The faction loyal to Cao Man had always been promoted by the Prime Minister, and now, after they had been wiped out in one fell swoop, the Prime Minister remained inactive. Furthermore, the Emperor had directly slaughtered more than thirty eunuchs in the Empress Dowager’s palace, everything pointing to the fact that there actually hadn’t been a Prime Minister for a long time.

Now that Xiao Hongshen had lost his mind, and Song Huaxu was currently powerless to clone himself, she, having planned for this day through two lifetimes, was finally about to see the clouds disperse and the sky clear.

"Princess Anping, the Empress Dowager summons you," the palace maid said, seeing Yan Wanqing come down and once again blocking her path with an air of insistency as if she wouldn’t leave unless Anping did.

Yan Wanqing, holding back a smile, looked at her: "Lead the way."

She remembered the report from the Hidden Guard.

This Empress Dowager appeared to have done something quite significant, an act that almost cost the Imperial Consort her life and nearly resulted in a death in childbirth; she really should go and meet her.

Just as she was about to leave,

She suddenly heard Zhang Lanyi’s voice from behind her: "Anping, wait, I have something to ask you."

Zhang Lanyi looked at her with an extremely serious, even grave expression.

Yan Wanqing narrowed her eyes, about to speak, but the palace maid interrupted before she could.

"Empress, with all due respect, there is an order to these matters. The Empress Dowager has already invited the Princess over; please wait, Your Highness."

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