翁公和在厨房猛烈进出

But... Ji Man glanced at Ning Yuxuan. At the end, he had snatched the dagger from her.

Was he being stupid? He could have just let Wu Yong seize her and Nie Qingyun. The fatal strike on Zhao Li’s neck was from her, so Nie Qingyun wouldn’t be punished too badly. He also had Marquis Jingwen to protect him. She had been hoping that Ning Yuxuan would be able to lend a helping hand, but in the end, Ning Yuxuan had delivered himself into here along with them.

What would they do now? Ji Man felt somewhat exhausted. The great revenge had been achieved. It seemed that there was nothing left to concern herself with here. However, after carefully thinking it over, she remembered that there was still Haohao, ah.

She had to get out of here to take care of Haohao.

Thinking of this, Ji Man felt somewhat anxious. She stood up and looked at Ning Yuxuan through the bars. She asked, “Where did you take Haohao?”

“He’s in my estate.” Ning Yuxuan slightly furrowed his brow. He had forgotten about this until she brought it up. Haohao was in his estate with Guibai looking after him. There probably wouldn’t be any problems.

Ji Man pursed her lips. “Why did you grab my dagger? If you hadn’t taken it, with your status, they wouldn’t have been able to easily confine you here. You could have remained outside to take care of Haohao.”

Ning Yuxuan chuckled. “If I didn’t grab it, you would have been the perfect choice for a scapegoat. You don’t have a strong background to protect you.”

If the role of the killer was switched to him, Zhao Zhe would need to tread carefully.

Nie Qingyun furrowed his brow and asked, “What will Zhangjun Prince do to us?”

How would the deeply scheming former crown prince deal with them?

Ning Yuxuan chuckled and answered, “Neither of us will die. We just need to wait to see what kind of conditions he’ll set for us.”

There was a period of silence. These three knew that Zhao Zhe wasn’t the type of person that would issue an easy condition.

—

At this time, the situation in the palace had calmed down from the earlier chaos. Zhao Zhe was sitting on the throne, and the hall only had officials loyal to him.

Shen Youqing had arrived late. When she saw that no one was standing next to throne, she finally sighed in relief.

“The rewards from today’s accomplishment will be shared with everyone.” Zhao Zhe was currently giving an inspirational speech. The situation in the capital was already under control. With Shen Youqing standing by his side and the kneeling officials below him, he felt as if he had already ascended the throne and become emperor.

Wu Yong strode into the hall and saluted with his hands without saying a word. However, from the looks of Wu Yong’s expression, Zhao Zhe guessed that the matter had already been completed successfully. Zhao slightly smiled, turned his head, and said, “Although the current emperor is heartless, unjust, disloyal, and unfilial, he’s still this prince’s younger brother. This prince has decided to spare his life. As long as he abdicates, this prince is willing to return good for evil. He’ll be allowed to peacefully live out the rest of his life in the palace.”

“Your Highness is merciful -” the group of people called out in unison.

Wu Yong stepped forward at this time to report, “Your Highness, the emperor has already been murdered. When this subject recently rushed to Wangyu Building, the emperor was already lying in a pool of blood. Marquis Moyu and General Nie were holding weapons, so this subject arrested them both.”

The officials were shocked, and even Zhao Zhe was caught off guard.

Marquis Moyu was involved too?

Zhao Zhe smacked his armrest and stood up. “They have some nerve. The emperor hasn’t abdicated yet. Although the emperor is guilty of serous crimes, it’s not their place to carry out judgment! Where is Marquis Moyu and General Nie now?”

“To report to Your Highness, they’re both in the imperial prison.”

“The palace matters will be handed over to the princess consort and Sir Wu to deal with. This prince will go to the imperial prison to take a look. Those murderers will certainly be severely punished!” Zhao Zhe indignantly departed and left behind a hall full of ministers that looked at each other in dismay.

It was unlikely for a fallen emperor to keep his life. Although the first prince had said merciful words, Marquis Moyu and General Nie’s actions were within reason.

Although they could see through this act, out of self-preservation, no one in the hall would speak out to plead for leniency for these two people.

—

Zhao Zhe was extremely happy. He had finally succeeded after so many years of scheming. All of his troubles were resolved. Now, he just had to see how he would deal with those three.

After ordering the jailer to withdraw, Zhao Zhe walked into the depths of the imperial prison with his trusted aides.

When he passed by a cell, he heard a woman screeching, “Let me out! I want to see the emperor!”

Zhao Zhe flicked his eyes that way and saw a disheveled Kangyuan. He sneered and continued walking forward.

Arriving at the furthest cell’s door, Zhao Zhe suddenly changed his expression to a sympathetic one as he said, “Yuxuan, Qingyun.”

Then, he looked at the neighboring cell. “Sangyu, how did you... get caught red-handed?”

Ji Man froze in surprise. As she looking at this insincere hypocrite, there was a trace of loathing and disgust in her eyes.

Nie Qingyun stayed silent too.

It was actually Ning Yuxuan that spoke up. “Your Highness, it really was very unfortunate. Your Highness’s trusted aide must have listen to someone else’s order. He came to Wangyue Building and had us arrested.”

Zhao Zhe furrowed his brow and said, “This prince isn’t fully aware of what happened. This prince had been in the midst of handling other matters in Zichen Hall when someone suddenly came to report that that three of you had been arrested.”

His expression looked so sincere. Ji Man almost thought that he really didn’t know what had happened, but she was someone that had lived in Zhangjun Prince’s household. How could she not know how loyal Wu Yong was? Other than Zhangjun Prince, Wu Yong wouldn’t follow anyone else’s command.

“The emperor and empress have both died,” Marquis Moyu lightly said, “Your Highness, your great ambition has been achieved, so you probably don’t have much use left for the three of us. How about you have us buried with the emperor? This way, Your Highness’s reputation won’t be tarnished.”

Translator Ramblings: I thought it was interesting and very unusual that the author portrays Ji Man as someone that values getting revenge more than her own child. Once she finally gained access to the palace, her first thought wasn’t; let’s find Haohao. It was revenge. Plus, even though she knows Zhao Li has taken Haohao as a hostage, she doesn’t worry at all that her actions will indirectly lead Haohao to getting hurt.

In this aspect, I think she and Liu Hanyun are foils of each other. Xi-er is Liu Hanyun’s entire world, and she will do anything for him including tossing her morals to the side of the road. For her son, she will do things that she would never do for her on sake. Whereas, Haohao is a small part of Ji Man’s world, and she has other priorities that she values more than her son. Her light-hearted, easygoing relationship with him is a reflection of that. She seems more like his fun aunt than his mother.

That’s just my interpretation. What do you guys think?