FBC – Chapter 368 Dust Settles (Final Chapter)

King Cheng’s expression changed slightly, then he quickly returned to his usual gentle demeanor. “It’s truly wonderful that Your Majesty is alive. Your humble servant pays respects.”

He knelt with a thud, and the other ministers came back to their senses, kneeling in unison and shouting, “Long live the Emperor!”

Only Empress Sun remained standing, frozen in place.

The Emperor met her cold gaze; for the first time, the true face of this so-called “wise empress” was revealed to him.

Seeing that the Empress remained unmoving, King Cheng hurriedly said, “The Empress must be so overjoyed that she’s lost her wits. We thought that when Your Majesty perished in the fire, the Empress must have fainted from grief.”

At this moment, Empress Sun regained her composure. The Imperial Guards no longer obeyed her orders, and the Yuan family army was nowhere in sight. Now was not the time for stubbornness.

Through gritted teeth, she knelt. “Your servant is overjoyed to see the Emperor alive.”

The Emperor sneered. “Whether your joy is genuine or feigned no longer matters. What matters is that the Crown Prince is the foundation of the nation. Zhao Yuxuan lacks the virtue for this position. I hereby announce his removal as Crown Prince and confer the title…”

Empress Sun suddenly stood, cutting him off, her face full of fury as she pointed at him. “Zhao Rong! Have you forgotten how you attained your throne? If it weren’t for my Sun family, would you even have the chance to sit on that supreme seat? How dare you depose my Xuan’er as Crown Prince—think again!”

“Father, I’ve done nothing wrong… my Qing’e is already with child…”

Zhao Yuxuan knelt, tears streaming down his face.

“Don’t kneel to him!”

Empress Sun angrily pulled him up. “She is an outsider, a stain on your reputation! All of this is a trap! Perhaps even your own father set it up. He has long wanted to wipe out the Sun family; do you think he would let someone with Sun blood inherit the throne?”

Zhao Yuxuan stared blankly. “Mother… why?”

The Emperor looked on, heartbroken.

King Cheng’s face also tensed, but he still retained his composure and quickly tried to pull the Empress aside. “Your Majesty, please speak cautiously.”

Empress Sun shrugged off his hand, berating him. “You forced me into the palace back then, tearing me away from the Yuan family’s eldest son. Now that my Xuan’er is of no use, I too have become your discarded pawn, haven’t I?”

Empress Sun’s eyes turned icy as she pointed at the Emperor and King Cheng. “Today I may have lost, but the Yuan army is coming to besiege the city. Let’s see what you can do then. Do you think the Mu family army will save you? Mu Junyan’s beloved wife and child are in my hands. You sit on the throne, but what can you do? Whose is this empire really?”

“The Yuan army cannot make it here.”

A clear voice rang out.

Everyone looked up to see Mu Junyan, clad in black armor and a black cloak, striding in.

Two graceful figures followed behind him—Gu Hua and Zhao Luoxuan.

Tears in her eyes, Zhao Luoxuan stepped forward and knelt before Empress Sun. “Mother, ambition blinds your eyes, hatred clouds your judgment. Mother, there’s still time to turn back.”

Empress Sun stared at her, stunned. “You… are on their side? Yesterday, when you said in the palace that you couldn’t bear to leave me and your brothers, you were lying to us? You knew he wasn’t dead, that Mu Junyan had brought troops to Bianjing? You wanted your biological mother and brothers to die?”

Zhao Luoxuan shook her head through tears. “Mother, I did not know, but I do know that the ruler of the empire should possess benevolence and care for the people. You forced the southern provinces to pay extra taxes, increasing their burdens—did you ever consider how they would survive? You have never seen the people go hungry, selling their children just for a bite to eat. To you, two taels of tax may seem trivial, but for them it is a year’s sustenance.”

Empress Sun, enraged by Zhao Luoxuan’s words, shoved her violently by the sleeve.

Unprepared, Zhao Luoxuan fell to the ground.

Having just given birth, her body was weak from stress and lack of care. She had rushed to the capital, anxious and feverish, running back and forth between the palace and the farmhouse where Gu Hua stayed, aware that Empress Sun had secretly sent people to monitor Gu Hua.

Her anxiety grew, but she could not reveal everything—one slip, and countless lives of commoners might be lost.

Her illness, untreated, left her barely standing; being pushed by her beloved mother sent a chill through her heart.

Gu Hua quickly moved to support Zhao Luoxuan. “Xuan’er, get up. The ground is cold. You gave birth just two months ago and haven’t recovered.”

“Get away! I don’t need a daughter like you!”

