bestfiction Chapter 276 You know it, right?
Chapter 276 You know it, right?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace, Chen Xianlin had long been placed under house arrest by Xue Huaiyu in a secluded palace.
After Xue Huaiyu woke up, he immediately ordered Chen Xianlin to be imprisoned, cutting off all her contact with the outside world.
Now, Chen Xianlin is not only unable to communicate with Chen Tongyu, but even her close confidants have been eliminated one by one by Xue Huaiyu.
Xue Huaiyu secretly intercepted the letters exchanged between Chen Xianlin and Chen Tongyu.
He imitated Chen Xianlin's handwriting and fabricated some false information to make Chen Tongyu misunderstand Chen Xianlin's situation.
Xue Huaiyu knew that now was not the time to execute Chen Xianlin, because he was waiting for a more favorable opportunity.
Xue Huaiyu was thinking that as long as Chen Tongyu could successfully find a weakness in the Prime Minister, he could eliminate both families and prevent future troubles.
So he waited patiently, watching Chen Tongyu fall into the trap he had set step by step.
Chen Tongyu did not disappoint Xue Huaiyu. After receiving an anonymous letter from someone Xue Huaiyu had secretly sent to him, Chen Tongyu decisively went to investigate the matter of the Pregnancy Village outside the city.
Xue Huaiyu was filled with a myriad of thoughts, and the image of Chen Xianlin kept appearing in his mind.
Finally, he chose to follow his heart and shouted, "Guards! Quickly convey my decree: prepare the imperial carriage for the Empress's palace!"
Meanwhile, in that secluded palace, Chen Xianlin had long since lost her former glory.
She sat quietly in the hall, motionless, her gaze vacant as she stared out the door, as if she had lost her soul.
She couldn't understand why she had ended up in such a situation.
"His Majesty has arrived!" Suddenly, a sharp eunuch's shout shattered the silence of the palace.
There were only a few servants left in the hall, but upon hearing the shout, they all rose in a panic, hurriedly straightened their clothes, rushed forward, knelt down and kowtowed to welcome the emperor's arrival.
Only Chen Xianlin seemed completely oblivious to the shout, remaining quietly seated and showing no intention of rising to receive the emperor.
Her eyes stared blankly ahead, as if the whole world had nothing to do with her.
Unbeknownst to them, Xue Huaiyu had quietly arrived in front of Chen Xianlin.
He stared blankly at the woman he once knew, then waved his hand, signaling everyone around him to step back.
After everyone left, Xue Huaiyu slowly sat down in front of Chen Xianlin, his gaze fixed on her slightly haggard face.
After a moment of silence, Xue Huaiyu finally spoke: "How did you get yourself into this state?"
His voice was calm, as if it were just an ordinary greeting.
Chen Xianlin did not respond to him. She just sat quietly, her eyes fixed on the distance, as if something there was attracting her attention.
Seeing that Chen Xianlin remained silent, Xue Huaiyu continued, "Do you still hate me?"
As if touched by those words, Chen Xianlin turned her head, looked directly into Xue Huaiyu's eyes, and slowly said, "You know that, don't you?"
Xue Huaiyu frowned slightly, seemingly understanding the meaning behind her words, so he pretended to be ignorant and asked, "Know what?"
Seeing this, Chen Xianlin gave a bitter smile. She took a deep breath and then said:
"Now that things have come to this, are you still going to pretend? You've always known that Chen Ruoyao is Consort Shu, haven't you!"
Upon hearing this, Xue Huaiyu's face instantly darkened, and his eyes sharpened, but he still forced himself to remain calm and said:
"What are you saying? I don't understand. Consort Shu is Consort Shu, and your sister is your sister!"
Chen Xianlin sneered and said, "Stop pretending! You let your father send you dancers, aren't you just trying to use my feelings for you to force me to take action?"
"You knew it would hurt me, but you still did it!"
"Because I cannot have children, my father definitely needs a bloodline belonging to the Chen family to consolidate his position."
"Since I cannot have children, Chen Ruoyao is naturally the only candidate my father has left. However, my father cannot openly send her in, so he used so many dancers as a smokescreen until Chen Ruoyao was sent to the palace!"
"You know that Father wants Chen Ruoyao to replace me, and you never thought of stopping him, right?"
"Or is it that deep down you also want Chen Ruoyao to bear you a child, so that the Chen family can be completely used by you?"
"Enough!" Xue Huaiyu suddenly raised his hand, interrupting Chen Xianlin.
"You're overthinking it. Has the Empress been too tired lately?"
"These servants, I told them to take good care of the Empress, is this how they take care of her? It seems these people don't need to be kept!" His tone revealed a hint of impatience.
A cold smile curled at the corner of Chen Xianlin's mouth, as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.
Her laughter sounded particularly jarring in the gloomy palace. "Hahahaha, you coward!"
Her voice was as sharp as a knife, piercing straight into Xue Huaiyu's heart, "You dare to do it, and you're afraid of what I'll say? What does this have to do with servants? Don't pretend in front of me!"
Chen Xianlin's emotions reached their peak at this moment and could no longer be suppressed.
Her hands clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms, and her voice grew increasingly impassioned: "In your eyes, we women are nothing but tools, tools for you to consolidate your imperial power!"
"You coldly watched as I fought with Chen Ruoyao, hoping that Chen Ruoyao would bear a child and then take my place!"
"Xue Huaiyu, let me tell you, as long as I live, I will always be the mistress of the six palaces, I am the empress, the empress of this Great Xia!"
Chen Xianlin's voice echoed in the hall, her eyes gleaming with an indomitable flame—a pride and stubbornness that could never be extinguished.
"But you didn't expect that I would be the one to survive in the end, did you?"
Chen Xianlin felt it wasn't enough; she wanted to vent all the grievances she had suffered over the years.
She continued sarcastically, "Your and your father's plans have fallen through, you must be feeling terrible, right?"
"Why? Why must she replace me? Just because I can't have children? Are offspring that important to you?"
After Chen Xianlin finished speaking, she shook her head, looked at Xue Huaiyu, and sneered, "Oh~ no, to you, offspring are nothing more than tools to make the Chen family completely submit!"
As her emotions surged, she became increasingly out of control, pointing at Xue Huaiyu and speaking with ever-sharper words: "Talking about love with you was the worst decision I ever made."
"If you had had any courage back then and hadn't let me leave the city with the Empress Dowager, and instead I had been forced to drink a potion that would kill my fertility, would I be in this predicament today?"
Her voice was almost hysterical, every word revealing the grievances and anger in her heart, as if she wanted to vent this pain to the extreme.
Xue Huaiyu's face gradually turned pale, his heart filled with a turbulent mix of guilt and helplessness.
He looked at the woman before him, who had once been as gentle as water, but now hated because of love and went mad because of hatred, and for a moment he did not know how to react.
"Xue Huaiyu, how could you do this to me?" Chen Xianlin's voice turned into a mournful cry at the end, echoing in the cold and desolate palace.
Her eyes glistened with tears, revealing a hint of despair, yet she refused to bow to fate.
At this moment, Xue Huaiyu was filled with conflicting emotions, which ultimately boiled down to one sentence: "You're tired! Take good care of yourself!"
After saying that, Xue Huaiyu got up and left, leaving Chen Xianlin crying uncontrollably.
Seeing that Xue Huaiyu was about to leave, Chen Xianlin continued, "Do you want to know why, for so long, apart from Consort Jiang, no one else in the six palaces has conceived a royal heir?"