The Eldest Daughter Reborn: She Provoked the Obsessive Crown Prince and Couldn't Escape

Fu Luan smiled faintly and said, "Is that so? Then I have indeed overstepped my bounds, but..."

"There is something Your Majesty can answer right now, it just depends on whether Your Majesty is willing to tell me!"

Yuan Li thought there was still room for maneuver, so he quickly smiled and said, "Since it is A-Luan who wants to ask, I will definitely tell you everything I know!"

Fu Luan's smile vanished, and she asked seriously, "Your Majesty, may I ask if anyone from the Prince of Yan's residence entered the palace on the day of our wedding?"

Ever since Fu Ling cured her of the poison from the Yunnan Illusion Grass, she has never experienced hallucinations again, nor has she seen "Xiao Jiu" in her hallucinations; as for mentioning him in front of Yuan Li, she has mentioned him even less often!

Therefore, Yuan Li never expected that the question she wanted to ask was related to Yuan Jiu; even more unexpectedly, she had some doubts about Yuan Jiu's death!

Yuan Li poured himself a cup of tea and replied calmly, "The people from the Prince of Yan's residence... naturally entered the palace that night, otherwise how would A'luan and I have known that Xiao Jiu... was gone?"

Fu Luan shook her head and said, "No, the people from the Prince of Yan's residence came to the palace early the morning after the wedding to inform us of Xiao Jiu's death, but what I'm asking about is... the matter of 'the night of the wedding'!"

Yuan Li frowned and said, "A-Luan, I know that pregnancy and childbirth are extremely difficult for women, as they are on the verge of death and are more prone to overthinking..."

Fu Luan had the maids take her daughter away and then threw a book on the table. Yuan Li was puzzled, but when she opened the book, she discovered that it was a record of people entering and leaving the palace.

The information in this file was discovered by Fu Luan accidentally when he was investigating Wei Ling'an.

"What does this record prove? What is A-Luan trying to say?" Yuan Li threw the book he had finished reading back on the table, asking a question he already knew the answer to.

Fu Luan said softly, "The Emperor and I were married on the first day of the first lunar month. Xiao Jiu attended the wedding banquet that evening and left the palace in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. It was the hour of You (5-7 PM) at that time."

"This is proof of his last entry into the palace during his lifetime! After returning to the Prince of Yan's residence, he never came out alive again..."

“From half past 5 pm, people from the Prince of Yan’s residence frequently entered and left the palace; this continued until 9 pm, totaling as many as 23 times!”

"Initially, it was the maidservants that Fu Jin brought from the Fu family, then Xiao Jiu's personal female scribe; next came the chief clerks, registrars, and other officials of the manor, and even the commander of the guards of the Prince of Yan's manor..."

According to the rules of the Great Wei Dynasty, each prince's residence has three military commanders, who are in charge of more than 3,300 guards. When the prince is at his residence, the military commanders are not allowed to leave the residence.

But on the night of the Emperor and Empress's wedding, not only did a commander of the guards from the Prince of Yan's residence leave the manor without permission, but he also went to the palace. Unless he was incredibly audacious, there was only one possibility left—

The Prince of Yan had already died before he left the residence; only if the Prince of Yan had passed away could the Commander of the Imperial Guards have left the residence on his own while the Prince of Yan was still there!

The fact that the military commander who left his residence to report the news to the palace was not punished is sufficient proof of this.

Fu Luan continued, "That night, among the people from the Prince of Yan's mansion who came to the palace to deliver the news, they went to Zhaoyang Palace, where the wedding banquet was held, sixteen times, and Liangyi Palace, where the Emperor lived, six times."

"And the last time, it was to come to my Changqiu Palace! After 9 PM, everyone from the Prince of Yan's residence left the palace; when they came again at dawn, it was to inform me that Xiao Jiu had passed away..."

"Your Majesty, you knew about Xiao Jiu's death that night, but you didn't tell me, nor did you allow anyone from the Prince of Yan's residence to tell me, right?"

Yuan Li closed his eyes, unwilling to recall the events of that night: "That was my son, who tried to kill himself for my wife during my wedding... Where does that leave my pride? How can I not be angry?"

"So...you were just waiting for him to die, were you? You knew he was about to die, yet...yet..." Fu Luan clenched the hem of her clothes.

Yuan Li said helplessly, "'Still' what? Still have to consummate the marriage with you, is that right? When the people from the Prince of Yan's mansion first came, I immediately sent Wei Mian to rescue him."

"But he was determined to die. He not only locked the door to his bedroom, but also kept the courtyard gate tightly shut! When everyone finally broke down door after door, they found that he was already dead!"

Fu Luan recalled the excruciating pain in her heart that night, as if pierced by a thousand arrows, and the mysteriously vanished and never to be seen again...

Looking back now, it was Xiao Jiu pleading with her for help! If she could have given up becoming the Empress of Great Wei, or even just gone to the Prince of Yan's residence to see him, perhaps he wouldn't have died!

"From half past 5 pm to 9 pm, three and a half hours, isn't it enough to save one life? Did Your Majesty really think about saving your own son?"

"From the palace to the Prince of Yan's residence, it takes less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea on horseback, and less than half an hour by carriage or sedan chair."

"If the Emperor himself visited the Prince of Yan's residence, would the people there have taken so long to even break down the door? If the Emperor sent people there the first time, why did the people from the Prince of Yan's residence enter the palace twenty-three times?"

"Your Majesty, are you still lying to me now? Xiao Jiu is dead, he won't come back to life. What if you tell me the truth?!" Fu Luan sneered.

Yuan Li sighed softly, "If it were any other day, I would have dropped everything to save him. But that day... that day was our wedding day!"

