First annul the engagement, then sever ties with the empress; the empress reigns supreme.

not angry?

Ah.

Mu Lingxuan sneered inwardly. He was no longer a three-year-old child; he understood perfectly well. Consort Li's words of not being angry were merely a ploy to extract information from him.

But the more he realized this, the more he understood. Fang Shuyan wasn't lying.

The woman he has been calling "Mother" for nearly twenty years is indeed very likely not his biological mother.

The cold enveloped him, making him feel that life had lost its meaning.

Mu Lingxuan's heart felt like it was overgrown with weeds, and he continued to probe.

"Why does Mother ask such a question? Is it because you cannot mention Fourth Aunt? Or does Mother dislike Fourth Aunt? Could it be that Fourth Aunt offended you before she passed away?"

“If I were you, I should have been closer to my fourth aunt in the past. After all, she looks like you, and if you made a mistake, she could take the blame for you.”

Despite Mu Lingxuan's many words, Consort Li's emotions fluctuated with his words, but what truly alarmed her was those two words—"for you."

"What do I need a lowly concubine's daughter to replace me for?" Consort Li's expression changed completely, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, glaring fiercely at Mu Lingxuan.

"What's wrong with you today? Why are you talking about a dead person in front of me? So what if I don't like that lowly servant Fang Yanshu? Are you trying to cause me trouble on behalf of a dead lowly servant, or what?"

Mu Lingxuan clearly saw two words in Consort Li: guilt.

"Not much," Mu Lingxuan said, then turned and left.

Consort Li stared at Mu Lingxuan's back until he had completely left the palace and could no longer hear his footsteps. Only then did she collapse onto the soft couch as if she had suddenly lost all strength.

A moment later, Consort Li dismissed her attendants, leaving only her trusted maid.

She rubbed her forehead with her hand, her head aching. "Go and investigate who Prince Xuan has been associating with lately. That bitch Fang Shuyan has been dead for so many years. I want to see who is going against me."

“Your Majesty, I don’t think you need to worry too much about this. The old lady handled Fang Shuyan’s matter personally, leaving no loopholes. Besides, even if there were loopholes, it wouldn’t matter. After all, Prince Xuan was raised by you. Fang Shuyan is dead, and he has no reason to believe a dead person instead of you,” the trusted maid advised.

Consort Li sneered, disbelieving everyone: "That's not necessarily true. Didn't you see his attitude towards me just now? Anyway, they're not my children, so what difference does it make who I support? If I had no one else to rely on, why would I have to put up with his attitude?"

Consort Li wasn't just saying it out of anger; she genuinely thought it that way. Otherwise, she wouldn't have held back against Mu Lingxuan all these years.

The conversation in the palace hadn't stopped. They left and then returned, and Mu Lingxuan, who was secretly eavesdropping from the shadows, had a cold look in his eyes.

He clenched his fists tightly, and without making a sound, used his lightness skill to fly away without alerting anyone.

Mu Lingxuan arrived at Gu Junxi's courtyard again. When he arrived, Gu Junxi had already heard him and put away the Gu poison she was studying.

She sat quietly in the chair, watching as Mu Lingxuan walked in against the light.

However, in just one night, Mu Lingxuan looked much thinner.

He stood before Gu Junxi, slowly crouching down, and looked up sadly at her beautiful face. At that moment, how he longed to see pity for him on Gu Junxi's face.

Mu Lingxuan's voice was hoarse and choked with sobs: "Xixi... could you... touch my face? I really have nothing left now."

Gu Junxi's gaze remained indifferent, like the cold frost of December, devoid of any pity or malicious intent. Her lack of joy or sorrow, however, was precisely what made the situation all the more despairing.

"Accept the facts; it's for your own good."

The phrase "This is for your own good" seemed to remind Mu Lingxuan of what he had always said to Gu Junxi.

But this is clearly a case of using good intentions as a pretext to commit acts of harm.

He suddenly realized—had all the things he had done been to hurt Gu Junxi?

"Xixi...do you have to be so cruel to me?" Mu Lingxuan questioned, his eyes filled with longing.

Gu Junxi kept looking down at Mu Lingxuan, remaining silent.

This silence is like the stillness before death, making one feel despair from the bottom of their heart.

Mu Lingxuan squatted there for a long time, but Gu Junxi didn't say a word of concern.

Mu Lingxuan wasn't angry. His initial sadness gradually turned into confusion. He couldn't even quite understand how he, a prince of unparalleled nobility, had suddenly fallen to such a wretched state.

He slowly got up, left the room, and left the yard.

Gu Junxi remained seated, not following them out, and didn't even glance at Mu Lingxuan's back. She coldly reopened the cabinet and took out the tools used for researching Gu poison.

She once cherished Mu Lingxuan dearly, but Mu Lingxuan cruelly shattered that sincerity, and she had no one to blame but herself.

After leaving Gu Junxi's place, Mu Lingxuan developed a high fever and fell into a daze, then had nightmares.

He dreamt that Gu Junxi had died in the fire on Buddha's Birthday more than a year ago. At that time, Gu Junxi and Gu Juntang were trapped in the fire, and he and Gu Lichuan were only concerned with saving Gu Juntang.

When they were escorting Gu Juntang out of the fire, they even heard Gu Junxi's cries for help, but at that time they all chose to ignore them.

Later, at Gu Junxi and Gu Juntang's birthday celebration, they didn't see Gu Junxi and unanimously believed that Gu Junxi was deliberately being difficult in order to get their attention.

Many days passed in the dream before they learned that Gu Junxi had truly been burned to death. Yet, at that time, he absurdly thought that Gu Junxi was using her death to gain his attention.

That's really arrogance.

So arrogant that he thought Gu Junxi deserved it, because she liked to act up.

He was briefly saddened at that moment, but then he took Gu Juntang's affections for granted. He became the crown prince, ascended the throne, and married Gu Juntang as his empress.

Gu Juntang bore him a son, and initially, he was happy. But later, Gu Lichuan and the others died one after another, and he suddenly contracted a strange and incurable disease. When he was about to die, he heard with his own ears that the son Gu Juntang bore for him was not his.

After being discovered, Gu Juntang dropped the pretense. He confessed that he had never loved Gu Junxi, only used him. Gu Junxi, who truly loved him, had already died in the fire because of him.

He killed the person who loved him most with his own hands, so he deserved to be cuckolded.

"Damn it, damn it. Xixi, I'm sorry, I really know I was wrong. Please give me a chance to start over?" Mu Lingxuan murmured, tears streaming down his face.

Just then, he suddenly woke up from his dream.