Chapter 245 The truth back then
The moonlight was like a hook, and the lights in the deep palace were bright. Only the northwest of the palace was always dark and boundless. The saint Zhao Che, accompanied by only a eunuch, stepped into the dilapidated palace with his hands behind his back.

The dark wooden door creaked open and the flickering candlelight illuminated the woman inside.

It was the once glorious Concubine Chen.

The woman's hair was disheveled and her haggard face had lost all color. She huddled at the foot of the bed and when she saw the person who suddenly came in, she subconsciously covered her head and face with her arms.

"Xuan Yao——"

Zhao Che glared at the woman who had been tortured beyond recognition, his face full of resentment and his tone icy cold.

Hearing this familiar voice, the woman suddenly raised her head. She looked at Zhao Che, with a look of disbelief on her face at first, and then she started yelling and cursing at the top of her lungs. It was not until the eunuch following behind the saint held her down that she gradually calmed down.

"Why don't you kill me too." Xuan Yao was pressed to the ground by the eunuch. She raised her head with all her strength and looked at the saint with blood in her eyes.

The man who was looking down on her slowly squatted down. He stretched out his hands to clamp the woman's face and said cruelly: "I just want you to suffer while you are alive."

The man's hands were very strong, and the haggard woman couldn't help but whimper in pain. The man had no mercy at all, and looking at the woman's face which was almost twisted in pain, a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

It took the woman a long time to get used to the pain. She sobbed and spoke again: "Tell me, why?"

Zhao Che frowned upon hearing this and suddenly let go of the woman. The force on her body suddenly disappeared, and the woman collapsed to the ground uncontrollably.

She lay on the ground, gasping for breath for a long time. After she came back to life, she looked up at the man again and asked, "Please, let me die with a clear mind. Why do you hate me so much that you even hate the son I gave birth to."

"Why?" The woman screamed and crawled over, desperately grabbing the emperor's legs: "Please, let me die with a clear conscience."

Zhao Che stood up, glared at the woman crawling on the ground, and asked in a cold voice: "You bitch, you have a good memory. You killed my child back then. Did you really think you could hide it from the world?"

After hearing this, Xuan Yao frowned and thought for a long time, and asked in disbelief, "Are you talking about Prince Qing?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Zhao Che excitedly leaned over and grabbed her throat. As the strength in his hands increased, the woman gradually rolled her eyes. When she was about to die, the man suddenly let go of his hand, and the woman fell to the ground dying.

Zhao Che fiercely clamped her thin shoulders and angrily cursed: "You vicious woman, even if I cut you into pieces, it will not ease the hatred in my heart."

"Just kill me." The woman was heartbroken and only wanted to die.

No matter how stupid she was, she understood it now.

Among so many women in the harem, only Concubine Jing is the emperor's beloved, and Xuan Yao is just a pawn in the emperor's political games.

Hate, but more despair.

In the end, the woman laughed towards the sky, and the shrill voice echoed in the dilapidated palace, scaring the crows and birds outside away.

Zhao Che gradually regained some of his sanity. He looked at the woman and asked angrily, "Did anyone else participate in the murder of Ji'er?"

The woman gradually stopped her crazy laughter: "Yes, Concubine Duan and Concubine Shu both participated."

The destruction of the Xuan family was due to the "indispensable contributions" of the Jiang and Lu families. Now that death is imminent, the woman has not forgotten revenge. Touching the most private pain in his heart, the emperor tried hard to control his emotions and spoke again in a cold voice: "Speak clearly."

He raised his hand again and clamped the woman's face: "If you dare to say a word of nonsense, I will torture your father and all the members of the Xuan family who were exiled to other places to death."

This man is no longer a human being when he becomes cruel. He doesn't even show any affection to his own son.

This threat really frightened Xuan Yao. Emotions finally showed in her desperate eyes, and she was as frightened as a frightened bird.

"Please." She looked at the man, her tone softening involuntarily: "I was the one who killed King Qing. If you want to kill me or chop me up, come at me. Please, let my old father go. He has nothing left. Please don't be so cruel."

The man proposed a condition: "Then you will tell the truth about your attempt to murder Ji'er."

"Who was involved in this? If you dare to tell a lie, I will skin alive all the remaining members of your Xuan family."

The man was almost suppressing his anger, but when he said the last sentence, he couldn't control his rage, and his tone was violent and vicious.

I am at the mercy of others. Although Xuan Yao felt resentful in her heart, she still cared about her father and the remaining tribesmen. She sobbed and told the truth about what happened that year.

"I never took Concubine Jing and her son seriously before, but I became suspicious when I saw your gentleness towards Concubine Jing and her son. I don't know if Concubine Duan knew what you were hiding. Anyway, she often whispered in my ear at that time, and I was young, so I believed it."

She cried as she spoke: "It was indeed me who poisoned Prince Qing, but I had just entered the palace not long ago, and I had no way to get something that could not be detected. The medicine was given to me by Concubine Duan."

Zhao Che gritted his teeth and said, "So, you two teamed up to kill Ji'er?"

Xuan Yao agreed.

Zhao Che asked again: "Are there other people involved? Does Concubine Shu know about this?"

Xuan Yao also hated the Lu family, but her family's lives were in Zhao Che's hands, so she didn't dare to make random accusations and just shook her head.

Zhao Che gritted his teeth and ordered the eunuch beside him: "Pass on my order to execute all the remaining members of the Xuan family. No one with the surname Xuan shall be left alive."

"Zhao Che——"

Xuan Yao's eyes and teeth were clenched, and she cried out heartbreakingly: "You beast——"

As soon as the woman uttered the curse, Zhao Che choked her throat. The man's eyes were filled with resentment, and he gritted his teeth and increased the strength of his hands until the woman died completely. He still seemed unsatisfied, and continued to grit his teeth and exert force until he broke the woman's neck before letting go.

Zhao Che glanced at the dead woman on the ground and said cruelly, "Even if you die a hundred times, it will not relieve the hatred in my heart."

After saying this, the emperor turned around and left the cold palace. When he returned to the imperial study, he said coldly to the official who drafted the edict, "Strip Concubine Duan of all her honors and execute her by slow slicing. The entire Jiang family will be executed."

Concubine Duan was the first concubine in the harem to be executed in such a cruel way since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

When the drafter heard the sage's instructions, he hesitated and wanted to question him, but after glancing at the sage's frighteningly cold face, he shut his mouth in dismay and said, "I obey your order."