an ancient chinese story

24

"This man has confessed. He was the one responsible for the previous empress's death. The poison that the imperial concubine was said to have given the empress was prepared by this man. It was his corrupt mind that conspired to murder the empress and put the blame on the imperial concubine."

"No. "

Wang Shu cried out.

"The empress died a natural death. And my mother was framed for it. And now you say it was the left minister that did it. You are just trying to protect your maternal household. Is this what you meant to show us, your big revelation? How dare you try to deceive us?"

Emperor Yuan held on to Wang Shuand tried to stop him from being more agitated.

" Are you stating the truth?" was all that emperor Yuan asked.

Emperor Qu nodded, " yes, I am. This man confessed himself." emperor Qu gestured to his men. The men pulled the left minister forward and hit him on the back of the knee. The weak man crashed on his knees. "Confess." the guard instructed.

"Yes.... yes.. It was me...."the left minister spoke in between his ragged breadths, making no eye contact with anyone.

Wang Shu couldn't believe what he was hearing. All this time, he had been trusting the man , who claimed to have pledged his allegiance to him. Now , this man was confessing to him to be the murderer of the crime his mother was punished for. He couldn't understand any of it.

"But whyyy? ... Why did you do it? Why ?......" Wang Shu was agitated from the emotional turmoil. All this time, he had meant to punish his mother's tormentor. But the man himself had been with him all this time. How wrong he had been, for so long.

" Speak! " demanded emperor Yuan . his heart broke seeing his lover holding so tightly onto him.

The left minister coughed on and on. Some blood spilled from his mouth but no one cared. All were waiting for the answer. Though the emperor Qu knew of all that had happened, he kept himself out of it as he didnt want to interrupt the way of things. It was good for Wang Shu to hear the truth from the man himself.

" i... cough cough your mother, i had .. loved her since i had laid my eyes on her. But i was too late. The emperor taken her for..cough.. for himself. But I wasn't going to be stopped there. I spoke my love for her but ....cough but your stupid mother, she should have been grateful , she should have been happy , because it was i who had approached her. She was too stupid to see. And so, She rejected me..meeeee. " the weak man though coughing spoke violently as if reliving his past in between those words. His eyes became unfocused as if he was staring into something only he could see.

" I couldn't forgive her. How could i? i had to show her. Make her regret. Make her see. what a big mistake she had made to reject me." speaking so violently, the man coughed roughly, drawing more blood. " I had planned to kill her. Poison her and make it so that no one could have her. But that stupid woman.....so. So stupid. She gave the bloody poisoned drink to the empress, who had just come to visit her. The empress died because your mother's stupidity. My plan seemed to have failed but well, do you know it didnt? Hahaha ...hahah cough...coughhh..ahhh...

Of course you do, you were right there. She died ....haha haha a.....she died the death she deserved. Haha.. by the hands of the very man she loved." laughing hysterically the left minister felt blood run down his mouth in a steady stream. As he fell, he looked up to the sky, seeing that day again. The day he watched away as the imperial concubine drank the poison herself. The left minister couldn't stop laughing.. Even when the blood didnt stop and the cough got worse, he laughed as he looked upon the sky seeing everything happen again.

When the left minister fainted, the guards took away the man seeing that he was still breathing.

The emperor yuan held onto wang shu. Wang shu had gone weak from all that was revealed and fainted . All that had happened tormented him.

" I am sorry it took too long to capture the very vermine that lived amongst us. I never thought my mother's very murderer was alive and living well for so long. "

Emperor Qu spoke, knowing of his mother's death had also been triggering but he had maintained his composure for the truth to be revealed amongst all. Though everything in him told him to wipe the murderer off the earth's face , it took all he had to stop and be the wise ruler he ought to be.

" He had lied to Xiao Shu about the conspiracy towards the imperial concubine by my maternal family. They were never a part of it. He had reconnected with xiao shu all for the greed of acquiring power. He was corrupt and disloyal to all of us. "

"Let him have him. I will punish him the way he is meant to be ." emperor Yuan roared. All this struggle had been meant to punish the people that had tormented his lover. But the very man responsible had been with them all along, he had eaten with them and talked as friends with them. Now all he wanted to do was make the man's suffer thousand times everything his wang shu had to go through.

" very well. As the misunderstandings have settled. I will offer you this prisoner as a peace treaty between our nations. I am relieved to see that my brother, Wang shu had been with you all this time and I thank you very much for all that you have done for him. I will never forget this, And also I congratulate you both ,wishing a happy long life together."

The war was over before it even began. As feng leng was making preparations for their return. A messenger came to him and handed him a note.

As he read the note, his nightmares had come alive.

The note stated that his residence had caught fire in the dead of the night. Despite the searches for rescue, jing yi was nowhere to be found.