Empress Sun roared.

Zhao Luoxuan raised tearful eyes, looking sorrowfully at her. “Mother, have you always viewed me as a pawn? From the marriage alliance onward, I was a piece to be discarded? You never saw me as your daughter—your heart only had room for the Crown Prince. Everyone around you was meant to be his stepping stone.”

Empress Sun’s eyes turned blood-red, teeth gnashing. “Yes, yes! Only Xuan’er can give me what I desire!”

“Ha.”

Zhao Luoxuan laughed through tears, then fainted.

Gu Hua hurriedly caught her. “Someone, help her!”

The maidservants supported Zhao Luoxuan and took her away.

Gu Hua turned to Empress Sun. “Do you even know how Qing’e’s parents died? Do you realize that even without today’s events, the Sun family would have fallen?”

Empress Sun glared. “You vile woman, you’ve corrupted Xuan’er and used her!”

Mu Junyan’s expression darkened. “Your Majesty, speak cautiously.”

Gu Hua smiled. “I’ve been called vile since I was a child. At first, I cared deeply and tried everything to escape it, nearly losing my life. But after meeting my prince, he never belittled me for my birth. When I saw how the Mu family army treated the southern people as their own, risking life and blood to help them rebuild, I realized that there is no high or low in this world; all are born and die bare. Who is nobler, who is vile?”

She turned to the ministers. “King Cheng traded offices for personal gain, framing meritorious officials, and disregarding the suffering of the people. Every crime he committed bears blood and death. Yet he dared act this way because he had Empress Sun and the Crown Prince as his backing.”

“Vile—”

Smack!

Empress Sun was struck by the scabbard’s end, thrown to the ground, blood and a tooth flying out.

Mu Junyan sheathed his sword and adjusted himself. “If Your Majesty cannot speak properly, I can have someone teach you.”

Empress Sun and King Cheng’s eyes were filled with fear.

The Emperor sighed. “Empress Sun is to be sent to the cold palace. The Sun family will be investigated by the three departments. Zhao Yufeng is virtuous and capable, suitable to be Crown Prince. The Ministry of Rites shall handle it according to regulations.”

After a long decree, he coughed violently, spitting blood.

The ministers and imperial physicians were terrified.

Gu Hua watched Empress Sun and King Cheng being taken away, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

The rest was no longer her concern.

She returned to the farmhouse, where Shen Li was treating Zhao Luoxuan with acupuncture.

Zhao Luoxuan’s eyes were vacant. Seeing Gu Hua, she immediately sat up, wincing as the needles dug into her arms, but she barely noticed.

“Sister, my mother—”

Gu Hua hurried over, sitting beside her. “It’s alright. The Emperor did not depose the Empress; the Crown Prince title was simply given to Zhao Yufeng.”

Tears fell from Zhao Luoxuan’s eyes. “They brought this on themselves.”

…

The next day, Zhao Yufeng became Crown Prince. Zhao Yuxuan was removed from the Eastern Palace and placed under house arrest.

Ten days later, the Emperor abdicated, and Zhao Yufeng ascended the throne.

The Sun family was seized, their nine clans implicated, and the court underwent a massive purge.

Mu Junyan was granted the title of Regent Prince, and Gu Hua received a first-rank imperial decree.

The new Emperor merged the former Cheng King and Ping’an King estates, ordered repairs, and designated it as the Regent Prince Mansion.

Two months later, Mu Junyan and Gu Hua moved into the mansion with Tuan Tuan.

Gu Hua looked around the magnificent mansion and sighed. “Such a big place… I don’t want to manage it. It’ll be exhausting.”

Mu Junyan laughed, wrapping his long arms around her. “You don’t have to. You just focus on having children.”

Gu Hua elbowed him in the chest. “I’m not a pig. Just having children isn’t enough.”

“Ha! Fine, fine. My lady can have children if she wants or not if she doesn’t. No need to worry about the mansion; you may not even get out of bed often enough.”

Gu Hua glared, her face flushed. “Say that in front of the child and all these people?!”

“Oh, then shall we go inside? Let’s check if the carved bed in the bedroom is suitable.”

Mu Junyan lifted her horizontally, smiling at Tuan Tuan. “Son, Father will take your mother to see if it fits? You go see your own courtyard?”

Tuan Tuan lifted his little head. “Alright, Father. I’ll take Qi Qi to see the new courtyard.”

“Good boy!”

Mu Junyan was immensely pleased.

Gu Hua, embarrassed, didn’t dare look up.

She had a premonition—the days ahead would not be easy.

It would be exhausting.

—The End—