Broken Jade - Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Wei Heng deliberately brought up the assassination attempt in Jizhou, and sure enough, he saw the Emperor of Wei’s brow relax slightly.

That time, Sheng Zhaoning had risked her life to save his son.

The Emperor of Wei had always been grateful to her.

But no matter how great the debt, once the dignity of the emperor was involved, it had to yield to imperial authority.

“You are the Heir Apparent, yet you have developed romantic feelings for a subject. This is nothing short of treasonous.”

Even if such a thing were recorded in the history books one day, it would bring nothing but endless infamy.

Wei Heng was his most beloved son, as well as the heir to the throne he had chosen. He would never allow Wei Heng to bear even the slightest stain.

Wei Heng looked at his father. As his gaze fell upon the cold severity in the Emperor’s eyes, he understood clearly that the man standing before him was not merely his father, but also the ruler of Great Wei.

And as a ruler, he could allow no room for personal feelings.

Wei Heng dug his fingertips into the ground. The edges of his fingernails turned white from the force.

What did the throne and the realm matter?

To spend an entire lifetime trapped in this resplendent Imperial Palace, surrounded by coldness at every turn, with no place for genuine feeling and nothing but power, intrigue, and schemes wherever he looked…

If becoming emperor meant losing the person he loved forever, he would rather give up the throne.

Wei Heng closed his eyes and bowed deeply. “Imperial Father, I am willing to give up my position as Heir Apparent. I beg you to show mercy!”

He could give up everything in exchange for Sheng Zhaoning’s safety.

The Emperor of Wei’s figure swayed, and his gaze trembled faintly.

As the rain fell in sheets, he looked at Wei Heng, kneeling in the rain and soaked through. In a moment of disorientation, he seemed to see the shadow of Wei Chengjun in him.

The past and the scene before him gradually overlapped.

Back then, Wei Chengjun had likewise given up his struggle for the position of Heir Apparent and willingly gone into exile in Liangzhou.

He had clearly been the one with the best chance of becoming the Crown Prince…

Why? Why was everything he had obtained through painstaking schemes and every means at his disposal, even at the cost of abandoning the person he loved, so insignificant in their eyes?

The Emperor of Wei shook his head and clenched his fists tightly.

No. It could not be.

His choice could not have been wrong.

Now he was the Ruler of All Under Heaven. Only by standing at the very summit could he obtain everything he wanted.

Power was the most important thing in this world.

“You truly have lost your senses,” the Emperor of Wei said, his eyes rimmed red.

He pointed at Wei Heng, yet could not suppress the trembling that escaped his fingertip. “If you want to kneel, then kneel here until you come to your senses!”

He firmly believed that his choice could never have been wrong.

Wei Heng was still young and did not understand the importance of the throne at all.

One day, he would understand his painstaking intentions.

Becoming the Ruler of All Under Heaven was the most precious gift a father could leave his son.

That day, the rain fell for an entire day and night.

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, lightning flashed amid the thunder.

Sheng Zhaoning was held alone in a cell.

The ceaseless rain beat down, adding a chill to the already cold, gloomy air.

The people of the Court of Judicial Review knew that she was sensitive to the cold. They had deliberately placed a brazier in her cell and prepared an especially thick set of pillows and bedding.

When Li Ji arrived carrying a food box, Sheng Zhaoning was staring blankly out the window, with nothing around her but the echoing sound of rain.

Perhaps she had heard him approach. She slowly turned her head, and only when she saw him did a faint flicker of movement return to her eyes.

“Lord Li.” Her voice was slightly hoarse.

Even now, Li Ji still could not accept the fact that she was a woman. After learning the news, even the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review had fallen into a long silence, leaving behind only one instruction: “Do not mistreat her.”

The Court of Judicial Review naturally would not.

They had once been colleagues, and among those who had treated her with genuine sincerity, no one would kick her when she was down.

On the contrary, many people had done everything within their power to grant the Sheng Family every convenience they could.

The lock was removed, and Li Ji stepped into the cell. He opened the food box and took out the steaming dishes one by one.

“Eat something. The food is still warm, but it will get cold soon.”

Sheng Zhaoning’s gaze was hollow. She did not move, sitting there in silence, not a trace of light in her eyes.

Li Ji knew what she was worried about.

The charge was grave enough to implicate the entire Sheng Family. They were now being held in the Court of Judicial Review just like her.

He stood before her and lowered his voice. “Everyone in the Sheng Family is safe. The Court of Judicial Review is looking after them. You needn’t worry.”

Only then did Sheng Zhaoning finally react.

She glanced at Li Ji, and the tension in her face eased slightly.

“Thank you,” Sheng Zhaoning said sincerely.

Looking at that frail figure beneath the candlelight, Li Ji thought of the news from the Eastern Palace and let out a deep sigh. “It’s just that the Crown Prince…”

Li Ji paused, but at that moment, Sheng Zhaoning slowly raised her eyes and stared straight at him. Her gaze went still.

He hesitated, but decided to tell her the truth. “The Crown Prince pleaded for you before His Majesty. He knelt outside His Majesty’s bedchamber for an entire day, and he’s still refusing to leave. No matter who tries to persuade him, he won’t budge.”

Li Ji clearly saw the trembling of the lashes before him.

The dead silence in Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes melted away inch by inch, turning into a trembling red.

What she had feared most had still come to pass.

Sheng Zhaoning’s gaze fell on the night rain beyond the window. It was as though she could see, through the howling curtain of rain, a solitary figure far away in the depths of the imperial palace.

The rain was heavy.

It had been falling all day and all night.

Wei Heng was kneeling there in the rain, pleading with the Emperor to yield to imperial authority for her sake?

A fine, dense pain spread through her heart like the rain outside. She clenched her fingers, and the pain seeped from her tightly drawn brows all the way into her eyes.

Her throat was raw and dry. She could not utter a word.

The unbearable pain brought with it an intense sense of suffocation. Only after a long while did it finally recede, ever so slightly.

She raised her bloodshot eyes, a barely perceptible viciousness entering her voice.

“Who sent the letter to the Court of Judicial Review?”

The Court of Judicial Review would not have suspected her identity without reason. They had received a secret letter exposing the fact that she was a woman.

Without that secret letter, the Sheng Family would not have faced the disaster before them.

Wei Heng would not have had to kneel for her in the cold, rainy night, humbly begging the Emperor to yield.

That was the Emperor. That was His Majesty. How could anyone possibly beg him to do such a thing?

Li Ji avoided the question.

The details of the case, and the identities of anyone involved, could not be disclosed lightly.

He did not tell Sheng Zhaoning who had sent the letter.

But she had already guessed who was behind everything that had happened today.

Aside from Lady Lu, the only people who knew her identity were those from the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion.

Wei Yi-or Wei Chengjun.

She did not know whose orders they had followed, but whoever it was, it had to be one of those two.

For the first time, she felt a deep hatred toward the family she had come from.

By now, the Prince Zhenbei and the Emperor were locked in a fight to the death.

Only one of them would survive to the end.

A thought burst through the restraints in her mind and gradually became clear.

The warmth in Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes slowly turned cold and silent, becoming a sharp edge filled with murderous intent.

That night, beneath the torrential curtain of rain, the moonlight could not be seen.

Yet somewhere beneath it, two sleepless hearts remained hopelessly entwined, trembling together.