Chapter 1524
Chapter 723 - 703
1,627 words
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9 min read
Su Rong was not naturally a soft-hearted person, but right now, the thought of killing Nangong Xin didn’t appeal to her.
How complex human nature was, Su Rong had learned from Xie Yuan since childhood. However, she hadn’t expected that the person she had always wanted to take revenge on, didn’t actually wish to kill her.
Regardless of whether she was right or wrong, undeniably, all these years, behind the Nangong family’s back, she’d been granted a chance to live.
Thinking about it was perplexing, yet that was the reality.
Su Rong laughed a little, "I’m not soft-hearted, I’m tolerant. If I can accept someone who planned to kill me, I can accept countless others. If Nangong Zheng were to side with me, I think I could make room for him too. But sadly, he’s too stubborn."
She stood up, brushing off her sleeves, "Consider it as returning the incredible effort that you’ve put into me all these years! I don’t want to kill you either. Let’s leave you to look after the Nangong family’s ancestral tomb, to reciprocate your tireless nurturing."
"I don’t need your..."
"Shh." Su Rong placed her hand on her lips, making a hush sound, interrupting Nangong Xin’s words, "Since you like my father’s sleeping palace, and since he gave it to you and doesn’t want it anymore, then it’s yours now. If you wish to commit suicide, please, feel free. I’m leaving."
Having said that, she really left, leaving the threshold behind, walking out of the sleeping palace, without looking back. At the gate, she only instructed the guard, "Everyone withdraw!"
"Yes, Princess" The head guard responded, gesturing for his men to leave.
The sleeping palace, which had been sealed off for a couple of months, was unsealed that day, with not a single drop of blood spilled, and no casualties.
Nangong Xin remained standing dumbfounded, and so did her attendants. They were all still alive? They had assumed today was the day they would die.
Suddenly, Nangong Xin pulled out the hairpin from her hair, aiming it at herself.
"Queen!" someone cried out in alarm.
Nangong Xin hesitated.
The person immediately silenced himself, trembling with fear as he watched Nangong Xin.
After a while, Nangong Xin released her grip, violently throwing the hairpin away and stomping her foot, "Who cares if she spares my life."
Of course, the gold hairpin couldn’t be possibly crushed. Instead, it hurt Nangong Xin’s foot.
All the attendants stood still and said nothing.
Nangong Xin stood there for a moment and then suddenly sat down in frustration, muttering angrily, "She’s Yan Ruzhen’s and Chu Rong’s daughter. Their daughter. Who says I don’t want to kill her? I just want to see how capable she’ll be when she grows up. Will she be as capable as Yan Ruzhen, who with her own strength, ended the wars between Dawei and Daliang? Am I doing all of this for Chu Rong? What makes you think I’m doing it for him? I’m not. Definitely not."
The palace maids, wet nurses, and eunuchs all watched Nangong Xin in silence. No one in the hall dared to make a sound. Could they be wrong? Yet, after all, she wasn’t the Queen they used to know. Even if they heard all this, she wouldn’t kill them, right?
The Nanchu King spent half a day with Zhou Gu at the Ministry of Rites. Seeing Zhou be so quick and enthusiastic about the wedding arrangements, he thought of how zealous Zhou seemed for his wedding. Luckily, his daughter was a princess. Otherwise, if she were to marry outside, he would have definitely given Zhou a stern countenance.
Seeing the king still hanging around after bringing Zhou Gu to him, the Minister of Rites began to subtly urge the Nanchu King to leave, "Your Majesty, have you left the princess in the palace? Half the day has gone by, aren’t you worried? I’ll take good care of Lord Thursday, you can rest assured. You should hurriedly return to the palace and check on the princess."
Upon hearing this, the Nanchu King agreed, "Alright, I’ll leave then."
He walked a few steps hurriedly towards the outside, but unable to feel at ease, he turned his head back and instructed Zhou Gu, "Son-in-law, you mustn’t take your youth for granted and neglect your health. With so many people here, don’t overwork yourself. Leave the government office early tonight, Xiaoqi and I are waiting for you to have dinner together."
