Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 442 The End of Love

Wen Jia's eyes reddened, and her voice was broken by the wind.

"Royal sister, let go of Tongtong, don't make any more mistakes. If you want me dead, I'll die right here. Just please, spare the child..."

Ping Le stared at Wen Jia with a frantic look in his eyes.

"Then go die! What are you waiting for? Jump off this city wall right now..."

Wen Jia bit her lower lip, suppressing the fear in her heart, and turned to rush towards the city wall.

"Princess, you mustn't!" Lu You'an was terrified. He rushed forward, stretched out his long arm, and pulled Wen Jia tightly into his arms. He then looked at Ping Le, his anger and grief overwhelmed.

"Ping Le, all the trouble and entanglements are my fault alone. I'm the one who wronged you; it has nothing to do with anyone else. Wake up, stop committing murder..."

"Lu Youan!" Ping Le roared.

Seeing her beloved husband shield another woman in his arms, even using his own body as a shield against her, she felt as if her heart was being torn apart.

“Lu Lang…our years of marriage are no match for a few words of provocation from this widow who brings bad luck to her husbands…”

“She didn’t instigate anything.” Lu Youan’s tone was cold, his eyes filled with disappointment. “Our relationship has come to an end because you disregarded human life. The fault lies with no one else…”

"You're still protecting her?" Ping Le gripped the dagger tightly, her eyes filled with resentment. "Wen Jia, you vile woman, I'm going to kill you..."

She raised her sleeves, as if to pounce on Wenjia.

A gasp of surprise erupted from the crowd.

Lu Youan pulled Wen Jia behind him, shielding her in front of him.

This subconscious action shattered Ping Le's last shred of hope.

Her heart felt as if it had sunk into an ice cave, and her laughter grew increasingly shrill.

"Fine, very well. Since you two are so deeply in love and inseparable, then let's go to hell together..."

She gripped the dagger tightly again and pressed it against Tongtong's neck.

"I'll grant your wish... Jump! Aren't you two deeply in love? Die together, jump down together and you'll be together forever. If you don't jump, I'll kill the child right now..."

She strained her arm and screamed wildly, scaring Tongtong so much that she closed her eyes and screamed, "Daddy...Mommy..."

"No—" Lu Youan's eyes widened in horror as he lunged forward.

At the critical moment, a figure darted out from behind Ping Le like a ghost, moving with incredible speed...

There was a clang.

The dagger in Ping Le's hand was knocked away by a single sword strike.

At the same time, the man wrapped his arm around the terrified Tongtong, pulling her firmly into his embrace. He quickly retreated a few steps, creating some distance between himself and Ping Le, with the tip of his sword steadily pointing at her throat.

Ping Le staggered a step and turned around in astonishment.

"Gu Jie?"

Gu Jie was still wearing that worn-out blue robe, his black hair was messed up by the wind, and his face was expressionless. Gone was his usual timidity and dejection, only a stagnant silence and a kind of resolute determination.

"Princess, please stop."

He held the trembling child in his arms, his voice clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"You have no way out."

Ping Le's wrist went numb from the shock. She looked at her empty hand, then at Gu Jie pointing his sword at her, her eyes widening in disbelief as if she were seeing this man for the first time.

"Even you... betrayed me?"

Looking at the deranged woman before him, Gu Jie recalled his own absurd past and said in a hoarse voice, "Princess, it's time to settle our debts today."

Ping Le was taken aback, then threw her head back and burst into laughter, the sound even more unpleasant than crying.

"Hahaha...Good. Well done, Gu Wulang! Indeed...there isn't a single man in this world you can trust..."

Gu Jie watched her go mad with cold eyes, without a trace of emotion, as if all the tender and considerate entanglements and lingering affections in the dark of night were just an illusion...

Ping Le laughed until tears streamed down her face, which was contorted violently beneath her veil. Finally, exhausted from laughing, she seemed to suddenly understand something and abruptly turned to look at Xue Sui.

