Fairy, please let me explain.

Chapter 756: Snow Together (Part 3)

The falling snow soaked homes all over the world.

Some families are reunited, while others are cold and desolate.

On the top of Jiulong Mountain, Kunning Palace should have been solemn and profound, but in the midst of the flying snow, this palace that represents the mother of the country exudes a hint of paleness and decadence.

The collapse of power can be as simple as a dripping water wearing away a stone, or it can be as simple as a withering away of a tree or rotten wood, collapsing overnight under the mighty power of heaven.

Standing in front of this towering palace, Li Zhaoyuan stared in a daze at the vermilion jade tiles with carved beams and painted buildings, and the deep palace gate below that he once thought was like a man-eating monster.

The dark red stains formed by the melting snow on the vermilion railings reminded Li Zhaoyuan of that rainy night long ago when his mother held him in her arms and knelt in front of the mourning hall in the cold palace, while the emperor and empress's carriages rolled over the puddles on the bluestone road.

At that time, the emperor and empress were so high and mighty that a single word could decide the life and death of him and his mother. But now, she can only huddle in her own palace like a sick animal, dying and wagging her tail to beg for mercy.

Li Zhaoyuan wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

He had spent the first half of his life to get here, stepping on the bones of countless people along the way. He thought he had made all the preparations mentally, but when it all became real, he suddenly felt like a dream and an illusion.

The sound of falling snow was rustling, and all the sounds became ethereal in Li Zhaoyuan's ears. He felt that he was in a very bad state, but at the same time he felt more comfortable than ever before.

"Your Highness, it's time."

An ethereal and feminine voice came from his ear, and the emperor's companion beside him leaned over and respectfully reminded Li Zhaoyuan to wake up from his "dream".

There was already three feet of snow in front of Kunning Palace. The people who entered the palace left no footprints on the snow. When Li Zhaoyuan arrived at the palace gate and looked up at the towering palace that had once been out of reach, there was only calmness in his eyes.

But just as the group was about to push the door open and enter, Eunuch Nie and the eunuchs behind him who were delivering the imperial edict suddenly stopped in their tracks and stopped in front of the palace door.

Li Zhaoyuan looked back calmly.

Eunuch Nie's eyes exuded a cold blue light:

"Your Highness, the emperor has another oral order. Please accept it."

thump.

The dark cloak swept across the jade steps, stirring up tiny particles of snow. Li Zhaoyuan turned around, bowed his head, and knelt down, his voice soft, slow, and calm:
"My sons and ministers accept the order."

Receiving the emperor's oral instructions in person is like meeting the emperor in person.

In front of the tightly closed palace door, the palace scene is solemn and gloomy.

Eunuch Nie brushed off the snow on his dragon robe, put on a serious expression, cleared his throat, and imitated the tone of the man in the palace, and said slowly:

"Zhao Yuan, I know about the grievances between you and the Emperor and Empress, and between Concubine Qin and the Emperor and Empress. You said that you came to this day to prove to the world that the capable will definitely rise to the top, and I believe it, but I also believe that the Emperor and Empress also played a part in this. Therefore, I will not interfere in the grievances between you and the Emperor and Empress. All the right and wrong, all the grievances, are left to you to judge."

There was a moment of silence in the palace.

Eunuch Nie coughed lightly to indicate that the oral instructions were over, and then he knelt down together with the eunuchs who were delivering the imperial eunuchs' orders as Li Zhaoyuan stood up.

Palace etiquette is always complicated, but people in the palace have long been accustomed to it.

Eunuch Nie knelt on the ground, his head dropped to the ground, his voice was feminine:
"Your Highness, according to the emperor's order, this poisoned wine and the imperial edict are now in your hands. We servants will be waiting outside."

Saying,

The two young eunuchs beside Eunuch Nie came forward on their knees, lowered their heads and presented the jade box of the imperial edict and the food box for the emperor and empress.

Outside the upturned eaves of Kunning Palace, snow was falling all over the sky, and the cold winter weather was coming from all directions.

Li Zhaoyuan looked at the gilded food box in front of him. The green jade wine cup inside was making slight knocking sounds, like a bird trapped in a cage.

After understanding his father's intention, Li Zhaoyuan took a deep breath. Although there was no clear order, he still bowed in the direction of the Weiyang Palace:
"Your son, I will accept your order."

