Broken Jade - Chapter 130

Chapter 130

A light rain had continued for two days.

Sheng Zhaoning walked out of the Court of Judicial Review with an umbrella in hand, the hem of her robe soaked in one spot and darkened by the water.

Perhaps because of the rain, she saw hardly anyone on the way to the Eastern Palace.

She had not seen Wei Heng for several days, and this was a good opportunity to visit under the pretext of delivering case files.

However, before she could even enter the Eastern Palace, the personal eunuch serving Wei Heng happened to hurry out and ran straight into her.

“Oh, Lord Sheng?” Peng Lu quickly bowed when he saw her.

Sheng Zhaoning returned the gesture with a nod. “Eunuch Peng.”

Peng Lu straightened and glanced at her. “Have you come to see the Crown Prince?”

Sheng Zhaoning nodded. “Yes. Is the Crown Prince here?”

Peng Lu sighed and shook his head. “The few of us have been fretting over that very matter. His Highness went out early this morning without taking anyone with him. We have no idea where he went.”

Sheng Zhaoning’s brows drew together. “Have you looked in Wenhua Hall?”

“We have. He wasn’t there. The rest of us are taking turns searching for him now.”

Her brows furrowed tightly. Hearing Peng Lu say this, she felt a growing sense of panic as well.

“However…” Peng Lu looked at Sheng Zhaoning’s face and hesitated.

Sheng Zhaoning stared directly at him.

Peng Lu gritted his teeth. Since Lord Sheng was close to the Crown Prince and could not be considered an outsider, he decided to tell her. “Today is the death anniversary of His Highness’s Mother-Consort. Perhaps His Highness was in a poor mood and went out to clear his head.”

Sheng Zhaoning’s heart gave a sudden jolt.

The death anniversary…

Was today actually Consort Mei’s death anniversary?

She curled her fingers. Something suddenly flashed through her mind. After handing the case files to Peng Lu, Sheng Zhaoning turned with her umbrella and headed in a certain direction.

“Wait-” Peng Lu called helplessly after her retreating figure.

What had happened to Lord Sheng? Why had she suddenly hurried off like that?

Holding the case files in his hands, he had no choice but to return to the Eastern Palace and put them down first.

Sheng Zhaoning followed the palace road toward Mingluan Palace.

She could not be certain that Wei Heng was there, but since today was Consort Mei’s death anniversary, he would have to come here to pay his respects.

The rain continued to fall in a soft, steady drizzle.

The farther she went, the more desolate the surroundings became.

Mingluan Palace was in a remote location and had always seen little traffic. Now that it had become a forbidden place, the area around it appeared even more overgrown and desolate.

Following her memories, she made her way to the abandoned palace’s entrance as though she knew the path by heart.

As expected, the main gate was unlocked, with a narrow gap pried open.

Sheng Zhaoning pushed the gate open and entered. Weeds had run rampant throughout the courtyard.

She glanced around the courtyard but saw no sign of Wei Heng. Holding her umbrella, she continued forward toward the palace hall.

Faint voices drifted out from inside.

Sheng Zhaoning paused, a flicker of confusion passing through her eyes.

There was someone else here?

After hesitating for a moment, she continued forward. Once she reached the steps, the conversation gradually grew clearer.

“You were the one who took her away from me. She was supposed to be mine!”

Something was suddenly hurled against the wall, striking it with a dull thud.

Sheng Zhaoning froze. Her gaze shot up, and she stared in shock at the dilapidated wooden door.

That voice… It was the Emperor of Wei!

Through the wooden door, the Emperor of Wei’s voice sounded again. “Back then, you took advantage of the situation and brought her to Liangzhou. I merely took her back. What did I do wrong?”

Silence filled the room for a moment. Then another familiar voice rang in her ears.

“You really are shameless.”

Wei Chengjun looked levelly at his elder brother, born of the same mother. As he recalled the woman from his memories, radiant as spring sunshine, his heart held nothing but endless hatred.

“Wei Chengshi, she did love you at first. But don’t forget-it was you who married another woman for power and influence, abandoned her, and betrayed her sincere love!”

Wei Chengjun drew a deep breath, his gaze piercing Wei Chengshi like a sword. “Back then, I wanted to take her away, but she willingly stayed in the Capital City with you, facing all the hardships and dangers of your struggle for the throne.”

“Do you know how much I envied you? I had even decided to give her up, to abandon the throne and all its power, and let the two of you be together!”

“But what about you? You were the one who didn’t deserve her!”

“Enough!” the Emperor of Wei roared.

His eyes were bloodshot, grief and fury surging within them. “I was only one step away. Only one step…”

“Only one step away, and I could have ascended the throne and married her in glory!”

The Emperor of Wei remembered the most perilous year of the struggle for the throne. Everyone had fought to the death, with countless blades pointed at him. Every step had been like walking along the edge of a cliff; one wrong move would have meant utter ruin.

He had had no choice. To seize that supreme position, to carve a bloody path out of the Imperial City, where brothers trampled over one another’s corpses, he could only marry someone else and rely on her family’s power to help him ascend the throne.

But he had clearly been about to win.

Wei Chengjun had clearly already given her up, willingly leaving for Liangzhou.

So why had she left too?

She had left him, chased Wei Chengjun to Liangzhou, married him, and borne him a child.

How could Wei Chengshi accept that?

And so, in the fourth year of his reign, he sent people to Liangzhou and plotted to make her fake her death. He then seized her and brought her back to the Capital, imprisoning her inside Mingluan Palace for eight long years.

He had her give birth to their child and named him “Heng.”

“Jade pendants chimed with every step, while ribbons and sashes lent their wearer grace.”

He had chosen the name to express the most beautiful and precious of hopes.

He would not let their child repeat his own mistakes, using blood and bones to pave the road ahead.

Their child would be the purest and most upright gentleman in the world, worthy of every beautiful praise.

Wei Heng had fulfilled that hope.

But she had been unable to see it with her own eyes.

“Wei Chengshi, you made your choice between the empire and her long ago. What gives you the right to demand both?”

The emperor’s eyes nearly split with rage. “Because I can give her everything she wants! The empire, the empress’s throne, supreme power-whatever she wants, I can give her!”

Wei Chengjun seized him by the collar. “You imprisoned her in the inner palace, forced her to bear your child, and bound her to your side for eight years. She couldn’t even leave this tiny palace. And you call that being good to her?!”

The Emperor of Wei shoved him away and roared, “It was still better than watching helplessly as she belonged to someone else and spent her life with you in Liangzhou!”

Their argument rang out above the empty, abandoned palace.

Wei Chengjun slowly raised his head, his gaze settling on the Emperor of Wei once more.

For a moment, he thought the man was truly pathetic.

He did not understand what it meant to love someone. All he knew was how to possess and seize, heedless of her wishes, stripping her of her freedom and trapping her alive in this place until she died.

She had once been a bright and spirited woman who could ride beneath the warm sun, free and carefree as the wind.

Instead, she had been imprisoned in this rigid inner palace for eight years, withering away until she finally died here.

If he had not once returned to the Capital and learned the truth by chance, he might have been deceived by Wei Chengshi for the rest of his life.

“Does Wei Heng know about all this?”

Wei Chengjun advanced slowly until he stood before him, staring straight into his eyes. “Does he know that the Imperial Father he has always respected is actually a bastard who stole his own younger brother’s wife and had her imprisoned?!”

Outside the door, Sheng Zhaoning’s pupils contracted sharply.