"Ah Luan has suffered so much in the past, I don't want her to think of this unlucky thing every time she thinks of her wedding..."

Fu Luan sneered again: "Bad luck? Your son is trying to kill himself, and all the Emperor thinks is 'bad luck'? Or is it because..."

"Your Majesty is worried that if I find out that the Prince of Yan died before we consummated our marriage, I will give up the position of Empress and go back to my parents' home."

"After all, His Majesty promised me that Xiao Jiu would be made Crown Prince, which is why I was willing to become the Empress and rule the world!"

Yuan Li frowned and remained silent, then said with displeasure, "A-Luan, no matter how much I love you, my patience has its limits!"

"You are now the Empress, the mother of the nation; the five sons of the Fu family have been ennobled, your eldest brother Fu Yuan has been appointed a Grand General, and your second brother Fu Zhan has married a princess and is enjoying boundless glory!"

"You interfered in court affairs and asked me to personally bestow titles upon Yarkand and his wife, which I did; your son was made crown prince at birth and your daughter was granted the title of 'Princess' in the name of the Great Wei Kingdom. What else are you dissatisfied with?"

"If you are tired of the position of Empress and feel that marrying me and becoming the Empress of Great Wei is a disservice to you as the eldest daughter of the Fu family, you can leave now!"

Fu Luan said coldly, "Your Majesty has finally spoken your mind? I only wish to remind Your Majesty of one thing—"

"It's not some 'eldest daughter of the Fu family' who's tired of the empress's position, but me, Fu Luan!"

Yuan Li, furious, laughed and said, "Fine, fine, fine! This is the empress I married despite all opposition! Since you'd rather be the Empress of Great Wei than the deposed one, I'll grant your wish!"

"But you need to think this through: if you become the deposed empress, will your two children still be able to live peacefully as the crown prince and the eldest princess?"

"When they grow up, what will they do when they realize that they could have ruled the country and enjoyed wealth and honor, but instead lived a mediocre life because of their mother's wrong choice?"

Fu Luan said with a half-smile, "If they want wealth and status, they should earn it themselves; if they don't have the ability to earn it, they should just live an ordinary life honestly!"

"However... I'm sure my child, Fu Luan, won't complain about his mother because of the mere word 'wealth'!"

"Fine... I hope Ah Luan will never regret what she said today!" Yuan Li turned and left.

The imperial edict to depose the empress caused an uproar throughout the court and the country! The Minister of the Imperial Clan Affairs was ordered to go to Changqiu Palace to retrieve the empress's seal and ribbon.

Before he even reached Changqiu Palace, he saw a thick plume of smoke rising in the direction of the palace.

"Oh no! Send the water dragon squad immediately!"

But by the time the water dragon team arrived at Changqiu Palace, the entire palace was already engulfed in flames, making it impossible to approach...

Fu Luan rode her horse, gazing from the shadows at the palace where she had lived for nearly a year. Here, she had become the Empress of the Great Wei, the wife of Yuan Li, and the mother of her children, fulfilling the duties of an "Empress" just like the Empress of Emperor Shizu.

"I never imagined that in the end, you would be the only one left to stay with me..." She hardened her heart and lashed Batu with her whip before leaving without looking back.

As she looked at Changqiu, she didn't notice that someone was also watching her from behind. No matter how well she disguised herself, Tang Wanqing would recognize her as soon as she mounted her horse.

"Who's riding a horse in the palace? Stop it immediately!" someone beside Tang Wanqing shouted.

"It must be the Grand Chamberlain... Only the Grand Chamberlain is allowed to ride a horse in the palace!" Tang Wanqing deliberately blocked her colleague's view.

"That's true... Oh, something seems to have happened at Changqiu Palace..."

Tang Wanqing watched the departing figure gallop away, silently saying "Farewell." The most rule-abiding person broke the rules for her sake…

The fire at Changqiu Palace grew larger and larger, but one person walked in as if he had lost his soul.

"I really want to be 'Fu Luan' for even just one day... even just one day would be enough..." Li Qingluan murmured in the firelight...

The fire was extinguished three days later, and all 270 palaces in Changqiu Palace, along with the treasury and armory, were burned down!

"Your Majesty, please accept my condolences! Her Majesty the Empress... passed away without receiving the decree to depose her..." The Minister of the Imperial Clan Court was ordered to depose the Empress and reclaim her imperial seal, but returned empty-handed.

“Since she has not received the imperial decree, A-Luan will remain my empress… Bury her according to the rites for an empress!” Yuan Li lamented.

He had intended to force Fu Luan to submit, but she refused to yield even at the cost of her life; he wanted Fu Luan to regret it, but he never expected that he would be the one who regretted it the most…

The Empress died, and the Crown Prince, who was not yet a month old, and Princess Wei also disappeared without a trace. Changqiu Palace returned to its ownerless state, and this emptiness lasted for decades.

For decades, on the first and fifteenth of each month, Yuan Li would still come to Changqiu Palace to remember his wife, who had been with him for less than a year…

*

"In that one night, the Empress perished in the fire, and the Imperial Concubine, the Crown Prince, and the Eldest Princess disappeared without a trace."

"Alas, this has caused our Emperor so much worry... He has never appointed an empress since!"

Fu Luan hadn't actually gone far; she was in Chang'an, less than a mile from the palace.

She took over the teahouse where she used to be able to see the heads of Yuan Lu hanging on the walls, and listened to the storyteller tell stories that were both true and false every day;

Yuan Jiu was keeping her company in a corner of the teahouse, but she could no longer see him...

[To be continued. The next chapter will have a happy ending.]