Broken Jade - Chapter 131

Chapter 131

From the conversation hidden beneath the abandoned palace hall, she pieced together a truth too shocking to accept.

Wei Heng, Wei Yi…

The two of them… They were actually-

Brothers born of the same mother?

Sheng Zhaoning’s limbs went rigid, her steps heavy. She did not even realize when she had slipped silently out of Mingluan Palace.

Torrential rain poured from the sky. Her paper umbrella had long since been discarded somewhere. She walked through the curtain of rain, icy water crashing down over her head.

Even as an outsider, she found the truth difficult to accept.

What about Ah Heng?

How would he react if he found out?

Should she… tell him?

Distraught, Sheng Zhaoning wandered out of the palace passage without knowing where she was going. When she looked up again, the words “Eastern Palace” stood starkly before her.

She clenched her fists, her face paling.

No wonder Wei Chengjun harbored such deep hatred for the emperor. They were brothers born of the same mother, yet they still had to fight each other to the death.

The emperor had paved every road for Wei Heng. He had not wanted his most beloved son to climb onto the throne over the corpses of his own brother and close kin. Yet he had never imagined that Wei Heng and Wei Yi would ultimately be drawn into a fratricidal struggle in which only one of them could survive.

How laughable fate was.

Sheng Zhaoning was just about to turn around and continue searching for Wei Heng when the rain blurred her vision for an instant. When her sight cleared, she saw a group of people dressed as constables rapidly approaching from the distance.

“Seize her!”

At the command, the group quickened their pace. Before Sheng Zhaoning could react, they swarmed her and surrounded her completely.

Sheng Zhaoning’s brows drew tightly together. She looked around, her gaze sweeping across the faces before her.

These constables were all from the Court of Judicial Review.

She still had no idea what was happening and was about to speak.

Just then, Li Ji slowly stepped out from behind the others. His expression was complicated as he looked at her.

“Sheng Zhaoning, the Court of Judicial Review received a formal complaint claiming that you… are not a man. If that is true, then the crime you have committed is deceiving the emperor.”

Li Ji looked extremely grim, and there was an unmistakable reluctance in his eyes.

“Take her back to the Court of Judicial Review first.”

Sheng Zhaoning instantly went rigid.

The constables approached her, but each of them seemed to have their hands and feet bound. None of them could bear to truly lay a hand on her.

When Sheng Zhaoning had served at the Court of Judicial Review, she had treated superiors and subordinates alike, never looking down on or mistreating them.

Now that she had fallen into trouble, naturally no one would kick her while she was down.

“Lord Sheng, please.”

The constables did not restrain her. They only looked at her with heavy expressions.

This was the final shred of respect they could offer her.

……

Sheng Zhaoning was imprisoned in the Court of Judicial Review’s jail.

If she had been accused of any other crime, it might have taken some effort to investigate. But for the crime of deceiving the emperor, verifying the truth of the accusation took only a moment.

The matron summoned from the inner palace presented the result, and the entire Court of Judicial Review erupted in an uproar.

No one dared believe that Lord Sheng, who had achieved Lianzhong Liuyuan and was renowned for an impeccable reputation, was truly a woman!

The news quickly spread throughout the court and the realm.

The Emperor of Wei flew into a rage. The crime of deceiving the emperor was, without question, an act of trampling the sovereign’s dignity into the dirt.

No emperor could tolerate being deceived, let alone being deceived in such an unprecedented and outrageous manner.

A woman had disguised herself as a man, taken the imperial examinations, become the Zhuangyuan, entered the court as an official, and stood alongside men in the imperial court.

Taken one by one, these acts amounted to more than deceiving the emperor. They seemed almost like mockery.

In a fit of anger, the Emperor of Wei had the entire Sheng Family imprisoned and ordered the Three Judicial Offices to conduct a rigorous investigation.

When Wei Heng heard the news, he rushed back from the Imperial Ancestral Temple almost in a panic.

Consort Mei’s memorial tablet had been enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple by special dispensation, alongside only those of the Emperor and Empress. Every year, he would go there to pay his respects on the anniversary of his Mother-Consort’s death.

