AUBTN -Chapter 299 Striking the Empress Dowager

Su Hewan stared fixedly at the Empress Dowager, her voice as cold as frost.

The Empress Dowager slowly rose to her feet and walked down step by step.

She stopped just three paces in front of Su Hewan, her shrewd eyes locking onto Su Hewan’s delicate, ethereal face, filled with undisguised malice.

She slowly raised her hand and pointed straight at Su Hewan’s chest, her voice low and dangerous.

“If I say… I want your life—”

She paused, her expression suddenly turning vicious.

“Will you give it?”

Her venomous voice echoed through the vast hall.

In Su Hewan’s mind, memories of her time with Shen Jue flashed by like a lantern reel—

From their first meeting, to trust, to love.

They had walked a path filled with life-and-death trials to reach this point—how could she be unwilling?

If her death could be exchanged for the antidote… if it could let both Shen Jue and Lu Yan live—

Then this deal was worth it.

Without the slightest hesitation—

Su Hewan met the Empress Dowager’s gaze without fear.

“Alright. I’m willing.”

Just one word, firm and resounding.

At the side, Nanny Zhang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Even the Empress Dowager’s pupils shrank slightly—she clearly hadn’t expected this seemingly fragile woman to truly be willing to give up her life.

“No!”

A sharp, heart-wrenching cry rang out.

Yu Qing suddenly rushed over from the side!

She grabbed Su Hewan’s wrist and yanked her behind herself.

“Yu Qing, what are you doing?” Su Hewan frowned, scolding in a low voice.

“Wanwan, have you lost your mind?! Shen Jue’s life is a life—doesn’t yours count too?!”

“If you die, even if Shen Jue survives, that lunatic will probably massacre the entire palace!”

Yu Qing shouted at her, her eyes instantly reddening.

She stood in front of Su Hewan, unflinchingly meeting the Empress Dowager’s cold gaze.

“You just want a life, don’t you?”

Yu Qing almost roared, her voice filled with a resolve to perish together.

“I’ll give it to you! Use my life in exchange for that damned prescription—let Wanwan go!”

She was afraid of death—terrified of it!

She was just a modern college student studying acting—she would cry for ages even over a simple injection.

But to stand by and watch her best friend and the man she loved die—

That scared her even more. It was something she simply couldn’t do.

If someone had to die, then let it be her—a mere extra who didn’t even belong to this world!

Su Hewan panicked. She grabbed Yu Qing’s wrist in return, trying desperately to pull her back.

“Yu Qing, shut up! This has nothing to do with you!”

Her tone carried an unprecedented severity.

“No! If we die, we die together!” Yu Qing’s tears streamed down her face.

The Empress Dowager turned and sat back on her phoenix couch, looking down from above at the scene of sisterly devotion unfolding below.

A mocking, impatient sneer curled at her lips.

“Enough.”

She slammed her hand heavily on the table.

“I don’t have time to watch you perform this melodrama of life and death here!”

“Since you can’t come to a decision, I’ll make it for you.”

“Either the two of you get out of Cining Palace right now—”

“Or leave one life behind immediately, and I’ll have the prescription written out at once!”

Her words were like a death warrant.

Su Hewan was just about to force Yu Qing aside and step forward—

Yu Qing stood there in a daze, staring at the lofty Empress Dowager, her chest heaving violently.

【Endure for a moment and the storm will pass—take a step back and you’ll only get angrier!】

【Why?】

【Why should we struggle to the brink in the modern world, only to be controlled by this old witch after transmigrating to ancient times?!】

Her whole body trembled. And then, suddenly—she stopped crying.

She wiped away her tears in one swift motion. Under everyone’s horrified gaze, Yu Qing abruptly shook off Su Hewan’s hand.

Stepping forward, she pointed straight at the Empress Dowager’s nose and burst into curses!

“Go to hell, damn you!”

Nanny Zhang’s legs went weak, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Even Su Hewan was stunned, her mind going blank for a rare moment.

As for the Empress Dowager—she froze in her seat, thinking she must have misheard.

Yu Qing didn’t give anyone a chance to react. Her mouth fired off insults like a machine gun.

“You old hag! Are you mentally sick or something?”

“Scheming against this person, plotting against that one every single day—aren’t you tired?”

“Is your brain stuffed with nothing but rotten rags?”

The more she cursed, the more worked up she became. She planted her hands on her hips, fully channeling the energy of arguing with an insufferable college roommate back in her dorm days.

“At your age, with one foot already in the grave, you should be peacefully enjoying your later years in the harem—chanting scriptures, praying to be a better person in your next life! Instead, you insist on playing power games!”

“Who do you think you can outplay?”

Su Hewan was so shocked she couldn’t even stop her!

This wasn’t part of the plan at all!

“You really think your petty tricks can fool everyone? Do you think you can outsmart people like us who’ve gone through nine years of compulsory education?”

A barrage of modern slang mixed with treasonous insults rained down on the Empress Dowager.

She was completely dumbfounded.

She had ruled the harem for decades—back when the late emperor was alive, even he treated her with great respect. When had anyone ever dared point at her and call her an “old hag” or a “lunatic”?

“Rebellion… this is rebellion…”

Her face turned ashen with rage.

Pointing at Yu Qing, she shrieked,

“Guards! Guards!”

Her voice rose to a hysterical scream.

“Drag these two wretched maids out! Execute them by slow slicing! Chop them into pieces and feed them to the dogs!”

Nanny Zhang scrambled to her feet, trying to call for the imperial guards outside.

But the heavy palace doors remained tightly shut—there was no response at all from outside!

From the corner of her eye, Yu Qing noticed the silence beyond the doors. A grin spread across her face.

【Old witch, you brought this on yourself!】

“Go on, scream! Even if you shout your lungs out, no one’s coming to save you today!”

With a cold laugh, under everyone’s horrified gaze—

She suddenly lunged forward and rushed straight onto the phoenix couch!

“What are you doing?! Don’t come any closer—ah!”

The Empress Dowager’s terrified scream had just begun before it was abruptly cut off.

Yu Qing paid no heed to status or hierarchy. She pounced forward, forcefully shoving the Empress Dowager down onto the couch!

In one fluid motion, she flipped herself over and straddled her directly!

“Your Majesty!”

Nanny Zhang let out a pig-like shriek and tried to rush forward to rescue her.

“Get lost!”

Su Hewan reacted instantly. She kicked Nanny Zhang—who had just struggled back up—right back to the ground, then grabbed a nearby bronze incense burner and stared at her coldly.

Meanwhile, on the phoenix couch, the scene had spiraled completely out of control.

Yu Qing sat astride the Empress Dowager, her hands clamped tightly around the wrinkled neck beneath her.

“You shameless old thing—refusing kindness when it’s offered?”

Her eyes were bloodshot, her once delicate face now fierce with rage.

“Hand over the antidote formula! Are you giving it or not?! Are you giving it or not?!”