I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 510 The Abandoned Queen
"Miss, it's windy outside, come in quickly." Dewdrop helped hold down the hood that was being blown up by the wind, afraid that her princess would be seen by others and cause unnecessary trouble.

"Don't be nervous." Wei Mingyu Jin pulled her head back and reached out to close the car window. "I have a disguise on my face, no one will notice."

Dewdrop helped her adjust her hood, but she was still nervous.

—It's been a long and difficult journey to leave the palace; hopefully, nothing unexpected will happen.

At this moment, the curtain of the carriage door was lifted by a fair and large hand. The man, who had grown into a young man, had a more rugged profile than when he was a boy. If he did not deliberately dress up or conceal his features, he would no longer be mistaken for a woman.

His eyes crinkled slightly, his smile radiant, and he spoke fluent Mandarin, "Where are we going?"

"Let's go to Gaochang first." Just seeing this person made Wei Mingyu Jin unable to help but smile. "Ah Shan, my friend is there, and I want to give her a surprise."

"Achoo!" Someone who was training troops suddenly looked up at the sky and sneezed, rubbing his nose and muttering, "Emperor Shunguang is so stingy. He dotes on one person but still won't give me the crybaby. Bah! Men's words are deceitful. I hope that Miss Chu won't believe Emperor Shunguang's nonsense."

"Ah!"

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Chu Liuzheng, who was sitting on the bed wearing a robe, suddenly sneezed. Startled, Chen Xing quickly grabbed a cloak to wrap her up to prevent her from catching a cold.

Chu Liuzheng pinched his nose and forced down a bowl of medicine, his face contorted in bitterness.

[We're both human, so why can Brother Xiaoyao lie on the ice to catch carp without catching a cold, while I caught a cold after just skating on the ice for a while? Is there really such a big difference between people?]

Ah~ I miss Dr. Feng's pills so much. Although the taste was a bit strange, you could just swallow them raw with water.

Chen Xing popped a candied fruit into her mouth. "The imperial physician instructed that my sister has been infected by a pathogenic wind and needs to rest well. She can no longer stand on the ice like she did yesterday."

Chu Liuzheng responded, a small bump appearing on his cheek from the candied fruit.

Chenxing urged her to rest.

“You’ve slept all day. If you sleep any longer, you won’t be able to sleep tonight.” Chu Liuzheng sat cross-legged on the bed, wrapped in a cloak. “You didn’t finish your story from yesterday. Continue. We can have dinner after you finish listening.”

Upon hearing this, Chenxing perked up. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth, about to continue yesterday's story, when Siyue walked in carrying a piece of red cloth, instantly attracting their attention.

Chu Liuzheng asked, "Was it a gift from His Majesty?"

“It was a gift from the Empress Dowager,” Siyue said. “When the Empress Dowager heard that my sister was ill, she specially sent Zhao Mama to visit her. My sister was still sleeping just now, and Zhao Mama said it was inconvenient to disturb her, so she left this piece of cloth and a few boxes of ginseng and bird’s nest before leaving.”

The Empress Dowager seems to eat less when she sees me, and she even sent me tonics! Has the sun risen in the west?

"Nothing else matters, sister, please take a closer look at the embroidery on this cloth." As Siyue spoke, she and Chenxing unrolled the cloth, gesturing for Chu Liuzheng to examine it closely.

Chu Liuzheng took a closer look.

[Holy crap! A picture of one hundred children?!]

Is the Empress Dowager urging me to have a baby, or is she implying that I'm just occupying a position without using it?

Wait a minute! Did I accidentally compare a tyrant to a latrine?

[Uh... even if it's a latrine, the tyrant's would definitely be the most luxuriously decorated one.]

Even a single glance felt like being overwhelmed by malice. Chu Liuzheng's eyes twitched violently. After thinking for a moment, he instructed Siyue, "Send it to His Majesty for a look."

Whoever's mother it is, that person should deal with it.

In the Wenhua Hall, Xiao Jingfan, upon seeing the Hundred Children Painting, calmly waved his hand and said, "Put it away for now."

The house isn't even finished yet, so where did the child come from?
This morning at court, the officials had just submitted a memorial requesting the emperor to hold a grand selection of concubines to fill the harem. The empress dowager then pulled this stunt. The emperor, who was being pressured by both the officials and the empress dowager, was somewhat displeased, and at the same time, he was worried that Chu Liuzheng would be unhappy as well.