"It's for her... So, from beginning to end, all you've ever had in your heart is Xue Liu... Not Xue Yueying, and not me..."

"The trust I placed in, staking half my life's destiny on, has been betrayed once again..."

Her desperate self-mockery.

Thinking back to Gu Jie's distraught state when Xue Liu returned to the capital, and his unwavering refusal to marry after Xue Yueying's death...

That's it!

I see--

"Liar, scum!"

Ping Le spat at him.

"Xue Liu, are you satisfied now?"

She asked softly, her voice drifting in the wind, "Watching me be abandoned by everyone, watching me lose my reputation, watching me be despised by the world... is this what you wanted, isn't it?"

Xue Sui looked back at her quietly for a long time, and then nodded very slowly.

"Yes." She felt neither joy nor pity, only a calm after witnessing all the desolation.

"You should pay the price for the sins you have committed. Li Yushu, I have been waiting for this day for many years."

Ping Le sneered angrily, "So you're so capable? Why didn't you kill me sooner? Why did you keep me alive until now? Just to watch me suffer humiliation?"

Xue Sui took a small step forward.

The voice was low, yet it pierced Ping Le's already wounded heart like an icicle.

"Death is never the hardest thing to endure. It is suffering while alive that is the greatest torment."

"The people you care about, one by one, abandon you. The emotions you cherish, shatter into dust inch by inch... Your attachment is a joke, your desire is foolish, your obsession is delusion, your honor is a bubble... You've endured enough torment, your strength is gradually exhausted, and finally, in boundless despair, you slowly die..."

"Li Yushu, this is your end."

Ping Le's body trembled slightly, as if these words had drained all his strength. "You've schemed and plotted step by step, all for the sake of avenging the grudge from back then?"

Xue Sui chuckled softly.

"That was how it was supposed to be, but when I returned to the capital, I found that too many people wanted you dead. And you were foolish enough that you destroyed everything yourself without me having to lift a finger, which really saved me a lot of trouble..."

This is the most extreme insult in the world.

She never imagined that one day, Xue Liu would regard her as an ant...

Ping Le laughed hysterically, "I should have guessed back then that it was all your doing. Xue Liu, I underestimated you..."

Xue Sui smiled calmly, walked closer to her, and said mockingly in a voice only she could hear, "The envoy of the Old Mausoleum Marsh that you have been searching for is me."

The madness on Ping Le's face froze instantly.

As if frozen in place, she stared intently at Xue Sui.

"Was today's event also part of your plan?"

"Hmm." Xue Sui smiled. "Do you like it? Is this ending surprising enough?"

Is there anything more absurd than this?
As she frantically searched for the all-powerful edict of the old imperial tombs, like a stray dog hiding from the hunt, clinging to him as her only hope for a comeback, Xue Liu quietly lurked in the shadows, coldly watching her leap and bound like a clown, while simultaneously setting up her own trap...

This is not about watching a joke.
This is to crush and trample her dignity and her struggles underfoot, then reveal the truth, leaving her with no last shred of decency, making her wish she were dead...

"puff!"

A metallic taste rose in her throat, and Ping Le could no longer hold back, spitting out a mouthful of blood... Her chest heaved violently as she looked around...

Downstairs, a sea of people stared intently at her, their gazes filled with either hatred, disdain, or indifference, but none of them showed any sympathy.

Her beloved husband stood protectively in front of another woman, his eyes filled with hatred.

Her children rushed to their rival without hesitation, filled with nothing but fear towards her.

Her lover also turned against her, aiming his sword at her vitals, showing no regard for their past relationship.

The imperial edict she had been desperately waiting for to save her life never arrived... or perhaps it would never arrive at all—even if her great-grandmother risked her life to plead for her in the palace, her ailing father would probably not give her another second glance...

No one will come to save her.

She really had nothing left.

In this lifetime, she went from being a princess of great wealth and honor to being betrayed and manipulated by everyone. In the end, even her last hope was a trap set by the enemy.

In the dead silence, she suddenly quieted down.

