Every time the prince opens his eyes, he sees

Lu Yaoyao turned her head away, no longer looking at him, and drank the porridge in the bowl silently.

Seeing this, Xie Qingchen didn't say anything more. He just waited for her to drink the medicine porridge, then silently cleaned up the dishes and left Lu Yaoyao's room.

The night grew darker. Lu Yaoyao lay on the bed, looking at the moon outside the window, with a thousand thoughts in her mind.

Today's incident made her realize that she still cared so much about Xie Qingchen.

Otherwise, no matter what she does, it won't cause any ripples in her heart.

She hated Xie Qingchen, and she hated herself even more for caring about him.

Before Lu Yaoyao was mentally prepared to accept this, she heard that Xie Qingyu had died suddenly.

He died in his own bedroom last night. It is said that in order to cheer himself up and prove that his health was not that bad, he specially found a few beautiful women.

He vomited blood, and the blood sprayed on the bed curtains. Several women screamed in fear. When the guards rushed in, the women were already screaming and dodging.

It was the prince's concubine Bishui who took charge of the situation. She set up the mourning hall overnight and ordered people to go to the palace to report to the emperor. Only then did the news spread throughout the capital.

Lu Yaoyao immediately ran to question Xie Qingchen, "You were afraid that we would stop you, so you rushed to finish off Xie Qingyu, right?"

Xie Qingchen was both cunning and reasonable. "He deserved to die. With him dead, you will no longer be threatened by him. Don't worry, there are many people who are more suitable to be the emperor than him. Yaoyao, I thought about it seriously last night. If you don't want me to support a puppet emperor to ascend the throne and let the Gu family supervise the country, I can have someone secretly select an outstanding son from the royal family and support him to become the emperor."

Lu Yaoyao's eyes widened as she stared at Xie Qingchen in disbelief. Her voice trembled slightly, "Xie Qingchen, you...how could you make such a casual decision? Supporting a puppet, selecting a member of the royal family, choosing an emperor is such a big deal, how can it be treated as a joke? Do you still care about the law and the safety of the people?"

Xie Qingchen sighed softly, a complex expression flashing across his eyes. "Yaoyao, you know that in this chaotic world, the law of the land has long been meaningless. I once thought of unifying this continent, but that was too far-fetched. I would never achieve it in my lifetime, and I don't have the heart to do it now. Everything I do now is to give you a stable and free future."

"A stable and free future?" Lu Yaoyao sneered. "Your so-called stability and freedom is built on trampling on and forcing others? Xie Qingchen, I'm telling you, I, Lu Yaoyao, don't need such a stable and free future! I don't need you to create it for me."

Xie Qingchen's eyes dimmed a little. He understood that the gap between him and Lu Yaoyao was much deeper than he had imagined.

He spoke slowly, "Yaoyao, perhaps my thoughts are too selfish, but I really hope you can understand. In this chaotic world, only by holding power can we protect the people we love from harm. Only by holding power in the hands of the Gu family can they avoid being killed because of their achievements."

"Enough!" Lu Yaoyao interrupted him, her eyes filled with disappointment. "Xie Qingchen, I don't even recognize you anymore. Although you used to be cold and indifferent, you weren't cold-blooded at heart. Now, everything you do is based on profit. It seems like we no longer have a common language."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and tried to leave, but Xie Qingchen grabbed her sleeve.

"Yaoyao, don't go." Xie Qingchen's voice was filled with a hint of pleading, "Give me a chance, let me prove to you that everything I did was right."

Lu Yaoyao stopped and turned back, her eyes cold. "Xie Qingchen, let go. From now on, you go your way, and I'll go mine."

"I won't let go."

He had a premonition that if he let go, he would never see her again.

"If you don't let go, don't blame me for being rude."

At this moment, an angry male voice was heard.

They both turned around at the same time and saw that it was Gu Huai.

"Let her go." Gu Huai said in a low voice.

"You have no right to meddle in my affairs with her."

Xie Qingchen looked at Gu Huai coldly, his eyes full of coldness.

It gave people the feeling that even if they were as close as brothers, he would still kill them.

Gu Huai took a deep breath, walked to Lu Yaoyao, and said to her softly, "Yaoyao, you go first. I will take care of everything here."

Lu Yaoyao looked at Gu Huai, then at Xie Qingchen, feeling mixed emotions.

She knew that Gu Huai had always been by her side silently protecting her, but apart from the strategy, she had never given him any response.

Although Xie Qingchen's methods were tough, she could never completely erase his shadow from her heart.

"Gu Huai, thank you. But I can handle my own affairs." Lu Yaoyao gently broke free from Gu Huai's hand and looked at Xie Qingchen with a firm gaze, "Xie Qingchen, let go. This has come to an end between us."

A flash of pain flashed across Xie Qingchen's eyes, but he still stubbornly refused to let go. "Yaoyao, give me a chance to prove that what I did was right, okay?"

"That's enough, Xie Qingchen!" Lu Yaoyao's voice trembled slightly, but was filled with determination. "Your way is not what I want. What I want is freedom, respect, and equality. Not for you to go behind my back, plotting and scheming, doing what you think is good for me."

After saying that, she shook off Xie Qingchen's hand forcefully, turned around and strode away.

Gu Huai gave Xie Qingchen a sarcastic look and followed him.

Xie Qingchen stood there, looking at the departing backs of Lu Yaoyao and Gu Huai, his heart filled with loss and pain.

He knew that he had completely lost Lu Yaoyao's heart.

His wish to be with her before he died could not be fulfilled.

"Yaoyao, don't be sad. Actually, there's nothing bad about Xie Qingyu's death. Even the death of such a treacherous and evil person will benefit the people."

Gu Huai caught up with Lu Yaoyao, knowing that she was sad, and comforted her softly.

"You don't have to comfort me. I understand this. I just can't accept the way he does things."

Although Gu Huai was sad, he still said frankly: "You can't accept it because you still care about him. If someone else did this, you wouldn't feel anything, like me."

"What nonsense." Lu Yaoyao punched him.

Gu Huai covered his chest and pretended to be in pain.

The two of them argued for a while, and Lu Yaoyao said, "Don't you need to get busy? Xie Qingyu is dead, and the whole capital is in chaos."

"It's okay. Xie Qingchen has planned and arranged everything. There won't be any chaos in the capital. At most, the capital will be uneasy for the next two days, but it will be fine soon. I'm too lazy to act sad, so I'll just let my father and eldest brother go and I'll take some time off."

"That's good."

Lu Yaoyao didn't want to cause unrest in the world and make the people suffer.

She is from the lower class in the real world and knows the sufferings of the lower class people.

"But if you like me seeing my diligence, I'll still go see if you need any help later."

"Well, I'm fine now. You don't need to comfort me anymore."

"If you have nothing to do, why are you standing outside? Come in with me quickly. It's very windy outside today, be careful not to catch a cold."