With only one year left in the bet, some things needed to be done quickly. Long, slender fingers gripped the wolf-hair brush, and with a flick of the wrist, slowly wrote the character "Win" on the paper.

The following day, after the morning court session, Zhou Yuande went to Changchun Palace with a scroll of imperial edict in his hand.

"Empress Zhong is cruel and heartless, fabricating rumors and framing innocent people... She is unfit to bear the mandate of heaven. She is hereby deposed and reduced to a commoner. Her imperial seal and ribbon are removed, and she is to retire to Jianping Palace to worship Buddha and reflect on her actions. She shall never leave the palace again."

After listening quietly to the imperial edict, Empress Zhong... no, commoner Zhong Wenlan, dressed in a plain robe, kowtowed to receive the decree.

Eunuch Zhou couldn't help but sigh. He ordered someone to help Zhong Wenlan up. "The carriage is already waiting at the door. Have someone pack some useful items. We'll come over in about an incense stick's time."

He gave Zhong Wenlan a final shred of dignity, and Zhong Wenlan was grateful, bowing respectfully to the fat eunuch, saying, "Thank you, sir."

Zhou Yuande sighed softly, bowed in return, and left with his men.

"My lord, His Majesty is truly so heartless." Qiu Sui's eyes were filled with tears, and her face showed undisguised panic.

Although she knew that her master's fate would not be good, she still held a sliver of hope in her heart. What if His Majesty was willing to pardon her master out of consideration for their past relationship?
Now that the imperial edict to depose the empress has been issued, all hope is lost.

"What are you crying for? Wipe away your tears, it's unsightly." Zhong Wenlan's face remained expressionless as he gripped the imperial edict tightly and said in a deep voice, "Hurry up and pack your valuables. There's only one incense stick left, don't make things difficult for Eunuch Zhou."

“But the palace is remote, and if you leave, you may never have the chance to come back.” Qiu Sui felt sorry for her mistress. “If you don’t think about yourself, think about the eldest prince. The Duke’s mansion is gone. If you leave, the eldest prince will really be all alone.”

She whispered, "They say even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness. Why don't you go and beg His Majesty? He will be merciful. Even finding a nunnery in the capital to practice Buddhism is better than going to a remote palace. Those places are full of madmen and fools. You've never suffered since you were a child, how can you go to such a place?"

“My son is a prince.” Slender fingers traced the golden dragon pattern on the imperial edict, a dark light burning in Zhong Wenlan’s eyes. “It would be bad for him if I stayed.”

Qiu Sui was taken aback, but then she understood what Zhong Wenlan meant.

His master's presence in the capital was an eyesore to the emperor and would cause the emperor to dislike the eldest prince. If he went far away, the eldest prince might still have a glimmer of hope.

Zhong Wenlan glanced at her, a hint of tenderness in his eyes: "It's hard for you to come to a place like that with me. If you don't want to, I'll find a way to help you leave on the way. You can go back to your own life..."

"What are you saying?" Qiu Sui wiped away her tears with her sleeve and interrupted, "Wherever you go, I will go. Although I am of little use, I can still serve you tea and water. Don't think about abandoning me."

"Silly girl." Zhong Wenlan took out a silk handkerchief to wipe away the tears under her eyes. "Hurry up and pack, take some light things."

"Yes," Qiu Sui replied and ran off to tidy up.

Zhong Wenlan glanced down at the tear-stained silk handkerchief, then loosened his grip, and the thin, soft silk handkerchief fell into the brazier by the door, burning into ashes.

She leaned against the doorway, looked up at the gray sky, and thought to herself: This sky is just like the one on the day of the birthday banquet.

That was the first time she met the emperor.

The young man, not yet twenty, possessed a beauty that even fine clothes could not conceal, and a nobility that was unmatched by ordinary people. Simply by standing in a crowd, he was like the most dazzling jewel in the night, impossible to ignore.

My grandfather said he might be able to.

So she went over, pretending she had just noticed his chess game and that she had just happened to solve it. Under the boy's delighted and appreciative gaze, she happily sat down and chatted with him.

Three months later, the late emperor bestowed a marriage upon her, and she became his fiancée.

It was all a scheme from beginning to end.

A mocking smile curled at the corners of the woman's lips.

She was scheming against him, and he was scheming against her; there was never any genuine affection between them.

(End of this chapter)