He never expected that, upon his return, he would be met with such devastating news.

“Crown Prince, His Majesty says that if you have come to plead for Sheng Zhaoning, there is no need for you to seek an audience.”

Outside the Emperor of Wei’s sleeping quarters, an inner official stood at the entrance, looking at Wei Heng with an awkward expression.

Everyone in court knew that the Crown Prince had always treated Sheng Zhaoning with exceptional care.

They had shared life-and-death experiences together. Until now, everyone had assumed that the bond between them, which surpassed the ordinary relationship between sovereign and subject, was nothing more than that of two close friends who regarded each other as kindred spirits.

But now that Sheng Zhaoning’s identity had been exposed, looking back on their relationship inevitably gave rise to all sorts of speculation.

Wei Heng stared at the tightly closed palace doors. Torrential rain poured down, splashing against the ground and sending sheets of water into the air.

He cast aside his umbrella, gathered up his robes, and dropped heavily to his knees. Pressing his forehead against the wet, icy ground, he called out loudly, “Imperial Father, your son requests an audience. I humbly beg Imperial Father to grant me a meeting!”

The rain streamed down upon his back, pressing him beneath a curtain of water from which there was no escape.

Seeing the Crown Prince kneeling in the downpour, clearly determined to see the emperor, the inner official grew frantic. “Your Highness, please get up! His Majesty has already said he will not see you. Please, don’t make things difficult for this servant!”

Caught between the emperor and the Crown Prince, a lowly inner official like him was practically beside himself with despair.

Rainwater continued to run down from the top of Wei Heng’s head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his vision blurred again and again, yet he still refused to yield an inch. Fixing his gaze on the wooden doors, he said, “Imperial Father, I knew Sheng Zhaoning’s identity long ago, yet deliberately concealed it and committed the crime of deceiving the sovereign alongside her. I beg Imperial Father to pardon Sheng Zhaoning’s crime. I am willing to accept her punishment in her place!”

Inside, a teacup was hurled violently against the door.

“Silence!”

The wooden doors were kicked open, and the Emperor of Wei’s fierce face appeared beneath the eaves.

“Do you know what you’re saying?” The Emperor of Wei’s eyes blazed with fury.

He had never imagined that Wei Heng had actually known about this.

Wei Heng had always been close to Sheng Zhaoning, and the Emperor of Wei had consistently approved of and encouraged it.

The Emperor of Wei had long regarded Sheng Zhaoning as someone destined to rise to the head of the Cabinet. He valued her as a capable and virtuous minister who could help Wei Heng bring peace and prosperity to the realm.

Yet he had never expected that the son and minister he valued most would join forces to deceive him and commit such an unforgivable offense!

The crime of deceiving the sovereign had been committed against his own father!

And Wei Heng still wanted to shield her, plead for mercy on her behalf, and even willingly suffer her punishment in her place!

“Tell me. What exactly is your relationship with her?” The Emperor of Wei fixed Wei Heng with a piercing stare and demanded harshly.

Wei Heng raised his head and met the Emperor of Wei’s blazing gaze head-on. His voice was firm, and he made no attempt to hide the truth as he admitted, “She is the one I love. I will marry no one else.”

He and Sheng Zhaoning had endured life-and-death trials together and never abandoned each other. They were kindred spirits, rare souls who cherished and understood one another.

Wei Heng liked her. He loved her deeply.

His feelings were open and aboveboard, with nothing to hide.

Although the Emperor of Wei had already sensed the truth, hearing Wei Heng say it aloud still sent his eyes blazing. It felt as if his heart had been thrown into a brazier, scorching until smoke rose from it inside and out.

“When did you learn her identity?” the Emperor of Wei asked through clenched teeth.

Wei Heng recalled that leap into the underground river in Pinghe County, Jizhou, when they had cast their lives aside. He recounted the truth, word for word: “During the disaster-relief mission to Jizhou, Sheng Zhaoning risked her life to save me. It was only when she was on the verge of death that I accidentally discovered it.”