He's no longer crazy, and he doesn't laugh anymore.

She remained strangely calm as she took out a red gold mandarin duck pendant from her bosom.

“Lu Lang…” Ping Le held up the mandarin duck pendant, her voice as soft as a sigh, “This is the pendant you tied for me on our wedding day… You said you wished to stay with me for life with this pendant.”

Lu Youan closed his eyes, refusing to look anymore.

Her voice choked with emotion, “In my whole life, I have been arrogant and willful, hurting others and myself… Perhaps I have really made too many mistakes… But I have never regretted it, never regretted marrying you back then.”

The gold pendant gleamed faintly in the wind and snow.

She looked at Lu Youan, tears silently streaming down her face, ruining her makeup and making her look even more disheveled.

"We were husband and wife. Even if I have made a thousand or ten thousand mistakes, I have still borne you a son and a daughter. Don't you have even a shred of affection for me?"

Lu Youan's eyes darkened slightly. "No."

Ping Le swayed, staggered back two steps, and her face was as white as paper.

"Lu Lang, I'll ask you one last question..."

“Go ahead,” Lu Youan said, frowning.

"After being married for so many years, have you ever had a moment of tenderness?"

“Never,” Lu Youan said.

His words, along with the wind and snow, lashed her face, stinging her eyes and causing her to cry and laugh at the same time.

"Okay, very good. It's fine if I've never been in love."

Her gaze swept over Tongtong, who was still trembling, and Guanchen, who was desperately crying. Finally, a trace of maternal tenderness appeared in her eyes, filled with all her resentment and humiliation, as she pleaded softly.

"Guanchen and Tongtong... are my flesh and blood... don't let them... forget their mother..."

Before she could finish speaking, she gave Lu Youan a deep look, and without waiting for anyone to react, she turned abruptly and ran towards the crenellations at the edge of the city wall, under everyone's gaze...

The people downstairs gasped in shock.

Ping Le leaped down—

High atop the city tower, that magnificent red dress, like a tragically beautiful flower, plummeted rapidly...

Bang! A loud crash.

The world seemed to fall silent for a moment.

On the snow, red clothes and blood intertwined, the glaring red spreading out, staining the pure white snow like a flower that suddenly bloomed and then quickly withered.

The red-gold mandarin duck pendant rolled out of her loosened hand and came to rest on the snow.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp and anxious cry rang out from the other end of the city gate tower.

"Imperial edict arrives—His Majesty has decreed—"

There was dead silence all around.

The young eunuch, holding the bright yellow imperial edict, leaped off his horse, panting. Upon seeing the rapidly expanding expanse of blood, he collapsed to the ground.

"It's...it's too late..."

Emperor Chongzhao, mindful of his father-daughter bond, could not bear to take Ping Le's life and, at the last moment, issued an imperial edict of pardon.

Unfortunately, Ping Le will never know.

Lu Youan closed his eyes, his body stiff and tense.

Gu Jie silently sheathed his sword, turned around, brushed the snow off his sleeves, and walked down the city wall, as if everything was irrelevant to him.

All grudges and grievances vanish with death.

Only the intermittent cries of two children drifted in the cold wind...

Xue Sui walked to the edge of the battlements, looked down at the bright red figure surrounded by soldiers downstairs, his expression as calm as a stagnant pool.

At the teahouse window, Li Zhao slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and his tense jawline finally relaxed.

He raised his hand and waved it gently.

"Clean up the scene."

Yuan Cang replied in a low voice, "Understood."

Li Zhao arrived at the foot of the city wall and, seeing the chaotic scene, instructed Yu Qianshan to evacuate the people and handle the aftermath.

Then he looked up and gazed at Xue Sui on the city wall.

Their eyes met, as snow fell heavily.

He nodded slightly to her, his gaze calm and warm.

A silent understanding flowed between the two of them...

Xue Sui took a deep breath, smiled with relief, and walked down the city wall.

A farce ended in the most tragic way.

Li Zhaoli waited for her in the snow, speaking very softly.