Chapter 402
She grabbed a pair of scissors and slashed at the jade pendant.
In an instant, a crack appeared.
Yulu gasped and called out to Her Grace, but saw her hand the jade pendant to Yao Qing: "Take it. You don't need me to teach you what to say when you see him."
Yao Qing shuddered and took it with both hands: "Thank you, Your Grace! But... aren't you going to see him yourself?"
Chu Ruoyan raised a delicate eyebrow: "Wouldn't it make things worse if I went to see him?"
Yao Qing understood, kowtowed three times, and turned to leave.
Chu Ruoyan suddenly said: "Second Miss Yao, have you gone to see Fifth Brother?"
Yao Qing's body swayed, and she embarrassedly bit her lip and turned around: "Your Grace... you know everything?"
Chu Ruoyan chuckled lightly: "What's there not to see? You're risking your life for a man, and it can't be because of me, right?"
Yao Qing lowered her head, and after a long time, she said: "I let Fifth Brother down!"
Chu Ruoyan shook her head: "You have already taken the letter of divorce from the Yan family. Whether you remarry or return home is your own choice. I just want to remind you that if you don't leave the capital, you'd better hide this feeling."
With Su Tingyun making such a scene today, Yan Zheng must be extremely disgusted.
If he finds out that this former Fifth Sister-in-law has her eyes on him, who knows what he might do.
Yao Qing was stunned for a moment, and a bitter smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Don't worry, Your Grace, he has no interest in me. Perhaps this is a punishment. I left the Yan family when they were in the most difficult time, not staying by Fifth Brother like you and Second Sister-in-law did, so I got a family like a blood leech, and I still love but can't get him, begging bitterly to no avail."
Chu Ruoyan sighed and said nothing more.
Yao Qing turned around, and when she reached the door of the hall, she suddenly said: "By the way, Your Grace, there is one more thing. I feel I should tell you. Before Second Sister-in-law married into the Yan family, she also had a childhood sweetheart who she was talking about marrying. That person's surname is Pei, and he seems to be in the capital too."
After saying that, she curtsied and left.
Chu Ruoyan narrowed her eyes: "Surname Pei? Heiya, go find out who it is."
The only ones she could think of were the Pei family of Yuzhou. If it was a good match, she naturally wouldn't stop it, but she was afraid that they had ulterior motives since they didn't send Pei Bingqing in!
Heiya returned shortly: "Third Miss, it's the Seventh Young Master of the Pei family of Yuzhou, the current Prefect of Taizhou, Pei Yu."
"Pei Yu?"
Chu Ruoyan's forehead twitched fiercely. Good things don't come true, but bad things do.
Fortunately, this Pei Seven is in Taizhou now and can't meet Second Sister-in-law. She can only keep a close eye on him in the future.
Just as she thought of this, hurried footsteps came from outside the hall.
The man strode in, and before he could take off his dragon robe, he pulled her into his arms and ravished her lips: "A-Yan, you're bullying me again!"
Chu Ruoyan's eyes widened: "How did I bully you?"
The palace servants embarrassedly lowered their heads, only to hear him speak righteously: "Dare you say that Su Tingyun didn't cause trouble because of you? First there was Pei Zhuo, and then there was Su Tingyun. You still say you didn't bully me?"
Chu Ruoyan laughed angrily, poking his chest with her finger: "Yes, I wonder who has a childhood sweetheart, Second Sister Rong, and an obsessed cousin-in-law, Mrs. Feng. Oh, I almost forgot, even the Southern Barbarian Princess wants to recruit someone to be her prince consort!"
She spoke sarcastically, but Yan Zheng was amused, tightly hugging her waist: "A-Yan, are you jealous?"
The little lady glared at him.
The man laughed out loud, and the cold anger that had accumulated in the hall earlier instantly vanished: "A-Yan, you're jealous! That's great! This is the first time I've seen you like this. It's really great!"
Others wished their wives were magnanimous, but the emperor in front of her did the opposite.
Chu Ruoyan couldn't help laughing, her fingers wrapping around a lock of his hair: "Alright, are you not angry now?"
