The Legend of Zhen Huan: Year after year, we share the spring breeze

As Yongzheng looked at the scene before him, he felt a burning anger rising from his chest, burning his temples.

"I'm asking you a question!" He suddenly raised his voice and slammed his hand on the dragon table, causing the teacups to clink.

An Lingrong then held down Shen Meiyu's wrist, slowly turned around, and looked squarely at the most noble man in the world. There was no fear in her eyes, but instead a blatant provocation.

In the flickering candlelight, Yongzheng's face looked particularly terrifying. His once majestic features now had a sickly grayish-white hue, two dark circles hung under his sunken eye sockets, and the corners of his cracked mouth drooped uncontrollably.

The bright yellow dragon robe that symbolized supreme power now hung loosely on his body, making him look even more emaciated.

The emperor before him, who seemed to have the power of life and death, was actually at the end of his life.

An Lingrong's lips curled up in a faint sneer. "Your Majesty, you know in your heart that I'm the one behind everything that's going on in the palace. It's just that you can't find any evidence. Didn't you ask my sister to come here just to force me to confess?"

Yongzheng's eyes flashed with a cruel light: "You are quite clever!"

"Now that I'm here, you can ask me anything you want. Let my sister go back."

"I'm afraid you'll only tell me the truth when Concubine Hui is around."

"Your Majesty, you worry too much. Now that things have come to this, I have nothing to hide!"

Yongzheng thought for a moment and waved his hand.

Shen Meizhuang did not move and still stood there.

An Lingrong stepped forward: "Sister, you go back first!"

Shen Meizhuang's eyes were firm: "Rong'er, for so many years, you have always been at the forefront, protecting me from the wind and rain. This time, I will accompany you!"

An Lingrong looked at her determined eyes and nodded.

At this moment, hurried footsteps were heard outside the hall. When she turned around, she saw Zhen Huan walking in quickly. Her hair was slightly messy and there was sweat on her forehead. It was obvious that she had been jogging all the way.

Seeing the two people safe and sound, Zhen Huan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes swept over Yongzheng sitting on the dragon throne, and standing with Shen Meizhuang and An Lingrong.

The three of them were in a standoff with Yongzheng.

Yongzheng slowly raised his head, his cloudy eyes rolling in his deep eye sockets, his gaze sweeping over the faces of Zhen Huan, Shen Meizhuang and An Lingrong in turn - three faces that once smiled sweetly at him, but now seemed covered with a layer of frost.

He suddenly realized that the three women in front of him were no longer the concubines he had manipulated in the past.

There was no longer any fear in their eyes, no more submissiveness in their postures, and they even disdained to offer the most basic mercy.

The discovery gave him chills.

"Where's Xia Yi?"

Zhen Huan's lips curled up into a faint smile: "Xia Yi stole the military secret files and has been executed according to military law."

Upon hearing this, Yongzheng was shocked all over and struggled to get up, but found that he had no strength at all.

An Lingrong slowly stepped forward, circled behind the throne, reached out and patted the ferocious golden dragon on it, then leaned over to Yongzheng and said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "If you want to know something, just ask me directly. Why bother sending Xia Yi to investigate? Not only will it involve a large force, but there's also a risk they won't find any evidence."

Yongzheng moved his lips, but found that he didn't know where to start.

Do I have to confess all the bad things I have done over the years?

"What? Your Majesty doesn't want to know?" An Lingrong suddenly laughed, then turned and looked at Yongzheng: "You don't want to hear it, but I have to tell you!"

"To gain the support of the Qi family, you deliberately approached Qi Yuebin, married her, then set her aside and forbade her from having children. That would have been fine, but you also used her to abort Hua Fei's child, turning the two of them against each other. In the end, you actually sent her away with your own hands.

As for the Queen, forget sincerity. You don't even have the slightest sympathy for her. All the tragedies in her life were caused by you. You even refused to investigate the cause of her death.

Hua Fei, she loved you very much, but it was a pity that she was deceived by you for her entire life. Thanks to me, she saw the truth before she died. In order to keep her annual leave, she used her death to make you feel a little guilty.

An Lingrong pointed at Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang again and said, "As for those two, Your Majesty, you have already broken their hearts into pieces. It was me who pieced them back together day by day, bit by bit. These two hearts no longer belong to you."

With every word she spoke, Yongzheng became angrier.

An Lingrong raised her chin slightly, her gaze fixed on Yongzheng. "Your Majesty, I understand you far better than you understand yourself. I understand your coldness, your harshness, and even more so, the various trade-offs and choices you've made with women like us in order to maintain the stability of your government."

She took a step forward gently, her voice unhurried, yet powerful enough to penetrate people's hearts: "From childhood to adulthood, you have not been valued by the late emperor, and the empress dowager does not love you either. You are extremely sensitive and inferior in your heart. Someone who has never felt love does not know how to love those around them, so you only know how to deceive and exploit.

I have never hated Concubine Hua, the Queen, or Concubine Duan, because I know that behind every open and covert struggle and every calculation in the palace, you are the one pushing it. In order to survive, we can only fight endlessly.

But, Your Majesty, I want to tell you, you can use us, but you cannot trample on our sincerity and insult our self-esteem. Although we are women, we are also flesh and blood, with a heart that longs to be respected and cherished.

Those deep affections that you have discarded like worn-out shoes, those sincerity that you have carelessly betrayed, will one day make you taste the taste of being betrayed and abandoned."

"Cough cough..."

Yongzheng began to cough violently.

No one came forward, no one greeted, only silence spread in the hall.

Yongzheng's face turned red from coughing. He reached out to pick up the teacup on the table. However, the hands of the emperor who controlled the life and death of the world could not even bear the weight of a cup of tea. With a crisp "clang", the teacup fell to the golden brick floor and broke into several pieces.

He suddenly felt an unprecedented panic. He grabbed the armrest of the dragon throne and shouted hoarsely, "Someone come! Someone come quickly!"

Only his voice echoed in the empty hall.

The guards and eunuchs who were always on call seemed to have disappeared collectively at this moment.

The carved hall door was tightly closed, not even a breath of wind could get in.

Zhen Huan walked forward slowly and stood in front of the dragon throne: "Your Majesty, the three of us are here. What are your instructions?"

Her voice was gentle as water, but it made Yongzheng feel cold all over.