I have suffered enough in my previous life, my cousin will never marry me

Chapter 202: Martyrdom
Noticing the strange looks around him, Emperor Zhaolie immediately rebuked, "What do you want to do?"

"Your Majesty," Commander Qian pleaded anxiously, "Prince Dao'an will not harm you. He only wants the life of Prince Yongning. Please, Your Majesty, save my family and the families of my soldiers."

"How dare you! If you dare to harm him, kill me first!"

Emperor Zhaolie angrily drew his sword and held it to his own neck: "Prince Yongning is the crown prince appointed by me. How dare you aid and abet the wicked and help treacherous officials to murder loyal ministers?"

"Commander Qian, you think you can kill me so easily?" Fu Mingchi gripped his silver spear tightly and sneered, "But I'm curious, if you kill me, how do you plan to protect His Majesty? Do you want to watch the tragedy unfold in the Hall of Mental Cultivation?"

Commander Qian choked.

On the city wall, Gu Tingchen looked on with growing impatience: "Commander Qian, what are you still dawdling for? I'll count to three. If you don't make a move now, you'll only be able to collect your father's corpse."

The soldiers on the city wall quickly pushed Qian's father and a group of women and children onto the wall and made a pushing motion, and the whole city wall was immediately filled with crying.

"Prince Yongning, I apologize."

Commander Qian immediately drew his sword, and many of the soldiers around him were eager to try.

Just then, a low, mocking laugh rang out from the city walls.

“Qian Zhang, you have utterly failed the Emperor’s grace. Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to reconcile. Today you are helping this demon to slaughter the loyal and good. If one day this demon uses your father as a threat to force you to kill the emperor, or even force you to do something even more inhumane, will you still be willing to be enslaved?”

Gu Tingchen looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Ji Yuan had been brought over. His anger surged: "Ji Yuan, what nonsense are you spouting? Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"

Ji Yuan sneered: "How could I not believe it? What wouldn't a beast like you, who murdered his brother and mother, do?"

Seeing the intense killing intent in Dao'an's eyes, Zhou Fuhai quickly stepped forward and whispered a few words to him. Then he shouted down to the city walls, "King Yongning, since you came to serve the king, now that King Qi has been killed, you should return to Yuezhou as soon as possible."

He glanced at Ji Yuan beside him and said with a faint smile, "The Empress Dowager has decreed that as long as Prince Yongning is willing to send Princess Jinghe back and lead his troops back to Yuezhou, the Empress Dowager will forgive and forget the past."

"Let bygones be bygones?"

Thinking about what Wan'er had been through these past few days, Fu Mingchi curled his lips in disdain: "Eunuch Zhou, what if I insist on holding the Empress Dowager accountable for the Princess Consort's mistreatment over the past few months?"

"Then don't blame the Empress Dowager for being ruthless and making an example of Chief Minister Ji, who colluded with foreign vassals."

Zhou Fuhai narrowed his eyes coldly: "I've heard that Prince Yongning has a deep affection for Princess Jinghe. I think Prince Yongning wouldn't want the princess to be branded as unfilial, would he?"

“Prince Yongning, do not listen to his nonsense. Do not let His Majesty and Wanwan down.”

Ji Yuanyi said sternly, "Today His Majesty is right here under the city walls. Others may not know the suffering His Majesty has endured over the years, but every soldier of the Divine Might Army knows it. His ambitions cannot be realized, and he can only watch as the Gu family brings disaster to the country and its people."

"Soldiers, do you still want to let the Gu family abuse their power and watch foreign invaders trample on our compatriots, and watch your sisters and the children you have raised with such care be sent to the northern border to be humiliated?"

After saying this, he looked at Fu Mingchi with a firm gaze and said loudly, "Prince Yongning, today I only beg you as a father, hoping that you will not forget the promise you made to me in Qizhou City."

Fu Mingchi naturally remembered what happened in Qizhou City that night. He had said that he would love Wan'er even more than Ji Yuan, her father.

"Rest assured, Prime Minister, I will never let Wan'er return to the clutches of that devil," Fu Mingchi said confidently.

Ji Yuan smiled with satisfaction, then suddenly stood on the city wall and jumped down.

Ye Wanshu lifted the curtain from the carriage and saw this scene, and she was immediately stunned. "Father," she cried out, her mind suddenly blank. She staggered down from the carriage and ran towards the city wall.

"Ji Qing."

Emperor Zhaolie was the first to dismount and rushed forward to help him up.

"Your Majesty, I must bid you farewell today."

Ji Yuan coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, glancing sideways at his daughter who was running towards him like a madman, and gave a bitter smile: "Your Majesty... I have never failed the Emperor's grace or the people's kindness in this life, but I have failed to be a good husband and a good father. I hope Your Majesty can take good care of my daughter in the future."

Recalling the years of devoted assistance he had received, Emperor Zhaolie's eyes welled up with tears, and he nodded repeatedly: "Rest assured, Ji Qing, your daughters are my daughters, and I will never let them suffer any injustice."

Fu Mingchi remained stunned on horseback for a while before he came to his senses. He never expected that the person he hated most in his life would be so willing to risk his life for the greater good at this moment.

It wasn't until Wan'er suddenly appeared that he gradually came to his senses, dismounted somewhat bewildered, and helped her to catch up.

"Father." In just a few days, Ye Wanshu had witnessed several of her closest relatives leave her, and she felt a deep emptiness in her heart.

She knelt down, feeling utterly helpless, and said in a choked voice, "How could you not wait for your daughter to come?"

Seeing his daughter's glistening tears fall, Ji Yuan tenderly raised his hand to wipe away her tears, his voice weak and disordered: "Wanwan, don't cry. Father has no regrets about today's decision. It's just a pity that Father can't watch you get married. From now on, no one will protect you..."

"Father-in-law, rest assured, your son-in-law will never let Wan'er down in this life."

Fu Mingchi hurriedly took out a golden token from his pocket and handed it to Ye Wanshu: "This is a token left by Emperor Taizong. It has been passed down through generations in my Yongning Prince's Mansion. Today, I will give it to Wan'er. If I ever betray Wan'er in the future, she can take my life with this token and no one will dare to disrespect her."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan smiled faintly, held his daughter and Fu Mingchi's hands tightly together, and closed his eyes in peace.

From the city wall, Gu Tingchen saw everything and glared angrily at Zhou Fuhai: "Who gave you permission to force him to jump off the building?"

Hearing the reprimands from upstairs, Ye Wanshu calmly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, snatched a bow, and glared fiercely at Gu Tingchen.

“Wanwan, your cousin doesn’t want this. Your cousin didn’t want to kill him,” Gu Tingchen explained, shaking his head.

As the arrow shot up, Gu Tingchen was so disoriented that he didn't even have the strength to dodge, and the arrow pierced straight into his right chest and abdomen.

Everyone stared in astonishment, then quickly drew their bows and aimed their arrows at the city walls.

"You bastards, what are you doing?" Gu Tingchen shouted, clutching his chest and breaking off arrows as he did so.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Qian's father suddenly stood on the city wall and shouted down to the people below: "Zhang'er, the Grand Secretary is right. Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to reconcile. You must not help the wicked. You should prioritize protecting His Majesty and the world."

As soon as everyone looked over, they heard a loud bang, and Qian's father fell vertically down, crashing heavily to the ground.

"Father!" Commander Qian cried out, his voice hoarse.

Immediately afterwards, countless figures leaped down from the city wall without hesitation, and for a moment, cries of agony filled the Divine Might Army.

But when those gazes turned back to Gu Tingchen's figure on the city wall, all that remained in their eyes was endless resentment and hatred.