As the residence of the Mother of Great Yan, the Kunning Hall is so majestic that it can almost be a palace in itself. Its corridors, pavilions, waterside pavilions, flowing water, flowers, mountains, waterfalls and rapids are the best in the world.

Walking alone in the corridor leading to the emperor and empress's residence, the hem of Li Zhaoyuan's black python robe kicked up fine snow as it brushed against the stone steps, raising a cold mist in the morning light.

this way,
Li Zhaoyuan walked very slowly, and for the first time, he hesitated in his steps, as if he would spend his entire life making the next choice. But in the end, he still arrived at the door of the empress's Yufeng room.

then,

Push the door open and enter.

The Kunning Palace had long lost its former prosperity as he returned to the capital with authority. When Li Zhaoyuan pushed open the golden palace's jade door, the Great Yan Empress was dressing in front of the mirror. The movement of her golden fingernails scratching her hair was still graceful. Her graceful body under the phoenix robe was still plump and enchanting. The bronze mirror in front of her reflected her scarlet lips. The Great Yan Empress seemed to be ready to die in all her glory.

But when he heard the sound behind him, Marquis Mu did not turn around, and continued to put on makeup in front of the bronze mirror, but his sarcastic voice echoed in the deep hall:
"You should be happy, happy that a lowly creature who is not even worthy of wearing a dragon pattern can make it this far."

Li Zhaoyuan ignored Empress Mu's sarcasm.

The royal nobles of Dayan always built their residences to be majestic and magnificent. When walking in them, you can even hear the echo of their boots stepping on the ground.

With the sound of light footsteps, Li Zhaoyuan came to the side of Empress Mu and gently placed the rosewood table in front of her. He said slowly:
"Mother, it was my father and mother who gave birth to me. It would be presumptuous of me to say that I am not worthy of the dragon mark. I hope you will be careful with your words."

Empress Mu glanced at the gilded food box and trembled slightly, but then she sneered and said:
"Why? You want to collect a debt for your lowly mother?"

Li Zhaoyuan calmly opened the food box. Inside was a golden nanmu tray and a jade wine cup on it. The amber liquid had already condensed into fine ice crystals in the cold wind:
"If I say that my mother has never cared about your harsh criticism and humiliation of her, would you believe me?"

Empress Mu smiled softly upon hearing this, and her charming and beautiful face gradually trembled with laughter:

"Do you think I can believe it? Ha...hahahahaha."

Laughter echoed in the palace, but Li Zhaoyuan only glanced at the side of the woman who had once been the most beautiful woman in the world, then retracted his gaze and said calmly:
"It seems that you don't believe it."

When Empress Mu heard this, a frightening cold light flashed in her phoenix eyes:

"Li Zhaoyuan, don't you think that my Kunning Palace is a little too quiet? Since you returned to the capital, that bitch has killed almost all of my close friends. Now you tell me that she doesn't care?"

Li Zhaoyuan stared at the eyes that had frightened him so much that he couldn't sleep when he was a child, and suddenly smiled with relief:
"It seems you really don't understand."

"."

After a moment of silence, Empress Mu dug her fingertips into her palm and shouted:

"How dare you! As long as I am alive, I will be the Empress of the Great Yan Emperor whom you cannot allow to usurp power!"

Li Zhaoyuan didn't pay attention to the loser's noise. He stared at the woman who was still beautiful even though she lost her composure. There was an indescribable complexity in her eyes:

"Mother, it seems that you still understand. If you didn't understand, you wouldn't be so out of control. The reason why mother behaved this way is because of family affection, and it is to avoid dirtying my hands." "." Queen Mu.

Li Zhaoyuan's calm eyes were gentle:

".But why bother? I have come this far, and the blood on my hands is not less than what you have."

Empress Mu was silent for a moment and sneered:

"It's unnecessary."

Li Zhaoyuan looked at the empress who was the mother of the country:

"In a sense, you and my father are truly a natural couple."

Queen Mu took a deep breath and finally regained her composure:

"How I feel about you, how His Majesty feels about you, is it your turn as a lowly creature to judge?"

Saying,

The queen's pair of delicate and graceful phoenix eyes slightly raised, with a hint of disdain:

"Also, Li Zhaoyuan, don't attribute your luck to your strength. Your current position is just the result of the incompetence of my evil sons. I have paved the way for them, but they all refused to obey. One ran away, one disobeyed my mother's orders, and the only obedient one was eventually framed."

