AUBTN -Chapter 280 Cutting Off the Tail to Survive

The Empress Dowager’s sharp gaze swept back and forth between Zhou Ruoyun and Zhou Wenhai.

“That sounds reasonable.”

The Empress Dowager spoke slowly.

“Since this concerns the safety of the imperial heir, I would rather wrongly kill than let any hidden danger slip through.”

“Guards!”

“Immediately summon Imperial Physician Li to the hall!”

Zhou Ruoyun felt her vision darken.

A pulse examination?

She instinctively clutched her flat abdomen tightly, her eyes filled with endless panic.

Don’t panic—her fake pregnancy had already been examined countless times by physicians!

This time too, it definitely wouldn’t be exposed!

Zhou Ruoyun tried to calm herself.

But for some reason, ever since she was forcibly brought out of Chaofeng Palace, she had been feeling a faint pain in her lower abdomen.

Her qi and blood felt strangely turbulent inside her body.

Her face turned pale, and the more composed she tried to appear, the more frightened she became inside.

She suddenly stood up from the embroidered stool.

“Empress Dowager, this granddaughter-in-law’s pregnancy has always been stable. A pulse check isn’t necessary, is it?”

Zhou Ruoyun looked toward Zhou Wenhai kneeling on the ground, her eyes full of pleading.

However, Zhou Wenhai was also as if plunged into an abyss of ice at this moment.

He stared fixedly at the glaring red lotus on the ground.

He had calculated everything—except that the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, two sworn enemies, would actually join forces to set a trap!

And even less did he expect that this young girl named Su Hewan would be so viciously meticulous in her schemes!

Retreating to advance, step by step tightening the net—each move was lethal!

Once the fake pregnancy was exposed, it would be the crime of deceiving the emperor!

The entire Zhou family, nine generations of it, would be beheaded outside the Meridian Gate!

But now that things had reached this point, he had no way out!

At the Empress Dowager’s command, several rough palace matrons immediately brought in a large double-sided Su embroidery screen made of rosewood.

Zhou Ruoyun was almost forcibly supported by two matrons and taken behind the screen.

Imperial Physician Li from the Imperial Medical Bureau, carrying his medicine box, followed in trembling fear.

The Empress Dowager’s trusted servant, Madam Zhang, and Su Hewan—who had volunteered—also followed closely behind.

Outside the screen, silence reigned.

Inside, the light was slightly dim.

Zhou Ruoyun collapsed on the embroidered stool, her wrist placed on the pulse pillow.

Imperial Physician Li placed his fingers on her pulse.

After a moment, his eyes suddenly widened!

He pressed harder in disbelief.

How could this be?!

Yesterday, when he examined her pulse, the smooth “slippery pulse” like beads rolling on jade was clearly still there!

But today, the pulse was as calm as still water!

There was no sign of any fluctuating qi and blood, nor any pregnancy pulse at all!

Zhou Ruoyun watched the physician’s deathly pale face, and her fear finally completely collapsed.

She could feel that strange calm deep within her abdomen.

The bloated, stagnant sensation caused by medication in the past had completely disappeared without a trace!

“Physician Li, is… is my fetus just frightened…?”

She asked in a trembling voice, trying for a final struggle.

But Imperial Physician Li recoiled as if electrocuted, stumbling backward two steps.

Su Hewan stood to the side, coldness flashing in her eyes.

“Physician Li, what is the result?” The Empress Dowager’s icy, authoritative voice pierced through the screen and echoed through the hall.

Imperial Physician Li crawled out from behind the screen, carrying his medicine box in a panic.

He fell heavily to his knees in front of the Empress Dowager.

“R-replying to… to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager…”

His voice trembled violently.

“The Empress… the Empress’s pulse is calm…”

“There is… no pregnancy pulse at all!”

Scalding tea splashed across the floor.

“What did you say?” The Empress Dowager suddenly stood up.

“Say it again to me!”

Imperial Physician Li kept banging his head against the ground in frantic kowtows, his forehead quickly breaking and bleeding.