Yan Zheng shook his head: "I don't have the time to argue with fools. Don't worry, I will issue a decree tomorrow, conferring the title of Princess of Commandery on Rong Su, treating her with the etiquette of a sworn sister. As for Mrs. Feng, the second branch has been watching her very closely these days, probably afraid that she will cause trouble and affect their career."
Chu Ruoyan curled her lips slightly: "It's hard for you to be so thoughtful, but as for the Old Madam..."
The hat of filial piety was too heavy.
A gleam flashed in Yan Zheng's eyes: "Don't worry, I have already sent someone to pick her up. As for whether she comes back or not, that's her business."
Wofo Temple.
Minister of Rites Xu Yan personally went to welcome her, with gongs and drums beating loudly, making it very grand.
But when they reached the door of the wing room, Grandma Yan refused to come out.
Minister Xu was helpless and could only say: "Grand Empress Dowager, I am acting on the emperor's orders to welcome you back to the palace to enjoy your old age..."
"Enjoy my old age? Does he have such good intentions? Stop lying to me!" Grandma Yan looked vigilant, tightly grabbing the quilt and said, "I've heard it all. He rebelled, fought his way into the imperial city, and massacred the entire royal family of the previous dynasty! If I go back to such a ruthless person, I will definitely be tortured to death by him. I will never go back!"
Minister Xu's eyes widened. He never expected the relationship between this grandmother and grandson to be so bad.
He talked until his mouth was dry, but the Old Madam still refused to leave. In the end, he could only go back dejectedly.
Of course, he couldn't say that she didn't come back because she was afraid of the emperor. He could only find an excuse, saying that the Grand Empress Dowager wanted to pray for the country in Wofo.
When the news reached the Su residence, Su Tingyun crushed his teacup in anger: "Hateful! He clearly coerced the Grand Empress Dowager, yet he has the face to say she did it voluntarily!"
Seeing him like this, Yao Qing showed a hint of bitterness between her brows: "Lord Su, even today, are you still obsessed?"
"The one who is obsessed is him, Yan Zheng! A rebellious traitor who rebelled, and now he is unfilial and deceiving the world!"
Su Tingyun was filled with righteous indignation, and Yao Qing looked at him strangely: "Do you hate him for being unfilial, or for marrying Her Grace the Empress?"
Su Tingyun's expression changed drastically: "What did you say?"
"Stop lying to yourself, Su Tingyun. If you really hated him for usurping the throne, you should have made your move on the day he ascended the throne. But you didn't. Instead, you reacted intensely right before the upcoming Empress Conferring Ceremony. Don't you really know what it's for?"
Su Tingyun stared at her coldly for a moment and looked away: "So what if I am? He doesn't deserve her!"
Yao Qing smiled, looking at him sorrowfully and said: "Su Tingyun, stop deceiving yourself. Her Grace the Empress has no feelings for you. This is also what she asked me to pass on to you."
Saying that, she took out the jade pendant...
Su Tingyun trembled violently, snatched it over, and looked at it carefully: "It's, it's this jade... The day she went to Wangshuang Tower, she dropped exactly this jade pendant!"
But when he turned it over, a crack broke it in half, making him feel as if he had been struck by lightning: "This is?!"
"It was slashed by Her Grace the Empress herself." Yao Qing said numbly.
Su Tingyun suddenly stepped back two paces, painfully covering his face: "No..."
The jade pendant cracked in the middle, indicating eternal separation.
How could she do this? How could she do this?
"Her Grace also said that one man's poison is another man's honey. She has never regretted everything she has done, and she is proud of him."
This "him" naturally referred to Yan Zheng.
Su Tingyun let out a painful roar from his throat. Why is it always like this?
When the entire Yan family died in battle and was in a difficult situation, she was by his side.
When Yan Zheng pretended to rely on Eldest Princess Ansheng, her heart was also by his side.
Now, even when that person rebelled and became a despised traitor, she still stood by his side.
Why won't she turn around and look at him one more time?
Yao Qing's heart was so full of bitterness that she could not bring herself to say a single word. Just then, voices rang out from outside the manor gates: "What are you all still standing around for? Hurry over to the palace gates and take a look! Master Liaokong has led a massive crowd over there, saying they are going to petition on behalf of Her Majesty the Empress!"