Without lifting his head, Zhou Gu waved his hand dismissively, "Father-in-law, don’t worry, you carry on! I will return to the royal palace for dinner on time."
Nanchu King nodded and then comfortably turned and left.
The Minister of Rites thought to himself that he had never seen such a father-son relationship between a father-in-law and son-in-law. Lord Thursday behaved in front of the king as if he was the king’s own son. No, even a real son would be more reverent; his attitude was casual yet intimate.
As Nanchu King swiftly returned to the royal palace, it occurred to him that when he left with Zhou Gu in the morning, Su Rong had gone to see Nangong Xin. After Nangong Xin’s numerous attempts on her life over the years, he worried that she might be hurt again.
Upon entering the palace gate, he immediately inquired, "Where is the princess? Is she safe and sound?"
The guard hesitated for a moment and then respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, everything is calm in the palace."
Nanchu King breathed a sigh of relief; as long as everything was peaceful. He hurriedly walked inside while sending another person to inquire where Su Rong was now and what she had been doing that morning.
Soon, the person came back with news, "Your Majesty, the princess left the queen’s residence and went to the Book Pavilion. Now that it’s almost noon, she has come out. Since she heard that you returned to the palace, the princess intends to accompany you for lunch at the administrative hall."
After nodding in acknowledgment, Nanchu King inquired further, "What about Nangong Xin? How did she deal with her?"
The informer shook his head, "She didn’t do anything."
Surprised, Nanchu King asked, "What do you mean she didn’t do anything?"
The informer did not know either, he hadn’t managed to gather more information in such a short amount of time.
"Alright then, I will ask the princess myself!" Nanchu King hurried towards the administrative hall.
When he returned to the administrative hall, Su Rong was already waiting. It seemed she had just arrived too, as the tea on the table was freshly brewed, with steam still wafting off it. She had just finished washing her hands and was drying them with a cloth. Seeing him return, she called out, "Father."
Nanchu King looked at Su Rong and asked her doubtfully, "I heard that you didn’t punish Nangong Xin? Why not?"
"Father, do you really not know why?" Su Rong poured a cup of tea for Nanchu King and pushed it towards him.
Nanchu King was confused, "Should I know? She always sent people to kill you. How you deal with her is up to you."
"Uncle Xie taught me not to just look at the surface of things. Although the queen has always sent people to kill me, there’s one thing - she hid this matter for years and did not tell the Nangong family. Even when you found out about my existence, the Nangong family was still kept in the dark. Do you find this plausible? Unless she wasn’t trying to hide it from you, but it was actually the Nangong family she wanted to keep in the dark." Su Rong looked at Nanchu King, "Father, you should know that if she had told the Nangong family about me from the beginning and did want me dead, then I probably wouldn’t have made it to Nanchu. I now know just how powerful the Nangong family is."
They nearly usurped the Nanchu dynasty; what was stopping them from killing her, then just a child?
Nanchu King fell silent.
"Father, you knew this too, so even though you remained wary of the Nangong family all these years, you never moved against her. You handed her over to me now because you didn’t want to kill her yourself, isn’t that right?" Su Rong sighed, "It’s sad when you think about it. She loves you so much that she would go to such lengths. For your sake, she would openly kill yet secretly protect your child with her love rival. It’s really puzzling."
Nanchu King’s face darkened, "Mind your words."
Su Rong smiled, took a sip of her tea, and said to Nanchu King, "If you don’t want to admit it and the queen vehemently denies it, then let’s just dismiss it as nonsense. I am not a kind person, something you should know. I am not soft-hearted either. I just think that if you are indebted to someone, you should repay the debt; if someone wrongs you, you should avenge it. In a way, the queen showed me mercy, didn’t she? In that case, let’s just forget it, let her live or die by her own hand! If she wants to commit suicide, then let her commit suicide. If she wants to live, the palace isn’t short of another mouth to feed, let her live then."
— End of Chapter 1524 —