"Mother, this kind of thinking is the root cause of your failure."

The bronze crane candlestick suddenly burst into flames. Li Zhaoyuan gently picked up the jade wine pot containing the poison wine, poured a cup, put it to his nose and sniffed for a moment, then said quietly: "But I don't blame you. The royal family is ruthless. You and father are right. You were right to suppress me when I was a child in order to consolidate the power of your offspring. But conversely, it is also right that the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit."

Speaking of which,
Li Zhaoyuan slowly handed the jade cup in his hand to Queen Mu:
"Mother, please."

"."

Staring at the cup of poisoned wine that represented death, Queen Mu pursed her plump red lips unconsciously. Her hands placed in front of her abdomen trembled slightly, but after taking a deep breath, she still raised her hands to take it.

wow-

The dragon robe rolled to the ground, and Li Zhaoyuan lowered his head and half-knelt.

According to the Da Yan etiquette,
He could not appreciate the ugly appearance of the emperor and empress before their death.

Her plump breasts kept rising and falling, and the trembling of the Queen's fingertips caused ripples on the wine: "I heard from the Lord that you want to prove that the capable will definitely rise to the top?"

Li Zhaoyuan lowered his head and nodded in response:
"To my mother, yes."

"I also want to prove it."

"Prove that a woman can also take on the throne?"

"." Queen Mu looked unhappy.

Li Zhaoyuan lowered his head and stated a fact in a voice that sounded as if he had expected it:
"I have heard about what happened to you back then, but you are not worthy."

When a person is about to die, the things he has pursued all his life are denied.

Humiliation, resentment, and unwillingness flashed in the dark eyes of the Emperor and Empress, but Li Zhaoyuan's knife-like voice still did not stop:
"Mother, you are indeed better than most men in the world, but you are far from worthy of the throne of the Great Yan Emperor. Even if you are lucky enough to ascend to that position, your posthumous title will be "unworthy of the throne."

Time passes by,

The sound of flying snow hitting the glazed tiles is like scattered jade.

Queen Mu took a deep breath and uttered five words through gritted teeth:
".A lowly bastard."

The words fell,

She trembled and drank the poisoned wine in the cup in one gulp.

But at this time,

Suddenly, she saw the young man in the python robe who was kneeling in front of her slowly stand up from the ground, and his eyes instantly changed from surprise to anger:
"How dare you, you rebellious son, to look directly at the death of the Emperor and Empress."

"That's not poison."

"." Queen Mu.

Li Zhaoyuan's face was colder than ice, his eyes were indifferent and ruthless as he picked up the jade wine pot and said softly:
"I have changed my mind. I don't want you to drink this cup of poisoned wine. I want you to look at it day and night, until..."

Speaking of which,
Li Zhaoyuan suddenly poured the amber wine from the pot onto the blue brick floor, then smiled:
"Until you count the hours until you die, how about that?"

"."

Outside the palace came the sound of accumulated snow breaking dead branches. The emperor and empress's carefully painted eyebrows like distant mountains trembled violently, and their slender hands with nails inlaid with oriental pearls suddenly swept towards the bronze mirror on the table.

wow-

Li Zhaoyuan took a half step back and looked at the debris on the ground reflecting the towering palace roof and countless distorted faces.

Empress Mu was trembling all over, her beautiful eyes were filled with madness, and her sharp screams mixed with sandalwood echoed in the hall:

"You bastard! How dare you, a lowly bastard like you, humiliate me! How dare you humiliate me on a matter of life and death!"

But halfway through,
The hysteria came to an abrupt end.

Queen Mu stared at the shattered lens on the ground, and gently stroked her jade-like white face with her slender hand. Then she laughed softly, looking crazy:
"No, no, Li Zhaoyuan, you can't kill me. The Crown Prince has been the regent for decades, and you have no foundation in the court. If you kill me, those important officials of the imperial party will be in danger, so you can't kill me."

“But there will always be a day.”

"." Queen Mu.

"Mother is still waiting for me."

When Li Zhaoyuan turned around, his cloak blew up a biting cold wind, and he glanced back: "If you have the courage, mother, try to commit suicide. If you do so, maybe you can create some trouble for your son, but now it seems that you don't have the courage.

"So, live in fear, Queen Mu."

(End of this chapter)