My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

Shu Jingwei took another deep breath, her gaze sweeping over the veterans before her, her voice hoarse yet carrying a fierce edge: "Come with me!"

A secret passage was built inside the palace, leading directly to the outside of the city, with the entrance located in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

This matter could only be told to the previous emperor by the one who became emperor. Her ascension to the throne was not honorable, and she should not have known about it.

However, back then she had Ye Fan...

Ye Fan found the exit of the secret passage.

She and Ye Fan were waiting at the exit of the secret passage, and successfully caught the old emperor, her good father, who had escaped.

That's how she got the position.

Shu Jingwei was momentarily dazed, but quickly came to her senses. Why was she thinking about a dead person at this crucial moment?

However, that's just right...

Ye Fan is dead, so no one but her will know the entrance and exit of the secret passage. She can escape from the capital without anyone noticing!

Shu Jingwei turned and led her people toward the Hall of Supreme Harmony, her steps long and hurried. The hundred or so old soldiers, carrying large and small bags, followed behind her, soon becoming breathless with exhaustion.

But everyone knew they were running for their lives, so no one dared to say anything and could only grit their teeth and endure it.

They walked for a while before realizing that the entire palace was empty.

Shu Jingwei looked at the mess in front of her, her face darkening to the point of being almost dripping with gloom.

She had originally planned to have the palace servants block the entrance slightly to buy her more time.

And these lowly people, without her permission, actually dared to run away!?

When she returns, she must find these lowly people one by one and kill them all!

The faint sound of horses' hooves could be heard in the distance. Wang Meng was coming!

Shu Jingwei's back tightened, and without thinking, she quickened her pace, almost running towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

……

Meanwhile, on Shu Rou's side...

She lay on the ground for an unknown amount of time, the pain in her body like waves, one receding only to be followed by another.

It took a while before I felt a little better.

She struggled to her feet and stumbled out of the bedroom.

The pale sunlight of an early spring afternoon slanted down, so bright that it stung her one remaining open eye.

She instinctively tried to raise her hand to block it, but the pain made her lower her arm halfway up.

Thin frost from last night still lingered in the cracks of the stone steps in front of the hall. When the sunlight shone on it, it quietly melted into water, leaving small patches of dark, damp stains.

Shu Rou raised her head and then saw—

On the long palace road outside the hall, a figure dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe was running wildly toward them.

The bright yellow stood out dazzlingly against the dark palace walls, and the hem of the robe fluttered behind her.

It's the Queen Mother!

A glimmer of light suddenly burst forth from Shu Rou's eye, which was swollen to the point of being just a slit.

She struggled to pull her chapped lips upwards, which aggravated the wound on her lips, causing her to hiss in pain, but she still managed to smile.

turn out to be--

The Empress Dowager still cares about her!

When this thought came to her, her nose tingled, and her eyes filled with tears, unable to tell whether it was from grievance or pride.

She hastily wiped her face with her sleeve, leaving it covered in blood, but she didn't care.

Forget it, she's a petty person with a magnanimous heart. She won't hold it against the Empress Mother, nor will she let the divine messenger drive the Empress Mother away.

Hmm... Let's send the Empress Dowager to the palace school, so she can suffer the hardships she endured.

As for the matter of Father being killed by Mother Empress...

She looked up at the sky, thinking to herself that if all else failed, she could just let her mother go and keep her father company sooner, so that her father wouldn't be lonely down there.

She recalled the palace servants who had dared to lay a hand on her earlier, and her eyes suddenly turned sinister, her fist clenching tightly.

Kill them all!

They must all be killed! Chop them into mincemeat and feed them to the dogs!

But then she stopped thinking about those things; all her attention was focused on the approaching, bright yellow figure.

Shu Rou puffed out her chest with a dignified air, raised her chin, and turned her swollen face toward the direction Shu Jingwei had run from.

Although these movements caused her a sharp pain in her ribs, she seemed to no longer feel it.

After she waited for her mother to run up to her, she pulled her into her arms and asked her with concern if she was in pain.

She even had already thought about what to say in her mind—first cry, cry a lot, and then make her request.

however--

Shu Jingwei ran right past her.

He didn't even glance in this direction.

Her legs moved incredibly fast, and the hem of her bright yellow dragon robe swept past Shu Rou's nose with a cool, ambergris-like fragrance, as swift as a yellow lightning bolt.

She just ran over there...

Not even a single one.

Behind her followed a large group of soldiers carrying various packages and wooden boxes, their footsteps thundering across the palace road.

A gust of wind swept past Shu Rou, and her disordered footsteps kicked up clouds of dust.

She was short, and the dust kept pouring into her mouth and nose, choking her and causing her to cough violently.

Shu Rou was already badly injured, and this cough aggravated all her wounds, causing her to grimace in pain and tears to stream down her face.

But she couldn't care less about the pain.

She suddenly took off after him, shouting loudly in a hoarse, shrill voice, "Mother Queen! Wait for me—Mother Queen!"

But the sound, mixed in with the rumbling footsteps, was like the buzzing of a mosquito.

Shu Jingwei didn't hear it at all.

The group of old soldiers carrying their bundles didn't hear it either.

No one noticed that behind them was a small, battered figure.

---

Only Lin Ye, with his god-like perspective, saw the blood-red figures stumbling and chasing after the group—

A tiny little thing, stumbling along the long palace path, chasing after that bright yellow figure.

Lin Ye leaned against the headboard, his fingertips casually stroking the glass in his hand.

After a long pause, he sighed softly.

It's hard to say whether it's a sigh or something else.

He still remembered seeing Shu Rou playing that "hitting game" before—

A smile graced that innocent face, eyes sparkling, as it clapped excitedly while watching the palace servants being beaten. Human life was treated like dirt.

It's just karma that's brought us to this point.

……

At this moment, Shu Rou felt as if countless needles were churning inside her lungs with every breath.

She raised her hand and wiped her face; the back of her hand was covered in blood and snot, so sticky that it made her feel nauseous.

This passageway seems to have no end.

The vermilion palace walls on both sides were so high that they seemed about to collapse and crush her, and the sky above her head was squeezed into a thin blue line.

With each step Shu Rou took, her ankle bones made a soft creaking sound, and the pain made her vision go black.

Shu Jingwei and her team sped up again.

Shu Rou was already struggling to keep up, and now the distance between them was widening even further.

"Mother Queen..."

Her voice was completely hoarse, and the last words she uttered were barely audible even to herself.

Suddenly, Shu Rou stumbled—

She fell to the ground, her chin hitting the bluestone bricks, and the pain made her eyes roll back.

But she couldn't care less.

She looked up, but could only watch helplessly as the bright yellow figure led people away quickly, finally turning sharply at the corner and rushing into the white jade square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

He also disappeared from her sight...