Chapter 209 The Evil Fruit Sown by Xue Qingning

Chapter 209 The Evil Fruit Sown by Xue Qingning

Xie Yan helped the two up.

“Your Highness Prince Jing,” Lie Feng stepped forward, bowing his head, “I deserve to die, I’m late.”

Shen Nanzi was somewhat surprised that Lie Feng was actually doing business with Xie Yan.

She couldn't help but recall the night she escaped from the palace to rescue her brother from the prison, and it was Lie Feng who was hindering her.

So he must have been acting on Xie Yan's orders.

The thought of this made Shen Nanzi feel sad. If it weren't for the obstruction, her brother might not have died.

"It's alright!" Xie Yan's expression remained calm, like the tranquility after a storm.

From the few words spoken, Imperial Censor Zhang deduced that Lie Feng was a pawn that Prince Jing had placed in the Xue family.

However, he was still shaken by Xie Yan's order. "Your Highness, that was really not your decision."

“You knew that Liefeng would proceed according to plan, so you should have stalled for time instead of sacrificing yourself for your country.”

"Even the most meticulous plans can fail," Xie Yan said calmly.

His fingers clenched tightly under his sleeves. He didn't want to say that Shen Nanzi's choice had made him lose his reason to live.

I feel better knowing that I would die for my family and country.

Now, the road ahead is almost smooth, but if Shen Nanzi and Cheng'er don't want him either.

He felt as if he had returned to the Abandoned Palace, confined to a small world. His mother remained silent all day, and he sat on the ground, peering through the crack in the door. The days were long and unbearable.

Those were suffocating times. It's better to leave and let everyone have their own way than to live like that.

His gaze passed over them and landed on Shen Nanzi, while her eyes darted back and forth between him and Xue Qingning, filled with blatant hostility.

That look caused him a sudden, sharp pain in his heart, as if a knife were twisting inside his chest.

"So what if you fail? Your life is so precious, how can you give up so easily?"

Imperial Censor Zhang spoke earnestly, but Zhao Zhendong seemed to have noticed something amiss: "Prince Cheng is still young, and Princess Jing is also a delicate woman."

"Without you, how pitiful would the orphaned mother and child be? You mustn't do this again!"

Realizing he had misspoke, he quickly retracted his words with a "pui pui pui" sound, saying, "There won't be a next time. With you in charge of Luoyang, Yunhan will be at peace throughout the land."

Just as everyone was talking amongst themselves...

Xue Qingning placed her left hand on her right wrist and smiled at Shen Nanzi.

Then, after she pressed down on the bracelet on her wrist, several streaks of silver light suddenly flew out and headed directly towards her and Xie Chengze.

Shen Nanzi had been watching her closely, and she became alert the moment her left hand touched her right wrist.

The moment the silver light shot out, he turned around and shielded Cheng'er with his arms.

From just one glance, Shen Nanzi had already guessed that it was a hidden weapon, containing a silver needle or similar projectile.

Since Xue Qingning had made preparations long ago, her weapon must be deadly.

She had prepared herself to be stabbed, but when she closed her eyes and waited for the pain in her back, she found that the pain did not come as expected.

She opened her eyes, turned around, and her pupils dilated instantly. Behind her, she saw Xie Yan's tall body looming over her.

His brows were slightly furrowed, his eyes fixed on her, his gaze like water, shimmering slightly.

Shen Nanzi seemed to see a deep sense of apology in it.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. She saw herself in his eyes, still protecting Cheng'er, but she turned her head and stared at the scene in surprise.

The wind blew through his wispy hair, brushing against his slightly pale but still handsome face.

Immediately, a mouthful of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

His body seemed unable to withstand the force, and he lunged at her.

Faced with his tall and heavy body, Shen Nanzi had no choice but to catch him.

He leaned against her, his chin resting on her shoulder, his heavy breathing near her ear.

The lingering warmth of his body clung to her chest, carrying a hint of blood and a faint scent of ambergris.

Immediately, Shen Nanzi saw a gleaming long sword lying behind him, and she followed her gaze to the owner of the sword.

It was Lie Feng, clad in black armor. He must have been too late to save Xie Yan and, in desperation, used his knife to block the silver needles.

Both Imperial Censor Zhang and Zhao Zhendong stared in shock at what they had just witnessed. Once they came to their senses, Zhao Zhendong punched Xue Qingning in the face.

Caught off guard, Xue Qingning was knocked back several steps and instinctively covered her cheek.

He then drew his sword, and at that very moment, a woman in brocade robes suddenly rushed out, around thirty years old, with a calm anger on her face.

She held a dagger in her hand and plunged it straight into Xue Qingning's back.

With red eyes, the woman with the brocade robes forcefully plunged the dagger into the wound, crying out in heart-wrenching agony, "Give me back Ying'er's life!"

Her hands twisted violently behind Xue Qingning's back. "My child, my Ying'er, was killed by you, you poisonous woman."

"Give me back Ying'er's life!!"

Everyone recognized her as the mother of the eighteenth prince, Xie Ying, the mother of the boy who was killed for opposing Xie Hongrui's ascension to the throne.

Xue Qingning's eyes widened, the pain making the veins in her neck bulge, her body stiff as she was being pushed from behind.

She watched helplessly as Zhao Zhendong pulled out a knife and stabbed it into her stomach.

Hearing the 'thud' of the knife entering flesh, another kind of pain immediately followed, the two kinds of pain intertwined.

She coughed up a mouthful of blood instantly; the pain made her stop breathing, unable to inhale or exhale.

She gazed silently ahead as Xie Yan collapsed into Shen Nanzi's arms. Xie Chengze peered out, watching the scene with a heavy heart.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and she laughed with resentment and hatred. "Shen Nanzi, don't be so smug. Xie Yan saved you only because he felt guilty towards you. That's just how he is. Whoever is good to him, he will repay them a thousandfold."

"He doesn't love you, otherwise he wouldn't have watched me kill your brother."

Mentioning her brother, Shen Nanzi's hatred instantly flared up, but at this moment, the person who killed her brother had just used his body to protect her and Cheng'er.

She will not forgive him because of his guilt.

"Hahaha!" Xue Qingning opened her blood-red mouth wide. It is said that a person's words are kind when they are about to die.

She refused; she wanted to leave an irreparable rift between them, sowing seeds of mutual distrust.

She gripped the large sword in front of her with both hands, facing Xie Yan's retreating figure, tears of blood streaming from her eyes.

Her voice was so weak it sounded like she was about to die, "Xie Yan, I'm sorry, if it weren't for the Xue family's reputation, we wouldn't have come to this."

"We will love each other and grow old together." Her tears of blood fell.

“My brother is too sentimental, so I have to do all the bad things.”

"All I did was want to be with you."

"I hate that I was born into the Xue family and that I was never able to marry you in this life."

Xue Qingning coughed up another mouthful of blood; every word she uttered was a life-or-death struggle.

Knowing she was about to die, she wanted to leave behind the seed of evil, pointing both fingers to the sky:

“I, Xue Qingning, swear to heaven that Xie Chengze is the child of Shen Nanzi and Xie Yu. I heard it with my own ears.”

"Xie Yan, Hong'er is your child. You cannot be deceived by Shen Nanzi and her son."