“Your Majesty! This minister deserves ten thousand deaths! The Empress… the Empress truly is not pregnant! That is… that is—”

He did not dare say the words “fake pregnancy,” but the meaning was already unmistakable.

The screen partition was violently pulled away.

Zhou Ruoyun sat slumped there, ashen-faced, as if all life had drained from her.

Every gaze in the hall turned sharply toward the Zhou father and daughter.

Only then did the Empress Dowager finally feel the weight in her chest lift.

She had originally feared Zhou Ruoyun truly carried the Emperor’s child, which would make dealing with the Zhou family difficult.

But now that it was fake—things became much easier.

She looked at her own “brother,” still kneeling on the ground, and her eyes were filled only with disgust and hatred.

He had only himself to blame—his ambitions were too great, and he should never have touched imperial power.

Lu Yan’s hand had already tightened around the hilt of his embroidered spring saber.

But at this critical moment—

Zhou Wenhai, who had been kneeling all along, suddenly let out a furious roar!

“Wicked daughter!”

“Wicked daughter!!!”

Like a madman, he shot up from the ground.

Without hesitation, he rushed straight toward Zhou Ruoyun!

“Slap!”

A loud, sharp slap landed hard across Zhou Ruoyun’s pale face!

She cried out in pain and was sent tumbling off the embroidered stool, blood instantly seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Yet Zhou Ruoyun did not cry or make a scene—she sat there like a wooden puppet.

Only Xia Dong rushed forward in panic. “Miss!”

She hugged Zhou Ruoyun tightly, her face full of distress.

Zhou Wenhai fell back to his knees with a thud, beating his chest and stamping his feet.

“Empress Dowager! This minister is guilty! I failed to discipline my daughter!”

He wept bitterly, tears streaming down his face.

“This minister never imagined that this unfilial daughter would commit such a brazen and outrageous act!”

The Empress Dowager laughed in extreme anger, her eyes like poisoned blades.

“Zhou Wenhai, at this point, what act are you still putting on?”

“Fake pregnancy to compete for favor, plotting for imperial power—your Zhou family has quite the bold guts!”

“No! It’s not like that! Please, Your Majesty, see clearly!” Zhou Wenhai shouted hoarsely.

He reached into his robes with trembling hands and pulled out several crumpled letters.

“Empress Dowager! This unfilial daughter was never trying to compete for favor, nor plot for imperial power!”

“She did all this… for a poor scholar outside the palace!”

The entire hall fell into a strange, suffocating silence once again.

Even Shen Jue, who had been watching the drama unfold, slightly raised his brows.

【Damn… this old man’s imagination is something else.】

Yu Qing, standing in the crowd, was screaming internally.

【Don’t tell me he’s trying to throw her under the bus—cutting off the tail to survive?】

【That’s his own daughter!】

Clearly, Shen Jue, Su Hewan, and Lu Yan all understood what Zhou Wenhai intended to do.

This old fox truly lived up to his reputation—discarding the pawn to save the king, ruthlessly and skillfully.

Zhou Wenhai trembled as he raised the letters high.

“Before entering the palace, this unfilial daughter was secretly involved with that scholar!”

“I thought she would abandon him once she entered the palace, but I never expected her to be so blinded by desire!”

“She deliberately faked pregnancy, intending to use it as an excuse to claim illness and go to a royal temple for prayers!”

“Her real goal was to deceive His Majesty and seize an opportunity to escape the palace, elope with that man outside!”

Every word was like blood, every sentence like a dagger to the heart.

He perfectly portrayed himself as a heartbroken father deceived by his daughter.

Nanny Zhang immediately stepped forward, snatched the letters, and respectfully handed them to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager unfolded them. After only one glance, her face turned ashen with fury.

The handwriting was tender and intimate, clearly a young woman’s script, even bearing Zhou Ruoyun’s personal seal from before she entered marriageable age.

The Empress Dowager had not expected this at all—

Zhou Wenhai had actually chosen this path.

Sacrificing his daughter… to protect himself.